Eli's Speech Journey

I could type for days about how both of my children have had speech delays and how much work and devotion it is to get words to come out.  But sometimes, your kids surprise you!

Elijah loves Signing Time!  Plus, he loves music.  One thing I have learned with all of my therapy sessions with Eli is that using music can significantly help a child hold onto words.

Eli is now piecing two to three words together.  He is mostly putting things like together, "Daddy got it."  We are working on replacing it with the noun, but it makes my heart sing when a new word is said or when he started doing this:

He loves Colors of the Rainbow by Rachel Coleman in The Signing Time series.  Here he is saying all of the colors of the rainbow.  I rather talk about his accomplishments today...because I think it is a big deal!!!  Good job, little man!  Good job!!!

xoxox

Aiden's Drawing!!!

Aiden has been working in with his OT on mimicking lines to create a drawing.  See his success!!!

Empathy

em·pa·thy

 /ˈɛmpəθi/ Show Spelled[em-puh-thee] Show IPA

noun

1.

the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

 

Last week, when we were leaving my mother's house, I asked Russ if we could go to the cemetery to  see my father's headstone.  We had the dogs with us, and when they are in the car, they like to roam all over the van.  It was easier to let them sit in the front passenger seat rather than get stressed about them roaming all over the car.  I was sitting in the middle row of the van with Elijah.  When we got to the cemetery, everyone stayed in the car except for me.  My father is buried next to my memere and pepere, and when I got to their headstones, I started picking the weeds that had surrounded all the dead flowers.  With the current heat wave, the flowers didn't stand a chance.  So I was there for a few minutes picking the weeds, and I went back to the car to get an empty travelers coffee cup.  I got some water, and watered the flowers.  When I went back to the van and got buckled in, my husband told me that Aiden (4 years old) was asking why were here, etc.  He explained to him that the cemetery is a place to remember those that have gone to heaven.  Aiden proceeded to tell me, "Momma, I don't like this place."  I responded, "Me too buddy, me too."  After which, I choked up. 

 

You see- I am believe my dad is with me every day and surrounds me and he really isn't at the cemetery.  But something about this visit and Aiden's word, that got me all choked up.  I started to cry.  I was quiet about it but I was certainly crying a bit.  Elijah just quietly reached over to me and held my hand.  No words, just held my hand.  

 

 

Folks, it was in that quiet moment that my heart smiled.  My son loves me, and in his gentle gesture, I was also encouraged.  We have taught my boy empathy.  What a sweet little boy.   

Happy Father's Day!

I haven't posted in a while, and I will, I promise. I have lots to tell about our little guys. But- I wanted to share my annual present to Russ for Father's Day. I started it the first year Aiden was born, and now, I kind of have to do them. :-) This year was the least fancy due to some things going on but I still like how it came out.  There is sound to this but it is somewhat quiet music- so please turn up the speakers!  :-)

Happenings...

So many things, so little time... Russ has been so busy with outside projects that I have just been plugging away and dinner and bath time and then doing household stuff that blogging and trying to sell Discovery Toys has taken a back seat. Here is what Russ has been up to:

And the completed fence (I have since cleaned up the debris from the project)...

And the second project- a swing set! We asked family members to give money in lieu of birthday presents since the boys have birthdays only a few months after Christmas. With the money given, we were able to get a good size swing set!

We got lots of help from Aiden...

Lots of quality control from Eli...

And a lot of smiles when the project was finished! Way to go Daddy on all the projects you did for our family!!!

Life is About Holding On and Letting Go

If you have ever gotten an email from me, you would know that the theme of this post is the tagline at the end of my emails. But I have to tell you, that tagline is my worst enemy. The past last year has been incredibly hard for me. About a month ago, after having a peaceful drive home, I walked into the door of the house. The moment my hand hit the doorknob, instant stress and anxiety and anger erupted inside of me. Truth is, I would wake up that way too. Even when the boys were just acting like two and four year olds, I had no patience and would immediately get upset with them. As a parent, I am their biggest advocate but unfortunately, I was becoming their worst too. Screaming and getting angry isn't healthy or an environment anyone deserves to be in or around. I haven't been able to let go of the type A control freak that I am. I would see Aiden struggling, and I would and do take it upon myself to feel as though it is my fault and that I am not doing enough for him. I would see Elijah not mimicking or pointing to things he would want to do or have me look at. Again, I would feel as though I did something to make him behind. Again, holding onto guilt and feelings of being a failure. Here is my point, I need to find the balance and come to terms with how things are and not get so uptight about the snail pace of change. In reality though, we are moving at a rapid pace in this house, and the boys are changing and growing at a rapid rate. Elijah is now mimicking and repeating words. He is starting to make more and more sense. Aiden has actually been playing! PLAYING! This is a huge step for him!!!

The point is, I need to hold onto these moments and let go of those moments that I want to scream and count to 10, because those moments shall pass way too quickly.

Toy Story Galore!

This was the first year that we did a little kiddo party. I didn't want to go overboard but more to have a good time with all of the kiddos. But my kids, of course, since they had just started daycare, got a nice round of ear infections. So, I had asked folks if we could change the day since we had fevers, runny noses and ickiness. We then had the family birthday party the following weekend. Both kids were still on antibiotics and had runny noses. Eli was actually somewhat miserable but I wasn't going to cancel. We moved ahead. It was fun to get all of the family together, and this year actually a lot of folks missing. We still had 20 people though and had five missing. Look at Aiden's face! He was so excited for his cake!

Eli dove head first right into his cupcake!

I should mention that in addition to the kids parties, we give each kid a cake on their actual birthday too!

The last string of events was the kid party and that evening the kid's uncle and his girlfriend came over. For the privacy of the other kiddos, I am going to post the decor.

Here is Eli the morning of his birthday! I absolutely adore this photo!!!