Today I went to the transition meeting for moving Elias' speech therapy over to his new school in August. The speech therapist thinks that he has made tremendous progress over the past year and doesn't think he needs the twice weekly sessions he has been having. She suggested moving him to monitoring which means that twice a year or so, she will evaluate him again and make sure that his speech isn't slipping back into what it was. She also told me how much she enjoys working with Elias and what fun he is to have in her office. I don't know if I believe that. These days, Elias is not getting enough energy out during the school day, and so he has plenty of energy left over when he gets home to stir the pot. Constantly. The first day of Kindergarten cannot come soon enough.

Right now, we are getting through the baseball season; there are two weeks left. Swim team started on Monday and the guys were so thrilled to see their coaches again. I am really happy that the coaches came back since they are so patient and kind to the guys. It amazes me how they seem to truly enjoy what they are doing and love spending tim with the kids. This year, there are 22 under six year olds -- 18 of them are boys. What a group. They are like pachinko balls -- shot out of a cannon and they don't stop for the entire hour they are in the pool. The 8 and unders are a much smaller group. Andy and Benjamin are in this one and there are only about 14 kids with them. Benjamin seems to have remembered everything from last year and is just a tiny bit rusty. Andy, however, seems to have forgotten everything he learned and is dog paddling around the pool. I couldn't believe it. Neither could the coaches. I asked him what he was doing in the pool and he got all upset (I was irritated because of something James had done and, I have to admit, it didn't come out very nicely). So, last night, to show Andy that he wasn't the only one to have to work on his swimming, I took him to my practice and swimming lesson. I think he was really impressed with the size of the pool and how fast some of the swimmers were going. The other reasons for Andy coming with me was to see that I still am learning stuff about swimming and to meet my swim teacher, who will be teaching all three of the guys for two solid weeks this summer (every single day!). Andy said that Coach Geoff was really really nice.

In other news, I am getting back into the habit of riding my bike out on the road more than one day a week. This is a great thing, but it is already getting warm and I need to go out earlier and earlier. The sun is up by 5:30am, and I am hoping to work a deal with Ron so that I can go out for 2 or 3 hours and he will stay with the guys until I get home. This means that he will be home a little bit later than usual, but it may be worth it.

The desert is continuing to bloom and the flowers are amazing. The saguaro cactus are also starting to bloom; I will try to get a picture since they have the strangest looking things. The saguaro looks like it has grown a crown of flowers. It is difficult to get a picture since the ones that are actually getting their crown in order are about 10 feet tall, but stay tuned! I will give it a shot!