A Four Word First!

Today while at Costco with some friends eating lunch and getting some groceries, Grant looked at me and casually said, "I....want....more....water." I looked at my friend and said, "He just said his first four word sentence!" For several weeks now he has been saying, "I...want...water" but today he plugged in 'more' and used it very appropriately, as he had already had a lot to drink and I kept telling him that he couldn't have any more!

Other news related to Grant: He is counting to three! It goes like this, "One...two...phree!" If you are reading this and a mom or have been around children a lot, you know that counting "one two three" is used all of the time, like "ready set go!" So for him to be counting to three is just fabulous. He just started saying 'one', a few weeks ago he started counting "one two" and then last week he started counting to three. While he understands the concept of counting to five, one of his goals at school is to verbally count to three. This goal has been on his program at school since last fall. And now in one summer, after working with him a ton, we are getting there!!! Wahoo!!!!!!!

Prayers for Mary

This is one of Grant's teacher's aides, Ms. Mary. She has been one of Grant's teachers since he started preschool 2 1/2 years ago. We have grown close to Mary through our school relationship and she is a really sweet woman. She and Grant have a special relationship, and he just loves her so much.

Thursday afternoon Mary called me to tell me some news: She won't be returning to school this fall because she just found out she has Leukemia. She wanted to tell me before school started so we wouldn't find out during open house. We are so saddened to hear this and I am still in shock. Right now she is in the hospital getting chemo treatments, which have already started. She will be back and forth between home and the hospital over the next several months. Please pray with us for her! She is married and has a 14 year old daughter at home. Also, please pray that God will help me to reach out to her as I can. She is the first friend for me that has gotten cancer and I'm not really sure what to say, what to do. It's hard to relate to someone when you haven't walked down their path. I can only imagine what it is like for her and her family to go through this. Please also pray for Grant's teacher Patsy as she starts the school year without Mary. Patsy is Grant's special ed teacher and Mary and Paula have been a team with Patsy for 8 years. I know they are really close and it will be so hard not to have Mary their with them under the circumstances. School will not be the same without her, but I am trusting in the Lord that God has it under control in who he will use to replace her during this time!
Thanks for lifting her up with us!

What Happened to my Boy???

Normally Mondays around here are full of tiredness and crankiness. Today...today is a gift from above! And I just want to shout about it from the rooftops. Instead, I will just shout about it from my blog! :-)

All morning long Grant has been talking soooo much saying without any prompts, "I want water" "My name Grant" "I want more".

This morning at the beginning of tv time (in a dark room - one of our activities), Grant tells me he needs to go potty. So I said, "Ok" and check his diaper. It was dry! AND he went pee pee in the toilet!!! What hope this gives me!

THEN when our tv time was over (20 minutes) Grant asks to watch MORE tv!!! This is the kid for years wouldn't hardly watch any tv, to speak of, and when we started watching it daily as a program activity, we constantly had to tell him to sit still and watch tv pretty much the whole time we were watching tv. He has gotten a lot better over the summer, and we are having to tell him less and less to sit still and to watch tv. Usually now just when we are watching a new movie. So today when he asked to watch MORE tv, I was in shock! Wonders of wonders!

All of this encourages me to keep on keeping on with Grant's daily program activities. Sometimes I get beat down and tired of working with him because it is draining physically and mentally but mornings like this make it all worth it.

My boy is making progress, and boy do I love it!!! Praise the Lord!

I know it's not the greatest picture but this is what it looks like during our tv time in a dark room. This picture was taken a few months ago when some friends were over to play. Trying to get program done, we all watched tv for a little while. When the older boy found out Grant had a tv in his room (it stays in the closet and only comes out during tv time) he thought it was so cool that Grant had a tv in his room. :-) And then the younger one asked why it was dark in his room, I said, "So it will be like a movie theatre!" Hmm...ok. cool. At least that's what I know he was thinking by the expression on his face!

Good bye, Horse!

I'm sad to say that Kate has out grown her pretty pink horsey. A few months ago she slid off of it as she was rocking back and landed on her bottom. She didn't hurt herself but it surprise her more than anything and was kind of funny at the moment it happened. That's when I knew she was getting too big for it. I had put it in the garage around that time but somehow it ended up back in her room about a month ago. She did ride it some more but she kept sliding off the back when she rocked up on it. So now she is definitely too big for it and it has to go.

Good bye, Horsey. We sure will miss your cute, pink, girlie-ness!

Lately, Grant has been into wanting his picture taken. Isn't he a sweet boy with his arm lovingly around his sister? I need to look at this more often so I will think to myself, "They really do love each other!" Sometimes with all the fighting that goes on between them, I feel like I am about to loose my mind!

Tutu Time!

Last Saturday Kate and I went to a birthday party for a sweet little girl who just turned 1. She wore a tutu at her party and was the cutest thing ever! Kate was taking it all in and I noticed she was watching Miss Emmerson tuddle around in her tutu. I told Kate that she has a tutu at home and she could wear it later if she wanted. She just kind of nodded indicating that she might want to do that. (She's had a tutu for awhile but hasn't had much interest in wearing it.) So the next day on Sunday Kate wanted to wear her tutu as soon as we got home from church. And then she wanted to wear a necklace. And then she wanted to wear some bracelets. And of course the matching clippie....She got all dressed up and she actually wore it for more than 5 minutes!

still the cheesy 'cheeeesssse'

"playing" mario kart with Grant

time to sit down!

Kate hasn't really hit the dress up stage yet so it was fun seeing her play in her tutu. She was so cute walking around and being all fancy. So fun having a girl in the house! :-)

New Posts!

Scroll down a ways...I've blogged quite a bit! Sometimes I don't realize how much there is to blog about until I sit down and take time to upload my pictures from my phone and camera! Enjoy and thanks for taking time to read about what's going on in our lives!

No More Music Truck

I finally broke down the other day and bought way over priced ice cream from the "music man". Now I can no longer tell my children "Here comes the music truck!" and now I will look at their disappointed faces when I tell them, "No, not today. That was only when Uncle Daniel was here." Unless I'm feeling overly generous as I was that day when my sweet brother Daniel was spending a few days with me to help me out with Grant and Kate! Daniel has been a great help to me and I have really appreciated his time this summer. Thanks, Daniel!

Wylie Super Target!

My sister Christina got a job working in the bakery of the new Target in Wylie! Grant and I went to go see her during the soft opening last Tuesday evening. There were quite a few people there but it wasn't too crazy. By the time we got there most of the opening activities were over but we got to visit with Christina during her dinner break. I think Grant wasn't too sure what to think of seeing Aunt Christina at Target all dressed in her white uniform and black hat! 8-)

Last Birthday Post!

Usually for the kids' birthdays we get together with my family for dinner, cake, and presents. However, this year was different as just about everyone in my family was out of town! So we had a couple family friends of ours come over for dinner and cake. It was a fun night! Here Grant is waiting anxiously for our company to arrive:

Silly Boys!

Listening to everyone sing Happy Birthday to her

Taking it all in...

The Pirate and the Angel!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the two of them. I said, "Say cheese!" and without skipping a beat Joel said, "Ay yi, Matey....Cheese!" 8)

Birthday Fun with Nana and Papa!

After naps on Kate's birthday, Nana and Papa came over! We had a really nice time with them and Kate got to open all of her presents from them and from Mommy and Daddy, too. There were even a few presents for Grant!

One of Kate's presents from Nana and Papa was a cute little dog that makes sounds of a real dog. It's just like Kate's dog Lucy, which she loves.

I didn't get a picture of Kate with her big present from Nana and Papa but I'm sure it will be in a later post soon. They gave her a new baby doll that you can feed "real" food and water, too. It wears diapers and even goes potty in the baby potty chair. She loves her new baby and has been playing with it quite a bit lately. It now has a spot in Kate's bed and is usually in the stroller or eating a bottle when she is awake! Kate is becoming such a good little mommy! 8-)

Thank you, Nana and Papa, for all the wonderful gifts and for coming over and sharing part of Kate's special day with us! We are so glad you were able to come over. Grant loves playing with his new car. The foam shapes in the bathtub are a big hit, too.

Kate's Birthday Day!

Kate's birthday was a week ago Saturday and she is now 3 years old! Her birthday fun began with a fun family trip to Costco to eat yummy pizza for lunch and to get a few groceries afterward. Grant and Kate love going to Costco so we didn't tell them that we had originally wanted to take them to ChuckECheese. After thinking more about it Joel and I decided Saturday would not be the best day to go to ChuckECheese, as it would be very crowed between all of the birthday parties. So I am sure we will go later during a less busy time.

This is how Kate has been smiling lately with her nose squinted while saying "cheese". Hopefully this is just a short phase and that we will get back to normal cutesy smiles! It was so sunny that day that she had to wear my sunglasses, as if she doesn't have enough of her own with her 7-8 pair! I finally got smart and put a pair in my purse and now everyone is happy! :-)
Kate's shirt says "This Little Angel is 3 Today!"

eating yummy pizza!

Last Day with Beth!

Beth has been Kate's speech therapist since last September. She has come almost every week to our house since then to work with Kate for an hour. Kate has really become quite fond of Beth and always gets so excited when she comes. Upon turning 3 Kate aged out of the program so July 16 was her last day with Beth. Beth brought donuts as a special treat and a present for both Kate and Grant. She is so sweet and nice! We will miss her for sure and plan on keeping in touch!

More Fun With Aunt Jenni!

Kate is waiting very patiently for her 2nd day out with Aunt Jenni! After getting her all dressed, we got her backpack ready and her car seat by the front door. I said to her, "How about you put your backpack by the front door?" So Kate did and then she proceeded to sit down next to it, as you can see, and said to me, "Sit" meaning, "I'm going to sit right here." So I said, "You're going to sit there and wait for Aunt Jenni?" and she answered by nodding. So she sat there for a good 10 minutes until Aunt Jenni got here!

They had another fun day together and Grant and I were able to get a lot of work done. I'm so thankful for both. It is so great to work with Grant without Kate around to be distracting. We are making a lot of progress this summer and every chance I get to work with him one-on-one helps so much. Grant really wanted to go with Aunt Jenni this time but we told him that his turn was next. It just didn't work out for him to go that particular day, but he did, however, get to go the following week, which was this past week. More on that later....

Thank you, Jen, for giving Grant and me another great day of working together and for loving on Kate!

Fun with Aunt Jenni!

A couple weeks ago my sister Jen watched Kate for the day so I could have some one on one time with Grant to get lots of program done with him. It was so nice of her to love on Kate for the day and for Kate to get some extra attention. As much as she loves Grant, it is also really good for her to have a little break from him, too. Grant and I got lots of work done at home and enjoyed a nice lunch date together at Chick-fil-A.
Kate had so much fun with Aunt Jenni and they came home with lots of goodies from Kate's favorite store, Target! We had church that night and when we came home she was showing us all of her stuff. By this time it was going on 9:30 at night and Kate just wanted to keep playing. I told her that it was time to go to bed and all I got was "No." We made a special place for her new coloring books on her shelf and put all of her shoes in her room and the rest of her stuff when in her new favorite bag - the bag that Aunt Jenni gave her birthday presents in. She carries that bag everywhere and it travels all around the house! Somehow she felt better about going to bed with all of her stuff in her room. Silly girl!

Very seriously showing me her "mimmie" book:

The next morning this is what I woke up to:

Kate had moved all of her "stuff" from her room out to the living room and was happily coloring in one of her new coloring books. Her new shoes were lined up on the table, and the rest of her stuff was in front of the coffee table next to her pillow, snuggly, and stuffed dogs that she sleeps with. She made me laugh and I couldn't help but grab the camera. :-)
Thanks, Jen, for lovin' on my girl and for giving me a great day with Grant!

Birthday Fun Begins!

Aunt Jenni (and Uncle Shawn) gave Kate her birthday presents early since they were going to be gone out of town over her birthday. The next morning Kate was literally begging me to play with her new play dough from Aunt Jenni so I said, "Sure" because I'm so nice. :-) It's a monkey play dough set and the kids had so much fun with it. It's been awhile since we've gotten new play dough so they had extra fun! ;-)

Kate, wearing her super cute new outfit from Aunt Jenni!

Grant, working hard on his play dough

Thanks, Aunt Jenni!!!

Kid's Kingdom!

A few weeks ago my friend Sharee called and asked if we wanted to meet up at the park. I don't like going to this park by myself with just the kids because Grant is prone to random wandering at parks like this one but Kate will stay close by. So it's me constantly having to be looking for Grant to see where he went and then go chase after him. My brother Daniel was helping me out for a few days (Thank you Daniel!!!) and so we finished up program for the morning and loaded up. We were only there for about 45 minutes but I was pleasantly surprised by Grant. For the first 20-25 minutes or so he was within about 10-15 feet...and playing so nicely with Kate. I kept looking around for him to see which way he went and when I found him he was right in front of my nose! Sharee and I were actually able to have several conversations and it was really nice! It wasn't until after we were there for awhile that he thought to venture around the rest of the park and then found the swings. Again, I was really proud of him on the swings as he was trying to pump while I was coaching him. I said, "Keep your legs together!" and he did. He was starting to get the hang of it. Between him staying close, playing appropriately with Kate, and trying to pump himself on the swing, I was really encouraged! These are things that I know he could not / would not do prior to starting NACD.

can you see grant??

Water Fun

These are from our recent trip to Harriet Myers park in Rockwall. Sometimes we meet up with my sister in law and her kids when we go. Grant and Kate love going there and it sure is a cheap and fun way to cool off in the summer!

cousins: Mike, Timothy, and Michelle

peek-a-boo!

Icecream Date with Grant!

A couple weeks ago Grant and I went out for an ice cream treat, just the two of us. It was really nice and a sweet time with Grant. While most of my day is spent on Grant, I hardly ever have time with him to just enjoy Grant and to have one-on-one time with him. It's always working with him, redirecting him, disciplining him, checking on him (to see what trouble he is into), feeding him, etc., etc. So I desperately need time like this with Grant - time to just 'chill' and enjoy the sweet boy that he really is. Sometimes I feel like he is a different kid when it's just him and me.
He hadn't been to the ice cream shop before and he had fun picking out the candy to go in his ice cream. He had a hard time deciding between two different candy choices but he eventually decided on m&m's. Kate gets an m&m when she goes potty in the potty chair and so m&m's are a big deal around our house. So it was pretty cute that he picked those, since he doesn't get much at home but always asks for one. I have to tell him, "No, Kate gets one because she went pee-pee in the potty." You can imagine that he was pretty excited getting his own ice cream with m&m's in it. He ate it all up and then wanted to eat mine!
I really need to do more things like this with Grant. It wasn't much that we did but it sure was a sweet time together. He was such a sweet boy and I could tell he was really enjoying our little date!

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??