Happy Valentine's Day!

Destin had a good day at speech on Monday. He is learning to use his speech device more and more. His new speech therapist, Jenny, is please d with his progress and willingness to use this form of communication.

He had another round of immunization this week. Sheri said that he didn't even cry afterwards. He's better than his old man.

We have been pretty mellow for Valentine's Day today. Destin had a party at school. He got a nice stash of candy and cards. We vegged out this evening which was nice.

The painting of the kitchen continues. The ceiling is finished and the walls are prepped; ready to be primed. I'm hoping to finish this weekend with the extra buffer of President's day.

January (and February) Adventures

It has been a crazy January; Good, but crazy. We were able to head to Nashville for our friends, Nathan and Brittany's wedding. It was an absolute blast to spend time with them and other friends in NashVegas. I was able to crash there for 10 days. I worked it out with my job so that I could be remote for a week. It was nice.

I suppose I should mention Gran and Pop Pop and Ty and Brandi as well. :) Destin was well looked after by his grandparents, uncle and aunt to be. Which if you haven't heard is big news in the Hirsch fam. Ty proposed to Brandi in December and they are getting married on September 13 of this year.

We have planned a third trip to Nashville in May. Our friends Bill and Molly are getting married. Needless to say, this is the year of the weddings for us. Which is a little crazy because we've seemed to have had 2-5 every year.

Destin has been doing the serial casting with his physical therapy since December. The cast is like one you would get if you had a broken bone and starts at his foot and goes up to the bottom of his knee. He gets casts cut off and put on again each week. With each iteration of these castings, his foot is set in a deeper stretched position. The goal is to get more flexibility in his lower legs.

We are happy to say that the process ended today with the cutting off of his final casts. He is relived that it is over, and so are week. It isn't a horrible process, but it isn't the most convenient either. The best thing is that it helped in stretching him out. We have some new instructions from our physical therapist and we'll get cracking on those ASAP.

Sheri had Destin's parent/teacher conference this week too. I, unfortunately, had to travel for business so I missed it. The conference was good, the teachers really enjoy Destin. On a serious note, the three of us have some decisions to make for next year that may not necessarily be fun. We have his Individual Education Plan (IEP) meeting coming up that will talk about what Destin needs to move on to kindergarten next year. From what we've talked about thus far he will move on next year because of his birthday.

We aren't necessarily sure he's ready for kindergarten. Every parent feels this at some point as their child moves into something that is unknown or challenging. Destin will have to have a great deal of help in the classroom which we are grateful for. There are wonderful helpers and programs that we will be able to take advantage of. We just want to make sure that school starts out as a pleasant experience for him. It is the balance of what the experts are telling us and what we want for our son.

I didn't mean to end on a downer tonight, but this has been on our minds recently. That's what the site is about anyway.

On the lighter side, we have a busy weekend planned. Sheri is going to spend some time with her friend Jill; I will be putting my painting clothes back on and starting on our kitchen; and the D-man will be hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Stackpole.

I'll be back with details...