WORDS and the weekend

After a week of reading our new "communication" book, and a bunch of opportunity for practice, I can already notice a change in the way Ben is communicating.

We had our first two word combination this weekend - "Go bye-bye".  Ben has also started to nod his head and say "yes" (after months and months of shaking his head and saying no even when he MEANS yes".  He also will sign and say "mo" (more) almost all the time (instead of just pointing and whining). We also heard:

Truck
Baby
Button

All words we have heard before, but seem to be of importance to him again enough to say regularly.

So sure, this could have absolutely nothing to do with our new approach and everything to do with this being the age where things sometimes just click overnight, but regardless - it's been awesome to notice a communication burst lately.  Ben seems less frustrated and more willing to get his point across to us, which makes for even more fun experiences :)

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a leg up on how to talk to their toddlers.  As I have mentioned before, being a first time parent, it doesn't always come naturally as to how to "teach" your kids to talk.  This has been pretty eye opening to me as to the ways kids learn and how to keep your communication with them at a level they can understand.

This weekend we found ourselves with a bunch of unscheduled time.  On Saturday, my mom and I started the day with a mani/pedi/coffee date (thanks, mom!!!) while Greg and Ben hit the park and grocery store. 

After Ben's nap, we stopped in at The Children's Museum for an hour.  Ben loved playing in the black light room and put these neon pegs in the holes for a solid 20 minutes.

 

On Saturday evening, after almost a year of being in our house, we went over to our neighbor's house (the ones whose deck we look down on from our deck) for dinner!  We had always been friendly with them, but we really had not gotten a chance to know them yet.  As it turns out, we have a lot in common!  She does yoga, knows all the best walking routes around our neighborhood, has great advice about landscaping, enjoys wine and HGTV, and works for the school district Ben will be in.  He works from home, enjoys grilling out, beer and yard games - and they have a daughter starting UW in the Fall who enjoys babysitting.  What took us so long to become friends?

I started off the day on Sunday with a hot yoga class.  After not taking much time for myself to actually GO to yoga lately, I finally scheduled myself to take 2 classes/week - which I plan to attend no matter what.  Ben took a nice long nap while Greg watched NFL training camp (boring) and I read my book.  We then headed out for the afternoon:

Lunch at Pagliacci:

 

A stop at Third Place Books (not pictured).  I picked up a book for Ben using credit I had from trading books in a few months ago while Greg and Ben rode the escalator.

 

I pulled up my iPhone map to search the area for nearby parks that we hadn't been to yet, and found Saint Edwards Park.  When we arrived, we learned it was a State Park and that we needed a Discover Pass to enter.  Not knowing how much we might use it, we just got the day pass...but after we left, we wished we had sprung for the annual pass.  Maybe next year.  It was such a fun park with so many things to do!

 

 



A fully enclosed "toddler" area of the park:

 

Nature trails.  "Walk like daddy, Ben":

 

A big tractor to explore:

 

We didn't even make it out to the lake front part, nor did we come prepared to walk on the bike trail.  If we go again, we will bring friends, a picnic lunch, and our tennis shoes to make a day of it.

 

When we got home, the boys washed the outsides of the cars while I vacuumed and windexed the inside.

 

Ben dumped out the water to let us know when he was finished.

 

Weekends like this remind me that we need more of them.  More free time. More time to explore new places but also more time to stay home and play.  When the work week is hectic and we are always moving from one to-do to the next, the feeling of having no where we need to be feels priceless.

One, two, threeeeeeeeeee!

 

 

Meal Planning: Week of July 29th

Review from last week:

You can all do yourself a favor and make both the cauliflower pizza AND the buerre blanc sauce I blogged about.  (One is healthy and the other most certainly is NOT - so I think they balance themselves out nicely) :)

I'm looking forward to this upcoming week.  I'm taking both Thursday and Friday off from work, (hoping to go to the zoo and the Children's Museum on those days!) we have 2 BBQ's planned with friends, and next Saturday is the annual SeaFair party at Jamie and Collin's!

Here is what we have planned for the week:

Monday: Black Bean Tacos - didn't get around to making them last week, and this is a quick and easy week night recipe.

Tuesday: Cheeseburgers and Sweet Potato Fries

Wednesday: Crockpot Parmesan Chicken - we will have this over quinoa or brown rice.

Thursday: Chicken Paillard w/ Lemon, Capers and Olives.  Can't get enough of this one.  Kristin and Craig are coming over and I'm eager to share this deliciousness with someone else.

Friday: BLT Chopped Salad w/ grilled chicken.  Can't get enough of this one, either.

Saturday: SeaFair party.  The party starts at 10, which means we will probably head over around 9 am.  The plan is to stay (through nap time) as long as Ben allows us to.  I haven't decided what to make and bring yet.  And I'm not planning anything special for dinner :)

Sunday: Pineapple Pork Kabobs - Our friends Denali, Kyle and Oliver are coming over.  We have yet to get our families all together, and I have basically wanted to since Oliver was born :)  It will be fun to see how the kids interact at this age.

 

Ben - Vocab Update

We have had a productive week in Mission: Get Ben to talk more!

On Monday, Ben had his "development evaluation".  Two very nice girls came over to the house and we all talked and played for two hours.  They basically confirmed my assumption: Ben is great and developing on or ahead of schedule in all of his other areas, but is a little behind his peer group when it comes to communication.

At that point, I was left with a decision: Do I give him more time to learn vocabulary as he normally would?  Or do I bring in a Speech Therapist to work with him (and us) and see if that helps?

My decision was pretty easy, as we figure that working with a Speech Therapist definitely will not HURT.  In fact, simply watching the way she interacted with Ben and the way she talked to and with him made me realize that there is a lot I can learn from her!  She told us that while many kids pick up language simply by being around people talking, others sometimes need a little more focused attention to help them learn.

She recommended this book...

...which I immediately ordered and have read about 1/4 of already.  It goes through all of the different communication stages, describes different styles of learning and different "parenting roles/styles" and how to match your style to the style your kid has.  It's amazing how just by changing a few of the things we routinely do and allowing Ben to initiate communication has gotten him to talk more!

She suggested that we also take Ben to get his hearing tested to rule out any issues there.  Based on the "sounds" he makes (consonant sounds and vowel sounds) she didn't think there was a problem, however, when I took him in on Wednesday to get tested - he had water in both of his ears.  Since he just had double ear infections last month, the doctor thought that it's quite possible that this is residual from that, so we skipped the hearing test and are going back in 3 weeks to reassess.  This could mean that Ben is not hearing sounds and speech as precisely as he could be - and whether this is temporary or if it might require a procedure to correct, it could explain where he is at speech wise!

In the mean time, he told me to have him blow bubbles as often as possible, as that can help to drain the fluid - a challenge that Ben is most certainly up for :)

And this week, in addition to his usual favorite words, we have heard:

Button
Bronson (Shauna heard it, I didn't....but she heard it twice so I'll go with it) :)
More - used and signed more than ever
Go - in reference to his cars

Growing up too fast - literally

It Takes a Mother F'ing Village

 

There are no words to describe the amount of love I have for my child.  This love, however, does not always translate into my being everything that he needs.  There are limits on the amount of time I can spend down on the floor, coming up with new games to play and ways to entertain him.  I get bored after about 20 minutes of playing at the park.

 

Which is why Ben is so lucky to have so many people in his life who love him and love playing with him when Mommy needs a cocktail break.  Beyond Greg and I, we have our families, Callie and her girls, our many friends who have kids Ben's age, and some other special friends who do not yet have kids, but still love spending time with us even though things have changed quite a bit since Ben came around :)

 

One friend I wanted to highlight today is "Aunt Rachel", who is one of Ben's favorite playmates.  She is never shy to play silly games with him, create a new sound effect that he will crack up at, or get down on the floor to build him a fort.  She also isn't afraid of him when he gets whiny or annoying, which is a huge bonus as we are starting to transition into the 2's...

 

And in even more exciting news, Rachel and Peter are expecting a little baby of their own in January!  I cannot think of anyone who has built up as much babysitting/baby entertaining equity than Rachel has - so I cannot wait to jump in and be as involved in Baby Cougan's life as they are in Ben's!

Meal Planning: Week of July 22nd

Review from last week:

I didn't end up making the Mexican salad or the summertime salad as planned, but the halibut tacos and super fruit & nut arugula salad we had at Rachel and Peter's was bomb.

 

The chicken piallard was amazing - as usual.  We BBQ'd the chicken instead of cooking it on the stove which was a lot less messy and equally delicious.  I think I will need to make a double batch of this every time we make it because it makes for a great cold salad the next day.

 

 

 

We made a big Costco run last night (and had hot dogs for dinner).  With all of the meat and vegetables we have been consuming lately, we needed to stock up in a more affordable fashion.

 

Here is what we have lined up for the week:

 

Monday: Cauliflower Pizza.  My friend Brenna posted this and I am SO excited to try it.  I am not going to tell Greg that the crust is made of cauliflower until after he eats it - I really hope he and Ben love it.

 

Tuesday: Skinny Chicken Saltimbocca w/ Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

 

Wednesday: Grilled Chicken (with the Tom Douglas rub) with grilled summer squash.

 

Thursday: Black Bean tacos - but instead of on a tortilla, we will have them over a bed of lettuce/cabbage with a side of homemade guacamole and grilled halibut.

 

Friday:  Triple Protein Burgers! FTW! Cant. Get. Enough.

 

Saturday:  Grilled Halibut with Lemon Buerre Blanc Sauce w/ Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Pictures Lately

Family outing to the park:

 

 

And then the Children's Museum.  (PS - on a beautiful sunny day, the museum is DEAD.  Best time ever to go, apparently).

 

BBQ Dinner with The Halls.  How adorable is Myles??

 

Taking on/off these oven mitts occupied Ben for at least 20 minutes.

 

Snack time in the big boy chair!  Ben now will let us know his preference on where he wishes to dine by just climbing into this chair, or standing by his other high chair.  Pretty cute.

 

Jammin' while waiting at the doctor's office.  We were here to do a follow-up to make sure his ears were better after his ear infection 4 weeks ago.  They were, AND Ben had gained 2 lbs in 4 weeks.  Chunk.

 

Sunny day on the deck:

 



 

I love when he stands like this.

 

Family outing at Total Wine and More!  (Free beer/wine tastings on Fridays and Saturdays)!

 

This sunny weather won't quit.  Not complaining.

 

I decided to rearrange out outdoor furniture.  The dining table is now in the front yard, as it's quite a bit quieter and a much nicer place to enjoy a meal outside.  

 

Weight lifting - Mason and Ben.

 

Snack time.  Probably admiring the new lamp ;)

 

Why won't Maxwell play with me?

 

Blending up almonds with Rachel - dining at the Cougan's.

 

Reacquainting himself with Sophie Mow.

Help Me Grow

Over the past few months, we have become increasingly concerned with Ben's vocabulary development.  I have probably worried more than Greg has, (which is typical - I'm an over-worrier), but over the past 2 weeks I decided that I needed to do something about it.

I started with a call to my doctor.  I told her that while Ben has said about 40 words since he started talking, we really only hear about 10 of them on a regular basis.  His level of understanding has been of no concern at all, but it has felt as though many of his peers are starting to string together 2 words and add new words to their vocabulary at a rapid pace - all while Ben has continued to only use his favorite words.

My doctor told me that if I wanted her to, she would refer him for further evaluation.  I got the sense that she wasn't officially concerned, but that he also is in a bit of a grey area and it couldn't hurt to check it out.  And since I'm one for being anal proactive, I decided that was the way to go.

I called the place she recommended, the Snohomish County Infant and Toddler Early Intervention Program, which is where anyone with a concern about how their child is developing (in any area) would go.  After speaking to the program manager there, she thought that instead of automatically scheduling an evaluation, (since she also thought that Ben was pretty borderline in terms of needing assistance) that we should start with the Help Me Grow Program, a division of Within Reach.

Help Me Grow is a program that offers families in WA:

• Free developmental screening (for kids under 5)
• Activities and Games that are matched to your child's age and skills
• Information on community resources for parents and families

She got me in touch with the Help Me Grow Program Coordinator, Stephanie Orrico, (who has been super nice and helpful) who suggested we start by taking the Ages and Stages Questionnaire online.  I am pasting a copy of the questionnaire (this is for 21-22 months) for anyone who is interested in seeing the questions (see below).

She called me THAT NIGHT with results (amazing).  The results showed that he is on schedule in his development in gross motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal-social, but that he is in the grey area for his communication development. 

As we discussed everything, she told me that it really was up to me as to whether to have him get a full evaluation or not.  She said that she could provide me with different activities and techniques that we could use to try to stimulate that verbal development at home while we continue to monitor him (which is the route we decided to go on first), but told me that if I had that parental gut feeling, it wouldn't hurt to have him evaluated to see if he could benefit from some type of speech therapy.

The following morning she sent me a bunch of material.  Over the past week, I feel like we have seen an increase in his babbling, but no actual word process.  I decided to follow up with Stephanie to just move forward with an evaluation.  The way I see it, that way we will know we have sought out all of the resources we know of and get him all the help he needs (if, in fact, he needs it).

Part of being a parent that I have learned over the past 21+ months is that it is SO important to follow that gut feeling.  There really is a difference between being crazy and overprotective (which I am at times) and knowing when you really should seek help.  I always want to be an advocate for Ben and his health and I cannot tell you how much better I feel just having made a few phone calls.

And furthermore, I wanted to blog about this to make sure that everyone knows about these resources that exist and that are FREE!  I was told that almost 50% of the people who complete the Ages and Stages Questionnaire are not even concerned with any particular area of their child's development, but are curious to know how they child is doing in these areas. 

If you are interested in completing a questionnaire, you can contact Stephanie at 206-830-7660.

Anyway, that is the latest!  The evaluation will take place next Monday - I'll be sure to keep the blog updated with any new information we learn :)



Ages & Stages Questionnaires®, Third Edition (ASQ-3 ™), Squires & Bricker

E101220100

© 2009 Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

 

On the following pages are questions about activities babies may do. Your baby may have already done some of the activities described here, and there may be some your baby has not begun doing yet. For each item, please fill in the circle that indicates whether your baby is doing the activity regularly, sometimes, or not yet.

At this age, many toddlers may not be cooperative when asked to do things. You may need to try the following activities with your child more than one time. If possible, try the activities when your child is cooperative. If your child can do the activity but refuses, mark “yes” for the item.

COMMUNICATION

1. If you point to a picture of a ball (kitty, cup, hat, etc.) and ask your child, “What is this?” does your child correctly

name at least one picture?

2. Without your giving him clues by pointing or using gestures, can your child carry out at least

three of these kinds of directions?

a. “Put the toy on the table.”

b. “Close the door.”

c. “Bring me a towel.”
d. “Find your coat.”
e. “Take my hand.”
f. “Get your book.”

3. When you ask your child to point to her nose, eyes, hair, feet, ears, and so forth, does she correctly point to at least

seven body parts? (She can point to parts of herself, you, or a doll. Mark “sometimes” if she correctly points to at least three body parts).

 

4. Does your child say 15 or more words in addition to “Mama” and “Dada”?

5. Does your child correctly use at least two words like “me,” “I,” “mine,” and “you”?

6. Does your child say two or three words that represent different ideas together, such as “See dog,” “Mommy come home,” or “Kitty gone”?   

(Don’t count word combinations that express one idea, such as “byebye,”

“all gone,” “all right,” and “What’s that?”)

Please give an example of your child’s word combinations:

GROSS MOTOR

1. When you show your child how to kick a large ball, does he try to kick the ball by moving his leg forward or by walking into it?

(If your child already kicks a ball, mark “yes” for this item.)

2. Does your child run fairly well, stopping herself without bumping into things or falling?
 

3. Does your child walk down stairs if you hold onto one of his hands? He may also hold onto the railing or wall.

(You can look for this at a store, on a playground, or at home.)

 

4. Does your child walk either up or down at least two steps by herself? He may hold onto the railing or wall.

5. Does your child jump with both feet leaving the floor at the same time?
 

6. Without holding onto anything for support, does your child kick a ball by swinging his leg forward?

FINE MOTOR

 

1. Does your child get a spoon into her mouth right side up so that the food usually doesn’t spill?

2. Does your child stack six small blocks or toys on top of each other by himself?

(You could also use spools of thread, small boxes, or toys that are about 1 inch in size.)

3. Does your child use a turning motion with her hand while trying to turn doorknobs, wind up toys, twist tops, or screw lids on and off jars?

4. Does your child turn the pages of a book by himself?

(He may turn more than one page at a time.)

5. Does your child flip switches off and on?

6. Can your child string small items such as beads, macaroni, or pasta “wagon wheels” onto a string or shoelace?

PROBLEM SOLVING

 

1. Without your showing her how, does your child scribble back and forth when you give her a crayon (or pencil or pen)?

2. While your child watches, line up four objects like blocks or cars in a row. Does your child copy or imitate you and line up at least two blocks side by side? (You can also use spools of thread, small boxes, or other toys.)

3. Does your child pretend objects are something else? For example, does your child hold a cup to his ear, pretending it is a telephone? Does he put a box on his head, pretending it is a hat? Does he use a block or small toy to stir food?

4. After watching you draw a line from the top of the paper to the bottom with a crayon (or pencil or pen), does your child copy you by drawing a single line on the paper in

any direction? (Mark “not yet” if your child scribbles back and forth.)

 

5. After a crumb or Cheerio is dropped into a small, clear bottle, does your child turn the bottle upside down to dump out the crumb or Cheerio?

(Do not show her how.) (You can use a soda-pop bottle or a baby bottle.)

 

6. If you give your child a bottle, spoon, or pencil upside down, does he turn it right side up so that he can use it properly?

PERSONAL-SOCIAL

 

1. Does your child copy the activities you do, such as wipe up a spill, sweep, shave, or comb hair?

 

2. If you do any of the following gestures, does your child copy at least one of them?

a. Open and close your mouth.

b. Blink your eyes.

c. Pull on your earlobe.

d. Pat your cheek.

3. Does your child eat with a fork?

4. Does your child drink from a cup or glass, putting it down again with little spilling?
 

5. When playing with either a stuffed animal or a doll, does your child pretend to rock it, feed it, change its diapers, put it to bed, and so forth?
 

6. Does your child push a little wagon, stroller, or other toy on wheels, steering it around objects and backing out of corners if she cannot turn?

OVERALL

 

Parents and providers may use the space below for additional comments.

1. Do you think your child hears well? If no, explain:

2. Do you think your child talks like other toddlers her age? If no, explain:

3. Can you understand most of what your child says? If no, explain:

 

4. Do you think your child walks, runs, and climbs like other toddlers his age? If no, explain:
 

5. Does either parent have a family history of childhood deafness or hearing impairment? If yes, explain:
 

6. Do you have concerns about your child’s vision? If yes, explain:

7. Has your child had any medical problems in the last several months? If yes, explain:
 

8. Do you have any concerns about your child’s behavior? If yes, explain:

9. Does anything about your child worry you? If yes, explain: