hot fun in the summertime - and another Braley update

The kids slept until 9 AM today after our late night at the fireworks last night!  Then took another wonderful nap.  Good thing, since we were invited to a neighbor's house for dinner and play tonight!

They got a bounce house that you can fill with water at the bottom so it was just all kinds of crazy fun for these kids.  And she cooked for us!  I think we will keep them ; )

Popsicles and cookies?!?  Does life get any better?

Such a fun night!

And an update on Braley:  we had the specialist come out on Tuesday.  Basically, she agreed with the state's assessment that while there is a slight delay in his expressive communication, she isn't worried about it.  She saw no red flags for any kind of developmental disorder, and saw several signs that he is on the brink of it all clicking.  She engaged him in games and he did very well.  She gave me tips on how I can work with him.  Things as simple as using other talkers in the house to give examples of dialogue for Braley, giving him commands instead of asking him (like, instead of saying, Braley, can you say water?  Say, Braley, say water.).  She also worked with me on ways to redirect him when he starts fussing and clinging on to me.  We had gotten into a bad pattern where I just picked him up and carried him around for hours to keep him from crying at my feet.  That wasn't working for anyone in this house!  I have already seen a huge improvement in just a day by implementing her plan.

I told David when she left that I finally feel like I can put all my concerns about him behind me.  I have had 2 experts look at him and they both said the same thing. Not to mention the fact that he is picking up new words every day.  I know that it will always be something, but I'm happy to feel like we have jumped over a hurdle here.