unknown

Oliver's teacher thinks he may have some speech issues, so she passed on a phone number for the early intervention folks and encourage us to give them a call.  Oliver was assessed when he was first home and passes with flying colors, but the standards are much higher now that he is 4 and we want to be sure he is fully ready for kindergarten next year. 

So, the pile or paperwork arrived at the end of last week.  In the past I would have called it a crazy amount of paperwork, but I've got perspective now.  This assessment covers vision, hearing, speech, fine and gross motor skills, and self help skills.  There are a ton of questions about my pregnancy (didn't happen), delivery (wasn't there), and early sickness and milestones (weren't documented well).  Okay, I know these are important questions, I know 99% of moms can answer them confidently.  I just write "unknown" after "unknown."  I'm totally fine with that, I mean I wish I knew, but I know what I've signed up for as an adoptive mom.  The only thing that makes me frustrated is there is not box to check saying he is adopted, he can't be the only one in the history of this assessment that isn't homegrown.  Has no other adoptive mom pointed this out?  Have they pointed it out and the district hasn't changes the questioner?  The doctor's office has an adopted box, even his tiny preschool has an adopted box.  Give me a damn box so I don't have to feel like and idiot writing unknown!

Then they ask what language is spoken at home, I answer English.  However, there is no question about what the child's first language.  Yeah, we speak English, but he didn't show up here until 20 months old.  Blah.

Finally at the end of this annoyingly flawed paperwork there is my question "is there anything else we should know?" and three little lines to answer.  I drew an arrow, flipped the paper over, and wrote the paragraph of answers that they didn't care to ask for, and I know this is just the beginning.....

End rant.

His assessment is on Thursday.  I'm actually pretty excited to hear how he does and get some tips for things we need to work on. 

the easiest baby sensory bin

Oliver loves playing in different sensory bins, rice, moon sand, water beads, and a bunch of other things that Lydia isn't allowed to eat even though she wants to.  So, Lydia gets her own special bin and she can munch it all she wants.  

Cheerios!  

halloween squishy bags, baby fun

Lydia, like most any baby, is an explorer. This week I'm going to post a few fun baby things we've been making for her.

supplies
-Ziploc bags, we used quart size freezer bags
-hair gel
-duct tape
-stuff to put in the bag, we went with
some pumpkin erasers we had, some wiggly spiders
and we found a package of skeletons for $1 at Target
-glitter (totally optional) we skipped it this time
-assistant

upon opening the gel jar my assistant promptly
grabbed the lid and smashed in on her face

quick break for clean up

 

Back to squishy bag, as if instructions are really necessary...

-squeeze or scoop some gel into the bag

-throw in some stuff

-close

-seal with duct tape, we sealed all sides

all Lydia wanted to do was try to chew it
this isn't the best chew project

I used package tape to stick them on
the window.  They are less chewable there

and still very fun.  Oliver enjoys checking

them out also. 

 

10 months!

Please forgive me for being a day late. 

Lydia is a mover and a shaker these day, and laying down for a little photo shoot is pretty low on her priority list. 

Lydia 

-loves helping fold wash because she enjoys covering her head with the shirts

-has started waving 

-has 4 teeth and 2 more just coming in

-is sleeping better, and usually only waking once a night

-is beginning to "walk" while holding our hands

-enjoys standing at the coffee table and sometimes takes a few side steps

-holding strong at about 20lbs

-hates going to her room for a diaper change, she's always nervous I'll be putting her to bed

-does NOT like going to the church nursery, but we keep trying

                      

late night practice

People keep asking about Lydia crawling.  She must hear me talking about her.  Saying things like "she's not crawling yet, but she pushes herself backwards to get what she needs." Or "she scoots around while seated to get Oliver's trains."

Well, I think she is starting to feel the pressure.  She has ramped up her crawling practice.  Normally she was practicing at church, in the toy room, the living room, other normal crawling practice locations at normal practice times.  Until last night, last night Lydia decided that 3am would be an awesome time to give it a go. 

It went like this....

Wake up, roll to over to belly, get on all fours, realize I can't actually crawl, cry, mom or dad come in, flip me over, shush me, I fall back asleep pretend to sleep until they think they have victoriously put me back to bed. Then I flip back over and try it again, and again, and again, until realizing I can't crawl, and it's 4:15am, I'm defeated and I'm actually sleepy.  I wake a few hours later all smiley and cheerful. 

sleep, food, snuggles

Before school started I made a morning routine schedule, in preparation for the start of pre-k.  Pre-k seems to revolve around the concept of gaining independence and becoming more and more self guided, so we better practice at home.  I found this schedule online, and for simplicity sake I copied it, printed it, and took it straight of Office Max Depot for some heavy duty lamination. (I never know if it's an office max or an office depot, so yeah, I call it office max depot)


 





 How we use the chart..
I set aside an hour from wake up until we need to leave for school. So wake up time for him is around 7:30-7:40
I wake up before him and nurse Lydia, occasionally when feeling ambitious I also shower. 
Then I go to Oliver's room and open his curtain, say good morning, hug, tell him it's a school day or a home day, tell him something exciting about the day (we are going to the zoo, it's sharing letter /m/ day at school, etc), then hand him his schedule and ask him what's up first.
I go set up his tooth brush then dress myself and Lydia.  While getting Lydia and myself ready I remind him to do his jobs, and occasionally he does them on his own. 
We make it downstairs for breakfast
#7 says gather stuff, we have substituted that for "do a school job" We do a workbook page, or color, or handwriting practice or something to get his brain going.
If there is time between 8-9 he gets to use the ipad until we have to leave.

Also, I set up an area in the laundry room, right by the garage door for his coat, and back pack to hang, and for his shoes to be lined up and ready to go. 

In my mind this is perfection.  In Oliver's mind it something else, something that just induces SCREAMING.

So much screaming

Screaming when he can't get his shirt on, screaming about having to put his pjs in the laundry basket, screaming about his oatmeal not being cooked to his perfect liking, screaming about his shoes, needing to get in the car, having to be in a car seat.  And I don't mean like little fussy noises, I mean his throat is getting horse from screaming so much.  Then at school he is fine, happy, bye bye mom, I'm going to have a great day! Teacher reports he does in fact have great days. 

Back home, back to yelling about everything. 

So, like any good mother in this modern social networked life we live in, I turn to facebook.  I'm part of a group that's all moms, and I know someone there will have an idea, or a 100 ideas.  I'm not left disappointed, they come through.  I decide to go with, what I think are, the three easiest changes. 

1. more sleep
2. more food
3. more snuggles

 ::Slams hand on face:: for not being able to think of such things myself.

Moved getting ready for bed from 8 to 7, so his lights are usually off by 7:30
Every time he starts to even seem fussy I offer him a glass of smoothie, cheese, crackers, grapes, something
A few moms mentioned something about a 10:20:10 method.  Snuggle for 10 minutes in the morning, 20 sometime in the day, and 10 more around bed time.  I hop in bed with him for a few minutes in the morning and chat with him, make sure we read for 20-30 minutes together on the couch while Lydia naps, and I re took over bed time from Jim.

we've done more sleep, more food, more snuggles since Tuesday and it really has made a big difference

Perfection, no.  Screaming, way less.  I'll ride the wave.  

When Oliver came home from the orphanage I swore his "issues" could be fixed with hugs and food, and for the most part, they were....we're lucky like that.  He's going through something now, growing up a little, spending more time at school (7.5 hours a week), sharing his mama with his sister, and trying to figure out how to use his words.  It's back to basics, sleep, food and hugs.  I'll hug the funk right out of him!














 

9 months

Sweet Lydia turned nine months today.  She gets smarter and sweeter and juicer and more wonderful with each passing day.

 

Lydia...
-cut two top teeth
-loves to stand, isn't cruising and can't let got, but she loves standing around
-can pull up from sitting to her knees
-is finding her voice, she loves to make the /b/ noise and some general yelling noise, she likes trying to mimic Oliver...which is pretty hilarious 
-went on her second plane ride, back to Massachusetts
-continues to consider crawling, but actually just wiggles around to get what she wants  

Official doctor stuff will be added Monday after her appointment.  I guess she weighs around 20lbs.