Horray...

Two things to hooray about...
FIRST, Andrew Has shown us that he has the ability to jump with both feet!! You have to realize that this is GREAT! He has never been able to clear both feet from the ground at the same time! He is so proud of his accomplishment and so are we. We see this as a HUGE step in his progress from his surgery. He tries to hop all the time now and he & Matthew have been playing hopping games on our kitchen tiles. (so cute)... To the average toddler, hopping with both feet usually happens around 4 years old. He is not too much behind but has had a really hard time with it. Matthew is not quite four yet but has been hopping for quite some time because we've been trying to "Teach" Andrew to do it. Matthew seems to catch on quite fast with things and mostly because he is observing us "teaching" Andrew to do things. Things that should come naturally to children. But since Matthew sees us, he tends to chime in that he can do it and loves to show off his skills... mostly for attention.

But anyway, the second bit of news is that Pyramids got the Revision from the State Education that they were looking for. you can read more on it at http://pyramidscdc.blogspot.com for more info. But in other words, Pyramids will be staying open and we plan to have both boys enrolled for the summer. Matthew will continue with Preschool next year there and full day child care... Andrew will be enrolled in their after school program and will get off the bus there after Kindergarten. We are so pleased that we will not have to look for other preschools or daycare. Thankfully this happened, because the other preschool that we considered enrolling Matthew next year is having some difficulties also. There has been some turmoil there surrounding a few teachers and thankfully we will not have to reconsider Again~ The boys will stay where they are for now. Hopefully Pyramids can raise some more funds to keep the programs going, since the State Education money still is not enough to keep them out of the "red" but having the revision does help offset those high costs of providing the excellent care that they do.

The boys' school...

So we've been a bit stressed out since the news that our boys' school may be in jeopardy. If you'd like to read more they have set up a blog at pyramidscdc.blogspot.com

We'd like everyone to support us and try to help our school.

Here's our dilemma. Andrew receives his physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and his Special Education Itinerant Services along with his 1:1 aide and preschool all at Pyramids. Matthew also attends pyramids as a preschool student and we utilize the all day child care they provide. The boys have been going to Pyramids since they were infants. They have become like a family to us and we really have a connection with the families and other children. Without this school there are a large number of children who will have to find other means of childcare and preschool which is not widely available in our area. Not to mention all of the children that will not be able to recieve their Special Education services. They are the only school of this kind in our area. The problem is that there is a shortage of State Ed money to fund the programs which is making it difficult for Pyramids to continue their programs. Another school BOCES here, ran the program before Pyramids did and were in debt for the last 10 years they provided service.

So now, if Pyramids is unable to provide these services, we will have to try to find other means for Andrew to receive his MUCH needed services. Services that he cannot go without. We could possibly have his services provided at home, but that would mean that one of us would have to be home for that. That would mean a huge amount of time off work. Time that we cannot afford to lose. We could possibly try to enroll him in another child care program, but that's if he can get in. All of the possible schools have a waiting list a mile long. Or at least the ones we would consider. Not only can Andrew not go without his therapy program, but it would leave us without childcare for the both Andrew AND Matthew. Matthew will have to be separated from all of his peers and will have to attend another preshcool. But our area only provides half day preschool and we would have to make sure to have someone bring him to preschool in the morning and pick him up when preschool is done. With both of us working full time, there just is no time available for us to be able to do that unless one of us does not work or can take a lot of time off. Thankfully Andrew will be starting kindergarten in the fall, but we still have to have afterschool for Andrew too, which Pyramids was where he was going to go after school.

So as you can see our dilemma. It's not even the half of our concerns! It's just a few and you cannot immagine the sadness it brings that we may have to send the boys somewhere else. We love their school and the teachers and we just dont want to have to send them somewhere else. There is no place in our area like it!

Where's the warm sun???

So far, our spring has been dry but cool. We're waiting for the temperatures to warm up. We've been able to golf a few times this spring and were able to play in a tournament last Sunday that we took 3rd in. Sean won "straightest shot" and hit closest to the line! We could have played better but with the wind and a course that only Sean has ever played once and the rest of us have never played, We did pretty well considering.

The boys are enjoying Tball and looking forward to the warmer temperatures so they can go swimming at the beach and the Grandparents' houses.

Here are some Tball photos.. click on the image to see more.

TeeBall