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 ...

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!!!

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.