play play play

We have been doing LOTS of playing lately... it is just too pretty to sit inside all day, so we have been spending lots of time in the yard. Not all is lost though... their bodies and imaginations get a work out when we are outside. We find bugs, we pick flowers, we play with the dogs. Alex loves driving her mustang and Emma pushes her little cozy coupe. For some reason they are both loving picking grass and loading up their cars. Sometimes they are just playing, sometimes they pretend that the grass is something specific (things they went shopping for). For example, they love to get in their cars and tell me "Bye Bye, see you later!" and then head off. When I ask where they are going the answers range from: to therapy, shopping, to church, to Poppy's house, to Nonnie's house, to Ms. Lisa's house, etc. Today I think they were playing drive through because Alex was 'ordering' cookies and ice cream from Emma. They must have learned this at the park last week while playing with a few other little kids on the playground. So, while these things show some creativity, I am still trying to encourage their little minds as much as possible. I ask them where they are going shopping, what they are shopping for, if they will get me certain things, etc. In addition to all of these great things about playing outside, Alex can sit in her car and play for hours without ever having to fall down.
We still read at least a book or two every night before bed. The Three Little Pigs seems to be a great book to read slowly and ask lots of questions, so we keep reading that one on a regular basis. Alex pays close enough attention and is now able to answer simple questions about what will or what already happened in the story. Ms. Heidi has been reading her Goldilocks and the Three Bears in therapy and last night I was asking Alex about the story. I asked her what it was about and she was able to tell me the main characters. When I asked what happened she said "it broke", and after some more prodding from me (like I didn't know what happened) she giggled and told me Goldilocks broke the chair. I'm so happy she is making this progress. Emma is mainly concerned with getting to turn the page when we read, but at least now she is willing to wait until I read one page before she turns it. In the not so distant past we would have tiffs over her wanting to turn the pages at her whim. Progress!
Oh, labeling ordinary objects around the house doesn't seem to have helped with word recognition in any way. It does, however, make people think I'm crazy when they come over and see what I've done! So, the labels are coming down and we will just continue our repetition and working on Alex's prereading skills. She is having a full neuro-development evaluation on September 22-23 at Children's Mercy Hospital. Once that eval is complete the doctor may be able to give me some insight on the most important things to work on and any specific approaches that may be most helpful to Alex (and to Emma)... based on her developmental level (which we already know is quite delayed) and what will be the most important to learn before she loses the ability to gain skills, as well as what will help her the most once she begins losing abilities in the future.