Sunday, April 7, 2013

Kid Corner

Maybe on the days that I am frustrated and feel overwhelmed with Izzy's developmental delays, I will be able to look back on these blogs and find joy in the progress that she has made.  These seemingly insignificant progressions are what allows me to well-up inside with genuine pride at her abilities.   I periodically want to blog about my children's accomplishments as a way to remember how far they've come.  

April 2: Every Tuesday at the end of Izzy's preschool morning, all the children sit in their seats and wait for their parents to come in to pick them up.  When it is their turn they go up to the teacher, state the letter that they have learned that day and get the candy, etc that starts with or relates to that letter.  Usually Izzy runs up to her teacher (or right past her if we don't cue her) and it may take a longer time to coax the letter out of her or she may completely ignore the fact that we want her to say the letter.  This day, Izzy runs up to her teacher, teacher asks Izzy what letter they learned, Izzy says "X" (or something that sounded like X) without hesitation, takes her Twix bar and runs to me.  

April 2: On that same day, Izzy's preschool gym teacher came up to me and was beaming because Izzy said "Bye" to her.  This was the first time Izzy had spoken a word to her since the beginning of the school year in September!

April (beginning of month):  This may seem very subtle but I noticed Izzy was able to fill a cup (not quite full because it is too heavy) and then pour it out in a normal fashion.  She has not been able to do this before probably due to hand/forearm weakness, decreased coordination and just plain disinterest!

Holding the cup like normal 


Pouring the water into the sink


I am adding this picture just because I think it is cute.  I caught her this morning sitting on the "potty" with her leg crossed, reading my Mary Kay magazine!






Writing about Isaiah's accomplishments are somewhat different because it is not as specific as Izzy's.  Isaiah's speech is really developing and I am always amazed at what he picks up on.  He puts two words together (sometimes on his own and other times he is mimicking us).  Loves to say "Daddy's truck" (in a manly voice); "awww man" (o.k. that comes from me), "Izzy nooooooo"(that is starting to be a regular!).   He loves his big sister and many times asks for "Izzy" (with a lisp) after he wakes up from his nap.

He is a bit attached to his mamma and daddy and has difficulty going into the nursery at church, but usually stops screaming after 5 or so minutes.  In fact, as soon as he sees the door to the nursery he starts crying!  I am the one that races to pick him up after church just so I can see the huge smile he gives me when I come through the door!

One other thing that both kids looooove to do....they are obsessed (more so Isaiah) with dipping their food into any kind of sauce (ketchup, BBQ, sour cream, etc).  In fact, sometimes I will put a dipping sauce on their plate even if it might be a weird combination so that they will eat their vegetables.  I think they might take after their poppop with liking ketchup on everything!


What a ham!  We'll say he takes after his daddy :)

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Preparing for Spring

Spring is here but it sure doesn't feel like it with the weather in the 40's recently.  According to the forecast, warmer weather is coming!  There is always so much clean up and preparations to get the garden and flower beds ready for planting and mulching.


We are trying something new this year....our own mini-greenhouse!






In the past, we have started seeds in the greenhouse where my husband teaches but right now it is easiest to have the seeds at home where we can manage them when it suits us.  I was a little skeptical at first, but I actually am excited now and think it might do it's job!  The past few days it has been in the 40's or low 50's but the greenhouse has kept in moisture and warmth.  Hopefully we will start to see some seedlings sprout in the next few weeks.

Items we planted (on 4/3/13):
*Roma tomatoes
*Peppers
*Cucumbers
*Basil
*Columbine flowers
*Lots of annual flower seeds (not sure what these will do)

The garden has been rototilled and cleaned up and I am hoping to get lettuce and spinach in this week.



A good part of my time is also spent raking the leaves out of the flower beds.  Yes, that sounds like a fall thing but if you know our house, you know all the mature trees we have in our yard and it makes for endless raking in the fall and then more raking in the spring.  I leave some leaves on the flower beds in the fall to help protect the plants through the winter.



Our place is always a work in progress but I guess if we had everything perfectly the way we wanted it we would be looking for a new place to fix up!