A few months ago, Big Girl saw her first copy of an American Girl Catalogue. I had made it 5+ years with her only going to the store once to get her first Bitty Baby when Little Man was born and I had thrown out every catalogue since. Well, she found one and decided with her birthday money to purchase the Girl of the Year, Kanani. Then she found all of the wonderful Bitty Baby things she could purchase for her beloved Bitty Baby "Ava".
I held firm and told her that if she wanted to have more American Girl things, she had to save up her own money - no way was I spending my money on overpriced doll accessories and clothing. So during April Vacation, she was determined to count and sort all of her coins to buy Bitty Baby things. Little did we know she would count and roll $47 in change! Big girl's number sense soared in 5 days - she would talk about how she needed 27 more pennies to make 50, so she would have 50 cents and two of those rolls make a dollar. She's the only 5 year old I know who knows that 40 quarters make $10.00. She can even comprehend that she has to pay tax and shipping if we order something over the internet (What you think I was going to travel 30 minutes back to that store so she could swindle me into buying her more overpriced things?).
Then tonight, she blew me away with the following comment, "Mommy, does the American Girl store have a Credit Card that I can use to by Bitty Baby things?" Hubby and I had a good chuckle over that. Thankfully, I'm not aware of any American Girl Visa or Mastercard!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Do you have a random single banana that is really ripe? These are easy to put together and, because the recipe is both low-fat and fairly small, you don't have to have any guilt about keeping them around the house. They'll stay fresh for several days when stored in an air-tight container. I just made a batch for the kids' daycare for the (belated) Teacher Appreciation Luncheon for tomorrow.
Banana Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, very soft
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mashed banana (1 small/medium)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats
3/4 cups raisins (or chocolate chips if you want to be bad!)
Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat in egg and banana, followed by the vanilla extract. Gradually, on low speed or by hand, add in the flour mixture.
Stir in the oats (either whole rolled oats or "quick cooking") and raisins/chocolate chips.
Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 11-14 minutes at 350F, until set and lightly browned.
Let cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.
Banana Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, very soft
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mashed banana (1 small/medium)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats
3/4 cups raisins (or chocolate chips if you want to be bad!)
Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat in egg and banana, followed by the vanilla extract. Gradually, on low speed or by hand, add in the flour mixture.
Stir in the oats (either whole rolled oats or "quick cooking") and raisins/chocolate chips.
Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 11-14 minutes at 350F, until set and lightly browned.
Let cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.
Monday, May 9, 2011
The Smell of Diapers
I don't often use name brand diapers - we're more of a mixture of Luvs or BJ's brand with occasional cloth, but a friend of mine gave me some of her Pampers diapers and Little Man enjoyed scattering them around the living room today...so as I worked tonight on my computer, all I could smell is the powdery sent of the Pampers - and it brings me back to those first days in the hospital and home with my babies (because after those Pampers ran out, I never bought them again!).
It's amazing how the smell of something can bring you back...smelling them right now transports me back to the first nights home and sleeping on the couch with my baby in the pack and play (the c-section stopped me from going upstairs until they were 2 weeks old). With Big Girl, she was up every two hours to nurse...I remember my first night home, I set my alarm clock so I wouldn't go past 3 hours without feeding her - and it was clockwork that by hour 2, she was up, crying and ready. I learned that after that night, no alarm clock was needed - she would let me know when she needed to eat. Little Man was different. It took everything to wake him up out of his slumber to get him to latch on and eat. My phone would glow and buzz every 3 hours so I would make sure he didn't miss a feeding. How content he was to nurse and fall back to his slumber - while Big Girl wanted to stay up and look around at her surroundings and not let mommy sleep.
When I think back to their personalities as newborn babies and who they are as children today - it's very telling. Big Girl came out of my womb crying, mad as heck, and ready to go; while Little Man was stubborn, needing a vacuum (yes, during a c-section!) and needing some nice rubs to get that cry to come out of him. Today, Big Girl is the same outgoing, ready to take on the world no matter what - where Little Man is wanting to explore, but does so cautiously by taking everything in before jumping in - always staying close by for a hug.
It's amazing how the smell of something can bring you back...smelling them right now transports me back to the first nights home and sleeping on the couch with my baby in the pack and play (the c-section stopped me from going upstairs until they were 2 weeks old). With Big Girl, she was up every two hours to nurse...I remember my first night home, I set my alarm clock so I wouldn't go past 3 hours without feeding her - and it was clockwork that by hour 2, she was up, crying and ready. I learned that after that night, no alarm clock was needed - she would let me know when she needed to eat. Little Man was different. It took everything to wake him up out of his slumber to get him to latch on and eat. My phone would glow and buzz every 3 hours so I would make sure he didn't miss a feeding. How content he was to nurse and fall back to his slumber - while Big Girl wanted to stay up and look around at her surroundings and not let mommy sleep.
When I think back to their personalities as newborn babies and who they are as children today - it's very telling. Big Girl came out of my womb crying, mad as heck, and ready to go; while Little Man was stubborn, needing a vacuum (yes, during a c-section!) and needing some nice rubs to get that cry to come out of him. Today, Big Girl is the same outgoing, ready to take on the world no matter what - where Little Man is wanting to explore, but does so cautiously by taking everything in before jumping in - always staying close by for a hug.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Our Little Man and Verbal Apraxia?
We still are not 100% sure of what diagnosis Little Man has, but all arrows are pointing to Verbal Apraxia...you can find a lot of information about that here: http://www.apraxia-kids.org/ It's been a long road and a lot of hearing "Oh, he'll get it" and "He's just letting Big Girl talk for him" and "He's so smart, it will come"...all the encouragement in the world is great, but when you are living this day in and day out and your only wish is to hear your son make a noise in his crib so you know he's awake or to have him say "Mama" after 26 months - it can be mentally and emotionally exhausting.
We have some good news coming though - we finally got our appointment with a large hospital for a developmental and speech evaluation for June 27th - it sounds crazy, but I had to put in about 20 pages of paper work about a month an a half ago to get an appointment in 2 months. I've been told that we got the quickest appointment around! We will have our parent meeting on July 11th to discuss all of the testing and results and possibly get a diagnosis, so we can make sure we're treating Little Man with the right therapies and techniques.
For now, Little Man gets therapy for speech and language 2-3 times a week. We absolutely love his developmental therapist Katie - she's been with us since he was 7 months old. She has witnessed many of Little Man's milestones and has seen my tears of joy and frustration. No one ever wishes to see their child have a developmental delay or a disability, but I am eternally grateful to the people who help make it possible who know that my child will be able to be successful in the world.
Katie goes to LM's daycare and shows his teachers what methods are best to get LM to communicate and she comes home for home visits to help us learn too. It's the best of both worlds. We also have a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) who comes every other week to assist with LM. She was on a once a month consult, but now with this possible Apraxia diagnosis, we upped her services. LM is a little more reluctant to work with his SLP, but he's getting there...for the first time a few weeks ago, he sat in her lap and gave her some big hugs and kisses...this of course was after he pointed to the door and told her in his own sign/body language to "go".
About a month ago, LM had therapy at home and we introduced communication cards. He was hesitant at first, but Katie laid them out and asked him what he wanted to do...and LM pointed to the car and then TV. Yes, he wanted to watch his Truck DVD on TV. Precious and totally him. We were able to get him to move towards playing with his cars and trucks instead of watching them on TV. We had some success with at a few word/sounds - he said /ruck/ for /truck/ and /o/ when pointing to the card for the song "Old MacDonald". He also attempted /stop/ when he wanted us to stop singing. More recently, this week, we're working on doing the initial sound and quickly shoving in the second sound to trick him into saying the word. So far it's worked for /up/...he does it one time and forgets it an hour later...but it's still progress.
The hard thing about Apraxia, is that he will use the word once and then we don't hear it again. We have to prompt him all the time to say a word - his only word that he consistently says unprompted is /ruck/. We don't have any word for mommy or daddy. It's hard when Big Girl asks me, "When will he say my name when he wants me?" or "Mommy, what will my name sound like when he says it?" I often wonder the same thing...
We have some good news coming though - we finally got our appointment with a large hospital for a developmental and speech evaluation for June 27th - it sounds crazy, but I had to put in about 20 pages of paper work about a month an a half ago to get an appointment in 2 months. I've been told that we got the quickest appointment around! We will have our parent meeting on July 11th to discuss all of the testing and results and possibly get a diagnosis, so we can make sure we're treating Little Man with the right therapies and techniques.
For now, Little Man gets therapy for speech and language 2-3 times a week. We absolutely love his developmental therapist Katie - she's been with us since he was 7 months old. She has witnessed many of Little Man's milestones and has seen my tears of joy and frustration. No one ever wishes to see their child have a developmental delay or a disability, but I am eternally grateful to the people who help make it possible who know that my child will be able to be successful in the world.
Katie goes to LM's daycare and shows his teachers what methods are best to get LM to communicate and she comes home for home visits to help us learn too. It's the best of both worlds. We also have a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) who comes every other week to assist with LM. She was on a once a month consult, but now with this possible Apraxia diagnosis, we upped her services. LM is a little more reluctant to work with his SLP, but he's getting there...for the first time a few weeks ago, he sat in her lap and gave her some big hugs and kisses...this of course was after he pointed to the door and told her in his own sign/body language to "go".
About a month ago, LM had therapy at home and we introduced communication cards. He was hesitant at first, but Katie laid them out and asked him what he wanted to do...and LM pointed to the car and then TV. Yes, he wanted to watch his Truck DVD on TV. Precious and totally him. We were able to get him to move towards playing with his cars and trucks instead of watching them on TV. We had some success with at a few word/sounds - he said /ruck/ for /truck/ and /o/ when pointing to the card for the song "Old MacDonald". He also attempted /stop/ when he wanted us to stop singing. More recently, this week, we're working on doing the initial sound and quickly shoving in the second sound to trick him into saying the word. So far it's worked for /up/...he does it one time and forgets it an hour later...but it's still progress.
The hard thing about Apraxia, is that he will use the word once and then we don't hear it again. We have to prompt him all the time to say a word - his only word that he consistently says unprompted is /ruck/. We don't have any word for mommy or daddy. It's hard when Big Girl asks me, "When will he say my name when he wants me?" or "Mommy, what will my name sound like when he says it?" I often wonder the same thing...
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
How Time Flies!
So I just organized the paperwork to sign Big Girl up for K tomorrow. The school only has one day to sign up and you have to make an appointment. Totally sucks, but you got to do, what you got to do. We've been gathering all the things we need b/c the list to PROVE that we live in the house that we live in is INSANE.
We had to have the following:
a copy of the deed to our house
a copy of our latest mortgage bill
a copy of 2 of our utilities bills
and a copy of both of our licenses
Then I had to fill out a 7 page packet on Big Girl, attach her medical records form, real birth certificate (which happens to have our home address on it since we've lived here since her birth), and her progress report from her school/daycare.
We shouldn't complain b/c the school is decent and it's free - they have full day K at no cost, so tons of people use other people's address to get into our school system because of that - so this year, they changed all the policies and you have to prove that you live at the address you live in.
Big Girl was so nervous tonight that she didn't fall asleep until 10. I promised her that she could wear her new Twirlygirl dress, but she had to leave Ava (her bitty baby) in the car. Totally broke her heart, but she just can't bring in a lovie to K - I don't want to set her up for heartbreak and I need her to know that she just can't bring it to Kindergarten, even for tomorrow b/c then it will be a battle next year when we drop her off. Both Hubby and I are going tomorrow, so I'm confident that she will be ok. I'm not even sure what we actually have to do - I know we're meeting with the school nurse, the K teachers and the principal (who thankfully is retiring b/c I didn't like him when I met him). They take the small group of 6 or so kids and they read a story together and I think they do some screening with them while we meet with various people. I know she's going to be just fine - we've given her a great foundation and she's a great kid.
I just can't believe the time has passed that she can now be registering for Kindergarten!
We had to have the following:
a copy of the deed to our house
a copy of our latest mortgage bill
a copy of 2 of our utilities bills
and a copy of both of our licenses
Then I had to fill out a 7 page packet on Big Girl, attach her medical records form, real birth certificate (which happens to have our home address on it since we've lived here since her birth), and her progress report from her school/daycare.
We shouldn't complain b/c the school is decent and it's free - they have full day K at no cost, so tons of people use other people's address to get into our school system because of that - so this year, they changed all the policies and you have to prove that you live at the address you live in.
Big Girl was so nervous tonight that she didn't fall asleep until 10. I promised her that she could wear her new Twirlygirl dress, but she had to leave Ava (her bitty baby) in the car. Totally broke her heart, but she just can't bring in a lovie to K - I don't want to set her up for heartbreak and I need her to know that she just can't bring it to Kindergarten, even for tomorrow b/c then it will be a battle next year when we drop her off. Both Hubby and I are going tomorrow, so I'm confident that she will be ok. I'm not even sure what we actually have to do - I know we're meeting with the school nurse, the K teachers and the principal (who thankfully is retiring b/c I didn't like him when I met him). They take the small group of 6 or so kids and they read a story together and I think they do some screening with them while we meet with various people. I know she's going to be just fine - we've given her a great foundation and she's a great kid.
I just can't believe the time has passed that she can now be registering for Kindergarten!
Catching Up
It's amazing how things go. A few years ago, I started this blog to share my adventures of my 2 year old and the amazing things she had to say. The last post I wrote before my absence to blogging was announcing our pregnancy to Little Man. He is the happiest, cutest, sweetest, determined little boy I have ever met. He LOVES trucks of any kind - he longs to see trucks, buses, firetrucks, pick up truck, tractors...you name it, he will point to it. Our little boy doesn't have the same voracious vocabulary his big sister had at this age.
When Little Man was 6 months old, we noticed that his head size was very large. The doctor noted it and asked us to come back at 7 months for another head measurement. I commented that I noticed that he would slouch to the side in his carseat and couldn't sit up unless he was supported by his bumbo chair. Being the over worrier I am, I asked her about calling EI, the dr told me to wait, but I couldn't. I called and set up an appointment for the day after his 7 month head check.
At the appointment, LM's head went up to the 115% - the doctor then asked me if I had contacted EI and I told her I had an appointment the next day. That afternoon, LM and I went off to the hospital for an ultrasound of his head. I carried him in the Ergo carrier and he slept on my chest as they gooped up his head and told me that there was no water on the brain and his large head was just a large head. Phew!
He was picked up for EI for his gross motor and we enjoyed having his therapist come to the house every week. He had multiple ear infections after that and his hearing was compromised - thankfully after tubes, his hearing is back to normal. He was a late walker and last summer, we noticed that he wasn't babbling again or making any speech sounds, and now he had a head size of 130%. Off to an appointment with a neurologist, who determined that his head was b/c of hubby's and my head size and looking at our daugther, it was "normal" for our family. The doctor felt that Little Man was language delayed and to watch him for possible spectrum. Then as the school year came - he still wasn't picking up any words - not even Mama or Dada. He signed about 10 words, so he could communicate his basic needs and wants. If he didn't get his way, he would just walk away - no tantrums, no tears - he would just give up.
Back in January, his EI specialist mentioned that LM could have Verbal Apraxia or Childhood Apraxia of Speech - mostly b/c LM shows no signs of a spectrum disorder. When I looked at the signs of Childhood Apraxia, it was like seeing a picture of LM. Since then we've been pursuing outside testing to make sure that this is the correct diagnosis for him and make sure that he is getting the best therapy he can, so we can help him. The process is crazy and honestly, I'm so glad that I'm knowledgeable of all of the things a parent has to do to be an advocate for their child. So far it's been a process - but seeing this face:
makes everything worthwhile. :)
(Little Man back in September '10 inside a wheel of a truck)
When Little Man was 6 months old, we noticed that his head size was very large. The doctor noted it and asked us to come back at 7 months for another head measurement. I commented that I noticed that he would slouch to the side in his carseat and couldn't sit up unless he was supported by his bumbo chair. Being the over worrier I am, I asked her about calling EI, the dr told me to wait, but I couldn't. I called and set up an appointment for the day after his 7 month head check.
At the appointment, LM's head went up to the 115% - the doctor then asked me if I had contacted EI and I told her I had an appointment the next day. That afternoon, LM and I went off to the hospital for an ultrasound of his head. I carried him in the Ergo carrier and he slept on my chest as they gooped up his head and told me that there was no water on the brain and his large head was just a large head. Phew!
He was picked up for EI for his gross motor and we enjoyed having his therapist come to the house every week. He had multiple ear infections after that and his hearing was compromised - thankfully after tubes, his hearing is back to normal. He was a late walker and last summer, we noticed that he wasn't babbling again or making any speech sounds, and now he had a head size of 130%. Off to an appointment with a neurologist, who determined that his head was b/c of hubby's and my head size and looking at our daugther, it was "normal" for our family. The doctor felt that Little Man was language delayed and to watch him for possible spectrum. Then as the school year came - he still wasn't picking up any words - not even Mama or Dada. He signed about 10 words, so he could communicate his basic needs and wants. If he didn't get his way, he would just walk away - no tantrums, no tears - he would just give up.
Back in January, his EI specialist mentioned that LM could have Verbal Apraxia or Childhood Apraxia of Speech - mostly b/c LM shows no signs of a spectrum disorder. When I looked at the signs of Childhood Apraxia, it was like seeing a picture of LM. Since then we've been pursuing outside testing to make sure that this is the correct diagnosis for him and make sure that he is getting the best therapy he can, so we can help him. The process is crazy and honestly, I'm so glad that I'm knowledgeable of all of the things a parent has to do to be an advocate for their child. So far it's been a process - but seeing this face:
makes everything worthwhile. :)
(Little Man back in September '10 inside a wheel of a truck)
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Wow, it's really been a while!
I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging again. It's been a VERY long time since I blogged...in fact, the last time I blogged was shortly after we found out we were pregnant with Little Man (LM), so now Little One is now Big Girl (BG). We are very happy to be blessed with two wonderful children and they make our lives exciting and crazy. I'm hoping to have lots to share and write about.
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