April-June 2012

Well, apparently I blog quarterly.  And I take pictures when I remember so there are a lot when I remember and none the rest of the time.  Oh well, such is life.  The priority is raising the kids, not documenting them.  Hopefully I have something for them to take with them when they leave my house though and something for me to look back on and smile when life is hopefully a bit less chaotic.  

Spring Dance Recital - 2012

My friend, Jamie, has a dance studio in her home.  Last year her daughter decided she really wanted to take violin lessons so we did a trade.  My boys signed up for dance and I started teaching Taylor violin.  It worked out really well because Dylan was in a class with three other boys since I knew he would be a little embarrassed about doing dance.  And Preston got to take dance with his buddy, Owen, and his cousin, Kylie.  Dylan did surprisingly well and the dances were great.  I was quite impressed with the entire show.  Preston was hilarious!  He is the biggest kid in his class and the one who completed the fewest actual moves during the dances.  He is the kid who for sure was the entertainment for those not watching their own child dance.  Marissa went up on stage to hug them afterwards while I attempted to snap some pictures and the girl is a natural.  She was dancing around and completely comfortable on stage.  She cried when I made her get down.  Dylan has decided to skip dance this coming year, but Preston is way excited to dance with Kylie and Owen once again.  And Marissa will be joining them.  I now have the smallest and tallest kids in the mini class and can't wait to see what the recital looks like.  It's bound to be pure entertainment for all!

Home School Conference
Family Ball - 2012
We attended the family ball again this year.  It was way fun, although the attendance was down from last year.  We still had a great time watching our kids learn to dance with others and boogie their little booties off half the night.

The Slades are homeschoolers and ended up not being able to attend the family ball (except for two of their kids who rode with us).  They decided to do their own little version and invite ward members over to party on down.  Some dressed up, others didn't.  My family did.  It was fun to watch Dylan dance with the little girls.  Taylor (my violin girl) wins the award in my book.  She danced with lots of boys her age (10, 11 or 12ish) and didn't feel embarrassed one bit.  She was able to get the most wall flower-types on the dance floor smiling.  Gotta love her!

We headed up for the Golden Spike reenactment again this year.  Much less stressful with great weather this year.  We saw trains, watched the play and picked out a cheap souvenir to take home.  I packed lunch and we ate on the grass.  It was a great day!

Abuela wanted to get pictures of all the grandkids so we attempted a photo shoot at the Bountiful Temple.  I think they turned out pretty good considering we were dealing with 11 fairly young children, but they weren't her favorite.  Oh well!  Luckily we did manage to get a couple really cute ones of her with my three kids.

Preston's preschool graduation.  I had such mixed feelings about preschool graduation.  I cried during Dylan's.  I loved his teacher and couldn't believe he would be started kindergarten.  With Preston, I sent him because he needed the extra help.  But I'm not sure it was what he needed.  I do think he enjoyed his time in preschool, but I believe the progress he made academically was thanks to sensory learning and lots of prayers and patience on my part.  But...one of his teachers, Miss Mona, was a gem.  She loved Preston and he really responded well to her.

  
We headed up to Idaho to visit my sister and her kids when they had young animals - pigs and pheasants.  My boys were in heaven!  They got to ride dirt bikes and four wheelers, shoot guns, get dirty, play on the playground at their cousins' grandma's house next door, watch lots of movies, roast hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire pit, and just be kids.  We did put them to work shoveling rocks into the wheelbarrow for Justin.  That's the kind of thing I wish they had to do the whole time they were there.  Tanner and Preston are only three months apart and they play perfectly.  There is never a problem when the two of them get together.  They spent most of their time with butterfly nets in hand searching for ladybugs (which Tanner calls Joeys) out in the tall grass.  They also spent a lot of time on the four wheelers.  Tanner, who wasn't even 5 yet, drove the four wheeler around like a crazy man while Preston giggled and shouted faster.  We finally had to tell them to ride with the bigger boys. Geez!  Sometimes you have to let go of your fears a little as a parent so your kids can experience life.

I wanted to have some school routine during the summer so we decided to do a little bug unit.  We ordered ants, ladybugs and caterpillars and had a great time watching them, studying them, and in Preston's case, hauling them around until they all died.  Totally worth the money!

Random summer pictures.  I love these because they illuminate the personalities of each of my children so well.  Dylan with the bucket in the pool, my curious, little scientist.  Even in play, the world is a place to be discovered a mystery to be solved.  Preston with his swimsuit and floaties on (even though the pool is only a foot deep).  He is sitting in the back of a big plastic dump truck with a jar in his hand for catching bugs.  Gotta love that kid!  And Marissa...filling up and emptying a bucket, screaming in a high pitched voice when anyone attempts to take the hose from her majesty, and trying on shoes that do not belong to her.  Such a girl!

There are a million reasons I love Marcos!  I'm not going to attempt to list them here.  He happens to be one of the best dads I have ever met...and I'm not just saying that.  He loves his kids and loves spending time with them.  Dylan was dying to go to the zoo after Rocky Shores opened.  And guess what.  Marcos took them.  On opening day.  In the crowds and chaos.  And didn't even make me go with him.  Now that's an awesome Papi!  These are a few of the pictures they took while they were having dad time at the zoo.

 
My dad and step mom have an annual get together, which they are now calling a family reunion.  It usually takes place in May or June and involved lunch, water, and lots of grandkids.  The kids had a blast playing on the slip and slide and tossing water balloons with grandma Suzanne while the adults sat under the balcony and sipped Diet Coke.  :)

I was really sick the beginning of June and called my mom in desperate need.  Marcos had to work and I needed help.  My mom had plans to get together with my aunt, but ended up stopping and getting my kids and taking them with...to Boondocks.  Lucky kids and lucky me!  I'm so grateful to have a mom I can share anything with and know she will love me no matter what.

More time with grandparents.  Grandpa Barney helped Dylan with some scouts stuff and taught him how to fish.  Then he took him to a fish farm and spent WAY too much money letting him learn to fish.  Thankfully Marcos loves fish so at least we got a good meal out of it.  If you can't tell, Preston LOVES Mr. Potato Head.  He now has Mr. and Mrs. and can play with them for hours.

Ward Girls' Camp 2012

I was called as camp director again this year.  I was pretty nervous flying solo since last year was a stake camp.  Also, I really wanted to do an overnighter with the 4th years.  And we did.  Yay!  Everything turned out awesome!  I know most of you probably don't know these girls, but I sure love them dearly!  I feel like I have watched some of them grow up for years and it makes me feel like a proud parent.

The rest of camp was no less amazing.  Our theme was BOOT Camp (Buiding on our Testimonies).  It was such a fun theme and so awesome to tie everything into the war that we are fighting.  It was so much fun and a very spiritual experience for everyone.  We WAY over-planned activities and ended up not having much time for most of the crafts we had scheduled, but we managed to fit them in during a post-camp activity.  Brilliant!  We had an obstacle course, did skits, made crafts, had DELICIOUS food, went boating, shot guns, went hiking, and had many incredible testimony-building experiences.  And I got a lesson in cheering from a few of my most girlie girls!  Gotta love that!  I'm so the opposite of the cheering type.  But I held my own and even did a pretty decent-looking toe touch.  That's right people!  I got skillz!

January-April 2012

Here are some pictures from the last few months. Hopefully it gives you a glimpse of what life is like right now. I may or may not ever be a good blogger again. :)

Snow. There wasn't much this year, but we managed to get out a few times. See our pathetic attempt at making a snowman? It was good enough for Preston though. Dylan is at the "let me see if I can nail you with a snowball age." Gotta love that! Marissa loved getting into snow clothes, but then could barely move. And they all ate plenty of what was on the grass. Hopefully it wasn't yellow. ;)

The train museum. My kids love this place and my Ogden Nature Center pass gets us in for free. BTW, that is a good pass if you are looking around. Gets you into the nature center, train museum, dinosaur park and the Tracy Aviary once a month. I took my friends' kids with me. It was a big adventure going into the train museum with 7 kids. YIKES! It is actually a very easy place to go with a ton of kids and not lose anybody. And they had a blast!

Hill Air Force Base Museum. One day in February we just needed to get out of the house so we headed to the HAFB museum. The kids had a blast look around and then playing in the learning center for hours on end. Look how alike Preston and Marissa look when they are both wearing orange outfits and a helmet. Crazy! Almost can't tell them apart.

Marissa is a total girl. She LOVES helping mommy. Drives me crazy sometimes, but I try to let her. All part of the learning process.

Museum of Natural History. My friend, Liv, has passes and got us in to the Museum of Natural History. My kids are older than hers and could have gone all day, but hers were done early so we headed out and grabbed lunch with her. It was a fun day and the first time we had been to the museum. It really is awesome! Dylan was darling with the babies (Liv's baby was 8 months old at the time and she had her niece, who had just turned 1). It's so cute to watch an 8 year old boy be so gentle and loving to babies. Melts this mom's heart.

Marissa's Owie! Marissa was on the counter and dived for me just as I turned to help Dylan make a smoothie. She went head first onto the tile and this was the result. A HUGE bump, followed by a good week and a half of a swollen, black eye. Poor thing! It's a miracle kids survive all their bumps and bruises!

Bailey's birthday party. Bailey shares a birthday with Preston, but we celebrated Dylan and Preston's birthdays together at my mom's house. When Angie was down with her kids, we had a celebration for Bailey. Truly it's a miracle she lived to celebrate her first birthday with the ordeal she went through. Marissa thinks she is her care-taker and followed her around putting her binkie in and helping her out. So funny! Bailey was a lady with her smash cake at first, but eventually went to town leaving very little on the high chair. What a fun day!

Dylan turned 8 and started attending boy scouts. This is something totally foreign to me, coming from a home of all girls. I must admit I was pretty intimidated. Grandma and grandpa bought him his uniform and he came home the first night telling me all about learning marbles. He went to bed studying his wolf manual every night. I just had to smile! He earned his Bobcat the 2nd week and his first pack meeting was the Pinewood Derby. Talk about "baptism by fire" into the scouting program. Thankfully grandpa knows what he's doing and has a bunch of tools so he graciously offered to help Dylan build a car. I didn't bring a camera when the car was being built, but my step dad has a bunch on his phone if we ever figure out how to get them to my computer. But...sure enough the kid took first place. There was one car that was really fast and it was pretty close, but he won both times. He was so excited and proud and I know my step dad was excited. I have to say I wish we wouldn't have set the bar so high. I'm afraid now he'll expect to win every year. Oh well, fun moment for him.

We went to baby animal days up in Logan the Thursday before Easter. We went with a family from our ward. It was a great day! We all got to pet a lot of animals, had some lunch and got plenty of sun right before Easter. It was a great day!

Dylan was baptized Saturday, April 7. Two other friends (Kambrie and Shannon) from the ward were baptized that day. It was a special day since all three of them were blessed on the same day as well. There were a few glitches during the baptism, but the spirit was strong and it was a beautiful occasion. We had a big joint luncheon at the church after the baptism. It turned out great!

Easter weekend was a little chaotic because of the baptism. We didn't even die Easter eggs until Sunday afternoon. Oh well. Somehow the bunny found our house and hid a few plastic eggs and left some very practical loot for the kids to enjoy. Marissa found one egg, discovered it had candy in it, and decided not to look for more eggs. She was too busy devouring candy. Between her candy-drool face and her "cheese" smiles, we got some very interesting pictures. Well, I should say I got some very interesting smiles. Marcos had bishopric meetings and I knew waiting until after church wasn't a good option for my kids so I hosted Easter morning solo. That's why the boys were already dressed for church. There is a process to getting everyone ready in time when you have 9:00 church and three kids to get ready yourself. We had a beautiful day at church (although my kids were a bit loud after the sugar high) and then had dinner at my mom's house.

Dying eggs on Easter. Hey, better late than never!

Semi-annual clothing fiasco! You should have seen the disaster the day I did the boys' clothes. I saved Marissa's for another day because I had run out of steam. It was a completely different experience. I asked Dylan to try on a couple pair of shorts to see if they fit. He whined and complained and finally tried on a couple and then told me they were all fine. Preston wanted to try on anything with a logo on the shirt, but that was about all. No pants or shorts trying on for him. But Marissa. Oh, this little girlie girl! She took every item of clothing as I sorted it and brought it to me to help her put on. When I told her no, she would proceed to put it on without help. At one point I think she had 5 outfits on. Two dresses, a shirt, a skirt with bottoms underneath and a swimsuit. And don't even get me started with shoes. The girl will not keep shoes on to save her life. The second we are in the car, the shoes come off. But she will try on other people's shoes all day long and wear them around the house, twisting her ankle several times in the process. Geez! It is such a different world having a little girl!

Jett. My step nephew turned 7 on April 11. My mom had a Star Wars birthday party for him. We had pizza, cake and an amazing goodie bag that the kids couldn't wait to open. Preston was quick to try out his new bubbles. They are his new favorite thing! He can blow bubbles for hours! Marissa again found some candy and ditched the bag while she went to devour the goods. Gotta love these kids!

Marissa is 18, 19...20 Months

Yes I had every intention of posting an 18 month update on my little lady. Didn't happen. Oh well. She is now 20+ months and keeping me on my toes. Here are a few little updates of Marissa during her early toddler time.

• She started getting her canine teeth in January (at 18 months) and pretty much had one come in every month after that. At 20 months, the chomper count is now up to 16. And yes, she occasionally uses them to chomp with...YIKES!
• Marissa is sweet and snuggly. She loves lying on your shoulder, especially when she's a bit tired.
• She also loves blankets and stuffed animals and will carry one around with her often.
• Her favorite thing to carry, however, is a purse. The girl will put anything over her shoulder to tote it around. She is such a girl that way!
• She LOVES her binkies!! It is like Christmas when she finds a long lost binkie and like the end of the world when she doesn't have one. I've got my work cut out for me in the post-binkie department for sure. Chupete is the word for binkie in Spanish and she calls them her chupies (chew-pees). She will whine, squeal or laugh saying the name, depending on her emotion towards finding or losing one. Bad news for sure! She recently figured out that she could put two in her mouth at once. Although not nearly as soothing, she realized it got a good chuckle out of her parents and will often shove two in her mouth simultaneously hoping for a good laugh.
• She started going to nursery in January. She is slightly dramatic and cries every time for a brief moment and then forgets completely that we ever left her. Unfortunately she seems to schedule her pooping during nursery so we get to experience two very dramatic drop-offs each week (one after sacrament meeting and one after the inevitable diaper change).
• She has forgotten how to smile for real. The second she sees a camera, she squints her eyes, sticks out her bottom jaw and gives you a real cheesy smile. Not sure how long this will last, but it is pretty much what every single picture of her looks like if she knows you have the camera (or video camera) out. Hilarious!
• The kid is a walking parrot. She repeats everything...and I do mean everything! I wish I had a list of words written down, but she went from a handful to a ton overnight. Her first few words were ma-ma, book, pop-pop (for Papi), baw (ball), fu-fa (her sound for dog), and duck.
• She uses her head to nod in agreement all the time rather than saying yes.
• One of her favorite phrases us uh-uh. Yeah, not my favorite, but hers.
• She gets sad if you just mention she's in trouble. She doesn't need much more than that.
• She already sits really well on time-out and knows when she is warned that she does not want to sit on the mat.
• She loves her brothers. Dylan is her protector and Preston is the one that tolerates anything from her (although lately she has had to tolerate a lot from him as his loves have become slightly too aggressive).
• She is a HUGE fan of water. She loves baths, swimming and playing in the sink. She also really likes to help with dishes (which is not really helpful, but I try to allow to some degree so she can learn).
• She has been an awesome sleeper at night and great at taking naps. She thrives on her routine. She is going through a kind of I-don't-need-or-want-naps phase though. I've got news for her though. Whether you nap or not, you get to do quiet time every day. It's the only way my day flows well with all the children home with me all day every day.
• When she coughs or chokes while she's drinking, I will often ask her, "Are you okay?" She just nods her head in true Marissa style. Now she watches for similar cues and when I cough will turn and look in my eyes and say, "Okay?" It melts my heart every time!
• There is a recently developed sibling rivalry between Marissa and Preston. I think it is Preston's rapid brain development mixed with a pretty feisty and determined toddler. Preston has somehow "learned" how to tease and is way too loving. And Marissa has learned to to scream louder and make herself heard. I always know something is awry when I hear "No! Pesss-ton! No!"
• Yeah, her s's are a little "th" sounding. And extra long.
• She can turn anything into a blanket for her baby. Her favorite thing is taking washcloths out of my kitchen drawer and bundling her little baby up with those.
• She is also a HUGE fan of her baby stroller. She could push that thing forever. Um, but she's not great at sharing yet. At all. We are working hard on that one.
• She jumps on the tramp with her brothers and is a pretty tough cookie.
• She loves to be outside and could play in the sandbox for hours. She lets you know when she's full of sand or needing to unload the extra weight in her diaper though. :)
• She loves walking up and and down the stairs now. She has always been a good little stair climber, but now tries to climb them unassisted or barely touching the wall.
• Which brings me to my next point. She is independent. Very independent! Already wants to put her pants on by herself and lets you know when you try to help her.
• She also has discovered a love of the potty. For now, we just put her on there before her baths. It's a start, but I'm not pushing her. I'm not sure I'm ready for potty training again. Just finished up with Preston last year.
• Loving and spunky. Those are the two words that describe my lady bug best.

This is most likely the face you will capture on film the minute Marissa realizes there is a camera around

The sweet, nurturing, cuddly side of our little lady

Trying to tolerate her older brother's love, but screaming for help when necessary

The princess in her fancy skirt Aunt Angie bought her with food and a sippy cup...pretty typical

Eating pizza. Sees the camera and goes for the cheesy face. This is mid-cheese and cracks me up. I'm pretty sure that is a face only a mother could love! :)

Evidence of her pure love of the binkie

Cheesy grin in the tub...one of her favorite places to be

Climbing. Yes, she can be mischievous...and adventurous. Apparently that's how we make them. I swear I'm a fairly strict and consistent disciplinarian.

Parties, parties, parties...

Two birthdays right in a row makes for some busy, but fun weeks. We pretty much spoiled the kids this year. Last year they didn't get parties with friends, just a family day filled with fun. This year we let them do both...and they got a bit spoiled with presents. The truth is, we didn't spend any more money (actually maybe less). They just got smaller parties and presents, but it seemed bigger by the time all was said and done.

Dylan woke up to fun party decorations the Birthday Bear set up the night before. He decided he wanted waffles for his birthday so we had smiley face waffles. We went up to my sister's for haircuts and then took Dylan out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant we all love. My sister and her kids joined us with made it even more special for Dylan. I took the younger kids home while Marcos took Dylan to see Star Wars episode 1 in 3D. That afternoon. he opened his many presents (most Star Wars or Ninjago related...and some cool binoculars for his bird watching). Marcos and I had a class to go to that night so we got our darling neighbor (one of my former Beehives) to come babysit. Dylan's birthday happens to fall on Dr. Seuss' birthday so cute thing that she is she came prepared with all things Dr. Seuss. She brought marshmallows dipped in white chocolate that looked like hats from Cat in the Hat and brought The Cat in the Hat to read and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish to read with a handful of sweedish fish for each kid to eat during the story. How cool is that? You should all be so lucky to have an amazing babysitter like Kylee! He got to wrap up the night with a movie of his choice, which I believe was Spookie Buddies (one of the Buddy movies...you know, the dogs). Anyway, pretty awesome day!

The next day was his friend party. We kept it simple. Pizza, a playdate, presents and cupcakes. Cheap and fun. I tried to throw in a couple games when the sword fighting and wrestling seemed beyond my capabilities to endure as a mother, but they soon decided that the human pretzel was not their cup of tea and changed to a round of duck, duck, goose. Who knew? Basically they knew what they wanted to do and required very little supervision or direction. I love that about Dylan! He is a natural leader and full of creativity and imagination. He can lead a group of kids without any trouble at all. One of my favorite things was watching his friends. He really has chosen great kids as his playmates. They all cleared their plates after eating, thanked me for the food and party and were darling with the younger kids. I looked over during presents and Kelby (Dylan's buddy) was playing with Marissa. She was sitting on his lap throwing herself back. He would pull her up again and she would giggle and giggle. I love that! Skills we are trying very hard to instill in our own children.

He was spoiled once again by his party guests. Lucky little man! Hope he realizes not all birthdays are going to be this amazing! ;)

Preston decided early on he wanted to go to the Dinosaur Park. Score! My Ogden Nature Center pass gets us in there for free. I love those multi-use passes. That one has been totally worth the money. It was preschool that day so we spent the morning at the dinosaur park, grabbed a corn dog on our way out, and dropped him off at preschool. Since his birthday comes right before St. Patrick's Day, they did a leprechaun treasure hunt that day. I'm sure he thought it was all for him! ;) He wore his Toys R Us crown I picked up for him all day and was given another birthday crown at school. What a lucky kid! He had 10 gifts from us! When I was wrapping them, I thought I'd seriously overdone it until I recapped. He's obsessed with Cars 2 and still a huge fan of Toy Story. So he's easy to shop for. Basically he got 10 small gifts all with Cars or Toy Story stuff on them and was thrilled. Most of them were educational or for church too. Bonus! Stuff like colored pencils with Toy Story characters on them, Cars 2 sticker/coloring books, and he got one actual toy...a cool Mater truck.

His friend party was also on the day after his birthday. We had all things Cars for decorations and the Birthday Bear threw in a Toy Story banner for good measure. The kids enjoyed their pizza and then headed outside to play. Milli (Preston's cousin) was jumping on the tramp with Kylie (another cousin) and hurt her leg. I think it ended up being a pulled muscle or sprain of some sort. Poor girl! Kind of ruined the party for her. We turned on a movie to take her mind off it and opened presents next to her on the couch. It helped a bit, but she was still in quite a bit of pain.

The kids LOVED the bubbles I picked up at the dollar store. Two bucks got everyone a thing of bubbles that they played with forever! We headed in for a Cars 2 cupcake and turned on Cars 2 to watch as we were waiting for moms to pick the kids up from the party. Other than Milli's hurt leg, it was a great party. Super cheap, super easy and totally fun. Preston's favorite people were there. His two buddies from church, Gabe and Owen, and two of his cousins, Milli and Kylie. He also adores his cousins Kenya and Tanner, but Kenya couldn't make it and Tanner lives in Idaho. But it really was perfect! Unlike Dylan who had to narrow down his list of 50 people he wanted to invite, Preston plays with the same people all the time so it was easy to figure out who to invite. Gotta love this kid! It was the first friend party he's ever had and he was so excited! I'm glad we went ahead and did a party for him this year. It was lots of fun for everyone!

Dylan's Baptism Announcement

Happy Birthday, Preston Santiago!

Preston turned 5 last Thursday - March 15th. I can't believe this kid is 5 already. We have had so many ups and downs with him, but he brings so much joy to our family. He is loving and guileless. He is mellow and happy. I probably say this a lot, but to know Preston really is to love him.

Preston during his 5 days in the NICU

The day he got to come home (March 19th)

6 months old - with his cousin Tony during a trip to Flaming Gorge

One year old - eating licorice at grandma's house

2 years old - climbing on the table

3 years old - playing at the park

4 years old - loving sunglasses and his own sense of style

5 years old - playing with his cousin Tanner

While we're talking about Preston, I guess I ought to update you on the therapy we have been doing. After having him go through two rounds of The Listening Program I was actually talking to his Primary teacher and trying to explain his challenges. I mentioned how much progress he had made with the listening program and how excited and hopeful we were. This lead to a conversation about a similar type of therapy her good friend does. She brought me over a pamphlet and I couldn't believe the testimonials. It was expensive so we knew it would have to wait, but I knew it was something I was going to have Preston participate in. It was one of those moments where you know you were supposed to have that exact conversation. It was an answer to prayer. Well, January came and we decided to sign both boys up for the therapy. It is called Sensory Learning. The link is to the website of the founder. The lady we went through is Mae Jae Storrs. She operates out of her home in Utah and then helps her son run a larger clinic in Kansas. Her website is in the works or I'd direct you there. Anyway, it was intense. For kids, they can't go the full hour so you take them twice a day for a half hour each time for twelve days. It was a huge commitment. After that, you take the lights home for 18 more days to finish up the therapy. Essentially it combines light, sound and motion therapy for maximum results. It helps form new neural pathways in the brain. Strange, but true. I'll be honest, it has been hard. Both the boys' behavior has had many off days (particularly Preston) but as time passes, the on days far outnumber the off days. You can see changes for up to a year as the neural pathways develop and learning increases. We finished the program just over a month ago - Feb 9 was our last day of lights. And it has been incredible to see the progress he has made. His preschool teachers asked me if I had changed his medication because he is so much more attentive and seems to follow what they are doing. I told them he isn't on meds and they were shocked. He was holding an airplane in his hand and not really talking to anyone. Out of nowhere he says, "I wonder how this airplane flies. Does it change into a rocket or something." Okay, I'm sure that seems like a normal 5 year old question, but Preston does not ask inquisitive questions like that and he definitely does not connect two concepts like that either. I was shocked! The following Sunday, he handed me his paper from Primary. He has taken an interest to coloring, but that is the extent of it. I saw the paper and started sobbing. Not crying...sobbing. Poor Preston couldn't figure out what he had done wrong. I assured him I was crying because I was happy and he just looked at me like I was crazy. He had drawn a picture of two people. Heads, eyes, mouths and a stick body. That is HUGE! He has NEVER EVER drawn a picture of people in his life. Never drawn anything. He colors and scribbles, but doesn't put a concept on paper with crayons. It still amazes me just talking about it. Anyway, we have bad days still, but we are so excited about his progress. We don't know what it all means long-term, but there is a very good chance we will have him do the therapy again next year in hopes of continuing his progress even further.