Happy Birthday, Christina!!!

It's hard to believe but my sweet sister Christina turns 18 today! I was 12 years old when she was born and I still remember the night she was born clear as day (or night since it was 4 in the morning). I remember my mom getting ready to go to the hospital in the evening and my sister, Jennifer, and I could hardly believe it. We were so excited. So we stayed up late watching Phantom of the Opera, the old black and white version! By the time it was over, no baby, and we were so tired so we went to bed. Probably that was a good choice since she wasn't born until way into the night.

One of the neat things about having Kate is how she reminds me of Christina sometimes. I remember Christina being a cute girl, sweet, and curious. When Kate gets into my make up and nail polish, I tell her, "You are just like your Aunt Nina!" :-) And at times when she is just so stinkin' cute I think the same thing!

Christina, you are a beautiful girl inside and out! I love how you love Grant and Kate. You are so good with them, and especially kind and loving towards Grant, which I know at times doesn't come easy. I am so excited for your future and all of the wonderful blessings God has in store for you! Christina, I love you so much and am so thankful that God brought you into my life!!!

Three Word Sentence!

Yesterday and today Grant said completely on his own, meaning without me telling him what to say, "I want snack" and "My name Grant." Woo-hoo!!! For a very long time we have been at 1 word sentences. For example: "Home?" "Eat?" "Bike!" These mean "Are we going home?" "Is it time to eat?" and "I want to ride my bike!" This morning he said "I want snack" but I had to tell him no because it was 20 minutes after breakfast and I really wasn't in the mood. Both kids have been very bad today and right now I am about to run away. However, Grant saying a 3 word sentence is something to be very excited about and I am very proud of him. And we are very proud of him for going potty three times in the toilet yesterday! Today, not so much but there is hope.

Anyone want to volunteer in potty training my sweet dyspraic boy??

NACD Update!

Today was Grant's 2nd re-eval with NACD. We have these every 3 months, which means a 1 hour drive to Waxahachie, there for roughly 1 1/2-2 hours, and then a 1 hour drive back home. Grant did great today and my prayer for every time we go to something like this is that they will see the "real" Grant. Lyn, who evaluates him, said she can really see progress and change since 3 months ago. Sometimes it's hard to be objective when it comes to progress since we're with him 24/7 but here are a few things he is doing new and for the first time since the beginning of March:
- Grant can say "one" now! (When it came to any number he would previously say "two")
- He can wear rainboots and sandals without tripping! For the past 3 years he has worn only an athletic shoe (99%) of the time because he would trip over his own feet wearing any other type of shoe.
- He can repeat every letter of the alphabet!
- He is playing appropriately with more toys.
- He tries to say anything we ask him, even big words like watermelon and Dalmation.
- He is jumping like crazy, especially when he gets really excited about something he will just start jumping around. It's cute.
- /w/ is /w/ now and not "i yi i".
- He can unscrew and screw a screw using his play screwdiver. This might not sound like that big of deal but if you think about it, this type of activity takes some serious fine motor control!
- He really cries when he gets hurt, like you know by the sound of his cry that he is really hurting. Again, this might sound kind of weird but when your kid cries for literally 5 seconds after falling and getting a big goose egg on his forehead - that is not normal! So through part of the therapy we are doing at home, his body is starting to normalize and he is feeling things the way he should. Consequently, as he is feeling his body more and more, he is falling and tripping less and less! Praise the Lord!
- He is showing more emotion at times when he is sad or really upset. Grant has always been a pretty happy guy, which you would think is great, and for the most part it is - don't get me wrong - but it is also good to show emotion when you are really upset or sad, too! It is really neat to see this side of Grant.

Within the next couple of days we will get his program that will be much the same as the past three months but will be tweaked some according to the progress he is making. Also, a few activities will be added. My goal this summer is getting program accomplished everyday, shooting for 5 out of 7 days. When you think of us, you can pray for me to have patience and kindness towards Grant and discipline in getting program done. You can pray for Grant that he will continue to work really good with me during our "work" time together! Thanks!

Little Buddies!

Kate loves to have "snuggle time" with me in my bed for a few minutes before she goes to bed for the night in her own bed. So when our good friends came over for dinner one night, Kate thought it was so fun to be in the big bed with Emma! Here they are in their pj's and snugglies close by:

You can see in Kate's face how "cool" she thought this was. Emma looks like she's thinking "Um, what am I doing in here?" :-)

Can't wait for sleep-overs, although it will be a few years from now!

Morning with Kate

Last Thursday was Grant's last day of school for the year and was filled up with speech therapy for Kate and then hanging out with Grant until school was over at 11:00. So with Thursday being a busy morning, I reserved Wednesday for a fun morning with Kate.

We started out with breakfast close to where we live. I love eating breakfast food any time of day and Kate does, too. I asked Kate where else she wanted to go and she said Target. We don't go there too often so I was little unsure of why she wanted to go there but every time we talked about "our morning" she told me she wanted to go to Target. So later I asked her what she wanted to do at Target and she said "Play." I said, "You can't play at Target. You buy stuff. What do you want to buy?" And she said, "Socks!" Ohhh, now I understood. Every now and then I'll pick up a pair or two of socks from the dollar spot and she loves them! So first thing when we got to Target, she said "Socks" seriously, like we had to find and look for them right now, not in a demanding way but in a reminding me way. I laughed, she was so funny! We picked out a couple patriotic pairs and found a few other things. She was thrilled and held onto them until we got home, 3 hours later! Here we are at breakfast:

Leaving Target with our fun purchases!

In the car still holding onto those socks!

This summer we will have to try harder to have 'Mommy and Me' time with Grant being home all day but we like having Grant home, too. Summer has begun and so far it is going good! I'm sure we will have a few rough days here and there but anticipating those really helps a lot. My goal this summer is to: 1. Work with Grant everyday with NACD program, 2. get back on track with diet and exercise and 3. hang out with friends!

Hard at Play!

I love seeing Grant play like this:

Not only was he playing appropriately AND playing very nicely with Kate but he was using his creative imagination and making his train tracks go under his bed. I tried getting a picture of him "working" under his bed but couldn't get a good one. He would crawl under his bed and work on his train and play.
Shh! Kate is hiding under the bed! 8-)

Sticker Feet

I bought some stickers a few weeks ago for positive reinforcements while working with Grant and for some great eye/hand and finger coordination for Kate. Grant doesn't really get into stickers much but Kate loves them! She was having so much fun putting them all over one of her feet. I'm not sure where she got that idea from but she sure was proud of herself and knew that she was being silly. She is a silly girl!

Helping Hands

The kids, especially Grant, love to "help" me water the flowers in the front yard. Grant actually does a pretty good job and he will water for 15-20 minutes. Not bad, huh? :-)

Kate is helping by being cute!