Presidents Day Weekend - day two - Hole in the Rock

With a family that loves animals a visit to Hole n" the Rock was a given.  We had a lot of fun, but wow is this a weird place!  They just gathered lots of - well - junk, and turned it into art - weird, and very amusing art. :)  The highlight however was the very unusual petting zoo, we all had lots of fun feeding a variety of animals in a variety of ways. :)

 Love this boy, he knows how to wrestle a crocodile and handle a bird of prey properly. :)

It was a fun outing!  then for the remainder of the day everyone but mom, Jared, the three boys and I left for biking, four wheeling, and exploring, while we stayed home to sleep and attempt to get better.  :)

Presidents Day Weekend - in Arches National Park

For Presidents Day last year we went with my sister Natalie's family to St. George, it was a GREAT trip!  So this year we wanted to repeat the trip and make a yearly tradition, unfortunately the condo, which belongs to Kevin's grandparents was unavailable and with it being Presidents Day weekend everything, and I do mean everything was already booked, so we gave up on the idea.  Then to our delight my parents found out they would not be out of town, so they found a place in Moab for the weekend.  We were there - the whole family for weekend of fun.  I LOVE arches, so it was great fun to be able to spend the day hiking around and the three little boys loved the climbing all over red rocks.  The day would have been perfect if Jared and Brandon had not been sick, they did well for the first half of the day, but by the end they were very weary, they did however make a darling little pair trudging home from our last hike.

 It was so nice having my brothers, Kevin and dad there to help with my two boys on all the hikes, because they got tired easily and did not want to walk.

 

Love Arches, I am so very happy that I will get to go back in the summer with the YW for girls camp!

Grants Birthday

Grant LOVES trains, and his good friend Daeman, who was born one day before him also LOVES trains.  So it seemed fitting to do a double birthday party, a train birthday party of course.

We met first at Daeman's house where Karen had fun games and actives set up, the party guest (Tyler, Patrick, Campbell, and of course Brandon and Daeman's sister Nicole) were able to decorate foam trains with stickers, pin the nose on Thomas the train, and play with Daeman's train collection.

 Following the activities and games we led the kids to the front yard where we had a "train" waiting to take them to our house for treats and presents.

The train ride was a hit, even if it didn't turn out the way I had hoped.W

When we were at our house we had fruit pizzas on train shaped sugar cookies, the kids loved them - and it was so much better than cake, this may be a new alternative :).

 Then Grant and Daeman sat in their birthday chairs with their trains and hats and opened presents.  All together it was a very fun birthday party!  And once again I find myself being incredibly grateful for good friends (Sharece) who help right when I need it and make the party a success!!

 In preschool Brandon made a count down chain for Christmas, and loved it, so he suggested that we make a count down chain for Grant's birthday, Grant had so much fun each day cutting off a chain - this may have to be a new tradition (and it is so easy!:))

 On Saturday morning (Grants birthday) he woke up and opened presents.  He got a T-ball set, lots of wiffle balls and a base ball helmet, all of which he LOVED.  He also got two battery operated trains (Thomas and James), a fishing pole, a large box of paints, more books, and two balls.

 Following presents, we prepped for our family party.  I always enjoy having my family up for a party, they are just fun to be to be with!  Grandma Julie made Grant a new silky blanket (to replace the one that was becoming worn and tattered) and a new pillow to go with it.  Grandma Julie and Grandpa Ron also gave Grant lots of books, a basketball hoop to hang on his bedroom wall, a leap frog toy train, and many other fun toys.  He was a spoiled boy!!!

 Grandma Dee Ann and Grandpa Wyn sent a gift card to Walmart in the mail - Grant had so much fun shopping for whatever he wanted to buy - he came home with a large red ball, a large paper pad for painting on with his new paints, and a really cute Duplo Lego counting train set.  Grant was spoiled by everyone who loves him!

We sure do love our little groundhog!  He is such a charmer with his beautiful and easy smile, his contagious laugh, and kind disposition.  He is remarkably smart, learning to talk late has not slowed him down one bit; he plays memory games with incredible ease, and has already begun learning his letters, letter sounds, counting, and number recognition.  He is very much a mommas boy, which is fine with me since Brandon is always telling me he likes Jared better :).  I am whooped on this boy of mine - he is just so lovable!!!  Happy Birthday Grant!  We love you! 

Grant Graduates Baby Watch

You may remember in November of 2011, after concern for Grant and his lack of speech we began speech therapy and ASL instruction 2-4 times a month.  Ms. Karen was Grant's speech therapist.  Ms. Karen visited our home regularly and was a tremendous influence for good for both Grant and I.  We grew to love her.  I remember when we first began speech therapy our six month goal was to have Grant be able to speak 50 words; it was such a daunting goal.  Our short term goals each week would be something like; practice saying vowels and letter sounds, it then evolved into, practicing very small words and we were so thrilled when Grant was able to say "da" for dad, dog, duck and that.  When we began Grant was initially very shy with Karen but would warm up to her by the end of the hour.  I began to feel that every mother needed someone like Karen to come to their home, because every time she came she would tell me what a wonderful mother I was, how natural I was at helping Grant, and how lucky Grant was to have me for his mother.  It was such a boost to have a trained, child development, professional tell me I was doing a good job!   

We also began having Ms. Mindy visit our home 1-2 times a month to teach Grant and me American Sign Language.  I loved it, I have always loved ASL, I really believe that it is so beneficial for infants to learn ASL.  Ms. Mindy was also delightful to have in our home and she always came prepared with fun ideas of easy and engaging activities to do with both my boys after she left.  Grant learned ASL very quickly.

 We continued to do more testing with Grant, we became concerned that he may have moderate hearing loss and need hearing aids, then we learned that getting tubes in his ears may solve his problems, so in January of 2012 Grant had surgery to get tubes.  The surgery went beautifully and more little miracles began to happen.  I remember the first time Grant noticed birds chirping -it was so exciting for both of us.  The hearing tests after the surgery showed no hearing loss, yeah! 

As summer approached we had a FHE lesson about Philippians 4:13 and the Little Engine That Could, we each picked a challenging goal and over the summer we worked hard at them.  Brandon's goal was to learn to ride a 2 wheel bike, Grant's goal was to learn 3 new words.  He accomplished his goal and then he began to take off learning several new words each week.  I had to start keeping a list during the week because I couldn't remember them all; each week Karen came she was overjoyed at his tremendous progress.  As time passed Grant began to put words together, some of my favorites were, "tanks cak mom" (thanks cake mom), "bandin on, me on, mommy on, same" (Brandon is on (the couch), I am on, and mommy is on, we are the same" and "me win". 

 With all this progress we became more and more pleased and less concerned for Grants progress, but Grant was still so far behind.  After a few evaluations, we learned that is was very likely that Grant had a mild form of Apraxia, we faced new worries and concerns and shed a few more tears, but pressed forward with hope.  ASL continued to be very helpful during this time, giving Grant greater confidence to speak and communicate.

We worked hard on enunciation by practicing specific letter sounds and lots of repetition.  Grant progressed rapidly, By Fall we began preparing for when Grant would turn three and move out of the early intervention program into the preschool program.  However, Grant was progressing so quickly we began to wonder if he would even qualify.  If he did qualify Grant would go to preschool four days a week for 3 1/2 hours each day with children Brandon's age, which I was a bit worried about, but the idea that both of my children would be out of the house for a few hours every week did have me pretty excited.  We did a few more tests and Grant was testing in both receptive and expressive communication at a 3 1/2 - 4 year old level, so we ended this chapter in our lives and said very bitter sweet goodbyes to Ms. Karen and Ms. Mindy.  It has now been two months since they have been in our home and we miss them, mind you I do enjoy the freedom in my schedule, but I miss their friendship, motivation, encouragement and guidance with Grant.  I am so very grateful to both Karen and Mindy for their love and skill, which they so willingly shared with Grant.  I am also very grateful that Grant is fine now!  We continue to work on his vocabulary and grammar, and we will continue to make sure he is on track when kindergarten comes around, but for now we are just thrilled that we don't need to worry about Grant's hearing and speech!



This picture warms my heart and makes me choke up a bit.

Ms. Karen - speech therapist

 Ms. Mindy - ASL instructor