I mentioned on facebook yesterday that Adam had taken his cheese string over to his teacher and said the above three words: "Open pwease, Kywa". I don't know if everyone understands why this is so significant to us, so I'm doing a blog post to break it down:).
"Open"
The fact that he is starting to ask for things to be opened is a big step for him. We have been working on this for a long time! More and more instead of being frustrated when something isn't accessible, he is learning that he has to ask.
"Pwease"
How many people are working daily with their kids to have them learn manners?? Goodness knows we are still working on this with Lynsey! The fact that Adam used the word "please" is a sign that he is paying attention to the PROPER way to ask:).
"Kywa"
And last but certainly not least, he used his teacher's name (well, her name is Kyla - "L" is a hard one to pronounce:)). This is the biggest deal in this whole thing! How I have tried to get him to use the word "Mom" when asking for things! He has never done it for me, but I am still over the moon that he is doing it with SOMEONE!! He is starting to connect with people and learn the right ways to get people's attention!
So while many people may have seen that status and thought, "oh, wow - so he asked for someone to open his cheese string", it was a lot more than that for us. We pray this is only the beginning and that there will be many more instances of "Open pwease, Kywa" in his future!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Home again, home again:)
We are back from our weekend in Seattle! It was such a nice getaway - a break very much needed. The days leading up to the trip, we spent a lot of time cleaning and getting everything ready (even hired cleaners for the first time in my life for a few hours on Thursday - they did a great job:)). We left Friday morning and one of the girls in my youth group at my church came to babysit. Brian's parents got there around 7pm to take over for the rest of the weekend. We were thankful to have such competent help with the kids, making our trip a lot more relaxing:).
So what did we do? Not a whole lot! We actually stayed in Bellevue, a mini-city right beside Seattle. We ate at some fabulous restaurants, did some shopping, went downtown Seattle and walked around, drove around a bit . . . it was a pretty relaxing weekend. We actually went to see a movie on Sunday night! No kids, why not??:) Weirdest thing, someone was there with a baby! At an evening showing! Never encountered that before. He/she was crying during the previews and you could see a lot of people looking at the very conspicuous couple. I didn't feel sorry for them, though - you can't take a baby to a movie unless it's a special Stars and Strollers showing! Everybody knows that! Maybe this is an American thing?? Anyway, it was a nice weekend and everything went well at home, except that Nathan was sick and didn't sleep all that great (I'm guessing Grandma and Grandpa probably weren't as heartless as we are and actually went to comfort him at night, which I'm sure he loved:)).
Another thing we did while we were there was check out some preschools. We are in such a weird position of Brian not even having a job down there yet, but having to line up a good preschool for Adam since there are waiting lists! We feel pretty good about one place in particular, and she is great about our situation and would even be willing to let us reserve a spot with a small deposit if they decide that Adam is the best fit (there are a few other kids also vying for this spot). After spending a weekend there, I have decided that I could learn to make it my home the same way I learned to make Calgary my home. It would be different and there would be a big adjustment period, but it's not like I'm living in a comfortable small town right now - am I really that much more comfortable with Lynsey going to the school down the street here than I would be the school down the street in Bellevue? There are a lot of questions to ask, but for now, Brian is going to apply and see if any opportunities arise. People have asked me if I would be disappointed now if things didn't pan out and we had to stay, but I can honestly say I wouldn't be. It's not like we have a bad life here that we are trying to get away from! If nothing opens up for us down there, then I will accept that as a closed door and we will stay here and be just fine with it:). So we'll see what happens!
Blogger has changed the way you upload pictures so everything is all messed up - I'll figure it out soon I'm sure:).
So what did we do? Not a whole lot! We actually stayed in Bellevue, a mini-city right beside Seattle. We ate at some fabulous restaurants, did some shopping, went downtown Seattle and walked around, drove around a bit . . . it was a pretty relaxing weekend. We actually went to see a movie on Sunday night! No kids, why not??:) Weirdest thing, someone was there with a baby! At an evening showing! Never encountered that before. He/she was crying during the previews and you could see a lot of people looking at the very conspicuous couple. I didn't feel sorry for them, though - you can't take a baby to a movie unless it's a special Stars and Strollers showing! Everybody knows that! Maybe this is an American thing?? Anyway, it was a nice weekend and everything went well at home, except that Nathan was sick and didn't sleep all that great (I'm guessing Grandma and Grandpa probably weren't as heartless as we are and actually went to comfort him at night, which I'm sure he loved:)).
Another thing we did while we were there was check out some preschools. We are in such a weird position of Brian not even having a job down there yet, but having to line up a good preschool for Adam since there are waiting lists! We feel pretty good about one place in particular, and she is great about our situation and would even be willing to let us reserve a spot with a small deposit if they decide that Adam is the best fit (there are a few other kids also vying for this spot). After spending a weekend there, I have decided that I could learn to make it my home the same way I learned to make Calgary my home. It would be different and there would be a big adjustment period, but it's not like I'm living in a comfortable small town right now - am I really that much more comfortable with Lynsey going to the school down the street here than I would be the school down the street in Bellevue? There are a lot of questions to ask, but for now, Brian is going to apply and see if any opportunities arise. People have asked me if I would be disappointed now if things didn't pan out and we had to stay, but I can honestly say I wouldn't be. It's not like we have a bad life here that we are trying to get away from! If nothing opens up for us down there, then I will accept that as a closed door and we will stay here and be just fine with it:). So we'll see what happens!
Blogger has changed the way you upload pictures so everything is all messed up - I'll figure it out soon I'm sure:).
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Almost break time!
Looking through the pictures I took over the last few weeks, I think to myself that I should pick up my camera more. I do have some super cute pictures of Nathan standing naked by the ride on train peeing on the floor, but I have a no-naked-bums-on-the-blog policy. I think the kiddos will probably thank me for that one day:).
Things have been pretty normal since the last post, nothing really out of the ordinary. We are getting ready for our trip to Seattle this weekend and I'm starting to get excited! I feel a bit nervous about leaving the kids, but I'm just trying my best to be as prepared as possible so the care-givers don't have too many things to worry about other than just watching the kids. I am hoping to be able to do some shopping while we're there, so we'll see what I can find:). So looking forward to a weekend away with Brian!
Nathan had a little tumble down the stairs the other day - it wasn't too serious, but Brian ran over to the stairs saying, "Oh no! Oh no!" and then caught him about halfway down. He was a bit injured so he cried for a little while, but recovered. A few minutes later, we hear Adam sliding on his stomach down the stairs saying, "Oh no! Oh no!" and then when he got to the bottom, he started fake crying. Clearly he was re-enacting the scene with Nathan, and I don't think I've really seen him do that before. It was interesting - he did it several times over. We kept trying to tell him that Nathan was hurt, Nathan was sad, etc. but he doesn't seem to have any understanding of other people's feelings. We will keep trying to tell him about them and hopefully it will start to click so he can have some empathy!
Nathan is really holding out on this walking thing! He is as steady as any of our other two kids were at this age, but he is still not loving letting go of our hands and walking off on his own. He does let us walk him with only one hand now, which he wasn't doing a week ago, so he is progressing! I will be happy when he figures this out, because as much as I love him, I am ready for him to be a bit more independent. He also wouldn't sleep this morning so he only had one nap today . . . think I might try one nap for a few more days to see if he's ready to consistently only have one nap. The other two kids were a bit older when they did that, but Adam did go through a few weeks around when he turned one where he went down to one nap and then went back to two for another few months, so who knows! These kiddos are always changing their sleep patterns - he's been sleeping 13 hours at night lately!
Lynsey is such a little girl these days. Today we were at the grocery store and we ran into a boy in her class (one that she talks about quite a bit as well:)). She was so shy, I swear her cheeks were pink for several minutes after! The other day, Nathan almost rolled down the stairs but she caught him at the last minute. At first, she was very apologetic, saying "sorry" several times, but I told her she saved him from rolling down and that she did great. All of a sudden, her demeanor changed to being all humble and she shrugs her shoulders,"Well, it was nothing, really". She has such personality that little lady! I love how much responsibility she takes for both Nathan and Adam - she was made to be an older sister!
Things have been pretty normal since the last post, nothing really out of the ordinary. We are getting ready for our trip to Seattle this weekend and I'm starting to get excited! I feel a bit nervous about leaving the kids, but I'm just trying my best to be as prepared as possible so the care-givers don't have too many things to worry about other than just watching the kids. I am hoping to be able to do some shopping while we're there, so we'll see what I can find:). So looking forward to a weekend away with Brian!
Nathan had a little tumble down the stairs the other day - it wasn't too serious, but Brian ran over to the stairs saying, "Oh no! Oh no!" and then caught him about halfway down. He was a bit injured so he cried for a little while, but recovered. A few minutes later, we hear Adam sliding on his stomach down the stairs saying, "Oh no! Oh no!" and then when he got to the bottom, he started fake crying. Clearly he was re-enacting the scene with Nathan, and I don't think I've really seen him do that before. It was interesting - he did it several times over. We kept trying to tell him that Nathan was hurt, Nathan was sad, etc. but he doesn't seem to have any understanding of other people's feelings. We will keep trying to tell him about them and hopefully it will start to click so he can have some empathy!
Nathan is really holding out on this walking thing! He is as steady as any of our other two kids were at this age, but he is still not loving letting go of our hands and walking off on his own. He does let us walk him with only one hand now, which he wasn't doing a week ago, so he is progressing! I will be happy when he figures this out, because as much as I love him, I am ready for him to be a bit more independent. He also wouldn't sleep this morning so he only had one nap today . . . think I might try one nap for a few more days to see if he's ready to consistently only have one nap. The other two kids were a bit older when they did that, but Adam did go through a few weeks around when he turned one where he went down to one nap and then went back to two for another few months, so who knows! These kiddos are always changing their sleep patterns - he's been sleeping 13 hours at night lately!
Lynsey is such a little girl these days. Today we were at the grocery store and we ran into a boy in her class (one that she talks about quite a bit as well:)). She was so shy, I swear her cheeks were pink for several minutes after! The other day, Nathan almost rolled down the stairs but she caught him at the last minute. At first, she was very apologetic, saying "sorry" several times, but I told her she saved him from rolling down and that she did great. All of a sudden, her demeanor changed to being all humble and she shrugs her shoulders,"Well, it was nothing, really". She has such personality that little lady! I love how much responsibility she takes for both Nathan and Adam - she was made to be an older sister!
Friday, February 1, 2013
February already . . .
Here we are on February 1st! Winter is almost over and it is +5C here in Calgary today! I have already forgotten how cold it was earlier in the week - I so love the Chinook winds that we get here:). Let's hope it stays out of the -20's for the rest of the winter.
Adam had an eye appointment on Tuesday morning. Some of the people that know Adam well will know that doctor's appointments cause him a lot of anxiety (and really, by saying that, I am putting it quite mildly). We haven't had a successful appointment for him in a very long time (since before he understood what was happening!). I prayed and prayed all morning, since I was the lucky one that got to take him (he seems to be the most relaxed when he's with me, so I get to be the one who does these things with him!). I literally prayed for a miracle because I knew that the likely outcome would be that he would scream and scream and there would be absolutely no way the exam could be performed. We have no reason to believe that his eyesight is bad, but it's important to get his eyes checked regularly because it's not like he would be able to communicate to us if he wasn't able to see properly. Well, we got there, and his very first reaction when we walked in the door was to turn around and tell me that he wanted to go back to the van. Somehow I convinced him to come sit with me and finish his toast. It truly was a miracle, one that I was so hoping for but really didn't expect! I could see on his face that he was a bit stressed, but I was actually surprised at how little stress I felt from him. He allowed the eye doctor to look in his eyes at first from a distance, but after a few minutes he actually came right up to him with a light, and Adam allowed it! I could not believe it! God is so good, and I give Him ALL the glory for this miracle. I felt a super natural calm over Adam, and I knew God was with him, helping him cope. It put me in the best mood all day, too! Just knowing that he is learning to manage his anxiety already . . . it continues to give me so much hope!!
We also went to tour a different preschool this week, the Providence campus in Beddington. He did so well on this tour as well - new situations do not throw him into the same tailspin that they did even a few months ago! We are seriously considering this option for him for next year, as it is a lot closer to home (only a 7-10 minute drive) and actually, bussing would be free for us instead of $240/month. Something to consider! Obviously if we didn't think it was a good program we wouldn't consider it just to save a few bucks, but it seems like it would be a good place for him. New Heights has been great for him and we love his teachers so much, so we are thinking we might reserve a spot in both to give us some time to decide. I am happy we have two good options instead of none!
Nathan is not walking yet, but has started to crawl on his hands and knees more! This kid is doing things completely on his own timeline:). He cruises along the walls until he get to Brian's office and if the doors are closed, Brian can hear him pushing on the door and after a few seconds he starts yelling, "Da! Da!". He loves being in Brian's office - so many papers around to mess up! He loves playing with balls, and one of his favorite games right now is throwing a ball, crawling after it and throwing it further, crawling after it again. So cute! We love this little guy:).
Lynsey has started saying that she wants to cheer for the Flames. She claims because she is growing up in Calgary, she wants to cheer for the team that her friends cheer for. I think she sees that we don't like this and is pushing some buttons, but it is quite worrying to me. Brian says we should not make a big deal about it, and I agree, but I told her I am drawing the line at buying her Flames clothes! Not in this house! She still likes Ryan Jones so there is hope, but I have to face the fact that I can't control her. Apparently our brain-washing power over her is over and we need to move on to more impressionable subjects - Adam and Nathan, you're up!:)
Adam had an eye appointment on Tuesday morning. Some of the people that know Adam well will know that doctor's appointments cause him a lot of anxiety (and really, by saying that, I am putting it quite mildly). We haven't had a successful appointment for him in a very long time (since before he understood what was happening!). I prayed and prayed all morning, since I was the lucky one that got to take him (he seems to be the most relaxed when he's with me, so I get to be the one who does these things with him!). I literally prayed for a miracle because I knew that the likely outcome would be that he would scream and scream and there would be absolutely no way the exam could be performed. We have no reason to believe that his eyesight is bad, but it's important to get his eyes checked regularly because it's not like he would be able to communicate to us if he wasn't able to see properly. Well, we got there, and his very first reaction when we walked in the door was to turn around and tell me that he wanted to go back to the van. Somehow I convinced him to come sit with me and finish his toast. It truly was a miracle, one that I was so hoping for but really didn't expect! I could see on his face that he was a bit stressed, but I was actually surprised at how little stress I felt from him. He allowed the eye doctor to look in his eyes at first from a distance, but after a few minutes he actually came right up to him with a light, and Adam allowed it! I could not believe it! God is so good, and I give Him ALL the glory for this miracle. I felt a super natural calm over Adam, and I knew God was with him, helping him cope. It put me in the best mood all day, too! Just knowing that he is learning to manage his anxiety already . . . it continues to give me so much hope!!
We also went to tour a different preschool this week, the Providence campus in Beddington. He did so well on this tour as well - new situations do not throw him into the same tailspin that they did even a few months ago! We are seriously considering this option for him for next year, as it is a lot closer to home (only a 7-10 minute drive) and actually, bussing would be free for us instead of $240/month. Something to consider! Obviously if we didn't think it was a good program we wouldn't consider it just to save a few bucks, but it seems like it would be a good place for him. New Heights has been great for him and we love his teachers so much, so we are thinking we might reserve a spot in both to give us some time to decide. I am happy we have two good options instead of none!
Nathan is not walking yet, but has started to crawl on his hands and knees more! This kid is doing things completely on his own timeline:). He cruises along the walls until he get to Brian's office and if the doors are closed, Brian can hear him pushing on the door and after a few seconds he starts yelling, "Da! Da!". He loves being in Brian's office - so many papers around to mess up! He loves playing with balls, and one of his favorite games right now is throwing a ball, crawling after it and throwing it further, crawling after it again. So cute! We love this little guy:).
Lynsey has started saying that she wants to cheer for the Flames. She claims because she is growing up in Calgary, she wants to cheer for the team that her friends cheer for. I think she sees that we don't like this and is pushing some buttons, but it is quite worrying to me. Brian says we should not make a big deal about it, and I agree, but I told her I am drawing the line at buying her Flames clothes! Not in this house! She still likes Ryan Jones so there is hope, but I have to face the fact that I can't control her. Apparently our brain-washing power over her is over and we need to move on to more impressionable subjects - Adam and Nathan, you're up!:)
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