Thursday, October 16, 2008

MSU homecoming game

Luke gets an MSU Bear-Grrrrrr!
Luke enjoys the slide at the tailgate party


Lily gets a butterfly on both cheeks


Lily and translater MSU student Kay


The Luke, Daddy and Lily tower






Lily captures the MSU football game on my digital camera (she is a budding photographer)



Last weekend we took the kids to the MSU football homecoming game. The Chinese professors, Sun Li and Mung Lei came with us as well as several of the students who have served as translators. There was a hugh tailgate party across the street and the college of arts and letters had a tent with all the free food you wanted. There were also fancy pretzel sticks dipped in white chocolate tied with a bow and a "diamond" ring advertising for a local catering company. By the time we walked over to the game Lily had collected over 10 of those precious stones for her ring collection. She is my bling bling girl. They had face painting for the kids, inflatables and a duck pond. We watched half of the game and then were treated to the MSU band playing at half time. Our family really isn't into football but we love the band performances at half-time.

Luke is making progress every day. He has had a hard time identifying colors but just this week got 9/9 during our color game. He is always so happy when he has success. His speech is improving and he is certainly talking for himself these days, no more stereo affect while he imitates Lily, he is his own person! I watch him at preschool concentrating so hard on a project whether it is cutting with scissors or painting, he has calmed down and focuses much better. We had his eyes checked by a specialist in Joplin who does vision therapy. He said Luke's eyes were very healthy but he is slightly far-sighted. He didn't feel it was a problem at this point in his life but we will check him again in 6 month. I also want to have his speech checked and MSU has a wonderful department for this and it is right across the street from his preschool. At times his speech is crystal clear and at other times he is rambling on and on telling a story and I cannot make heads or tails out of it. He is still my sweet wonderful boy and we have grown very close, I cannot imagine our family without Luke. He lights up like a Christmas tree when he sees me or John when we pick him up but at the same time he loves school and playing with the kids. He is very social. When we are in a situation with kids we don't know Luke is the first to jump right in and interact with them. It has been delightful to watch the changes in his personality.