I'm So Proud

My daughter's name can now be read when she traces the letters! When we made Easter cards a month ago, few, if any (depending on the card), letters were recognizable! I am so proud of her progress!

Today I talked to Meghan's SLP. I don't have time to share now, but she had some very encouraging things to say. I will post about them soon (Sorry, I don't know if soon is tonight, tomorrow, or the weekend.)

Our Zoo

We went to the local zoo with the MOMS Club.  When I say local, I mean just a few minutes away!  However, it is a very small zoo that takes in unwanted animals.  I love that it doesn't take animals from the wild, but the selection is pretty limited.

I am amazed at how colorful these turkeys are.  Did you know I plucked a turkey when I was a kid?  It was not fun, but I bet I enjoyed eating it.

The giraffe is my favorite animal at this zoo.  His name is Jimmy.  Doesn't he look tired?  Or sad?

These pictures are of the same barn owl.  It's amazing how much it can change how it looks.  Maybe the owl is my favorite animal at this zoo.  Hmm...Owls are really amazing birds.

Peacocks were all over the zoo.  However, this is the view they gave my camera.  Repeatedly!

Shortly after we arrived, Meghan said, "Bamboo."  What?  I looked around and saw some.  How did she know what it looks like?  She informed me that Wonder Pets taught her about it when I asked her.

We had a lot of fun, but when I asked Meghan about it, she reminded me that there was no elephant or zebra.  (I believe her whole concept of what should be at a zoo is based on the book Dear Zoo.)  Even when I pointed out that there was a tiger, bear, camel, and monkey it didn't seem to ease the disappointment too much.  Despite her disappointment, I know she had lots of fun.  Evan stayed in the stroller the whole time, so I'm not sure he had as much fun, but we'll likely return this summer.

Yes, with all the pictures I took, I didn't take any of the children.  I realized it when we were getting buckled in the car.  By then the camera's battery died, too.  Oh well.  Silly me.  Or as Meghan would say...silly old woman!

Before and After

Evan with some serious bed-head.  I decided it was too long when he needed it to be combed.

After the haircut.  Yep, we buzzed it again.  Evan now uses his high chair (actually, it's a booster seat) at the table without a tray.   That is not a giant bowl of applesauce, the perspective is just a bit off.

What They Say...

The other day Meghan looked out the window and said, "I see U-P-S truck."  That was followed by, "The UPS truck go that way."  I guess she has been paying attention when I've asked her what letters are on the delivery trucks.
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Last week when I picked Meghan up from school, I got to meet her friend Stephan.  In the car I asked her if Stephan was her friend.  She informed me that he is a prince and "He's handsome."  GULP!  Later we were talking about another boy in her class, Derian.  She informed me that he is also handsome.  I quickly asked her what handsome meant.  She summed it up nicely.  "Cute."  (At first I was quite perplexed at who was teaching these words to her...a friend reminded me that Meghan watched Cinderella (Disney version) at her home.  We have also read the book...along with several other Disney movies-turned-books that I'm sure use that word.
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Meghan has one knock knock joke.  Actually, she does not even say the punch line.  It goes like this:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Boo.
Boo who?
HAHAHAHA!  We do try to tell her the punch line (Please don't cry) but she choses to ignore it.
Apparently Evan is taking after Meghan.  Imitating Meghan he says...
Knock, knock (sounds like no no, but he knocks with his little fist)
Who's there?
Boo.  (Sometimes boo boo.)
Boo who?
HAHA!  
Can you hear the fake laughter in our home?  Evan told this joke repeatedly.  That's how often he hears it!

So between our two children, they know half a joke, and it is not even the punch line.
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As the children were eating their bedtime snack tonight, I must have said something funny.  (Despite Derek thinking otherwise, I can be at least amusing.)  Meghan says to me, "You silly old woman!"
I am pretty sure she didn't learn that in a book!  She claims Aunt Amy taught it to her.  Aunt Amy denies it...and she loves to claim what she teaches her, so where did she come up with that?

Time-out for Two?

Only the older child in this picture was supposed to be in time out. The younger was just visiting.

Promptly after the picture, I removed him...but I had to take the picture first. :)

(I am also happy to show you this picture since Meghan is NOT crying, like she usually does during time out.)

Verticle

Derek and a neighbor friend erected the tower portion of the swing set. See how the boards on the ground look a bit funny? That's because Derek dug out a portion of the ground for the boards and leveled it just under the boards.

Between the weather and softball (double headers on Mondays and Wednesdays), we're not sure when Derek will get the next part done, but we're pretty confident it won't blow over despite our windy days.

Lesson Learned (Scooter Fun)

This morning we learned a parenting lesson the hard way. The messy way. The smelly way.

Personally, I've always been amazed at how Meghan can spin and spin for several minutes and loves every bit of it. (I can't even use swings without getting motion sickness.) Well, this morning after spinning for several minutes (maybe 10?) with the usual squeals of delight, Meghan had to stop. She came over to me.

Then she proceeded to get sick. She got the loveseat, carpet, my jeans, and slippers. She paused. I hoped she was done. I kind of froze knowing that my foot was rather disgusting, but Derek took her to the kitchen. Along the way she got the kitchen floor before hitting the sink.

Derek took the kids upstairs. I cleaned. Later he asked if Meghan had pears with her breakfast. It was kind of obvious.

Lesson learned: Don't let her spin for too long!

I was so thankful Derek was not only home from work today, but also taking a break from his final exam. Yes, folks, Derek has completed another class! He has about five weeks off before his next one begins. That means he'll have about ten nights of softball games before we reevaluate the situation. Derek loves playing, and though I can't take the kids (bedtime is at 7ish and with preschool, it's important to get there in a timely manner) or watch myself, it's good for him to play. Derek works hard around the house, at work, and for school, so I know it's important to support him in playing, despite it being a bit tougher for me.

The video is another, totally separate topic, but I thought it'd still be fun to include it.


Actually the video just shows how well Meghan can go on the scooter. (A new home is being built in our development, so that is what the background noise is.) We had been considering a bike, but think we'll just let her master this for the time being.

A River of Milk

Yep, that is my boy.  He is imitating the rest of his family and finishing the milk from his cereal.  Unfortunately, he does not quite have the technique down, so though there is little milk in the bowl, most of it goes right down his chin, down the bib, and into his bib's pocket.

Oh well.  Meghan loves to drink the "juice" from her fruit and even her vegetables.  Yes, that would be butter she doesn't want to waste on her peas and green beans.  Too bad she isn't always so careful to not waste.

The B-I-B-L-E (by Meghan)

Look at my sweet family.  Derek called me in from the kitchen to see how cute the children were being.  It's nice to see them being so nice to one another, because, trust me, we have multiple meltdowns daily.

This morning the children and I went to the local county park.  We met Ashley, Meghan's former SLP there.   I love that Ashley cares about us and is still part of our lives.  Unfortunately, this was the only picture I got that turned out.

I did visit two preschools this week.  Both were nice schools and good options.  I shared before how the one preschool is currently full for the three mornings a week program.  That has not changed.  The other school offers 2 mornings a week for Meghan's age.  That school is willing to have Meghan in the four year old program that is three mornings instead of the three year old program.  (She turns four in October, so though she would be young, we think it would be fine.  She knows her alphabet and the sounds the letters make, colors, shapes, and can mostly count to 20 and identify the numbers, too, so she really does need to be challenged a bit.)

Derek has leveled the the ground for the swing set.  He also has put in some flat brick type things for the tower to sit on where he leveled it for the wood to set on.  Soon...

Closer

The swinging part of the swingset has been completed, in our garage, for a while. Last night I helped Derek bring it to the backyard. (Yes, I was huffing and puffing the whole way. I am not strong.)

The next step is for Derek to level the ground. (Our entire backyard is a gentle slope.) Afterward, we can ask for some help to stand up the tower. Then the children can at least use the swinging part of it while Derek completes the tower floor, steps, and slide.

School Shopping and Speech Update

Meghan's teacher and SLP have recommended that Meghan be in a regular preschool next year.  If you haven't been reading for long, she currently attends a speech and language classroom through the Intermediate Unit.  She has made incredible progress since she started in mid-October.

We don't know if progress is coming more naturally now, or if her classroom and therapy have had the impact.  She does have speech therapy three times a week (twice in a small group, once individually) in addition to the language-based classroom.  I suspect we are at a plateau now that she can converse in short sentences.  (Sometimes they are even complete sentences!)  Articulation is definitely still an issue.

When I asked Meghan's teacher what our options might be for next year, this is what she had to say.  (Pat is Meghan's SLP.) "If it helps with your decision making, we feel that Meghan would benefit from a typical preschool program, perhaps with itinerant speech. The developmental skills that she demonstrates here, are the highest in this class. Pat and I feel she would do well (speech/language wise) if she had typical peers to interact with."  I did ask the teacher to clarify what she meant by developmental skills, and she explained she was referring to both academic and speech, but because of her speech progress, they particularly feel that a regular classroom would be most beneficial.  (I noticed when I was visiting that Meghan was one of the most vocal children.)  Itinerant speech just means speech therapy on a regular basis instead of in the classroom setting.  

Personally, I feel that speech MUST continue for the progress to continue.  Though Meghan is now able to attempt to correct herself when we ask, she really isn't capable of correcting too much, even with several tries.  Derek and I still look at each other and ask what she is saying.  Daily.

With all that said, this week I am visiting two preschools in the area.  Ideally, Meghan would attend preschool three mornings a week next year.  At this time, we're leaving that up to God.  Neither of the schools I am looking at has that available for us.  One offers two mornings or three full days for Meghan's age.  The other has three mornings, but is currently full.  We'll see what doors God might open for us.  (Meghan naps three or more hours a day.  Afternoon preschool is not exactly an option because of that.)  Both come recommended by various friends, though no school is perfect.

Quite honestly, I am looking forward to not dealing with a school bus being chronically 10-20 minutes late, or recently, 10 minutes early, but seriously, rarely on time.  (I know it's our choice to allow her on a bus instead of driving her, but it is annoying anyway.)  More importantly, I am looking forward to different (more!) communication from school.  

New Words

I just started something new.  Above the newest post, there are some new links.  One is for Evan's new words and another is for Meghan's.

Last year when I started this blog I did this for Meghan, but at that time I couldn't make a permanent list that could be altered.  Eventually her vocabulary had such an explosion that it was really hard to keep up with.  I'm not sure if it will still be really hard to keep up with her vocabulary list, but I will try.

Evan's word list might be a bit tough, too.  We seem to hear a word just once...and so we are unsure if we really heard it or not.  Yesterday we heard "ball" a ton though.  We've been hearing "thank you" for a long time, but it is just so cute that I wanted to add it.

I will be adding to the lists on a regular basis, I hope.

After Lunch Play

We've been getting outside most days after lunch.  Today I took out the camera...and had some serious fun taking pictures of the children. They had fun with the rocks, running, falling, and jumping.  After Evan tripped when running down the grass and laughed, Meghan started pushing him down (and falling on top of him) to get a laugh out of him.   The rest of the half hour you can see for yourself.

This could hurt!

Ready. Get set.  

JUMP!  (Pretty good, huh?)

I hope you had fun looking at the pictures; I had fun taking them!  If you want to see any of the photos larger, just right-click it, as usual!

Rock and Egg Hunt

Despite brightly colored eggs, Evan was mostly interested in rocks.


















Meghan loved the eggs and enjoyed finding them...in her socks. The mulch (freshly put there by little old me) got into her shoes.
















I guess my children just like to collect different things.

(This is my second post today, so make sure you scroll down for the next if you are interested.)

Happy Easter

Evan was thoroughly uninterested in photos before church and after. We did get some snapshots during the egg hunt though.


Happy Easter!

Sesame Street Live

We saw Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Green Thumb. It was Meghan's first theater (movie, live, anything) experience, and still fairly local. We didn't know what to expect, but thought she would enjoy it. Evan went along, too. Though he is only one, we had to pay for a ticket. The MOMS Club got group tickets, and we had a good deal.

Evan was quite content before the show began.

Meghan struggled with the noise until I encouraged her to put her hands down (after about five minutes).

Meghan loved it. We had great seats!

This is actually how she spent most of the 1 1/2 hours. Mesmerized.

This was the song, "The Ladybug Picnic"...one of my favorites!

Evan was a tired boy!

If you would like to take the time check out these videos. The first Evan steals the show in the background!

In the last few minutes of the show, Meghan got out of her seat and started dancing. Until then she was mesmerized...and didn't show any excitement.

We would definitely do this again. Our only complaint was that it was often hard to understand what was being said.

Friends

With Meghan's spring break, we took advantage and went to visit some friends in the Lancaster area.  Krista and I met for the first time in December when we met up at the train station.  

Krista is so sweet and welcomed us into her home.  Evan needed a nap while we were there, and took one easily with his favorite blanket and Scout by his side.  Adam is just two months younger than Evan, and Natalia is 6 months older than Meghan, so the children were well matched.   Evan needed a nap while we were there, and took one easily with his favorite blanket and Scout by his side.  Eventually Adam took a nap, too, and we were not able to get a picture of all four children.

We had a great time with our friends.  I think it shows in these photos!

Pretty cute, huh?  

It's a lot cuter when I do not need to find my pots and pans.  

The oven  is baby-proofed...kind of with that strap attached to the lazy Susan.  Since we don't want to do anything permanent or sticky, I guess we just let Evan play.