100 or not

This is my 100th post! Now if only I had something to say! How about a thankful list?

I'm thankful for:

- my two beautiful crazy children
- a husband who let me sleep in this morning AND cleaned the living room while I was asleep
- friends who I get to see and those who live in my computer
- an extended family that's only slightly crazy in the grand scheme of things
- being part of something larger

Here's to 100 more!

(of course now that I look at it, it's my 89th. I saw 99 on my dashboard. Guess I have 11 that I never finished! Ah well, I'm still thankful!)

theme song

I love this song so much - I can't get it out of my head. I'm so glad Darius Rucker went country!

how 'bout one more

because all I'm able to do lately is blog about cute things my kids say.

Jackson: "Gosh Mom, you sure must like for me to grow!"

Me: "Why do you say that?"

Jackson: "Because look at all of this nutritious stuff in the fridge!"

I hope all of that nutritious stuff counteracts the ENTIRE bag of Lay's Potato Chips my children killed this morning.

kira speak

Some new phrases I wanted to jot down.

We were watching baby videos and I clicked on another page. Kira said: "Moh...moh...Baby ight back." (More. More. Baby right back.) She just started saying "ight back" a few days ago, so I was really excited to hear her incorporate it like that.

Today she said, "Daddy...read pease...moh read...Daddy?"

Yesterday, Ted (our cat) was in the kitchen. Kira thought he wanted to go out, so she moved the trash can out of the way and said, "Ted out? out? Ted?" He didn't move, so she walked away shaking her head and saying, "No out." It's the first time she's used negation like that. Pretty cool.

Jacksonisms (and one Kira-ism)

Some recent good ones:

- A couple of days ago, just after he woke up: "Mom, I'm enjoying being a big brother so much! Kira is a perfect little sister!"

- We went to eat with Kam, Teri, and Vin on Friday night. That evening I told Jackson how I was really proud of how well he behaved at the restaurant. He said, "Well, yeah, I didn't want to get kicked out."

- My parents were over on Saturday night and Jackson was treating them to a "40 chapter puppet show." Chapter 2 featured this lovely exchange between the two puppets:

puppet 1: Hey, where's your dad?

puppet 2: Oh, my mom pushed him off of a building.

puppet 1: She did? Why?

puppet 2: Well, he didn't tell very good jokes and he was always burning the toast.

- Kira's newest trick is to start walking away from me, then stop and turn around, hold up one finger and say, "Mommy...ight back." (Mommy, I'll be right back.) Then she says, "Bye!" and leaves. So cute.

What would you say?

I love this post my friend Chrystal wrote about what she would say to a mama who had just found out she was carrying a baby with Down syndrome.

Somebody else's words Wednesday

Loved this.

Kira at 1 1/2

Can I just say

my kids have been SO good today. Even with the busy weekend and early rising this morning. Jackson didn't nap, so Mama didn't nap, but that's ok - he's been in the best mood all day. They've played together a ton. He just chased her down the hall saying, "You get back in here you strawberry tart!" I have no idea what that means, but it sure sounded cute.

And twice today Jackson had Kira cracking up like crazy. He was being silly and she was laughing so hard. I'm so glad they have each other.

5:00 am

That's what time my darling son woke me up this morning. His sister slept in until 6:15. Surprisingly, I'm in a great mood. And I've already cleaned out the fridge. I'll be crashing hard around 2:00 though.


The early rising was prompted by them both falling asleep at 6:00 pm last night in the car on the way home from an action packed 4th of July weekend at the grandparents' house. We went to see fireworks on Fri night and out to the parade on Sat.

They live kind of out in the country outside of the city limits, so Saturday night there were fireworks EVERYWHERE. I didn't even know you could buy big fireworks like that. The next door neighbors (relatively speaking) on both sides were shooting them off and along the horizon, you could see 5 or 6 different displays at any time. It was really cool.

Hope y'all had a lovely 4th, too!

If I must

Jackson was given a Blow-Pop at the Library today. He handed it to me and said, "Mom, will you lick all of this off so I can have the gum?" mmmmm.....Blow-Pop....and it's cherry!

OT visit

Kira saw her OT today. We had to skip last month's visit because Kira was sick, so we'll see L twice this month. We didn't receive paperwork; I wanted to get this down before I forget. This will seem kind of random, sorry!

-Work on tasks that require stabilizing with one hand and performing the task with the other - zippers, pouring from a pitcher into a cup, stringing beads, etc. Start working on zippers, buttons, velcro by dressing big dolls with Jackson and Kira's clothes.

-Serving herself during mealtime. We always plate at the stove, so I guess I should start having some things on the table. Jackson could probably use help with this one as well!

-When she's stacking, Kira likes to push down on the block, almost like she's making sure it's stuck on there. Use tasks like putting coins in a piggybank to work on gently releasing.

The visit went really well. L had these stacking cups and she worked with both kids with them forever. L (and the other therapists, too) are always great about including Jackson during therapy, but this time she was really working with Jackson on skills, too. It was so cool. The bottom cup was number 11, so she would ask Jackson which number was next in the countdown. He would figure out the number, find the cup, and hand it to Kira. Then we'd name the color and Kira would stack it. Once they were all stacked, L had the kids take turns kicking it over. The next round, L would ask Jackson what color went next in the sequence.

They worked with the peg board and she was giving me lots of ideas on using the pegboard with both kids. L knows that I'm considering homeschooling and I love that she really takes the time to teach me and Jackson, in addition to Kira. I also think it makes "therapy" seem more like a fun playtime for all of us, and not like we're trying to "fix what's broken" in Kira.

She also had Kira sort the stacking cups by color - two colors at a time. She only put the wrong colors together once! I was really impressed, because we've been working on color identification, but not sorting by color. She also pointed to and said "cheek" - I didn't even know she knew that word or body part! I really think Kira's best teachers are herself and Jackson. She knows things that I know I didn't teach her.

I'm going to be so sad when ECI is over for Kira. (Although I won't miss the getting ready for visits part.) We've been blessed with wonderful therapists who really get how our family operates. I'm so thankful.