Grady the Garbage Man

So, today, I was changing the garbage man's diaper and said "oooooh, stinky YUCKY diaper" and Grady shakes his head and says "uck" for yuck! YEAH! Another word.

Then when I took this picture, I pulled out the camera and he goes "sheeeee", which I am going to assume was "cheese" because I always tell he and Gibson to "say cheese".

When we went to speech yesterday, the therapist said that she was really impressed with the progress Grady had made in the last 3 weeks, she said his "sounds" are better and he seems to be trying more where before he wasn't trying at all, so whatever we are doing seems to be working. I'm thrilled about it, although we still have a ways to go, from 1 word to 4 plus a new animal sounds in 3 weeks is something I will celebrate!

Sweetheart

Most of you will probably remember that Gibson went through a phase where I was "honey". Well, now, I am "sweetheart". He will say "I love you, sweetheart", "Your welcome, sweetheart", "Good night, sweetheart". It's so sweet. I just love it. I can only assume that he picked that up from my calling his brother and he "sweetheart". It's so funny what the kids pick up.

Gibson has also been saying to Grady every morning when I get Grady out of bed "Hey, whose that handsome boy? Good morning, Grady, handsome boy!" It's a riot.

It's these moments that make up for all the rough times we have been having the last few months.

The ball pit has returned!

Gibson, May 2006

When Gibson was about 10 months old, we got this ball pit for him as a way to beat the winter blues of being stuck inside. Gibson LOVED the ball pit and wanted to play in it all the time. At some point right before Grady was born, we deflated it (we thought it had a hole in it, but we can't find it now...). As I was cleaning out the closet in Gibson's old room for the new baby, I came across the ball pit. I had forgotten about it. So, we decided to set it back up!

Gibson STILL loves it and is currently behind me totally out of control playing in this thing, jumping in and out of it and having a grand ol' time.

Mr. Adventure on the other hand, HATES it. I mean, we put him in there and he was ok for about 10 seconds and then started screaming. However, he keeps asking to go back in there, but the minute we put him in there, the screaming starts again. It's like he WANTS to torture himself. I'm hoping he gets use to it, but I am not holding my breath...

Daddy's Little Helper has decided...

he is a Princess.

This afternoon he grabbed my scarf and was running around telling all of us he is a Princess, a Beautiful Princess. I tried to tell him that since he was a boy, that he was actually a Prince, but he wouldn't buy that, and so, Princess it is.

Twins

Tonight was George & Sonnet's date night and so, Kea and Tiernan came over. When they showed up, we realized that Tiernan and Grady had the same shirt on. I couldn't let that go without a picture. And actually, for the record. Grady did have on jeans earlier, but destroyed them while we were at the park today, so he had to have a change.

Ready... Set... GO!!!

He is SO proud of himself! Can you blame him?

Grady's Evaluation

Well, we got Grady's speech evaluation back this week.

Here is the breakdown. The therapist used an evaluation tool called the Rossetti Infant Toddler Language Scale as well as profession observation and our report to them about Grady at home. The report was broken down into six components of verbal and non verbal communication. The categories are, Interaction-Attachment, Pragmatics, Gesture, Play, Language Comprehension and Language Expression.

Grady was right on track in Interaction-Attachment and Play and even slightly advanced in the play area (that of a 27-30 month old). He was slightly behind in Gesture, demonstrating skills of a 12-15 month old, but they do not consider this an area of concern. Where he was behind was in Pragmatics, Language Comprehension and Language Expression.

Pragmatics is the way a child uses language to communicate and effect others. Grady's level was that of a 6-9 month old, so this is a mild area of concern to them and something that should get better with time and the therapy as he learns to communicate better.

Language Comprehension is the child's understand of the verbal language. Grady's understanding is that of a 9-12 month old. Although, according to the Rossetti scale, some of the things Grady understands is that of a 21-24 month old. This is an area of concern and what we will be working on as part of the therapy.

Language Expression is the child's use of preverbal and verbal behaviors to communicate with others. Grady's level is that of a 3-6 month old but because he can say "dat" in place of asking "what's that?" he has a scatter score of 15-18 months. We figured Grady was about that of a 12 month old, so we were a bit surprised to learn of this level. This is a moderate area of concern according to the therapist and what they will be working on in therapy weekly and we have some info on how to help Grady learn at home too, which we have already been doing and working on.

The therapist feels that Grady would benefit from speech-language intervention with a focus on interactive place to enhance opportunities for development. We will also be working with Grady at home to help him learn here too.

So, that is it in a nutshell. We officially started speech therapy last Tuesday. We will go weekly for as long as needed. I'm glad we have decided to go this route and getting him the help he needs. He really seems to enjoy the lady we are working with and interacts with her really well. I am pleased with her too, so my hopes are high that this will work well for Grady.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts, concern and prayers on this. It really stressed me out, but I am feeling so much better about things.

Haircut

Tonight I decided it was time to give Gibson another haircut. He doesn't like to sit in the chair and have his hair cut, but I promised him I would not use the "buzzy thing" only the "safety scissors" and that he could have a lollypop afterwards. It did the trick and he let me cut his hair! It only takes me about 15 minutes, so he does really well. He likes the new cape I got him too because "it has music notes all ober it".

Before

After

Showing off his treat.

Playing in the street

We live on a hill, but at the top of our street it is a cul-de-sac and it is flat and since it has been so nice out the last few days, we have headed up there after nap to burn off some energy. It's great, most of the kids on the street come out to play, so there are usually anywhere from 4-10 kids running around, sometimes more. Gibson LOVES going up there, and now that Grady is a little older and I let him run around freely, he really likes it too.

Grady likes to run up and down the driveways of all the neighbors. Most are slanted so he thinks that is fun.

Gibson just likes to ride bikes in the big circle.

Grady stole a ride from the neighbor kids bike, the neighbor kid didn't like it so much, so Grady had to get off and was not amused about that.

But after sitting on his brothers bike for a little while, he was better.

Gibson found these glasses in the neighbors "toy box" that she has in the garage and put them on...they are suppose to be Peeps sunglasses, but upside down, we decided he looked like "The Fly"

Gibson's buddy Drew doing the same trick. Crazy boys.

Wagon rides for all.

Grady

Grandma Linda sent both the boys Valentine's Day letters this year. I didn't get any pics of Gibson with his, but I got these of Grady looking at his letter. He was VERY excited.

Gibson looked at his letter and said "Grandma sent me a Valentine's letter, a real letter". Crazy kid.

Can you say growth spurt?

Daddy Day!

Gregg had today off, so he decided to take Gibson on a bus ride. Actually, they rode 5 different buses, and 2 trains.

I dropped them off near our house this morning and they rode a bus to Bellevue, then over to Seattle. They walked around Seattle, had lunch, ice cream, looked at the boats on Lake Union and they also rode the street car, known as the South Lake Union Transit. Gregg said that they walked a lot, and that he really wore Gibson out, which I gather to be very accurate because they came home and Gibson went right to a nap and fell fast asleep!

On the bus

Waiting for the bus in Bellevue

There it is!

On another bus...

In the bus tunnel in Seattle

At Westlake Center where they picked up lunch

Eating lunch at the waterfront

Ice cream, of which Gregg said Gibson had 4 bites and no more. It even had gummy bears in it!

On the way home

waiting for the last bus to take them home!

I think Gibson could ride the bus everyday, he loves it!

Valentine's Day

Yesterday for Valentine's Day, we got together with our friends, Terra & Kyle, and Tamara & Phil. The guys planned an evening for us girls. We started the night off by going to get a pedicure/manicure at a local salon while the guys cooked us dinner. Then we we were done, we headed back to the house to see how the guys were doing with dinner.

The guys had prepared a nice table for us with china and everything - we were impressed! Kyle even made name plates for all of us.

Tamara, Terra & I after our pedicures

Our dinner - Lamb & Mash Potatoes. We also had Chicken Soup and Caesar Salad.

Kyle preparing our dessert - Creme Brulee, my FAVORITE!

Tamara licking the bowl of said Creme Brulee dessert - she didn't like it at all!

Gregg and I after Gregg had enjoyed about 4 glasses of wine. He is a total lightweight!

We had a great time - thanks for hosting, Kyle and for inviting us along!

Gibson's Valentine's Day Party

So, last Thursday was Gibson's Valentines Day party at pre-school. They invited the parents to come and help decorate cookies with the kids. It was fun. We got to do the cookies, and hear a couple songs from the kids and then the teacher read a story. Gibson, of course, would have nothing to do with the frosting for the cookies, and was the one child to get in trouble at story time for goofing around (I think he was showing off a little for me!).