Balloons, Bouncing and Drunk Chickens

We returned from our jaunt to Wisconsin and the Twin Cities last night.  We had fun seeing my grandparents again in their apartment, staying at the farm with my mom and going to the Northern Wisconsin State Fair (Anju's first fair experience).  We also went to Fort Snelling with my parents and brother, and Anju attended her first parade in my hometown.  Anju was happy to see her "dad-n" again after a week apart.

  

Anju at her first fair- with her first balloon! 

  (We had been told to watch for a latex allergy (common with spina bifida),

 but did not notice any problems--yay!)

Solveig at the fair with a patriotic elephant.

Jonah's fave, Smokey the Bear.

Great-Grandma bounces Anju on her leg and sings a little Norwegian rhyme

 just as she did her own children and grandchildren.

  Great- Grandpa looks on.

Only in Wisconsin.....do the chickens all get provided with beer cups.

Now FINALLY we have a block of 3 weeks dedicated to staying home and enjoying ourselves.  Maybe some grilling, lemonade, swimming in the lake near our house, and just plain laying back for once?  I'm mostly looking forward to doing a sane amount of laundry each day and not having to do 5 or 6 loads in a mad dash to pack for the next endeavor.  

The early intervention people came this morning to give Anju the full Bayley evaluation to see exactly where she needs assistance with her development.  They'll be back on Thursday afternoon with the special education teacher to go over the results and help us come up with a workable plan.  We were happy today when they came with documents for us to sign which give us the power to take whatever services we want that they will offer, and the power to say "no thanks" if we desire. 

My hopes are that they will line her up with some sort of ESL speech therapy.  She has an extensive vocabulary in her head, but little ability to express her knowledge, even with her growing collection of signs.   They did also comment that she is doing so well--but is pretty wobbly with running/stair climbing and needs to do a lot of balance checks to keep herself upright.  I'm sure her leg weakness is contributing to this, and I hope to get some guidance from them as how to help her maximize her gross motor potential.

Solveig and Jonah started swimming lessons today.  For Jonah, it was his first time, and there were tears from his little face as he got lost trying to find the boy's locker room, and again after the lesson because he was too scared to do all the skills by himself.  He said he had a good time, though, and wants to go back.  Thank goodness.  I paid for 3 weeks and he's going whether he likes it or not!  :-)