As A's vocabulary increases, he is also behaving more and more like a 3-yr old big brother.
For example, his ABA therapist is working with verbs right now. He can label things just fine, so this is the next step. Today they talked about "licking", like ice cream cones or stamps for a letter, or how dogs give kisses. Sure enough, he comes out of Miss Jennifer's room and out into the lobby. Makes a beeline for his sister. Starts to lick K all over her head. A fight ensues.
Watching my kids fight is actually quite funny, since neither one of them can really say much at this point. One will grunt or growl in frustration, and the other one will growl louder, so the first one does it even louder....interspersed with the word "NEMO!" being yelled.
Apparently, both my kids use this word when they're really upset and angry. Why it's "nemo" I have no idea, but I am super glad they haven't picked up any of the words the neighbors' kids say. We do live on a military base, and not everyone chooses to parent in the way that Z and I do, so this provides some interesting encounters. Like the four-yr-old that lives behind us blessing out her bike after she fell off of it. But I digress.
It's really hard not to laugh when your kids are grunting and screaming "Nemo!" at each other for a minute or two. They will just have to learn to work it out, as long as it doesn't come to pushing or blows. Right now they just stand and glower at each other, unless they're wrestling for a toy. Z and I step in when it gets physical, but pretty much let them try to figure it out for now. *sigh* I guess we should enjoy it for now, because I know it will cease to be amusing in a year or two...
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Aiggs and Bawberries
This morning, A surprised us by asking his daddy, "Want some....want..." (gets plastic food from toy bin) "aiggs 'n' bawberries?" Z said, "Eggs and Strawberries? Is that what you want for breakfast?" A said, "Ok ok ok" and went and sat at the table.
! !
So we're making him scrambled eggs, and a little pancake to put strawberries on. I don't imagine eggs and strawberries together would normally be a good thing, so we added pancakes to the menu.
Wow, it makes it so much easier when they can communicate clearly! My daughter is getting there too. Yesterday she handed me her cup, asked, "More milk?" and when I took her cup she said, "Thank you". She turned 14 months on Tuesday. She is our blessing, because she prompts A to up the ante as far as communication goes.
Happy Memorial Day weekend! My husband will actually be home and not working through Monday this year (yay).
! !
So we're making him scrambled eggs, and a little pancake to put strawberries on. I don't imagine eggs and strawberries together would normally be a good thing, so we added pancakes to the menu.
Wow, it makes it so much easier when they can communicate clearly! My daughter is getting there too. Yesterday she handed me her cup, asked, "More milk?" and when I took her cup she said, "Thank you". She turned 14 months on Tuesday. She is our blessing, because she prompts A to up the ante as far as communication goes.
Happy Memorial Day weekend! My husband will actually be home and not working through Monday this year (yay).
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Gift of Gab
K is fully recovered from whatever happened a week and a half ago, with no ill effects. All test results are normal, and we have a sedated MRI scheduled for June 22. She weighs so little (only 20 pounds) that no one will do it locally. Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. is the only place that will perform the procedure on kids her size, so that's where we're heading. Her eye is almost completely normal-looking (she has to look down for you to see a tiny smudge on the eyelid, like she got into my makeup), and she is acting like herself. Which means she's a chatterbox.
*******************
People warned me.
I found out I was having a girl, and people warned me.
It wasn't enough warning.
K chatters from the time she wakes up until she goes to sleep. She even talks in her sleep. Her vocabulary increases exponentially daily. In the last week, she's mastered "apple", "grandma", "grandpa", "cup", "drink", "more" (with sign language too), "all done", "Nemo" (as in, "Finding Nemo"), "Grover", "school bus" (I kid you not), and "purple", to name a few. And she understand the concept of color; rather, it isn't one object that she labels as purple, but she will find that particular color in different places and name it. She also tried "green" and "blue", but seems to prefer "purple".
I didn't get a chance to note this before the craziness of the last week or so, but she has also mastered the word, "no". We were driving home from church, and she started screaming because she wanted out of her car seat. No dice, we're driving down I-70, so she just has to deal with it. I turned around and said, "K, you need to be quiet because Daddy needs to drive." She said what sounded like "Me?" I thought, surely not, but I looked at her and said, "Yes, you! You need to hush!" She says, very clearly, "No." I whipped my head around and looked at her, said, "Yes!" She quite distinctly arched one eyebrow superciliously and says, "No!" again. At this point, Z is practically choking from trying not to guffaw, and is leaned forward over the steering wheel, shaking with laughter. He then gives it a shot: "K, you need to be quiet!" She tells him "no" too, and suddenly it isn't as funny. "Yes ma'am, you hush!" "No!" So Z reaches around and pops the top of her foot (he couldn't exactly get to her diaper-covered tush right then). She gets mad and yells for a minute, then quiets down. And very softly, after a moment, we hear her say, "No." again, under her breath. Z pops her foot again, and that was the end of that.
Brother A is coming along nicely, too. I think K challenges him to say more, because all of a sudden he's trying to sing "Ring a ring of roses" and name the days of the week in response to sister's incessant verbalization. We're working on getting phrases out of him now, instead of single-word requests. For example, instead of just saying, "Please" or "drink", we want him to say "drink, please". It's a slow process, but we're getting there. His ABA therapist is aggressively tackling this, and it is working. We're trying to keep up her tactics here at home, not giving him what he wants until we get a phrase ~ so it gets loud when A digs his feet in and doesn't want to do it. The outbursts are dwindling, though, so I really think it won't be long before 2-word phrases become the norm for him. Yay!
*******************
People warned me.
I found out I was having a girl, and people warned me.
It wasn't enough warning.
K chatters from the time she wakes up until she goes to sleep. She even talks in her sleep. Her vocabulary increases exponentially daily. In the last week, she's mastered "apple", "grandma", "grandpa", "cup", "drink", "more" (with sign language too), "all done", "Nemo" (as in, "Finding Nemo"), "Grover", "school bus" (I kid you not), and "purple", to name a few. And she understand the concept of color; rather, it isn't one object that she labels as purple, but she will find that particular color in different places and name it. She also tried "green" and "blue", but seems to prefer "purple".
I didn't get a chance to note this before the craziness of the last week or so, but she has also mastered the word, "no". We were driving home from church, and she started screaming because she wanted out of her car seat. No dice, we're driving down I-70, so she just has to deal with it. I turned around and said, "K, you need to be quiet because Daddy needs to drive." She said what sounded like "Me?" I thought, surely not, but I looked at her and said, "Yes, you! You need to hush!" She says, very clearly, "No." I whipped my head around and looked at her, said, "Yes!" She quite distinctly arched one eyebrow superciliously and says, "No!" again. At this point, Z is practically choking from trying not to guffaw, and is leaned forward over the steering wheel, shaking with laughter. He then gives it a shot: "K, you need to be quiet!" She tells him "no" too, and suddenly it isn't as funny. "Yes ma'am, you hush!" "No!" So Z reaches around and pops the top of her foot (he couldn't exactly get to her diaper-covered tush right then). She gets mad and yells for a minute, then quiets down. And very softly, after a moment, we hear her say, "No." again, under her breath. Z pops her foot again, and that was the end of that.
Brother A is coming along nicely, too. I think K challenges him to say more, because all of a sudden he's trying to sing "Ring a ring of roses" and name the days of the week in response to sister's incessant verbalization. We're working on getting phrases out of him now, instead of single-word requests. For example, instead of just saying, "Please" or "drink", we want him to say "drink, please". It's a slow process, but we're getting there. His ABA therapist is aggressively tackling this, and it is working. We're trying to keep up her tactics here at home, not giving him what he wants until we get a phrase ~ so it gets loud when A digs his feet in and doesn't want to do it. The outbursts are dwindling, though, so I really think it won't be long before 2-word phrases become the norm for him. Yay!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Prayers are Appreciated
It is now Saturday a.m., the 12th. We have spent the last two days in the county hospital for our littlest one, and were released very late last night.
All indications are that she had a seizure while we were in the waiting room of her brother A's occcupational therapist on Thursday a.m. ~ she fell over in the middle of the floor ~ complete with drooling, grunting, sleepiness afterwards, and lots of crying when it was over. She also apparently smacked herself in the eye with the spout of her sippy cup during the initial seize, hard enough to jam it between her eyelid and the eye itself, scraping the entire eyeball, interior of her lid, and effectively blacking her surrounding area to the eye. She did not enjoy the ambulance ride or the hospital stay. We'll leave it at that.
The eye is fine, she did not puncture it ~ they're not sure how, but she is just fine and it will heal.
Her bloodwork came back normally, so no diabetes or infections to cause it. No fever either.
Her EEG seemed normal ~ but she screamed and fought being held down for most of it, and you are supposed to be very still for a good reading. Her doctor called this morning and told us it appeared fairly normal, but he'd like an MRI to make sure.
So now we fight with military care to get her seen by a pediatrician, first of all, and a pediatric neurologist secondly. All we have at the clinic here is 3 general practice and one RN. No offense to nurses or general practices, but we need an actual child neurologist to check this out. But we have to wait until Monday to start the circus of paperwork and referrals because they're only open M-F and then we'll have to wait at least 30 days to be seen at Walter Reed, then if there are no openings, we have to wait another 30 days for the referral from Tricare (standard length of time) before we can go somewhere else.
Yay. But at least we have insurance, and we don't pay a dime, Thank God. We just have to deal with paperwork.
Must go, K just woke up and is upset and more than a little sore, I'd bet. She fought like a tiger and it took 3 people to hold her little 13-month old body down. For two days, every test or poke.
All indications are that she had a seizure while we were in the waiting room of her brother A's occcupational therapist on Thursday a.m. ~ she fell over in the middle of the floor ~ complete with drooling, grunting, sleepiness afterwards, and lots of crying when it was over. She also apparently smacked herself in the eye with the spout of her sippy cup during the initial seize, hard enough to jam it between her eyelid and the eye itself, scraping the entire eyeball, interior of her lid, and effectively blacking her surrounding area to the eye. She did not enjoy the ambulance ride or the hospital stay. We'll leave it at that.
The eye is fine, she did not puncture it ~ they're not sure how, but she is just fine and it will heal.
Her bloodwork came back normally, so no diabetes or infections to cause it. No fever either.
Her EEG seemed normal ~ but she screamed and fought being held down for most of it, and you are supposed to be very still for a good reading. Her doctor called this morning and told us it appeared fairly normal, but he'd like an MRI to make sure.
So now we fight with military care to get her seen by a pediatrician, first of all, and a pediatric neurologist secondly. All we have at the clinic here is 3 general practice and one RN. No offense to nurses or general practices, but we need an actual child neurologist to check this out. But we have to wait until Monday to start the circus of paperwork and referrals because they're only open M-F and then we'll have to wait at least 30 days to be seen at Walter Reed, then if there are no openings, we have to wait another 30 days for the referral from Tricare (standard length of time) before we can go somewhere else.
Yay. But at least we have insurance, and we don't pay a dime, Thank God. We just have to deal with paperwork.
Must go, K just woke up and is upset and more than a little sore, I'd bet. She fought like a tiger and it took 3 people to hold her little 13-month old body down. For two days, every test or poke.
Friday, May 4, 2007
A Story
An example of poor planning and worse money management, for your Amusement:
Once upon a time, some contractors designed a new housing area. The only problem with the design was that it was impossible to get from one side of the new accomodations to the other houses in the development without driving around the perimeter of the entire area, or going a half mile down the road in the opposite direction of the new houses and hang a right for a couple of blocks - at 15 mph, past business buildings, etc. and not at all marked, so if you're new or unfamiliar with the post, you're in trouble - and come back around via a back road several streets over to get to the other side. It's very confusing for visitors and a pain for UPS and FedEx. Further confusing matters is the guards at the gate have never been able to give the correct directions to which side visitors need to get to. But between the various courts (named East and West -- (whatever) ), the auxilliary parking lots connected over a strip of grass. So guess what happened.
Initially, no one drove over the grass. Then the maintenance people drove across it. Then the post police started driving over it, killing a good bit of the grass over time. Visitors given the wrong directions drove over it. What was left was very patchy.
So the housing management had concrete contractors come in, rip the remaining grass out, and lay pavement between the auxilliary lots at the ends of the courts, connecting them. All the residents, delivery drivers, mail trucks, and visitors thought "all right!", figured someone had gotten a clue, and drove over the paved areas.
No problems for a couple of months.
Then the housing management decided that no one should drive over them, and informed the residents. Only, no one told the delivery drivers, the post police, or their own maintenance department ~ they all continued to drive over the little connecting strip. No signs were put up to the contrary. So slowly, the residents started doing the same again.
Next, the housing management had sod contractors come out, rip up the pavement, and plant sod in that area. Again. A town hall meeting was held in which all residents were told that they were absolutely not allowed to drive over them, or they'd get a ticket. Unfortunately, there was (again) never a sign posted, so visitors still drive over them. Delivery drivers still drive over them. The post police and our own maintenance trucks still drive over them. And this time, there isn't any grass left; it's a big stretch of dirt that deposits mud all over the auxilliary lots when it rains. And no tickets have been given. So, guess what? The residents have started driving over them again.
This morning, my daughter was awakened by concrete contractors who are ripping up the sod, and putting up frames for pavement. Again. And there's a notice stuck in our front doors stating that no one is allowed to drive between the courts.
So -- from dirt (brand new housing) to sod, to pavement, to sod, to dirt, to pavement again ~ all in a year's time. I'm wondering exactly how much money has been wasted this year. I'll keep you posted to see if the pattern holds. It's kind of amusing to watch this unfold right outside my window, in a detached sort of way.
Once upon a time, some contractors designed a new housing area. The only problem with the design was that it was impossible to get from one side of the new accomodations to the other houses in the development without driving around the perimeter of the entire area, or going a half mile down the road in the opposite direction of the new houses and hang a right for a couple of blocks - at 15 mph, past business buildings, etc. and not at all marked, so if you're new or unfamiliar with the post, you're in trouble - and come back around via a back road several streets over to get to the other side. It's very confusing for visitors and a pain for UPS and FedEx. Further confusing matters is the guards at the gate have never been able to give the correct directions to which side visitors need to get to. But between the various courts (named East and West -- (whatever) ), the auxilliary parking lots connected over a strip of grass. So guess what happened.
Initially, no one drove over the grass. Then the maintenance people drove across it. Then the post police started driving over it, killing a good bit of the grass over time. Visitors given the wrong directions drove over it. What was left was very patchy.
So the housing management had concrete contractors come in, rip the remaining grass out, and lay pavement between the auxilliary lots at the ends of the courts, connecting them. All the residents, delivery drivers, mail trucks, and visitors thought "all right!", figured someone had gotten a clue, and drove over the paved areas.
No problems for a couple of months.
Then the housing management decided that no one should drive over them, and informed the residents. Only, no one told the delivery drivers, the post police, or their own maintenance department ~ they all continued to drive over the little connecting strip. No signs were put up to the contrary. So slowly, the residents started doing the same again.
Next, the housing management had sod contractors come out, rip up the pavement, and plant sod in that area. Again. A town hall meeting was held in which all residents were told that they were absolutely not allowed to drive over them, or they'd get a ticket. Unfortunately, there was (again) never a sign posted, so visitors still drive over them. Delivery drivers still drive over them. The post police and our own maintenance trucks still drive over them. And this time, there isn't any grass left; it's a big stretch of dirt that deposits mud all over the auxilliary lots when it rains. And no tickets have been given. So, guess what? The residents have started driving over them again.
This morning, my daughter was awakened by concrete contractors who are ripping up the sod, and putting up frames for pavement. Again. And there's a notice stuck in our front doors stating that no one is allowed to drive between the courts.
So -- from dirt (brand new housing) to sod, to pavement, to sod, to dirt, to pavement again ~ all in a year's time. I'm wondering exactly how much money has been wasted this year. I'll keep you posted to see if the pattern holds. It's kind of amusing to watch this unfold right outside my window, in a detached sort of way.
The Gym
The new home gym system
Slides effortlessly out of its box.
No assembly required.
The gleaming chrome fixtures seem to offer
Reflections of a trimmer You;
The shush-shush of the pulleys whispers
Vague promises of metamorphosis.
It also makes a nifty clothing rack.
Overheard recently: "I'm a Queen! My pantyhose says so."
and "Why do I drink fat-free milk and eat fat-free food??? Because I'm not!"
Slides effortlessly out of its box.
No assembly required.
The gleaming chrome fixtures seem to offer
Reflections of a trimmer You;
The shush-shush of the pulleys whispers
Vague promises of metamorphosis.
It also makes a nifty clothing rack.
Overheard recently: "I'm a Queen! My pantyhose says so."
and "Why do I drink fat-free milk and eat fat-free food??? Because I'm not!"
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Agaimmm, momma?
One of the sweetest things I know has come through A's progress.
He will say "Momma".
For the longest time, all he would say was, "Dad", never "Mommy/momma" unless he was scared from a nightmare. That was it. Even when he was little, that word eluded him.
Within the last few months, though, "momma" has slowly been eking out an existence in his ever-expanding vocabulary. Now it's, "momma!", and "Peese, momma, you want?" (he gets "I" and "you" mixed up...if he wants something, he tells me "You want cheese."). And, "Agaimmm, momma?" when a movie finishes and he wants to see it again.
Sometimes he'll jump up and down, grin really big, and shriek "Mommy mommy mommy mommy!" at the top of his lungs, just to do it, and then fall down laughing.
I'll take it.
He will say "Momma".
For the longest time, all he would say was, "Dad", never "Mommy/momma" unless he was scared from a nightmare. That was it. Even when he was little, that word eluded him.
Within the last few months, though, "momma" has slowly been eking out an existence in his ever-expanding vocabulary. Now it's, "momma!", and "Peese, momma, you want?" (he gets "I" and "you" mixed up...if he wants something, he tells me "You want cheese."). And, "Agaimmm, momma?" when a movie finishes and he wants to see it again.
Sometimes he'll jump up and down, grin really big, and shriek "Mommy mommy mommy mommy!" at the top of his lungs, just to do it, and then fall down laughing.
I'll take it.
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