The Long Awaited Update....

Well I keep meaning to blog about Thanksgiving and Christmas and then I just don't want to do that much catch up so I'm going to just start with NOW--April! Ok with you? We had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas and leave it at that.

We are coming up on their 5th birthday! I cannot even believe it.

Some updates or things you have missed--

1. Ryan is currently going to an Occupational Therapist (OT) for fine motor skills delays. He has a hard time writing, holding the pencil correctly, and doing tasks like buttoning/zipping and basically anything where using the fingers is involved. He also doesn't cross his midline when catching/throwing balls so he is working on that too. That started in January and already he has made progress. We go once a week for an hour. He loves it there so it's no problem going. It's expensive though!!

2. Ryan fell off his bike on the driveway and got stitches on his chin on April 5th. That was our first trip to the ER. The smell of the hospital soap brought me right back to NICU days. Interesting how a smell can trigger memories. He said he was doing a trick. Of course the accident hasn't slowed him down in any way.

3. Kaylie has come out of her shell (a little) socially. She plays with the girls on the street and actually talks to them now. Still only says just a little bit at school. I'm a little worried about Kindergarten next year. I hope she will come out of this social anxiety with age. She is completely different at home so why can't she be that way at school???? Drives me nuts.

4. Still no hair regrowth for her. She lost her last batch of hair in March 2011 and we haven't seen more than a light fuzz that never seems to grow. It just falls out again. So far she doesn't seem care that she has no hair and doesn't appear bothered by it. She has wondered why she has no hair and everyone else does. I tried to explain alopecia to her. I have shown her other kids with it so she knows she's not the only person with it and I have a few books that we still have to read. I know next year there will be a lot of questions from kids at their new school. I really want her to be able to tell them what it is but with her shyness I don't think that is going to happen. She loves to do my hair. I can rock 'the 20 hair clips at one time' look really well. She may end up a hair stylist one day. Who knows.

I really like this age. Still hard at times with strong willed personalities and the fighting that goes on. They are becoming so much more independent and actual kids, not babies anymore. They question everything. They are learning and growing everyday. It's exciting to witness.

That's all for now folks!