Happy 60th Birthday to the world's greatest dad & grandpa! Love you & miss you lots!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
A photo and a quick update
This one is into climbing...just like her big brother. I guess it's more fun than walking.
She's back to her usual self. Feeling much better, happy (with the odd screaming fit thrown in for good measure), and playing. L is back to her usual self too. Amazingly, this bug has not yet hit G. Apparently it moves through kids much quicker than through adults. I'm really looking forward to my digestive system being happy to see food.
We met our RDI consultant today. Went through her questionnaire, shared our story, just got to know each other. I like it that she's also an OT, because she was able to help us make sense of many of G's problematic behaviors, and had suggestions for what to do with them. And she wants to know more about what his sensory issues may be, and should be able to support us in our journey towards working with the whole child. The most reassuring part of the process so far is that it's going to be long term, on-going, and is going to require both Ralph and I to actively participate, learn, and apply what we're learning. She had lots of positive feedback for what we've done so far, and I can tell that we're going to learn a lot too. We'll have just over a month before our next meeting, which is good...we have a bunch of e-learning to do, some more questionnaires to fill out, a few articles to read, and some time to try applying what we're learning. Right now, it feels like we're on a good path.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
bad blogger
I've been a bad blogger lately, but at least I have an excuse. A wicked stomach flu is working its way around our house. It started with M on Sunday night when she threw up all over me. Then, when I was away at planning meetings on Monday, it hit me and I spent the whole night emptying my system. L and Ralph were both home with it today. Ick! I can't remember the last time I had one of these stomach bugs. Definitely NOT one of my favourite ways to spend my time.
In other news, L is officially a big girl. No more pull ups or soother for bed time! Both were actually relatively painless. Amazing how that is when you just wait for them to be ready! G had Pajama day at school today, and despite his initial concern over putting on PJs at 7 a.m. instead of 7 p.m., he had a great time. M still isn't walking. She wants to, and gets really mad when she falls on her bum. She's been trying out the whole tantrum thing...even banging her forehead on the floor when she's mad. And she lost a fingernail today (the one she squished during our Christmas holiday), it just fell off all on its own.
Tomorrow is our first appointment with our RDI consultant. We've been doing homework and video taping to prepare. Hopefully we're both healthy enough to go!
Promise I'll post some photos soon.
In other news, L is officially a big girl. No more pull ups or soother for bed time! Both were actually relatively painless. Amazing how that is when you just wait for them to be ready! G had Pajama day at school today, and despite his initial concern over putting on PJs at 7 a.m. instead of 7 p.m., he had a great time. M still isn't walking. She wants to, and gets really mad when she falls on her bum. She's been trying out the whole tantrum thing...even banging her forehead on the floor when she's mad. And she lost a fingernail today (the one she squished during our Christmas holiday), it just fell off all on its own.
Tomorrow is our first appointment with our RDI consultant. We've been doing homework and video taping to prepare. Hopefully we're both healthy enough to go!
Promise I'll post some photos soon.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
change is hard
It's been good to get back into a routine, but we're also dealing with lots of change right now. G is going to school full days, on alternating days, and it hasn't been a smooth transition. I didn't expect it to be, but I'm looking forward to getting my little boy back to himself again (hopefully sooner rather than later).
One of the changes that I'm really looking forward to in the new year is working with our RDI consultant. We need to prepare a video tape for her before our first appointment, so we dug our video camera out of deep storage. We've also started the online learning component. I think that it's going to be very good for us to be doing this learning together. So far, I've been doing the majority of the reading and learning. It will be good for us to be sharing more equally in this process.
M is so close to walking and talking. The daycare staff was amazed at how much she changed over two short weeks of holidays, and so was I. She's turning into a toddler so quickly...which is so much fun, and also makes me just a little sad. I know she's going to be our last, and so I'm not in any rush for her to grow up.
We took G and L to see the new Veggie Tales movie in the theatre this afternoon. They loved it, and they were SO well-behaved. They were so excited to choose snacks, and they sat so nicely during the movie. L was a little enthusiastic in her reaction to the movie...a fair bit of shrieking and jumping onto my lap...but I wasn't surprised. She does have a pretty dramatic personality ;-) And, G handled the whole theatre experience a whole lot better this time, likely because we did a better job at helping him know what to expect. I'm so glad it went so well. It was a fun outing, and it will be a lot of fun to go again. I bought a couple of sleds before we went home, so hopefully we'll have some nice warm days soon so we can go sledding!
One of the changes that I'm really looking forward to in the new year is working with our RDI consultant. We need to prepare a video tape for her before our first appointment, so we dug our video camera out of deep storage. We've also started the online learning component. I think that it's going to be very good for us to be doing this learning together. So far, I've been doing the majority of the reading and learning. It will be good for us to be sharing more equally in this process.
M is so close to walking and talking. The daycare staff was amazed at how much she changed over two short weeks of holidays, and so was I. She's turning into a toddler so quickly...which is so much fun, and also makes me just a little sad. I know she's going to be our last, and so I'm not in any rush for her to grow up.
We took G and L to see the new Veggie Tales movie in the theatre this afternoon. They loved it, and they were SO well-behaved. They were so excited to choose snacks, and they sat so nicely during the movie. L was a little enthusiastic in her reaction to the movie...a fair bit of shrieking and jumping onto my lap...but I wasn't surprised. She does have a pretty dramatic personality ;-) And, G handled the whole theatre experience a whole lot better this time, likely because we did a better job at helping him know what to expect. I'm so glad it went so well. It was a fun outing, and it will be a lot of fun to go again. I bought a couple of sleds before we went home, so hopefully we'll have some nice warm days soon so we can go sledding!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
hello real world
Tomorrow it's back into the regular routine of work, school, and daycare for all of us. The Christmas holidays were great, but it will be good to get back into a routine again. G will be starting full days of school, on alternating days. Change is always hard, but hopefully not having to make a transition midway through the day will be easier for him.
I spent most of the weekend in bed with an awful migraine. I'm feeling better now, just drained.
On Thursday, G got to have a sleepover at Nita's house with one of his friends. They had a blast! Played outside, played video games, and giggled late into the night. It was nice to get some special time with the girls. L had a play date with one of her girlfriends. It was hilarious to listen to them play ponies and Barbies together...such girly girls! I'm not sure where that comes from....
And earlier in the week, she was such a good helper making a cake. And so pleased to be wearing her great-grandma's apron.
I spent most of the weekend in bed with an awful migraine. I'm feeling better now, just drained.
On Thursday, G got to have a sleepover at Nita's house with one of his friends. They had a blast! Played outside, played video games, and giggled late into the night. It was nice to get some special time with the girls. L had a play date with one of her girlfriends. It was hilarious to listen to them play ponies and Barbies together...such girly girls! I'm not sure where that comes from....
And earlier in the week, she was such a good helper making a cake. And so pleased to be wearing her great-grandma's apron.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
ups and downs
Ralph was back to work today, so we were sort of back to the real world here. I'm still on holidays, so I was at home with all of the kids today...which is out of the normal routine. L helped me bake a cake this morning, then all three kids played in M's room for a good hour...no fighting!
This one is saying Mommy! I love it :-) Sometimes it's mama, sometimes it's mommy...and sometimes it's bowie. This is such a cute stage, but one that lets you know that very soon your baby isn't going to be a baby anymore!
It's really feeling like its time to get back into a normal routine...time to go back to work an
d school. While part of our day was really good, part of it was also a real struggle. G wanted to play checkers & backgammon with me again this afternoon, and every time I was able to make a play to get one of his checkers, he'd wipe all of the checkers off the board and start crying...quit the game... etc. We had a really nice supper with his respite worker and her husband, and he was so excited to see them both again (it's been a week and a half), but after supper he banged his sister in the head with his great big exercise ball. So, I put it away and told him he needed to have a time out, and he had a huge meltdown (headbutting me in the face, hitting, kicking). It's been awhile since we've seen one this bad...and it's always hard to see him regress like this, but it's a good reminder that routine and predictability are really important for his ability to function. He's getting bigger and stronger, so I'm really grateful that he doesn't get physical like this too often. I'm nervous about what the impact of the change in routine with his school schedule is going to be.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
My Top 10 of Christmas 2007
1. How great the kids did in their Christmas programs
2. How completely the kids believe in Santa Claus
3. Spending time with family
4. Noticing how much the kids are maturing
5. G learning how to play backgammon and checkers (and even win)
6. M crawling up onto everything, and babbling like crazy
7. Seeing L's imagination playing with all of the new toys, and seeing it rub off on the other kids
8. Lots of happy, imaginative playing in our house, even though everyone is overtired and completely off of routine
9. M playing peek, pointing to face parts, and saying Mommy
10. Getting set up with an RDI consultant
They're pooped!
and so am I :-) We celebrated Christmas with my family on the 26th (details to come in another post), then went to a hotel with a huge (and very noisy) waterpark for the night on the 27th. The kids always have lots of fun, but it's super overstimulating, and they never sleep very well when we're all in the same hotel. We did a little shopping, had some mexican, and then came home again, and the kids flaked out on the drive home. It was great to spend so much time with family...I really miss all of them. All of the busyness, the company, the complete lack of routine are lots of fun during the holiday season, but it's really hard on the kids (especially G). Things have settled down now, family has gone home and we've got the rest of the week to catch up on sleep, clean up the house, and try to get back into the regular school & work routine.
Happy 2008 everyone!
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