Universal Preschool

One thing I have learned about West Virginia is that it does have a universal preschool program, meaning free half day preschool 4 days a week for 4 year olds. The catch? placement is very limited as there are only a few classes in the county and in order to register you have to take your child to be tested. So, this morning at about 9am I took Alex (and had Collin and Kenzie with me) to his elementary school to be tested, along with what seemed like 100 other kids and their parents. The result? At about noon I walked out with three very hungry, whinning kids. But, I can' not complain too much. Alex did very well. He had to be developmentally tested, and have hearing, speech, and vision tests done. He passed all but his speech completely. The woman said his articualtion was very good, but his comprehension was a little lacking. He had a hard time naming colors, and counting to 10 (he always gets all mixed up with colors and numbers) and because of that had a hard time doing some of the things she asked him to do. He also didn't answer some of the questions she asked him properly, for example, she asked him "who do you live with?" and he said "my school". She said it isn't enough to be worried about, but it would warrent him being retested during the school year. So, in the end all is well, but we are all exhausted. And we don't even know yet if he will be placed in a class, but time will tell.

Happy Birthday Alex!

Today is Alex's actual birthday, at 3:04pm 4 years ago my little man arrived into this world 11 weeks early via emergency c-section. I had preeclampsia which, after a week in the hospital, caused me to go into congestive heart failure with pulmonary adema. It was one of the scariest things I have every been through, but to see my little man today, I truely know what miracles are. Even though he spent 6 weeks in the NICU, today he is the picture of health. He is developing just like any other kid his age, though maybe a little short physically. No one I have ever told of his background said they could have guessed he was a preemie.

So, today he has preschool, where they will sing him happy birthday and he gets a crown to wear. And then afterwards we are going to go out of a picnic at the park (because he has been asking for a picnic for a while). And this morning I made him pancakes and bacon for breakfast, it was his choice.

So, happy birthday little man!! We all love you so much. :-)

How well does your child know you?

Ok, so I am going to follow along and copy Beth's blog and dothis questionarre too. I asked Alex these questions and these are his own answers.

1. What is something mom always says to you?: About Kenzie
2. What makes mom happy?: When you spin around and play
3. What makes mom sad?: Spots (??)
4. How does your mom make you laugh?: A dog (I think he ment when he plays with their toy dog)
5. What was your mom like as a child?: Like a baby
6. How old is your mom?: Maybe 3
7. How tall is your mom?: Big
8. What is her favorite thing to do?: Paint
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?: Go away
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?: Cutting and painting
11. What is your mom really good at?: gluing paper
12. What is your mom not very good at?: You have germs in you and get sick
13. What does your mom do for a job?: Doing your homework
14. What is your mom's favorite food?: Pizza
15.What makes you proud of your mom?: Cutting (paper)
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?: a policeman
17. What do you and your mom do together?: Paint
18. How are you and your mom the same?: Paint
19. How are you and your mom different?: books (that we like different ones I think)
20. How do you know your mom loves you?: This much!!-with arms outstretched.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?: That daddy goes away to work
22.Where is your mom's favorite place to go?: The toy store.

So in the end I think he was talking about himself, especially since I told him he could paint when Collin and Kenzie take a nap later, so i think he has painting on the brain. I would like to know though why spots make me sad. LOL

Alex's Birthday Party

Yesterday we had Alex's birthday party, and it was so much fun! Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us. :-) As you may be able to tell, it was Dinosaur themed, and luckily the weather turned out to be beautiful, 70 degrees and no rain! It was a wonderful day.

Alex last night with his new art easel that he got from Gaga, he and Collin both love it!

Opening presents. He got lots of dinosaur stuff, an animal game, puzzles, clothes, books, a remote control dinosaur from his Uncle Tom and Aunt Sarah, and a castle play set. The trick now is to not loose all the pieces. :-)

The happy birthday boy!!

And the cake. I made this all myself. It was a lot of fun, and was pretty easy too. I love making homemade cakes for the kids.

Birthday Trip

For each child's birthday I like to do something special for them, usually on their actually birthday, if during the week, but this year we did it a little different. On this past friday Timm stayed home with Collin and Kenzie and I took Alex downtown to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and the Air and Space Museum. He had a blast!! He got to take METRO for the first time which he just loved, and then he just dragged me around the museums, I could barely keep up with him. Here are some pics from our big day (which I think I enjoy at least as much as him. :-) ).

At the Air and Space Museum they had a Cesna airplane set up for kids to sit in.

In the Natural History Museum they had a whole temporary exibit about dirt, Alex liked that they had pictures of bulldozers.

Alex in front of a mock dinosaur bone.

Alex (with his eyes closed of course) in front of a triceritops, he was so excited he could barely keep still.