Daniel update

Did I tell you Daniel's therapist is coming every two weeks now instead of once a month? Well she is, and she was here on Thursday. She's impressed with the progress he's made although, I think part of what she thinks was progress was really just that he was super tired last time she was here. I mean, he is definitely making progress, but he was not up to par at his first July appointment. Also, his caseworker okayed speech therapy starting at 9 months.

He rolls from front to back easily and often. The day before his appointment he started pulling his knees up under himself which is great (one step in a series of steps that lead to crawling.) And, he's rolled front to back! One time. In his crib, so soft surface probably made it easier.

He now naps with no swaddle and on his belly, but we still swaddle him to sleep at night. He's pretty vocal, and likes to "talk" to himself when he first wakes up in the morning. He smiles often, but he'll only laugh for Brian. And I think that's all that's new with Daniel these days.

First books

Good news! Shalini posted a survey about books, my very favorite things. So today I'm answering those questions and you don't have to listen to more ridiculous things my kids say!

First Book I Loved


A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

This wasn't the first chapter book I read, but it is the first one I remember loving. I think I was 8 when I read it for the first time? Or 9 maybe? I still have my copy and you bet I'll be reading it to Kalena.

First Book I Hated


Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

I'm not much of a book hater, and I'm not even sure that I actually hated this one, but I do remember being annoyed by the characters. In particular I felt like all Anna's problems were her own fault and I had no sympathy for her. However, I read this when I was 19 and I haven't read it since so my opinion could be totally different if I read it now. I didn't hate Wuthering Heights the first time I read that (at 17) but hated ALL the characters when I read it a few years ago. So.

First Series I Read


The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I had read this whole series by the time I was 9 or 10, and I've read all the books many times. I love these books. I could probably have put them in the "first book I loved" category, but it seemed like cheating to put in a whole series. And how could I just pick one?

First Fantasy/Sci-Fi Book I Read


I'm putting two books down here because fantasy and sci-fi are very different!
Fantasy: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

An excellent series.

Sci-Fi: Ender's Game

I think I was 12 the first time I read this book. I love it every time. Also, it's one of the few books that I recommend to basically everyone.

First Book That Made Me Cry From Laughing


Um, none? I rarely laugh until I cry and I've never read a book that funny.

First Young Adult Book I Read and Loved


Twilight.

I'm not going to apologize for liking it. Also, it was pretty much the first YA book I ever read, since I don't think anything was labeled Young Adult when I *was* a young adult.

First Horror Book I Read


The Shining by Stephen King

I can't guarantee that The Shining was *actually* the first horror book I read, but I can assure you that if it wasn't, something else by Stephen King was. I'm kind of a Stephen King fan. I've read many of his books.

First Book I Was Completely Obsessed With


I don't know! This seems like a horrible way to end this survey, but I tend not to obsess over things and I can't come up with a book I've obsessed over.

Your turn!

Almost there

Well, my lovely readers, I'm almost set up on my new blog! Very exciting! (For me. For you it's just Elsha rambling as usual.)

Anyway, still a few things to do, but it's getting there!

I know, I keep writing these!

I keep forgetting to put this on my other posts about Kalena:

She says she's "shooting flies" when she shoos them. As in, "Daddy! Shoot that fly away!"

On a completely unrelated note, do you know how exhausting it is to live without kitchen counters?  Exhausting.

4 year well visit

As you know, Kalena turned 4 in May. But because of the way I scheduled her well visit last year, she couldn't come in this year until July. Anyway, it was on Wednesday and here are her stats:

Height: 3 ft 6 inches
Weight: 38 lbs 9.6 oz

I would tell you the percentages, but I don't have them written down. Both still on the higher end, 80-90% or so. They also checked her eyes this visit which I'd been wondering about. Not her eyes in particular, just when they would do it. They used a chart with shapes and had her list the shapes instead of reading letters. (I'm curious how they'll check Daniel's eyes, since he obviously won't be listing shapes when he gets them checked in a couple months.)

I asked about her tonsils since they seem big to me, and we got a referral to an ENT. I lean toward wanting to get them out if they're big since I had to have mine out when I was 22 and it SUCKED. The pediatrician said her threshold is also fairly low because she had hers out at 16. Anyway, she did say that kids can grow out of oversized tonsils, usually by age 5 or 6, so the ENT might ask us to wait a year and see.

Anyway, that's about it. She's healthy happy as always!

I think I'd prefer butterscotch

Did I ever tell you about the time my grandma made my dad a peanut butter and butterscotch sandwich? Well, you may remember she was basically blind, and we had a Smucker's jar of butterscotch which looked a lot like a jar of jelly. So one day my grandma was making my dad lunch (which she insisted on doing) and she got out the butterscotch instead of the jelly. She realized partway through making it that it *wasn't* jelly but she served it to my dad anyway. And he ate it! Despite thinking it tasted funny. We've laughed it that story many times since then.

Fast forward to dinner time tonight. I asked Kalena if she'd like me to make her a sandwich and she told me she'd like a "peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich." Ahahaha! Yuck.

I guess he knows the rules?

Yesterday I was putting something away upstairs while the kids were playing downstairs (and Daniel was sleeping.) All of a sudden I hear Kalena start wailing. As I came down the stairs I asked what happened and she informed me that Will had thrown the egg (a wooden toy egg) at her face. So I continued toward the room they'd been playing in and in my best stern-mom voice I started, "Will..." At which point I heard his little toddler voice say from the dining room, "I sittin' in time out."

Yep, as soon as Kalena had started crying he'd trotted himself over to the time out chair and put himself in time out. That kid man. He always knows just when to be cute.

Kalena tidbits

Yesterday we talked about Will, so today we'll talk about Kalena.

One of my favorite things is that she has picked up the phrase, "Hey! What's the big idea?!" and uses it often.

A while back she started asking for "a big squishy hug" before bed (meaning a hug where you squish her) which was amusing on its own because she made squishing motions with her fingers and scrunched up her face when she did it. But THEN she started calling it "a big squishy pizza hug" and now it just makes me laugh. Also, sometimes after the hug she'll ask, "Was that a big pizza hug?"Why she added the word pizza in there I'll never know, but she does it every time.

She still says "last-er-day" for anything before today. I think I mentioned that before, but it's still one of my very favorites.

She calls her forehead her "fort-head." Always makes me imagine her having a fortress in her head.

And I'm sure I'll think of something else as soon as I publish this.

More of Will

A few more tidbits about Will.

He says many words as if they begin with an "F." Trucks are "frucks" his crib is his "frib" and, of course, his crab shirt is his "frab" shirt. Also, the other day he told me he was "just hiding in the floset." I never want this to stop.

If you ask him what a cat says he'll tell you, "Mee Mow"

He knows he's not a baby. (We already talked about that.) BUT. He also knows (um, maybe because we've been telling him this repeatedly) that "big boys" use a potty instead of diapers. Since he would like to never use the potty ever, thank you very much, he insists that he's a "little boy." We often have this conversation:
Me: Will, are you a baby?
Will (laughing): No, I not a baby!
Me: Oh, so you're a big boy then?
Will: No, I not a big boy; I a wittle boy!

He's pretty much the cutest.

How's this for creepy?

On and off over the past several years we've had a bat living at our house. One summer it lived between the screen and the glass of one bedroom window (NEVER opened that window.) Last year it lived in the eaves above the front porch. We did some things that theoretically got rid of it, but this summer it came back. (Do you like how I just *assume* it's been the same bat every year? I prefer to think we have ONE bat that really likes the house, rather than having a house that bats seek out to live in.)

Anyway, this summer it was back. And you can tell it came back because you see the bat poop on the front porch. We rarely see it, but the other day I noticed it hanging up there- CREEPY. It was still there the next day. And the next. So today Brian decided to try to scare it away. He was throwing a tennis ball at it, and nothing. Hitting the roof next to the bat and NADA. But he was a man on a mission, so he got out the hose. (I was safely inside while all this was going on.) He starts spraying it with the hose and finally this bat falls down and it's ALREADY DEAD.

YOU GUYS. It was hanging up there DEAD!! Ugh. I'm creeped out just thinking about it. And now you can all go to bed thinking about creepy dead bats. You're welcome.

Nosey Nancy: Books edition

I'm blatantly stealing this "Nosey Nancy" concept from K. Just so you know.

I grew up in a household with many, many books. If fact, my parents had a library put in when I was a kid (and someday when I get this blog moved I'll post pictures of it.) My mom and I inventoried the library last summer and they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,200 books. That doesn't include the kids books. Brian and I don't have nearly that many, but we still have lots. Something like 300? Ish? And about 150 kids books.

I tend to re-read books which is why I buy them instead of just using the library. (I also use the library.) I don't have any kind of e-reader because I'm not a huge fan. I've used one, but I prefer a book. I love having a big selection of kids books because the kids REALLY like to read and I want a variety to choose from. (Again, we use the library, but I still like to own my favorites.) I probably buy more books than I should. Anyway, here are my questions for you:

1) How many books do you own, and how many are kids books?
2) Do you have an e-reader (and what kind)? Do you prefer that or actual books?
3) Are you a re-reader?
4) Do you prefer to buy or borrow books?

Let's hear it!

Toy storage

A while back I talked about reorganizing the kids' toys. What we did at the time was the split the toys into thirds, leaving one third out and two thirds stored at any given time. We tried to split them so that each third had a similar selection of toys, for instance: a set of wood blocks in one, soft blocks in one, and Mega Bloks in one. The idea was that every couple weeks we'd rotate the toys and the kid would have "new" toys to play with.

It worked well for a while. And then we got lazy. So instead of rotating every two or three weeks, we were leaving the same toys out for more like two months. Pretty soon both kids knew that there were other toys put away and they wanted THOSE toys out, but Brian and I didn't want to deal with putting all the other stuff away (mostly we didn't want to deal with FINDING all the other stuff.) Anyway, it wasn't working anymore. Also, it had gotten to the point that all they did was dump ALL the toys and leave them. So we changed it again!

Here's how we're doing it now: All the toys are available to the kids, but they are split up into tupperware bins. They're split specifically enough that getting out a bin basically means getting out one "set" of things. For instance, there's a bin of blocks, one of dinosaurs, one of ponies (my little pony and others) and so on. They're each allowed one bin at a time, and they have to pick it all up before they get out something different.

You guys, it's SO GREAT. They clean up! They play with everything! They don't complain that they want different toys! They even work together to play! If one of them wants to play with one of the road sets (we have a couple) then the other one gets out the bin of cars. It's seriously awesome. Of course, it only works because we have a giant walk-in closet in the playroom for all these bins to go it, but hey! It works! (Also, seeing ALL the toys out at once reassured me that we don't have as many toys as I thought we did.)

Anyway, I'm sure you're thrilled to know how we store our toys. How do you do it at your house?

Quirky things

Just a couple quirky things about children with Down syndrome that I wanted to share. I don't know if all of these things have been studied thoroughly, but we did talk about them at the Sie Center, and they're the experts!

1) Children with Down syndrome tend to be very visual learners and, as a result, many read earlier than their typical peers.

2) Children with Down syndrome (I think this is babies in particular but I'm not sure) spend more time than average looking at faces. I found this especially interesting since studies show that children with Autism spend less time than average looking at faces.

3) Children with Down syndrome are more likely to be left handed. Random, huh? I'm very interested to see if Daniel turns out to be left handed since my mother in law and Kalena are lefties.

And now you've learned something new for today.

Uh, yeah

I was GOING to post some more pictures yesterday, but guess what?? I'm out of the free storage space blogger provides! Which means I have to make some choices about this blog business. Don't worry, I'm not quitting. (I'm much too amused by my own posts to quit.) But I may be moving. And *probably* paying for storage space somewhere. And if I'm going to pay for it then I want to make sure I'm getting what I want.

Anyway. The whole point of this is that I'm not going to be posting pictures until I get things figured out. And I'll let you know when that happens.

Glad I had my camera

The kids got out the dress up clothes today. Will opted for silver satin gloves and a hard hat.

Pretty much my favorite outfit ever.

Some pictures

I didn't take many pictures while Kari and Jonathan were here, but I did get some of Amelia's birthday party, so here you go.

Daniel hanging out with Aunt Kari. She pretty much wanted to trade babies with me because Daniel is so awesome. Okay, it was because I've been blessed with a great sleeper and not so much, in her house.

A family picture! I would be more excited except they go get their family pictures done every couple months. So they always have very nice looking, current family pictures. We have done formal family pictures 3 times-- right after Kalena was born, right after Will was born, and right after Daniel was born. I'm fat in all of them. (No seriously, all three times it was less than a month after I'd had a baby.) Also I didn't realize Amelia was making a face or I'd have retaken it.

Kari and Amelia with some puzzles from my kids. Complete with glare on the glass door behind them. Because I am an EXCELLENT photographer.

Amelia blowing out candles. She turned 3, but we used candles for the antennae so she only got 2. Good thing she has no idea that the number of candles should be the age she's turning.

There you have it. We also went to the dinosaur museum but I refused to take any pictures there, because I discovered (last time I printed pictures) that I take pictures EVERY TIME we go there with cousins. NO MORE! (Even though they have a new "ice age" exhibit. (The time period, not the movie.) And I sort of wanted to take some pictures.) 

The diving board

If you have been around awhile, you may remember that last year Kalena wouldn't jump off the diving board on the last day of swim lessons. (Because of the dinosaur.) So this year she kept telling me that she was going to be brave and jump off the diving board all by herself. Every day she asked if they would be jumping off the diving board that day. Every day I assured her that they would be jumping on the last day, but randomly on Tuesday (2 lessons before the last) they went anyway! I'm guessing they did it early because the screamer twins weren't there (in fact, Monday was the last day they showed up.)

They each got 3 turns, and on the third time she actually jumped! (The other two times they dropped her in.) It was fun to see. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera and Brian wasn't there (he was planning to come on the last day!) He *did* come to watch on the last day and they *did* go on the diving board again, but she wouldn't jump. But he got a picture, so just pretend like they didn't have to throw her in after this:

And that concludes swim lessons for another year.

4 months

Daniel had his 4 month well visit yesterday. (Side note, how is he 4 months old already?!) He is healthy and growing.

Here are the stats:
Weight: 14 lbs 9 1/2 oz
Height: 25 inches
Head size: 16 1/4 inches

I think I mentioned before that there are different growth charts for kids with Down syndrome. This is because kids with Down syndrome tend to be shorter than typical children and tend to have smaller than average heads. I got a copy of the Down syndrome growth charts from the Sie Center, so I'm hand charting on those (and my pediatrician is hand charting on her own copy) but the printouts from the pediatrician's office will continue to be on the regular growth charts. That means I can compare! Fun game for me! Here's how it compares this time around:

Weight:        43%     75%
Height:         53%      75%
Head size:    24%     75%

That's typical growth charts on the left, Down syndrome growth charts on the right. There's a little more guesstimating on the Down syndrome charts since I did them by hand, but he's right on the same growth curve as he was at the Sie Center at 3 months. So, he's average to small compared to typical kids, and relatively big compared to other kids with Down syndrome.

He's actually about the same size Will was at this age, you know, minus the giant sized head. The pediatrician even commented on how much Daniel looks like and is built like Will.

Giant head or not, he's still a cutie.

Happy birthday Amelia!

Kari and Jonathan were visiting this week (but left this morning. Sad.) So while they were here we celebrated Amelia's 3rd birthday (which is actually next month.) I asked Kari if Amelia wanted any special kind of cake and she thought Amelia would like a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" cake so I obliged.

Amelia even knew what it was! After I held the book up next to it and pointed to the picture! 

I didn't turn out exactly like I wanted but I was pretty much just winging it so that was alright. Also it tasted good. I'll pretty much never argue with cake.

Conversations with Will

The other day at dinner Will requested more butter for his roll (because he'd licked all the butter off.) When Brian told him no Will pointed his finger and said, "You not talk like that!"

This morning when I asked Will if he wanted to go to the splash park to day he said, "Yes. Needa fight the water." (He totally did, I'll post pictures another day.)

My mom got him out of bed the other day and the first thing he did was tell her, "Need moofin" because we'd had blueberry muffins a couple days before. (He LOVED them and ate like half the batch.) But they were gone so my mom said, "I didn't make muffins today, I made a frittata." To which he responded, "No tata! Need moofin!" as if he actually knew what a frittata was. He ate it anyway, because the kid is addicted to eggs.

And last, (I know this is not a conversation) he has started saying "yeps" and "nopes" all the time. Always plural.

This kid man. He makes me laugh.

Danny and the dinosaur

Remember when I posted pictures of the other kids in their dinosaur shirts? Well Daniel fits into his onesie now!

We start the dinosaur obsession early around here. Also, I don't intend to call Daniel Danny, but whenever I dress him in dinosaur stuff it makes me think of the "Danny and the Dinosaur" books.

Swim lessons

We're getting to the end of Kalena's swim lessons this year, so here's a little list of the things I'm liking and disliking this time around.

Things I like:
1) The frequency. Lessons at the local pool are 4 days a week and you sign up for 2 week sessions. It's relatively easy to find a 2 week block during the summer with no travel, so we can make it to all the lessons. Plus I think it's helpful for kids Kalena's age to practice every day so they don't forget.

2) The time. (We picked the time, so it seems pretty obvious that I would like it, but I'm still going to explain why.) Kalena's class is in the 12:10 to 12:45 time slot. This means we come home immediately after lessons, feed the kids, and then they go down for naps and generally sleep until 4 or 4:30. Also, it's usually blazing hot by 12:10, so the kids are eager to go.

3) Class size. The classes are all taught by lifeguards and the younger classes are usually about 5 kids each. Big enough for games, small enough for individual attention.


Things I don't like:
1) There is a set of twins in Kalena's class who both HATE swim lessons. Hate the water, hate getting in, hate the teacher, hate everything. And they demonstrate their hatred by SCREAMING for the whole 35 minutes. I'm not exaggerating. My big issue with this is that in the class description it specifically says that this class is for kids under age 5 who are COMFORTABLE in the water. These kids are obviously not. So either they need to be in a different class (usually with kids like this the lifeguard will move them down a class after the first day-- not sure why that didn't happen here) or they shouldn't be in lessons yet. I'm also unclear as to why their mother continues to make them go.

2) The parents and kids who sit around after the previous lesson sessions are over. Back in the day, when I took swim lessons at this pool, parents didn't come in at all. They called classes at a side gate and then parents could watch from a set of bleachers outside the fence. Now, parents bring their kids in and sit and watch the lessons (which is fine.) But then! Instead of leaving after lessons, some parents just hang out. They feed their kids snacks, and let them play on iphones or whatever else. They can't get in the pool while lessons are going on, and the pool closes (and they kick everyone out) from 12:45 to 1:30, so it's not like they can just stay until regular pool hours. GO HOME PEOPLE.

And what I've learned from this is that it's PEOPLE I dislike, not actually anything about the lessons.

Kalena is skeptical of the picture taking.

Splash park fun

Here are Will's instructions for how to have fun at a splash park:

Step One: Fill bucket with water. (Okay, maybe technically step one is purchase a bucket from the $1 bin at Target, but I don't have a picture of that.)

Step Two: Place one foot in bucket.

Step Three: Place second foot in bucket.

Step Four: Stand in bucket.

Then enjoy!

Sizing

My sister has two little girls, and when I say little girls I mean little, teeny tiny, pint sized girls. Here's a picture to demonstrate:

This is Daniel with his cousin Addilyn. Addilyn is five months older than Daniel! She's itsy bitsy! Makes me laugh.

Anyway, they've been enjoying checking each other out.

Kalena tidbits

For today, you get to hear a little about Kalena these days.

First of all, she gets herself dressed. This is both awesome and hilarious. Awesome for the obvious reason-- I don't have to dress her! She even picks her outfits the night before and set them out. Hilarious because of her sense of style. In her mind, for something to go together it needs to be The Same. For example, a pink shirt needs a pink skirt. A purple shirt needs purple shorts. And a striped shirt needs striped shorts. The stripes and stripes combo is her favorite. Like so:

She bosses Will around like he's her own personal man-servent. All day every day I hear things like, "Will! Come here and turn the light on for me!" or "Mister! I need your help!" or (to me) "Mister won't do this for me!" (in a pleading voice, as if I ought to sympathize greatly with his ignoring her.) She's polite, so it makes me laugh, and mostly he is very compliant which just makes it that much funnier.

She is very interested in words, and will often point at words and ask what they say. She's especially interested in rhyming words, although she really has no idea how they work. She just says two words to me and asks if they rhyme. Then when I (inevitably) say no, she asks what does rhyme with them.

And, as always, she loves baby Daniel and always wants to give him hugs, kisses, and pats.

(And, of course, she always wants to keep him comfy.)

ACK!

Well. This was quite the evening.

After we got the kids down for the night, Brian and I were in our room reading. I heard a noise at our door so I said, "Kalena?" since she gets out of bed approximately one million times before she actually goes to sleep. She didn't respond so I figured she had gone back to her room, knowing she wasn't supposed to be up. But then? Then we heard Will's voice. Will, who sleeps in a crib. Will, who we had JUST put in a crib, not 15 minutes earlier. Brian got up to see what was going on and sure enough, there was Will running around upstairs. He was *quite* pleased with himself. We confirmed with my mom that she hadn't gotten him out of the crib. WE HAVE A CLIMBER.

Kalena never once climbed out of her crib. She climbed INTO it on more than one occasion, but never out of it. I am so NOT ready to move Will to a toddler bed, but WHAT DO WE DOOOOO? For now we've moved his crib and we're holding out hope that he won't do it again. See, his crib was pushed up against a bed, so he climbed out onto the bed where he could get down easily. We moved it away from the bed, so I'm HOPING that he won't climb out if he'd just have to fall all the way to the floor. Hopeful even that he used the bed as leverage and *can't* get out of his crib without it to step up on.

Anyway, wish us luck! I'll keep you updated for sure.

Quickly

I'm about ready to go to bed here (at 8:30 pm, yes, my life is thrilling) so just a picture to tide you over until tomorrow.

His shirt has googly eyes! And he refers to it as his "frab" shirt, which is pretty much my favorite.

Dressed up

I dressed Daniel in this tie onesie for church on Sunday, but then he fell asleep just before so he didn't go. (Brian was staying home with a cold anyway, we didn't just leave him there alone, sheesh.)

He's pretty pleased with how good he looks.

Also, it's so hot here his hair is wilting! Actually, I think it's just getting long enough that it falls to one side. I may have to cut it so it sticks up again.

It's a regular occurrence

One of the things I love about having a girl and boys is that we have a huge variety of toys. I mean, we try not to buy only stereotypically girl toys for Kalena, or boy toys for Will, but sometimes it doesn't even *occur* to me that Kalena or Will might like a certain toy. 

For instance, I don't know that I would ever have thought to buy Will a tea set. Fortunately Kalena picked one out and now Will enjoys it just as much as she does. Without her I might never have seen this adorable sight: Will, dressed as a dragon, playing tea party.

He wanted me to know that this is the sugar bowl. 

On an unrelated note, we are TOTALLY getting our money's worth out of this dragon costume. He's worn it for Halloween two years in a row, and he wears it several times a week. (In the heat even! How does he stand it?!)

Cutest car in the history of the world

When my mom asked what Will wanted for his birthday I told her he was getting plenty of things already and asked if she'd pay to have his stitchery framed instead. (You know, the name/birthday stitchery I finally finished after he turned two.) So she did and that was that.

BUT. She was browsing the other day at a store we'd never been to and found something she was pretty sure Will shouldn't be living without. A Buzz Lightyear car. Or maybe it's a rocket ship. Either way, it's awesome.

Will thinks so too. 

Blogging binge

So my friend Laura mentioned that she was going to try blogging every day in July and asked if anyone wanted to join her. I said I might, since I haven't been blogging as much as I want lately. And she posted her first Blogging Binge post today and linked to other participants, including me! Now I'm obligated.

Let's start off with a smiling Daniel. I still can't manage to get a good smiling shot, but Brian has taken a couple and here's one of them.

Daniel isn't a particularly happy baby, he's mostly mellow. (Kalena was a happy baby, MAN.) But when he smiles, his whole face lights up. It's awesome.