First Day of New Speech Class

Now that Jamesie is three he aged out of at-home speech services.  The GREAT news is the charter school right down the street from us agreed to take Jamesie for speech lessons twice a week.  Sean will go to kindergarten there next year and when Jamesie is 4 he'll start K-4 there.  However, since it is charter and Jamesie isn't actually a student there yet, they weren't required by the school district to implement our IEP, so our other option was to go to our "home school" which was actually about 25 minutes away and less than desirable.  Basically, our charter school exactly 1 mile from our home is doing us a big favor by giving him speech lessons.  Even better though, the speech therapist doesn't act like she's doing us a favor, she's so kind and gentle and fun with Jamesie (and Sean!).

The not-so-great news was I was completely emotionally un-prepared for actually leaving Jamesie at his first speech lesson today.  Since he might have another little one in his speech lesson, I can't stay and watch as I have with his speech for the last year.  Leaving him with Ms. Mary to walk down that big hallway was awful.  He was so little in his Curious George hat and converse high tops.  He let go of my hand and took Ms. Mary's and off he went... for his first "school" lesson... without me.  I went and sat for the next thirty minutes in the car, nursed the baby and listened to Mother Angelica on Catholic Radio and let the tears flow.  I wasn't expecting that. 

28 minutes after I left him I was waiting for him to come back to me.  And he did-- all smiles, bouncing and running into the office.  He loved the new friend he made in speech today and said he had fun in his lesson.  He was so excited that he learned Ms. Mary's name that he spent much of the afternoon saying "Maaa-wee!  Maaa-wee!"  For the first time in 3 years of bedtime prayers he said "Hail Ma-wee!" tonight.  When I asked who was Jesus's Mommy he was so excited to yell "Ma-wee!"  He was so proud of himself after his lesson today.  I'm looking forward to this next step in his therapy. Even before we went to school today he had his shoes on for a good hour, saying "ready-to-go-now!" 

Our perseverant little boy :).

 

We are proud of our little guy.  This new speech situation will be good.  If I don't cry every time. 

Well Hello There!

I have no excuses for our month long absence from our blog.  Yes, I've been busy, but we're all busy, right? That's life.  And to make up for it, here's a glimpse of what we've been doing in our buys life over the last month:

Jamesie Turned Three!
Jamesie is just such a joy to our family.  At three years old we usually describe him as "stubborn," but I think I'm going to change the language to "perseverant."  He can persevere to not eat his lunch or conquer the most complicated fine motor challenge.  If he falls while trying some gross-motor challenge he cries, gets a hug and a kiss from his mommy then whimpers through his tears "try again. try again," and sure enough returns to jumping off the bed or the couch or the stairs or the chairs or the footstool....etc., until he masters the skill.  Jamesie loves Thomas the Train, bothering his brother, kissing his sister, sitting on his brother or his brother's chosen toys, cutting with scissors (mostly paper), Mickey Mouse and trucks.  His speech has come so far in the last year. To think that less than a year ago we were teaching him to say "go" or "no" in his speech lessons and now he says full sentences....its just amazing.  Again, he just decides to persevere through each and every lesson, often sitting still for a full hour twice a week, just repeating his words over and over.  Sometimes at about 40-45 minutes he will quietly put his head down in his hands and take a minute to gather himself.  Sometimes if Ms. Mollie and I are talking he will quietly and quickly grab all the treats on the table and stuff them in his mouth before we can do anything about it!  He is sneaky and sweet and just has the softest cheeks and hair a mother could ever wish to kiss.  Here is in on his 3rd birthday:

GG and DaDa brought a special delivery for the Birthday Boy!

I loved Jamesie's birthday because our normally quiet and reserved boy was the center of attention (and head of the table) all day long.  It was great seeing him in that role.  

We all know of Sean's undying love for Greta.  Well, Jamesie now has Cora, his very own special lady-friend.  Cora invited Jamesie to spend the night at her house last week but James was the chivalrous gentleman and politely declined.  Lets hope he has enough self control if the situation ever arises again....in about 14 years....after prom.  Looks like Cora's ready for prom for his birthday.  Dress to impress, girlfriend. Jamesie stole some time away from his birthday to spend time one on one with his lady, and play the Thomas theme song in her ear.  He also got her a juicebox.  

I made this Thomas Cake for our little man. I love him and I prove it by creating character themed birthdays.  

Happy Birthday sweet baby boy!  He is such a lively addition to our family--a spark when we need it and a sweet cuddle bug when we need it. And soft as soft all the time. 

Sean learns and learns and draws and learns:

Sean is now so adept at reading we often find him reading books on his own and whenever we go out in public he is transfixed by all the signs and words he can now read.  Its like a whole new world has opened up to him: "Mom, at Publix, shopping is a pleasure!"  He spends most of his free time reading or drawing lately.  I LOVE his drawings and his artwork.  He just started drawing people which is the sweetest thing in the world.  He drew a family portrait in which Sissy is wearing her baby lion shoes and a hairbow, Cody is wearing an ND shirt and his badge for work, and I am wearing soccer cleats.  Classic. What was once our "homeschool room" has now become our "art room."  What were once plain red walls are now covered in his artwork, mostly portraits of Mickey Mouse and the Clubhouse gang, with the occasional Pope Francis thrown in: 

Meanwhile, Sean keeps an ongoing list of reasons for me to home school him next year for kindergarten, even though we are currently signed up for him to go to the Charter school down the street.  Included in his list are: 1. I will miss my nap (he has not napped in about a year and couldn't care less about his nap at home).  2. I will miss lunch.  I will consider your points in turn, young man and get back to you.  Its still on the table.  

Here are some shots of our genius at work: 

Yes, that is a carseat box, and if you look closely amidst the rubble you will see his little legs poking out of the carseat box because he is drawing inside of it. 

Sissy turns 9 months today!

That means she's been out of me as long as she was in me!  Crazy!  She is amazing.  She is army crawling all over the house, combing the floor for debris to eat, and starting to pull up to her knees on furniture.  She is moments away from crawling on hands and knees and the other day she actually crawled up one step (time to use those baby gates) and then freaked out.  The boys LOVE this little girl.  Last weekend Sean said to GG: "I am just in love with Sissy.  I know, I can't marry her because you can't marry your sister, but I am just in LOVE with her!"  She can do no wrong in their eyes. Lets hope it always stays like that. She is such a good and happy baby all her waking hours.  She is silly and giggly and soft and sweet.  She is affectionate and funny and definitely our most active baby.  

Easter.  She wore a flower the size of her head b/c I couldn't find a bonnet her size. 

Just for fun: 

I hear a baby waking up.  I will try to do more frequent posts so they aren't so long and trying to update an entire month of our lives.  Off to our next adventure--chic fil a and soccer tonight!

Happy late St. Patricks Day!

When It Rains....

....it pours.  Especially in Charleston.  3 of the last 4 days have been indoor-rainy days.  And we are antsy.  Friday we went to the Library in the pouring rain and came home to snuggle down for lots of reading and long naps.  Saturday we stayed inside all day, except a brief trip for just Sean and myself to Barnes n Noble (we have been reading Stuart Little, and as we neared the end Jamesie got his hot little hands on it and not only tore out an entire chapter, but ripped the pages in half so there was no putting them back.  You better believe I took $6 out of his piggy bank to buy a new copy).  Sunday gave us a reprieve long enough to play in our soggy backyard for a short period, and now here we are on a gross Monday, rainy, gray and cold....in a word...February.

So, what to do on a rainy February day that has turned into 4 rainy February days and the usual crayons, water colors and trains just aren't cutting it? (btw, Sean has school T-W-Th, when Jamesie has speech....and it has happened to rain Friday-Monday when we have very little "built-in" activities except for an hour at church Sunday morning). This morning, faced with the daunting reality of yet another day inside with my three little loves I founds myself literally googling "what to do with kids on a rainy day" just to inject some new ideas into our home.  Here is a list of some of things we've been doing, thanks in part to more creative mom-blogs than mine, Pinterest, and good reading skills:

1. Read.  We checked out Little House in the Big Woods from the Library on Friday.  Started it Saturday morning, and finished it before naps today (Monday).  Sean is a reading machine.  At one point today he looked up from the book and said "We are dominating this book!"  I LOVE that chapter books don't intimidate him, as they did me for so long...I love that he loves to read.  I love when we come to the end of a long chapter he lights up and says "can we read another chapter!?"  While his reading skills are certainly blossoming, Cody and I read this one to him, with him reading some words and sentences here and there.  And by here and there I mean all over the house.  We read 229 pages in just over 48 hours with a four-year-old.  We have snuggled down and read everywhere. 

I love Little House, and always imagined reading the books with my daughters.  I never noticed how interesting they are to boys.  One entire chapter was about nothing but meat and guns.  After reading it Sean told Cody, I really love meat and guns. 

I've also be re-inspired by Laura's stories.  Ma works hard and doesn't complain.  I have it easy with a washing machine, dryer and dishwasher.  The least I can do is use them regularly. 

Even Cody has enjoyed reading Laura Ingalls Wilder.  At least the parts about meat and guns. 

 

2. Do science experiments: We used a little book my sister gave us for Christmas called "Solids, Liquid and Gases" and did things such as fishing for ice, racing raisins in club soda, holding a glass of water upside down with nothing but cardboard (and air pressure) holding the contents in, etc etc. 

 

 

3. Go for a haircut.  Yes, this involves leaving the house.  But at least we didn't waste any nice-weather days sitting inside getting a haircut.  Plus, we got lollipops. 

 

 

 

4. Paint....without brushes.  This little gem I found during my desperate google search this morning.  It goes something like this (enjoy "after" pics of haircuts below):

Make dots oall over your work space (we used an old shirt box cut out)

With whatever paint you have around the house.

Hold it up.  (make sure to have a plastic tablecloth)

Shake it around.  Repeat dots, holding, shaking....about a million times. Take off your shirt somewhere in the middle of the million times so not to ruin it. 

Art. 

 (and it was only 9:40 a.m. at the end of this....a looooong monday to say the least.) 

 

5. Make a self-size box costume.  Or robot, or monster, or truck, or whatever one makes out of a box with head and arms cut-outs.  Allow the kids to paint and color as much as they want on the box.  The box is a changeling depending on what they need it to be at different times of day.

 

 

And some other gems I didn't get a picture of in the last few days:

 

6. Make a fort (duh).  Our fort was awesome....complete with a lantern inside, a reading area and a playing area.  I have a feeling it will be going up again this afternoon.

 

7. Have a manners-date with your kids.  Toward the end of our long morning today even I was getting antsy.  I told the kids if they ate a good lunch, quickly and without complaining, we could go to the new cafe down the street for a treat before naps (yes, i know, leaving the house again, but car-to-door distance was about 10 feet--worth it to get out).  Each boy brought their money from their grandparents' Valentine's gift (what was left of Jamesie's after the Stuart Little fiasco).  We talked about manners and they eached practiced 1. ordering, 2. napkins on laps, 3. elbows off the table, 4. looking at the waitress when saying "please" and "thank you."  Sean did awesome--he loves rules.  Jamesie did a decent job of saying thank you and sitting still...for a few minutes.  He's also only 2, so he pretty much did a great job for a 2 year old. Sis killed it sitting still in her stroller and eating her sock.  We only ordered dessert (I got a cup of soup and Diet Coke), so it was short enough they weren't going nutso, but exciting enough to keep them engaged, and fun enough that they will remember some of the manners practicing--hopefully!

 

8. Have a long bath.  After the painting this morning we'll be utilizing our afternoon time with a long bath where the boys can play as long as they want to.  Bedtime will be less stressful and we'll take up a good chunk of time getting warm and clean this afternoon!.

 

9. Play Mad Dog.  Laura Ingalls taught us this one around page 34.  Pa, or Cody, makes his hair look wild, drops to all fours and pretends to be a mad dog (or wolf, or panther), chasing little boys around the house.  All boys and mad dogs are allowed to scream as loud as they want indoors without any motherly interference.  Only to be done when the baby is awake. 

 

10.  Bake.  Since its Lent I'm thinking of trying zucchini muffins this afternoon.  Not thrilled about eating zucchini instead of some combination of cinnamon, flour, butter and sugar, but its a challenge to bake something new. 

 

11. Let the kids watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the iPad and decide not to be annoyed by it.

 

OK, I did have a picture of this one.  Still working on not being annoyed by (a) too much iPad usage and (b) Mickey's voice.  And I just heard Minnie say "mouska-music-maker."  Really trying. 

 

Anyone else have out-of-the-ordinary rainy day activities to keep us entertained?  What do you do when you're stuck inside all day?  

 



Lenten sacrifices

This year for Lent the three oldest people our home have given up some pretty difficult things, which will prove to be a good sacrifice to remind us of Jesus' ultimate sacrifice.  Sean declared at Sunday School that he is giving up "watching Cars" (the movie).  That's about as good as it gets for a four year old-- we were very proud of him.  I'm giving up dessert/sweets (ugh!) and Cody is giving up beer (at home....long story).  I'm declaring that sis is giving up night feedings and, well, jamesie is doing his own thing this Lent, as usual.

This morning Sean added another item to our list of Lenten sacrifices:

Erin: OK guys, remember today is a Friday in Lent, so we don't eat meat.
Sean: You mean we don't eat people.

So, we'll see how we do with this new resolution...its a tough one, Wish us luck!

From My Front Porch Looking In...

The other night Cody got home a few minutes early--just enough time for me to squeeze in a quick run before dinner.  I came home right around dusk to a charmingly lit up home with my husband cooking a warm dinner on the stove and two boys playing with each other in the family room.  There's a great country song that came into my head that goes something like "the view I love the most is my front porch looking in...."  I ran in to grab the camera to preserve the beautiful home I am blessed to come home to after a quick run. 

And, if you look closely into the window to our kitchen, you'll see the manliest of men holding a baby on his hip while stirring the spaghetti sauce on the stove. Am I the luckiest or what?

Pretty Pretty Baby!

This weekend I fulfilled a dream of mine.  It all started years ago when my mom had my ears pierced when I was six weeks (yes, weeks) old.  I never liked wearing earings as a kid, but I have always thought a little baby with earrings is the most irresistable, cutest little thing possible!  Having my ears pierced as a baby my mom and I never battled over when to have them peirced, who was going to take care of them, or other typical struggles over pierced ears.  I also pretty much neglected my piercings for a good decade as a child and they never closed up.  I just took for granted that I had my ears pierced and I could use them or not as I chose. 

Having a girl baby after two boy babies means a lot of fun in the form of pink, hair bows, coordinated "outfits," and now jewelery accessories.  I was an athletic tomboy, and I suspect with two big brothers Sis will eventually follow this route as well.  But, I also want her to know that its OK to be pretty and feminine at the same time, and to have the option to exercise her feminity in the form of pretty earrings and accessories if she so chooses.  Its OK to climb trees, run in the dirt, ride bikes, and do flip throws--all with pretty gold studs in your ears.  So, this weekend Sis hit another milestone in her life-- pierced ears.  Enjoy: