Working the plan

It has been a while since we updated everyone, but we wanted to give you the latest news from our homefront.

The kids are doing pretty well. It is amazing how much progress we've seen in the last few weeks. Ruthie is picking up a lot of English. She understands probably 75% of what we say to her, and she can communicate most of what she needs to, either through gestures or words. She loves to watch Dora the Explorer, so she's even picking up a bit of Spanish. :) She loves to swing and jump on the trampoline, and she really enjoys playing with Elliott's nerf guns and his legos. Her favorite thing by far though, is her baby doll. She feeds it, changes it's diaper, and plays with it on and off throughout the day. This should tell you something, but she named her baby "Seth."

Seth (the real Seth) is also developing rapidly. He feeds himself now, and he has strong opinions about what he wants and doesn't want. Today he officially said his first word: "gentle." He likes to hit us when we are holding him, so we've been trying to get him to learn the difference between gentle touches and less-gentle touches. Today, he repeated the word "gentle." Super cool. He has repeated us before (like when he yelled "Go, Elliott!" at a soccer game, but this was the first time he has spoken a word in proper context and with a clear understanding of what he was saying.

We've had several meetings and evaluations with different therapists for him: physical, occupational, speech and the like. Last week we all got together for a big meeting to discuss a plan to coordinate all these services for Seth. We're hoping to get him "caught up" to where a 20 month old could and should be. We've seen so much progress already that we have a lot of confidence that he'll continue to advance, especially with some focused therapy sessions. It was so encouraging for us to hear all these ladies excited to work with him and with us.

We're working on the same process with Ruthie, but have some other evaluations to go before a formal plan is crafted. We'll update on her later. In the meantime, both the kids are adjusting well to life in our family. Seth hates the car, which is unfortunate, because we've been driving all over town to soccer practices and games and swim practice and meets. Ruthie has enjoyed cheering for her siblings and rolling down the hill adjacent to the soccer fields. She is full of energy and life, and we've had a lot of fun with both of them.

All in all, we are very blessed. Thanks for your continued love and support.