Back in Action

I am now back in possession of my camera. Whew. It has been a long two weeks having to resort back to my antiquated circa 2004 point and shoot. But, I survived, and thankfully, my dear husband had the foresight to purchase the Best Buy protection plan which luckily includes accidental coverage (also known as the "if you drop your camera, we will fix it plan.") My camera got a major overhaul and is working great.

Here I am dropping my favorite thing off at the Geek Squad. Not Noah, the camera. Ok... and maybe it is not my favorite thing, but it is definitely high on the list.

Here we are today... back in action. The weather was beautiful today and surprisingly cool. We spent the afternoon out on the terrace playing ball and blowing bubbles.

Noah in action is so fun to watch!

I couldn't resist the t-shirt. Goodness, I love this little guy!

Busy Learning

Not much blogging lately since 1. my camera is in the shop and 2. we have been quite busy playing and learning. Noah had an evaluation with the Early Intervention Program last week to address his speech delay. The test results weren’t really that big of a surprise. He excelled in both fine and gross motor skills. He also did really well in personal/social skills. It was definitely no surprise he did poorly on both the communication and cognitive parts of the eval. He qualified for therapy services, and the program is trying to expedite our case (there's a waiting list), but they still said it would be about 30 days. With knowledge in hand, Dean and I decided to not delay, and Noah just completed his first week of private lessons with a speech pathologist.

So, what are we doing? Right now, Noah and I meet with a speech pathologist three times a week. Sessions pretty much consist of lots of playing for Noah and a good bit of homework for Momma. Some of the “homework” we are practicing at home is introducing activities, anticipating words and actions, closing out activities, some simples signs (more, all done), and noisy and symbolic play. He is doing really well with the word anticipation and sound effects. Just yesterday, while playing cars, we took turns moving the cars, “up…up…up…up” one side of the ramp, and “dooowwwnn” the other. After showing him the action with the verbal cues several times, I started to pause after the final “up,” and wait for him to respond. I was hoping for merely a smile showing me he was ready for the next part. Not only did I get a smile, I got a “down.” Well, it didn’t really sound exactly like “down,” but there was a d-sound in there, and I definitely knew what he meant. What a great start for our first week. I am so proud of my sweet boy.

My hardest thing at home is keeping Noah to focus on activities for a period of time. We are working on it, and I am finding that he is enjoying coloring, playing trains and trucks, and reading books the most. This is definitely a parenting adjustment for me. I am not totally a pushover, but in some areas (like toys and playing), I let Noah rule the show. My sister likes to remind me of this story from when Noah was just a newborn.

When he was a mere three days old, I was holding my sweet baby boy after one of his many daily feedings. I struggled to get him to burp. I was having very little success, and with the innocence that only a new first time Momma can, I held him up to eye level, and said in a sing-song voice, “this is a no-pressure household, if you don’t want to burp, you don’t have to burp.” Seriously, those were my exact words and then I cuddled him against my chest. Just my luck, Nanny Aunt Mo was visiting her sweet little nephew at the time and witnessed the whole thing.

Well, the whole “no pressure” thing has now come back to bite me on the butt. That is the way I’ve handled the toys and playtime. No pressure. The toys were previously spread out all over the apartment with no cleanup required. And, playtime, well, it was whatever toy Noah wanted to play with at whatever time. He could play his heart out. Well, at least until the next best thing came along, and for Noah that is pretty quickly. It has never been more evident to me than it has in the last three days as I’ve tried to rein him in during playtime. Man, he jumps from activity to activity. So, I ran to Target on Monday and purchased some adorable DIY shelving. Now, the majority of his toys are picked up and organized. Let the playing begin.

So, Dean and I are feeling really good about all the positive steps we are taking to improve Noah’s speech and communication. I am working hard during the day, and I have enrolled Noah back in a gym program. I plan on attending more meetups with my mom’s group and getting him around more kids. Dean is also making it a point to head home in time for some playtime most days. With all our efforts, we should have our little man talking in no time. Wish us luck!

A Night Out With the Boys

On our last night in Orlando, Noah, Zack, and I walked to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Noah was totally pooped, but hung in like a champ.

There was about a 45-minute wait for a table, so we decided to ride the carousel while waiting.

Zachary bypassed the horses and decided to turn the carousel into a wild teacup ride.

Noah enjoyed a spin as well. Although his was a bit calmer than Zack's.

Dinner was yummy, and Zack insisted we cap it off with a chocolate volcano.

He thought it was delicious! I did too!

Noah got a little grouchy during dinner, so luckily, I had some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my IPhone.

The Wonderful World of Disney

This is Noah's third trip to Disney since we've lived in the Florida, and I don't know about him, but Momma is definitely becoming a fan. Grammy and PaPa were in town for business and my nephew Zachary came along. Noah and I made the drive to Orlando on Friday, and so the fun began.

Epcot Center. When I was about four, we took a family vacation to Disney. The story goes that I was not a big fan of Epcot, and in fact, I tearfully told my parents that I did not want to go back to "Apricot" Center ever again. Well, this trip, I decided to give it another chance, and it was somewhat less painful. It couldn't have been that bad, even PaPa tagged along.

The highlight of the day was watching Noah run through the Imagination! Pavilion. The Pavilion was at the end of Figment's Journey Through Imagination. Noah was overjoyed to finally have a place to run and play. He loved the flashing lights and orchestra music that came with every step. I think he would have played here all day.

Magic Kingdom. We spent Sunday at the Magic Kingdom, which is by far my favorite place at Disney. Despite the holiday weekend crowds, we had such a fun day. We hopped from Tomorrowland to Toon Town to Adventureland.

Noah spent some time napping in his stroller, so Zack and I waited in some of the longer lines and rode some of the more adventurous rides. I totally got peer pressured by Zachary into riding Goofy's Barnstormer, a mini-roller coaster. I managed to survive the two minute ride, and I will admit that it was kind of fun.

When Noah woke up, he flew high on Aladdin's Magic Carpet, which was really fun. And, of course, no trip to Disney would be complete without a ride on It's a Small World. Just a heads up Disney people, the third hula girl's hips in the final room are still not shaking.

Disney's Hollywood Studios. Monday we headed over to Hollywood Studios. I made lunch reservations at the Play 'N Dine at Hollywood and Vine. This is where the Playhouse Disney characters love to lunch. Noah met Leo and June from Little Einsteins and JoJo and Goliath from JoJo's Circus. Noah was much more excited about seeing his TV friends this time then meeting Tigger and Pooh last time.

Noah was quite interested in June's pretty face, and she returned the favor.

Noah and Leo exchanged a lengthy handshake coupled with some two-handed high fives.

Thank you Grammy and PaPa for such a fun trip to Disney. And, thank you Zachary. We had so much fun playing with you. You sure do make us laugh!

Hello Old Friends

One of the best parts of our trip to Texas was heading to our old neighborhood and catching up with some of Noah's "old" friends. It has been six months since we've seen everyone, and in toddler years, that is a really long time. Olivia is walking, Barrett is talking, and Aidan is making some pretty awesome animal noises. We all met up at Aidan's house and played the afternoon away.

Here is Aidan.

Here is Aidan's very cool train table.

Here are the boys getting ready to play trains.

Here are Noah and Aidan playing trains.

Here are Noah and Barrett playing trains.

Here is Olivia.

She is a girl and not that into trains.

Here is everyone taking a snack break.

Here are Noah, Barrett, and Olivia chatting over snacks.

Same Thing, Different Day

Noah hung out with his friends at a park near our old house. It is a great place for toddlers to run (or crawl) around. On second thought, Noah was much safer crawling around this park, since I cannot recall any injuries, but this time he did get his first bloody lip by jumping off one of the platforms and bumping into my camera lens. He only cried for a minute. What a tough little guy!

Here is Noah at 19 months running up the ramp our "old" favorite park.

And, here is Noah at 10 months crawling up the very same ramp. It was purely coincidence that Noah was wearing the exact same shorts (different sizes) in these comparison shots.

Play Date at the Park

So, do you come here often?

I think that went pretty well.

Wait a minute. What is going on here?

Boys! No fighting! We can all play together!

Mr. Sandman

We spent a long weekend in Texas while Dean interviewed for jobs. It was great to be back, and Dean, Noah and I had the chance to catch up with lots of our friends. We ran the perfectly engineered and easily navigable roads, had several yummy meals, got in some hotel time, and even managed a little shopping at the Galleria. Noah stayed up way past his bedtime almost every night, but overall was such a trooper and rolled with the punches really well.

But, back to the yummy meals. Dean and I both agreed that tex-mex was a definite, so we called a group of friends and headed over to Lupe Tortilla for a kid-friendly dinner out. With a bedtime of 6:30 PM EST, Noah and dinner out usually don't go in the same sentence, but since it was "vacation," we decided to make an exception. It was quickly apparent that dinners out at Lupe would never be the same. As a married couple without kids, the huge sand pit/playground near the entrance to the restaurant would normally go unnoticed, but, now we have a toddler in tow. And, tired or not tired, with one glance, Noah was all in. He had a blast. He seemed to really enjoy the sand between his toes and of course, all the sand toys. I'm wondering if maybe I should take him to the beach more often.

I am sandy and dirty, and I love it.

Check out this rake!

Don't be confused by the look of sheer exhaustion. This is so much fun!

New Way To Fly

I am flying over the Gulf on Mexico headed towards the great state of Texas. I've eaten a lovely meal of turkey sandwich and chips provided by the airline, taken off my shoes, turned on my iPhone to type this blog post, and am considering pulling out a book. You see my dear Internets, due to an executive decision by Momma, Noah is sitting next to me in his LSU car seat, nursing a sip of milk and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. And, aside from brutally kicking the seat in front of him, he has been a perfect angel. And, wasn't it just last week that I thought I would never again relax during air travel. Of course, I did have an extra pair of hands, or shoulders to be exact. Oh yeah, Daddy carried the super cool car seat backpack around. And, if I can spend my time in the air like this, I think I can handle the backpack too. I think Noah's lap baby days are over, and the extra money will be well spent!

Happy New Year!

I decided to take a look back at last year's new year's post. It seems I had some pretty good ideas for resolutions, and although throughout the year, some took the forefront and some stayed on the back burner, I think they are all things I need to continue to work on, so for this year, I resolve... more of the same.

We spent the week in Louisiana, and since we have gotten back, Noah has been sleeping... a lot. Just today, he slept in until 8AM, took a three and a half hour nap, and went down for the night at 6:00PM. If he is catching up on his sleep, I am not surprised.

It was probably all the fun he had hanging out with the girls.

And possibly, all the time he spent trying to keep up with the boys had something to do with it too.

The weather was really nice, and Noah spent a lot of time playing outside, and if I haven't officially called his first word yet, I am going to now.

Outside. So, maybe all this sleep has something to do with my little man hitting some developmental milestones. Outside. Ball. Bath. And, Dean said today while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Noah said "cheer" and "hot dog." Way to go Noah! We are so proud!