More Catching Up

It was sad to see Mom and Dad and Kyle and Linzi and Evy go, but great to welcome Scott and Ethan back home. I sure did miss them! Scott has recently moved his office to a place only a couple of miles away. It's so great to have him closer, and he loves not worrying about a long commute. Scott uses some of his extra time playing tennis at the gym. He has several friends he plays with regularly and he loves the friendly competition. It's also a great way for him to stay in shape.

Ethan got a wonderful report card for his first trimester. He's now taking Spanish, and liking it. He's been playing basketball with the scouts and soccer in P.E. and getting a lot of good exercise. He's also started wearing contact lenses, mostly for sports. He helps me a lot with Meredith, especially on Mondays when I work. He watches her by himself for about an hour until the babysitter arrives. Ethan is doing great with his priesthood responsibilites. Recently a new member told me how impressed she was with his helpfulness and maturity when he came to collect fast offerings. What a great kid!

Noah also had a very good report card. I'm so proud of how far he has come in school! We had his IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting last week. All of his many teachers said how much they enjoyed working with him and how well he is doing. He loves to help his classmates and especially encourages them to get involved in P.E. Noah is a very active kid, and physically is doing exceptionally well. He would be in the regular P.E. class if he were taller, but the teachers are afraid of him getting hurt because he is so much smaller than his typically developing peers. We just signed Noah up for swimming lessons and special olympics track. I think he's really going to do well!

The month of December was busy but fun. We had several parties to go to, including the annual Down syndrome group party. It was nice to not be in charge this year!! The kids had a great time. I'm back to writing the newsletter for our group and I love it. That's definitely more where my talents lie. I'm also once again the secretary for the young women. I love putting together handouts and invitations. Recently the church revamped the Personal Progress program and the new books are great. I'm actually going to do the program myself again, and I'm looking forward to it.

I also had a work party at a nearby German restaurant. The food was fantastic, and very filling! I sure love my job and the people I work with. All of the ladies had a special baby shower for Meredith and me and it was a blast. I am so lucky to have a job I love and only have to work at once a week. It's perfect. There were many times during dental hygiene school that I wondered if I'd made the right decision, but I know that I did. It's not glamorous, but it's perfect for me. Well, I'm not glamorous, right?!