busy, busy, busy!

wow - the end of the summer blew by like a bullet train! highlights included a visit to our friends' cottage (i'll try to post separately on that once i get photos loaded), a birthday party at the morton arboretum, a couple trips to north ave. beach, visits with friends - many still meeting kola for the first time. here you see kola at his first cubs game - not yet a baseball spectator, we entertained him by running the ramps from the ground to the top deck and stuffing cranberries and goldfish into a small water bottle which he had to fish out to eat.

kola continues on his early intervention 4 therapies a week, p.t., o.t. and language. he's speaking in full sentences and was tested last week for language and is now only 3 months behind for his age. an amazing accomplishment since his arrival in june speaking no english. you may have noticed in ethan/kola's art class picture that he's now going for the harry potter look - does that make him american or british? anyway, we finally got our long-awaited visit to the pediatric ophthamologist who found that kola is far-sighted (and not severely) in both eyes - one more than the other hence the crossing. the first step in correcting this will be glasses for 2 months. if they see enough improvement, we'll continue to work with that. if not, we'll go to a patch, and if that doesn't work, then surgery. he's had the glasses for 4 days and already sig and i are noticing some improvement in the crossing so we'll keep our fingers - er - crossed. we can tell right off the bat that he's seeing better and he's spending more focused (literally) time with puzzles, books, and crayons.

the boyz are doing great. mostly having fun, fewer time outs, better sharing and listening...if this is any indication, i'm updating the blog while they're doing art time are reading books, broken up by the occasional game of chase. they have complementary personalities, and kola has helped ethan be more of a leader and try new things. in addition to the occasional field trip, frequent park visits, and almost daily plastic vehicle time, ethan is in preschool m/w/f ams, gymnastics, art class, and ice skating. ethan is doing great with his writing, has made new friends, and wishes he could go 4 times a week:) kola is in gymnastics and music, both which he loves. kola's tootsie roll for caca program is a huge success and he give us all about 20 voluntary hugs a day. i think what's hardest now for me is the busy fall with all the add'l activities, plus offloading all the baby stuff we'd crammed in the basement. thank goodness for yard sales, craig's list, and brown elephant!

we are sad to report that sig's father passed away last week after a very full 92 years. we'll miss his salmon on sale phone calls and stories but are very thankful he had a chance to meet kola, who he took a quick liking to.

thanks for checking (is anyone still out there??) hugs!! b/s/e/k