Improvements

We finally got the drain fixed in the second floor bathroom of the house we live in. It has been a pain because it wasn't something Mark could fix and we've had a hard time finding a plumber who would actually show up to do the work. We finally got a recommendation for a plumber from our previous landlord and the guy is fantastic. They were here today, done in a few hours and for exactly what they quoted. And it doesn't leak anymore. ;) If his bid is reasonable we will also be using him for the plumbing on the other house.

Dima is making leaps and bounds with his speech. He is actually spontaneously using full sentences--with all of the necessary verbs and articles!--on occasion. It's pretty rare right now, but rare is better than never which is what it had been. I'm interested to see what his teachers think when he goes back to school. I'm hoping they will be able to notice an even bigger difference than we do since they won't have seen him for 3 months. He's been working hard on his schoolwork and has been finishing his work in a much more timely manner. It's been great to be home since I've really been able to target some areas that were giving him trouble, and I'm seeing a lot of improvement in areas that he was really deficient before.

Zhenya's handwriting is so much better than it was at the start of the summer. Each day, the boys do some English (letters, word recognition, phonics, etc.), math (numbers, counting, time, money, ordinals), and handwriting. I'm not introducing any new topics to Zhenya that he will encounter in kindergarten, just reviewing the concepts he should already know and really focusing on his writing of his letters and numbers.

Danielle's legs and gait are improving! We thought we were seeing improvement but Mark measured her yesterday (nice having a PT for a husband!) and there is definite improvement in her range of motion in her legs. Today I put a wide masking tape line down on the floor and we are practicing walking heel-toe and working on her balance. She has no confidence in her ability to walk unless she is on her toes. Hopefully she will start to build that confidence. We've also been working on jumping. She can jump and clear both feet but she only comes off of the ground about an inch. Danielle has an appointment at the cerebral palsy clinic at the beginning of August, so we should know then if we need to do additional splinting or casting on her legs.

Emily's communication is really improving. She is now signing in full sentences (okay, one sentence...I-ALL DONE-PLEASE) and does a great job at mimicking new signs. We've also been working on getting her to answer questions and that has really improved. I would say she now answers a question (as opposed to repeating what was just asked) about 50% of the time. We're working on potty training and I've implemented some rewards to give her some incentive to go in the toilet. She knows what she's supposed to do on the toilet, she just doesn't tell me when she needs to go. So now she gets a chocolate chip every time she goes to the bathroom and her pullup is still dry. Of course, she's caught on and now she's asking to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes. But hey, if that's what it takes I'm all for it! She can now get herself on and off of the toilet so she can go to the bathroom completely independently, however I still go in to give her toilet paper and help her wash her hands.