How did she get the Shiner? U pick

1) Brock hit her with a car
2) She fell off a chair
3) Bar room brawl
4) Lynzy was eating dinner and hit herself with a spoon
5) She ran into the door

By the way, no matter the answer, I feel like such a horrible mommy when I look at her eye. Even though I had no control over it.

Kiddos

A couple funny things our kids are doing:

Every time Steve or I are on the phone, Lynzy repeatedly asks "Who talking?" Meaning "Who are you talking to?" She won't let up until you answer her. Once you give her an answer, she's content and moves on.

Friday night, Steve, Brock and I were curled up in Brock's bottom bunk (it's a full size mattress) reading books. Once we had finished the fourth book, we told Brock that it was time for bed and we were leaving his room. He wasn't pleased about that so he told us this: (pointing to Steve) "You no leave", (pointing to me) "You no leave", (pointing to himself) "I leave". That made us laugh so hard. Not to mention kept us in his room for another 5 minutes.

Lynzy will call me Mom whenever she is trying to get my attention. Not Mommy, not Mama but MOM at the top of her lungs. She is definitely competing with her brothers.

Brock loves playing Candyland. He understands how to play but would rather focus on getting the people cards rather than winning. In case, you have forgotten the game, there is Queen Frostine, Gramma Nut, Mr. Mint, Princess Lolly, Someone Plum and a Gumdrop Guy. (I can't remember the exact names of the last two.) Anyway, he gets upset when anyone else picks the people cards. "I wanted that one."

Wesley likes to inform me as to what the little kids are trying to tell me. Or why they are acting out etc. I think he feels that he is trying to be helpful even though I am way ahead of him on what my kids are trying to tell me. One day, I finally looked at him and said, "Do you think you could stop the commentary for awhile? You are acting like a newscaster." He thought that was so funny. So every now and then, he will give me a truly newscaster performance and break down what the kids are doing as if he is a third party observer.

Wish I had a picture of it

Yesterday was a major meltdown day for Brock. It started in the morning when we dropped off Wesley at school. Brock cried so loud and screamed for his brother, you could have sworn I was sawing off his arm with a dull knife. It was brutal. This meltdown continued in the preschool parking lot where he refused to get out of his car seat and rebuckled himself in. I locked him in the car, grabbed Lynzy and signed him in at school. I also warned the teachers he was in a mood. By the time I got back to the car, he was calm and ready to play at school. Public meltdown scene was avoided...until the afternoon.

Second meltdown occurred at Wal-Mart (I'm almost positive that they are used to this kind of thing.) Brock wanted to walk rather than ride in the cart. So I let him, until he walked down an aisle where I couldn't see him. Back in the cart he went and then the screaming started. And the throwing out of items from the cart to the floor of the store. And the attempts to get out of the cart and "WALK!!!" "WALK!!!" (That was his mantra throughout the store.) We promptly went to the checkout (I was not about to let a 3 year old dictate that I ditch my cart and leave the store.) and for the first time in all of my Wal-Mart shopping experiences, there was an empty checkout just waiting for me and my screaming 3 year old who was now being held by his mommy so he didn't escape. We get out of the store and into the car. Where he fights me on buckling his car seat. That takes about 10 minutes as well as a pull over to relatch it after he has unbuckled it. We finally get home and he again refuses to get out of the car. I unload the car, Lynzy and head to the house. I checked on him 2 minutes later and this is where I wish I had my camera, Brock climbed onto the dashboard, wedged himself between the windshield and the dash and closed his eyes. If I had left him alone, I think he would have slept there. After all the tension in the last 1/2 hour, he made me laugh. I even called our neighbors to come look at my crazy son. They laughed too.

Finally, Brock came out of the car with help from our nice neighbor who didn't feel like wringing his neck like his mom did and we made it to the house. He was still uncooperative and finally I stuck him in the shower to mellow him out. It worked and finally he went down for a nap. Sleep deprivation and Brock do not mix at all.

I was proud of myself for not losing my temper with him even though he would have deserved it. I didn't pull the screaming banshee in the store which deep inside I felt like screaming. And when he finally calmed down and snuggled with me in his bed, I was happy that even when he is crabby, he still loves me and I still love him. Raising kids is hard.

Playing Ball

These are probably the worst pictures ever but you get the idea. Brock's practicing kicking the ball. Soccer, here we come.

My own little Public Service Announcement

I have a good friend that has a 22 month old son who has been diagnosed with Autism. She and I used to talk about his development back when he was 16 months old and she was always concerned that he wasn't reaching his milestones. It became very apparent that Mitchell wasn't meeting the developmental milestones when Lynzy would excel in something or do something that Mitchell could not. Lynzy is 4 months younger than Mitchell and seems to be right on track developmentally. My friend is a very dilligent, resourceful mom and she is persistent that with the right early intervention, Mitchell will be mainstream and ready for school by 5. I applaud her because the amount of work and appointments she has to go to is extremely time consuming and she has a 3 year old daughter to raise as well. She currently has her entire family on a wheat/gluten/dairy free diet, Mitchell has occupational therapy 4+ times a week and he sees an holisitic medical practioner for supplements and detoxification. She has halted the "bundled" immunization shots and elects to have single dose immunizations. She believes that it isn't because of the preservatives in the shots that are causing the autism but that Mitchell's body is unable to process and detoxify the immunizations quickly and properly like other children. She says that most autistic children have a yeast overgrowth and have allergies to wheat/gluten and possibly dairy.

Since Nancy has made the commitment to doing everything possible to assist Mitchell's development, I have noticed a DRAMATIC difference in his development. He waves and interacts with others, his motor skills are improving and he is playing with toys appropriately.

So here's my Public Service Announcement. When I first had Brock, I had no clue what to look for if there were any problems. I think that sometimes as a mom you don't know that something is off until you are around other kids the same age or have another child. I didn't realize that Brock's speech was behind until I heard other 3 year olds speak a lot clearer. Anyway, I have lots of friends and family with young babies and since autism is so prevalent I thought would write this blog as an informational note for others and maybe to be passed on. I found these developmental milestones from the Autism Speaks website (www.autismspeaks.org) and they are meant to be used as a guide for discussion with a pediatrician and does not mean that a child has autism if they aren't meeting the milestone right at the X month mark. I hope this is just a blog entry that no one needs or sees anyone that fits the spectrum but if by chance you do, I do believe that early intervention is the key.

Does Your Baby…

At 4 Months:
Follow and react to bright colors, movement, and objects?
Turn toward sounds?
Show interest in watching people's faces?
Smile back when you smile?

At 6 Months:
Relate to you with real joy?
Smile often while playing with you?
Coo or babble when happy?
Cry when unhappy?

At 9 Months:
Smile and laugh while looking at you?
Exchange back-and-forth smiles, loving faces, and other expressions with you?
Exchange back-and-forth sounds with you?
Exchange back-and-forth gestures with you, such as giving, taking, and reaching?

At 12 Months:
Use a few gestures, one after another, to get needs met, like giving, showing, reaching, waving, and pointing?
Play peek-a-boo, patty cake, or other social games?
Make sounds, like “ma,” “ba,” “na,” “da,” and “ga”?
Turn to the person speaking when his/her name is called?

At 15 Months:
Exchange with you many back-and-forth smiles, sounds, and gestures in a row?
Use pointing or other “showing” gestures to draw attention to something of interest?
Use different sounds to get needs met and draw attention to something of interest?
Use and understand at least three words, such as “mama,” “dada,” “bottle,” or “bye-bye”?

At 18 Months:
Use lots of gestures with words to get needs met, like pointing or taking you by the hand and saying, “want juice”?
Use at least four different consonants in babbling or words, such as m, n, p, b, t, and d?
Use and understand at least 10 words?
Show that he or she knows the names of familiar people or body parts by pointing to or looking at them when they are named?
Do simple pretend play, like feeding a doll or stuffed animal, and attracting your attention by looking up at you?

At 24 Months:
Do pretend play with you with more than one action, like feeding the doll and then putting the doll to sleep?
Use and understand at least 50 words?
Use at least two words together (without imitating or repeating) and in a way that makes sense, like “want juice”?
Enjoy being next to children of the same age and show interest in playing with them, perhaps giving a toy to another child?
Look for familiar objects out of sight when asked?

At 36 Months:
Enjoy pretending to play different characters with you or talking "for" dolls or action figures?
Enjoy playing with children of the same age, perhaps showing and telling another child about a favorite toy?
Use thoughts and actions together in speech and in play in a way that makes sense, like “sleepy, go take nap” and “baby hungry, feed bottle”?
Answer “what,” “where,” and “who” questions easily?
Talk about interests and feelings about the past and the future?

Bodies Exhibition

Wesley and I went to the Bodies Exhibition yesterday afternoon. It was very interesting. Wesley has expressed an interest in being a doctor so I thought this might be a good outing to see if he ended up being grossed out by real human parts. I was a little concerned I might be but neither of us were and we both loved it. My favorite part was the central nervous system where they laid out the nerves in a body shape. Wesley's was the "glow in the dark" room where they were able to isolate all the blood vessels in the lungs, brain, arms, legs etc. It was really a great exhibit and I would encourage anyone to go. Here's the website that we referenced when we looked it up.

http://www.museumtix.com/venue/program.asp?pvt=&vid=701&pid=167966&code=

A tidbit about me

Any idea why I posted this picture? It's Brock's closet and I designed these built-in shelves myself when we first bought the house. It holds lots of his toys and is easy for him to access just about everything.

And it also caused this:

This was on Thursday and it still stings. Also, I think each of my children have bonked my head in exactly that same spot at least 5 times each. You would think I would open my eyes a little and watch the shelves coming at me. No such luck.

Goldilocks

Lynzy has been eating like a fiend lately. We think she is going through a growth spurt. This picture is of her eating her meal and snagging her brother's bowl too. That night, she finished both helpings. They were both "just right."

Parade

I saw a news story about the Holiday Bowl Parade taking place on 12/27 and I thought, well it's free, kid friendly and I desperately need to get out of the house. It turned out to be so much fun. The kids and I loved it and we had snacks, great seats and a good crowd all around us. Plus, ASU was playing in the Holiday Bowl, so my alma mater's marching band and cheerleaders were there. (I don't have the time to keep up on ASU football or anything anymore.) By the way I dressed my kids, you would have thought we lived in Minnesota or something but for us, 50 degrees is cold. By the time we left, it was a freezing 72 degrees. Brock loved the fire engines in the parade.