eSpecially Ben

This weekend I ran my ninth race of the year - Run for Mercy - at Reedy Creek Park. It was a 5K trail race, organized by an international organization, Mercy . They raised over $21,000 for the local chapter. If you are not familiar with this organization, check it out. They do amazing things for girls in crisis world-wide. And they also know how to plan a race. With "door" prizes, kid games, a fun run, kind-of superheroes ( Captain Salvation , Monkey Joe and the Cow from Chick-Fil-A ), food and drinks, the race was a true family event. The race was well-orchestrated with water available on the trails and volunteers directing us at every turn. I have been running these trails with a friend so I was prepared for the terrain. The best part of the race was Ryan and the three boys cheering me on. It was a big boost to know that they were waiting for me at the finish line. The kids took part in the Fun Run. Sean ended up running way ahead. He rounded the bend and the trees

Ben has ticklish knees and it never fails to get him going! Click here to see other great photos.

Sean is 2 1/2 and his speech is okay, but not great. Probably in time, it would all come together, perhaps needing speech when he reached Kindergarten. But with information and resources at our fingertips, we had his speech tested. As expected, his expressive and receptive language scores were good. Sean's score on the articulation test was  concerning. This was not a surprise because he leaves off the final consonant on most words - Ben is 'Be', Chair is 'Cha' and so on. Another concern is using correct sounds for words. Car sounds like 'Har'. Ben's speech therapist, Kenyatt, can come early and see Sean at our home before Ben's appointment. Sean is very familiar with Kenyatt, and I have introduced the idea to Sean as "his turn" to work with Kenyatt.  When I have tried to show Sean how to make a specific sound, he is eager to learn and tries to move his mouth and tongue to make the sounds. I am glad we have caught this early. I belie