4/29/12: new word?

We think Callen has a new word... "woah."  (That would make it his 3rd or 4th or 5th word, depending on whether you count "woof woof" and "sssssss".)  He says it when he falls or he'll repeat it if we say it when he does something.  He also will say "ah" if you ask him to.  Last Thursday, every time I fed him something in the highchair, I told him to say "ah" to get him to open his mouth and to vocalize and it worked.  He did it.  Then today, Elodie wanted to check to see if Callen was actually swallowing the grapes that he was eating (since we were all kinda shocked he was eating them) and she told him, "say ah" and he did it for her too.  (He was actually eating them so he ate a few grapes today.)  He's been saying "ba-ba" a ton when say "ba-ba-ball" or "ba-ba-bowl," etc.  Tonight, he imitated my "brrr cold" sign and did his own sound.  It was really cute.  I also finally got him to sign "bowl" since he's been signing "ball" for "bowl."  He also consistently saying "ssssss" for Elodie.  It's really cute.

Oh, and he can sign "chicken" for chicken we eat, flapping his arms like a chicken. :)

4/27/12: more rabbit stench story & Colonial days

L was up at 6am talking in her room because she "was just so excited for Colonial Days!!" So I'd say that part of the day was a success...experiencing 1779 with a blacksmith, tanner, trapper, cooking, agriculture, basket weaving, weaving, brick making, music, bowling, etc. and finishing with the awesome Battle of Vincennes reenactment where the British surrendered to the Patriots.

Now back to reality...the hubby is trying to remove all the contaminated dirt & rocks from the window well to get rid of the smell! So in Dave's removal of rocks tonight, after several shovels full of rock, he discovered two more bunnies. Did the big rabbit bury them?!! who knows but he removed them & some rock and then poured a gallon of bleach over the area again. Plus he spent the past two hours making a screen for the basement window so we can get some ventilation down there since none of the windows have screens in the basement and of course the one the dead rabbits were in is covered by house and then further covered by deck so that well isn't getting any air. well the finished part of the basement doesn't smell anymore (although it is 62 in the house this morning from all those windows open yesterday and the basement one open overnight) but the unfinished part where the stinky window well is still smells but hopefully will get better over time. I think Dave's thinking of making another screen window today so we can open the other window in that part to try to air that part out.

Yes, Elodie loved the Colonial Living History day. i'll look forward to taking Callen when he's older and not just running away from me or crying b/c I'm holding him. i hate to break it to L that she has to wait a whole year to go again b/c of course the September one is during Jenn's wedding...that and soccer... poor girl can't do pee wee soccer again in the fall because she'd only be there for two practices... and she has to start kindergarten in july to make up for the time gone in september. i'm guessing it will screw up dance and stuff too and i have to remember to give a 30 day written notice to cancel swim for the month and then pay to restart swim when we get back. i love my sister but i think she picked the absolute worse possible time of the year for us to be gone. also missing the first 3 weeks of BSF :( :(

4/26/12: the rabbit saga continues

it still STINKS. ugh. vinegar did not work. deodorizer spray did not work. air purifier w/hepa & charcoal filter did not work. baking soda did not work. bleach did not work. pout. :( :( :( can't quite seem to find the praise in this trial yet. can't end soon enough!! pretty sure my husband hasn't heard the end of this one yet, although God is kinda screaming in my ear to let it go! so it got hot in the house tonight so i broke down and turned on the AC and now it stinks again b/c of course the main source of the stench is next to the furnace so then it just pumps it through the whole house :( well the AC is turned off again and at least it's supposed to be "cooler" the next few days. and now i know it's possible for the house to not smell if you leave the AC off for 24 hrs.

on the bright side, we're going to be out of the house tomorrow at the Living Colonial History Days and L is super excited to be going. :) i hadn't opened the windows b/c we never open windows b/c of allergies but callen & I will just have to deal b/c it's much more pleasant without the smell in the house. now to figure out how to get rid of the actual smell and it in the basement. we might have to remove the rocks and dirt in the window well where it was. tricky though because the only access is from inside and i don't want any bugs or decomp smelling dirt dropping in my house!!

4/26/12: Speech Therapy & Swim

Yesterday Callen had his first speech therapy session at our house.  His therapist was nice but really pushed him to try to either make the form with his mouth or say the sound before she'd give him the item and by the end of the session, he was a very frustrated little boy.  It was very sad to watch.  He'd sign "ball" over and over and "please" over and over and she wouldn't give it to him. :(  He finally did make the "ba-ba" sound once.  I think she got him to put his lips together for another sound.  But at one point he started doing his I'm getting mad spin, where he spins himself in circles before he throws a tantrum and then, sure enough, he sat down and hit his head on the floor and layed on the floor and cried.  She did say that he was a very smart boy (which everyone who knows him says).  She also said that she'd evaluate his mouth next week so we'll see what she says.  I'm starting to wonder if he needs some food therapy.  The original evaluators asked about whether he stuffs his mouth with food and I've noticed he does that more and more.  Plus, there's the whole he doesn't eat basically any vegetables or fruit and we'd like him to have more nutrition in his food.

The therapist told us to be reinforcing the sounds and trying to get him to make his lips form or his mouth say the sound before we hand it over to him so I've been trying that today.  For "bowl," I did get him to say "ba-ba" several times so that was nice.  He's also saying "sssssssssss" for "sissy" consistantly now.  I first noticed it a few days ago (I think?).

Side note:  He still LOVES to pour stuff into anything really... food back and forth into cups and bowls... water from cups into pitchers, etc.

I tried to watch more of Elodie's swim lessons today.  It's always hard to watch her in an above ground pool when I'm on the ground level with Callen running around or watching from the unfinished room (no drywall or flooring) upstairs that has an open stairwell, with Callen running around.



(and no, his feet aren't that big.  He's still wearing a size 4 but I didn't have these in the size he's wearing so these are the next size up.)

She had two back-to-back lessons today because I had to pick up a session to make up for the one we are going to miss.  She mostly did well with the exception of a little crying in the middle.  I saw her repeatedly jump into the pool, get on her belly, use her arms to paddle & legs to kick, while the teacher held her head under water, then she'd roll (with teacher help) onto her back for a little bit, and then roll (with teacher help) back onto her tummy and then reach for the other side of the pool (she was swimming across the short side of the pool).  Then to get back across the pool, she'd launch herself backwards to the teacher, and then be pulled by her head to the other side.  She can also launch herself off the platform to the teacher.  I'm very proud of her!

This week she's LOVED opening my sunroof :)

Here's a photo from Tuesday:

He's mad because I stopped to take a photo but I had to document his cuteness on the pink & purple trike :)

Outside before the rancid stench of decomp got to us

they were so cute on this together until Elodie tried to make him stop pressing the button (here he is pre-haircut.  finally decided I like his hair short... see above from today)

4/24/12: decomp STINKS

really have not nice words for the dead bunny in my window well that is stinking up my whole basement, backyard, and working its stench into my house!!! so dave (who i have a few choice words for b/c he could have removed it way before it smelled!!!!) came home from work after i failed to find a service to come remove it and he removed it. of course it is the well that the stupid builders built the house over and then there's deck around that so it's really inaccessible so he had to open the window and take it through the house. Good idea mom though for the mesh. we'll have to figure that out. now i'm stuck with the AWFUL decomp smell. SO nasty.

4/23/12: L becomes an Octopus

Today, after just 6 ten-minute private swim lessons, Elodie's teacher Megan punched the rest of her Turtle bracelet (she had previously punched #1,3, and 8), gave Elodie her Turtle ribbon, and graduated from the Turtle level to the next level, Octopus.  Elodie was so excited and I was very proud of her!

Unfortunately, I didn't think to get any photos of her with her ribbon, so these ones of Callen will have to do.

  

"cheese!"

4/17/12: Elodie quotes

Elodie quote: "mom, it kinda looks like it's gonna rain because more water vapor is collecting in the clouds"

Then earlier today I was telling Elodie that the situation was getting the better of her. She said, "No, it's not." I thought I knew where she was going with that so I said, "Why? Because it's worse?" And she said, "yes." Too funny.

4/11/12: C TPed our bathroom & kitchen

watchout. Callen can do a good TPing job! ;)

Gone gone gone.

15 inches. Yep, today I'm 15 inches lighter.

4/9/12: Swim at B!ue Do!phin Swim School

L was a little nervous for her first lesson at B!ue Do!phin Swim School. As she was getting out of her car seat, she took a deep breath and said, "I'm cool, calm, and collected." I about died laughing. When did my baby girl get so grown up?!!

She mostly did great for her first 10 minute private lesson. It's costing me a ton of time (hour round trip drive time) and a ton of money (about 3 x the cost of the rec center), but we're hoping the investment will be worth it if she finally learns to swim! It's just such a safety concern for us.

Here's my big girly:

4/8/12: Resurrection Sunday

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

I must admit that I was kinda excited about Easter just because I got to dress Callen up in a suit. :)

(I have more photos but I haven't had a chance to go through them yet)

But the sermon was great and Rachael Lampa was awesome!! I even had my photo taken with her. Definite highlight for this fan. :)

Then Dave made a wonderfully tasty brunch and then Callen went down for his nap while Candy & Dale helped Elodie dye & decorate Easter eggs. She did a great job. Look how proud she is!

Then she got to search for real and fake eggs.

And, with a minor exception,

she had fun and it went well.

And the day was so beautiful that we hung out on the back deck the rest of the afternoon.

what?? a whole dollar?

egg bubble gum!

Then before Dave left to see John Carter with Mario, he was able to make the Resurrection Rolls with Elodie. He went over what each thing symbolized and read the Bible story while they were baking in the oven.

See Rapunzel in the tower?

She signed Callen's name too :)

4/7/12: Anniversary celebrated

Today Dale & Candy watched the kids so we could celebrate our 10 year anniversary. Originally we wanted to go up to the mountains for the day but then we realized that it was still ski season and we didn't want to have to sit in a ton of traffic going to and from so we opted for a low key local date. First we headed to T@rget (yes, I know, real romantic, but hey when you've got two kids and been married 10 years, it is a treat to go shopping by ourselves :)) and I tried on some clothes and got two new tops. Yay me. :)

okay, so maybe the hubby wasn't as excited as I was about shopping :)

Then it was lunchtime so we were going to eat at Zucca downtown but then we realized that they weren't open for lunch on weekends, right around the time we got there and saw tons of fire personnel. Apparently there had been a massive grease fire at The Empire so we sat ourselves down at The Rex with a view of all the action and enjoyed a great lunch (marinated chicken, prosciutto, and brie sandwich on sourdough for me...yum!)

After lunch, we headed to the mall so I could pick up something and Dave got a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory dessert. Then it was off to the theater to see October Baby. We wanted to support a Christian film that supports choosing life. Should have brought a box of kleenex! Then being the exciting people we are, we finished our date off with a trip to C*stco and T@rget.

After Dale & Candy left, while we raced around getting ready to leave, Callen managed to fall on his sippy cup and split his lip open in multiple places, getting blood all over himself and soaking up 5 paper towels. So after cleaning him up and a wardrobe change, we were off to a Passover Seder dinner.

4/6/12: Peek A Boo & the park

Callen loves to play peek-a-boo and he loves to hide and be found. Today he actually figured out how to put his hands over his face and do the "peek-a-boo". He thought he was hilarious. :)

blurry, but you get the idea...

I love this photo.

He had lots of fun at the park but gave his mama a big scare when my friend pointed out that he was like 20 feet up the playground. I had to run over there and up the structure and grabbed him just in time before he was dangerously close to the drop off. Ah!

Happy 10 years to me! :)

4/5/12: C's Speech Evaluation

Callen did great today during his vision test, hearing test, and therapy evaluation at Chi!d F!nd. His vision and hearing are fine. His fine & gross motor skills, social skills and everything else are fine. His communication is great, except for his verbal communication so he qualifies for speech therapy because he's in the 33-50th percentile. We'll be having a speech therapist come to our home for an hour per week for at least six months because that's when he'll be reevaluated for future services.

Here he is in the waiting room, checking out the doll house.

Here he is after the evaluation was over, playing with the eggs, while we waited for the therapists to write up their evaluations.

He liked to throw the balls behind that tunnel so that I had to retrieve them.

Putting the ball in the tunnel.

Back at home... Bathtime! He LOVES baths!