Its getting closer!

Back to school is next week for the boys. They are both ready. Hunter has been asking for like half the summer at least once a week when we get ready to go somewhere "go school?"

This year will be a little different because instead of going in the mornings like they did last year they will go in the afternoons because it will allow Hunter more time working with the spec ed team plus they needed to put some younger kids into the 2 day morning spots that Hunter was in because they had originally put him into two 2 day sessions. I tihnk it might be a good step into getting ready for all day kindergarten for next year if they go next year. But they probably wont becuase if they went next year they would be starting K before they even turn 5 becuase of their early September birthdays and the cutoff being towards the end of Sept. I will probably keep them home a year though because I want them to be able to excel both academically as well as in sports and I feel that being the youngest in their class could pose a threat to that. I know there were struggles for both my brother and and I in school when we were the youngest in our classes.

They will again be in seperate classrooms because of overprotectivness and jealousy issues with both of them. Hunter will look out for Ethan to the point where he will take toys away from other kids to give to him and Ethan gets jealous of Hunter sometimes for playing with other kids and will get upset and start yelling its not fair thats my brother when left behind.

Finally called today about getting Ethan a pt eval but still waiting for that.

I've been slacking at putting pictures from the camera onto the computer so I will share this one from my mom's phone that she took a few weeks ago. This is from before they decided that the mohawks had to go

I dont think I've ever actually blogged about this

I think I've tried a couple of times but it never really worked because of all the emotions behind it.

But I'm sure its been picked up on through my other posts and now that I did update the sidebar not too long ago.

Hunter is my starting to talk but still quiet kid because he has something called Childhood Apraxia of Speech (also called just apraxia). For those of you who don't know what this is it is basically a neuro muscular thing where his brain has problems communicating with his vocal muscles thus limiting his speech. He started speech therapy last July and at the time only had like 5 words that he could say besides his many sounds for animals and vehicles. A year later he is still severe but does communicate alot better. He has alot more words and is even using them in 2-3 word combos. All the words he does use are all one syllable besides repeating ones like papa. He did imitate yellow and purple before but being more difficult words he didn't keep them which is a common apraxic thing to do. He now calls yellow things orange because that's alot easier to say then yellow but that's a big improvement over everything being blue as it was last year.

He really only uses a couple of names and they are shortened versions such as when he talks about Ethan it comes out more like En which makes Ethan call him H sometimes. And his best friend from school last year was Bren shortened version of Brendan. He doesn't refer to himself by a name yet but rather air writes the letter H and says A because he hasn't mastered that ch sound yet.

He does have an Alternative Augmentative Communication device (AAC) which we got a couple of months ago but I have been about working with him using it. We didn't try much with signing because I wasn't sure of how to work with 2 babies on it when they were little. His first SLP did a little with it but trying to use more then one or two signs when copying her just lost him and it was hard for him to pick up new signs after he got more and help and thank you down. His OT figured that it could be his apraxia affected his hands as well which made it hard to communicate that way.

On the topic of OT he also has some sensory processing disorder (SPD) related things that might be tied in with his apraxia. He has some touch things as well as motor planning and postural control issues. He has gotten better in somewhat as far as getting his hands dirty and touching things. He will put his hands in the tub of beans at OT but wont touch the shaving cream. he actually jumped out of his chair the last time she was playing with him with the shaving cream when she patted the table and some flew towards him. For some reason he also has an aversion to pudding but will eat applesauce and yogurt. He is getting better about eating vegetables and will even eat a few different green things now.

The Pod Swaddler Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

such a great idea. This would be great to ahve to make some gifts because I always seem to have friends having babies

The Pod Swaddler Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Special Exposure and Way Back Wednesday!

trying something new around here this week...

First off some special pictures from our first picking from our garden. Hunter has been so excited for "his" tomatos to grow and the cucumbers. We would check almost every day to see if anything had grown yet and then he would dance around from plant to plant saying "eat" so when we finally got to pick some cucumbers and a tomato he was very happy.

thats Ethan with just a cuke and Hunter has one of each.

Unfortunatly despite all of Hunter's excitment over the new veggies he didnt want to try them. He wouldnt take a piece of cucumber which he will sometimes eat and I thought he ate the piece of tomato but found it later on the table. Ethan must not have been around becuase he loves tomatos and will eat them like an apple. I think the next thing I will try with Hunter will be some mayo to dip some veggies in because he is loving the mayo right now. Click on the picture below for more Special Exposure Wednesday fun.

Way back along time ago (I cant remember the year but it was many many ago before dad and aunts were born so pre 1940s probably) there was another set of twin babies in the family

I know that the two babies are my dad's twin uncles Ron and Don and I know that his dad standing behind the two ladies but I dont remember exactly who the rest of the family members are.

Now fast forward to August 1, 2009 to our family reunion held in our backyard this year and this is a picture of Ron and Don as well as Ethan and Hunter. Not only were these 2 sets here there was also an 11 year old boy and girl whose grandma is the youngest sister to R&D.
find more Way Back fun by clicking on this button below

Hide N Seek Woodland Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Hide N Seek Woodland Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Not My Child!

So I decided to play along with Mckmama this week as we discuss those little things that our children did not do. Some of these things are things they did not do awhile ago and some are more recent things they did not do.

My child did not yell loudly in Target that there were naked ladies on the wall nor did he loudly talk about the "old" man with a mohawk.
And I most certainly did not suddenly start looking closely at the cute skirts while he talked about the guy with the mohawk.

My child also did not try sticking items in grandma's purse and shirt at target and he most certainly did not pick up a movie off the check out belt on our way out before the cashier could scan it for the lady behind us.

My child did not come outside with his pants around his ankles and did not need his butt wiped because I was not sitting outside enjoying some drinks with friends.

My child did not pee on a tree at the park and my brother did not let him do this because the bathroom was a ways off.

Check out MckMama's blog carnival for more stories of the things that children have not done

Hunter read MckMama?

At least after his pajama choice tonight I would be lead to think so. He picked out the mismatched top and pants which made me laugh after MckMama's post and picture the other day. Sorry for the poor quality picture I had to use my phone because my camera is on vacation with my parents and I wasn't sure where the cord for the other one was at so I didn't want to use it.

I like that he does include in his outfit the same pjs that Big Mac was wearing only difference being that he went with the pants.

I was pretty shocked that he would want to freely wear pjs that don't match. He is very adamant about not wearing mis-matched pjs 99% of the time.

We had another appointment day yesterday with Hunter having a hearing re check and Ethan having to go in to get a referral for PT. Hunter did really great he didn't even want me to go into the room with him at first. But having to wear headphones while listening to bird noises quickly got old for him and he walked out of the room with only like 5 more to go. S we will have to go back to finish them up. And Ethan's appointment was a breeze pretty much in and out after she looked at his feet and ankles and said why yes he is flat footed and pronates in. She did try saying that maybe PT wasn't the place to go to get him inserts or whatever but I made sure she realized that it was what was recommended by his OT who I think probably had more of an idea about it then her. I was just confused about why now we had to go all official and get a referral for PT when Hunter got into OT off of the recommendation after his speech eval and Ethan got into OT after Hunter's OT observed him while he joined Hunter in a couple of sessions.