Mr Jakell...

Things with Jake are going really well and I'm very proud of how he's doing.  He finished up with Occupational Therapy on Wednesday (yay!!). His therapist is very happy with his fine motor development and she's confident that he's ready for Grade 1 now.  She was very emotional to say goodbye to Jake, while he was less than impressed to hear that he wouldn't be going there play again.

It has been a very expensive exercise and one that I didn't really believe in until now.  Jake was assessed as having slightly delayed fine motor skills and slight problems with his mid-line crossing.  I assumed that these things would rectify themselves, since he had reached all his early milestones well within the set times.  Jake was crawling at 5 1/2 months and walking by 9 months.  By his first birthday, he was running around like a lunatic.  At the time, I presumed that my perfect little boy would never have a problem in his life.  Let alone a mid-line crossing problem, which in turn causes delays in fine motor skills (apparently).  I was wrong, it makes absolutely no difference when kids crawl or walk.  The OT couldn't possibly do him any harm, so I paid up and sent him.  Even when he started the classes, I still believed that as he matured, he'd iron out these little niggles on his own.  Needless to say that I've been proved totally wrong - his progress in the last 6 months has been phenomenal and I'm really impressed by his achievements.

Added to that, he had an excellent report at the end of term 3 and I'm very excited to see him moving onto big school in January (and a little sad that my baby's growing up so fast!). 

Speaking of big school, we have been invited to a school orientation evening on the 9th of November, where the kids will meet their teachers and be shown their new classrooms.  There's a meeting for the parents explaining the ins and outs of the new year - quite daunting for a first timer.  Jake's very excited about moving up, although I can't imagine he'll be too impressed about having to wear a uniform.  I'm looking forward to the new challenges that it'll present him and he's super excited about learning how to read and write.

Other than that I've had various people commenting positively on the recent changes in Jake's behaviour.  While his listening skills are up to maggots, he seems to have calmed down a lot recently.  I think he feels settled in himself, knowing that there's a man around who is "his".  Previously, it seemed as though he was scrambling for attention, especially from men.  Now, he's content to go off and play with the other kids, ignoring the grown ups almost entirely.  It might just be an age thing, but I do think that he's just generally feeling happier.  Along with the good, does come some bad.  Like I've already mentioned, his listening skills are not so great at the moment and I'm hating having to ask him 15 times to get dressed/brush his teeth, etc.  He's also a little rude in his attitude at times, but I suppose he still has a lot to learn socially.  It's a constant battle to remind him to use his manners and get his little jobs done.  Parenting is hard work!  He'd be a total couch potato/wii junkie if I didn't restrict him.  The wii has become a very useful discipline tool though, so it has it's benefits.  But that aside, I'm really enjoying my little boy at the moment, I think he's very sweet, sometimes very naughty too, but I'm very proud of him and of the little boy he's turning out to be.  He's had a lot to deal with for such a little kid and I think he's on the right track.  I know it won't be too much longer before he'll be too embarrassed to be seen out in public with me, let alone hold my hand, so I'm treasuring each and every special moment.

Enjoy your weekend - we're off to the Marina this afternoon, I can't wait!!

Sue XXX