Getting Ready

Tomorrow is the day -- the twins' 4th birthday. It'll have been a year (to the day) that they started in their respective programs and they have both grown so much in that time. We've had some up and downs, some good moments and bad. I've been dealing with the frustrations of Rachel's rapid progress versus Simon's slower improvements. It actually took sitting down during his IEP meeting to realize how much he has accomplished since starting his current program. They are such different children than just a year ago. I can't remember if there was such a significant change in Daniel between 3 and 4. I don't think so. Because of their delays, I'd say that this is more like the difference between age 2 and 3. We think that (developmentally) Rachel is more like a just-turning 3 year old. Simon is more delayed (probably closer to developmentally typical 2.5 year old).

But tomorrow (assuming the snow doesn't cancel school), we'll be celebrating their birthdays not only at home (which will happen regardless of the weather) but having their birthday parties at school. Rachel will celebrate in the morning and Simon in the afternoon (so I can attend both). We've been spending much of the last few days getting ready. We did the gift shopping. We baked 3 cakes (1 for each school and 1 for home). Well, on that front, I've got to be fair. I made sure we had the ingredients and pulled the eggs and butter out of the refrigerator so it could come to room temperature, and went to the store for another pound of confectioners sugar (as we were a pound short) and Kevin does the rest. He's the chef around here. And also the cake decorator. He'll be decorating the cakes tonight.

Tonight I'm responsible for putting together the goody bags for the kids at the schools tomorrow and wrapping the presents. We hit a little snag on the presents (well, Simon's present). We decided to get them both Leap products (http://shop.leapfrog.com/leapfrog/) -- Rachel will get the TAG Learning System (no problems here) and Simon will get a Leapster 2 (problem). Daniel has one (he received it just before turning 4 as we were going on a long car trip) and Simon recently discovered it and LOVES it. So, we figured out that Simon would probably get a lot from such a device, as long as we were watchful and didn't allow him to stim on it (that's going to be the challenge). The problem is Daniel still uses his unit, and it IS his. So, we figured getting Simon his own unit would be a good thing, and Simon would get a really COOL present for a change (rather than using his brother's already used toys). Both packages arrived from the Leap Store yesterday.

Last night, we decided to set up the toys so they would be out of their packaging and allow them to jump right into playing with them. Sounds good, right? Well, the TAG system worked just fine. The Leapster had NO SOUND. That is, no sound without the headphones. Simon WILL NOT wear headphones (people who know him can attest to this). So, we found a fix online and tried it out. No go. So, I spent nearly an hour on the phone with customer service today and in 10-15 business days, we should receive a new unit. So, Simon's not getting his present on his birthday. I don't think he'll notice the difference -- we'll give him the game that came with the package and he'll continue to use Daniel's until the new unit arrives. But that's not the point. He always seems to get the short end of the stick because we can get away with giving him hand-me-downs. This time he is getting a present that he REALLY wants, and a brand new one (and "better" since it's Toy Story themed [Simon really likes those stories] whereas Daniel's is the standard green unit). The best laid plans....

But we're looking forward to the celebrations tomorrow. It's hard to believe they are nearly 4. But time moves on and they continue to grow and surprise us every day. I'll try to post pictures in the next few days of their birthday cakes/parties.