Things are well around here, mainly. Dorian was having some trouble with school, and I’ve decided to keep him home and home school for the remainder of this year and re-evaluate next year (based not only on his readiness, but where we are living and the schools he might attend). He is currently at one of the local Jewish private schools, and if you read my journal at http://azxuredawn.com/publicate you can read up on that. The short of it is, he really shouldn’t be in kindergarten this year anyway, but he was in EC4 last year (having been moved up from EC3) and I don’t want him dropped back into that class against his year. I decided to go with the Oak Meadow curriculum as well as a semi-local group. We’re both very excited about it! If anyone is interested, I’ll be blogging it at http://azxuredawn.com/publicate/category/all-things-natural/home-un-schooling/ We wont be starting until the first week of November. Dorian is otherwise fantastic, is all about drawing (which is great!) and wants to learn to read. I also need to get him in this week or next for a speech evaluation to decide if his speech problems are developmental or if he is just delayed and will catch up in his own time. I’m not sure which I’d prefer. He didn’t really talk much at all (other than a handful of words) till he was about 3, so I know he’s “delayed” but I think many of his problems in the classroom stem from his speech. He is 44 inches and about 45 pounds (I’d guess, we haven’t weighed him lately).

Malachai has had a low-grade fever the past few days, and he woke up this morning complaining of an earache, so off to the doctor we went (I don’t play with ear aches) and he does indeed have an ear infection. He has been fighting me about his abx, so that hasn’t been fun. He is talking so much! It isn’t always easy to understand him, but we manage. He is very soft spoken, so that’s part of it I think. I haven’t pushed toilet learning, but if he’s in underpants he lets us know when he has to go or takes himself to the bathroom, and if not, he just barely misses. I do have him in pull ups at school and at night. I gave up on cloth diapers for him about 6 months ago (hm, the baby is 8 months, I think I got tired of washing so many diapers!). He is about 30 pounds and I have no clue how tall. He was just over 3 feet at his 3 year doc appt though IIRC. He loves his classroom and friends, and is so incredibly charismatic. I am having a hard time pulling D out of school b/c the school is very very small and seemed to think it was a problem with them, but I am keeping Chai in and I think it confused them. He really loves it, so it’s fantastic.

Eshiva is standing up on her own without having to pull up on anything, crawling at the speed of light, making oodles of noise, and otherwise being your general 8 month old. She has little ringlet curls on the side of her head, very little hair on top, my mom thinks it looks like grandpa munster. She is daddy’s princess (of course). She has already started eating, thus proving all kids are different. Dorian was eating around 4 months (formula fed) Malachai had no interest till past a year (breastfed) and she loves to chow down now at 8 months, but she only gets to do so at dinner time so I can eat too. She is still primarily breastfed. She is 21 pounds and I don’t know how long (she was weighed at the doc office today too). She’s got four teeth, might be working on a couple more.

I am well. I’m headed out to Los Angeles on the 27 come back the 2. It’s my birthday present this year, yay! I am taking Eshiva, leaving all the boys home. I just got my hair done at the salon, and my hair dresser did a bang up job (it had grown out some from shaving it, but not tons). You can see it at http://photos.azxuredawn.com/thumbnails.php?album=9&page=5 it’s the last 6 on that page. I’ve taken up a fish hobby, we have a 25 gallon tank and a 20 gallon tank (ok, the 20 gallon is b/c some of our fish got nasty and I bought a tank for the twins and gave them a couple of fish, I still take care of it). I adore it and wish we had gotten fish before. We picked up a 55 gallon set up for next to nothing and I can’t wait to get it up and running. I am working a bit from the house, some graphic and web design. Same old same old I guess, but it’s little enough I can stay on top of it, and enough to give me a sense of accomplishment.

Michael is doing well, business is good. Hm, not much there lol
My in-laws were going to build another home on their land in 3 – 5 years and were going to give up their current home. Well, they are going to buy a double wide instead of building, and are thinking in the next year or so. So potentially as early as next summer we will be moving and opening a shop of our own (and art gallery if I have my way!). I am very excited about it, and sort of butterfly in the stomach scared. It’s a big undertaking. We’re saving money for the move, and to live on once we get there. Exciting times are coming up.