Time?

Where has the time gone?  I just want to slow it down a little.....

Dominic has finished 1st grade.  I don't know who was more ready for summer - him or me!  We still haven't received his gifted evaluation results yet - and we are very curious.  We did get his standardized testing results back - he tested at the 99% in all areas and it said that is as high it is reported (there is no such thing as 100% on this test).  The results said his reading level is in 7th grade and his math ability is in 8th grade.  Crazy...I don't know how he can't get into the gifted program but we will see.  We have been fortunate so far with teachers that recognize his abilities and allow him to read quietly while others are working, give him more challenging math "just for fun" and put him in a leadership role in the classroom helping out others.  Dominic matured so much this past year.  His sensory issues seem to be getting better.  We don't know if he doesn't think about things as much now or if he is just now able to handle it/deal with it better instead of having a meltdown.  He wore jeans to school this year!  He hadn't worn jeans of any kind since he was about 18M old.  Same goes for long sleeved shirts.  He has also been willing to try a different brand of socks and wore cleats to his first baseball game this season without having to "get used to them" first at home.  For those that have never had to deal with a child with sensory processing issues, these little things probably sound silly...but to us, these were/are giant leaps forward!  Dominic begins his summer Dinosaur class tomorrow and he is super excited.

Luke is a proud preschool graduate!  As you can see from the pictures, he is now sporting his summer mohawk.  I have been working on family pictures and noticed how much Luke has grown and matured in the past year as well.  I was saying prayers with him last night and could hardly believe his is going to kindergarten in less than 3 months.  He is still my baby and shouldn't be old enough yet!  I was ready for Dominic to go to kindergarten.  I'm not ready for Luke to go.  I don't know why exactly.  I think it is because I'm not ready for Isaac to get older either....and if Luke gets older, than Isaac will get older too.  I digress.....Luke is going to be just fine in kindergarten and will definitely keep his teachers entertained.  Luke is loving summer and all it brings.  He loves playing outside, baseball, Baring Lake, chasing birds and butterflies, and "stay home" mornings (no school days!).  Luke is not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve.  Everyone knows exactly what he is thinking and feeling...good or bad.....you know where you stand with Luke.

Isaac is nearly 11 months old.  Wow.  It's been almost a year since he was born.  That is so surreal.  A year ago, we were packed and ready to drive to Michigan on a  moments notice.  We prayed every week he would not be born for another week....just so he would be as healthy as possible.  Hard to believe that a year ago we were packing and preparing for his arrival and now we are packing away all those itty-bitty baby things.  He has / is growing so fast.  Every morning another small baby part is fading....being replaced by toddler features.  Isaac continues to be so long/tall (thanks F for all your height!).  Isaac is wearing 18-24M clothes because of his length!  Dominic jokes that if Isaac keeps this up, he will be taller than Dominic by the time he is 5 yrs old.  Isaac learned to crawl on his hands/knees while we were in California.  He has recently mastered being able to sit up from laying down, go from a crawl to seated position, and seated position to crawling.  He can also sit on his knees and likes to bounce up and down.  We are still thinking he will walk before his birthday.  Isaac now has 4 top teeth and is working on 2 more bottom teeth.  We also don't know if Isaac's eyes will remain blue at this point.  They are no longer a deep blue.  They have this amazing green tone around the pupil that gradually spreads out to dark blue on the edges.  Isaac's eyes are very striking - especially for a boy (we tell him all the time he has H's eyes).  He is complimented on his eyes everywhere we go even by other children.   I think it is a combination of the shape and color plus his red hair/eyelashes that make them so remarkable.

My goal in upcoming weeks is to get some great sunset / sunrise photo sessions done with the kids!  These tend to have to be a surprise thing otherwise all I hear is grumbling about "mom and her camera" over and over.