Logan's Heroes

I am so excited to announce that our family will be participating in the 2011 Northern Virginia Walk for Apraxia. We would love for any of our friends and family to join our team and walk with us on our team. While this is a fundraiser for the only national non-profit group that is solely dedicated to needs of children with apraxia, we are not seeking your funds as much as we are seeking your support in number, in companionship, in cheering for our boy who has no idea that he struggles more than the rest of us to get his words out. He has a lot to say and we just want to help him be able to say it.

We would love to build a large team of people to walk with us. Logan is my personal hero on a daily basis and for one short walk I would like to be his hero too. If you want to join us the Logan's Heroes team just click on the link below and you will be directed to our team's page.

Here is the event information:
DATE AND LOCATION:
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Onsite check-in and registration at 7:00 AM.
The Run starts promptly at 8:00 AM.
The Walk starts promptly at 8:15 AM.

Burke Lake Park
7315 Ox Road
Fairfax Station, VA 22039
Park website: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/burkelake

CASANA is the source of inspiration and instrumental in helping so many families and professionals gain the knowledge in apraxia needed to move children with CAS to develop meaningful speech. Proceeds from the walk will benefit CASANA's apraxia programs and research.

To join our team, click on this link and then click on "Join Our Team" in the middle of the page:

Logan's Heroes

Proof is in the Pudding

I am sitting in the makeshift office on the first floor that used to be the playroom and before the playroom, it was the dining room and I am just trying to capture a few minutes of peace and calm in what has been a very busy day. This is my time-out. Peanut is sleeping and Sweet Pea and Little Man are playing in the next room, well within my sight-line but far enough away to give me at least the illusion of a few minutes to myself. And I hear Little Man say "Oh Sweet Pea, if you need those toys just ask me! Don't try to get in the box. Oh let me help you." Then I see him pick her up (yes, I cringed but stayed quiet) and put her safely away from where she was trying to go head first into a bin of toys. He gave her a bunch of toys and laid on his stomach to play with her. Giggles ensued and I breathed in the love between my youngest and my oldest.

I witnessed another sweet moment this morning. I asked the boys to get their shoes on so that we could get out the door. I came around the corner to find Little Man putting Peanut's shoes on him. It was a disorganized mess of a situation that took 3 time longer than if I had stepped in to help, but I couldn't bring myself to interrupt. First Peanut sat on the floor and Little Man tried to shove his feet in the shoes but couldn't get the leverage needed. So he told Peanut to stand up and he helped him slip his foot in and adjust the heel. Then Little Man stood up and cheered for Peanut and of course, Peanut cheered for himself too!

We must be doing something right, this parenting thing with so many zig zags in the path and no known destination or set course. I wish that children came with an instruction manual so that I could just follow directions and know that I was doing what was best for them. But short of an instruction manual, witnessing sweet moments and words between my kids show that at least some of the time, we are doing just fine without that manual.

Sweet Pea is 9 months old

I meant to write this post a few days ago but the kids have been keeping me very busy with water playdates, superhero escapades and bike rides.

Sweet Pea is getting so big and is close to exiting that baby phase and starting to creep her way into toddlerhood. She is 24 pounds now but is still fitting well into her 12-18 month dresses and into 18-24 month shorts and shirts. Have I mentioned how much I love dresses!! Seriously, they are the easiest garment to get a kid in and out of and diaper changes are so simple. Since she is crawling/slithering on her tummy the dresses don't get in her way as much as if she were doing a true crawl. Even though she uses the slither move to get from here to there, she likes to spend as much time on her feet as possible. She pulls up on everything, including her big brothers if they are willing to stand still long enough. She is so proud each time she gets vertical and is slowly learning how to get back down to the ground although the decent is never graceful.

Sweet Pea's favorite game is still "So Big" but she also has started trying to clap and has her own version of signing all done that she mimics but is very close to doing on her own. She still takes two naps a day but I have to limit the first nap to less than 45 minutes or I don't get much a break when the boys nap in the afternoon. She is a great eater too. She has had apples, bananas, peas, green beans, squash, sweet potato, carrots and pears. She hasn't rejected a single food but I don't see her staying on the purees for very long as she loves to feed herself cheerios or any little bites of food we giver her. Anything to be just like her big brothers!

Her hugs are the best things in the whole world. She holds so tight around my neck and snuggles her face into my neck. I know that a lot will change as she gets older but I hope that those tight hugs are here forever.

Pulling Up

I told Papa Bear last night that I thought it was time we lowered the crib because Sweet Pea was getting just a little too proficient at pulling herself up on things and it was only a matter of time before she figured out how to pull up on her crib. Just call me Nostradamus. Ok, that might be overstating things just a bit, but I did call it.

Papa Bear put Sweet Pea in the crib for a nap today and left to take the boys to home depot. I was visiting with a friend in the kitchen listening to Sweet Pea screech and yell in her crib and then the yelling sounded different to me. So I went to investigate and I find a very proud Sweet Pea standing up in her crib, leaning over the edge looking down at the ground and precariously perched half in, half out. My heart skipped a beat and I swooped her up and waited to put her back down for her nap until I knew she would lay down and go to sleep.

Needless to say, Papa Bear lowered her crib before her afternoon nap because we have a very strong, curious and proud little girl pulling on everything she can!

In Little Man's room, pulled up on his firehouse

In her crib, after it had been lowered.

A Series of Unfortunate Incidents

Sweet Pea is fully mobile, crawling/pushing and shimming her way up stairs, into corners, under tables and into closets. Sister does not want to be left behind in a room and wants to get in on all of the action. This has led to a series of unfortunate incidents because there is always a baby under-foot or in the toilet as the case may be.

While I was making dinner this evening I was chopping vegetables as the boys were playing (an unapproved game of jumping off the couch onto each other, but I didn't bother breaking it up because at least they weren't fighting) and Sweet Pea was shimming around the kitchen. When I looked down at Sweet Pea she was obviously chewing on something she shouldn't have in her mouth. I swept her up into my arms and did the typical "mom finger sweep" to fetch it out and she had already swallowed it. I was trying to figure out what it was when she sighed a deep sweet baby breath sigh right in my face and that is when I knew that what she had chewed up and swallowed was an onion.

Today she also managed to pull a pogo stick onto herself, fall off of a bench that she had pulled herself up to almost standing on, get her finger smashed in the bathroom door when Peanut wanted some privacy and fall head first down the step-down into the living room. The head first fall down the step-down was performed most gracefully and after letting out a brief cry she completed a roll and kept on shimmying her way to her original destination...which was as usual, wherever Little Man can be found.

"O", that makes sense

Peanut knows all of his letter and their letter sounds and he has a love for identifying letters and yelling them out. For example, he might be eating a cookie and after taking a bite of it he will hold it up and yell "U" until you agree with him that his cookie does look just like a "U", or when we are driving by a McDonald's and he yells "M,M,M" until you tell him yes, that is a M. Today it was out of control. We were parked outside of Bed, Bath and Beyond and he was all "B, B, B, E, T, E, Y O, O, N, D, D" I drove away as fast as I could.

Little Man asks really intelligent questions, not all of which I have intelligent answers for, but sometimes he will throw me a bone. Today he asked me when he could get his wallet so he could drive. Once I deciphered that he meant license and not wallet I set about answering his question. I wasn't sure if I was very clear in my answer until he said, "Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks Mama" Well I am so glad it made sense to him because I can't even remember my answer because Peanut was yelling "B, B, B, E, T, E, Y O, O, N, D, D" at the time.

Updates All Around

Sweet Pea's favorite game right now is "So Big". Sometimes she will actually wait for you to ask her "How big is Sweet Pea" before triumpantly throwing her arms above her head to show us just how big she thinks she is. Other times, she can't wait for the question and will throw her arms up with a giant smile of anticipation on her face and we, of course, comply with her silent demand and say "So Big!". I have to say it makes me heart happy and happens to be one of the boys favorite games to play with her too.

Little Man and I got to go on a date recently. He donned his "movie" shirt which in his case is just a shirt that he wears to the movies and he put on his shorts that only have pockets on the sides and back but not on the legs. This is his thing. He will change his shorts if we dare to hand him anything that has pockets on the legs (ie cargo shorts) but won't wear shorts without pockets either. He is so particular and I love it. So we went on our double date with his friend Kate and her mother. They were both so proud to be out with each other and big kids at the movies. He did whisper to me that he loved me in the middle of the movie and on the way home decided that he should ask Papa on a date so that he wouldn't be sad that only Mama got dates. My sensitive sweetheart.

Peanut is talking up a storm and repeating my every word. He is also doing great with going to the potty and is becoming more assertive in telling us that he has to go instead of just walking to the bathroom and tugging to get his pants down. Sometimes he will preemptively cheer "Yay Pee-Pee" as his way of telling me that it is time to go. He is having a hard time settling down at night and opens his door to his room as a game over and over and over until we take away all of his bedtime stuff (blankets, elmo, big bird, etc) and then he gets we are serious and stays in his bed. My sweet boy.

Rehoboth Beach

I am not a spontaneous person. I am a planner, a meticulous and detailed planner, who has done a lot of growing and changing in the last 4 years. My children have taught me spontaneity. For example, when you leave the house with a diaper bag that has been rampaged by a 2 year old and end up without diapers for the baby but you find a pull up stashed in your car, you can spontaneously turn that over-sized pull up into a diaper that works for a baby with a little imagination and the help of a tee-shirt. Just call me MacGuyver. Cue music.

Anyway, all of that growing and stretching, taught to me by my wonderful and unpredictable children, helped when we had an offer of a week long vacation at my mom's beach house in DE because I had less than 24 hours to plan. No worries, my mom's beach house is more prepared than most places we visit for my crazy kids so Papa Bear and I made a list, packed it up and headed out. We knew he would have to travel back and forth during the week and made arrangements with my mom for him to use her car for that commute so we could keep the van with all of the necessary seating for the kids.

It was well worth the crazy 24 hour haze we were in packing the car and getting us ready to be gone without much notice. It was also worth the lack of sleep we had as Sweet Pea realized she was in the same room as us for a week and wanted to be played with or held in the night.

Little Man learned to swim. He swims across the pool with his head under water while doggy paddling and kicking his legs. Something just clicked and each day he got better and better. Peanut learned to hold his breath while underwater as he took quite a few tumbles in the water but always managed to hold his breath and his only complaint was the water in his eyes. We all got to run through a rain storm to get ice cream and then eat ice cream in a pavilion while watching the rain, play on the beach when the rain stopped and then run through another rain storm to get back to the car. (that probably doesn't sound like as much fun as it actually was) We ate and played and just had a fantastic family time. The kids were overjoyed to have their Mee-Mom with them and the bonus was getting to have Simba (her dog) to torture/play with too.

A spontaneous vacation that was well worth breaking out of my comfort zone and leaping before looking!

Oh Well!

Peanut wanted to be just like his big brother

and wear his crayon behind his ear

but he missed! Oh well!

I wanted to get a picture of all 3 kiddos together but Peanut was not happy

He wanted to be the one holding his sister

which did not thrill sister

So this is the best I could get. Oh well!