Tyler progressing to Speech Therapy

Tyler was seen by Early Intervention in December and deemed to qualify for assistance with Play and Speech therapy.  He has achieved the first goal- attending to parents while playing in order to see how sounds are made (watching our mouths) and mimicking those actions and sounds.  Now we're moving on to actual speech therapy to get more clarity out of his words/sentences.  Tyler can make lots of environmental sounds (animal noises, vehicle sounds, etc) and has about 45 words, but even after getting tubes in his ears and making some progress since then, we're getting a lot of garbled would-be sentences and sounds.  The new goal is to get him to have 100 clear words in the next six months.  You can do it, Tyler!  Keep up the great work!

Mother's Day

Saturday, the Moms in my family went to tea.  The Boss brought champagne and chocolates for everyone!  It was so nice to just sit around and chat about stuff that didn't always include the kids or work.  Life...  Can we have a regular meeting like this, Mamas?  It was so relaxing, and fun to hear each other's stories.  Thanks!
We went to Mad Mex for dinner and it was so good!  I tried their version of a Pina Colada (tequila instead of rum) and it was amazing! And my Pico Burrito was the best I've had there.  Now if only the kids would stop shouting, and fussing over their food...  Kohls was a complete disaster which we didn't put up with for long... we left.

Sunday, Ken made breakfast (with only a little help) and it was fantastic!  Food is extra yummy when you didn't make it, isn't it?  Hung out with the Browns and Candys (do you pluralize a name the same way you do the word candies?) for a bit.  Tyler loved his new Krispy Kreme hat- wore it for at least two days every chance he got. Spent the afternoon outside digging for dinosaur bones and mulching flower beds.  Dinner was leftovers and chill.  Then we had to put together Andrew's Star of the Week poster.  That seemed to go well, and was actually a little fun for a rush job.  Can't believe we got the kids to bed at 9 on a school night, but they seemed fine.

Did a bit of reminiscing, too, about two Mother's Days ago... Amber vomiting at Ruby Tuesdays, which led to Andrew and Ken getting sick, then Mom, then me and Dad getting sick right after Tyler was born.  Good times. So glad we didn't give it to anyone else.


All in all a Happy Mother's Day.  The Woodchuck and Mascato always help me keep the rosy glow ;-)

A Photo book of Tyler's first year

A Year of Tyler Photo Book

I made Tyler's first year photo book! Let me know if you have trouble seeing it.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Some folks don't get to see updates posted on Facebook.  I don't air the dirty laundry (often) on FB, but I like to post photos now and again.  Maybe I'll find out how to link Blogger and FB like you can do with Twitter and Instagram.  I sound like I know what I'm talking about... wishful thinking on my part.
So, on to the update.
Andrew is in the middle of first grade and doing super!  He has an awesome teacher, Mr. Latini, whom the HSA ladies all swooned over when we told them our teacher assignment.  I know why now!  I can't believe how quickly Andrew picked up reading and how many things he can figure out how to say (when he finally stops saying he doesn't want to).  Also great at math and likes solving problems.  This Christmas he got lots of new games, and he and Amber keep themselves busy playing (and arguing about) all of them.  They especially like a good card game!
Amber is into Disney, princesses, and putting on shows.  She has two imaginary friends (phonetically zoozy and pie) that make appearances in her performances and other parts of her day.  She is very imaginative and dramatic, and very good at absorbing (song lyrics, math stuff Andrew learns, mothering Tyler).  Looking forward to getting her into dance or gymnastics or clown school....
Tyler.  At 15 months he had no words and the doctor suggested we think about Early Intervention if he still had none by 18 months.  We had our assessment December 4th and he qualified for agency help (speech therapy and an evaluation with a physical therapist).  We also took him for a hearing screening, which showed poor performance by both ear drums and a definite issue with his hearing.  We are (re) scheduled for the ENT on Feb 6 and are hoping that the worst case scenario is a need for tubes.  I feel like I'm missing a part of his personality not being able to talk to him.  He has come a long way with attempting words and sounds, and he uses several basic signs (which he was really stubborn about when he was little).  Once he starts hearing better, everyone is confident that the speech will quickly follow.  He has recently started enjoying books with us, too.  I think he's dragging this "baby" thing out for me because he knows he's the last baby. He a cuddly, happy, busy boy who gets into everything.  Love him!
So, with any luck I will post again about the ENT visit.  I will make an attempt at pictures, soon, too.
xo