Lucy's birthday

Ahhh, our Lucy. I have so much I could say about this rambunctious, opinionated, spunky girl of ours. She is smart and very verbal--but usually only at home. When we are out and about, she is quite serious and doesn't like talking in front of people. I'm finding it a parenting challenge to get her to greet people when they say hi to her. (My opinion: even a shy child should learn to say hello.) But when we're home, she talks up a storm in full sentences. Her favorite person in the world is her daddy. Lately, she has been afraid of random things (e.g., the garbage truck, a texturey koosh ball I showed her in the store, the turtle bracelet Mimi sent for her birthday). Sometimes, when she sees something that worries her or when she's about to go down a "scary" slide at the park, she murmurs in a little froggy sounding voice, "Daddy..." even when he's nowhere around. She also sometimes says, "That scaried me." Lucy is all about doing things by herself, except when she knows I want her to do it by herself. (Example: she wants to get in and out of the car and carseat by herself, but she doesn't want to walk up the stairs in the house by herself. Also, I set up the toddler bed in her room, but she vehemently refuses to sleep in it because she knows I want her to.) She eats anything and everything; if we're at a party or church function, we always know where to find Lucy: by the food. She's a girl after my own heart!

Here are a few pictures and video from the small party at the park on Saturday.

Happy birthday video:


The cake was a Namaste spice cake mix that is gluten-, casein-, and soy-free, so Nate could have it. I also made this frosting and only frosted 2/3 of the cake since Nate couldn't have that part. That frosting was good!

Finding the time

Several people have asked recently how I find the time to sew when I have three kids. Thankfully, all three children take an afternoon nap at the same time (though Nate has been staying awake lately in his room), so I get at least an hour there. Then, I stay up late at night. I don't stay up often, but if it means finishing a project, I guess I get that late-night crafting adrenaline. I've decided sewing is my "outlet," just like reading or taking walks or knitting or cooking might be for others. And then I read this post, which hits the nail on the head: when I sew, I get to finish something!

Fashion statement

Today Lucy wanted not only Jon's shoes but also his socks. It's a great look. (If only the socks were rainbow, too.)




Speaking of Lucy, her 2nd birthday came and went yesterday, and I didn't post! I'll post after our little family party tomorrow.

Unrelated but I wanted to document it somewhere: Levi fits well in the BumGenius one-size diapers now (using 2 newborn inserts), and the medium Fuzzi Bunz actually fit fine too. Cool!

First aquarium visit

The aquarium was fun! Nate really enjoyed it, though I think his favorite parts weren't the animals themselves but getting to lead the way and call out, "Mama, look!" Lucy was fine as long as she had a snack (but that's how she always is!), and Levi was a happy kid as usual. In about 2 hours, we got to see all the exhibits, even outside, though we rushed past some things. I loved the jellyfish!

Aquarium

We're going to the Aquarium of the Pacific tomorrow evening for the first time (here's the special event info). I told Nate about it last week, and he has been mentioning it several times a day since then. I hope the kids love it!

Nate's neuro appointment today

The appointment today went very well! I went in with expectations on the low side since I'm not extremely impressed with this doctor's view of biomedical treatments or with how much she talks (a ton). (This isn't the actual neurologist but the nurse practitioner, Teri, who follows all of the neurologist's original diagnosis patients.) She spent some time talking with us and observing Nate. Although she didn't officially redo the CARS test (bummer), she did have some great things to say about Nate.

• She thinks he would be OK placed in a "regular" preschool.


• She says she can just "hear" autism when a child with autism speaks--something in the inflection, the stilted meter, the way the child speaks; she can't hear it in Nate. She used the words "best I've ever heard" about Nate's language.


• When I asked specifically if it would be beneficial for us to have an updated CARS test on Nate, she said no. Then she said, "If I did the test again on him now, there is a high likelihood he would not place on the autism spectrum at all. Perhaps I could find some tiny thing here or there to put him on the spectrum, but I really don't think so." This was awesome! So although we didn't get a new CARS number, we essentially got the neurologist nurse practitioner to say that Nate probably wouldn't qualify for a diagnosis.

The subject of one-to-one aides also came up, when I said I thought maybe the school could place Nate in a "regular" preschool class this next year with an aide. Teri gave us her opinion of aides in general (a negative one), which was good to hear. Perhaps I don't want an aide for Nate. Teri's opinion was that parents use aides as a crutch in order not to let their children possibly fail or flounder on their own; in addition, aides aren't properly trained.

All in all, the NP was very impressed with Nate and his progress. She also had some nice things to say to/about us as parents and how we interact with him. I left the appointment feeling energized, excited, and proud of our awesome little boy!

Pics and dates

We've had a normal but busy week around here! Here are some cute pictures.







Some upcoming dates I'm sure I'll blog about:

March 27: Nate going to the neurologist for a follow-up and updated CARS test
April 2: Lucy's 2nd birthday
April 16: Nate's IEP with the school district
May 1: Nate's 4th birthday AND Mimi is visiting for the weekend

New bed, no pressure

We got a toddler bed (from Craigslist) for Lucy last week, and I took apart her crib bumper to turn it into a comforter/blanket. I made the pillow with the leftover chenille. So far, Lucy has only taken one nap in the big girl bed and has wanted her crib, which is still set up in her room awaiting Levi in a couple of months, the rest of the time. No pressure--I figure if she thinks the bed is her idea, she's more likely to transition well. She's the type who will resist doing something just because she knows we want her to, so I'm acting ambivalent about it now since it really doesn't matter at this point anyway. (Levi is still in the bassinet in our room.) If she's still choosing her crib in another couple of weeks, I will begin choosing the bed for her.





And speaking of Levi, here is our little business man:

Kids

Nate at 3 and a half months


Levi at 3 and a half months


At first I was just going to put pictures of the boys, but here's Lucy too! I don't have many of her around 3.5 months because that's when we were moving...

Pics

New videos

Both from today:

New clothes

Here are some things I've made in the past couple of weeks.

First, I turned an adult sweater that didn't fit into a fun wintery dress for Lucy. And look: sleeves!

Front:


Back:


I haven't tried it on Lucy with all the finishing touches complete (it hasn't been cold enough to wear it), but I'll take a picture when I do.

Edited to add:



Yesterday I patched together a bunch of pieces of fabric I had left over, and I turned it into a summery shirt (using a pillowcase dress idea). I really like how it turned out.

Ice cream

I heard about this ice cream from a friend. It's made from coconut milk and is GFCF and soy-free (a requirement for Nate), and it actually tastes wonderful! Nate and Lucy had their first taste tonight.





... and Levi enjoyed himself on the sidelines.

Another giveaway: The Conservatory Overcoat

I'm linking to this giveaway because I know just who I'll give the jacket to if I win. :)

The Conservatory Overcoat GIVEAWAY!!!!

Cute stuff

Here is a picture sequence from a couple of weeks ago. Nate is so sweet with Levi. Here he was laughing because Levi kept "tickling" him.








And Lucy "counting." Notice how she skips six. :)

Back home

We returned from Virginia on Thursday with a long day of traveling. Amazingly, the travel days weren't that difficult, but I certainly wouldn't attempt them by myself (without Jon)--at least not until Levi is three or so.

We had a great time in Virginia, and I can't believe I didn't take any pictures! The ones I did take were on my mom's camera.

Jon took Nate to Amazement Square (a children't museum) one day; it sounded really cute. Other than that, we had a lot of good family meals, relaxation, and visits with extended family.

Now we're trying to coax the kids into readjusting to west coast time!