It's Official...I've Lost My Mind!

As a mom, I do as other busy moms: multi-task. This morning was not unlike any other weekend morning. I was getting my grocery list together, starting a load of laundry, drinking my coffee, and making a bowl of cereal for Nicky. Well, look closely at the picture below and see if you can spot the silliness...

Yep - I gave my son a fork to eat his cereal! The funniest part is, Nicky even said "i got fork for cereal?" And, since he sometimes confuses objects he sees/uses every day, I corrected him, saying that it was a spoon - and had him repeat the word (the "s" and the "p" are disastrous together for him)...which he did so perfectly! Moral of the story - wise up Momma, slow down, and have a little faith that the little guy is starting to "get it"! (ps...check out his "proper" form in holding the fork! the OT sessions are starting to pay off!)

Mother Nature's Sense of Humor

Tonight, as part of our vegan diet, we dined on a butternut squash dish. It was quite tasty, as most of the new recipes we've tested out have been. We only have about one week left of the experiment, and I have to say, it's been pretty well worth the trouble. Kris has now lost 12 pounds and I've lost 7! We're also enjoying the comical foods we're coming across...

Now I have to say, there were butternut squashes in all different shapes and sizes, but I just couldn't pass that one by...not sure why. Thank you, Mother Nature, for making my grocery shopping trips more enjoyable!

Happy Halloween!

This is technically Nicky's 1st full-on Halloween experience...last year he attended his school party, but ended up coming down with a stomach virus and missed out on the trick or treating. There really aren't many young kids in our neighborhood, so for Halloween this year, we took Nicky to trick or treat at the Dallas Arboretum. They have 14 "storybook playhouses" decorated to represent various popular children's stories, which promote exploration in reading and imagination. The best part is they offer safe trick or treating, and to top it off, it's in the middle of the day! We loaded Nicky in the car, had a picnic lunch, and headed off in search of fun and candy!

Nicky all ready for his Halloween party at school on Friday...

All dressed up and ready to go to the Arboretum...

Nicky & Momma posing at the "Owl and the Pussycat" house...

Posing in the Pumpkin Patch...

This house is special in that it represents a Russian folk tale "Teremok" (aka The Small Cabin)
Trick or Treat! We "practiced" saying "trick or treat" all morning, and it actually sunk in - complete with the "thank you" after receiving the candy. Nicky waltzed right up to each table, by himself, without much prompting - he must've really wanted that candy!Daddy carrying Nicky to the house made from pumpkins...the ground was a mucky mess after all the rain we've had lately.
Nicky & Momma by the "Peter Pan" house...

After the Arboretum, we came home and got to work painting the patio furniture (as it's seen better days). Nicky, of course, had to "help"...sticking the tongue out is an integral tool to use when going about this type of work. Nicky's been pretending to be his "Pop" lately - coincidentally, Pop's go-to tool when working is the sticking out of the tongue!

Hmm...maybe letting a 3 1/2 year old help paint furniture wasn't a good idea afterall?! But...he sure did have fun!

We all had so much fun, we've decided to make trick or treating at the Dallas Arboretum an annual event. We hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween!

"Everyone Poops"

This one's a double whammy...not only does it creep Kris out, being that it's a bird, but it involves one of our favorite subjects! Enuf said.

Eff!

(Nicky sporting my swim-cap I had to wear when swimming at the "schwimmbad" (pool) while living in Germany. I assure you, it looked super-hot on me! For some reason, Kris thinks the swim-cap is super funny and loves to make us all put it on - including the dogs...not sure what it's all about, but we love him anyway! This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but it's cute none-the-less!)

Back to "eff"...No, I'm not cursing...although, maybe a little bit as I find the humor in the literal-ness with which my son takes things. Sometimes, we just don't stop to explain things as efficiently as we think we have, and the subsequent reaction from a child is quite comical! This past summer, we subjected Nicky to a lengthy testing process to see where he was at developmentally, and to try to figure out what we could do to help get him caught up to his peers. Part of his diagnosis involved his speech/communication/articulation delays, so we started taking him to private speech therapy for the articulation portion (he already attends an early childhood school for the communication part). The results of the speech therapist's tests indicated Nicky has a lisp and is in the 11th % for articulation. So the work began; tackling the letter "f (eff)" to start. You see, Nicky tends to substitute the letter "f" for the letter "p". So, "feet" are "peet"; "fun" is "pun"; "finger" is "panger" (he changes the "i" to an "a" in this one, not sure why.)...you get the picture. Well, the other day I was trying to get Nicky to say "Spongebob" - he tends to drop the "sponge" off the name (thus calling him "Bob") because he also struggles with the letter "s". As I slowly and phonetically sounded out the word, having Nicky repeat after me, the letter "p" that he always pronounced with zest; the letter that was his strong-suit; had morphed into the letter "f"! It was then that it dawned on me. We never bothered to try to explain to him that there are different letters in the alphabet that make up the words we speak. Nor did we explain that each letter makes a different sound. So of course, we didn't tell him that there is a letter "f" and a letter "p" and they have their own respective sounds, and that he's correct in making the "p" sound. Instead, we practiced all these "f-words" (tee hee hee), teaching him to remove the "p" sound. It's no wonder he now thinks that all "p-words" should be changed to "f-words". Shew...that's a lot to wrap my brain around...poor little guy! Now what?