Thursday

Thursday was Dom's busy morning. We had our PAT session, the first of the school year, at 8:30. Dom hadn't done well at his past few meetings with Brandie (don't know why), so I wasn't sure what to expect. He was not too receptive at first and went off to play by himself, so Brandie and I joined him after a few minutes, and he did great! He was playing and talking and smiling. Brandie brought some activities and was watching to see that what he did was developmentally appropriate, which of course it was. Actually, she was amazed that he didn't eat the Cheerios instead of stringing them onto the uncooked pasta. Brandie was so excited about Dom's progress this summer. The last time she saw Dominick in May, he had only a couple of words and threw a tantrum the whole time.

After Brandie left, we waited for the mailman, who nicely brought us the insurance check, and then took it to the bank. Dominick remembered the fans and lamps he'd seen in the offices there the previous week and immediately went to find them, no matter that people were actually using the offices this time. He ended up charming all the women in the bank, which made it much easier for me to take care of my transaction. I heard him saying "light on" and "fan on" inside two different rooms. When we left, Dom said "Bye, fan," much to the amusement of the bank employees.

Then we went home, grabbed a snack and waited for Erin. Again, Dom took some time to warm up, but once she brought out her toys, he came over and started playing. Before that, Erin had some questions and information for me. She seems like she will be good with Dominick. It will take some time for both of us to get used to someone other than Monica, though.

That afternoon, Mike made his trip to Kansas City to pick up the CR-V, so we now have two vehicles again. I'm not used to driving it yet, especially since it currently lacks an interior rear-view mirror. (The detailing shop had left it off--duh!--so the dealer is expressing it to us. We'd probably have it by now if it weren't for the holiday.)

I almost forgot--Dominick has just started saying his name and referring to himself in the third person. It's so funny because he pronounces it "Bodimick." Not too bad, actually. A neighbor girl named Isabel was over for a few minutes this morning, and Dom said her name without any hesitation. I'm looking forward to him starting to call more people by name. Until now, the only names he's used are Mommy, Daddy and Pop (my dad). He's a little confused by pronouns, like when he says "bless you" to himself or "carry you" to me when he wants to be picked up. I know that's completely normal, so I'm not concerned.

Have a nice holiday!