Joshua the Trooper.

Josh has been a great little trooper. We had a huge promotion party for Daddy yesterday, and Josh had a blast. I had a "babysitter" for him so I could relax and visit with everyone and not wonder if he'd wandered off. The party literally spilled out of the house and into the street, thank God we had such good weather yesterday!

Back to Josh. His vocalizing has really clicked recently. He still has a far way to go with his expressive language, but it's really cool to see his new skills emerging. Once again there were a bunch of people who came yesterday and "forgot" Matt was deaf. He's doing so well! Had his first confession at church yesterday (I joked that's why we had such good weather). While Josh's progress has come slower, he really surprised me yesterday. He was trying to communicate with the babysitter, and he vocalize, w/o prompting, "Bye bye, Mama," when I would leave the room. Chris had to "interpret" for him with the babysitter, but he was trying to communicate with her on his own, and was comfortable with her. That really warmed my heart to see him so comfy w/someone other than Mommy. Especially in the total chaos of yesterday's party. He played very well yesterday, too. I don't sign with him much at all at home, but when I made sure he heard me (it was very loud here yesterday), he really understood what I was saying. That was great because usually when he gets overstimulated he kind of moves to a quiet place on his own. Heck, I wanted to do that all day yesterday, too! Well, Josh really made me proud. I feel much more comfortable leaving him with a babysitter now. Josh is very lucky to have great big brothers to look after him and help, too. :)

I've been looking at other schools for Josh, mostly because I want to be prepared in case anything happens with his current school. Not that I think or know anything will change, but it will have new leadership next year, and I'm the type that likes to be ready for change. We've had a lot of changes in the past, being prepared is my way of coping. Especially when looking out for my boys. We are using some sign with Josh now, but constantly pushing his oral and vocalizing skills, too. He's made amazing progress in the past year, but I'm still on the fence about an all oral program.

Okay, the boys are back from the park w/Daddy, I need to get moving. Josh is very much like me, craving peace and quiet. :)