Whew, we've been busy!

We've had an action packed couple of weeks here! We really enjoyed having Erik home for 5 days over Thanksgiving, and celebrating his birthday as well. We had a couple of friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. Over that weekend, Stephen discovered the somersault. In the beginning, he needed a bit of assistance, but by the end of this past week, he just needed a little help steering so that he didn't run in to anything. As soon as we ask him if he wants to do a somersault, he runs over, puts his hands on the ground, tucks his head, and pushes off with his feet! These pictures were from last weekend, when he was just learning.

As you can see, he REALLY enjoys this particular activity! Now, he has added running to the mix, and does his somersault, runs around a bit, and then comes back to do another. It's really no wonder why he eats as much as he does, given his activity level!

This past Friday, Stephen was evaluated for preschool! As usual, he was stubborn and a bit uncooperative, but we are pleased that he WILL be getting to go to preschool starting in January. He really hit it off with the speech therapist who will be working with him as well, which was a relief, as he never really clicked with the one he used to see (those services stopped since he is almost 3). It wasn't really her fault, or his. I think she just happened to start working with him right when his sleep apnea started to get bad, and he was just cranky, and hard to get along with. They seemed to do better with each other these last couple of months though. Anyways, he will be going to preschool at the "Big Kid School" 4 mornings each week, and then will continue at Children's Day Out on Fridays, so that he doesn't have to leave his friends. We are all very excited about preschool! The school has been recently renovated, so the facilities are top-notch, and his teacher was very nice. There will only be a few other people in his class, too, so he will get a lot of one-on-one attention. We never wanted Stephen to NEED extra help with his speech, but we are so grateful that these services are out there so that we can take advantage of them!

The biggest thing coming up right now is our Big Boy's birthday!!! Even though it isn't until next Monday, we are going to celebrate it on Saturday. We aren't having a party this year, but Stephen's Grandma Janet and Grandaddy will be here, so we are going to open presents on Saturday and have cake after we got to the tree farm for our Christmas tree! Unfortunately, on his birthday, Stephen will be having a minor medical procedure done to remove a small, benign cyst from in front of his right ear. That was the best date we could get to have it done, unfortunately, but we don't figure that a 3 year old really cares about the actual DATE of his birthday - just the presents and the CAKE!!! I'm making him a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting this year - a favorite on my side of the family!!