Five Things Friday 05.25.12 - Smarts, Speech, and Slides

1. We were playing Dr. Seuss' Stretchy Alphabet. I warned Noah before we started... "Noah, I think we are missing the letter J. Are we going to get mad?" His reply, "No. (pause) We need to find something to pretend to be the letter J."

2. Noah and I were laying in bed. He pulls his, "I'm hungry." Knowing that he in fact had not eaten much for both lunch and dinner, I asked, "Would you like a peanut butter and jelly?" "Yes," he replied. I made him sit at the table with a quiet body to eat his sandwich. As he took his last bite he said, "Now it's time for sleep." And, he went to his room, we brushed teeth, and he went to sleep all by himself. What a big boy!

3. We pull up to carpool this morning and Noah's music teacher, Mr. Trey is trimming tree branches on the playground. Noah says, "Mr. Trey's chopping truffula trees. We're gonna see the Lorax! I can't wait!"

4. Emma puts everything in her mouth, and for some inexplicable reason Noah's crocs are hard to resist. I'm always telling, "Don't eat brother's crocs." Tonight she came down the hall carrying Noah's shoe saying, "Croc. Croc." it didn't actually sound like "croc," but I'm pretty sure she wasn't saying the word it sounded like.

5. We finally got a new play structure. It is huge and fun, and in mid-May it's already too brutally hot to enjoy. I'll be piecing together pictures from our multiple super quick backyard playtime soon. Minutes after the construction crew finished assembly, I took the kids outside to try it out. I ran back in the house to grab my camera and when I got back out two seconds later, Emma had climbed halfway up the slide. Sigh.

Last Day of Gymnastics

During the first week of school, a paper was sent home from school detailing a few of the after school activities.  One of those listed was gymnastics.  The scheduled time was on Thursdays at 11:30 AM.  I had reservations about it.  Noah only goes to school from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM, so Thursdays would be cut short by 30 minutes.  I eventually decided to give it a try, and can I just say... Best. Decision. Ever.  Noah loved gymnastics, and he has even started private lessons with Coach B on the weekends. 

Today was the final class of the school year.  Noah has come so far in gymnastics.  Coach B was directing him to put his feet closer together and higher.  He completely followed directions. 

At home, Noah will go through the entire gymnastics warm-up all the while mimicking exactly Coach B's voice.  It is precious.   

Is there anything better than seeing complete joy from your child?  This was Noah's face when his name was called to receive his medal.

He was so proud to of his medal.  He kept saying, "Congratulations Noah. You get a congratulations star."

Thanks Coach B and Mrs. Coach B.

Emma - Eleven Months

If there ever was a baby girl ready to hit the age of one, it would be my sweet Emma.  She is walking.  She is talking.  She is eating everything in sight.  She goes to bed all by her big girl self.  She holds her own bottle and is so ready to enjoy cups with straws just like her big brother.  I think I was well into my 20s before I exhibited as much independence as this little one.  There is not a shy bone in her body.  If someone doesn't look at her to make eye contact, she will STARE THEM DOWN until they do.  And, when she finally gets their attention, she will smile and wave both her hands up and down.  It's like a double "hi." 

 

 

She is starting to say a few words and repeat a lot of sounds. She can say ba-ba (bottle), ny-ny (night), up, all done (which she will also sign).  She responds receptively to hands up, give a kiss, wave bye and clap your hands.  She loves baby dolls and gives them big open mouthed kisses.  She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, which is incredibly frustrating. She'll pick up anything off the floor and when she sees me coming hurry up and shove it in her mouth and take off running in the opposite direction.  I have to carefully sweep things out of her mouth multiple times a day.  She's like a little squirrel (a al Uncle D) pocketing bits of food, grass, leaves inside her checks.  She is not allergic to peanuts since just this week not only did she stash a peanut off the floor inside her mouth, but she also ate two squares of brother's pb&j when I turned my back for a second.  She loves to eat and wants a bite of whatever anyone is eating.  She has yet to turn down anything except bananas.  Go figure.  The other day, Dean was eating olives and she crawled right up to him.  He put one on a fork and put in her mouth for a taste.  Well, she sucked that green olive right off the fork.  Luckily, she is getting a few teeth (finally), so I can expand her table food choices. 

 

 

She remains such a sweet baby and is hardly ever cross.  She goes to bed super early... between 6-6:30 PM and sleeps all night.  Yay!  I've started leaving her at home a couple days a week with a sitter.  She actually gets to enjoy a full morning nap at home for a change.  She loves her big brother and still wants to be wherever he is.  He has never really  minded having her around, but he has been interacting with her a lot more.  I can't wait to see how there relationship develops over the next year.  It's the finally countdown... in just a few weeks I'll have a one-year old and a five-year old.  Yay!

These piggies are precious

What a happy girl!

Breakfast out with Momma.

She loves her bath time!

Backyard fun with brother.

Aaahh... Feed me!

Lego Maniac

Noah's social skills' teacher forwarded me these pictures of my sweet boy hard at work at school. She said Noah was so into the Lego play. He copied Mrs. A's robot exactly! Way to go Noah!

Mother's Day

Mother's day started bright and early this morning. Noah climbed into bed with me at around 5:00 AM ready to start the day, and Emma must have heard the commotion because around 5:30 AM, she was ready to join the party. Well, no one becomes a mom because they want to get more sleep. We spent the day at my sister's house, and the kids had a blast. Noah swam, had lunch, swam again, played games, swam for the third time and finally crashed with very minimal melting down.

Noah and Emma have the best cousins ever!

I texted this picture to Dean.  His response... "I'm guessing he didn't wait until 3."  Lol.

You can't hang out with this kiddos without taking part in a bit of gymnastics.

Emma was really wanting some pool time.  Sorry Em, maybe next year. 

My sweet kids about 12 hours after waking up super duper early. Oh yeah... they were both about done for the day.  I'm oh so tired, but I sure do loving being a mom to these two.

Guess Who's Walking

As I was chatting on the phone with my dear friend, Care this morning, she asked, "So, is Emma taking a couple steps yet?"  "A couple steps?  She's full out walking," I replied.  Her response, "I can't believe you haven't blogged about it yet.

Just about three days shy of 11 months old, Emma decided to go from one step to about twenty.  Way to go baby girl!

Parent Teacher Conference

This morning Dean and I had Noah's parent teacher conference.  Each year, there is a fall and a spring assessment that is reviewed at these meetings.  Noah is finishing his second year at the school, so this is our fourth meeting of this kind.  Instead of reviewing the results of the testing as done in previous meetings, Dean and I took the opportunity to talk to Mrs. J in specific terms about Noah and his progression at the school.  He is having a really good year, and we have seen a lot of progress since last summer.  We are happy.  Noah still has some trouble with staying on task and regulating his body, but his language has really improved and he is definitely made some strides in social interaction among peers.  Dean and I are very excited that Noah will be moving up to Pre-K next year.  Way to go, Noah!

When I got home that afternoon, I got a chance to actually read over the testing report.  The test administered is the Brigance assessment.  It is a standardized test whereas scoring gives an indication of whether Noah has mastered certain skills or if these are still objectives. The report is grouped in sections of gross motor, fine motor, speech and language, academics, daily living skills and social and emotional development. Each section has a serious of questions where Noah is scored with either a M (mastered) or an O (objective).  The start of each section has a short write up by the teacher.  And, finally the general comments by his home room teachers.  Here are some of the highlights from the report.

Noah has always been a sweet child and a pleasure to work with.  He likes to be at school and enjoys circle activities or any job that we might give him.  He likes the circle jobs so much that he wants to do all his classmates jobs too!  He has worked hard on his patience and turn taking and now gives his friends a chance to answer questions and do their jobs. 

Noah enjoys his friend and plays with them for short periods of time as long as he can control the situation.  He is getting better at giving up some of that control.

[Noah] does need sensory input to help him regulate himself and able to focus on a task.  It is as simple as giving him a time and a place to "get his sillies out."  Noah will quickly rein himself in and continue to work.  He likes to be with the group, so at times he may not want to take the time he needs and will get upset if the teacher suggests he take a moment.  Allowing Noah to be involved in and make these decisions for himself has helped him to become more confident, and he is showing more self regulation. 

Noah likes to be active, takes his turn, and encourages friends to take theirs.  He loves movement to music improving his imitation skills and movements. 

Noah can write his name independently and use scissors to cut.  Noah can also draw a picture of a person independently.  He even likes to add hair and/or hat. 

Socially, Noah has made a lot of progress this year.  He really loves being with his friends in his class and is playing more with them.  During floor time, he is getting better at playing near his friends and with his friends without climbing on top of them or over them. 

He loves table games and easily catches on to the rules.  He is getting better at waiting his turn and is able to focus more during group games. 

During snack, he has learned to raise his hand when he wants something.  He is still working on keeping a quiet mouth and waiting his turn to speak, however.  He independently cleans up after himself and waits patiently with a book until his friends are finished. 

I loved reading all the comments from his teachers, and I especially loved reading words like, "confidence," "patience," "friends," and "taking responsibility."  I am so proud of the big changes in Noah this year, and I can't wait to see what next school year will bring.