Invaluable Speech Therapy Book and Help

January 27, 2009 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Toddlers 

I recently overheard some moms at my son’s preschool talking about Speech Therapy, and I realize I’ve never blogged about Speech Therapy and some wonderful things that I can pass on about it here in the blogosphere. My son speaks very well now, and we were done with Speech Therapy long before I started blogging…

BUT, someone is always dealing with a child’s ‘speech delay’ as they call it. So I’m sharing what I learned.

My son was not speaking more than a few words when he turned 2. We started to be concerned, so looked into Speech Therapy. First of all, if you are in Montgomery County, MD, you are lucky to have a fantastic speech therapy team and services that will test your child, provide a speech therapist to come to your home, as well as speech therapy classes for parents- ALL FREE.

The last bit of information is the most important: classes for parents; and the most important part of the speech therapy class that I took was the book- It Takes Two To Talk. This book is invaluable. It teaches simple ways to motivate you child to speak and great ways to encourage speech. One suggestion was so simple that I overlooked it: Squat down and talk to your child face-to-face. I remember thinking, “What help is that? I already do that.” But then I started to be conscious of taking the 3 extra seconds that it takes to squat down, look at my son, and then speak. I started to see a difference right away…

This book and class are done by The Hanen Centre, a charitable organization dedicated to the development of speech.

This stuff works! My son went from barely speaking to talking articulately in complete sentences within a year.

This really is a success story and I want to pass on that it is vital for your child’s speech development to take steps yourself in how you interact with your child, helpful things you can do to illicit speech. Just another mistake that I made example that this book pointed out to me: I’d answer my own questions for him,

“Do you want juice?” And I’d just let him nod and reach for the sippy cup that I was already bringing to him, instead of asking, “What would you like to drink with lunch?”

Speech delays are worrisome, but taking action sooner rather than later, will help you and your child. The good news is that speech delays are most times, easy to fix, with repetition and continued effort.

MY WEDDING DAY

September 19, 2008 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Toddlers 

11 years ago, on this weekend, my husband and I got married.

It was the best weeding and reception I’ve ever been to, of course. It doesn’t seem like that much time has passed on one hand, on the other, it seems like so long ago.

It was a great day. Remembering that day, the subject of ‘me’ always comes up in my head: my dress, my shoes, my hair, my makeup, me, me, me.

Then life changed to us: where are ‘we’ going on vacation, where are ‘we’ going to live, what do ‘we’ want to do for fun tonight.

Then a little guy came into our lives in December of 2003… He changed my focus.

What can I do for ‘him’, how can I help ‘him’ grow, how can I make ‘his’ life wonderful.

Who am I kidding, it’s nice to get a manicure every-once-in-a-while… But life grows bigger when you concentrate on other people besides yourself,

and having the responsibility of nurturing a child and all that it entails, is a privilege.

Gotta go: it’s ‘Red Day’ at preschool today, and my son couldn’t be more excited!

THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER VICTORY

September 4, 2008 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Toddlers 

I intended for this to be our BIG POOL SUMMER. I thought my son would be ready to swim on his own and we would actually be able to play, play, play at our neighborhood pool.

Not the baby pool, THE POOL.

Well, intentions are just that. Sometimes they don’t happen.

Sometimes I intend on reading all evening with a good book, sometimes I intend to make a lavish meal during the week- these things don’t always happen either.

During the winter we hit a possible crimp in my BIG POOL PLANS…

My son got tubes in his ears. So what did I do? I had him fitted for custom made earplugs AND got puddy-like earplugs in case he liked those better, and thought we were set.

The only problem was that my 4-year-old son couldn’t stand earplugs in his ears. And I wasn’t surprised. He takes a long time to adjust to something new, as well as being a little stubborn (um… just like his mom).

To make a long story short, we spent the whole summer going back and forth about the earplugs; to my chagrin, I gave in and just held him in the big pool while he tried to swim, keeping his head above water , while crossing my fingers and praying that no water would get into his inner ear canal.

Fast forward to the beach, the second to last week of summer: To go in the waves he absolutely needed earplugs. We sat on the beach, I was thinking good thoughts (please , please). He loves the ocean, he saw it in front of him, he reminded me of a race horse wanting to run as fast as he could into the surf…

“You have to wear your earplugs, I’ve got them right here.”

“Okay.” He replied, as he sat down, criss-cross applesauce and patiently waited for me to put in his earplugs.

DONE.

Are you kidding me? It was that easy?? Then he ‘decided’ that he loves his earplugs…

And finally, on Labor Day, at the pool, he wore his safety vest, his earplugs and swam (for a few feet),

IN THE BIG POOL.

That was our last day of summer vacation.

UGH! I’m filing this away for future debates/compromises/deals/motivations/bribes .

Well, we’re definitely ready for next summer.

DON’T YA JUST HATE IT WHEN…

September 3, 2008 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Toddlers 

Don’t ya just hate it when… you are driving around (without KIDS),

doing errands or shopping,

just having time by yourself,

and all of a sudden you realize that you’ve been listening to the Laurie Berkner Kids CD– THE WHOLE TIME!

And you realized it because you’ve been singing or humming along with it.

BACK TO SCHOOL AND BACK TO BUSINESS

September 2, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Toddlers 

We’re back;

back to school, back to business, back to basics.

I’m psyched, it’s the start of another season and another excuse to de-clutter and reorganize.

My son likes his teacher, We love the school and he has a lot of old and new friends in his class.

Life is good;

Of course, this was the first day of his last year of preschool…  And he only went today from

10:00 – 10:55am.

AND THE WINNER IS…

August 1, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Toddlers 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls… we have a winner! My 4-year-old son was witness to the picking of a random number by Random.org.

Our winner for the Little Hat Giveaway is …

Lyn C., the number 7 comment!

Thanks to all who entered! Thanks to The Little Hat Company for providing a free hat of the winner’s choice!

REMEMBER: It’s now August. Keep those little ones covered with sunscreen and covered in hats !!

LAST CHANCE: LITTLE HAT GIVEAWAY

July 30, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Toddlers 

LAST CHANCE, READERS! The Little Hat Company GIVEAWAY ends Thursday, the 31st at midnight!

So leave a comment and be entered into the drawing to receive a free hat of your choice from the fabulous Little Hat Company of Maine.

These hats are adorable and a great addition to sunscreen for little ones!

Leave a comment and enter now!

Scroll down to read the original contest post below.

THE LITTLE HAT GIVEAWAY!

July 21, 2008 by · 16 Comments
Filed under: Toddlers 

It’s a hot summer here in DC… and humid.

Did I mention humid? Ah, but that’s what DC is known for, right? We’re merely fulfilling destiny and giving people what they want…

But I digress.

Anywhere you are it’s imperative to keep your little kiddies protected from the sun. Sunscreen is essential. I like to use the SPF 50 on my son. My little guy also has 3 pairs of sunglasses and (thankfully) loves to wear them.

But most importantly, it’s good to get the little ones used to wearing hats. My little one loves baseball caps, which are great for shielding little faces from the sun.

However, after a look at the The Little Hat Company website and taking a gander at all their adorable hats for boys and girls, I had to contact them and they’ve graciously agreed to sponsor a contest!

Leave a comment on anything you do to keep your little ones safe from the sun. That’s it.

A winner will be selected at random on July 31st. I’ll then contact the winner by email and you can pick out your favorite hat and the size you want and The Little Hat Company will send it to you.

It’s that easy!

In the meantime, check out The Little Hat Company to look at some adorable hats.

I’m so glad I found out about this company…

Thank You to Andrea’s Recipes for putting them on my radar!

Leave Your Comment!

I’LL GET AN UNINTERRUPTED SHOWER SOMEDAY

July 18, 2008 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Toddlers 

Yesterday afternoon, after my son and I had been out-and-about all day long,

I was hot, and sweaty, and dirty.

He was content playing in our office/playroom (every room in our house has become some sort of playroom) just off the kitchen. This room was originally designed to be a spare bedroom (I think) so it has a full bathroom attached to it.

So I did what any good mother would do and told my son while he was playing with his Leapfrog reader and other cool games, that I was going to take a quick shower.

‘This is perfect,’ I thought. I’ll be able to hear him if he needs anything. I won’t be upstairs in the shower. I’ll be right in the attched bathroom.

So I get undressed upstairs quickly, put on a robe and come back down; my son is still playing contently.

I get in the shower;

bathing- done,

shaving my legs- done.

I put a ton of shampoo/conditioner in my hair (the 2-in-1 kind because, after all, us mothers have to be quick taking care of ourselves), no sooner did i do this, that I hear the pitter-patter of little feat into the bathroom…

I heard the toilet seat go up.

“Are you going pee-pee?” I asked.

“No, BM” My son said.

I worked through the stuff on my head at a turbo speed. Okay, I’m rinsing, I have tons of suds in my eyes.

“Mommy, you need to get out of the shower!”

“Why honey?” (I’m stalling while furiously trying to rinse my hair)

“I need you to wipe my bottom”

“Okay, hold on.”

“Mommy, I need you.”

I jumped out of the shower, still a little sudsy, and simultaneously put on my robe, got a Kando wipe, wiped his bottom and helped him pull up his underwear.

“Thanks Mommy.”

“No problem, sweetheart.”

“Mommy, I still see bubbles in your hair. You tell me that I have to rinse off well when I take a bath. I think you better get back in the shower and rinse off better.”

“Thanks… I will.”

And he trots out of the bathroom back to his games; it never occurs to him that I interrupted my shower to wipe BM from his bottom.

ahhhhhhhhhh

Maybe this weekend I’ll get an uninterrupted shower; I can dream can’t I?

CARTOONS DON’T MAKE SENSE!

July 16, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Toddlers 

It’s summer and most of the time my little guy and I are outside, at the pool, or at the park. But running around outside all day is fairly exhausting to me, so my 4-year-old usually needs some down time in the late afternoon.

The other day we turned on WordWorld, a wonderful show that teaches children how to read, plus it’s pretty clever and cute.

So we’re watching it, leaning back on our couch and it occurred to me that the dog on WordWorld is the only animal that can’t talk; the duck can talk, the bear, even the frog and the ant can talk.

An insect can talk but not the poor dog?

And then I thought, “Dogs can never talk on cartoons, they are everybody’s, even other animals’ pets…

Why is that?”

Oswald the Octopus has a pet dog that can’t talk… His friend Daisy can talk and she’s a PLANT!

And I’m not even acknowledging the fact that Oswald lives on land and not in the sea.

Pluto is another dog that can’t talk… and his owner is a mouse,
granted, a very famous mouse, but still, just a mouse.

Poor Pluto, he is also the only cartoon dog to be subjected to being in the same cartoon with
the only dog in cartoon land that can talk and wears clothesGOOFY!

How must Pluto feel? Why isn’t Goofy a pet?

The inconsistencies in cartoons are maddening;
Maybe not maddening, but definitely annoying.

Seriously, Dora and Diego’s parents let them run all over the place on adventures with monkeys and baby jaguars.

And speaking of parents, where are Max and Ruby’s parents? No wonder Ruby gets so annoyed with Max, she’s basically raising him by herself… and I think she’s supposed to be about 8!

And while we are on the subject, Madam Butterfly (on Oswald the Octopus) is the only main character on that show that has a job,
AND SHE IS A SINGLE MOTHER. She’s always in a good mood too. She has a kind word for anybody and everybody…

Maybe cartoons are more accurate than I first thought.

Or maybe I need a hobby.

Or maybe I need to pick up a book and read it, instead of watching cartoons for 4-year-olds.

After all, I remember thinking when I was a kid how wonderful it would be if I could find the ‘real’ Sesame Street… monsters and all.

‘Come and play, everything’s A, Okay. On my way to where the air… is… clean.
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?’


An abbreviated version of this ‘rant’ can be read over at DC Metro Moms.

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