The boys

I am so thankful right now that there is a little age gap between the two. Amazing the difference. The last few days we have enjoyed playing games with B, he is starting to get it. We have moved beyond Candyland! Yesterday afternoon it was mid 40s. We did not get out when it was that warm, but we did take B sledding. There is a good size hill by the church. He got probably a 5-6 second ride. At the end there is a little bump to catch air. I think the 'air' scared him but once he figured out how to put his hands down to keep from toppling over, it was all good. He loved it and went down every time by himself. More importantly, he trudged up the hill dragging the sled all by himself too. So nice that he is getting older and more capable of doing things by himself.
J on the other hand! He loves to get himself dressed and if you try to help him, he will grab his clothes and run away from you. I have already taken the bar stools away and put their art table chairs up. The next thing to go is the dining room table chairs. Everything gets put in the garage cause I just can't trust him. He has figured out how to open the microwave and loves to put misc. stuff in there. If he ever hits the right combination of buttons, I am in trouble. Today he decided to get a coffee cup out of the cabinet. For reasons unknown to me, I decided to scoop out all the water in the toilet and dump it on the floor. I know he has never seen me do that. He is something else.
JR had to work today and works again tomorrow. I guess it breaks up his 10 days off, but it sure was nice and convenient having him around.

Christmas

Had a quiet uneventful Christmas. The boys are still young enough that they don't know you can wake up really early on Christmas. I have B trained not to wake me up until 7. We started with prayer thanking God for Jesus' birth and then we headed downstairs. The stockings awaited us. Everyone had candy in theirs and that was all J needed. He got a little bowl, poured himself some whoppers and sat on the floor eating them. He would not put the bowl down and open a present, otherwise Mom might take the candy and put it up. B had a lot of fun exploring/playing with everything he opened. From start to finish it took us over an hour. We made a birthday cake for Jesus and it sure was good.
We received 3-4 inches of snow Christmas night and it looks like we could hit the high 30s by late weekend. That will be shorts weather compared to 2 weeks ago!
Christmas Eve day JR took a sled out to the field behind our house. B got to ride along as JR wrapped the rope around his waist and got a workout pulling B.
J has not had any ill effects from the hand, foot and mouth, which is a huge praise. B has not shown any signs, so he appears to have fended them off. (J did get one little boy from church sick though).
Having problems posting pics, will try tomorrow!

Sick again

All indications are that J has hand, foot and mouth disease! Quarantined again. At least the weather is not conducive for playing outside. I sure hope B does not get it.

Instead of Na, now we are getting a full on No with J. He often will walk around the house saying No, No, No, No (emphasizing the O). He usually comes to find me as he is saying it. He takes my hand and proceeds to take me to the "No". Recently it was an empty bowl of chocolate. He had eaten every last bite and was telling himself "no". Or it was the red dry erase marker he used on the white fridge. Or the bottle of B's mouthwash that he took the lid off of again and spilled.
J's skin is doing much better now that we have taken him off of most dairy. I also bought some Aveeno Intense Relief Overnight Lotion. I noticed a huge difference after one use.
B, J and I are starting to get into a routine in the evenings. I have shown B how to put towels and pajamas in the dryer so they are warm when they get out of the bathroom. They think this is awesome and then they both crawl in my lap and we sing songs. I can only hope this will continue to last.
Another cold weekend, so around the house, doing odd projects, working puzzles, etc.

B's Christmas Program

B had his preschool Christmas program Monday night. It was short and sweet, 20 minutes. What did I expect with 70 preschoolers. I think he had a lot of fun.
Both boys went to the dentist the other day. B has 2 cavities (guess he has deep grooves on his molars). Both boys have orthodontics in their future! Guess we better start saving now.
The weather has warmed up. Surprising how warm 20 feels when you have been -20.
Speech therapist continues to hear more new sounds each week. We have added "p" and "v" and he is starting to vocalize more instead of signing.
Some more pictures. I keep thinking I will have time to explore more features on the camera, but not yet. Maybe when JR is off the week between Christmas and New Years. (His work is closing that week to try to minimize expenses so as to keep everyone on until work really gets going strong again.)

Not Warm Here

I had to laugh at my post 2 days ago. As I write, it is -2 degrees and the windchill is probably -40. This morning JR left to go hunting at 5:30. When he returned 2 hours later, there was a knee deep snow drift in front of the door, where there had been no snow previously. (The guys hunting turned around after they missed their interstate exit and drifted onto the shoulder of the interstate several times due to low visibility.) Not a good day for the ol' heater to quit working on the black car. Took it to a shop 'around the corner'. They said they would look at it and call me in about an hour. I said 'I think I will walk home, it is just 3 blocks'. Bad, bad decision. With a wind chill of probably -30 in my face, I considered several times knocking on a door to warm up. I should know better. Bitter, bitter cold and I did not have a hat. I had my really warm coat and gloves on. I ended up wrapping my scarf around my head and that minimized things a bit. They called to say the problem was more extensive and they could not fix it. JR warmed up the red car to take me back (I was not walking back). It sat in the driveway warming up for 20 minutes. We got in it, backed into the street and the car died. After about 15 minutes we got it pushed back through the snow into the driveway (we were able to laugh through this) and my neighbor took me to get the car. I bought some antifreeze for the red one and after it was added, it started right up. Let's just hope that was the reason for it dying. The black one either has a blown fuse somewhere that I can't locate or the fan/compressor is out. Not a good thing, but what does one do?
Saw Santa yesterday, it was an uneventful visit. At first J was hesitant, but warmed right up. Our gingerbread house had a tragic end. The icing did not hold and coffee got spilled on it. Managed to salvage a few pieces so they will just have to lean against the wall until they can be eaten.
Here are pics from the last few days. If you move your mouse over the picture, the caption will show up. I added a little music. (Bit by bit I am figuring this out)

Warm here

Today we were close to 60 and it snowed in part of Texas. Crazy weather these days. However, we are suppose to be in the negatives this weekend.
A friend from North Dakota is due in any time, so not sure if we will get any snowshoeing in. We are also suppose to go Christmas Caroling this weekend with the church. Will be interesting to see the turnout if it is -10. I did promise the kids a trip to see Santa, since the line was too long last weekend. As B said "it was all my fault they did not get to see Santa". We did see some reindeer (aka Caribou) though.

Camera

J has gotten pretty sneaky these days. On more than one occasion, we have found him fully dressed without a diaper on. He is somehow undoing the 'tabs' and then the diaper falls down around his feet without us knowing this. Once he had on overalls and we could not figure out why we found a misc diaper on the floor, until his overalls turned up all wet. The second time he was in bed with footed pajamas on. Fortunately I checked him before he went to sleep.
The other day B woke up with a barking cough (it has since gone away). It was obviously the first time he had had that cough cause his reaction was, 'Mom, you need to call the doctor, I am making a really weird noise'. Every time after he coughed he would say, 'mom, did you hear that'.
We have been playing around with the new camera and here are some pictures.

Christmas cards!

I mailed the Christmas cards today!! Yeah, it is always nice when I get that done. (I have merged two lists so if for some reason you don't get a card, let me know).
Today we were at Costco and the boys love sampling the foods. We tried Godiva chocolate. I was very excited that J ate his entire bite without any 'chocolate saliva' running down his chin. It appears he is beginning to understand what his lips are for. It is getting to where I cannot let him out of my sight. B and I will be playing and then one of us is like "where is J...it sure is quiet." We have found him on top of the 4 1/2 foot dresser. I have found him barricaded in the bathroom standing on a chair eating a candy cane. JR found him the other day sitting on the computer desk eating a lollipop. Whenever I ask him to do something, he looks at me and gets this 'are you talking to me look'. He stands there and does not obey. As soon as I stand up, his expression is priceless. He makes a 'uh gasping' sound and does a big 'o' with his lips, then immediately acts. I really need to get this on video. Such a ham he is. He is certainly getting his share of discipline though.
The new camera arrived yesterday and hopefully I can start trying it out tomorrow. We are going to a birthday party so will try taking pictures there.
Here is a pic from when he got on the desk, notice the two lollipops in his hand that he was trying to eat before he got busted.

Allergies!

At least J's allergies are mostly contained to one family. Milk and Cheese. A moderate allergy to eggs. So, that makes it easy since B is allergic to the same things. Although J's allergies seem to be much worse.
Another gal involved with J's speech therapy stopped by today and was very impressed with what she saw. He is making a lot more sounds and will even mimic you when asked to do so. He knows all of his body parts and can point them out.
Today I felt really bad. We have put a different lock on their door that locks from the outside, to cut down on getting up at bedtime. J was not happy when he saw me lock the door and shut it at nap time. He cried, banged on the door and carried on for 10 minutes or so. I finally went up there and he was laying on the other side of the door. He had pooped in his diaper and had started to take it off and then realized the potential mess. He was desparately trying to hold his diaper on and get my attention to come help him. Oh I can't wait until he learns 'help'.
It is snowing here. It was 60 yesterday and we already have about an inch on the ground. It is December....

Christmas Movies

B never likes it when I pack the Christmas movies away every year, but he sure enjoys them when I pull them out. We have watched more than one every day. I really enjoy the short days and the Christmas tree lights glowing! Although today we were close to 60 degrees!
J had speech therapy today and the therapist said he did good. She is starting to hear a lot more sounds and not just growls and grunts. We are working on him using appropriate communication for most things even if it is sign language. He is getting the word 'mine' down a little better. Instead of a form of 'ma', we are hearing more of a 'mi'. I am convinced that it will all come together for him in the next couple of months. He has a lot more inflection in his voice too. Tomorrow we have an appt with the doc to go over his allergy testing results.
B loves watching, as he says it, Rudolph the Reindeer Red-nosed. Today his teacher told me that she finally separated him to another table during their '20 minute' work time. She said he is just so social and loves to talk. She has a hard time getting him to focus. As she is telling me this, I am laughing cause I can see it all unfolding. He was not in trouble, so to speak but she figured he was far enough into the 'school year' that he should be able to start adapting and focusing more when needed. I told her not to give him an inch but to correct things after asking the first time and not waiting 3-4 times before separating him. He does much better when the lines are very clear.
Off to finish a few more projects before bed. Will try to post tomorrow about the allergy results.

Thanksgiving

If I ever want to know who is reading my blog, just mention a special post coming tomorrow and see how many people let me know I forgot to post!
We attempted our fun little post but I did not like the end product so we have not been able to redo it yet. I will just keep you all waiting for a bit.
Had a quiet Thanksgiving. One of JR's co-workers joined us. Him and JR went hunting that morning. They went to a new area and they found grizzly tracks and mountain lion tracks. A pretty sure sign you are not gonna see elk or deer. The guys were excited though for the tracks. Mountain lion tracks are somewhat rare (the tracks were probably a day old....)
The boys and I stayed home and watched the Macy's parade. At one point the Uncle Sam balloon came on and B asked who it was. I said that is Uncle Sam. His first response was "oh, that is Yankee Doodle's cousin." I had to sing the song and then I said "close, it is his uncle." The kid does not miss a beat. The other day he said, in it's entirety the Pledge of Allegiance. I have never taught him this so it is obviously something they are learning at preschool. I was really touched by that and maybe I can get him to say it on video sometime.
Today we went out looking for a Christmas tree. Last year, we were unsuccessful, namely because just any tree won't do. Most of what I usually find are Charlie Brown trees. JR got frustrated so last year we cut our hunting short and borrowed an artificial tree. This year though I spotted a little drainage 200 yards off the road. The trees looked full and perfect. I ran up for a peek and I was excited! I called everyone out of the car. No snow on the ground, a short walk and wa-la.
Attached are some photos from yesterday and today!

Thanksgiving week

Hard to believe it is here! We are gonna stay home and one of JR's co-workers will come join us. They are thinking they might go hunting in the morning, so looks like it will be the boys an I for the Macy's parade.
More B stories - The other day I put J in his room because he was throwing a fit. He settled down and got quiet. A little bit later B opened his door and said "Now, J, do you have a better attitude? You just shake your head yes before you come out of the room. You have to have a better attitude before you come out"
Last night we were driving home and B said "hey dad, what is that blue jellyfish thing?" We were both perplexed and he said "that blue jellyfish thing up there". I realized what he was talking about and just cracked up. He had seen the 'high beam' headlight indicator on the dashboard of the car. I think he has seen a picture of a jellyfish once or twice. And he was right, it did look like a jellyfish swimming through the water.
J, on the other hand, might get him checked out for some sensory processing stuff. Maybe after the holidays can have the occupational therapist observe him. Not anything major but could explain some things. I noticed the other day they were playing in the backyard. It had snowed and there was that ice/snow pack on the patio. J was out there barefoot and was not the least bit bothered by it. He had been out there 2-3 minutes! Not sure if it is related, but made me think twice about it.
B and I are scheming a fun post tomorrow. Hopefully it will pan out and you all can check back!

praises!!

As you can see, a mild, very mild case of the pox. Praise God. I guess the vaccine he got at 12 months kept him from getting a worse case? The only time he seems to scratch them is when he gets out of the tub and sees them. Otherwise we try to keep them all covered up with footed pajamas. I finally solved the puzzle as to where the boys got the chicken pox from. Remember about a month ago when 3 middle school boys stayed with us while they attended a local conference? Well, I found out this week that they all came down with the chicken pox just after leaving here. Just glad to know how we were exposed.

A conversation with B recently. It went something like this:
"Mom, why do people do bad things?"
"Because there is evil in the world"
"Why is there evil in the world?"
"Because this earth is satan's kingdom"
A slight pause, then
"Mom, now who is satan again?"
"Remember satan was the one in the Garden of Eden that convinced Adam and Eve to do bad. Satan use to be an angel that lived in Heaven with Jesus. But he got kicked out of heaven."
"Why did he get kicked out of heaven?"
"Because he did not like the rules and did not want to obey the rules. He wanted to be just like God, just like he tried to convince Adam and Eve they could be like God by eating the fruit. He got kicked out of heaven and now he is trying to convince others to do bad things here on earth."
Just as quickly as the conversation started, it ended. Nothing like a child to keep you on your toes and always be ready to give an answer. My greatest prayer for my kids is that they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and accept him. When I have conversations like this it really encourages my heart. I know he is taking in everything from Children's Church, preschool, family devotions, etc. He is starting to process everything.
The second thing I pray for the boys is for a hedge of protection. The other night JR had put the boys to bed in our bed (which is not the norm). We thought both boys were asleep. B was, but J was not. I had not heard a word from them. Finally, J gave himself away as I heard him on the stairs. The stair light was not on but I could tell he had something all around his mouth. He was acting a little strange and quiet. He kept pointing up to the top of the stairs. I turned to JR and said, "he got into my lip liner earlier today and it looks like he got back into it". I grabbed the camera to get a picture of the aftermath of his make-up drawer raid. JR then grabbed him and headed up the stairs. He walked into the bathroom and then yelled for me. Come to find out, it was not make-up he had gotten into. He had found JR's razor and had managed to cut his tongue twice and his lip. It was blood and not make-up after all. All I could think was this is exactly why I pray for a hedge of protection on both of them. The strange thing is, he never cried. Just appeared he had knicked his tongue and lip and my guess never really knew he had cut himself or was bleeding. Here is the picture I took on the stairs, before I realized what had really happened. You can just see him smiling away like 'look at what I did'.

Random stuff

The boys are suppose to be having a quiet time in their room. Ha! Oh well, at least they are in their room and sounds like they are having fun. Best yet, I get some alone time!
We just drove past the bank today and it said 70 degrees. Now, having 4 ski resorts within an hour of here, 70 degrees mid November is not good! The 10 day forecast calls for cooler weather but not snow. Also puts a damper on the hunting. JR has gotten a buck and then a friend gave us his doe. He will go out 2-3 more times and then call it a season. With no snow, the animals tend to stay pretty high up.
The first day of speech therapy for J went pretty good. She literally sits there and counts the number of different sounds as she interacts with him. She got him to say 'mine' or very close to it pretty consistently. She is hearing more new sounds so that is very good. Maybe he just needed a little outside intervention.
I cut J's hair the other day. It was just such a mop. Looks okay but some of the 'curl' did not come back when I cut it. He looks much cuter with the curls so haircuts every 6 months or so!
(B just came out of the room and told me J bit him on the bottom. Then J comes around the corner with the 'aren't you proud of me mom' smile. Both of my boys have that little grin that just brings a smile to my face. )
One thing I have really noticed lately, when we are out in public, so many people make remarks about J (like they use to with B) and go on and on. Then there is B standing there going "I am four, I am four". People don't even notice B. Sure makes me think twice when I interact with a child in public, to be sure and include the older sibling in my remarks.
One thing I am hoping we can buy in the next 6 weeks or so is a digital camera. I miss so many shots because of our camera. I think it takes one photo every 20 seconds and then sometimes it is tempermental and won't take when it is suppose to. So, that being said, if any of you have a digital camera you like, let me know. I am starting to research them. Honestly, the one quality I am looking for is the rapid shoot. I will never have the time to learn all the ins and outs of a camera but just want something that takes good photos without missing too much action.
Will try to download some video in the next day or so!

Chicken Pox Round Two

Yep-they are popping out at this point! We are homebound again this week. Fortunately B has two friends whose mom wants to expose them so they are coming over on Thursday for a play date. Hopefully they won't be too bad for B.

Na

Yesterday the boys got into it over a water bottle. Seems J had it first and older brother B wanted it. J kept running from him and B just cried and cried. (B was not feeling good and really tired.) At one point they ended up under my feet while I was cooking in the kitchen. JR was getting very frustrated as the noise level steadily increased. B would run for J, J would shield the bottle and turn his back yelling 'na, na, na'. J would put the bottle on the floor, B would make a move for it, J would grab it and infatically yell 'na, na, na'. All I could do was laugh. He was saying no! I was excited. He appeared to be using it in context too. He has also started (appropriately) shaking his head yes. Maybe he will surprise us all and just be a really late (stubborn) talker.
He will go for his first therapy today, since we missed last week due to the chicken pox.
All day yesterday B was not feeling good and I thought, better not be the chicken pox coming on. He was vaccinated. This morning he has about 5-6 small spots on him. I am definitely going to be watching him throughout the day to see if any more appear. He has school today and I should probably do the responsible parent thing and keep him home until I know for sure.....

Woo hoo

Yesterday was our first outing in a week. Everything is healing up nicely and we can close the chapter on Chicken Pox. (We will see how effective the vaccine was for B. If he gets them, it should be middle part of this week.) J had his blood drawn yesterday for his bloodwork for allergies. He did not even flinch when they stuck the needle in. It took about 30 seconds for him to start crying and then it did not last very long. The test is a lot more specific than the one we had for B (instead of listing just cheese, it listed some of the different kinds of cheese). Maybe down the road I will have it done on B again.
J has started taking off his diaper when it is dirty. Which is a good thing, but a bad thing when you are in another part of the house and he shows up naked. Fortunately I have yet to have a big mess to clean up.
I was unloading groceries yesterday. As I brought another load in from the car B greeted me at the front door. "Mom, I am just so frustrated with you. So frustrated and I don't know what I am going to do with you." I don't even remember what the issue was, but nothing major. This past week has been a grim reminder of how I speak to the boys, especially in my frustration or anger. Not too long ago we were memorizing a Bible verse a week. One of them was "a soft answer turns away wrath". Another one was "children obey your parents for this is pleasing to the Lord". While we were memorizing them, B and I often would get into a verse showdown. I would raise my voice and he would say "Mom, a soft answer turns away wrath." To which I would reply "Children obey your parents". I have now told B to help me again and remind me of the soft answer verse. Thank goodness for little kids and helping to keep us honest and in line. We were in the grocery store recently and I often times will buy crackers, etc and open the box and let the kids eat them while we are shopping. However, with the bulk stuff, I am trying to teach B that you don't eat any of it until you pay for it (because you buy by weight) or it is stealing. Now he reminds me that we don't eat anything in the store until you pay for it or it is stealing.

Video of B

Sesame Street Live was a hit. He sat in my lap the first 15 minutes or so and then settled in and joined the show. He is just such a social boy and enjoyed the show most when he could be sitting or dancing next to others his age. Here is a video that JR took that I found. It is about 5 minutes but enjoyed watching B at gymnastics. The video is about 7 months old but amazing to me to see how B has lost his little boy look since then. He is starting to slim down more and his dimples are coming back! A few random shots and J. and I. (As I was downloading this video I went to check on J - he was really quiet. Never a good sign when he carries a chair in to the bathroom and shuts the door behind him.)
I just found out the video never posted...must have been too big a file. Will try at some point to figure out how to cut it and then repost.....

I hear my words

J's chicken pox are getting better. He still has never seemed bothered by them. They seem to be healing pretty quickly. I will keep him home another 2 days.
Tomorrow night I have free tickets to go see the Sesame Street Live Show with Elmo. I am taking Benjamin and I have not told him yet. I just hope he will be a more willing participant than he was when we went to see Veggie Tales (at that show he hid under the pew on the floor for the whole first half!).

Two conversations I had with B today:

"Get in here and put your clothes away the right way." (He had stuffed everything into one drawer so it was all hanging out.)
About 30 mimutes later he walks out of his room.
"I put all my clothes away, Mom"
"Did you put them away correctly"
"Yes"
"Are you sure?" I say
"Yes, just don't look in the bottom drawer"
"Why not?"
"Just don't. You won't like it"
Ratting himself out again - will I be fortunate enough for this to continue??

Later in the day, he sees an empty candy wrapper on the microwave
"Mom, who left this empty wrapper here"
I look at him with guilt on my face
"Mom, did you leave this here"
I sort of smile and nod.
"Why didn't you throw this away. You know you are not suppose to leave your candy wrappers laying around the house. You need to get over here and throw this away right now. Now you better do it, right now! I said right now."

My little tape recorder. I think I need to rethink how I ask things of him, cause I could totally hear myself telling him that - because I say those things to him all the time! That one keeps me on my toes! He has gotten to where when he asks us to do something and we say 'just a minute', he will wait but when he asks a second time it is always "Dad, I have asked you twice to come up stairs. Now you need to come upstairs right now". It is never a disrespectful thing cause his attitude is right. He is just learning how the communication thing goes. So, on one hand I have a 4 year old that speaks as a 12 year old and I have another one that won't speak at all! Oh, I can only imagine the conversations the two of them will have when J does start talking!

Weekend winds down

The gal I was suppose to play in the finals decided she needed to get back home so defaulted the match (she lived 2 hours away).
JR went out hunting this morning and nada. Said he thinks the area has been picked over pretty good. He also recently took another book test towards his electrical apprenticeship and he made an 85.
Headed up to put both boys down for a nap and then do some grocery shopping.

Itching

The itching started last night. Still not too bad. He just did not sleep well. Made a grocery store run at 5am. The Aveeno bath treatments seem to help. As you can tell from the pictures, the back is the worst. A few spots on his face (huge one on his eyebrow).
I won my match today, although I had to work for some of the points. The lady I played just started playing in June and was very good. I guess that is what happens when you take lessons 3 times a week! I play the Consolation Finals Sunday afternoon.

It is always something

Well, J has the chicken pox. Have no idea where he got them from. None of our friends have them. Fortunately, at least at this point, they are not too bad. He does not itch at all and is not really acting sick. He does have them all over his trunk though and sprinkled on the rest of his body.
I was able to find someone without kids to come watch the boys while I played tennis. I lost, but same old story, should have won. I was quite impressed with how well I moved on the court though. Just wish my timing would come back. Last week when I practiced last I broke a string. I forgot to get my racquet restrung so I played with a back-up racquet. One I have used for more than an hour in the last 20 years (your old Wilson Prostaff Scott). Did not do too bad, but hopefully with my other racquet I can finally score a win in the consolation bracket Sat morning.
A night of cards with the gals...will be a nice break!

Mid week

JR cooked up some of the backstraps from his buck and they were very good and tender.
B has been exhausted the last couple of days. He has been getting up before 6 the last couple of days and someone just mentioned that the daylight savings time is messing him up. I had never even made the connect. Fortunately J slept in until normal time this morning. It sure makes for a long day when they are both up that early and B does not have a nap.
I play my first tennis match at noon on Friday. Up against the number 2 seed.
J had speech therapy today. I left him (woo hoo - 45 minutes to myself once a week and it is too short of a time to go home and do anything productive - hot chocolate with a book just might become the norm!). When I went back to get him the therapist said she heard a lot more sounds from him than last time. She was able to identify 15 or so different sounds/noises so that was good. She said he 'growled' about 30 times. How do you teach a little boy not to growl. It does seem that since we have found out that he 'has a delay' that he is whining more and we are not encouraging the words like we were. She also said he was pretty stubborn with using some of his sign language until he realized he was not going to get what he wanted until he made the sign. After we left I read through her Evaluation. I did not know whether to laugh or cry when I read the following: "An open mouth posture and drooling were evident during play. Jacob was not aware of his drooling and made no attempt to manage oral secretions or wipe his chin." That sounds so pitiful but the truth. He just drools away and his shirt gets wet, etc. She did mention that he seemed to be drooling a lot more today than her evalutation.
One positive note, last week we all in the car and out of the blue he started making the 't' sound and JR and I both looked at each other and said 'that's new'.
Off to take a hot bath, the days are getting colder and the mountain snow is starting to fall.
Here's 2 pictures of J's attempt to get himself dressed. His shirts turn out to be skirts. Oh, he is also starting to show some interest in the potty. He has several friends that were potty trained before they were two (they are boys), how nice would that be - not that I am holding my breath!

Firsts

JR has gotten his first buck of the season. Nice big body, small 3x3 rack. It is currently hanging in the garage and it will make it's way to our kitchen probably tonight! Not my most favorite but at least it is meat for the freezer and we have disinfectant. He will also be voting for the first time in his life this evening. Interesting to see what he thinks of it all. I have tried to tell him it is not just the presidential election, but other local elections and issues. I don't know that he is very prepared for the other stuff.
We did go see the movie Fireproof. If you did not receive an email from me about it, it is worth the time and money. Just a phenomenal message, very good, clean movie. Two action scenes, quite a few bust out laughing scenes, just a very good all-around movie. One that we need to support and send a message to Hollywood that good family movies will be supported. Kirk Cameron did not even receive a salary for his leading role (however, the film company made a contribution to the camp him and his wife run). Another interesting note about the movie, there is one scene where Kirk kisses his on screen wife. He has made a commitment not to kiss anyone but his actual wife, so they flew his wife in just for this one shot and she was the stand in. Way to go Kirk, standing up for your values! I will get off my Fireproof soap box. Go check it out. It will be the first 'non kid' movie I have purchased in probably over 5 years.
Dad says it is just about time for another haircut, what do you think?

Halloween

We survived the weekend and mom has somehow stayed away from the 10 plus pounds of candy that I think we came home with. We had Spiderman and a cute little green frog this year. JR and I took the boys downtown to all the stores. Crazy. They do it from 3-6 and in years past it was nice because none of the older kids made it until 4pm because of school. But for some reason there was early release so it was a mad house. I would be willing to bet that businesses spend over $100 on candy because a lot of them hand out chocolate. J mostly stayed in the stroller, much easier to keep up with him. Then we headed to a few friends houses. B had the best time running with the other kids. He was not as concerned about the candy as he was with being able to keep up with Indiana Jones, the fireman, the police man, spiderman 2, etc. When we came home JR put J to bed and I went around the neighborhood with B. Poor kid, he would just mope about how his legs hurt, how tired he was, etc. Then, off in the distance, I would see shadows of kids and off he would run to catch them. Seeing him run in the spiderman costume, with his spiderman snow boots (despite having no snow) he just looked so funny. Next year I am gonna have to be sure and line up other kids to go with cause mom just is not fun enough.
J had an appointment with a naturopath doctor on Friday. We are hoping to get the allergy testing kit from the lab and have the bloodwork done up late this week. The Dr. was also wondering if he has some GI issues going on.
JR has not been out hunting this week but hoping to hit a private ranch tomorrow for a deer or two.
I just registered for a tennis tournament this weekend. Seems odd to schedule a tournament this time of year with only 4 indoor courts. I just signed up for singles. Hopefully I will have a little better showing this time around than last time.
We are off to see the movie Fireproof this afternoon. Suppose to be a very good movie!
Here are some pictures from B's Harvest party at the preschool and from Friday night.

Therapy update

Just a quick update. Had the meeting to get us going with the government program and appears with J's delay we qualify for services up until his 3rd birthday. We contacted a local speech therapist and she had an opening today so we took it! She too said the same thing, he is way, way behind on his expressive language. She actually said the testing tool she was using often overcompensates things so if she had been using another tool, he probably would have tested much lower on the expressive. They all say every other area is right on or above average. So, we will have our first real session next Wed. The only potential bad thing is that I don't know if insurance will cover it. There is a clause in our policy that states speech therapy will only be covered if it is due to trauma or an illness. The gal at the therapy place said sometimes she has seen Blue Cross cover it and sometimes she has seen them not cover it. So, worst case scenario, Family Outreach will cover about 2/3 and we will have to pick up the other 1/3 or best case scenario, Insurance will cover 2/3 and Family Services will pick up the other 1/3. Either way, we are sure hoping to get him talking soon so the whining will stop. He gets his allergy testing on Friday. (One of the nice things about living in a lesser populated area, seems that the waits for docs are not very long - my dermatologist has been the only exception).
On another note, JR has not been feeling well lately, losing weight, just vague symptoms, etc but I finally convinced him to go to a doc for a check up. The first check up he has had since we got married. The doc called today and said all the bloodwork, etc was perfect and he has the insides of an 18 year old. That is wonderful news but it just blows me a way that an almost 40 year old man can quit working out, eat lots of bread, ice cream etc and still lose weight. It is just not fair. He looks at workout equipment and loses weight, I look at food and gain weight. Oh well, atleast he is healthy with no signs of trouble on the horizon.
No mountain snow predicted for the next week or so, bad for hunters. Our fridge is empty.
B has his Harvest Party tomorrow at preschool, hope to download some pictures tomorrow.

Nada

Nothing. JR saw nothing out on the trail today. The elk and deer were pretty elusive. There is no snow on the ground and until the snow comes they will stay pretty high up. He said when he started hiking there was a guy in front of him with a dog. How irritating. Who takes a dog with them on opening day of rifle season. Hoepfully next weekend will be a little more productive, although it is not going to cool off too much.
I woke up this morning to B counting....twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, twenty ten, thirty. I had to laugh quietly.
When we had the 3 middle school guys with us last week, I moved J's crib out of their room and in to the computer room. Decided to not put it back and see if we could get J to sleep on a mattress on the floor. So far so good. Some days he loves his freedom and will stay up and play in the room, but on those days he is almost begging to go to sleep by 7pm. Several nights ago he woke up and sat on the mattress whining. I came to check on him and he settled himself back down but forgot to lay back down. I laughed at him as he went to sleep sitting up swaying.
Was tempted to grab the camera but he laid down before I could.

Speech Therapy here we come

I was very impressed with the appt for J this morning. They observed him in several different settings and environments. At one point they even watched him and another little boy interact. It was odd seeing about 8 adults standing around watching the boys play.
His coordination and fine motor skills are great. He is also a great communicator just not with words. I don't recall all the technical lingo but basically he does have issues going on. They determined that by several different factors.
He often holds his mouth open and his tongue out. He drools alot. He retracts his tongue quite a bit. He stuffs his face with food. His receptive language age is 15-18 months and his expressive language is 6-9 months. Bottom line is, he has low muscle tone in his mouth/jaw area and is orally aware. There were a couple of times they could tell he wanted to talk, but just could not get the words out.
Because of this evaluation, we qualify for services through some kind of county program. Someone will come out next week to do a home study and then let us know our options for speech therapists. They said an occupational therapist would work too, but using a speech therapist he will also get additional help with his language. They were pretty optimistic that once he realizes what his mouth can do and increases the muscle tone that he will begin to talk.
They also strongly recommended getting him tested for food allergies. They said his tonsils are not huge but definitely enlarged and that can affect how the tongue lays. Given B's allergies, it is very possible that J has them too. So, have another new doc to try out for the allergy testing (most docs don't like to do allergy testing on kids this young).
I am just thankful that it is nothing serious that cannot be overcome.
It was interesting when we were talking about the food allergies and how they can affect the body. The speech therapist told me of a child who was diagnosed as autistic. They did allergy testing on him and he had an peanut allergy. As soon as they cut out peanuts, it was like night and day. He started talking, interacting, etc.
Heading out to play tennis in a bit and cards (Pinochle) later on tonight!

Distractions!

This past Monday and Tuesday night we hosted (3) 14 year old boys that were in town for the Annual State Student Council Association. They were all from a town 1 hour west of here and just a lot of fun. I imagined what it would be like in 10 years when B is 14. They did not have much down time but what little they had B loved chasing them around and "gettin' 'em". We have been staying pretty close to home this week. The crisp cool days have been nice but after about 10 minutes the nose is very cold. Plus I have been thinking a lot recently about how busy everyone is - even us stay at home moms. There are so many good things to get involved with but what do all of those things take us away from. My hope is as the snow starts falling, that I will be diligent enough to get work around the house done in small pockets of time and use the other time to get on the floor and play, paint pictures with the boys, etc. I am just really starting to see how so many 'good' things in my life crowd out the best things. That is probably why I have not been on the computer as much lately. Seems like I save my big chunks of computer time for when the boys are in bed, but by the time everything is clean and I have made it to the gym and back, I am tired. Just unbelievable the society we live in (the instantaneousness of it) and how easy it is for us to get distracted and how Satan loves pulling us away from the important things and it opens us up to being more vulnerable. We take J in for his evaluation on Friday and I guess I am feeling like the last couple of weeks I have not spent as much time with him as I would have liked, trying to encourage words. It will all come in due time. The more I watch him though, I am pretty sure that his not speaking is a large part of his stubborness but we will see. J sure has his own opinions. Today we were heading to bible study and J had put on B's dress shoes. I attempted to take them off and he screamed until I quit. We tried to leave the house without his coat and he screamed until I put it on. He was sitting at the table eating snack and I grabbed a small bite. He screamed until I went and got him another bite of snack from the counter. He can now turn door knobs and climb on top of the bar stools. Any given point during the day you can see him pushing a chair, step stool etc across the room because he wants something. B is still enjoying preschool. We have started restricting foods again and it has made some difference in him - I just really miss the convenience foods (crackers with cheese, pasta, nachos, mac-n-cheese, yogurt) that are quick and no brainer to whip up. He has also started digging his little heels in. Today I found myself starting to get drawn into an argument with him. I finally stopped the car and turned around and told him to watch the attitude. He stared me down, let out a really deep sigh and started to roll his eyes. I don't know why some of his expressions just crack me up, but they do. I somehow managed to hold off the snicker and think I made my point, atleast for the moment. JR heads out to the mountains this weekend as rifle season opens up. We also have some gift certificates to the local hardware store so hoping to finally agree on a few colors to paint the downstairs and try to knock it out this weekend. JRs dad has started checking in on the blog. Since he can't read the text I am going to try to start having more pics and videos, so here is one of them roughhousing.