What I've been up to this week

Made for my girlfriend, Roxanna, who's due in a couple weeks.

Close up of fabric on front of blanket: Front of blanket, folded in half width-wise:
Back of blanket, still folded:
Front of babycarrier:
Back of babycarrer:

Happy Birthday Andrew

Photos courtesy of our friend Dina this morning.

Andrew again

I found out last week from his speech therapist, that there was the possibility that Andrew's language has improved so much within the past 2 months that he may not qualify for services from Regional Center. Honestly, the thought had never entered my mind.

As of yesterday, it looks like Andrew has gone from 37% delay to 12-25% delay. Regional Center won't give services unless there is a 33%+ delay. So, we have at least next week, but I'm not sure past that. The speech therapist still recommended another month or two of therapy because Andrew still needs it, but at this point it seems highly doubtful as there is no state budget in place. No budget=no services. Not sure what I'm going to do. The school district won't pick him up for services for 9 months.

Also, regarding Andrew, anybody know how I can get him to stop biting other children? It doesn't happen very often, but I'd say 99.9% of the time, somebody else is the instigator(taking a toy away that he's playing with, getting in his personal space, etc.). A lot of this stems from he can't tell others to back up, leave him alone, or give him his toy/turn. In any case, he's broken skin twice, and bit someone on the cheek a couple days ago. It really bugs me that I find out at the end of church, instead of right after it happens. Another thing that really bugs me is hearing about how somebody's kids didn't start talking until after they were 2 or 3 years old. That is just not normal!! I do have aspirations & goals for both boys.

1st attempt at sewing a blanket

these are both sides to a blanket i made today. i'm making a matching one tomorrow, so the boys won't have to fight over it. they both LOVE the cars movie.

Random thoughts

• Why is it that I'm more motivated to clean up when I know someone is coming over to help clean up? This happens a LOT here. Like tonight, for example. Someone's coming over tomorrow to help with laundry(taking it to their house, and bringing it back), but I'm doing multiple loads tonight(which, yes, sadly will still leave stuff for them to wash).
• If I watch my favorite movie while doing my least favorite chore, will it be more tolerable over time, that I won't need a movie anymore?

Anyway, food for thought. Here's a quick update. Ivy's memorized our home phone #! They do a show & tell every week at school(I think they call it Sharing Time though). Anyway, we didn't have much practice time before her sharing day, Friday. So, I drilled & quizzed her on the way to school. Guess that was enough for her to get it. Ivy doesn't like pants with horizontal stripes(found that out this week), so we called around to friends who are about the same height & clothes size as Ivy. Her friend loved them!

In other news, I feel like my world came crashing down this week. I got informed(by an autism group I'm part of) that Regional Center, who coordinates services for the boys & reimburses respite for me(as well as services for 1000's who have developmental delays & disabilities), will be closing in March if the state doesn't pass a budget(they are state funded) by Valentines' Day. Services would be terminated/postponed until the state has a budget. I've been trying to collect signatures like crazy for petitions provided by the Regional Center. I also have to make some phone calls up to Sacramento this week. I also may be going to a rally--not 100% sure on that one yet. Also, had my fast today about this. So wrong the state would just cut off funding like that to the most vulnerable group of people, most of whom can't advocate for themselves. Speaking of how wrong/messed up the state is, they're going to be giving away IOU's as tax rebates for state taxes until a budget is in place.