Sent Items

After we got back from Virginia, we set up an email account for Nate so he could get emails from Mimi and my sister and brother. Although Nate can read, he can't really write yet, so he usually dictates his emails while I type. Here are some of his sent messages:

hi mimi today i had a great day at school. alright. then i went to the playground in Miss Karen's class. Alright. See ya later. Bye bye.

Lulu thank you for writing me an email... it's so big. So, you should come and visit us at California. okay? I really really want to go to Virginia.... okay New York instead. I love you Lulu. Bye bye

yes mimi we got the package. thank you for the brownie mix. is it for my birthday on may first? great! OK, bye.

lulu
what is new york like? does it have all the things? does it have trains? and shuttles? and airplanes? does it? great! OK, bye.

mimi, thank you for sending me an email. school was good. i played and played and played and played and played and played for like 20 hours. alright, talk to you later. bye

Auntie Jennifer I really love you very much. I want to come over to your house in a little while.
I'm all done with breakfast. I had pancakes for breakfast. OK bye.

Hi Daddy! i would love to play Wall-E! i was so excited that you wrote to me. soooo, i would really like to do something with you. soooo, i would love to play ticklefest with you after Wall-E. OK, bye.

And some he has written and sent on his own without my knowing:

lulunate

jcjgdsyafgygsysdeyuhjnkw

uncle greg natenot

miminate

Quilt

I finished the quilt top for our bed a couple of months ago, but I never took pictures. I unfolded it yesterday to take these and also measure it, since I'm finally going to make the back for the quilt. (I'd been waiting all this time for the fabric I ordered; I'm part of a buying group that gets a discount on fabric, but sometimes it takes a long time for orders to arrive.) The backing fabric is a cute white with aqua polka dot. Once I get it put together and decide which fabric to use for binding, I'll send it all off to be quilted!

Stair lover

I started taking the gate off the top of the steps last week to Levi's absolute delight. His favorite part is the descent:

Nate's first video game experience

Jon brought home the WALL-E video game for Playstation last week, and he and Nate have been playing it together. Yesterday, Nate played it by himself for a while. I just had to record how precious and sweetly sad he looked trying to get the game to do what he wanted.

Peekaboo

Kiddos

In the picture with Jon, Lucy was being a little bit disagreeable. But she cheered up for the next picture when her favorite person (Daddy) did something funny.

Good food find

I just took out some raw pine nuts I've had in the pantry for a while and gave some to Levi. They are perfect because they are pretty soft, and they are loaded with good fats and protein. Yay for easy lunch foods!

Books!

These arrived today (bought with some Barnes & Noble gift cards--thanks Lucy and Greg!). I can't wait to sit down tonight and decide which one I'm going to read first. New fiction!--I'm in heaven.

Just for fun

Some old pictures:

2007




2008






2009

Whoa

This lake is our street.




And this waterfall is a dirt hill next to our house.




Praying our garage doesn't flood!

Update 1/21/10 - Our garage was fine and the street is driveable again. Yay!

ABA

I can't remember what I've mentioned on the blog about Levi's therapy, but his physical therapy was completed in December. He then qualified for 6 hours/week of applied behavioral analysis (ABA), the same play-based therapy Nate did. The ABA started today, and I like his new therapist, Caroline. The therapy is at our house Mondays and Wednesdays 8:00-10:00 a.m. (I realize that only adds up to 4 hours/week, and I'm not sure what the discrepancy is about but will find out about that this week.) The in-home aspect is nice in that we don't have to leave the house or be 100% "ready for the day" by the time the therapist arrives at 8:00; however, it also means that Lucy wants to be involved. Today it just felt like she was in the way a whole lot. I guess that will get better in the next couple of weeks as my involvement in the therapy lessens and Levi can do more one-on-one time with Caroline.

I'm very excited to have him starting in ABA so young. Even though we don't know for sure what delays he does or doesn't have, it really can't hurt to have him in therapy.

Annoyed

I just spent 2 fruitless hours trying to get a duplicate charge taken off our checking account. One of those hours involved running three children from car to store in the rain (one umbrella, but it didn't help much), then trying to wrangle those unruly children (whose kids WERE those, anyway?) while the store associates spent 30 minutes having no idea what they were doing. Another 30 minutes was spent on the telephone on hold. All for a measly $17.66, which still has yet to be returned. Grr.

Today's creations

I cut out all the pieces for these dresses at this month's UFO night (that's UnFinished Objects--the first Monday of each month a group of girls gets together to work on random projects and gab), and I sewed them up today. I have one long-sleeved dress's pieces cut, too, so maybe I'll finish that one tonight.

School decisions

Since Nate will be 5 in May, he will be going into kindergarten in the fall. Jon and I anticipate he will "graduate" from special education at his next IEP, or at least that they will recommend a "full inclusion" setup with minimal to no special help. Because he is doing well, we feel more freedom in choosing where we might want to send him to school.

The first and only place I've visited is Living Word Christan Academy. Cost is definitely a factor, and the tuition at this school is about one-third that of other Christian schools in the area. One third. I met briefly with the principal and also for a while with the kindergarten teacher. She is nice, young, and strict--all great attributes. And get this--this year, there are 5 kindergarten students. They expect close to the same number for next year. I can really see Nate thriving in a small environment like that and with a teacher whose discipline ideas and strategies mirror our own (i.e., parents and teachers should try to address the attitudinal/"heart" issues and not just behaviors; the reason we need to obey is because it pleases God). Both the size and Biblical discipline facets of the class would be impossible in a public school setting. In addition, it sounds like they always tailor the academics to each child (e.g., separating the kindergarteners during language arts/reading time according to ability, or even sending a kindergartener to the 1st-4th-grade teacher for reading or math, etc.). The school is very small, with one class for kindergarten, one for 1st-4th, and one for 5th-8th. If we can make it work, we are planning on sending Nate there in September! (Actually, they have a 3-day-per-week summer program we might send him to first.)
:)

Bath & blocks

When Levi did this by himself in the bath the other day and I laughed, he kept doing it over and over. Perhaps we have a developing comedian.



And all three kids love these Wedgits my parents gave them for Christmas. Here's one Nate built today from one of the pictures included with the blocks.

Fussy Fusserton

Levi has been so fussy that I took him to the doctor yesterday wondering if he had an ear infection. He doesn't, which is good, but then that doesn't explain the extreme fussiness and lack of sleeping. The doctor saw some teeth coming in, so that would help explain it, AND Jon and I believe he could be having "withdrawals" from going on the GFCFSF diet. (If his body had become accustomed and addicted to gluten, casein, and soy, then removing those substances from his diet would make his body go through withdrawals.) I just hope it all passes quickly! This kid is fussy.

This week's pictures

First, Levi taking a couple of steps the other day (just last night he took 7 or 8 steps across the kitchen!):

Lucy's song today

"We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas, and a Happy New Ear!"

"Mama, let's play TEA party now."

That's a phrase I hear a lot these days!



And of course, we MUST drink with our pinkies up:




Mama is good at tea parties.

Food stuff

After returning from Virginia last week, I used my new Vitamix blender Nannie gave me (I love it!!!) to start making hemp milk. It's really easy (though I have to figure out the best routine) and has made perfect results. Levi is drinking the milk regularly, and I'm also adding it to some other things, like Nate's pancakes he eats every morning.

We started Levi on the GFCFSF (gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free) diet a few days ago, and so far it's going well. He surely can't tell the difference--a nice benefit of starting the diet so young. :) I don't think we'll see any positive effects from him being on the diet (if there will be any) for at least a week or two.

Tonight, I made a GFCFSF dinner for everyone: these roasted carrots (so good!) and some surprisingly good chicken nuggets (coat cut-up chicken breasts in egg-hemp milk mixture, then dredge in gluten-free all-purpose baking mix, salt, and pepper, and fry in olive oil). Having not one but two children on this special diet is spurring me (finally--it has been over 2 years) to try more full meals that are diet-friendly. It also helps that Levi is still mostly a not-picky eater, whereas that isn't the case with Nate. I'm also planning on making taco soup this week. I haven't made it in a long time, but it is so good, so easy, and coincidentally GFCFSF.

Some more VA pics

Hope this slideshow works. :)