May 25, 2010

catch up

I was so determined to keep this blog going and up to date....oops!
We have had a busy busy month.
We took a 10 day trip to FL, continued working with the case worker and ST for Brady, managed play dates with pre-school and other errands of necessity, dealt with a few illnesses and recently toured a farm with Llamas and Great Pyrenees rescue dogs.  It has been a full month. 

Josey graduates from pre-school on Thursday the 27th.  From what I understand there will be graduate caps and tassels....and probably tears.  I am not sad so much that she is graduating but amazed to see her growing before my very eyes.  She is such a sweet thoughtful girl who can also be headstrong and difficult.  I love her fierce independence, or try to anyway since I hope it will serve her well as she gets older and has to be strong enough to maintain her values despite peer pressure.  I know I may sound a little silly but we all know that happens way earlier these days...She starts Kindergarten in the fall and she is thrilled.  She is still the craftiest little thing and almost always makes stuff for friends and family before herself.  I love that about her.

Lucey is growing into a little bit of an attitude.  She is a middle child through and through.  She works to make sure that she gets attention and is heard.  Trust me on that one...she IS heard.  *wink wink*  She loves animals, as do the other kiddos, and when we toured the farm last week she was excited to see the goats, llamas and dogs.  If I could have bottled her giggle and squeals of delight while she played with them I would have.  She is a joy, when she wants to be.  Fits are her latest "thing" and they never cease to frustrate me.  She is loud I tell ya....L-O-U-D! 

Brady is coming along in leaps and bounds.  He is picking up new words here and there.  I think that the GF/CF diet is helping him quite a bit, seems to anyway.   We are meeting with an OT next week to discuss some sensory issues he seems to have, we'll see how that goes.  He was right in there with the girls feeding the goats last week.  Petting the llamas and chasing cats.  He enjoys being outside and is in love with a tractor I bought at a garage sale a year or so ago.  Too bad it does not currently run....we are looking for a new battery for it.  Otherwise he enjoys riding the bajillion other toys we have.  He likes to water the plants too. 
Here is a list of words for him currently.  I will copy and paste his old list and use an asterisk(*) to note new words.  Parentheses( ) indicate how he actually says the word.  I am not sure that this is terribly important except that some words are much more clear these days so I think I like these phonetic notes to compare to later.  Also of note is that some of these words are used and noted during ST or work with the CW but not necessarily used on a day to day basis.
mom
daddy
sissy
no
uppy (ut-ee)
shoes (sooes)
fish (feesh)
drink
night (nigh)
bye (die)
baby
eat
cheese(he does not use this one anymore since he does not get cheese)
more(he is trying so hard to enunciate this word anymore.  it is precious)
please (pease)
cookie* (oo-kie)
butt*
moon* (oon)
bubble*
apple*
car* (ar)
me* ( while pointing to his chest.  it is adorable!)
Oscar* (us-ar) This is our dog's name.
boat*
pillow* (i-ow) Basically pillow without the "p" and the "ll".  He is extremely attached to a pillow.
banana* (na-a)
uh-oh*
bug* (ug) 
sit* (zit)
I think that is it.  I am pretty sure.  His speech is still pretty limited.  He is trying. We will look at his progress again in August and then October and decide what more the AEA can do with/for him at that time.  The two basic choices will be either speech groups, which meet 3 times a month for about half an hour, or 3yo pre-school which would meet Mon-Thurs for 3 hours daily.  We go to the University of Iowa on June 8 for his evaluation with the CDD down there.  Until then we are still working weekly with the case worker or ST on alternating weeks.  He is a very affectionate little guy when he wants to be too.  Every night before going to bed he tells us all "nigh" and gives hugs.

That has us all caught up I am pretty sure.  Later I will upload some pictures to share with you all of our vacation and the farm tour.