New words!

On Monday, after I picked Nick up from daycare, the babysitter said "oh, I meant to tell you, when you dropped Nick off this morning he walked over to the breakfast table, pointed at his bib and said "bib"!"

Naturally, when I asked him, Nick refused to repeat the word "bib" so I just decided it was another pop-out word that I probably wouldn't hear him repeat again for a while, and didn't push him any further.  But later that night, I heard him make the "beb" sound a few times, which eventually turned into "bebe" and then gradually into "bebeee".  I was so excited and started asking him to say it repeatedly, and every single time, he confidently said "bebee!" 

I attempted to morph his "bebee" into "bah-bye" for "bye-bye" and occasionally he would change his vowel sounds to match my "bye-bye".

I was super excited and couldn't wait to show the babysitter the next morning.  Naturally though, in true stubborn Nick form, when I dropped Nick off on Tuesday and asked him to say "baby" for her, he essentially refused, and ran off to play. 

But when we got home yesterday afternoon, Nick again started saying "bebee!" over and over.  I was so proud, but my heart about leaped out of my chest when Whinnie walked into the room and Nick looked right at her and said "Puh-pee!" 

Certain I either misheard him, or he just had a fluke pronunciation of 'baby', I said "that's right, Whinnie is our puppy!" to which Nick started repeating over and over "puh-pee!"  Clear as day - no mistaking his 'p' sound for the 'b' sound.  (I should note here that we never call whinnie a dog, and just as much as we call her "whinnie" we also call her "puppy" - so it's pretty certain that he picked it up from us.)

In the last 8-10 months, Nick has not been making any 'p' or 'b' sounds -- and he rarely, if ever, puts together consonant sounds followed by vowels.  But yesterday he had a HUGE breakthrough.  He was not only attempting the words baby and puppy, but he was completely owning them!

I was concerned this would be forgotten overnight, but this morning, before he'd even had a chance to wipe the sleep from his eyes, the first thing I asked him was "Nick, can you say 'baby'?" and he yanked his pacifier out of his mouth, grinned really big and said "bebee!!"  So I followed it up with "can you say 'puppy'?" and just as clearly, he said "puh-pay!"

Once we got to daycare this morning, I again had him repeat the words several times for the babysitter, this time using the 9 month old baby at daycare as "bait" for the word, and Nick was so awesome, he looked right at her and said "bebee!!", and then repeated "puh-pay!" when we asked.  SO FREAKING AWESOME.  I can't even explain it.

I thought I was proud before? Not even close to how my chest was puffing out this morning.

I came home and immediately emailed our speech therapist to tell her about Nick's progress.  I can't wait for him to show her tomorrow!

Next up is to work on the 'm' sounds a bit more so we can get him saying "mama".  As much as I can't explain how much it hurts my heart that I've never heard him call me "mama", I equally can't even put into words how proud I am of the huge strides he is making with his language.

Don't ever take your child's language skills for granted.  The next time your two year old is pulling on your last nerve and repeating over and over again "mommy! mommy! mommy!", think about how somewhere there is a woman that is aching to hear those words - whether it be due to language delays, missing her child, or not having a child at all - some woman is desperate to hear it.  And I promise it will put things into perspective.

Just because it was so cute...helping Daddy do push-ups after yesterday's family jog



Life these days (in parts)

Considering it's been almost an entire MONTH since I wrote anything, and I've been swirling no less than 100 different blog post ideas in my head on a daily basis, I figured it was time to get back into the swing of things.

The month of May has been nothing, if not jam-packed.  Between speech therapy and meetings surrounding such, Nick's third double ear infection in a span of two months, visitors coming and going, play dates and dinner dates, Mother's day, and lots of family time, we have been the definition of busy.  So, here are just a few highlights of our most recent fun...

 

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At the end of April, my brother treated Nick to a day of fun at the one place that a "kid can be a kid".  Nick got to experience his first taste of Chuck E Cheese's, and it did not disappoint.

We tried out just about every "ride-on game" available, but a lot of them were for older kids and Nick didn't care for them much.

Nick's favorite part was definitely the pizza, followed a close second by yanking the tickets out of the machine and spending so much quality time with his Uncle. 

Uncle Matt and I, on the other hand, enjoyed far too much skee ball and other assorted nonsense games.  Amazing how even at 30+ years old, you can still find such a thrill in seeing those tickets spew out of the machine.  We ended up with quite a few tickets, but decided it wasn't worth it to spend them on a bunch of cheap choking hazards for Nick that would ultimately land in the yard sale pile, so we agreed to have Uncle Matt hold onto them until we could go back again and apply them to a BIG! FUN! toy.

Not to mention at that point, Nick had had enough sensory overload and was ready to go home for nap time.  But we can't wait to get back to Chuck E Cheese with Uncle Matt again ASAP!

 

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Also at the end of April, Todd's dad flew up from Georgia to spend a long weekend of quality time with his favorite boys as Todd's brother drove up to join in the male-bonding.  They spent four days doing various house projects, including installing a light on my office ceiling fan, a gorgeous new ceiling fan in our master bathroom, an automatic sensor light in our basement storage room that flips on hands-free when you walk in, and a USB wall outlet port in the kitchen for our cell phone/iPad/Kindle chargers. 

 

We grilled out, went to Mike's American Grill, and essentially spent the entire four days of his visit eating and laughing (and drinking a few beers).  The big boys also got to have a guys night out to attend a Potomac National's baseball game, and Grandpa John got to spend lots of time with his favorite grandson (and sons)! 



 

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The beginning of May brought about Nick's second ear infection and some fraudulent charges on our checking account totalling over $700 and putting a bad taste in our mouths.  But we started Nick on another round of amoxicillin (which we would later realize didn't work) and filed a claim for the fake charges, and decided we weren't going to start our summer off on the wrong foot. 

 

So instead we decided to take Nick to do something I've been anxious to try since I first heard the words "it's a boy!" -- The Burke Lake Train!  Not that little girls can't ride the train, because even this little 30 year old girl L.O.V.E.D. it... (although that could have something to do with the excitement of riding with a two year old).  We probably asked Nick no less than 75 times if he wanted to ride a train, and every time he said "uh huh!" and pumped his little arm up and down in a "choo choo" motion.  So it was no surprise that he found the train to be, quite possibly, the most exciting moment of his little life to date.  He clapped, laughed and said "whoa!!" over and over.  And when the ride came to an end and we had to de-board the train, he waved goodbye and blew the train conductor kisses.  I have no doubt we will be riding this train no less than a dozen more times this summer (if it ever stops raining on the weekends!)

 

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On Mother's Day weekend, Todd finally got to put his birthday gift to use (only 3 months late) as our best friends the Schwass' came into town to head to a National's game with us! 

 

We dropped Nick off at Gramma and Boss' house for the weekend, and enjoyed beers and a whole lot of giggling (as Larissa and I tend to do when we get together with drinks) and even a little baseball watching.  I said it before we got married, and now four years later it rings truer than ever before, but I feel truly blessed that Todd has such an incredible best friend in Jay, and that I got to inherit two amazing friends for life in both Jay and Larissa.  We followed up the game with a fantastic dinner & drinks out in DC (accompanied by a 90's sing-along at the next table) and a full night's sleep, and it was not only a great birthday gift for Todd, but an enjoyable night before Mother's Day for me! 

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On Mother's Day I was also spoiled by my boys who gifted me an iPad mini!  Then we said goodbye to our friends, and packed up to spend the day at my parents house for what was my grandmother's 59th Mother's Day!  Her 59th Mother's Day and her 48th anniversary of being a cancer survivor.  We truly had so much to celebrate!  We enjoyed way too much food and lots of love and laughter as is standard when my family gets together. 

 

 

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Sadly we rounded out the weekend by discovering that the amoxicillin from Nick's second ear infection never worked, and the abundance of sleeping and whining he had been doing all weekend was due to his third double ear infection since mid-March.  So back to the doctor we went for a prescription for Omnicef, of which we are now on day 8 and crossing our fingers that it worked.

 

We're scheduled to go back for a follow-up in one week, and then have an appointment with the E.N.T. at the beginning of June.  With all the fluid that's taken up residence in Nick's ear, I'm slightly suspicious that it might be contributing to his speech delay, but we'll know more after the appointment.

 

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This past weekend, Todd's mom and brother came in for a visit, and while it rained the majority of the weekend, we spent plenty of time catching up and enjoying each other's company.  Nick got to do a little planting with his Nanny Mo (these pictures are actually from our Easter weekend in Newport News, but we haven't uploaded pics from this past weekend yet)...and we even got to have a big kids night out to the movies where Nanny so graciously stayed home with a sleeping toddler, while Todd, Matt and I went to see Iron Man 3 (so good!). 

Not to mention my sweet mother-in-law gave me my mother's day present - a big planter FULL of fresh romaine lettuce, and another planter (which she is bringing back up this week) of sweet yellow cherry tomatoes - so that I can have fresh-from-the-garden salads all summer long, picked right from our deck!  She knows me well!

 

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Other than that, we're gearing up for a nice long Memorial Day weekend at the Lake!  My Aunt Sis is coming in from Arkansas so it will be a full house with mom & dad, Aunt Sis, me, Todd, Nick, Matt and Ky and of course the three dogs!  Looking forward to golf (for them, not me), a big seafood boil, playground time, Plaza Azteca, games, and late night wine chats!  And most importantly, as Zac Brown Band so eloquently puts it -- putting my toes in the water, ass in the sand...not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand...

 

Life is good these days :)