Happy Birthday Amir -- 47 Weeks!

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Happy birthday little man! You have been much, much happier this week since getting some antibiotics on Monday. After another tough weekend I took you in again and found you had a double ear infection on top of your nasty rsv cold. Poor kid! Apparently it's common to have ear infections wth rsv, but no one told us that! Thankfully, the drugs seem to be helping and you're not only clearly feeling better, you're also back to your mischevious antics. 

You are loving the freedom of cruising on the furniture and sometimes stand on your own, but only if you're not thinking about it. You like your walker toy and walking with our hands. I'm sure it won't be long before I'm chasing you down the hall!

You're eating well again and have started drinking from a sippy cup just a little. Tonight you loved green beans and chicken for dinner. You had mashed potatoes and gravy and carrots at Faye's for lunch. You had a few bites of our shared pretzels at Target too. And you were able to get a drink through the straw of my soda all on your own. Big boy!

You are very fun to play with these days and amaze me with your words. You don't speak often, but when you do, you're either using two words phrases or just an outstanding mimic. I have been trying to teach you to sign "all done" for months now, but you never do it. Tonight I did the sign and asked, "are you all done?" To which you very clearly, if hesitantly replied, "All done." What?!?! You also started singing along to twinkle twinkle this week. On several occasions if I stop, you continue the song in your best approximation of the words. You do the hand motions too and when I asked if you wanted to do it again one night this week, you said, "little star". Really?!?! I don't know if I can handle two highly verbal children. 

In other news, you are into touch and feel books. Tonight at therapy you cruised to the bookshelf and realized there was a fuzzy animal book. First you petted it, then you rubbed your face on like you do to your blanket. You're clearly vary tactile. That's probably also why you LOVE when I brush your hair. You even like to brush your own hair. There must be something about the sensory input on your head that makes you happy.

These pasty white goofballs enjoyed some shaking time while Lyla had her vest treatments last week. They sat there together, mouths open, listening to the ahahahahahahahah noise their voices made. Amir is loving play time with Lyla and she reciprocates. It's great to watch them develop their sibling bond. Lyla often feels responsible for Amir (I don't know why), but when they're playing, they can both just be kids. 

Lyla has had a great week back at school after staying home Thursday and Friday last week. She had seven sheets of makeup work in her backpack on Monday and willingly finished them all up in one sitting. Usually she isn't excited about homework, so I'm grateful for whatever motivated her that night. Tonight I felt a sharp stab to my librarian heart when she told me she hates reading and that she doesn't want to read because "all it is is recognizing your sight words". Hopefully she'll come around. 

Meanwhile, she LOVES math and creates worksheets for me. I think half the reason she gets frustrated with homework is because it's all rework from class and she gets bored with it. I'll have to make sure I stay on top of it and bring it up during her IEP review next month. She definitely has Masud's math brain -- it just comes naturally for her. Tonight I was impressed when she wrote out a birthday card for her friend Avery. All on her own she wrote, "I love you. You are a bes fren. Love, Lyla" so proud of my smart cookie!

We're excited for Avery's party this weekend. It will be Lyla's first drop off party. I booked a photo session for Amir and me while she's at the party. Can't wait to get some fun shots with my little man -- and some birthday pictures too. T-5 weeks to his birthday! Aaaah. I can't believe it. We're also going to see Uncle Ryan in HMS Pinafore this weekend. The photos from last week were amazing and mom said he stole the show -- I can't wait! So proud of him for doing such an awesome thing to develop himself. I have a feeling this is just the first of many opera performances for him!