Boys Update - September

The boys are growing up so fast.  I thought I would give an update on each of their little lives.

Mace
Mace has grown so much in just the last month.  His baby days are definitely gone now.  He loves walking all over the place exploring everything he can.  This week he has been working on going from sitting to standing without holding on to anything.  He's doing awesome.  The first time I saw him try was over at our neighbor's on her driveway.  He wanted to go get the cat and tried three times really hard to stand and walk.  On the third time, he was able to take off walking.  It was so fun to see although a little scary on the concrete.  He can reach the doorknobs now and is trying with all his might to open them when the big boys leave him behind.  He has added "kitty" and "door" to his vocabulary.  He points to what he wants and says "dat" (that).  He clicks his tongue and whistles and loves dancing to music.  I love watching his little dance moves.  It's guaranteed to put a smile on your face no matter your mood.  He still wants to take two naps most days although if you can get him through the morning he'll be fine with one.  His nighttime bottle is gone now and we'll just give him a drink of milk from a cup if he wants it before bed.  I'm worried about writing this for fear of jinxing it but he's been sleeping through the night consistently again which is wonderful.

Cade
Cade is becoming very grown up now.  He is talking up a storm and is trying lots of new words that we can't even figure out.  His therapists all say that is a really good sign that he's trying to say new things even if we can't figure any of it out.  I was able to have my first real conversation with him this week.  It made me smile so big to actually talk with him.  Here's our conversation:
   Mom "What's your favorite color"
   Cade "Green"
   Mom "What's your favorite food"
   Cade "Apple"
   Mom "What's your favorite thing to do outside?"
   Cade "Dig"
   Mom "Would you rather play outside or inside?"
   Cade "Outside"

We continue to do therapy both through the AEA and through a clinic in town.  Combined he has six sessions a month and we see his vocabulary continue to grow leaps and bounds.  He has many two word utterances and the other day even said four words together.  My mouth about hit the floor.  During therapy yesterday he counted to six.  I was not aware that he could do that so what a great surprise that was.  If we allowed him to, I believe he would play all day outside digging in his hole at the back of the yard.  He also is very helpful when we are out working on projects.  He wants to get in there are be of great assistance.

Drew
Drew is becoming so grown up now.  He is very independent and slightly stubborn like his mom.  He is able to carry on such grown up conversations now and sometimes blows me away with what he's able to talk about.  He continues to work on his reading and spelling and is doing a really good job.  He's also super good at adding and subtracting.  We've been doing lots of drawing and coloring and he's enjoying that more.  He doesn't like to get too crazy when he colors though.  I think he did a whole coloring book in blue because that's the color he likes.  I notice that about all his art projects he brings home from school too.  They are only ever one color.  He still loves school and loves playing with his "crew".  He says that all the boys are friends and they are all a crew.  He has come home with some interesting phrases he's learned from some kids and I have had to tell him we won't be using those in our house.  Luckily nothing bad though.  During indoor class activities he's still pretty shy and doesn't like doing his sharing time.  He answers the teachers questions and then I guess she relays his answers to the rest of the class.  I'm really interested to see what they are going to say at his conference in November.        

Happy Birthday Mitch

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday.  Over the weekend we were able to have both of our families over to celebrate with a football game and good food.  His gift from everyone was a giant seafood boil.  To say he was excited would be putting it mildly.  It was a great time getting to spend the day with everyone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MITCH!!!!!

A Change in the Air for Naps

I remember when Drew was two and decided he didn't want to take a nap anymore.  We had a gate on his room so he still had to stay in his room for a couple hours and he would eventually fall asleep after looking at books for awhile.  Then after he turned three he was completely done with any nap attempt.  Cade has now also gotten to that point.  Sometimes he'll get out of his bed and then lie under it.  I'm not really sure what that's about but he has taken multiple naps on the floor in the last few weeks.  Most other times, he makes his way down to the playroom.  If Drew is resting with his stuffed animals in the guest room, Cade will just play by himself.  Otherwise the two of them play or read books.  I'm not ready for Cade to go from 3 hour naps to nothing.  He's not even 2.5 yet.  I used to work with people that would talk about how even their kindergartner still took naps on the weekends.  I don't understand that at all.  Why do my kids want to quit when they are two?  

Jab to my Heart

I was just talking with Drew as he was unloading the dishwasher.  I was giving him suggestions of what his reward could be when he gets his reward card full of punches.  He looked at me and said, "Daddy is the best Daddy but you are cranky all the time.  One time Daddy let me have the marshmallow cereal that you don't let me have."  Really?!?!  Yesterday he informed me that he liked Daddy best because Daddy always buys things for him.  Gotta love that he tells you what's on his mind.  I guess I'm going to have to develop thick skin for the next few years.

Making a Change in Dinner

Dinner together is something that is very important to us.  From the time that our kids were at least 9 months, they sat with us at dinner and ate what we ate for the most part.  It was important to us that from the beginning they learn about family meal time.  There are foods of course that little ones cannot feed themselves either because they are not ready to use a spoon and plate or because mommy doesn't like them to make super big messes.  Take applesauce or messy spaghetti for example.  That means of course that we have to eat our food while at the same time feeding the baby and making sure the older children have everything they need.  This causes some problems for impatient hungry little babies.  Mace is now screaming when he wants another bite if it has not been given to him fast enough.  This is through no fault of his own though.  For a year he was able to communicate with us in no other way than to cry.  That was the way he let us know he was hungry, tired, or dirty.  Now we have to break that reinforcement and get him to communicate with us in ways that do not cause pain to our ears.  (I'm not kidding...you should hear this kid scream.)  I remember going through this with the other two as well.  To break the yelling for food cycle, we introduce signing to our kids.  Drew only ever had a few signs because he talked early.  With Cade's talking issues he has quite a few that he learned and uses.  Tonight we taught Mace to sign "more".  When he yelled for a bite I said "more" along with showing him the sign.  He immediately did the sign and got a bite and gave us a big smile.  This happened three times tonight and he did the sign right away every time we showed him.  It's just amazing to me how quickly they can pick up on things.  He has also recently started giving high fives and waving bye.  It's fun that you can show him something one time and see him start to do it.