Lost a tooth!

Yesterday afternoon Sean showed me that he had a loose tooth. It didn't look too bad, and besides, wouldn't he have mentioned it before if it was really loose? Well, after we put him to bed, we were watching television in the living room. We heard him call for Michael. After a minute, Michael called for me! Sean's tooth had come out! We calmed Sean down and got him to lay back down. Then we had to go figure out the tooth fairy thing! It sure seems like we are doing this parent adventure on fast forward!

We also met with Sean's psychiatrist yesterday afternoon. He was amazed at the difference he saw in Sean since he saw him last month. He was supportive of our cutting down on Sean's medication. However, he spent the time talking to us, not Sean. I thought psychiatrists were supposed to do some counseling, too, not just write a prescription. We were in there 15 minutes. Fortunately, the guardian ad litem is arranging for some counseling for Sean. Maybe that will give him some real coping skills and truly help with the trauma he has experienced.

Sean Prays

Ok several days ago, I told y'all about Sean praying for the first time. He simply repeated what I said. Hearing that sent my heart soaring. That was nothing compared to tonight. Tonight he prayed all on his own. I prompted him to pray and was going to let him repeat what I said. However, he started the prayer all on his own and with only a VERY small amount of prompting he prayed all on his own tonight. Right now the prayers we pray focus mostly on just thanking God for people and animals, but I figure that is the best place to start. I know that it has to bring a sweet tear to God's eye to hear the prayers of one so innocent and precious because it certainly brings a tear to my eye.

I must say that I am continually amazed by God's blessings. He has surrounded us with so many people that we can go to for support and for advice and guidance. I don't know where I would be without people like my mom. Sean acts so much like I did when I was his age that I am constantly calling my mom to give me advice on how to handle him. I figure I might as well go to the expert on this.

Thank you to the rest of you for your wisdom, advice and guidance. We couldn't do this without you.

Sean meets Micah

This morning Sean finally asked about the ultrasound photo hanging on our wall. After the miscarriage, as part of my healing, I used some of my scrapbooking materials to make a nice mat and framed our one ultrasound of Micah. It hangs in our dining/living room. Sean asked me about it. I was instantly very emotional and had to leave the room. Michael explained that I had been pregnant, but the baby died and is in Heaven with my mother. Sean was very quiet and thoughtful. He came over and put his arm around me and gave me a kiss.

Shower and first family photo

On Sunday, Gammie took our first family photo together, plus Beau.

Today my school had a "welcome home" shower for us. Here are some pictures.

We also have a praise! Sean had a good day at school today! We had to tell him that if he misbehaved any more this week he could not attend a friend's birthday party on Sunday, but he behaved!

Prayers needed

Parenting has been going as smoothly as possible for us. Sean is a joy and has made our home feel complete. Right now I have a driveway full of sidewalk chalk drawings and LOVE it!!!!

We do need some prayers for wisdom. Sean is acting out in school. We are trying to discipline him while still emphasizing our love for him and his permanence here. We would appreciate any prayers you can send our way in that department.

Meanwhile, we had an IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting for him on Friday. We sat down with his special education teachers and got some very good reports. He is making progress. All of his teachers report that he is a much happier child since coming to live with us. However, we are planning to have him repeat first grade next year. While he is progressing, he is just now where he should be at the end of kindergarten. Since his birthday is in the summer, holding him back will be easier. We hope that this will give him the head start and self-confidence he needs to succeed further.

They joys of parenting

Ok, let me just ath I really thought my heart was going to explode with love and joy tonight.
"Why?" you ask.
Well, I am glad you did. I got to experience listening to my son pray for the very first time. Every night at bedtime we all climb into his bed (he has a full size bed), and we read a story. Right now we are reading Prince of Egypt. It is a long book so we read a few pages each night. After we read pray. I always ask him if he would like to pray. He usually says no, so I pray. Well, tonight I asked him and his response was, "I am not any good at praying." I used a technique that my mom told me used with my niece Sydney. She told me to have him repeat after me. I asked him if he would like to do it, and he said sure. As I prayed and was thanking God for people, he would repeat it. He even started adding people himself. It gave me such great joy to hear it. He is still really new to all of this prayer stuff, so it really is a big deal. This just blessed his mom and I so much.

SNOW!

We realized we still hadn't posted pictures of Sean. Here he is from Read Across America Day today at School.

The past two nights have been much easier. There has been no sleepwalking or bedwetting. Getting ready for school today was a little tough, but we just need to get into a routine.




SNOW!! We had about 3 inches in our yard on Sunday.



Michael, Beau, our neighbor Camden, and Sean.