Friday, January 15, 2010

Starting Over?

Since I am finally starting to feel better, even without medication, I really want to get started in Tot School activities with Isaiah. I'm a girl who loves routines and really gets so much more accomplished when I have a routine. For the past several months my routine was get up, get sick, take Isaiah to therapy, try to survive the day.

Now we're back in Russia, and my routine has been adjust to jet lag, get up, get sick, try to survive the day and have some meaningful interaction with Little Man.

I'm ready for more! However, I'm having a really hard time finding a starting point in providing structure for both of us. I would appreciate any suggestions!

There are certain elements that I know need to be included every day, but I currently begin to feel overwhelmed when I try to think about fitting them all in! Here's the short list:

~Bible Reading
~Physical Therapy (walking, arm strengthening exercises)
~Occupational Therapy (I want to focus on hand coordination for now, thinking ahead to writing)
~Speech Therapy (increasing vocabulary)

And then the more "school" type activities can often be fit into the therapy categories, such as learning colors and numbers and letters.

And here are the other things I'm hoping to fit in every day:
~Grocery shopping, at least every other day so Thomas doesn't have to do it all. This will involve at least 2 hours of the day.
~Outside time for at least 1 hour. It takes us about 25 minutes to gear up for going outside, so I'd like to be there for a while.
~Rest time
~Reading time, books other than Bible Reading time
~Independent play

Am I asking too much? Perhaps I am, but I would appreciate the insight of others! I think that part of my struggle, too, is simply remembering that Isaiah learns differently than other kids. During our time in the States we became increasingly aware that while Isaiah learns well and continues to progress, there are definitely some delays. I have to constantly find that balance of pushing him, but not looking for things that aren't going to happen on a "normal" schedule. I want to make learning fun for him, just like every parent, I think. I want to learn him well, so that I can help him in the best way possible.

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