A Week with Grandma and Grandpa C.

Grandma and Grandpa C. arrived on the Thursday evening prior to our Fall Scoutreach campout. The weekend was destined to be cold and rainy - not the perfact match for a 20 month old so we enlisted the Iowa grandparents to babysit. We were a little nervous that Sasha wouldn't be warm and welcoming (he can be a bit anxious around strangers), however, we had nothing to fear. Sasha had a fabulous time with his grandparents. Between the unlimited frosty's, french fries, multiple a day stroller rides around the neighborhood and two adults spending 100% of their time focused on one little boy - what's not to love??

They took some super cute photos which I'm including. They brought a small wheelbarrel and a miniature Red Rider wagon. Sasha had a lot of fun with both which now have found their place outside (the bamboo floors can only take so many much).

Sasha continues to love the outdoors . Once it's time to come back in, he screams in protest. Perhaps we should erect one of our tents in the back yard and let him have an early version of scouting? I'm sure in years to come, he will love campouts.

We had attended a class on Early Intervention at the Cradle a couple of weeks ago. This is a state program that can assess your child for free to see if he has any delays in the areas of: speech, behavior, developmental, physical or occupational. The class reminded us of the procedure to get Sasha tested in various areas so we can get him help if he should need it. On the following Monday, I called the agency that handles this service. The next day, I received a call from Anna who will be our coordinator. We made an appointment for the following Monday to discuss the program.

On Monday, I met with a case worker for Early Intervention. We were given an appointment on Friday and had Sasha tested (this is recommended for all children but especially important for children from international adoptions). As we suspected, he tested with significant delays (over 30% delayed) in speech (well he did just change languages!), occupational (this is where he has a hard time regulating himself when he's super happy or super mad) and developmental (many of the things that he was tested on, he's never done before like using crayons and he's just now learning to use a spoon as we were told that feeding him helps form attachment). The therapists recommended once a week sessions for speech and occupational and twice a month sessions for developmental. In addition, they recommended that we enroll Sasha is a playgroup so that he continues to develop skills interacting with children his own age. Wow ... we're going to be really busy!

Sasha tested highly in physical areas so we were very glad about that considering all the scary Russian diagnoses he's had. We have an appointment with our pediatrician next Friday to start his shots and talk about next steps for specialists.