Update x3

So I thought it was time for a little update although there isn't too much going on right now...

For starters, we've obviously made our final decision NOT to start Cooper in preschool this year.  Literally a "last minute" decision, and technically we could still enroll him even now if we really wanted to and they'd have to take him because he has a speech plan, but after much discussion we decided not to start him yet.  A lot has changed in the last few months though.  His speech is MUCH improved and I don't think he's behind at all anymore.  In fact, I think if they did another evaluation right now he probably wouldn't even qualify for a speech plan anymore.  His last evaluation was 8 months ago in January, so I know he has improved tremendously in 8 months.  He's doing great.  He's also completely potty trained now, which was surprisingly easy.  We started him around March and he pretty much had it down within the first 8 weeks and has done great all summer.  So although he's potty trained and probably would be ready to start preschool, we still have some hold ups regarding his "would be" teacher whom Josh has met now as well...I'd rather he start with the 4 year old teacher next year, so that's our plan is to start him next year with the 4 year old class.

As for Chloe, by this time next year, she'll be almost 4 herself, but not quite yet, so if we wanted to start them together we'd have to start him in the 4 year old class and her in the 3 year old class...so I'm guess she might not start until she's 4 either, which really isn't all that "shocking" to me because I was under the impression that kids didn't start preschool until 4 anyway. LOL  So for now, nobody is starting school, but we may begin to look into "Toddler Time" or some other type of "class" they can attend to get some social interaction on a more regular basis.  They do see kids in our family or at the park or the fountains or the mall, but nothing on a regular basis, so I think we'll look into that.

Back to Chloe though, she's becoming a bit of a handful lately.  She's going through that "testing" phase where she's trying to test her boundaries with us.  We'll tell her something and she'll just stare and give us one of her diva looks, which she really does have.  She has such a big attitude for such a small girl LOL  It's "cute" to an extent, but it's also difficult to handle because we're trying to be serious with her, but we also want to laugh at the same time.  We can't always laugh though because one of the boundaries she's testing is hitting and throwing toys....big no no, so we definitely have to get serious with her then which is when she sticks out her bottom lip pouting and puts her hand down...Again, kind of want to laugh, but we have to stay firm.  This has been going on for a couple weeks now so overall I think the boundary testing phase is coming to an end thankfully. 

Although, not so thankfully, potty training has also come to an end... After about six straight weeks of training with no progress we decided she's just not ready yet.  Mentally not ready at least.  She's stubborn (one thing she got from me).  She knows what to do and knows what we want her to do it, but she wants it done in her own time.  That's my conclusion on it LOL  Which, as much as I'd like her potty trained and out of diapers, it's really not up to me, so as long as she's trained before preschool, which at this point looks like she has another two years to work on it LOL, I'm more than happy to wait until she's ready.  She has still been using the potty on occasion, but we're definitely not "pushing" it as hard as we were before.  We'll probably give her a month or two then try again and see how it goes, but she'll come around when she's ready.

And lastly is little Brode man, who's also doing just great.  His speech is REALLY taking off these days and he tries to imitate a lot of what we're all saying.  It doesn't always come out exactly right, but it's definitely close enough that you can tell what he's saying.  He has said pizza, pancakes, cheese, hot dog, and sis, all within the last few days, plus several more and a couple phrases too.  He's drinking out of regular cups or sippy cups during the day, and still having a bottle at night, which I'm not TOO worried about just yet because he doesn't seem all that attached too it, so I don't think it will be as difficult to break him as it was to break Chloe.  She'd STILL take a bottle if I let her LOL

Anyway, there's a little update on the kiddos for everyone, and as always, thanks for checking in!