Our youngest, K, all of a sudden has started stuttering (or stammering, for those of you that know it by that name).
We first noticed it over the weekend, we're not entirely sure where it's coming from. It seems to happen when she's worked up over something ~ whether she's excited, upset, or whatever. Which is most of the time! It also happens when she's searching for a word.
Right now it's limited to the very first syllable in her phrase ~ once she gets rolling with the words, she's OK. But it doesn't seem to matter if it's a consonant or a vowel starting the first word ~ she hangs up on them equally. She screws up her face trying to force the word out, I guess. It has seemed to increase every day since Sunday, though.
Being a paranoid mommy, I surfed the internet today and found out that it's not an uncommon thing for some kids aged 2 - 5 to go through a stuttering phase as they are developing their language and oral skills, but to keep an eye on it and if it lasts more than 6 months to go have it checked out. Plus, I used to (infrequently) get hung up on words when I was younger (and actually still do occasionally), and I learned last night that my dad has some issues with it sometimes too. I never knew that! So, anyway, there is a possible genetic component in there too.
So we're watching it.....closely.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Book Smarts, Etc
A few bits:
A started school today. His bus driver had called to tell us she'd be at the top of the hill around 11:15. Imagine my dismay when I saw the bus shoot past at 11:05 ~ and I had to run with my son up the hill. And A didn't want to go, so I pretty much had to drag him up the hill. It's not part of his routine any more to get on a bus, so it should be interesting for the next couple of weeks until he gets settled in.
He is in a typical pre-school classroom, so it should be interesting for the teacher and his classmates, too. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly ~ cross your fingers, toes, eyes, or anything else you're able to cross.
We've also confirmed that A can, in fact, read some things. At his OT appointment on Tuesday, she was getting ready to work on his fine motor skills by using some crayon bits. She pulled out a white sheet of paper with crayon outlines and the names of the colors printed in black on each one ~ but before she could pull out the box of real crayons and ask him what they were, A pointed to each one on the paper and read them off. And she hasn't used that color page with him before, so he hadn't memorized the sheet or anything. He's been reading off words I've been putting up on the fridge with those colorful magnetic letters, too, like "book" and "toy". Very, very exciting stuff ~ and it proves that even though he can't speak well and has some unusual tics, A is not stupid.
This perception (that our son is stupid) is still a challenge for us. We still meet some people that notice he's a little "different" or have heard that he is challenged with autism, and they talk to him really slowly and loudly, with a big exaggerated smile and wide eyes ~ and A will look at them, then look at me or Z with this, "What's wrong with them?" expression. We know he's a smart guy, it just takes some interaction and treating him like a typical kid to discover that. He is retarded (by definition ~ a little slow or behind) in his social skills and has some motor issues, but as far as other things go A is pretty astute.
Anyway ~ we'll see how it goes. In other news: my surgical consult is on Sept 4th, and they'll set a date sometime after that for the actual procedure. So it's hurry up and wait. And the longer I wait, the antsier I am getting.
K surprises us in new ways every day. Last night she started singing "Where Is Thumbkin" (with the correct lyrics). Then she segued into the song again, this time singing it in Spanish. Yes, Spanish.
I have to admit this threw me for a loop and I asked her to sing it again for me, and wouldn't you know, she did! They had just done the English and Spanish version on Sesame Street yesterday morning, so I guess that's where she got it from. K did it well enough for me to recognize it ~ although she is two, and still has some speech issues typical of very young children. For example "snuggle" is "sung-gull" to her right now, and a papaya is a "pa-pa-pa-ya-ya". She did it again for her daddy when he got home from work this morning. Booger.
A started school today. His bus driver had called to tell us she'd be at the top of the hill around 11:15. Imagine my dismay when I saw the bus shoot past at 11:05 ~ and I had to run with my son up the hill. And A didn't want to go, so I pretty much had to drag him up the hill. It's not part of his routine any more to get on a bus, so it should be interesting for the next couple of weeks until he gets settled in.
He is in a typical pre-school classroom, so it should be interesting for the teacher and his classmates, too. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly ~ cross your fingers, toes, eyes, or anything else you're able to cross.
We've also confirmed that A can, in fact, read some things. At his OT appointment on Tuesday, she was getting ready to work on his fine motor skills by using some crayon bits. She pulled out a white sheet of paper with crayon outlines and the names of the colors printed in black on each one ~ but before she could pull out the box of real crayons and ask him what they were, A pointed to each one on the paper and read them off. And she hasn't used that color page with him before, so he hadn't memorized the sheet or anything. He's been reading off words I've been putting up on the fridge with those colorful magnetic letters, too, like "book" and "toy". Very, very exciting stuff ~ and it proves that even though he can't speak well and has some unusual tics, A is not stupid.
This perception (that our son is stupid) is still a challenge for us. We still meet some people that notice he's a little "different" or have heard that he is challenged with autism, and they talk to him really slowly and loudly, with a big exaggerated smile and wide eyes ~ and A will look at them, then look at me or Z with this, "What's wrong with them?" expression. We know he's a smart guy, it just takes some interaction and treating him like a typical kid to discover that. He is retarded (by definition ~ a little slow or behind) in his social skills and has some motor issues, but as far as other things go A is pretty astute.
Anyway ~ we'll see how it goes. In other news: my surgical consult is on Sept 4th, and they'll set a date sometime after that for the actual procedure. So it's hurry up and wait. And the longer I wait, the antsier I am getting.
K surprises us in new ways every day. Last night she started singing "Where Is Thumbkin" (with the correct lyrics). Then she segued into the song again, this time singing it in Spanish. Yes, Spanish.
I have to admit this threw me for a loop and I asked her to sing it again for me, and wouldn't you know, she did! They had just done the English and Spanish version on Sesame Street yesterday morning, so I guess that's where she got it from. K did it well enough for me to recognize it ~ although she is two, and still has some speech issues typical of very young children. For example "snuggle" is "sung-gull" to her right now, and a papaya is a "pa-pa-pa-ya-ya". She did it again for her daddy when he got home from work this morning. Booger.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
La Cuisine
My kids love food. (Actually, me too, which would explain a lot...but I digress). They enjoy watching the movie Ratatouille and yell out the names of the foods, and both A and K like to help me in the kitchen when I'm preparing various things.
On Saturday, I had a cooking marathon: I pulled some of my best recipes and made (after 6 p.m.) three batches of scones, a batch of biscotti, an Italian cream cake (from Polly's recipe, yum!), and a batch of zucchini lasagna. All for Sunday afternoon. K helped me somewhat, and watched me until she went to bed.
She's been carrying around her plastic food for days now, and she and A both have been pretending to eat it and put it on plates, and in pans. I should have known what was coming.
So ~ while I ran out of the kitchen last night to get to the phone, my daughter decided that she was going to help me make dinner. With real food. But, being the creative little tyke that she is, she must have decided that food prep in the kitchen was too mundane and decided to hone her blossoming culinary skills elsewhere.
She hasn't completely learned the rules of real food vs. plastic food as they pertain to the living room floor, but I don't think she'll make the same mistake with eggs again. And no, egg does not come completely out of the carpet. Today it's mildly crunchy if you're barefoot. Eschk.
I almost hated to swat her booty because she was so darned cute. "Oh no! Eggs on the floor, oh my! Eww yucky!" But K knows the rule about pulling eggs out of the refrigerator, so she did get swatted for it anyway. A remembers from his egg-loving stint of a couple of years ago what the ramifications were and apparently hid when he saw his sister getting the eggs. He came out after she had her post-spanking meltdown. I guess he wanted to make sure he was in no way associated with the egg incident.
Both kids are also fascinated by the veggies I have grown in the backyard. Nothing much, just 5 tomato plants, 5 bell pepper plants, and 4 celeries. No chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers; the only fertilizer is filling a newly emptied milk jug with water, shaking it up a bit, and pouring it out at ground level around the plants. I read somewhere that tomatoes need calcium but sometimes have issues absorbing it ~ which can lead to a problem called "blossom end rot". Your fruits grow beautifully, and just when you think they might be getting ready they rot from the base up. I figure there's enough traces of calcium and other minerals left coating the milk jugs that it gave them a boost or something. I plan to try it again next year to see if this year's tomato patch is a fluke or not.
They survived the spring bug invasion and have grown like crazy, with huge beautiful fruit that is (so far) bug-free. The first tomatoes finally decided to ripen, I picked these beauties a couple of days ago:
Since then I've picked four more, and I see a few others that are nearly there. My plants are covered in green tomatoes, so I forsee a lot of spaghetti sauce in my future. : ) I can also freeze them whole, and use them in any recipe calling for fresh tomatoes (except for salads). Good to know, I have a bunch coming!
Once those first tomatoes started to ripen, it must have sent the signal to the other fruit on the...trees? Three of the plants are huge, way beyond bushes ~ they came down from the house gutters and started growing back towards the ground at the 6-ft fence mark ~ meaning that the plants are 6 ft high, and have reached back down to the ground again where they're starting to turn back up. They should keep producing until it frosts, which is fantastic. K especially is fascinated by the "tornados" and makes a beeline to inspect the plants whenever we venture out back. A likes the plants, but I'm not sure if he knows what's on them. He hates eating tomatoes and peppers, whereas his sister adores both.
I am so going to enjoy cooking with these! I haven't grown veggies for years and am extremely pleased with this year's experiment.
On Saturday, I had a cooking marathon: I pulled some of my best recipes and made (after 6 p.m.) three batches of scones, a batch of biscotti, an Italian cream cake (from Polly's recipe, yum!), and a batch of zucchini lasagna. All for Sunday afternoon. K helped me somewhat, and watched me until she went to bed.
She's been carrying around her plastic food for days now, and she and A both have been pretending to eat it and put it on plates, and in pans. I should have known what was coming.
So ~ while I ran out of the kitchen last night to get to the phone, my daughter decided that she was going to help me make dinner. With real food. But, being the creative little tyke that she is, she must have decided that food prep in the kitchen was too mundane and decided to hone her blossoming culinary skills elsewhere.
She hasn't completely learned the rules of real food vs. plastic food as they pertain to the living room floor, but I don't think she'll make the same mistake with eggs again. And no, egg does not come completely out of the carpet. Today it's mildly crunchy if you're barefoot. Eschk.
I almost hated to swat her booty because she was so darned cute. "Oh no! Eggs on the floor, oh my! Eww yucky!" But K knows the rule about pulling eggs out of the refrigerator, so she did get swatted for it anyway. A remembers from his egg-loving stint of a couple of years ago what the ramifications were and apparently hid when he saw his sister getting the eggs. He came out after she had her post-spanking meltdown. I guess he wanted to make sure he was in no way associated with the egg incident.
Both kids are also fascinated by the veggies I have grown in the backyard. Nothing much, just 5 tomato plants, 5 bell pepper plants, and 4 celeries. No chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers; the only fertilizer is filling a newly emptied milk jug with water, shaking it up a bit, and pouring it out at ground level around the plants. I read somewhere that tomatoes need calcium but sometimes have issues absorbing it ~ which can lead to a problem called "blossom end rot". Your fruits grow beautifully, and just when you think they might be getting ready they rot from the base up. I figure there's enough traces of calcium and other minerals left coating the milk jugs that it gave them a boost or something. I plan to try it again next year to see if this year's tomato patch is a fluke or not.
They survived the spring bug invasion and have grown like crazy, with huge beautiful fruit that is (so far) bug-free. The first tomatoes finally decided to ripen, I picked these beauties a couple of days ago:
Since then I've picked four more, and I see a few others that are nearly there. My plants are covered in green tomatoes, so I forsee a lot of spaghetti sauce in my future. : ) I can also freeze them whole, and use them in any recipe calling for fresh tomatoes (except for salads). Good to know, I have a bunch coming!
Once those first tomatoes started to ripen, it must have sent the signal to the other fruit on the...trees? Three of the plants are huge, way beyond bushes ~ they came down from the house gutters and started growing back towards the ground at the 6-ft fence mark ~ meaning that the plants are 6 ft high, and have reached back down to the ground again where they're starting to turn back up. They should keep producing until it frosts, which is fantastic. K especially is fascinated by the "tornados" and makes a beeline to inspect the plants whenever we venture out back. A likes the plants, but I'm not sure if he knows what's on them. He hates eating tomatoes and peppers, whereas his sister adores both.
I am so going to enjoy cooking with these! I haven't grown veggies for years and am extremely pleased with this year's experiment.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Countdown
We're counting down the days.
A starts back to school at the end of next week (either Thursday or Friday, our school hasn't notified us which day the pre-school will start for A). This will be a very good thing, for both A and the rest of us. His chewing and hand flapping seem to increase exponentially every day if he's bored. And he gets bored a lot, if mommy is doing dishes or mowing the lawn (which takes a while ~ over a half acre with an old fashioned reel mower! But it's great exercise and I've lost 43 pounds since Christmas). A likes cups, too, but we're trying to limit him to two a day.
Z has less than 8 months left in his current job, and then he can go and do whatever he wants to do (most likely with a hefty salary increase). He can't wait to be done, every time another inane thing happens he repeats it: "Only _ more weeks".
I am most likely going to have some minor outpatient surgery soon, in the next couple of weeks, so there is some amount of dread and nervous anticipation of that too. It would seem that I am one of those lucky females that develop kidney stones with their pregnancies (every one of them), and I had the joy (?) of developing their formative relatives, gallstones, with Miss K. Apparently it's the same mechanism that can cause both, just in different places in the body? The doctor at the time said they may never bother me, or one day they just might start flaring up for whatever reason. Anyway, K is two now, and the stones are making their presence quite known, so after a consultation with a surgeon later this week we'll know what to expect. To quote my ultrasound technician this morning, "Honey, you are just FULL of rocks!" I guess I'm relieved that the nausea and pain (and lack of sleeping) has a fairly simple fix, although I suppose surgery isn't exactly a "simple fix" ~ even if it is an outpatient procedure.
We are counting down the days left of an uncomfortable upstairs level of the house. We quickly discovered that office-style acoustical tile ceilings do great for sound insulation, but not so much for temperature insulation. It was always freezing upstairs when we moved in, and it's been blazing hot up there as summer arrived (we're talking at least a 15 degree difference between upstairs and downstairs despite central air conditioning and oil heat), and we discovered why: when whoever it was put in the upstairs (which was apparently added after the house was built), they never insulated the roof, or above the ceiling grid. Brilliant. If you move a ceiling tile upstairs, you can look straight up and see the roof planking. And our gables are open with louvered vents at either end, you can see outside. So all the cold or hot air just comes rushing into the "attic space" and then seeps down through the ceiling tiles, which have an R-value ranging from 2 to 4. Yippee. So when the church handyman mentioned he had a bunch of R-19 batting left over from an office building project he could give us, we jumped on it. For $20 to pay for gas, we had enough to put a layer over the entire upstairs. We wound up putting it directly on the ceiling tile grid because the gables are open. It wouldn't have done us any good to shove it between the rafters, because the air from outside would still be rolling into the house and down through our ceiling. And he's bringing us more next week, so we'll have a double layer in place for winter ~ houses in this region are suggested to have R-35 at the roof. We are unbelievably blessed! And this ought to also help out tremendously with the oil bill for this winter, too. There is already a tremendous difference since we put up the first bit on Friday ~ so long yucky indoor temperatures!
And, finally, I get to pick up my kitten on the 29th. I still don't have a name for him.
A starts back to school at the end of next week (either Thursday or Friday, our school hasn't notified us which day the pre-school will start for A). This will be a very good thing, for both A and the rest of us. His chewing and hand flapping seem to increase exponentially every day if he's bored. And he gets bored a lot, if mommy is doing dishes or mowing the lawn (which takes a while ~ over a half acre with an old fashioned reel mower! But it's great exercise and I've lost 43 pounds since Christmas). A likes cups, too, but we're trying to limit him to two a day.
Z has less than 8 months left in his current job, and then he can go and do whatever he wants to do (most likely with a hefty salary increase). He can't wait to be done, every time another inane thing happens he repeats it: "Only _ more weeks".
I am most likely going to have some minor outpatient surgery soon, in the next couple of weeks, so there is some amount of dread and nervous anticipation of that too. It would seem that I am one of those lucky females that develop kidney stones with their pregnancies (every one of them), and I had the joy (?) of developing their formative relatives, gallstones, with Miss K. Apparently it's the same mechanism that can cause both, just in different places in the body? The doctor at the time said they may never bother me, or one day they just might start flaring up for whatever reason. Anyway, K is two now, and the stones are making their presence quite known, so after a consultation with a surgeon later this week we'll know what to expect. To quote my ultrasound technician this morning, "Honey, you are just FULL of rocks!" I guess I'm relieved that the nausea and pain (and lack of sleeping) has a fairly simple fix, although I suppose surgery isn't exactly a "simple fix" ~ even if it is an outpatient procedure.
We are counting down the days left of an uncomfortable upstairs level of the house. We quickly discovered that office-style acoustical tile ceilings do great for sound insulation, but not so much for temperature insulation. It was always freezing upstairs when we moved in, and it's been blazing hot up there as summer arrived (we're talking at least a 15 degree difference between upstairs and downstairs despite central air conditioning and oil heat), and we discovered why: when whoever it was put in the upstairs (which was apparently added after the house was built), they never insulated the roof, or above the ceiling grid. Brilliant. If you move a ceiling tile upstairs, you can look straight up and see the roof planking. And our gables are open with louvered vents at either end, you can see outside. So all the cold or hot air just comes rushing into the "attic space" and then seeps down through the ceiling tiles, which have an R-value ranging from 2 to 4. Yippee. So when the church handyman mentioned he had a bunch of R-19 batting left over from an office building project he could give us, we jumped on it. For $20 to pay for gas, we had enough to put a layer over the entire upstairs. We wound up putting it directly on the ceiling tile grid because the gables are open. It wouldn't have done us any good to shove it between the rafters, because the air from outside would still be rolling into the house and down through our ceiling. And he's bringing us more next week, so we'll have a double layer in place for winter ~ houses in this region are suggested to have R-35 at the roof. We are unbelievably blessed! And this ought to also help out tremendously with the oil bill for this winter, too. There is already a tremendous difference since we put up the first bit on Friday ~ so long yucky indoor temperatures!
And, finally, I get to pick up my kitten on the 29th. I still don't have a name for him.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Gone Fishin'
Z rediscovered his love of fishing a couple of years ago, and has made a point to brainwash, uh, I mean, expose his children to the joys of fishing. A and K each have their own fishing poles, both kids like to look at the lures and the bait (especially K, who loves to flip through the Bass Pro shop catalogs of her own initiative. No, really), and K also loves to touch the fishies that daddy catches. Both kids beg to go fishing for a week after we take them out, and this week was no exception.
We do bring home and eat what is caught, but my rule is that Z has to clean it before I'll cook it. Fair enough. He has always cleaned them, and I have cooked whatever the catch of the day is in one way or another. You really can't beat truly fresh fish, whether it's bass, trout, catfish, or carp. I do have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of panfish, which seem to have more bones than meat and are a pain to eat ~ but if that's what we have, we still eat it.
There is a spot on a tributary of the Potomac not far from the house where the river is very shallow (it's maybe 3 feet deep at its deepest point there) and the current is negligible. Perfect for bringing the kids to, although I do take the precaution of floaty suits for both of them since neither can swim. Z has been going out there for a while now, but the first time we took the kids was a week ago. We've been there three times total since last Sunday! I really enjoy the beautiful scenery, the way the sun plays off the water and how the trees seem to bend over to kiss the river, and the blue heron that lazily meanders about just upriver from "our spot". I also love the architectural elements of both the oldest stone bridge in the county (built 1819) and the newer bridge built in the 1940's just beyond it.
I'll share part of our Sunday evening (yesterday) with you ~ click on the pictures for a bigger view:
Crossing the old stone bridge:
K started out with a preference of throwing rocks over fishing:
A takes a french fry break:
The Bridges of Washington County (well, two of them):
A keeps getting rocks in his shoes:
K finally decides she'd like to fish:
Gratuitous shot of Z:
Fishing with daddy:
Another view:
Going to the rock:
K is frustrated that all A seems to be catching is a weighted plastic tire:
"Mom, are you done yet?"
Apparently the water is a tad chilly:
Wishing you and yours much enjoyment of the remaining days of summer!
We do bring home and eat what is caught, but my rule is that Z has to clean it before I'll cook it. Fair enough. He has always cleaned them, and I have cooked whatever the catch of the day is in one way or another. You really can't beat truly fresh fish, whether it's bass, trout, catfish, or carp. I do have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of panfish, which seem to have more bones than meat and are a pain to eat ~ but if that's what we have, we still eat it.
There is a spot on a tributary of the Potomac not far from the house where the river is very shallow (it's maybe 3 feet deep at its deepest point there) and the current is negligible. Perfect for bringing the kids to, although I do take the precaution of floaty suits for both of them since neither can swim. Z has been going out there for a while now, but the first time we took the kids was a week ago. We've been there three times total since last Sunday! I really enjoy the beautiful scenery, the way the sun plays off the water and how the trees seem to bend over to kiss the river, and the blue heron that lazily meanders about just upriver from "our spot". I also love the architectural elements of both the oldest stone bridge in the county (built 1819) and the newer bridge built in the 1940's just beyond it.
I'll share part of our Sunday evening (yesterday) with you ~ click on the pictures for a bigger view:
Crossing the old stone bridge:
K started out with a preference of throwing rocks over fishing:
A takes a french fry break:
The Bridges of Washington County (well, two of them):
A keeps getting rocks in his shoes:
K finally decides she'd like to fish:
Gratuitous shot of Z:
Fishing with daddy:
Another view:
Going to the rock:
K is frustrated that all A seems to be catching is a weighted plastic tire:
"Mom, are you done yet?"
Apparently the water is a tad chilly:
Wishing you and yours much enjoyment of the remaining days of summer!
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