Matthew's First School Year



Matthew has now made the transition into the school system, YIPPEE!!!  I should be nervous but Bradley and I took time to meet with the school advisers and we interviewed our options of school and teachers, and we had our choice of school.  We chose to put him close to where I work and Ms. Penny, his teacher is AWESOME and our neighbor,  Rebecca is the Kindergarten teacher.  So everything is a plus.

Matthew LOVES to ride the school bus.  This is a picture of his first day on the bus, as you can see he needed a little assistance.  However, now he can get on the bus and into his seat and off of the bus all by himself.  He still needs help with that first step because of his short legs.  He is now ready to start potty training at school and is finally doing good at home now.  The only problem now is that he knows if he tinkles in his big boy underwear he gets to change them and his new found joy is taking off his clothes and his underwear.  I am so thankful for this part, he still needs a little help but does it majority of the time by himself.  He is definitely Mr. Independent.

While in school, Matthew's preschool class consists of 18 kids, all boys.  They also have their own speech therapist and his teacher focuses alot on speech.  So he gets speech everyday and 2 days with a one on one speech therapist.  His words have came by leaps and bounds.  He now has 250-300 words, he can say 3-4 word sentences, but still mostly uses two word sentences.  He repeats everything Bradley and I say.  He can say his body parts and names colors, he can say part of his ABCs and count to 6.  It's AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  His articulation is still off some but getting better.  He gets homework once a week that consists of 4 sight words with pictures where he has to name the picture and point to the word and say, he now has it memorized.  He somewhat enjoys homework but I have a feeling he's going to be like Bradley when it comes to school work.

Matthew has been truly touched by God, he is a darling little miracle and Bradley and I cherish every moment with him.. He just recently had his yearly scans at Baptist and all tests came back better than normal. (Thank You God!)  He even peed in the cup so we didn't have to put the horrible urine bag on him.  

Bradley and I are definitely enjoying watching Matthew grow and mature but miss him being a baby, but that's what kids do, GROW UP and get ATTITUDE.  Matthew's new favorite word to everything is "NO!" 

Happy 3rd Birthday Matthew!

It's so hard to believe that my baby boy is now 3.  Time does fly by so fast.  Matthew has grown and matured this past year in amazing ways, ways that we weren't sure of course would happen.  Here are a few of Matthew's milestones he's accomplished by 3.

1. He walks with a more heel to toe motion and can pretty much keep up without losing his balance.
2. He can say 2- 3 word sentences, still not too clear but clear enough for us and can sing some parts of his fav.songs.
3. Can do most wooden peg puzzles all by himself  & matching all the picts. correctly give at least 10 items to choose from.
4. Recognizes the spelling of his name and he can pretty much hold a pencil correctly now.
5. Can go up and down stairs unassisted but still takes one step at a time.
6. Can operate most mechanical toys.
7. Can follow a 3 part instruction most of the time.
8. Loves to pretend play and help mommy and daddy out around the house.
9. Pretty much stays dry through out the day and will willingly use the potty or pee outside. (until pregnancy occurred)
10. Has started to make friends.

So as you can see our little toddler is growing up.  This year will mark new adventures for Matthew and we're sure he'll continue to grow even more.

Below is a slideshow of Matthew's party.

A free photo slideshow by Smilebox

JS Conf. 2011/Vacation

Well we've made it back from Orlando and now time to play catch up.  We attended the Joubert Syndrome Conf. for two days and then decided just to spend the rest of the time vacating.  The conference was ok, we met lots of other families and their kids.  We are truly blessed with little Matthew and all the things he can do and say.  Parents, never take your kids and their abilities for granted.  Each child no matter how they are made are truly a little miracle.  For parents with "special" children there are no words really to describe the patience, love and joy that these parents bring to their children's lives.  Bradley and I are glad we went, however we probably won't be going to the next one.  The downside to the conference was the sessions, we got more out of going to NIH than these sessions.  In part I think because at NIH it was more one on one.   However, we met some amazing families (35 total) who gave helpful advise about school, etc.

Now time to vacation picts.  We took Matthew to "Magic Kingdom" and he LOVED IT!!!  We will definitely be going back. Hope you enjoy the picts.



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The night show was the best along with the fireworks.