Quick update

Sarah's doing very well. She's been handling stress better for the past week. She's communicating enough now that I'm realizing I need to stress the difference between fantasy and reality (which means she's at a preschool level there). It's not a big deal because she's starting to learn the difference, which is awesome!

I had an interesting conversation with Rachel this morning. For the first time, she calmly tried to make sure justice was kept. It started when I took Sarah's practice pad into our toddler's room (Sarah was okay with this) for him to play with. Now, mind, I'm not used to talking to Rachel about such things because she has never argued with me before like this. In fact, I was stunned for much of it.

Rachel (walks up to me): That's Sarah's drum.

Me: Yeah, it's okay, Rachel. Stephen can play with it.

Rachel (emphatic, yet calm): That's Sarah's drum. It go ih Sarah's room.

Me: It's okay, Rachel. Stephen's not going to hurt it.

Rachel (still calm, still emphatic): But that's Sarah's. It go ih her room. (Points to make sure I understand.)

Me (finally catching on): I'll put it back after he's done playing with it.

Rachel looked at me for a few moments, then turned around and went back to her room. She seemed satisfied with my answer.

She's been more picky about rules lately. It's a sign she's progressed but it's wrecking havoc with the pecking order among the kids. Up to about a year ago, our third-born was the one who acted like the eldest, making sure everyone did what they should. That shifted as Sarah progressed and the two became sort of co-eldest. But now that Rachel is becoming more concerned about the rules and acting like the eldest child (makes sense since she was born first) everything is up in the air again.

And on a completely different note, Rachel's coordination has improved quite a bit since we started giving her the flax oil. Her running is smooth now, though I can tell there's a bit of muscle weakness we need to fix, and she's starting to skip through the house on a consistent basis. And that also looks smooth. :) I'm going to test fine motor skills this week and see if there's any improvement there as well.