Lots Of Learning Going On

This past week, Noah had an appointment with his developmental pediatrician. I think it has almost been a year to the day since we last saw him. It seemed that the evaluation done on Noah was very similar to the test done the previous year. We spent about an hour and a half with the doctor, and the evaluation portion lasted about 45 minutes. Noah did so well. We had a reference point for today. Something to compare. And, the difference in one year is amazing.

Last year, he did not stack blocks for the evaluation. It wasn’t something that he couldn’t do at the time, he just wouldn’t do it for the evaluation. But, today it was the first thing the doctor had out. This year, he stacked blocks. He stacked 7-8 blocks.

Last year, when small container with tiny beads was placed in front of him, Noah did not put the beads in the container. This year, Noah placed the beads in the container which moved him ahead to the next section of the test. This year, he was asked to place a long bead into a cylinder shaped container with a pointed bottom. The difficulty was that the container did not stand up on the table and the bead was long so he had to hold it at a certain point to make it fit. He did it, and it took him a little while to figure it out. He tried several different ways. He turned to look at Dean and I, and said, “want help.” He realized he had to do it on his own. He didn’t get frustrated. He just figured it out. I could just see his little mind working, and it made me so proud.

Last year, the doctor showed Noah a series of pictures asking him to the point to a certain object. Last year, Noah did not process what the doctor was asking and instead pointed to and labeled every object on the page. This year, Noah correctly pointed to with a verbal “there it is” for almost all the requested objects. This year, Noah was able to demonstrate the things he knew because he understood what was being asked.

This year, Noah demonstrated his strong grasp of the concept of cause and effect. It didn’t take him long to realize that the doctor didn’t require a correct response to go to the next page and that the sooner he answered the question, the sooner the doctor would “turn the page.” This resulted in some missed questions towards the end of certain sections, and lots of rapid succession of “There it is. There it is. There it is.” Sigh. I wonder where he gets his listening skills.

Last year, when a baby doll and a cup and spoon was placed in front of him, Noah did not demonstrate strong symbolic play. This year he immediately tilted that cup to the baby dolls mouth for a drink and then put the spoon in the cup, gave it a stir, and fed the baby doll a bite.

Last year, Noah scored above average for his age on the numbers and letters portion of the test. This year, (although the test hasn’t been scored yet) Noah did equally if not better on the letters and numbers portion of the test. So much so, that one of his questions was “if you have nine apples and take away four how many apples do you have?” He didn’t get it right. Whew!

This year, during a slight lull in testing, Noah held up his pencil and asked the doctor, “what color is this?” I don’t think the doctor understood what he had said, but it sure got a chuckle out of Dean and me.

Dean and I walked out of the doctor’s appointment feeling so very proud of our little man and of all his hard work this past year. Way to go Noah!

A Lunch Date with Daddy

Around 11:05 AM today, I got a call from Daddy. He says, "I can do lunch today. Do you guys want to stop by?"

Ummm... Yes, we do.

So, I picked up Noah from school and headed to the hospital with some yummy Jason's Deli.

It was a toss up who was more excited about the visit. Daddy or Noah.

(Here is where a year ago, I would insert a couple cute pictures from the visit, but sadly, I didn't even think about pulling out my camera today. So, here are a few captions sans pictures.)

Noah enjoyed a yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwich along with some strawberries. He tried to put the entire berry in his mouth - stem and all, but luckily Daddy saved the day by borrowing a knife from the nurses' station.

Noah and Daddy spent some time playing under Daddy's desk. Noah kept saying that he was going "underground." Daddy, always willing to play along, joined in the fun.

Daddy walked us to our car, and when we were almost there, Noah said, "Bye, bye Momma. See you later." Excuse me?!? Daddy asked if Noah wanted to stay with Daddy or go with Momma. He said, "stay with Daddy." I bribed him with a little Tigger and Pooh, so thankfully, he came with me without any tears.

Tonight, Daddy got home in time to tuck Noah in bed. They were playing in Noah's room, and Noah was telling Daddy, "peanut butter and jelly." Daddy thought Noah might be hungry, but when I told him that Noah had just eaten a big bowl of spaghetti, we realized Noah was talking about lunch today. I think Noah really enjoyed his lunch date with Daddy. We can't wait to do it again!



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I Scream You Scream

So, I've said before that Noah isn't really a bad eater, he's just not the best eater.  He's just not very adventurous.  If it's something he's had before and liked, he will readily eat it again.  If it's something that looks like something he's had before and liked than he probably will try it and eat it again.  Ice cream doesn't fall into either category.  For one, we don't eat a lot of it.  I'm not a big ice cream person, and I've probably tried to feed it to him once or twice where he turned it down.  Maybe because it's too cold.  I never really felt like it was such a big deal that he didn't like ice cream.

Today, I picked him up from school, and we had an hour break to grab a quick bite for lunch.  I usually pack his lunch, and we hit Starbucks.  Can I just say here, that I love Starbucks at straight up noon.  It's empty!  This hour break before therapy Monday through Thursday was starting to feel like kind of a pain.  Noah doesn't eat lunch at school, so by the time I pick him up, he is pretty hungry.  But, it's noon, so everywhere we go is crowded, so I usually pack him something.  But, I was stumped at finding a place for him to sit down to eat it.  Starbucks has been my savior.  It is always empty, and they ALWAYS have chocolate milk.  Anyway, I digress.  Today, after walking out of Starbucks and heading towards our car, Noah spied the sign for Marble Slab Creamery.  He looked at me and said, "want ice cream cone."  I looked at my watch, saw we had about 10 minutes to spare before therapy, and thought, "why not."  I'm so glad I did.  It just warms my heart to see my little man trying new things. 

To say he LOVED it would be quite the understatement. 

Everytime I would take it from him to take a bite, he would immediately say, "Momma!  Noah!"  Translation: "Momma, it's Noah's turn."

I am thinking this won't be the last time we stop for ice cream.

Now if only it came in veggie flavors.

Road Trip

Our Labor Day weekend started out something like this.  Well, it actually started out something like a five-hour non-stop drive to Louisiana with some continuous Little Einsteins and Justin Roberts playing from the backseat, and when I say "our" I mean Noah and me.  Daddy's Labor Day weekend started out and finished up with something like a lot of work.  I guess that kind of defeats the purpose of Labor Day, but that's life.  Noah and I dreaded the thought of another Daddy-less weekend, so we to Louisiana we went.  And, PaPa had these yummy crabs waiting for us.  And, let me just tell you that there is nothing better than the smell of boiling seafood.  Oh so yummy!

So, we spent the weekend in Louisiana.  We hung out with the family, ate some yummy food, played outside a bunch and cheered on the Tigers.  I will confess that I really only watched the last minute of the game, and let me say that those last 60 seconds were plenty.  I was feeling very thankful that I did not spend the entire evening invested in yet another LSU football game that would threaten to give me angina in the closing moments.  I'm really glad they came away with a win, but seriously. 

I love this picture of Noah and Uncle D.

Here Noah sharing markers with Morgan. 

Noah and Grammy enjoying the pool. 

Noah spent a lot of time outdoors and happily went shoeless the entire weekend.  Grammy and PaPa have the best backyard, and for the first time ever, Noah took a ride on the zipline.  So awesome that my little man is trying new things!

Despite all the many fun things in Grammy's backyard, Noah's favorite spot is right here.  The stoop just outside the shed.  Not really sure why, but he spent a lot of time hanging out here.  Maybe because it's in the shade.  Maybe just because it's a cozy stoop.  I have a feeling though that he is really just waiting for someone to come by and open the door, so he can do some exploring in there too. 

School is in Session

If all the changes in Noah recently are any indication, this is going to be a great school year. 

Looking.  Getting a good shot of Noah is always tricky.  But, lately it is really improving, take this picture for example. Captured after only about two tries.  How precious is my little man in his school uniform carrying his own school bag. 

Swinging.  I am tempted to send a note back to his teacher to ask, what have you done to my swing fearing son?  Today, while playing in the backyard, Noah wanted to swing forever.  Every time the swing would slow down, he would say, "want higher."  Strong work Noah.

Accessorizing.  Historically, Noah is not a fan of things on his face, around his neck, over his ears, on his feet.  Today, he put on my tennis shoes, put on a pair of earphones, and put on my sunglasses in the car.  So stinkin' cute.  Momma is so proud of all this branching out. 

Eating.  Food is not really something that I would say is a major issue with Noah, but he does have some major likes and dislikes.  A major like is anything in the hot dog family.  So, last night for dinner I fixed him a bowl of jambalaya.  He usually turns away the rice and just sticks to the pieces of sausage, but he ended up eating the entire bowl.  So awesome.  And, he took several bites all by himself.  He is getting much more coordinated with his spoon and much less concerned with all the spills.  Way to go, Noah!

Loving Life.  The biggest change in Noah is that he is really starting to take enjoyment from interactions with other people besides Momma.  Both his speech and occupational therapist have noticed and pointed it out to me on two separate occasions.  He laughs when things are funny.  He acts silly.  He does things to get a rise out of me.  And, I guess even his teacher.  This week I got a note home from school that said that she had to tell Noah no.  She said she enjoyed doing it because she was correcting a typical boy behavior.  He was pulling the ponytail of the little girl sitting next to him, and when the teacher corrected him, he had the biggest grin on his face.

Probably one like this... but seriously, those eyes! If you keep it up with this eye contact, the ladies are going to love you whether you pull their pony or not. 

Five Things Friday 08.27.10 - End of Summer

Isn't it the way things always go?  I spent the first half of summer bemoaning it's arrival, and now that school is started, I am wondering where all those semi-lazy days have gone, and why I am so exhausted.  It is quite possible it has something to do with all the activities that were jam packed into the last few weeks of summer.

1.  Jack Johnson in concert.  Monique came into town for the concert.  The venue was oh so far.  Dean couldn't get off work early, so he had to meet us there.  It poured down raining for about 30 minutes during one of the opening acts.  Luckily, we were in covered seating.  The rain stopped and created this steam, and we all started sweating... a lot.  But, it was so worth it, because... well, I love me some Jack Johnson.  I wish he was my friend, so he could come over and play Banana Pancakes anytime I wanted.

2.  Lake Austin Spa.  In celebration of my sister's 10th anniversary of her 30th birthday, she invited some girlfriends on a spa weekend.  It was such a fun time, and I highly recommend the place.  The service was awesome.  The spa was great.  The scenery beautiful.  There were tons of activities.  We swam.  We kayaked.  We did yoga and body pump.  We laughed a lot, and we had a great time.  And, I came home very, very sore.  It was such a great break from being a momma.  Noah was left home in Daddy's very capable hands.  Thanks Dean for taking time off of work, so I could hang out with the girls. 

3. Lunch Dates with Noah.  Our summer schedule gave us an hour lunchtime break between therapies on Mondays and Wednesdays, so Noah and I started having lunch out.  It definitely helped that we usually frequented the same location, but by mid-summer Noah became such a pro at eating out.  One of his (Momma too) favorites, Pei Wei.  In this picture, Noah is sitting on the booth side of the table which he picked and where he stayed for the entire meal.  Strong work, little man!

4.  Back to School Haircut.  The past five or so haircuts have so not been fun for Noah.  He hates the clippers, and he is pass the age where he can be distracted by TV or my IPhone.  So, I did a little praying, and a lot of talking it up to Noah while he waited his turn.  Pointing out the other kids getting clipped and asking Noah if they were happy or sad.  He would say happy.  So, I just kept driving the point that haircuts are happy, and whether it was God throwing me a bone or my little man figuring it out... we finally got a good haircut without a fight.

5.  Friends.  I was so happy for Noah and I to have some down time this summer. We finally had time to hang out with all our new friends in Texas.  Hope we get to see more of you guys during the school year.

 Ready to rock with his friend Henry.

  Playing IPhone games with his friend Jackson.

Play area fun with his old classmate Sara.  Part of the twin duo of Sara and Ryan. 

Sweating the front window.  Waiting for his neighbor Mikaela to come from down the street.

♪ Noah is Going to Sch-ool ♪

I just finished completing a 280 question child development questionnaire on Noah. 280 tiny little dots. My hand is tired. I am putting it in the mail to Noah’s developmental pediatrician. He has a follow-up appointment in September. It’s been a year since our last visit, so we figured it was time. For Dean and I, all we are really expecting is a, “Hi. Nice to see again. I’m not going to tell you anything you don’t already know, but let’s put a label on this thing” kind of meeting. At least that was our experience last year when we met the doctor for the evaluation. Don’t get me wrong. This guy was excellent. He spent 2 hours evaluating Noah while we watched. Two hours of just Noah and the doc. Definitely knew his stuff. And, I think for someone who doesn’t quite know what is wrong or what to do for their child, he is excellent, but us… we were looking for a quarterback. We were looking for someone who would tell us what to do. Lead our team. At the time, we were leaving a group of therapists in Miami who we loved and who totally got Noah, and we were moving into a city that boasts the largest medical center in the United States. It was a slightly daunting task to weed through all those therapists within a 30 mile radius of our new home. We needed a little guidance. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it, and I got a very fast lesson that I was my child’s advocate and case manager, and no one else was going to do it for me. So, I did, and now Noah is getting some really great therapy, and today, he started a preschool program geared towards kiddoes just like him. It is 5 days a week for 3 hours a day, and I can only hope and pray as I hand my child over to this new school that with their help, this will be the year that gets him over the hump.

Now for the first day of school pictures.

The day started on a high note with a yummy breakfast of oatmeal, as I tried to prepare my little man for the carpool line.

Here is my diagram of school, Momma and her car, and Noah’s teacher ready to take him from the car. Not sure how much it helped, because there was a bit of protesting as he was taken from the car. Looking back at me with a heartbreaking, questioning, “Momma?” I am sure he’ll get the hang of it. We do have to do it again tomorrow.

Do you know that episode of Blue's Clues where Steve goes to college?

Well, they sing that annoyingly, catchy, stuck in your brain all day song that says "Steve is going to col-lege."

I replaced the "Steve" with a "Noah," and the "college" with a "school" and that is how I got this smile. Happy first day of school sweet baby boy! No go learn something.