Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Carter is ...

Carter brought these papers home a few weeks ago.  I didn't get out of him what the activity was exactly but I thought I'd share the kind words Carter's friends wrote about him.


My favorite is from Laney.  She wrote, "You are mine".

And this is how sweet Carter described himself ...


Carter described himself as happy, cool, a good friend, 2 brothers, kind of shy, smart, and fun.  I agree!!!

Carrots

Little man tried carrots yesterday.


They were yummy ...


And messy!


Monday, April 27, 2015

Gardening Class

The boys had their first gardening classes of the year last week.  They are doing the Growing Kids Educational Garden through the Franklin Farmers Market again this year with the classes being at Harlinsdale Farm.

Carter and Rylan were so excited to be doing this again.  I was wondering if they would be getting bored since the classes are about the same each year.  However, they were talking about getting to go for days beforehand.  They couldn't wait to find their boots and gloves.

Tuesday was a make-up class for the previous Thursday when it rained.  Carter had a baseball game and Rylan and soccer practice on Tuesday so we had to leave early from class.


The first class was called "Seedy Characters & Flower Power".  It has been raining so much lately that the garden hasn't been plowed yet.  So the kids planted some seeds in trays and then planted some plants in random containers (like old boots, a tin can, and egg basket).



The kids also planted mystery seeds in a pot to take home.  We had to do the actual planting at home since we had to leave early.  So far there aren't any sprouts but maybe soon (however, I definitely don't have a green thumb and a lot of hope).

Thursday's class was called "Potato Power".  We only had Carter's soccer practice after this class so we got to say the whole time.

The kids learned all about potatoes and then got to plant some.  First they had to pull off the longer sprouts.


And then, since the garden still isn't plowed, the kids planted the potatoes in bags of soil that were placed in milk crates.


Hopefully the weather cooperates and we get to get in the actual garden soon!

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Squash

Grayson tried a new food on Friday - squash.


Initial reaction was not good.


But he quickly changed his mind.


Yummy!


So far this guy is eating solids great!


Friday, April 24, 2015

Fever Update

We took Grayson to the pediatrician again Wednesday because he is still running the low grade fever of 100F (+/- 0.5).

Just to be sure we didn't miss anything with the first round of blood work, Dr. Huss did another white blood cell count and everything looked fine.  Grayson has no other symptoms (such as being lethargic, swelling, extreme fussiness, etc) so Dr. Huss doesn't feel we need to do additional testing.  We are still going with this is something viral.

Dr. Huss consulted another pediatrician and she doesn't even consider 100F a fever and wouldn't be concerned.  Dr. Huss still thinks something is going on but is happy with Grayson's development and doesn't think we need to worry.

We go back in about 2 weeks for Grayson's 6 month checkup so we can discuss the fever with him again then if Grayson still has it.


Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Girl Hair

I put a blanket underneath Grayson's head the other day when I put him on the floor in hopes that if he spit up, it wouldn't get on the carpet.  I was getting the other boys ready for their shower and when I turned back around, this is what Grayson had done ...


Rylan announced that Grayson had "girl hair"!

4th Quarter Progress Report

Carter got his progress report for the fourth quarter today.  Nothing was marked as "needs improvement" so it looks like he's still doing awesome!!!


Sunday, April 19, 2015

Sweet Potatoes

I decided I'm just over the trying to feed Grayson nasty rice cereal.  I only tried it twice but it just seemed so disgusting.  We are just going to move on to real solids!

So today I baked some sweet potatoes and pureed them.  I made a huge batch and am freezing most of it in ice cube trays to have lots of individual portions for later.  I made all of Carter's baby food and started making Rylan's (until we were selling our house and premade was just so much easier with keeping the house neat for showings).  I'm going to try to make Grayson's - at least what we eat at home.  We are on the go so much that it may end up being a mixture of both types.

Grayson did GREAT.  A fed him the sweet potatoes twice today.  The first time he had just over a tablespoon and ate it all.



There were a couple of "What the ...?!??!" faces made initially but he quickly got used to the food.  About half of each bite came back out but Grayson eventually finished the bowl.  I fed him some more at dinner time and he did great again!

Here are links to the other boys trying sweet potatoes for the first time: Carter & Rylan

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Grayson's New Tricks

Grayson mastered two new tricks today.

The first is rolling to get around.  Carter did this too before he started crawling.  Grayson did this several times before I took the video and he was over it when I was filming (so just ignore the crying!).


Grayson's second trick is he FINALLY got his toes to his mouth!  He's been trying to do this for awhile and finally got them there.  Carter used to suck on his toes - that may be next for Grayson!  Rylan never even tried this - maybe because he couldn't bend enough with all his rolls!



Rylan's First Hit & Game Ball

Rylan had his first hit in a game today that wasn't off the tee!  He killed it too!


Rylan also had a great, strong hit off the tee the second inning.  He played short stop in the first inning and fielded the only ball that was hit to him.  He ran it to third base to try to get the out but couldn't get there in time (there was no point in throwing it since the third baseman wasn't paying any attention).  Rylan played outfield the second inning and nothing was hit to him.

Finally, Rylan's coach decided to give him the game ball.  It's been killing poor Rylan not to get one since Carter has earned a ton and two this season already.


I'm so proud of Rylan.  He's proud of himself too (he kept telling me as much on our way home).

We had a crazy morning of 4 games in just over 2 hours in 3 locations but neither boy missed any of their baseball or soccer games.  Both boys played super hard all morning, and we love that they enjoy playing so much.

Rylan with his buddy Luke ...

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Carter's IEP Progress Report

I received Carter's latest IEP Progress Report with his 3rd quarter report card.  Here are the highlights:


Goal 1: During 5 minutes of conversational speech, Carter will correctly produce /s/ in all positions of words with 80% accuracy in 4 consecutive sessions as measured by observation and data collection.

Status Narrative: Carter continues to have a slushy /s/ sound on occasion when forming sentences or when talking in conversational speech.  However, Carter is SO aware of his /s/ sound and how to produce a correct /s/ sound!  On a recent activity, Carter correctly produced his /s/ sound in sentences with 82% accuracy!  We will continue to work on consistently using /s/ in conversation!

Goal 2: During 5 minutes of conversational speech, Carter will correctly produce "sh" in all positions of words with 80% accuracy in 4 consecutive sessions as measured by observation and data collection.

Status Narrative: Carter is improving his ability to use the "sh" sound.  He is approximately 56-77% accurate at saying "sh" words spontaneously.  We will continue to work on this goal!


Summary Narrative: Carter is always ready and prepared to work on his speech words.  He has GREAT awareness of his speech sounds.  This awareness will help him make great progress!

Rylan's Class Picture


Front Row: Hayes, Lainey, Caleb, Kennedy, Radnor, Rylan
Back Row: Anna Sparrow, Radima, Ms. Sue, Millie B, Audrey

Crib Nap

Grayson had his first crib nap today.  Like the older boys, he has taken all his naps in the bouncer or carseat.  Today Grayson fell asleep while I was holding him so I put him down in his crib.  (I know, it doesn't really count unless he falls asleep in the crib!)  He took his typical cat nap of 30 minutes.  He's just like his brothers at this age!

But isn't he cute!  Look at all that chunk :)


Grayson does sleep in his crib now at night (at least for the first part of the night until he wakes up - I've been keeping him in our room after feeding him).  He used to sleep so well at night, especially before this long term fever began.  This last week has been really awful though.  He's up a lot and nursing doesn't always put him back to sleep like it used to.  Hopefully his sleeping gets better soon!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Easter Party

Rylan's best buddy from school last year (Luke) had an Easter party on Easter Sunday in the afternoon.  Rylan and Luke are on the same baseball team this season so they are finally getting to see each other again.

No wonder Rylan and Luke get along so well - they are just alike in some ways :)



Lynn and Tim hosted the party at their house.  They rented 2 bounce houses, had tons of food, and put on a massive egg hunt.

The kids were sent off to find eggs in waves based on age.  Here go Rylan and Luke ...


Carter finally gets to go!


I don't think these kids every get tired of hunting for eggs!



Grayson and I did a little hunting too :)



Luke found an egg with some money in it!  Rylan was so jealous!  I heard a rumor that Tim put $20 in a few eggs - I needed to find one of those! :)


The boys had a blast and it was fun getting to spend the afternoon with friends!

Monday, April 13, 2015

First Solid Food

When did Grayson get so big?!?  He totally fits in the booster seat!


Cute boy showing off his neck rolls :)


I finally tried some rice cereal with Grayson today.  I've been wanting to try it with him for about a month but kept putting it off since we have been trying to figure out this fever and didn't want to introduce anything new.  He still has the fever but I decided it was time to start working on solid food.

I used formula to make the rice cereal (I always pumped for the older boys but just haven't been doing that much lately).  Grayson may have swallowed a tiny bit :)  He wasn't trying to push it all out or fight the spoon as much as he was just letting the cereal dribble out of his mouth.


Grayson made an awful face with each bite though.


We'll keep working on it!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Baby Shower

Carter's kindergarten teacher (Mrs. Colasso) is pregnant and due the last day of school.  A few of the other moms and I threw her a baby shower on Friday afternoon.  We rented a neighborhood clubhouse and invited the class as well as some of her past students.

We kept it simple but it turned out really nice.



Ashley had these onesies made for Mrs. Colasso and we used them as decoration since they are so cute!


I made her this burlap banner and also used it as decoration (I've been meaning to make one for Carter's room for about a year now - maybe now I'll finally do it!).


Ashely had a really cute idea for an activity to keep the kids busy.



I'm going to put all these cards in a photo album for Mrs. Colasso as a gift from the kids.  Hopefully it'll turn out cute!

Friday, April 10, 2015

Derby Run

Carter's school had their annual Derby Run today.  The Derby Run is a fundraiser where the kids get pledges from family and friends to run as many laps as they can in a given time.  The run is during school and one grade level at a time runs.

Kindergarten was at 9 am this morning.  I volunteered and helped count laps for the kids in Carter's class.


Carter was a rockstar and ran more laps than anyone in his class!


I didn't end up timing but the kids had somewhere between 25 and 30 minutes to run.  Each lap is almost 0.2 miles and Carter did 17 laps meaning he did about 3 miles!!!  Crazy!

Carter with his buddy Whit (Carter is just a little red!) ...


Rylan stayed home with Brian while he worked and luckily Grayson slept through the whole run :)


Good job, Carter!  I'm so proud of my super hard worker in everything he does!!!

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Tooth Fairy

When Carter's tooth started to get pretty loose, I decided I needed to make a Tooth Fairy plan.  Ever since hearing about my friend Sarah's experience with Mary Grace's first lost tooth, I dreaded having to go into Carter's room to search for a tooth and leave money.  (Sarah's story involved not being able to easily find the tooth, Mary Grace waking up, and Sarah hiding under her bed!)

So a couple of months ago (yes, Carter's tooth has been loose for almost 5 months now), I ordered a pillow off Etsy that Carter could hang from his door handle (it ended up being so cute I went ahead and ordered the other boys their own too).  The felt with Carter's name on it is a pocket for putting the tooth in.  Carter was all for using the pillow and leaving it outside his room - yay!


This little poem also came with the pillow ...


Carter also decided to write the Tooth Fairy a note ...


"This is my tooth.  It looks like this."


"Please leave a note."

I debated how much money Carter should get from the Tooth Fairy.  I've heard every where from $2 to $10 is the norm.  I settled in the middle with $5 (future teeth will probably only be worth $1 each).

Carter was very excited to get $5!  Though he was a little disappointed after school and told me everyone in his class got $10 for their first teeth (though I think he actually only polled a few kids).


I'm so excited for Carter to have finally lost a tooth!  Considering our kids get their teeth so young, I was surprised it took so long compared to the other kids his age.