Spring Lambs

Today started out rough, but we overcame! ;) It was one of those school mornings where the kids just weren't getting along and I was hearing too much complaining about random things. We had a total reset at lunch time when all of the toys and games and fun things went on time-out until attitudes could be adjusted. And our afternoon was much better! We got to enjoy doing some MadLibs while eating kettle corn and Granddad came by for a visit; all fun.

One thing I have the kids do regularly is read a simple book from the shelf and then write a few sentences about it (for comprehension and writing). Jude's been reading MagicTreehouse books, but he often grabs a Bob Book for these assignments to help speed things up for him. But his greatest hang up is when it comes to writing. His fine motor skills are such a challenge. He's gotten much better, but still, just writing 2 sentences can take well over an hour for him. It's rough. It's just the way his body is wired (aspergers + sensory processing disorder + being a perfectionist) that he can't seem to get the words from his brain to paper in a regular amount of time, and he struggles to keep focused during that time. His penmanship is beautiful, though, and I'm so proud of him for how well he works at that!

Today Josh suggested that we have Jude type his "book report" on the ipad instead of writing it out to see if that would improve the time in any way. I was fine with that. So we set him up, and what do you know, he wrote 10 sentences in a matter of minutes! (Giddy mom here.) ;) The part that made us smile was how well he remembered the book; as he typed, it was as if he was remembering the sentence on each page. :) I love his brain and the unique ways he does things. I don't always think outside of the box for Jude because I want so badly for him to succeed at the "normal ways" we all do things, but frankly his brain just operates in a different way, and he can succeed doing things his way! I'm so happy to know that typing is a better way for him to write, and he can write anything if he has to, and if you have an hour to spare. ;)
We'll obviously keep working at it, but it's been holding him back. And look at our culture, we use computers for everything, so taking a keyboarding/typing class may be good to consider at this age too.

I always want to be sure to mention Jude's strengths too! He works hard to overcome a lot of things, but there are things that come easy for him too, just like all of us. This kid has an incredible memory. He is cruising through his AWANA books and is so driven to earn his jewels! I love his passion for it. His favorite school subject is math and he LOVES to do Khan Acadamy math just for fun. Josh often tells him (very tongue-n-cheek) that he can play certain video games once he masters calculus. I wouldn't be surprised if that motivated Jude to actually find a way to get there earlier than expected. ;) He also has been having fun learning the beginning stages of computer coding and organizing commands.

Yesterday Sheri and her boys came down to visit. A family in our school was hosting a "play date"/lamb visit at their farm and we loved being there to see the lambs, chickens, & our friends!