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)

4/23/12: 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!"

4/9/12: 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:

Monday, 4/12/10...preschool & sayings

This morning I took L to the Christian preschool that I was thinking about putting her in for the fall. It still had one opening left in the 3 year old class and was $65 cheaper per month (& 2-3 hrs less per week) than the other Christian school that our friends have their kids in. It's also closer to our house than the one in Boulder. Anyhow, even though it was the Pre-K class this morning, we took a tour of the classroom and L joined right in our their free time play. She played with the trains and then I saw her on a teacher's lap...I think they were reading. Then she colored cutouts of a caterpillar and a butterfly and stamped letters on strips ofpaper. Needless to say, she didn't want to leave. She seemed to fit right in with the 5 year olds. Since L seemed to really like it, I signed her up for the last spot in the preschool class (the 3 year olds) for next year (Sept. 2010- May 2011). The Director of the preschool said that L seemed quite advanced for how "young" she was (since she's on the young end of her class and not yet 3). She also told me on the way out that she liked how I talked to L. :D It's always nice to get compliments about how you parent. Made me feel good!

Then we came home and I signed L up for dance, swim, and preschool for the summer. She'll be two classes up next time in swim because her last teacher for her pre-pollywog class said that she should be ready for the tadpoles class. She said the pollywog class is really the same as the pre-pollywogs but the age is a little older. She said L would be the youngest in her class but that she was a good listener and followed direction so she should be ready. I just wanted L to continue to move up so she'll actually learn how to swim. I couldn't believe how fast the summer preschool at the rec filled up. It's the first day of registration and I took the last spot in one session and, after we registered, there was only one spot left in the rest of the sessions.

L really didn't want to take her nap today and one of the things she said from the top of the stairs was "no! that doesn't sound like a good idea!" I'm not exactly sure what she was referring to because we finished our conversation on the stairs and then she climbed to the top and shouted that. It gave me a nice chuckle. :)

Monday, 1/4/10: Swim class

Well Dave stayed home sick today so I occupied L for two hours up in our room (Dave slept in the basement) and then took off doing errands until her nap time.

L's first swim class was tonight and since Dave was sick, I took her. Really, I'll be taking her all the time because her class starts at 4pm and Dave can't get home by then. Anyhow, it was her first class WITHOUT us in the pool with her. She did fabulous! She only cried when her instructor told her class was over. :( Anyhow, I'm hoping all the other lessons go just as well. She has to stand on a platform in the middle of the deep end of the kiddie pool (~4' deep) and not get off it or she'd drown. So this mama watched her baby like a hawk! Don't want anything happening to her! There's 3 other kids in her class, two boys and another girl. They all did really well.

Here's a picture slideshow and some videos:

9/16/09, 9/21/09 & 9/23/09...swim lessons

So this is Dave writing about her swim classes. The swim classes are the same classes she's taken before, just with a different teacher, but L is getting really good at the "monkey walks". The "monkey walks" are when the "walks" along the wall of the pool with her hands and her feet dangling in the water (It teaches them how to hang off the wall so they don't drown). As long as I am touching her legs she pretty much uses her arms and moves along the wall so that is pretty cool. At the first class, the teacher tried to get her to do a turtle, where you put one hand on top of the other hand and make a diving up & down motion. Elodie tried valiantly, but couldn't do it. During the second class, she got it. She's even practicing her turtle around the house and her monkey walks in the bath tub. She also is getting better with her kicks and she did "scoopers" for the first time today (scoopers are when you make scoop shapes with your hands and move your arms in the freestyle motion). She's also staying on the table in the water. She loves it. All she wants to do is stand on it and jump on it. This is good in the sense that for her to move up to the next class level, she has to be able to stay on the table in the pool so that she doesn't step off and drown. In the next class, there are no parents in the pool...just a teacher and four kids. Other than that she is just doing well and getting more and more comfortable in the water.

9/14-9/21/2009 week update

Click on the dates below for pictures of each day.

2009 09 14 Elodie was sick but we did manage to get my allergy shot and make a return at Verizon. She missed her first night of swim class.

2009 09 15 Elodie still had a slight fever so we missed the opening brunch of my church's women's Bible Study. I was really disappointed but tried to enjoy my time with Elodie instead.

2009 09 16 I came down with Elodie's cold so I had to cancel my allergist appointment and my BSF class. We sat on the couch and watched PBS all day while I felt horrible. No photos today...way too sick! Dave took her to swim class b/c I obviously couldn't. I'm hoping to get him to write about it.

2009 09 17 I had a rough day, but for the most part was feeling a little better. We had Toyoko Joes for dinner and Elodie got sauce all over her face. There's a video below of her giggling at dinner...so funny! Dave took her to her first dance class at the rec center. Here's his scoop on the whole dance class:

One of the things that L likes to do is dance so we put her in a dance class. However, she was very shy today. In the class there are two 4 year olds, one 3 year old, Elodie, and the teacher. When the teacher told the kids what to do, everyone would do it, except L would just stare at the teacher. If the teacher said her name, she would smile and then turn to hug my leg. It was cute but counter productive. :) One thing that L was great at was sitting on her "piece of candy". The teacher set out these mouse pads with pictures of candy on them, had each kid pick one and then told them they had to sit on it when she said. Every time the teacher said to sit back on their pieces of candy, L was very quick to do it. Each time the teacher put on a song for them to dance to, she would have them take out some props from her baskets (like a ball, pompoms, and handkerchiefs). L was the first one off her pad to get the props when she told the kids they could go get something but she would then run back to me and just stare at the kids and teacher as they danced. After the song ended, the teacher asked the kids to put the stuff back and she would very happily run over to the basket, put the stuff in and then run back and say "I help" with a big smile. Towards the end of the class she started to warm up a bit and actually jumped over the imaginary river that the teacher set up to teach them leaps (thats the picture). She was also good at the "popping the balloon" thing. The teacher had them put their arms together to make an "O" which the teacher said was a balloon. Then she had them raise their hands up, up, up until their hands were over their heads and then the "balloon" popped and the teacher would have them move their hands to their sides (sorry for the explanation, its hard to describe in words). A day or so after the class she was asking when she gets to go back and she talks about it a lot; she also keeps doing the balloon thing around the house. Hopefully the next class she will be a little less shy. She was really cute though and did a good job with listening to the teacher.


leaping over the river (cellphone pic by Dave)









2009 09 18 I felt much better today, but still stuffy. Elodie got her first ever hair cut...well really, I just trimmed her bangs b/c they were covering her eyes.

2009 09 19 Much welcomed help from Dave on this Saturday.


Love this outfit of hers. She's such a ham!

2009 09 20 See post from this day.

2009 09 21 I was very sad to see Dave go back to work (and so was he!). It was a very cold end to summer as you can see below. I did my normal Monday laundry but also took the opportunity to go through the remaining long sleeves, jeans, & winter pjs to sort out what still fit and what didn't and get out all her new clothes (bought last winter on clearance) and wash them. Unfortunately, I was out of vinegar so the new dark stuff hasn't gotten washed yet.

Elodie sang the ABC song all the way through, only leaving out "t-u-v." Apparently Dave had been trying to get her to sing it yesterday but she would only say "a-b-c." It's amazing what kids pick up. She's got at least two toys that sing the song too but we've never heard her try before and then poof, she just sings (yes, to the tune) the whole thing. We keep telling her she's so smart! :) She has also started telling us after she's already peed in the toilet again. She did it all the time when she was first potty trained. Then something happened (maybe a couple accidents??) and she started wanting us there before she went. Now she'll go and then tell us, which is nice.

Another first...tonight she ate her first taco, with a taco shell, pulled beef, tomato, and cheese. :)






trying on snow gear to make sure it fits :)

Day 6: Wednesday, 9/9/09: Lake, dinner on Wisconsin River

We spent the morning at Devil’s Lake with Aunt Ann, dad, and Jan. Other than the haze from the California fires that’s plagued us since we arrived, it was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect. The road into the lake is covered in trees and Elodie calls it a “tree tunnel.” The north shore is very shallow for a ways out so it was perfect for Elodie to run around in. Dad rented a row boat and took Dave out to his childhood swimming rock. Aunt Ann went swimming and Elodie ate some lunch. When the men made it back, we all had lunch on the picnic bench in the shade. Elodie went swimming with daddy one more time before we left.
We tried to put Elodie down for her afternoon nap at the farm but we weren’t very successful…in fact, not at all. Aunt Ann and I looked through one of her mom’s travel photo albums from 1936, when she was only 22 years old along with a photo album she started when she was 16 years old that also has dad and Aunt Ann’s baby pictures in it.

Then we headed over to Uncle John’s brother Jim’s house in Prarie du Sac on the Wisconsin River. We even got to take the Merrimac Ferry on the way to their house. It was a great dinner with fun company. The highlight of the evening for Elodie was Jim’s restored player piano. She loved dancing to the piano as Jim obliged by picking out different songs. I even got to take some decent sunset pictures of the Wisconsin River from their boat dock.

Click here for a slideshow of PICTURES from Day 6.