6/15/13: I love you too!

Two days ago, Callen started saying "I love you too!"

Now my kids are currently yelling back and forth at each other from their beds, "I love you too" and "sissy love too."  Too funny and too cute.

4/11/13: no signs

I realized today when I was reading to Callen a baby signs book that he's not really using any signs anymore.  The only time I've seen him signing is if I can't understand what he's saying so he signs "bear" to let me know.  He's talking SO much.  It's really fun to see.  He has so many words that it's impossible to keep track of them now.

He had his annual therapy review last week and it went well.  His speech therapist is recommending him to continue his therapy and work on his vowels and annunciation (and some other stuff).  His food therapist is recommending that he continue therapy as well.  She's made some progress with him but he still has a long way to go.  We love both his therapists and it will be hard to say good-bye to them in five months when he ages out of the program.

3/17/13: Callen words

I can hear Callen in his nap time shouting, "Praise God! Hallelujah!" then later, "happy!"

2/24/13: Callen words

Motors (monsters)
Butters (butter)
F*ckers (fingers)

2/19/13: Callen!

Well it took 2 years and 5 1/2 months, but Callen can finally say his own name!

Other new ones today include: doubles (the letter "w") and button (mountain).

1/18/13: Callen words

Echo (Diego)

1/4/13: Foot, School, & Therapy

I left the house for the first time since i hurt my foot. it's my driving foot but it did okay. I still have massive bruising and some swelling and soreness so I just think it's going to take a long time to heal. After 20 years of acrylics, I got a manicure and gel polish tonight. Hoping it will last as nice as the pink and whites. :) The kids were funny about it though. Elodie said "but I like the pink and white" and Callen came running, pointing to his finger saying "pink pink pink," like where's the pink mom? Too cute.

Today, Elodie took four more MUS math tests for chapters 2-5 and got 100% on all of them. I'm wondering how many chapters she'll test out of just from doing MUS Primer before Alpha (Primer is the kindergarten math and Alpha is the 1st grade math). I think I'll just keep testing her until she gets one wrong and then we'll start with that chapter.

Elodie's reading is progressing nicely as well. She's now reading through the Bob Books First Grade books. She sounds things out quite well and usually has no trouble with whatever reading she has to do for MFW Kindergarten. She also enjoys the read-alouds we do.

Callen's therapy sessions started back yesterday after a two week break. He did really well for both sessions. Sara got him to touch and push a cucumber around on his tray, which was great since before he threw two tantrums just because I put a cucumber slice on his tray. We also got him to kiss it goodbye. Mandy confirmed that he's catching up with his words. He's now on par with an average 2 year old, but he's 2 years old and four months, so that means he's about four months behind on his speech. An average two and an half year old will have 300 words so the average child's words would explode after two. Plus, an average two year old would be speaking in almost all two-word sentences, which Callen's not quite there yet, but he's definitely getting there. We're really pleased with his progress and he does even more for Mandy than he'll do for us (which she says is totally normal since he's in speech mode when he's with her and he only has to be "on" for an hour with her, whereas with us, he has to be "on" all the time). She also said he just hasn't made all those brain pathways yet that are messed up with him. So we're just trying to get him to say as much as we can. I kid you not, he has a new word every day!

Here's some other words he's saying that I don't think I had on his previous list: Let go!; Hey!; boon (spoon); sauce; piggy sauce; piggy no moo (he wanted the Dave's BBQ Sauce, not the Bull's Eye BBQ sauce; Dave's has a pig on it and Bull's Eye has a bull on it).

8/8/12: C, potty, & words

Tonight, Callen pointed to the window well and said "da-doe" and so I was guessing things and he was shaking his head no to all of them.  Then I finally said, "window" and he nodded.  I gave him a high-five. :)  So now Callen can spontaneously say "da-doe" (window)!

He's also been saying "Bao!" for "boom," while sweeping his arms out wide.  He likes to say it when watching the best helicopter video ever in the world when the helicopters are blowing things up. "Bao!"  He also can say "yeah" (yes) and he likes to shout "yay!" when he's excited about something, like getting to go outside. :)  He knows his speech therapist's name and recognized her photo tonight and said, "mi-mi" (Mandy).  Originally, he was saying it better, like "ma-dee" but now he's saying mi-mi consistently.

Yesterday, Callen pooped on the little potty all by himself.  I had got him out of his crib, changed his diaper, and put him down and he came to me with his fingers on his nose.  I asked him, "are you stinky?", but he wasn't, so I said, "do you need to go potty?" and he ran into the bathroom.  I stuck him on the toilet but there is no kid seat so he didn't do anything and I said, "Let's go find the little potty in the basement" so we got it out and had him sit on it.  Then he sat on the little potty seat on the big toilet and then back on the little potty. About this time, I went outside to put something in the mailbox and then encountered some yellow jackets on the porch that I killed, and by the time I got back inside, Callen came running into the dining room, making a face and sticking his tongue out.  It occurs to me that maybe he actually went so I asked, "did you go potty?" and we walked into the bathroom, and sure enough, there was a huge #2 in the little potty.  After I cleaned him up and took care of the business, we gave him lots of praise!  It will be interesting to see if he'll be interested in continuing to tell me, or if he's grossed out by it all since he kept making a face and sticking out his tongue for awhile afterwards. :)  This morning, he did come grab me, saying "mama mama mama" loudly and pinching his nose with his fingers so we put him on the little potty.  After a few minutes (I had gone back to the kitchen table to leave him to his business), he signed "all done" so we put his diaper and clothes back on.  Not long after, he was stinky so I guess he did have to go but just didn't want to wait it on on the potty?

8/4/12: C's words

Tonight, Callen held up a S*rry! game piece and said "boo" (blue).  He's such a smartie.  He knows "boo" because he likes to say "boo" when he turns on his blue stars at night. He also said "ah-pull" (apple) clear as day tonight.  He was saying it pretty consistantly, but then he was only saying it if I made him say "ahh" and then "pull."  This week he's also picked up a few other words.  Elodie taught him "tattoo" and he's pointed to things like his wet, muddy socks and said, "doe-do" (dirty).

Prayer for China & Callen's in school

Today Elodie picked China off the VOM Persecuted Countries map to pray for. I told her about China's one child policy, heavy taxes that people can't afford for a second child, forced abortions (baby killing), and abandoning babies. This was her prayer: Dear Lord, Let the people who have two babies not kill the babies. Let them know you are real Lord. I love you Lord one hundred times more than I love my mommy. Amen.

Elodie did a perfect letter N in HWT.

Callen can say "mo" (more), "pee" (please), and "sssinky" (stinky).  He can breath through apple straws.  He wants to draw when Elodie is drawing for Kindergarten and he dances along with the school songs like "Frog Jump Letters," jumping at the jumping parts and putting both hands in the air when demonstrating the letters in the air.

He wanted to color like his sissy.

Elodie on day 4 of creation.






"cheese!"


Jello time (part of sensory exercises assigned by his OT)




cute girl


Doing school :)


SO excited to be at the dentist!






Prize she picked.


Naptime!

7/25/12: C's words

Callen can say "ah-pull" (apple), "boo" (blue), and "baboo" (bumpy).

7/16/12: C new teeth & words

When we got home tonight from six days and five nights away for my photo tour in Grand Tetons National Park, we found that Callen had three new teeth poking through and more words!  He has the two teeth on the bottom that are on either side of the front bottom four that he already has and then he got the third tooth over on his top left.  New words include: babbit (rabbit), water, papa (grandpa), hi, meow, and moo.

Before we left, he was saying: baby (says it super clear and knows exactly what it is...points to photos of babies and babies on diaper boxes, to himself, etc.), bee (and then says "bzzzzzz"), wawa (water), woah, owie.

He also does this super low grumble noise to imitate a song on a helicopter Y*u Tube video.  It's so cute.  So he makes that noise to tell you he wants to watch that video.

When we got home tonight, he had a stuffed moose in his crib, so I got him to repeat "moo" and "ssss."

Oh, and now he's saying "key" because Elodie had found a key and was playing with it.

6/26/12: 5 yr old Dr visit; C words, construction

Yesterday, Elodie had her 5-year-old well visit.  She passed her vision and hearing tests with flying colors and was declared very healthy.  She was 43.9 inches tall (75th percentile) and weighed in at 42 pounds (50th percentile).  Her BMI was 15.3 (53rd percentile).  She was supposed to receive four shots but I thought that was a bit much in one visit so I postponed two of them for in a month, but she received the DTap in her left left and MMR in her left arm.  She was so brave but she cried because she said it really hurt.  I told her if she stopped crying that instant, I would take her to McDs because I couldn't handle both kids screaming/crying, since Callen had started crying before he even got his shots (DTap & HepA) and was still crying and continued to cry until after we were home!  So Elodie stopped that instant and she got her treat. :)

Waiting to do her vision test

Didn't stand still the entire vision test.

On to the hearing test.

I hear it!

Callen LOVES his trains!  Choo choo! (pre-haircut)

Callen got a haircut last night :)

Too cute!  I had to take a photo of the back of his shirt :)

"reading" a book (he likes to make you say what EVERYTHING is in the book)

Today, Elodie went to her second day of Sports Camp at Christchurch in Louisville.  She really enjoyed herself and earned a trophy for "Best Attitude."  We are very proud of her!  She said they did baseball and cheerleading, where she got to put on foot on each adult's hand and stand in the air!  She also did an art project of Shadrach, Meshach, and Obendigo and came home for the second day in a row soaking wet.  They said she was a little over zealous with running through the sprinklers.  Elodie, over zealous??  No! Never!! :)

Elodie & her little bowling pin and ball trophy

Doing warmups

We are on day 4 of the remodel project.  Ed mostly spent today with two helpers doing the second day of electrical so that we can have our rough electrical inspection tomorrow morning.  Then late this afternoon he tore out the front porch and cut the trex-like stuff for the new porch.

The new stuff just sitting on top so no one falls out the front door.

the old stuff in a pile off to the right

A fire started today in Boulder.  Here's a photo of all the smoke from our street:

Callen had his speech therapy today.  I feel like he's finally saying some more words.  He'll say "bye bye" spontaneously.  He'll repeat or tell if you if you ask what it is: ball (ba), up (uh), down (dah), more (mmm-oh), sister/sissy (sss-sss), go (ga!!!!).

5/10/12: new words

Today, Callen is definitely saying "ut oh" and "unh uhn" (as in "no").   He'll be saying "unh uh" over and over as he's running away from you or shaking his head and saying it.  He's still loving taking the step stool everywhere to "see" things or turn on and off lights and the fan.  He's also still loving waving his finger to get me to sing the "I love you there's no doubt about it" song.

Yesterday during speech therapy, he seemed very easily distracted but he did learn one thing, "mine."  Now he'll hug the object tight to his chest and "mmmmmm", like "it's mine."  It's very cute.

He's also decided that the sign for "bird" (pinching his pointer finger and thumb together) can mean any animal that he doesn't know the sign for so yesterday and today, Elodie and I were looking up the signs for octopus, squirrel, fox, and seal.  He loves to sign "bird" EVERY time he hears a bird.  It is very cute.  He has super good hearing and will sign "car," "plane," "helicopter," and "bird" EVERY time he hears one, even if I didn't hear it.

Callen pointing to his sunglasses.  He's also made up his own sign for my "glasses." :)

our 3 yr old's development

from b@bycenter.com:

Your Little Linguist

The charming speech — and kooky mistakes — of the typical 3-year-old are a wonder to behold. Sometimes their silly sentences and words are accidental ("It was gigantormous!"). Sometimes your little linguist will concoct wild words just because they're so much fun to say ("I'm making gorgorolla mud pancakes for you!"). This evidence of your child's growing proficiency with the English language should be music to your ears!

**In the past month, L's starting making up words just because she can or thinks their funny. She likes to say "that's spanish for..." She's also started saying "ah-ma" instead of "excuse me." She just made it up one day and has been using it ever since (for over a month now). She also seems to like to add "ness" to the end of words. She can be pretty funny.**

Your 3-year-old now
What sounds like nonsense coming from your preschooler's lips is actually a sophisticated kind of language experimentation. He might call his little brother a "pootie" or say, "Look at that prettyful flower." He may call a fountain a "crash water," an invented term that's really pretty clear. These creative concoctions crop up more often as he develops better language skills.

Now that he knows how words are supposed to sound and how sentences are supposed to be put together, he begins to play around with new combinations. "There's a wacky macrackey who lives under my pillow." This wordplay — often combining real and nonsense words — is a lot of fun for preschoolers.

They'll try to make you laugh as they dream up better material. Play along with them and invent some of your own. Instead of serving macaroni and cheese for dinner, set "pumpkin blooey" in front of them.

All these manipulations of sounds and words now will give your child a leg up as he learns to read. (And if you haven't introduced Dr. Seuss's silly wordplay yet, do!)

4/9/11: L's reading

Before my mom left last week, I bought L some sight word cards and we put some of them up on the fridge. She caught on really quick. In a week, she's learned about 11 words. She knows: I, a, yes, my, to, two, no, on, at, you, and your. Smarty pants! Our neighbor the kindergarten teacher said there's 12 sight words for kindergarten. I need to get those from her. But at this rate, she'll be reading by kindergarten! She'd definitely like to just know it all already.

7/18/09...quite the talker...

L's becoming quite the talker now. She has so many words and puts full sentences together (even if they're not quite right)...so much so that I can't remember to write down all the cute things she says. Tonight while I was out on errands, D put her to bed. During bedtime prayers she said, "Dear Jesus. Mommy home safe. Amen." How cute is that? The home safe thing started b/c she likes to pray for her Opa (my dad...he came to visit at the right time of her development and she's latched onto him!). This week she wanted to pray for Opa so I said "we pray that Opa gets home safe" (he was in Hawaii) and apparently that stuck with her. Tonight at dinner she said, "Mommy home safe. L-dee home safe. Daddy home safe." Anyhow, we thank Jesus A LOT for Opa and Auntie K ("K-K")....occasionally she throws in other family members like mommy & daddy, grammie, grandma, grandpa, etc. She also thanks Jesus for random inanimate things from the day like rocks. The other night after she farted really loud she said, "big fart right there." She also likes to say, "mommy (or daddy) sit down...right there." D warned her this week that something was hot so now if something comes out of the oven or microwave or off the stove, she says, "careful hot."

She can also put on her own shoes and if you tell her they're on the wrong feet, she'll switch them.

She's quite the climber too. For awhile now, she's been able to climb up into our bar stools (they're counter height), which doesn't make mommy or daddy very happy b/c of course we think she'll fall someday. She can also climb in and out of her high chair by herself, even when it's at the highest height...although she fell while getting out this week and so now she won't get out by herself & will stand there saying "no fall...no fall." I've lowered it again (it got raised by accident while some company were here) so she can get in and out if she wants.

Oh, and this morning D was trying to read her a board book that is in French and she said, "No. Mommy read it." LOL! I guess she didn't like D's attempt at French. So I came over and we read the book at least three times!

Every time my mom (grammie) calls, L will say "no doubt" b/c my mom sings her this song, "I love you there's no doubt about it..." If you ask L who taught her about butterflies, she'll say "grandma." She definitely remembers a ton now!

She really LOVES to be outside, which baffles her indoor parents, but we go with it b/c it gets us out and we know how cranky she gets if she's cooped up inside all day!

6/10/09...Elodie stories when moms away

Hello. This is D. E said that I havent done a blog entry in about 1 million years so I should do one. Tonight E had a photography class so I was in charge of the little one. E wanted me to make banana bread while she was gone but it turns out that we ran out of flour, so I had to go to the store. Not having a stroller or anything, when we got to the store I just let L walk while she held my hand. She did really well and actually held my hand most of the time. There was one time when I had to let go of her hand so I could check out and she started to back away really really slowly, with a big grin on her face. I was fast enough so that I finished just as she was about to take off. We then went to the mall so that I could get a little fastener thing for my crocks since the one I had broke causing the strap thing to just flop around and generally just annoy the *bleep* out of me. She held my hand all the way to the crocks place but after I got my piece she took off yelling "L-dee running" "L-dee running". I let her run back to the car and she loved every minute of it. Once we got home she wanted to walk around the block so we did that. She took her little waggon with her and pulled it until we got to her friend Ben's house (Ben is 5 months younger than L). She walked up the drive way saying "ben, ben, ben". I said that Ben wasnt home but just then the garage door opened and Bens mom came out to put the trash out. L asked "Ben home" and bens mom said that he was getting a bath. L than said "ben" in a little girls sad voice... it was really cute. After bens mom went back in and shut the garage L said she wanted to go home and ran all the way home again saying "L-dee running" "L-dee running" while dad carried the waggon. So ends the adventures of D and E.

4/4/09...L's getting more words

I'm experimenting w/a new way of posting pics. If you click on the image above, you should get a bigger view of the collage. These are pics from yesterday (riding her horse) and today (reading w/daddy, wearing goggles, & talking to "k-k" on the phone).

She seems to be developing more and more every day. Yesterday she said "chicken" clearly for the first time in months (she said it very clearly one day a long time ago and has never repeated it since). Tonight she very clearly said "chicken" a couple times when pointing to a picture of a chicken in one of her books. It seems like every time we go through one of her word books, she knows more words. I never know if she's said them before with D or not unless we're together and I can ask him. She can point to objects in the book like "mommy," "daddy," "boy," "girl," "mirror," "cheese" (camera), "choo choo," "giraffe" (although this word isn't clear at all but she does the sign for giraffe with it so I know what she's saying), "chicken," "house," "banana," "apple," "weeee" (slide), "grapes" (this word isn't clear either but she does the sign), etc. Today, she seemed to be trying to talk all day, although I can't always understand her. She does a lot of "It's a..." sentences. She also said her first "hi daddy" all together today. She also said "hi k-k." She's obsessed with calling her auntie "k-k" and praying for her auntie "k-k." K gets LOTS of L calls everyday. Today she also talked to uncle D. L whines to pray for "k-k" every night. We usually leave the room and she's still whining "k-k" over and over and over, even though we've praised Jesus for Katie like 10 times already. She also really likes to pray for "Opa." We get such a kick out of all the new things she says and discovers. D and I are laughing or smiling in amusement all day long (in between being completely frustrated with her for something, of course).

Monday, 2/23/09...chilling at the house...

I was supposed to do house stuff today but I was too lazy so I'll do laundry tomorrow. We spent today just trying to get back into our routine at home. We did make it out for a walk though

L woke up before 6:40am...D's alarm hadn't even gone off yet. I'm hoping that it's just the tooth that I discovered today that she'd cut (the last of the bottom four to come in on the front left) or the time change and that she'll sleep later again soon!

Today she said the following things for the first time:

"I peepeed"

"I fart"

"you peepeed"

"squirrel. go! go!"

"whoa" after slipping on the rug

She also said "ABBA? ABBA? ABBA?" over and over and over today. She wanted me to put on the ABBA Gold cd.

"cheese!" She's been saying "cheese" a lot lately (aka she's asking me to get out the camera and take her picture); unfortuately most of the time I'm not fast enough getting out the camera and she's stopped smiling by the time I'm ready.

notice her little crocs-knockoffs? they were on clearance for $3.24 and i couldn't resist.

this is one of the times she insisted I take her photo. good thing she was still smiling since it took my old camera forever to focus & take the pic in the dark. :)