NICK SIGNING AND TALKING

SUMMER SANDALS

Nick cracks me up! He has never really been possessive of anything. But we bought him sandals yesterday and I tried them on him today. And he will not take them off now!! He takes after his Mom in that way I think ;) I love them. They are so cute on my little boy.

MAN, I'VE BEEN BAD AT BLOGGING LATELY...

I used to be so good at keeping up on my blogging. Just been lazy lately I guess. Anyway, not a whole lot new at all. However we have been really good. I just have to tell you, Nick has been so cute with his signing lately!! He is doing really well with the words we have been working with him. It fun too, cuz not only does he sign, he almost always says the word! Which is awesome, because that is what we have been working for. The Kids on the Move is still working with us, and we have really been pleased. We are always excited to see what else we can do to trigger his speaking. So far the words he can sign are More, Please, Thank You, Food, Water, Drink, Open... I think that's all. But it has really been fun watching him learn.

Anyone a Twilight fan? Well, I like OK. Good enough to buy the movie. Clark was even sweet enough to finally watch it with me!! Last week I had watched it 3x! It is a really cute movie. And I promise, one of these days I will read the books... Have to admit though... Edward didn't steal my heart away. I absolutely loved Bella's character though!!

So, other than my Twilight week. Last week was also really sunny and warm!! Nick and I got out everyday sometimes even twice. He loves the park, and just enjoys playing outside. He loved going outside and playing with his toys outside. We got him a little bike with training wheels for him. It is so tiny its really cute! But he is still trying to figure that out. We have had a lot of park dates, and been on many walked with our cute neighbors. Poor Nick already has his first tiny sunburn of the year... I need to be a better Mom! This week has been quite cold and wet. It even snowed again the other day. So, hopefully it isn't too long before we get our nice weather back. I so have Spring fever, that's for sure.

This is a picture we took of Nick today. I absolutely love this kid in overalls! We decided to get him ready for summer, so we got him some cute shirts and shorts from Target. It's funny though, Nick is now 2 1/2 years old. And 18 month shorts fit him perfect still... The 2 year tops still look big. When we brought him to the doctor for his Strep a few weeks back he weighed in at 24 lbs. Which we are happy for! He will probably still be tiny for a while, but he is catching up slowly. Nick loves to carry anything over his shoulder. Especially Mom's purse and the camera bag.

Aren't my boys cute?? I've always thought so ;)

So, I want to know what people think... I have been thinking for a while that I may want to highlight my hair again. It has been a few years since I have lightened it. These are the only pics I have with it lightened. Anyway, just wondering if I should go light or dark again.

Well, that's pretty much it for now. I will try not to be such a slacker and pull my camera out more. :)

MY SICK NICKOLAS

So, last post I had mentioned the Nick was car sick. That turned out to not be the case (unfortunately). His deep heavy cough just got worse and worse, and his apatite went away. It took us forever to lay him down for a nap again yesterday and when he woke up he was coughing so hard and had tears streaming down his cheeks! It was so sad! It almost made me cry. So we called the doctor right away and got him in. Turns out our little guy has strep. I am glad we got him in when we did though. Tomorrow he shouldn't be contagious anymore. Thank goodness!! He is still a bit fussy, and isn't quite himself. But it will be nice to have our healthy boy back soon! That way we can all get sleep again. ;) As always, I'm gonna miss the snuggles.

DAY TRIP & CAR SICK

Who else thinks this winter has been too long? I have so had Spring fever already for a few weeks now... And we have been itching to do something different. So today was one of Clark's days off and we decided to make our way to see the Manti Temple. So we made our way to Manti. It's a 2 hour drive so we kinda thought Nick would take a nap on the way there, but he never did fall to sleep. It is such a beautiful temple! I have always thought so. I love how you can see it clear down the road on the top of the hill. It was quite cold and really windy but we decided to get out and walk around for a while anyway. (After a 2 hour drive, who wouldn't?) Nick had a lot of fun walking around and seeing the temple. After we were done we headed home. Nick finally fell asleep after 15 min in the car. By that time it was like 3ish. It was too funny too, cuz he would yawn while he was sleeping and his passy would fall out and he would search for it with his tiny hands with his eyes still closed and put it back in his mouth. Oh it made us laugh. He is so cute. Anyway, then it started to snow pretty hard on the way home. I'm just glad it wasn't snowing while we were there. Anyway, when we had about an hour left on our drive Nick woke up and kind of looked unsettled... Sure enough he started throwing up!! Twice. Oh we felt so bad! Luckily I had brought loads of wipes and such and was able to clean up most of it, but poor Nick still had to sit in that grows chair all the way home :( We still can't tell if it was a one time thing or if there is more coming. He has had a heavy cough all day today too, so I know he's not feeling his best. Anyway, it still was a really fun day.

Manti Temple.

Front.

Family picture.

Dad and Nick.

Mom and Nick.

LEAVING HAWAII TO COME TO UTAH??

Yes, its true. Nate, Chels and Ava left the wonderful weather and beautiful Hawaii to visit family in Utah and Chicago. It was so fun to have them here and spend so much time with them! My little Niece Ava is the cutest little thing!! Unfortunately they day after they came Nick and I got sick, however by the end of the visit I was feeling better and got to hold her one last time. Also while they were here we were able to get pictures taken of Ava by Carrie and Dan. They do an amazing job always! We miss you guys already!!

Picture by DC Photo Booth.

Picture by DC Photo Booth.

Picture by DC Photo Booth.

Picture by DC Photo Booth.

Nate and Ava. Such a cute smile!

Sleeping away.

Cute girl clothes!

My brother Nate, his cute wife Chelsea and their daughter Ava.

MORE CHRISTMAS... A LITTLE LATE

Just got the other half of the Christmas pictures. So here's a bit of Christmas in March ;). Christmas is the best with kids!!

Cute shirt from Aunt Jessie, and vest from Uncle Chris.

Way cute smile from Nick.

This is Nick's excited face...

And a shot of me... Morning pictures are the best.

I JUST LOVE MY BOY!!

Nick has been so cute lately. He is now officially 2 1/2. So crazy!! Time flies for sure. Nick has had his glasses for a year now and it broke for the first time this week. I'm just happy he made it a year! He is getting more playful and starting to talk more too!! It is so fun to see him grow up. We have been working with Kids on the Move since January and am already seeing improvement. The other day I asked Nick a question and he responded "no"! I was sooo excited I almost cried! Lol, I am sure the "no" word will get less exciting over time. :) We have been working on him with signing too. He is catching on fast. It is really fun to watch him. He is so helpful lately too. If Mama is doing laundry, Nick is right by my side. Oh, and he loves to help with vacuuming. Nick lately is filling his days with running all over the house, reading books, counting things, playing with his cars, working on puzzle/thinking games, bath time and enjoying the nice weather!! I can not wait for springtime!!!!! Nick and I are gonna spend a lot of time outside this year. Well, Nick makes me smile everyday! I am so lucky to have him. Here's a few pictures of my cute Nickolas.

Waving goodbye to the camera.

Playing with his cars.

He loves to line things up.

Playing trains by the window.

He lines them up then they fall off, and he starts all over again.

Playing all over the couches... Love the green socks ;)

Funny curious smile.

A LITTLE BEHIND...

I have been sooo lazy with my blog! We've had a bit going on. I have a few random pictures to post. Not only that, this past week our desktop totally died on us! I can't figure out if Clark did it on purpose or not... ;) He has wanted to put together a computer for so long, and what better time than now?!! So he has been working on our new really nice desktop for the past few days now. We compared it to the price of a already put together desktop and was floored by how much we saved by having Clark make it!! What a deal! I think I lucked out having a computer savvy Husband! So now that my computer is back up and running, I have no more excuses for putting off my blogging, huh?

Clark's pride and joy.

Working hard.

So complicated!! Organized mess :)

{KIDS ON THE MOVE}

Clark and I have noticed for a while that Nick was a bit behind on his speech. We were so happy to find out that there were options for us! We had heard many good things about the Kids on the Move program. So we called them up and had an evaluation for Nick. Sure enough, he qualified. The more we work with them the more impressed we are.

Our next step will happen Friday. That's when they will talk with us and let us know what services they can give us to help Nick work through this speech delay. I am excited to get this going and see how my little guy with improve.

For the past 3 weeks, Clark and I have attended a few classes that they have had available. We learned sooo much even through that! The teacher was great, Jessica Nix. It's actually a lady who is in my family's home ward, so that was kind of fun. It was very encouraging. It pointed out many things that we could improve ourselves, and also many things that we were doing already. It was also so comforting to know that we are not the only parents who are going though this, and not only that... Also that this delay could be so much worse. Here are some highlights from the classes.


BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Be interesting to talk to!! Your child is not gonna want to talk to you if you are boring. Make your voice inflections exciting to them. Work on circle of communication.

Play. Make play "work". Again, kids are not going to want to do something if its not interesting. Use the 5 senses to help them learn, and make it fun.

Talk, talk, talk to your child. Constantly talk and make it fun! Lol, our teacher said if your not sick of your voice then your doing something wrong. Its harder than you think!!

Prompt a response. Sometimes I don't give enough time for Nick to respond. Give your child a few seconds to say something himself. If your child is having fun doing something, make it a game... "Stop & Go". You say stop, and wait for them to ask for more.

Another thing from this meeting was start communicating with signs. Nick caught on amazingly well actually. So it has been quite fun working with him on that a bit. (aslpro.com is a great site for basic signs).

Encourage pointing, gestures and expression.


WHY DOESN'T MY CHILD TALK


This class covered a lot of the physical reasons children don't talk.

Speak in a way your child can understand. Eliminate distractions (TV, radio). Don't use big complicated directions.

Listen to your child! Even when they are babbling, they are communicating with you, and want a response.


SPEECH STRATEGIES: LEARNING TO TALK!


Find ways to motivate them. Gestures, sounds and words... Some kids just need more prompting and motivation.

Imitate your kids with sounds and actions. Follow your Child's lead.

Try not to anticipate their needs. Let them try asking for it. Play dumb if you need to. Once they try to sign or verbalize what they want give meaning to their initiations.

When your child is saying words wrong, or not trying their hardest. Don't push it! It is not his fault. Act like it is our problem. Otherwise they may feel like they are wrong even when they are trying so hard to communicate.

When your child is babbling, babble back! That way they feel you understand and can trust to talk to you. Sounds silly, but it works.

Do not ask children to say something. Make it a game. Exaggerate what you say. Say it in different ways and they will try when they feel they want to. Do not put your son on the spot. When you talk to a friend you wouldn't say "Tell me I have the cutest shirt on." It's just not a natural way of talking. And your kids know that too.

Another key thing, one I for sure need to work on. Do not talk about your child's delay to others in front of your child. If you are at the park and your friend asks if your Son is talking yet, don't make it a huge deal. They will not want to try if they are constantly hearing from Mommy and Daddy that they are behind. Be encouraging!


ANYWAY, this has been such a learning experience for our little family, but I am so glad we have the resources to be able to help Nick with this delay! Thank you to everyone who has helped us in this little adventure, and for the comments of encouragement. It has ment so much to us. We have been so blessed in everything. I'll do another update on how its going in a bit.