Sunday, September 19, 2010

Memorial Day in Chicago

Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, we drove to Chicago to see our family in Western Springs. We had a great time seeing the sights and listening to the sounds of the great city of Chicago. It really is wonderful to have family there so we can visit with them and enjoy the culture of Chicago. Ben and I also had dinner with two of his fraternity brothers (and a girlfriend) who live in Chicago. It was great getting to catch up with them!




Tyler and Granddaddy at the Brookfield Zoo



Granddaddy and all the grandkids making model airplanes



Waiting for our Water Taxi



Our beautiful niece Kate



Our precious nephew Ryan



Adam and Ryan riding the ferris wheel at Navy Pier with Nana and Granddaddy



Stefany and Chris riding the ferris wheel with downtown in the background



The kids getting wet in the fountain at Navy Pier
(we told them to stay behind the black section......they soon disobeyed and the kids were soaked!)

Indianapolis Children's Museum

May 28, 2010........


On our way to Chicago for a visit with the Southers, we stopped in Indianapolis to visit the Children's museum. It was really fun, but I wouldn't say we were totally thrilled with it. The coolest part was the dinosaur biosphere in the basement........the boys were a little scared, but they got used to it and began to enjoy it. (Too bad I missed taking pictures down there.........or maybe those pics are on our camera that died).




Gymnastics Exhibition

May 22, 2010.........


Adam's gym held an Exhibition to "show off" their skills at the end of the year. Sue Sue and Paw Paw came up to see Adam perform and we were all quite impressed! I've got to figure out how to upload our .mov movie formats so you can see his routines. Pics now.........video later.......




Adam's Last Day of 3 year old Preschool

May 20, 2010...........



Adam had an awesome year with Ms. Christi and Ms. Jenny! They were truly fabulous teachers.
















Here's the picture from the first day of school to compare.

Tyler and "Toy Story"

May 17, 2010..........

Oh my! Adam never really had any big obsessions with characters from movies or tv shows, but Tyler LOVES "Toy Story." And Kohl's had these adorable stuffed characters for sale to promote "Toy Story 3" (which we've now seen twice in the theater!). Tyler is still sleeping with these guys today.






Spring T-ball

May 2010..........


Adam played t-ball again last spring and enjoyed every minute of it! His best bud Charlie was also on the team, so that made it even more enjoyable. It's so fun watching the kids learn the basics of baseball.........just precious!





Eek! Spiders!


May 4, 2010.........this is what I found at the bottom of our basement steps!



Seriously??

Wow, it's been 4 months AGAIN since I've posted! This is hard. Oh well, my goal now is to go back to all of the pictures I've taken on my phone and blog about them. In May of this year, our camera lost it's life. At Adam's preschool program, Tyler decided to throw it across the room while it was open and on. The camera did not survive. Unfortunately, we have not bought a new one yet, and the following posts will contain "terrible condition" photos. Please excuse that........at least we are taking some pictures these days!


I will also be including speech updates for Tyler. We are just a couple of weeks away from his evaluation for our county preschool program at the local elementary school. If he qualifies, he will ride the bus to school 4 days a week. How crazy is that!?

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Tyler's Speech Updates

Here are the past few updates from Tyler's speech sessions with his therapist. He's really doing well! He's definitely trying to talk more, just not very clearly. But we're working on that. This week, we will begin working on the "sh" sound. Tyler substitutes several consonants with an "H" sound, so we're going to focus on one particular consonant sound each week.


I'm so proud of Tyler!! But there are definitely still days that we are all frustrated. It's been a very slow process, and that's hard, but he's doing so much better now. :)

Date: 3/31/10
Service Summary: Tyler is ready to play. Mom reports that he is doing well. He gets a little frustrated when she doesn't understand. He will lead them to what he wants. Reading a story and leaving off words to have Tyler fill in the blank. He repeats words and phrases after a model. Uses a four word sentence. Using touch cues with sounds today and he tries them. Labels farm animals and tries their names. Putting lots of final sounds in words. Using lots of sounds in words.
Family Ideas: Building on 2-3 syllable words.
Plan for Next Session: Continues building on longer phrases and multi-syllable words.


Date: 4/7/10
Service Summary: Tyler is ready to play. Mom reports he is doing well, but he can get frustrated when others don't always understand. Overemphasizing sounds in words and having him try to sound after a model. He is able to repeat the sounds on his own, but not always in the word. Trying to use new words/sounds today. Very willing to repeat words. Discussed ways to work on sounds. Connecting sounds to a word can be hard for him.
Family Ideas: Build on sounds by having him repeat a sound.
Plan for Next Session: Try some hand signals with specific sounds.


Date: 4/21/10
Service Summary: Tyler is happy and ready to play. He chooses to play with pattern block puzzles. Labeling shapes and colors. Tyler repeats words and phrases after a model. Mom reports that he's occasionally using up to 3 words together. He still uses "H" initiation on some words he says. Counting 1-6 after a model. Using good final sounds in words: s, g, d, k, etc. Still doesn't use "s" initially in words and that is okay. He substitutes "h" for a lot of initial/beginning sounds. Answering some questions with 1-2 word phrases. Using touch cue for gulping sound "g" and he really was able to do "g."
Family Ideas: Model sounds and use touch cues.
Plan for Next Session: Build on touch cues while playing.


Date: 4/28/10
Service Summary: Discussed with mom how he is doing with his speech. He's using longer sentences and putting more sounds together. Using preposition in phrases more. Trying blends in words like star - initially used "har." Tried a touch cue first and he used "sar." Less "h" initiation in words. Labeling colors while lacing pegs/shapes. Using good final sounds in words while we play.
Family Ideas: Try "Hop on Pop" to listen for sound differences.
Plan for Next Session: Building on longer sentences.


Date: 5/5/10
Service Summary: Mom reports that friends are starting to understand him more. Choose to play Zingo. Modeling carrier phrases. "I have a ____ ____," etc. Modeling "sh" - shoe to try and "k" in cat. Overemphasizing initial sounds in words. Trying a blowpen to work on oral motor skills. Tried it. Using 2 syllable words like yellow while coloring.
Family Ideas: Build on "sh" sounds and words.
Plan for Next Session: Find "sh" words to play a game.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

I can't believe how high the grass got in the backyard this spring! Some areas were as high as Adam's waist, so I couldn't help but take pictures while I was mowing tonight.











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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Snap? Crackle? Pop?

Tyler is intrigued by Rice Krispies and he loves them! He listens to the sounds they make every morning...




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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Night with Daddy

Tyler enjoyed a Cincinnati Reds game tonight with Daddy. He was glad daddy's client stood him up!!




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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Waiting to ride the Tractor




Down in Georgia......doing our Georgia things!!

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Monday, April 5, 2010

New beds!

This weekend, we bought bunkbeds for the boys to sleep in and they are so happy! Needless to say, they aren't falling asleep too easily because of the excitement, but I'm sure that will catch up with them.




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Playdoh eggs

Adam shaped his playdoh into his favorite word......eyeballs!!




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Happy Easter!

The Lord is risen! We had a great Easter this year with beautiful weather provided by our God, a crazy egg hunt at our church, a wonderful Easter day service from our new senior pastor, and topped off with a fabulous lunch at Sue and Larry's condo with extended family.

I am, however, mad at myself for not taking a single family picture yesterday all dressed up! I was a little stressed about the deviled eggs I was supposed to make. :)

Here are a few pics that I did catch on my phone......from adam's egg hunt at school, dying eggs at home, and Easter bunny treats.



























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