Blake's 1st Birthday

I can't believe my sweet Blake is 1 year old today! We kicked off the celebration at the San Antonio Zoo. My Mom joined us and Blake had a blast! Since Blake loves animals we thought he'd love to spend his Birthday at the Zoo and he sure did! We decorated his car with Birthday banners, he wore his 1st Birthday onesie and everyone wished him a Happy Birthday! We then came home and the birthday boy took a well needed nap. Then when he woke up we had cake and ice cream and he opened his presents! Such a wonderful day celebrating this special little man's big day!

Blake's 1st Birthday onesie

Happy Birthday Blake banner I made for his high chair

Loved these adorable monkey cupcakes my Mom & I made. They were such a hit & so easy to make.

Blake's monkey birthday cake my Mom & I made.

One of Blake's many gifts Curious George

Blake's Birthday banner

Grammy hard at work decorating

Blake's adorable Birthday party plates too cute!

Mod Monkey birthday party! 

Our  Birthday Boy Monkey!!

Cute decoration

Love this expression from the birthday boy! So sweet!

Our little monkey in his monkey costume!

Time for cake smashing!

A little help from big brother

Loved his monkey cake!

Blake & Mommy getting messy

Liam loved his monkey cupcake he made himself

Halloween Party

Today, the day before Blake's 1st birthday, we went to a spooky fun Halloween Party! A moms group called Kindermoms that we are members of put on a fun Halloween party for the kids. We met at a park, had a trick or treat hunt, made crafts, decorated pumpkins and ate yummy pizza for lunch (Liam's favorite!)  Grammy was here visiting and joined in the fun with us. So blessed to be part of such a fun group.

Astronaut Liam

Our silly monkey Blake!

Our little monkey with Grammy

Grammy & Blake on the trick or treat candy hunt. Blake had so much fun grabbing his candy

Grammy enjoyed it too!

Yummy pizza was served for lunch

Lots of Kindermoms with their families attended

Liam had fun decorating his pumpkin!

Preschool Drama

So strange to even say the words preschool drama but I guess that's what has happened recently. We've had some drama over Liam's preschool and it's been so stressful and annoying I can't even begin to describe it so I guess I should start from the very beginning.

Chris & I agreed to have Liam attend preschool at the age of 4. We knew there were MDO programs that allowed kids to go to school as young as 2 but we decided on 4 being the better age to start any kind of school program.  But when I was pregnant with Blake my Mom was visiting and she suggested that we may want to try Liam in a MDO type of program two times a week so he can have an outlet and I could have a break when baby Blake came. I was very hesitant at first but after a few days of talking about it with Chris we decided to have Liam try out a two day a week MDO program and see how it would go. I then started asking around for recommendations of good MDO programs. I found out there were so many to choose from it was a bit overwhelming. It was also the end of July which meant that most of the MDO programs were filled and lots had waiting lists. I had no idea you had register back in February to guarantee a spot. After much disappointed I finally found out that our church had a MDO program and had just one spot opened so we decided to go with our church MDO program and we signed Liam up right away and he was in for the 3 year old class.

All seemed to be going okay. It was Liam's first time in a school setting. He had to get use to be around the other kids and listening and obeying the rules etc. He seemed to enjoy it. He is a little quiet at first when he is doing something for the first time but then he usually warms up.  I did not feel like the MDO program was that wonderful to be honest. The classes were large ( over 16 3 year olds) the two teachers were okay but were not as warm and friendly and loving as I had wished for Liam. They seemed to think he was so shy and wondered if he was ever going to open up. But after January he proved to them that he was a warm, happy kid and was great. The teachers were always impressed by how smart he was. He always shouted out the answers during the circle time. He showed them his love for math, reading, and writing. They would say "WOW he is so smart he is going to be a great student one day you are so blessed and must be so proud!" And we are believe me.

So the year ended and Liam completed the 3 year old MDO program. But back in January we decided that we better start looking at preschools since registration starts in February. We really thought hard and decided that we did not want Liam to return to the MDO program he was attending at our church. I was so disappointed since it was our church but just felt that he needed something more than just two days a week and he needed to learn more than what they were teaching. With Liam's high IQ it was important for him to be stimulated and I think he would be bored there he needed to be challenged more.  So we shopped around for preschools. We visited and toured about 4 preschools. My #1 choice was at a Presbyterian church and had such high ratings and excellent reviews that we really knew this was the preschool for Liam. But unfortunately they had a waiting list. We actually were on the waiting list back for the 3 year old class but they were still full for all the preschool classes. So disappointing. So I then was trying to find another school but nothing seemed right. We decided to just register for our church preschool program justas a back up in case we were not able to find another school so Liam would be in preschool class at least (bad idea!)  I also decided to look more into homeschooling which Chris really wants to do once Liam is school aged. I saw a homeschool co-group that I decided to join
I put down and deposit there and thought this would be a better alternative. I could homeschool 3 days a week and Liam could take classes with the homeschool co-op 2 days a week. But later found out that there was a lot more volunteer hours involved for parents and I knew I would not be able to make a commitment like that with Chris' crazy work schedule so I pulled out and decided not to do the co-op. So August came and Liam was going to the preschool at our church. I was trying to be optimistic that maybe things would work out for the best and it would be better but I was so disappointed again.

Middle of October came and by that time I was just having doubts about the preschool program. It came down to that we did not like the teachers and what they were teaching. Liam had missed a few days due to being sick so he'd only been there for a total 10 days which is like two weeks (also attending only two days Tue & Thurs). The teachers did tell us they had no doubt he was a very smart boy. They were impressed by his math, writing, and reading ability but thought he was disruptive at times and needed to work on some things. They said would shout out the answers during circle time, finish a project early and get up write on the board. He took off his shoes during quiet time which was a no no  (What?) I thought yes he should not be doing some of these things like yelling out the answers during story time but thought that it had only been 10 days and he may need some more time to learn. So one day when I picked Liam up from class they said they needed to have a talk with me because Liam keeps taking his shoes off and it's disruptive because all the other kids are following his lead.   They wanted me to come and observe his behavior then have a meeting with the director. I couldn't believe my ears I told her I was very surprised she thought that and walked out with Liam. We decided this is it time to go. So we left that and didn't return. It broke my heart I was tears over it and didn't know why these teachers would say what they did about Liam. It was very clear that he was too advanced for that class and finished early with his work and was extremely bored there.

Just by luck I called up the presbyterian church preschool (our first choice) and spoke to the director basically begging her if there was a spot open explaining what had happened and  if Liam could join.  To our pleasant surprise there was one opening in a preschool class! What a relief! So we went down and signed Liam up immediately. He started this week just before Halloween so he won't miss and parties. His teacher is Mrs. Williams and she is absolutely wonderful. We shared our concerns and experience we had at the other school and they understood and think Liam is wonderful. He has different things we need to work on  but overall so far Mrs. Williams says he's doing great!

So it's really hard to have a smart 4 year old. Who ever said that it would be smooth sailing with a smart kid is nuts. Liam has a very high IQ very smart and it will continue to be a challenge I'm sure with teachers and just people in general not understanding him sometimes.  Liam is also the youngest in his class having with his birthday being on August 29th he just misses the cut off. I see no reason to keep him back at this point. I think he can handle it no problem. I'm just so glad he is at the school we had picked initially so blessed he got in and so blessed he is doing so well.

Pumpkin Patch Visit

Today was our first visit to Braucken Pumpkin Patch. Grammy, Liam, Blake & I had so much fun! As you can see in the pictures they had a HUGE pumpkin selection. They also  had a fun tractor hay ride and a barrel train for kids to ride on. It was a beautiful fall day and such a fun family day that we will definitely be returning for years to come!

Thanks to Grammy for taking a quic picture of the three of us! 

It was windy that day

      
                                  

Liam asked if we would take his picture                                         

Liam loved all the pumpkin                                     
                             

It's always a challenge to get a picture of both boys together but I try

I kept trying..

See all well at least they are sitting together

Blake loved looking at the pumpkins                                

Lots of pumpkins to choose from

Blake & Grammy had fun looking at all the pumpkins

My little indian

Blake was too cute as an indian

My cute little Pilgrim

Cute Pilgrim girl Oops!

Liam on a the hayride

Grammy & Blake picking his pumpkin

Blake & Grammy

Lots a great pumpkins!

Liam on the hayride only for picture he was being stubborn that day and didn't want to ride

Blake & Liam had fun riding in the wagon

Raising A Gifted Preschooler

When Liam was an infant I cared nothing about making him a "baby genius." I never purchased those vocabulary cards for your baby or made him learn sign language, or trained him to process math problems or ideas. I was not one of those parents who liked to push education on my kids let alone a baby. I just loved him and let him learn at his own pace and I just followed his lead when he was ready to learn.  I felt he had the rest of his life to learn let him be a baby now and not rush learning. But to my surprise Liam really caught on quickly to learning. I remember teaching him to walk when he was a year old I would hold his hand we would count our steps and he would laugh and try to count along with me. At the age of two he was able to count up to 20 no problem. He loved looking at numbers and would shout out a number when he saw one displayed on a sign at Walmart or on the highway etc. He just wanted to learn more and more about numbers so I just began teaching him about numbers, counting, and simple math problems. Going at his pace and following his lead and It was amazing watching him remember math problems and he was counting up to 300 by the time he was 3 years old! You can only imagine the amazement Chris and I felt watching him. I was not even aware of all the different developmental stages so I did not know it was such a big deal to have a 3 year old count to 300 until others would tell me that most 3 year old can't even count to 10. I felt like he was just on a roll asking for more information and we would be teaching as much as we could  to watch him soak up everything so quickly. His amazing memory to recall information he just learned or learned months ago and to be so quick and flawless was just amazing to see at a young age.

 I thought I better start video taping him to keep and share with others so they could see what this amazing little guy is doing. I took several videos of Liam counting to 300, by twos, by fives, adding and subtracting, doing math problems etc. I shared them with family & friends and even posted some on facebook.

Most people were amazed but then we had some that just didn't get it. Some people can be so cruel. I'd get responses like. " Just let him be a kid and stop pushing him." or  "He looks like he has autism you may want to have him checked something must be wrong."  I was amazed that someone would say those things.  I did get some great positive feedback but the ones with the cruel words got me thinking that maybe something is wrong maybe he does have autism or a learning disability. Since I have a learning disability it's always in the back of my mind and my worse fear that I handed down my learning disability to my child. I began to think if he does have some kind of learning problem I want to know now before he even starts school so we can help him. I was diagnosed with my learning disability when I was in 6th grade and it was hard enough then to cope.

So we decided to get Liam tested over the summer. To our pleasant surprise the psychologist told us congratulations your son is a very intelligent young man you must be so proud. And we were. Liam scored very high on his IQ test. I do not want to share his actual number I think that is very private as I'm sure you would not want someone to know your IQ number but it was way over the gifted mark.  We were delighted to get the news but also we know there will be a tough road ahead. It's a known fact that most schools are designed for the average. Those who are considered above average or below usually face many challenges in public schoosl. We are looking into homeschooling Liam also so we have lots to decide. I'm just such a proud Mom. I'll admit even a little jealous of his Math abilities. You can imagine the joy I feel as someone who had a horrible time in school with a learning disability (especially in math) watch my son who is succeeding in math doing 2nd grade level math at 4 yrs old.  I always worry a little about Liam socially he is very quiet and more introverted which the doctors are not worried about as this is normal for kids like him. He is actually watching and learning when he is quiet and studying the room and people. I've been reading about intelligent kids and learning all I can on how to support him and help him. So proud of him most of all. I'm blessed to be the Mom of such a special little man!

Fair Parade

Such a fun day for Liam & Chris! They got to ride on a float in the fair parade today! The newspaper where Chris works had a float this year in the parade and Chris & Liam were invited to ride on the float. Blake and I watched from the crowd. The theme of the float was high school football to help advertise the newspaper's football coverage. So since Chris is the Sports Editor it was great that he was there in the parade. Liam  loved it. He sat on Daddy's lap. It was hard to get pictures up close. I really need a new camera. I was able to get some video but it came out so shaky. Luckily the photographer was able to take some pictures.  Liam had a bad fall right before the start of the parade. He cut his knees and elbows gushing blood everywhere. They got him a band aid and he went on the float. But when he saw me in the crowd he cried because he was hurt. So sad to see him upset. But he did cheer up and was fine. It was great Liam had the opportunity to be in the parade. Blake enjoyed watching the parade. He LOVES music so his favorite was the marching bands and he loved watching all the tractors drive by. He was so good the entire parade. It was about 2 hours long and he watched the entire parade. Love my sweet boys so blessed to have these special moments together.

                                              

                                

A little pick me up from Liam

There is  so much on my mind lately and I just don't feel myself.  I really hope it's just a phase I'm going through and not depression again.  There are so many challenges we are having to face and lots of difficult decisions to make that some days I find it hard to make it through without letting it overwhelm me. I'm always having to handle everything on my own and it gets really lonely sometimes. But today my sweet 4 year old boy reminded me that I am not alone.
     I was playing with Liam in the playroom when all of a sudden a wave of sadness came over me. I excused myself and went into the living room sat down on the couch and I started to cry. I left the room because I didn't want Liam to see me cry. But the sweet boy he is noticed I was sitting down on the couch with my head down in my hands crying. Liam walked over to me placed his hand on my lap and looked me in the eyes and said "Mommy why are you sad you're alright." and he ran to the bathroom and brought me a tissue. He handed it to me and said, "Here Mommy, I help you wipe your eyes clean." It made my heart melt. He was so sweet. I also felt more sad because he saw me cry and I didn't want him to see.  I started to feel guilty that I should not be feeling this way because  I have a sweet and caring little boy who loves me. I realized that I don't need anyone else in this world to make me feel loved. I'm so blessed to have my boys in my life who really love me unconditionally and are the best friends I could ever have.