Update on the Beasties

Today is Umberto's ninth birthday. Hard to believe that my little baby boy is now nine...not so much a baby anymore. He's a real nine too with smelly armpits, and hormones galore. He's still a Star Wars geek but has branched out. He's a video game whiz (not sure where he's got that talent from). He loves to build things, and is curious about the world around him. He's also great at math (again not sure where that's come from either). He's friendly, charming and handsome. Has many friends, and the ability to just acquire people where ever he goes. He's nuts about Piper and good friends with Camille. Of course he's also overly sensitive and prone to tantrums (totally know where he gets that from). Like all my children he's very passionate.

His party is Saturday but we'll be celebrating tonight with Mexican food.

In other updates, the kids have been accepted at CCS. We've decided that they will be going back to school. They're both excited about this change, and we're confident that we're making the right decision. It's not easy raising these little people but we try our best. I think that the social component alone makes school necessary. And they do learn a great deal there. Really we are their teachers as well, and I feel that we can still rasie the independent thinkers we want them to be with them in school. I'm feeling good about the changes at CCS, and have strategies to control my own visceral reactions to things happening at school.

Other news is that we are going to start the process of seeing if Camille has Asperger's Syndrome. I've been concern for a long time about her social skills, and lately these concerns have peaked. Last year her total inability to acquire friends had me concerned, and I began to watch her more closely. She wants so desperately to be friends with other kids but seems unable to make these connections. There is an oddness to her that the other kids pick up on. She is unable to read social cues, and her reactions to people reflect this inability. We've also noticed some behaviors like her hand licking that seem off. We're hoping that if we can figure what's going on we can get her the help she needs in interacting with the world around her.