Mini-Updates

1. Breaking news: Steph gets to ride in the front seat of the car now! Our pediatrician had said that age 12 was the magic number, but I insisted on waiting until Steph's actual 12-year-old well visit to double-check. That was yesterday, and Steph rode home from the appointment in the front seat, grinning from ear to ear. She declared it "so cool."

2. Pete's stuttering is neither improving nor worsening, and his speech therapist is kind of stymied as to how to proceed. He has little or no motivation to work on it, since it doesn't affect him in the least. His teachers report that he participates in class just as much as any other kid, he's positively beloved by his pals, he's never been teased, he makes and receives phone calls without any problems, and so on, so ... why should he struggle with all those boring exercises? Why indeed.

3. Did I mention that Julie started piano lessons a couple of months ago? She absolutely adores it, and her teacher, Mioko, says that she is catching on faster and better than many of her third-grade students. Not only don't I have to remind Julie to practice, I sometimes have to tell her to stop practicing and eat breakfast or do her homework or go to bed or take a shower. And we get to play duets! Tiny moments of heaven.

Comments

[Liz]

I dragged Oliver to a year of speech therapy in 4th/5th grade for sloppy diction, brain working faster than mouth, but especially trouble with Rs and Ws. The therapist finally threw up her hands and said that until he cared about it we were wasting our time. She thought he would start to care in middle school when the social scene ramps up. Nope. He's in 10th grade, speaks pretty clearly, sometimes blurts out a whole sentence we can't understand, but has no ill affects (effects? i always have trouble with that one) of a slight speech issue (albeit different from stuttering). She said if Tom Brokaw is any example, this won't ruin Oliver's life!

[Naomi]

Karen, did I know you play the piano? How wonderful to get to play music with your daughter!! When you guys get a little more advanced, I'd love to share some 4 hands stuff my dad wrote for me & Bill to play -- a couple of Chanuka songs and lullabies for each of my two boys. Sweet stuff.

[steve]

I want to be your kid.