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!!!

The Circle of Life

I don't often post much about family dynamics outside my immediate family. My mom, aka Memere, has been watching Aiden since he was a year old starting with two days a week. Right before Eli was born, she started watching him full time. That was over two years ago. Last week was my mom's last week watching the boys full time. I am grateful for the time she has given them. I am grateful for what she has given us. The time had come, quite some time ago, that it was time for the boys to start going to a different daycare.

Today was the first day of their new daycare. We are in the "honeymoon phase." They had a great day. They were happy to see us leave. Aiden quickly shooed us out the door. I cried as I drove down the street. There is a huge amount of comfort when your children are with your family, and it is going to take some time for me to have trust and faith. I am a control freak, and I know this is what is best, and it is the best, but I guess you could say I don't have blind faith right now.

Aiden's birthday was the other day. He turned FOUR! He is getting so big! I can't believe I have a four year old. He is growing so quickly, and he is making so much progress. He is in a few phases of asking where things are as well as saying everything is, "Mine!" Yet, at the same time, he will randomly come up to us and say he loves us and will just randomly say, "truck and buses." I think he is onto the next catch phrase to replace more inappropriate phases.


The day after Aiden's birthday was the six year anniversary of my stroke. I have had a lot of highs related to my stroke this month as it is Go Red month with the American Heart Association. I spoke at two events and received wonderful feedback at both. At one, I spoke at length with a doctor who sought me out and wanted to know more about my story. He wanted to learn from my stroke. If you know my story, that is a big deal! At another event, I had a lady give me a bouquet of flowers she won in a raffle telling me how grateful she was that I shared my story. She was in tears, and she brought me to tears. I felt very proud to be able to share my story!

Tomorrow is my dad's ten year anniversary of his passing. For years, I actually would go throughout the day and not even notice it was the anniversary because I started to remember him not just by the date of his death but it was more about the random things that happened that would help me remember him or feel him- sometimes a saying or like when I saw an older man wearing a ball cap right on top of his head. But something about it being ten years is making it so hard. I tear up whenever I think about it. So tomorrow, I will not be going to his headstone because he won't be there- he will be in my kitchen with me as I finish my kitchen remodel listening to the AM Radio and trying to whistle.


And lastly, in less than two week, my baby is turning two. TWO. He is currently cutting his molars, telling me that sheep say, "Baa," and nodding his head and appropriately saying yes! Today he told me that he had fun at daycare.



This month so many events hold major significance in my life. I have to keep holding onto the thought that with death comes life and with change good things can come.

Funny-isms

Russ was coming home and surprised Aiden with a choice- what do you want at McDonalds? Aiden replied, "Cheeseburger King.". After a few goings back and forth, Russ said, "Do you mean Burger King?". "Yes, Daddy, Cheeseburger King."

A few days ago, I went to visit a friend, and I got stuck in her driveway. I was VERY frustrated. From the backseat I hear, "Oh, come on!"

I am no longer Mommy. I am Mommy Denicey. Russ is no longer Daddy Russell, he is Daddy Russell-e. Yes, folks, he was Daddy Russell according to Aiden.

Chaos

I have been missing for a while now...lots going on with both boys. But I had to share this video.




There are many exciting things for us on this video:

The growth of Aiden's language
The growth of Aiden's positive interaction with Elijah
Aiden's ability to mimic our positive language and praise
Plus how cute it is and how funny it is!!!

This was and is a huge deal for us.

We have been working really, really hard with Aiden's school and the outside class I have been taking to work on Aiden's behavior. We have also started Elijah's weekly therapy as well for his speech and developmental delays.

When we have moments like the one we posted, it reminds us that hard work does indeed pay off.