Erick came & left again.  Such is the life of a family in a military medical school.  Unlike most med schools which have their 3rd & 4th year students going to hospitals all over the city, this school sends its students to hospitals all over the country.  But at least they’re paying for most of it this year.  Erick got back from Florida last Wednesday only to have to study pretty much non-stop until he took his exams on Friday.  We had Friday night & all day Saturday to spend together before Erick left at 6:30am Sunday morning.  And unfortunately, much of the time was spent unpacking & repacking.  But Joshua (& I) enjoyed what time we did have with Erick.  Now he’s in San Antonio doing his OB/GYN rotation.  We’re looking forward to visiting him in a few weeks.  It’ll be nice that we can spend Thanksgiving together, even if it won’t be a nice meal at home.

Since Erick left, we went to a local nursing home with the Moms Club for a Halloween parade.  The old folks enjoyed watching the little kids running around in costume.  Joshua had fun, especially running after the dog & cat that live there.  We trick-or-treated to 4 houses on Halloween.  Josh didnt’ really see the point but it was nice to see a few of our neighbors.  We’ll take the candy we collected to Erick (unless I manage to eat it before we leave).

Yesterday was Joshua’s first speech therapy session.  Since he’s not talking that much & seems to enjoy squealing a little too much for my ears to take, I had him evaluated by the county’s early intervention department.  He scored at or above his age level for everything except expressive communication, as I expected.  A speech therapist will come to our house a few times a month to see what we can do about it.  She said he’s really on the border of needing anything & most likely would catch up fine but we’re going to try it for a little while since that’s what the program is there for.  Josh had fun playing with her books, popping bubbles, & dancing with us.  On Monday, Joshua will be evaluated by the Children’s Hospital developmental psychologist again, as a follow-up for the study we enrolled Josh in when he was admitted there.  This is one of their routine appointments that I think he’ll have a few more of in the next couple of years.  I’m curious as to what she will say about Joshua’s development.  Last time, Josh spent much of the time just staring at the evaluators & not playing with their toys so he didn’t score as highly as he could have since he was easily doing the things they wanted him to do just fine at home.  I guess it’s his version of performance anxiety.

The DC Heart Walk is tomorrow.  Even though we didn’t raise as much money or get as many team members as I’d hoped, we’re going to have a fun time.  I’m crossing my fingers that the weather is a lot warmer than it was the last 2 years I did this walk!  My camera broke again but I went & bought a new one so that I’ll be able to take some photos of our team.  Thanks to those of you who sponsored us!  We appreciate all of your donations for the American Heart Association.