New Words for James

James has had 2 speech therapy sessions and he does really well. Shelly, the speech therapist, is very enthusiastic and keeps his attention. He like Mr. Potato Head and the trains that she brings. She asks him questions like "Point to the boy who's running" and he can do that. He tries to say what she says, and it's pretty cute. But every now and then James will just come out and say a word that sounds really close to the real word. Here are some examples,

"May-Man" = Mailman (not sure why he chose to say this word)
"Beesh" = Beach

So, we're just waiting and encouraging!!

Self Serve Pudding

I think every child goes through this stage with some sort of pudding, jello, etc. They manage to get some in their mouths but most on their face. But they're happy and quiet and sometimes, it's just worth it! Ryan got his opportunity the other day and BOY!! was he thrilled!! James wasn't so sure about sharing his pudding. Actually, James does like to share his food, but only when he gets to serve it :) So, we think his spiritual gift will be serving.

Tadpoles

So, it was dinnertime. And that means that both little boys are either yelling or crying. Ryan usually wants to held and James wants more snacks. We invited a friend over for dinner, so I was preparing an extra-special dinner (shrimp) and we were ALL in the kitchen waiting for Alex to get home. I usually do as much preparing for dinner as I can and when Alex gets home I pass the kids over. But tonight, he got home a little later than was expected. So, amidst my dirty kitchen because Ryan and James had taken out all the pots, pans, tupperware, etc, Alex walks in. I notice right away he's carrying a cooler. Sort of an odd picture because he doesn't ever bring a cooler into the kitchen.

He sets it down right in the center of the kitchen and I now begin to wonder what's in it????? Whatever it is, it does not fit into my kitchen where dinner is now cooked.

He says "James, look what I got!". He then reveals a cooler full of tadpoles!! Must have been 30 or 40 in yucky pond water.

My thoughts "Great! Now what? Frogs jumping into my shrimp and then all over my kitchen?"

Alex then asks "Where's your trifle bowl?" I give him a look that suggests I don't approve of what he's thinking, I ask "Why?"

"So, I can put the tadpoles in it"

So, I'm going to have a trifle bowl with yucky pond water and a bunch of tadpoles swimming around in my kitchen. All for the sake of "science".

Anyways, I did buy a little tank and they now reside in my kitchen, but in a covered tank. They're growing little legs and we're excited to see what kind of frogs they will be. Then we'll let them go.

Oh, Alex found them in a little puddle outside our new house. So, free tadpoles!!

House Update

Just a few pics this time. This is the back porch. It's tiger wood. A beautiful color! Alex picked it out and it looks great! Down here, it doesn't matter what color a porch is, when it's hot, it's hot! I haven't taken a picture of the stairs in the foyer yet, but I will. The house is coming along and hopefully by the end of September, we'll be moving in.

James' 1st day at Preschool

So, I made it through the first "day" of preschool. So did James. I found myself looking at the clock constantly to see when it would be time to go. Ryan slept so I was able to do some work around the house as well as relax a little. It was quite unsettling to have a house that quiet and know that 1 child wasn't in my house.

I went to pick James up and he looked a bit like he had been crying. Sure enough, he got upset at the snack table because he didn't want the juice, just the fish crackers. Then at story time, he didn't want the teacher to hand him his treat for sitting down. He probably wanted to hold the bag, pick one out for himself and probably pass it out to the other kids. He likes to share food. Anyways, other than that, it was a successful day!!

No more Chick-fil-A!

Have you ever been in one of those situations where you think " I can't believe that mom brought her kids out when they're sick!". Well, I'm sure that's what some moms thought of me, although James wasn't sick. We had lunch at Chick-fil-A this past weekend and while I'm cleaning up, Alex took the boys to the play area. Saturdays must be party days because they had the Chick-fil-A cow out, a jump castle and face painting. So, it was pretty crowded with children and adults. So, I look up and see Alex holding James out yelling for some napkins. I was a bit flustered and confused so I tried grabbing some off the tray. I wasn't fast enough so Alex set James down to go get some himself. Then 3 rounds of vomit came out.....Very fast and very forceful. Needless to say, Chocolate milk and chicken were on the menu. So, figuring out that napkins weren't gonna do it, we tried to find an employee to help clean up, with a mop. The girls that tried to help, came out with Lysol and a rag. So, Alex ended up cleaning up while I took the children to the car. The conclusion: James wasn't sick, but the combination of grease and chocolate milk did not sit well. I can understand that because sometimes their food is too greasy for my tummy. So, we won't be visiting that Chick-fil-A for a while, or any for that matter.

Speech Therapy

We had our 1st visit with the speech therapist today. She was a nice young lady who thought my boys were sooo cute! Well, I think they are too, at least 1/2 of the day. Anyways, James will probably have his speech therapy sessions 1x a week, because his case isn't so bad. He is just a little behind on the expressive/communicative part. So, there were a bunch of questions and asking James to point to a few things. When asked which of these do you cook with? He points to the water glass. Then he knew there was only 1 thing left to point to, he pointed to the pot when asked what do you drink from? I hope she doesn't think we drink from our pots and pans. But James was real receptive to her and I think he'll enjoy having her come by and "playing".