after school reading tutoring part 9

SJ had his last session with Mrs. Banks a week before Christmas.  Surprisingly, SJ did very little complaining during their session.  They read two chapters and then they answered some comprehension questions about what they had read.  

Since SJ's book report is due the week he returns from Christmas break, it will be up to me to make sure he finishes the remaining chapters.  I have thrown out a few hints, but he has yet to bite yet.  

Tomorrow, I am going to have to make him have sit down and read three or four chapters.  I may need to strap him to the couch...just kidding!

after school speech part 6

Last Tuesday, SJ had his bi-weekly speech therapy session.  Unlike the day before, SJ was very grumpy about going to speech.  I reminded him not to complain.  He only has to go twice a month now, so he could be there twice as often.

When his session was over, I spoke to his therapist.  She said he worked hard (a relief to hear after listening to all of the grumbling in th car).  They continued to work on Main Ideas. She said he did much better this week.  

They also worked on Idioms.  He loves the word play of idioms, so not surprisingly he did very well with those.  He finds them quite funny (and fun!)

She indicated to me that she would be doing a new therapy plan soon.  I asked her to keep doing what she is doing, but to try to work on sarcasm and appropriate vocal tones when having conversations.  I'll keep you posted.  

after school reading tutoring part 8

Last week, SJ had his weekly reading tutoring session with Mrs. Banks.  There was very little complaining, which was a nice surprise.  During their session, I could hear him through the floorboards.  He seemed engaged and much laughter was heard.  

When he finished, I spoke with Mrs. Banks for a few moments.  She said he worked very hard. She also noted that she didn't have to redirect him, since he was on task for most of the session.  

She seemed pleased with how far he has come and my husband and I are always impressed with his efforts.  I reminded her that we wouldn't see her the following week, since SJ had his yearly appointment with his developmental pediatrician that same night.  

i do, i do, but why do we have to go?

We had a few weddings to go this year.  The first one was my cousins in California.  The second one was a third cousin, but the boys were not invited to that soirée.  

In October, we had our third wedding.  It was my husband's niece, Nicole.  I had the boys wear the same outfits that they wore to the California wedding.  Problem was that their shoes were very tight (feet must have grown significantly since June), which made them more uncomfortable than they already were. (They hate wearing "dress up clothes").  We had anticipated this problem, so we brought their tennis shoes for after the ceremony.  

They were very bored at the wedding and kept asking when we were leaving.  We kept responding with "when the wedding is over". For dinner, Nicole had a gluten free chicken selection for SJ.  Bob ate the same breaded chicken as the rest of us.  

After cake cutting and dancing, we succumbed to the requests to leave.  The actual wedding ended 30 minutes later.  

In November, we had our last wedding of the year.  It was one of my cousins on my dad's side.  Of course, we had to get both boys new outfits and shoes.  It was a little easier as they are finally accepting that they have to dress a certain way for more formal situations.  

I went to the ceremony myself (LONG Catholic service) and went home to get my husband and the boys for the reception.  My sister's family was attending the wedding as well. Jojo has two boys and a girl.  

All the kids sat at the same table with my sisters, Jojo's husband, my husband and myself.  I thought the boys would have more fun at this wedding since they were with their cousins.  They had a little more fun, but still complained.  

SJ had a lot of complaints about the noise in the venue.  It was very loud and echoey.  This is always problematic for SJ.  One of my cousins got him earplugs.  They worked when he put them in, but he didn't want to keep them in.  It was still nice if my cousin to accommodate SJ.  

There weren't any gluten free substitites for SJ, so he ate the Chicken Romano (and tons of sugar cookies) that was available for all. After my husband and I were done dancing, we gathered the boys and left.