Dikah

We recently had our 3 month follow up with Cordons case worker for early intervention therapy.  I was blown away that it has only been three months since we started therapy with him.  It feels like a lot longer. Maybe that's because of how much change has come from this.

Cordon is doing fantastic with the therapist.  We have two that come once a week.  A speech therapist and a general therapist.

The speech therapist, Patty, is great.  She is so good with Cordon and I am constantly blown away at how quick she is to adjust to him.  She makes him work hard so frequently he gets frustrated with her and he will try to do his own thing.  With in 10 seconds she will take what ever he is doing and turn it into a lesson.  Everything she does is encouraging him to communicate either with pictures, signs or words.  We started out doing pictures and we were all shocked at how fast he picked up the concept.  We have pictures for several things around the house.  When he wants that object or to do that action he brings us the picture.  This usually takes kids his age several months to fully understand the concept.  He mastered it in 3 weeks.  Once he had the pictures down we moved onto signs.  The idea is to take away a picture when he learns the sign.  This was harder for Cordon to pick up.  Mostly because he won't imitate people so we have to do a lot of hand on hand with him.  Basically we move his arms and hands for him until he learns to do the sign on his own.  It took some time but he has finally understood that signing is a lot easier then bringing us pictures so he is picking up on it very quickly.  He is up to about 50 signs. 

Here is a little clip of Patty playing with Cordon.


The next step is to get him to talk.  We are to the point where he will give a 'verbal' response to every question.  However 99% of the time that response is the same made up word.  And this word changes about every week.  So far it has been ish, quish, and dih.  But my favorite was the week he used dikah.  You could point to any object, ask what it is and he would say "dikah".  Every time he said dikah this SNL clip came to mind.(Just the first 30 seconds) Fortunately, every so often he will attempt to say an actual word.  This is very rare and only when he feels like it, but it is an improvement.  So far we have heard car seat, house, horse, carrots, strawberry, and goldfish.  Such random words. 

Diane is the general therapist.  She brings different games that encourage Cordon to do things that are out of his comfort zone.  Such as a doll to try and get him to feed it and take care of it.  This helps encourage him to imitate things he sees us do.  Or she will bring different sensory objects.  Cordon has a little bit of sensory issues, mostly with his hands so she brings things like playdoh or a bucket of beans for him to play with.  It's always very fun to watch his expression every time she brings things like this.  One time she buried his toys in the beans to force him to touch them.  He flicked the beans away one at a time until he got to his toy.  Fortunately, he now loves beans and he has his own bucket.  It's like an indoor sandbox. 

He may not talk much but he is really creative about communicating and has no problem getting his point across.  One day he brought me Mr. Potato heads shoes then went and stood by the closet where his shoes are.  Another time he was really annoyed at the therapist so he signed to her that she was all done, brought her her shoes then went and stood by the door.  We both had a good laugh over that one.

Doing therapy has also drastically changed the way I parent and the way I see Cordon.  I use to spend most of my days 'distracting' him.  I'd give him something to play with, then go work on something until he got bored then I would do it again. I would get on the floor and play with him but it was usually no more then 10 min at a time and only a couple times a day.  Looking back I realize that that is pretty pitiful being a stay at him mom with only one child.  Each week the therapist leave Chris and I with 'homework'. Something to work on with Cordon for the week.  This has helped me to really spend a lot of time on the floor with him, giving him my undivided attention.  I have also learned a lot about childhood development.  Having a better understanding of what is going on in that little head of his and understanding why he does certain things has given me such a better appreciation for him, and a lot more patients. 

Upstate New York

10 years ago I went with family on a back east vacation. Part of that trip included Palmyra, NY (A city full of Mormon Church History) and Niagra Falls. Chris has never been to either of those places so last week we loaded up and drove to Palmyra where we spent a few days then drove the 90 min to Niagra Falls for a couple days. I must say that going there as a 19 year old vs. being a pregnant 29 yr old with a toddler makes for two very different vacations.

Now brace yourself for a picture overload.


On top of Hill Cumorah. You can see the Angel Moroni in the back.


Upstairs in Joseph Smith's home where Angel Moroni appeared. Three boys in each bed and no one but Joseph woke up. That's amazing to me.


Outside of the Smiths Home.


This sign cracked us up. As opposed to the other sites that are just 'well known?'


We forgot to take pictures of us at the Whitmer Farm so this was a spur of the moment while leaving.


The falls really are amazing.


I think there are a few bugs in the area. We were blown away at how many of those little bug tornadoes there were. Gross.


This was probably my favorite part of the trip. You get to stand right under the falls and it hurts. I was laughing like a little kid the whole time.


Chris is attempting to hold his poncho down to keep somewhat dry. We took turns going up on this deck for obvious reasons.




Don't I look glamorous?

Chris is just a 'little' wet after standing on the Hurricane deck.


In hotels we put Cordons crib in the 'hallway' by the door and bathroom (I love that all hotels are pretty much the same design) and hang a blanket up to make a 'room.' His little arms are getting to long to do this trick anymore.




The aquarium was by the falls was small but they had a great Sea Lion show.

How cute is he in his little poncho for Maid of the Mist.


Cordons newest thing is to help push the stroller. Check out the sweet hair.


Nothing like a Hard Rock Cafe stake and smoothie at the end of the day.

And of course Chris spent most of his time looking for good angles to take pictures. These are my favorite, in no particular order.




Look at the people on the bottom. It gives you a good perspective of how big the falls are.


Love this rainbow. It looks fake.


Sacred Grove.

Memorial Weekend

I love three day weekends. It's so nice to have Chris around. Saturday we went to Philadelphia and saw the tourist sites, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross' House, etc. Then of course we came home and watched National Treasure. Why are movies better if you have been to the place it was filmed at?



Ben Franklin's burial sight.


This is Ben Franklin's Glass Armonica. He thought it was amazing that someone could wet their fingers and play music on the top of a glass (like in Mrs. Congeniality) so he turned it into an instrument. The guy playing just knew the basics but it would be amazing to hear someone play it with chords and harmony. It's just a long piece of glass in the shape of a cone that is continually turning. You just wet your fingers and place them on the glass to get the notes. Below is a brief explanation by the guy playing.


Monday we headed to Hershey Park. We did one kiddie ride then decided it was way to hot for that and spent the rest of the day at the water park. It is very much geared towards family's so they have a lot of things for little kids. It took Cordon about an hour to warm up to this whole new experience but afterwords he had a blast. I think he dragged us to the slides about 10 times each. He couldn't get enough.

He isn't a fan of having water in his face so we would hold him up right at the very end to try and avoid a huge splash. He would laugh the whole way down until just before the end then he would scrunch his face to prepare for the splash. It was pretty funny to watch.

It took some coaxing but he finally was brave enough to run through these fountains. He was more entertained by just hitting them.

Chris decided to take him down one of the bigger slides. We didn't realize the splash would be so big.

Cordon was not amused. Don't you love it when people are clueless and walk in front of you just before you take a picture. Thanks buddy.

I Am Cornholio

Chris was getting Cordon ready to go to Hershey Park. I suddenly heard him laughing hysterically and calling my name. This is what I saw.

Sugar and Spice

The verdict is in. We are having a girl. This is actually not a surprise to us at all. We were both pretty confident from day one that this baby was going to be a girl. Although if the ultrasound is a glimpse into the future then we are in trouble for two reasons. First, this is one active child. I have felt movement since week four. I am not exaggerating. About every two weeks I could feel rolling and sometimes actually see my stomach move from the baby moving around. Since week 16 the movement has not stopped. I don't think she sleeps. Second, she is very stubborn. When it was time for the nurse to determine the sex of this baby all she found was two little legs wadded up under the bum. For 10 min the nurse did everything she could to get this baby to uncross her legs. She tried different angles, poking the baby through my belly, wiggling my belly, but this child refused to show us the money shot. So finally I got up, did some squats and bounced around and the Dr came in to give it a whirl. Not only had out little girl decided to move her legs but she had her feet up by her ears as if to say "fine, is this what you wanted to see?"

Staying Busy

We have lived here for almost a year and we are still finding great new places to explore. We finally made it to the Udvar Harvey Museum. It is part of the National Air and Space Museum by the Dulles Airport. In Chris's words "that is where they keep the cool stuff." Even though I'm not a big plane fan it was still pretty amazing and a little crazy to be inside surrounded by full size planes and other aircraft's.


Behind Cordon and Chris is the space shuttle Enterprise. That thing is pretty massive.


It's a bad picture but behind my boys is "Jetfire" from Transformers 2


Last week Cordon and I spent a day at the State Museum. They have a great room for kids crammed full of hands on discovery things. I think his favorite part was the 'garden'. You could plant corn, harvest lettuce and pick apples off of trees.




Cordon driving his newly picked produce to the market. The car doesn't actually move but it sure does make a lot of noise.

Cordon attended his first birthday party. He did pretty much what we thought he would, took off running and ignored the other kids. He is getting better. If he is familiar with a place then he is calm and will actually attempt to socialize. If it's a new place then he has to explore everything so he can try to process this new experience. Usually after about 10 min he starts to relax and slow down but since this party kept changing with new kids showing up and different games coming out, it kept Cordon wound up the whole time. This picture cracks me up because it is a perfect description of Cordon. The pinata burst open and all the kids made a mad dash for the candy, even the other toddlers. Cordon stood back and watched for a minute, trying to process the situation, then took off running to find something else to look at. He couldn't have cared less about the candy.



Now that it's spring we are getting some great rainstorms. This means some days are spent inside. One of Cordons therapist brought over this huge box for us. She found it at her office and figured Cordon would enjoy it. So I cut some windows in it and he has spent the last two days playing in his 'house'

You Know You Have a Toddler When

I've done a pregnancy list and a new baby list and now it's time for a toddler list. In other words: the kitchen is filthy and I'm avoiding it by playing on my blog.

You Know you Have a Toddler When.......

You know the theme songs to all the Disney and Nick Jr. shows.

The bottom of your foot has come in contact with every sharp toy your child has

You've decided that finger prints on the windows and TV should be a new trend

You can read your child's favorite book with your eyes closed and still turn the pages at the appropriate times.

Your child is positive that your food taste better even if they have the same thing.

Your kitchen floor can put a movie theater floor to shame.

You find food/toys in very strange places ie: shoes, bathtubs, pots etc.

Only the top half of your Christmas tree is decorated

You say random things such as "don't french kiss the dog" or "don't smear poop in your hair"

Only the expensive items end up in the toilet.

You have forgotten the definition of 'privacy'.

You can do the dishes balanced on one foot since the other foot is keeping your child from climbing into the dishwasher.

You find yourself swaying and humming Old McDonald when your in line somewhere, alone.

A five minute task turns into a 20 min task because of all the 'help' your getting.

Walking to the mailbox takes 2 hours because every blade of grass must be examined.

A hug and a kiss make everything better, for child and parent.

Yipee Skipee

Baby number two is due Oct 14. I am crossing my fingers for the 10th so it can have a birthday of 10-10-10. So far we are both set on a girl but it will still be about a month or so till we find out.