Boo at the Zoo

We had so much fun last night at Boo at the Zoo. It was much different from Night Eyes at Blank Park Zoo last year with my In-Laws but it was loads of fun.

We met up with Jill, Maggie and Drew (Andew had to work) and loaded up the strollers. Being the warm blooded Texans that they are, she was quite prepared for the "record low" we were supposed to get. *gasp* :)

Kitty and Princess held hands and chatted through the whole park while Brown Bear and Peter Pan happily dug through their pails and rode in style.

As the evening wore down and it got colder though Hannah ran up to hold her daddy's hand though. As she told Maggie, "Hey! Your hand is too cold! I'm going to hold my daddy's!" Smart girl! :) That's who's hand I wished I were holding! :)

Mom!! You're doing it wrong!!!

This is what I heard yelled at me from the bathroom this morning. "And I don't like it this way!" The thoughts ran through my mind, "Did I fold the towels the "wrong way?" Did I leave Isaac's toilet seat on? What did I do "wrong?"

- "Come in here! Let me show you!"

- What's the matter, Hannah?

- "Look! I don't like it this way! Put it on the front, not on the back! That way people can see it!"

So what had I done wrong? Apparently, Maribeth had hung the toilet paper with the leading edge under not over .

Well, excuse me, Miss Future Martha Stewart! :)

Verbal Apraxia

That's our "diagnosis" for now. We met with the speech and language pathologist and the occupational therapist/services coordinator today through Early Childhood Intervention. It was quite enlightening and yet a little heartbreaking at the same time. :(

For Isaac's developmental stages there is quite a broad range. Just for reference he's 22 months. For his physical stages (fine/gross motor) he's at 28 months; adaptive/cognitive - 27 months; social/personal - 35 months.....but his expressive speech is at 9 months. :( He comprehends everything (24 months) but just can't verbalize it.

So we'll be starting bi-monthly speech therapy with at home exercises to do in between. It makes me sad on the one hand because every mom wants to believe her children are the smartest, fastest, best, most perfect children....and then something like this just hits you between the eyes. I know in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal...but it's still sad to me. They expect that we'll see huge improvements by 6 months and that within a year he may not qualify for services at all any more....but it's that uncertainty that weighs heavy on my mind.

So....what's been going on....

Well, let's see.

Chris - loving his job and doing very well at it. He's got a quickie trip (as in he found out about it yesterday, leaves tomorrow, will be back Saturday) to DesMoines tomorrow. We had thought about sending Hannah with him to spend some time with the IL's but at $600 a ticket, we'll just let Heritage pay for Chris's. :)

Hannah - currently crashed on the couch after a trip to the zoo with friend Veronica. They had so much fun, and were quite a bit quieter on the trip home than they were on the trip out! She's loving preschool, gymnastics and soccer. Quite the little busy bee but such a good helper at home.

Isaac - continuing to astound me with his desire to use the potty...and yet, not wanting to use his mouth for much more than eating. He was supposed to have a speech assessment on Tuesday but the therapist bailed, so we're rescheduled for next Tuesday...stay tuned.

Me - between teaching, momming, vetting, and wife-ing...well, the sewing machine is getting a little dusty. But I've been introduced to the wonderful world that is Yoga and Bunco. Once a week yoga is wonderful for relaxation and once a month Bunco is great for the soul too. ;) I'm adding in running and trying to train for a Turkey Trot....just because I had nothing else to do. ;)

Is this an omen of things to come?

Last night before bath time, I put Isaac on the potty just to see if he would doing anything...and he did! I think we both were quite surprised! :)

So this morning, he woke up dry. Which is incredibly strange considering we've had to buy the overnight diapers because I was sick of washing his sheets and blankets every morning. So I took him into the bathroom, and again! Success! He was so proud of himself and kept clapping like crazy! :) Such a little ham.

After his nap this afternoon, again. Dry...followed by success! :) It's so nice to know that he makes the connection, you can see his little tummy clenching and unclenching as soon as I put him on the seat. :)

So, we're just too busy right now to hard core potty train. Between teaching and working and church things...just too much. But we'll keep visiting the potty chair any time he would usually be wet and we'll see what happens!

Yeah for no more diapers and more money back in the grocery budget! :)

We had so much fun!

We took our first family vacation and had a blast! We used Chris's hotel points and stayed at a quite hoity-toity place near Austin. The professional pictures are at:
http://www.lostpines.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/gallery/photos.jsp?icamp=propPhotoGallery

And my pictures are at:
www.dropshots.com/jsmexico

It was like the camp in "Dirty Dancing" :) And no, Chris did not have to tell my dad, "Nobody puts Jen in the corner." :) There was so much to do, swimming, face painting, dancing, smores, star gazing, rafting, horses, bikes, horse shoes, soccer, cookie decorating, golf, spa (whoa! That's how much it costs?), there was everything!

It was so nice just to do something with our little family, no extended family. No drama, no schedule, no responsibility...wait, I am still a mom. :)

Last Day of Swimming and pictures from last night

Well, 2 innings into the game, Hannah turned to Daddy and said, "Are they going to say my name? When do I get to play?" Poor thing. :) She thought she was going to play! But she enjoyed all the snacks with Daddy instead.

Today, Daddy took the kids to swim lessons. It was the last day and it was "Fun Day." Since Chris didn't want to get in the water with Isaac, his teacher Whitley said she would take him around. The kids were quite proud to show off for Daddy.