I Love You

Hearing your child say "I love you" for the first time is such a special moment in any parent's life, but especially for those parents who have a child with a speech delay.

As many of you know, Eden started speech therapy last week to help her with her lack of progress in expressive communication. We have been worried about her slow progress for quite some time but wanted to give her plenty of time to catch up after she had her tubes put in last summer. Up until a few weeks ago, she only had about 10 words (no, go, bye, etc.) and was not adding to her vocabulary at all. She also showed no desire to talk and would get very frustrated any time you asked her to try and say something.

At the beginning of February, I finally decided to contact ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) about getting her evaluated for speech therapy. Due to the snow/ice week, we had to postpone her evaluation a couple of times, but finally found out that, just like we expected, she was quite behind in her speech development. We set up our first appointment with the speech therapist for last Friday.

Wouldn't you know it that about a week and a half before her first therapy session, Eden started busting out with new words and even a few two word phrases. (It's like when you take your child to the doctor for a high fever and the fever breaks as you are sitting in the waiting room.) Two of her new words were maw-ee (mommy) and da-ee (daddy) which made Cory and I so excited!

Eden still has a long way to go to catch up with most kids her age. She is still not putting any ending sounds on her words and she still has very few two syllable words, but we are thrilled with the progress she has made. The one phrase that she has learned that melts my heart more than anything is "I love you, mommy". (In the video, she is telling Cory that she loves him but she will usually say it to me when I am putting her to bed.) I can not wait to see what words she comes up with next!

Guess Who Learned to Whistle?

Parker came home from preschool a couple of weeks ago and told me that his friend had taught him to whistle. He quickly started demonstrating his new talent to me. If I had been sitting down I think I would have fallen out of my chair from laughing so hard. It was one of the funniest things he has done in his short little life. I think the funniest part is that he really and truly thinks that he is whistling. I still laugh every time he does it. As you will notice in the video, his "whistle" is quite loud and he is now only allowed to do it outside. (Also notice how he puts his fingers near his mouth to help him whistle- so funny!!)
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Fort Worth Zoo

I hate crowds. I get claustrophobic in large groups and avoid going places when I know there are going to be a lot of people. So when Cory suggested going to the zoo on Thursday (his only day off during our spring break) I immediately started thinking of how to get out of it. Spring Break is one of the busiest weeks of the year for the zoo and I knew that taking three kids would be a disaster waiting to happen. I also knew that I really wanted to have a family outing with Cory and the kids so I compromised with him and we decided to go on Sunday morning. We arrived as soon as the zoo opened and left when it started getting really crowded. My wonderful sister, who lives across the street from the zoo, offered to watch Lily for a few hours so we could spend some quality time with Parker and Eden. The crowds were not too bad when we first arrived at the zoo. Parker's attention span was so short that we quickly made it through the flamingo, monkey and elephant exhibits. He definitely kept us moving quickly! We slowed down a little bit to watch the elephants and hippos and then stopped to feed a few fish and turtles in the pond. Next up were the lions, tigers, and bears- oh my! Parker told me before we left the house that morning that we would not be seeing any bears at the zoo because they live in caves. He was quite impressed that we did, in fact, see a bear at the zoo!

As always, the kids favorite part of the day was feeding the birds. Cory made a new friend while we were in the bird area. One bird would not leave him alone. It first landed on his shoulder and then on his arm! Eden loved feeding the birds and it was the only time she did not want me to hold her the entire day. (Yes, my back was killing me from carrying her for three hours. In her defense, she was not feeling well and had to go to the doctor with croup on Monday-poor baby!)

After feeding the birds, we stopped for a little snack before letting the kids take their first ride on the carousel. I was so excited about watching the kids go up and down on their horses but my excitement bubble was soon burst by my nonadventurous kids who chose to sit on the boring bench instead. Maybe next time they will choose to ride on a horse like every other kid on the carousel. Maybe.
Don't be fooled! Eden was clinging to me for dear life and cried until I took her off of the horse!
After the carousel, we realized that the crowds were getting a lot bigger and our kids were getting a lot more whiny and tired, so we called it a day and headed home. We were all hungry so we picked up Lily and decided to go to Central Market to eat lunch. The best thing about Central Market (after the yummy food, of course) is that they have a playground next to the eating area. Even as tired as they were, Parker and Eden could not wait to finish their lunch so they could go play. They also loved the ice cream that Aunt MerMer treated them to. Parker wanted orange ice cream but the only orange ice cream they had was cantaloupe. He settled on bubble gum instead. It was the sweetest, most disgusting ice cream I have ever tasted, but he finished every single bite of it.

Granna, Granstan, and Grandma were all out of town so we invited Papa to join us for our zoo adventure. We were so glad he was able to go and spend the day with us. Overall, we had a great day and made a lot of fun memories! I can't wait until Lily is big enough to go with us next year!

A Reading Teacher's Dream Come True

Last week I had the privilege of watching my nieces for a few hours while my sister finished working. Yes- that means I was caring for 5 kids ages 3 1/2 and younger! I am happy to report that I survived the afternoon and would actually volunteer to do it again! The kids could not have been more well behaved and I was so proud of how well they played together.

Before naptime, I started reading Eden and Aubrey a story. Parker and Addison (who were supposed to be resting quietly in my bedroom) heard us reading and decided to join us. Before I knew it, all 4 kids had chosen a book and were quietly "reading" on their own. As a reading teacher who loves to watch kids learn to read, this was a dream come true! I hope that learning to read will come easy to all of them and that reading will always be something that they enjoy.

Watercolors

Last weekend I put aside all of my neat-freak tendencies and let the kids try painting with watercolors. They both did really well and enjoyed some creative time. Parker lasted a lot longer than Eden- she was finished after just a few strokes. Lily kicked back, relaxed, and watched all of the action from her Bumbo. Luckily, no clothes got painted on and no water cup was spilled on the table/floor, which means that we might actually get to try painting again soon!

Wordless Wednesday

Open Wide!

A few weeks ago I told a friend that I was not going to introduce Lily to solid foods until she turned 6 months old. It's not that I didn't think she wouldn't be ready for it earlier. I just selfishly didn't want to have to add one more thing to our schedule until I absolutely had to. Dinner time at our house is already crazy enough and the thought of having to stop everything and feed Lily was just not appealing to me.

Fast forward to last Wednesday night...Lily (who has been sleeping through the night for months) woke up starving at 2 am and wanted to nurse. Not cool. I hoped that it was a fluke. The next night she was up at 4 am starving and wanting to nurse. I told myself that maybe she was in a growth spurt. No such luck! After four nights of having to get up and nurse a starving baby, I finally decided that it wasn't a fluke and she was not in a growth spurt. She was ready for cereal! So much for waiting until she turned 6 months- I definitely ate my words on this one!

I am not sure why I ever thought she could wait until she turned 6 months old. She is a big girl. She weighed in at over 16 pounds at her four month checkup last week. I should have known then that starting solids was in the near future.

Lily's first experience with cereal went pretty well last night. We started her sitting in the Bumbo but quickly moved to the bouncer. She needed to be reclined in order to help her swallow better. She hated the first few bites and started crying hysterically. After we got her calmed down we tried again and she did much better. She still needs a lot of practice with swallowing instead of spitting it out, but that is to be expected with a baby so young.

If you are wondering if it worked, the answer is yes! Lily slept all night last night and did not wake up to nurse once, which makes this sleepy momma very happy! I will gladly give up a few minutes during my busy day to feed this sweet girl if that means I get to have a full night of uninterrupted sleep!

Getting ready to eat- look at those cheeks! This girl hasn't missed any feedings!

What is this?!?!?!?

All finished- such a happy girl!