New Video to Watch

One of my favorite fragile x blogs is called "Love and Survival with Fragile X." On it was this video found on You Tube. I failed to mention that July 22 was National Fragile X Awareness Day. I thought it was inspiring so I'm posting it.

OT and Literacy

Today Pup's OT was a substitute as his regular OT is on vacation. I really liked her and so did Pup. I swear I'm going to throw a party the day this almost 15 month old can clap and bang things together midline. This skill he is still not getting. He's babbling a lot, cruising.....just can't bang anything together or put things in a container. He can take out, but not put in. I mean it. We will celebrate this skill as soon as I see it. In my efforts to make everything he owns have some sort of therapeutic value (haha) our "pop toobs" arrived today! These fun little ditties are used by his speech therapist and only cost about a dollar online. I ordered them from some office supply place as apparently they're good desk toys for stress relief. They make all sorts of noises and can be pulled, pushed in, bent.....I bought 4.

The Slinky Pop Toob!

And in my Mommy/Teacher efforts to create literate and language loving kids....I found one of my favorite Marilyn Burns books at the grocery store for just a few bucks in a bargain bin! She is a big math guru. Although it was a little over his head, The Greedy Triangle was a big hit with Al. Now that I think about it....I could blog about kids lit. as I am quite knowledgable....

Harry is still watching those My Baby Can Read dvds....although I am not by any means expecting them to teach his little brain to read, the vocabulary and language are rich. They are real life images, interactive, and he just loves them. They show a word, say it many times, and then show the image. It's LOTS of labeling and AJ is starting to recognize many of the words. I had forgotten about these DVDs for a while but brought them back out after a late night of informercial watching. They were a little pricey, but I think well worth it. Here's pup watching the DVD. I believe they're much better than Baby Einstein simply because they are interactive. Not that my kids sit in front of the tv all day. The kids have to participate by repeating words, moving their bodies.....this is more for AJ. Pup just likes looking at the images and the songs that are song. He loves music.




I'm struggling a little with my oldest son as he's in a phase where he's not interested in anything "good" for him. He takes piano....doesn't want to practice. He's not interested in our "learning time" anymore where we make letters with playdoh, etc. He did allow me to read him thebook which I felt I needed to be grateful for. I'm hoping he's not going to be "that" kid who won't do his homework. I'm a teacher and that has always been my biggest fear- that my child would be the child that didn't enjoy school. Maybe I'm projecting too far into the future. After all, he is only 4. I do find, however, that he can be bribed....with crackers. Today, for everything he practiced on the piano he was rewarded with Goldfish. I'll try anything once.

On another note....Husband took AJ for another bike ride tonight. Both came home upset. Apparently, Daddy makes him go "too fast...." He claims he will never be riding it again. Of course shortly after he asked to go tomorrow, but I had to assure him that he could go as slow as he wanted.

UNION!

Got a call from our union pres. today. She says I should be hearing something next week about being rehired. It's wonderful news although my secret hope of maybe being able to stay home is gone. I knew I wouldn't really be able to do it, but alas, I'm happy to maybe be rehired. I decided also, today, that I would try to fix my own kitchen sink. I tried just to fix the leak but ended up taking out the whole faucet. I had to turn off the water because I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do now. I actually didn't do it myself. Pup's early interventionist did it. After an hour of therapy, she offered to help me with the plumbing. She's awesome.

I discovered this evening that my sister-in-law, who also blogs about family life, has another blog about her encounters with baking, cooking, and growing veggies. She has never mentioned this blog to me so I'm wondering if it's supposed to be secret. Probably not because she's just modest really. Anyway, it got me thinking that I really need to focus on doing things I enjoy as well. One can only handle so much work and child rearing. Do I even have any hobbies? Well, I do love teaching and I often obsess over things like improving reading and writing instruction. Perhaps I should blog about that? No, it's related to work. I don't want to only be what I do......I will have to think on this one.

Bike Ride

Last night was my first Hanen class for parents. It was so good and I'm happy to be attending for the next 12 Mondays. Three of the weeks the SLPs will come to the house and tape my interaction with Pup to help me in my communications with him. We learned simple techniques like slowing down, giving choices, and waiting for responses. The class is based on the book "It Takes Two to Talk" and was provided for me by my regional center. They are amazing.

Today we got AJ his first real bike with training wheels and took him for his first ride. Of course he fell off, but he was ok. It was so cute.

Lots to catch up on

Gee...I can't believe I haven't posted since March. Well, there is definitely too much to report but as I can, I will fill in some blanks. Pup is now 14 months and is doing well. He finally started crawling at about 12 months and is now pulling up to stand and can cruise if motivated by toys. I really wish he could clap and bang things together. His fine motor is kind of lacking. He doesn't, however, seem to have any sensory problems yet and sleeps pretty well. He's very friendly and loving. He enjoys much pressure on his face so he always welcomes kisses. AJ is still the best at making him laugh. He had his tubes put in and started making many sounds within the month after. Although he never had an ear infection before the tubes, he's had two since. I don't really know why. He also had surgery to correct a hypospadius. Poor guy. We have been swimming a lot at the PopPop and Mimi's and have a full schedule of therapies in place. Since my last post Pup started OT weekly (as opposed to once a month) and speech therapy once a week. I LOVE his speech therapist. She's so knowledgeable and so great with Pup. I believe he is her youngest client. Because of his diagnosis and the tubes, he was a good candidate for speech. My regional center doesn't advocate for it until kids are usually about 18 months. Next week we start a Hanen class for parents. I'm really looking forward to this.

I think the reason for my lack of posts was the stress I was under at work. CA's budget is a mess and I, a school teacher, was laid off. I have a verbal guarantee from my union that I'll most likely be rehired in August. I'm next on the rehire list. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Now I'm off for summer and actually able to do things like laundry and housework. I'm also on a mission to lose some weight as I'm feeling that eating my way through stress is not good. We recently discovered picking our own fruits and veggies at a local farm. It was so much fun and the whole family could do it together. I think I will try to go every couple of weeks instead of going to the store. We went last week with my niece and brother in law who were visiting from out of town. It's nice to see the boys with their cousins. Pup is very interactive and so sweet. Totally different than how I thought he'd be.

Since March AJ also finished his first year of preschool as well was in a wedding! I'll post some pics.

Ok...more later. I'll be on a roll now.