Joshua update. Joshua was a happy man when school started back up Aug 14th. He has a lot of trouble dealing with unstructured/'down time.' I know, I know. Boredom is hard on all kids. But Joshua will either 1) get completely emotional for stretches of time, crying and carrying on and/or smacking himself and the walls; or 2) make up his own fun (e.g., crawling into toilets, flooding the bathroom, etc). He has clothes galore now, seeing as how Jacob is growing out of everything he has. It seems like in just the past week Jacob outgrew all his shorts. Come on, cold weather! Grandma Priscilla got Jacob some new pants for the winter, but the warm weather pickings are pretty scarce.

It rained most the day today. Joshua, a true lover of water, played outside in the rain and had a good old time. Rachael wanted to go outside, too. But when she stepped out in the rain she then ran back in the house, yelling "I'm sorry! Raindrops!"

Our annual ARD meeting with the school district for Joshua is on Oct 6th (you have an annual ARD around their birthday). Joshua's new teacher looks like she is about 18 yrs old. She seems nice enough, but Joshua is quite a challenge. He sincerely feels he does not need to use sign language when he can grab for what he wants without asking. Also, Joshua's new teacher instituted a daily nap/movie time from 2-3. I'm not too happy about this, and a couple other things. So, I will talk to her on the phone before the ARD meeting and tell her what my concerns are. NOT looking forward to all that.

Joshua's birthday is on the 10th. I have a gut feeling that the baby is not going to be a 42, 41, or 40 week baby like the last three. But I don't want them to share birthdays, either! The countdown is on, and the excitement is building! I can't wait to see if it's a boy or a girl. I'm still thinking boy..

School is out on the 9th and 10th, and Deren is hoping to take off the Tuesday the 10th for Joshua's birthday. Deren makes wonderful, wonderful gfcf cakes. I'm not allowed to bake - I have a really bad track record, especially with gfcf. I do the frostings - yum! Anyway, prayers for Joshua on his birthday would be appreciated!