Mr. Smiley Social Boy

That's Ben's new name. I've seen improvement in the amount of interest Ben takes in the family lately. He's been smiling and teasing us and the girls, and in general has been a happy little guy, when he's been feeling well. We're learning our sign language signs in earnest now, working on them every day. I'm pretty sure he said bye-bye to one of the teachers at his school today, but I'm not holding my breath until I hear it again. He has a habit of saying things once and then never saying them again. We went to the park last Sunday and he had a grand old time just being a little boy, climbing on the jungle gym, sliding the slides and hanging out with his sisters. We're working on getting him to do 10 signs without any physical assistance: drink, chip, candy, cookie, jump, spin, swing, ball, duck and popsicle. Some of these are not entirely new to him, but he still needs assistance getting his hands in the right places. All in all, he's been doing really well, and we have an IEP meeting next week. Cross your fingers for us. By the way, I have a new blog, if you want to see what I'm reading after the kids go to bed. It's whatkristinisreading.blogspot.com. Go knock yourself out, but I'm warning you, don't expect me to read too fast. Speed reading has never been a talent of mine.

A Sunday Update . . .

Ben, Rob, Caroline and myself have some kind of cold that is a combination of everything (coughing, sneezing, runny nose, sore throat) and though it is annoying and hard to get rid of, it doesn't seem to be too intense, so we all feel kind of okay. Just with coughing. We went to church anyway, and Ben was a good as gold. We sat in the middle of the church instead of our usual back row seats, and he happily kept quiet and played with his koosh ball the whole time. He seems to be over all of his fears, though we haven't been to any amusement parks since Busch Gardens. He actually likes escalators now, and elevators no longer bother him. He went into a bathroom with Katherine and Caroline and myself and he was perfectly happy! Before this, he'd start crying anytime we went in one. So I guess he trusts us again. :-)