School Party

Caleb had his preschool Halloween party this week. Of course he wanted nothing to do with his "costume" that morning, even though it's not even really a costume (and he wore it last year). I talked him into wearing the shirt and jeans with his boots. I threw his hat into his bag and he eventually agreed to put it on once we got there. I helped out in his class that day, and it mass controlled chaos. I am sure that it was partly due to the fact that they were all excited about wearing their costumes, but I also think that's kind of how his class is.

Caleb seemed very overwhelmed by everything. He did a little "playing" but a lot of lying on the floor and chewing on his fingers. When I signed him up for this preschool, I thought it was perfect for him because it focuses on socialization. But, now I am wondering if he really needs a preschool with more structure. He is very comfortable around adults, but doesn't have social skills when it comes to kids his own age. He is perfectly content sitting in the corner by himself, or laying on the floor in his own little world.

Anyway, back to the party. The "Weight Watchers Ladies" had a bunch of goodies for them, so they got to go trick or treating. He's so excited about all of his candy, but of course he won't eat any of it. Isaac on the other hand, is loving having all of this candy around!

Here are some cute pics I took that day:

His class


Caleb with "Warren" who he sings about at home, and who coincidentally was a cowgirl. And with Ellie, who greets Caleb every day with "HI CALEB!!" and tries to give him a hug.


Cowboy Caleb watching Mrs Johnson sing


Hopefully I will have more pictures of both boys tomorrow. They are getting the H1N1 vaccine in the AM (which I just found out about today), so we'll see how they are feeling afterwards. We are planning on going to the Herda's annual Halloween bash, so hopefully they will be feeling okay! I already had mine, and it hurt much more than the regular flu shot....I am already dreading them getting it. It's supposed to be COLD tomorrow, so I am not sure how much trick or treating they will do anyway.

Reminder

I've been thinking about the conversation I had with Caleb yesterday (see below). Not only is he talking, but he's using his imagination. I was looking through old blogs recently and found this video that I posted about a year ago. He was over 2.5 years old and had just started talking. And even though he was mainly copying what we were saying, we were so thrilled he was able to speak. We were starting to think that he'd use sign language forever. I am so glad that I found this because there are days when I feel like he's never going to "catch up" completely. I need things like this to remind me of how far he's come in a pretty short amount of time!

Lava Lamp

Caleb got a new "lava lamp" from his grandma recently, in hopes that he'd start sleeping better again. We use it as a night light. (His old one was Joel's from college and it stopped working.) He loves it, although it hasn't helped in the sleeping department yet. Here's a conversation that we had on our walk today:

Caleb (looking up in the sky): Where is heaven?
Me (caught totally off guard): Way up in the sky, past the clouds.
Caleb: What it wook wike? (look like)
Me: I've never seen it, but I know it's a beautiful place.
Caleb: My want to go dare (there).
Me: Well, I hope you don't go there for a long time.
Caleb: Why?
Me: I would miss you too much!
Caleb: Well, maybe God will come into my room some time. Den I will show Him my wava wamp. (Then I will show him my lava lamp). I will show him how to turn it on. God would weally wike dat! (really like that)
Me: I think you're right Caleb. He'll love it. (Not really knowing what else to say.)
Caleb: Yah. God will WOVE to see how my wava wamp turns on and off!
Me: (speechless!)

Carving pumpkins

We carved the boys' pumpkins this week. Last year, Caleb wanted nothing to do with it. This year (to our surprise) he dove right in. He LOVED taking the "guts" out and didn't mind the slimy goo touching his hands! (This is amazing because he will barely touch play-doh!)


Isaac, on the other hand, was very skeptical about this activity.


Still not sure!


My attempt to take a picture of the final results. (Isaac was still wondering what happened to the pumpkins and Caleb was having a meltdown!)


I still don't have costumes for the boys. Caleb wants to be "Nufing" (nothing) and Isaac wants to be a "Ah-ball" (football). I have a MN Vikings uniform that Isaac could wear. But, considering that Wisconsin's beloved Brett Favre is playing for the Vikings this year, I don't think it would be wise to put our baby in a costume like that!

Playing Hooky

Caleb got to stay home from preschool today. The swine flu is running ramped around here. An elementary school in the same suburb as Caleb's preschool had to close for the week because so many kids were out sick. Even though only his teachers and 2 kids from C's class actually live in that suburb and none of the kid in his class have been sick, I thought it would be best to keep him home. At least until I talk to his pediatrician and see what the plan is to get him vaccinated. He should be calling me tomorrow.

We saw C's OT yesterday. To make a long story short, we are not brushing anymore. I refuse to hold him down any longer to do it. We've been down that road before (well, with force feeding) and I am not doing it again. How can brushing be helping him if he's screaming and trying to get away from me the entire time? His OT told me that this is common the first couple days, but as the child gets used to it, they eventually like it. Well, not Caleb. I think it's made him worse. His OT decided that it would be best for us to take a break from all "sensory" retraining and get him back to his baseline. However, we are tying proprioception activities to help him with his body awareness, strength and to help decrease his "sensory seeking" behaviors.

Unfortunately, he really doesn't like to do any of the activities that she gave us and usually throws a fit when I suggest one of them. Probably because they are hard for him to do. (Obstacle courses over couch cushions, wheelbarrow/crab walking, carrying/pushing heavy objects, etc.) I have found, however, that he likes to be swaddled, so we do that throughout the day with his beanbag, and we are swaddling him from his chest to his feet at night. He calls himself "Cawub baweeto!" (Caleb burrito)

Anyway, I am not sure how much this OT will be able to help us. He's definitely a difficult patient. I just hope we can find something that helps our little man out!

Caleb Burrito:

Catching up (AGAIN!!)

I've been slacking with the blog again. I am a bit sleep deprived, but I wanted to get this done before I get too far behind! We've had another busy week! After nearly 2 weeks of thinking sleeping was for the birds, Caleb slept through the night last night. He didn't wake up one time and when I woke up at 6AM, he still wasn't up. Of course I panicked that he was dead because he NEVER sleeps that long. Of course he's fine. We are still brushing him, but I have thought about quitting several times this week. I am starting to think it's making him oversensitive to everything. We have another OT appt this week, so it will be interesting to see what she says....

Joel was gone for the weekend, so it was nice to have my parents here for back up. The boys love it when they come since we don't get to seem them too much. Although we have seen them a lot this fall!

Both boys are getting teeth, which probably doesn't help in the sleep department. Isaac is getting 3 teeth and Caleb is FINALLY getting his 3rd 2 year molar.

I bet Caleb is kicking himself for not sharing with Isaac in the past when Isaac was so willing to share with him. Now, Isaac's favorite word is "MINE!" and does not want to share with Caleb at all! Everything is "Mine!" according to Isaac. When I ask him who "mine" is, he replies "IZ" or "I-gick" and points to himself.

Keep going to see some pics from our week....

Pumpkin Pickin!

We took the boys to get their pumpkins on Tuesday. It looked like a nice day, but man it was cold (42 degrees) and windy. We didn't stay long, but they seemed to have a good time.





And a trip is never complete without little Mister throwing a fit :)

New Ride!

My parents were here for the week and brought a new battery powered Mini Cooper for the boys. It's "fully loaded" with a horn, lights and a real radio. My dad used to have original Mini Cooper's when I was young. (And I still have nightmares about pushing one of them down Main Street after we broke down...just kidding Dad!) He recently bought a Mini Cooper truck, which is his new "baby."

Children's Museum

My mom and I took the boys to the Betty Brinn museum on Friday. I haven't been there in years and it's really been improved since then. There was so much to do that they didn't even get to play with everything. The boys had so much fun and I am glad we went. Of course I was nervous about all the germs, but I was very impressed with how clean it was, and saw several girls cleaning/wiping down stuff the entire time we were there. My mom got them a membership, so we can go any time we want now! THANK YOU!!








Isaac's favorite part of the day:

Overload

There is a lot going on with Caleb right now. Don't worry, he's physically healthy at the moment, but we are overloaded with information from our recent appointments. I am not sure how much we will share at this time, but please keep us in your prayers as we make some difficult decisions in the next few months.

One of our appointments was with his occupational therapist. Caleb's test results didn't really surprise me. He has been diagnosed with sensory processing disorder/sensory modulation dysfunction. He's also very delayed in some areas of development. To try and help him with all of his sensory issues, meltdowns, anxiety, and distractability, we started a brushing protocol. It sounds crazy, but we use a special brush and "massage" him (called brushing) every 2 hours while he's awake. When we first started, it was a nightmare. He yelled, screamed, kicked and tried to escape and also had an increase in his meltdowns. After 3 days of this, I contacted his OT and she said it was a good thing he was acting like that because it meant that the technique was "working." Now, unless he's tired, he likes to be brushed. I have even caught him brushing himself a few times. I cannot say that we have seen much of a change in his behavior though. Maybe it's too soon to see...

We have, however, seen a huge change in his sleeping. For about 2 weeks before we started brushing him, he was sleeping through the night (7-8 hours) in his own bed. It was amazing. But, since we started this new therapy last week, he's not sleeping at all. He won't nap, it takes forever for him to fall asleep at night, even though he's clearly exhausted, and he's up every hour a night again. And today, he was up at 2AM for the day. (And then still wouldn't take a nap.) It's like his brain is constantly going.

I spoke with his therapist and she was very concerned. She doesn't want us to quit brushing him yet, but gave me some things to try tonight. It still took an hour for him to fall asleep, but I am praying that he'll have a restful night. Otherwise we're really going to have to reconsider brushing him, even though his OT really feels that this type of therapy will be good for him.

I think the plan is to work on his sensory issues first and then tackle the areas in which he is delayed. We are already working hard at getting his hands stronger, although everything we are supposed to do, he hates (feeding himself, playing with play-doh, crawling around on the ground, holding a pencil correctly, etc.)

I asked his teachers how he's doing this week, and one of them said, "Yes, we do have to redirect him frequently, he worries a lot, and he doesn't participate much. But once in a while we see that big smile and he answers a question. We know he's in there!" Hopefully this new therapy will help "that" Caleb to come out more often.....

Crackin me up!

Even though Caleb refused to nap today, he took FOREVER to go to sleep tonight. He kept yelling for me and had every excuse under the sun moon why he needed me or didn't want to sleep ("My pillow hurts," "Dis bwanket too scwachy," I not want to go to pwee-school.")

He even had Isaac concerned and he was yelling, "Day-yub? Day-yub?"

The last time I went into his room, he was crying. I asked him what was wrong and he told me "Some-fing wong wif my eyes." (Something wrong with my eyes.) I asked him what was wrong with them and he said, "Day keep cwosing and not stay open." (They keep closing and not stay open.) I told him they were closing because his eyes were tired and they needed to rest. He replied "I WANT DEM OPEN! NOT CLOSE!!"

Just like his Mommy

(Well, minus the boots!)


And no, it's not warm enough to wear shorts these days. I took these pics a couple weeks ago when it was actually semi-warm around here! I hope we can get in a couple more days at the zoo, but it does not look promising since it's going to be in the 40's this week!

Here's a couple more from the zoo that day:

1st Ice Cream Cone

Week in Review

The boys and I ventured to MN last Wednesday after preschool. Caleb was once again terrible in the car. I don't think he slept for more than 15 minutes. And Isaac would have taken a longer nap if C hadn't screamed almost the whole way. It took us 7.5 hours to get there. Enough said :)

I cannot believe how crappy the weather was. It was beautiful when we left WI, and by the time we were in MN, it was raining. And it didn't stop raining until Saturday night.

We still had a lot of run though. The boys did amazingly well being cooped up inside all week. We went to my dad's office and the boys charmed the ladies. And we went and visited my mom's classroom too. We also watched a lot of volleyball, visited a farm, visited some friends, and just hung out with Bedstemor and Papa. I sure wish we lived closer!

The ride home on Sunday was MUCH better. Caleb actually fell asleep right away and slept for about 30 minutes. I think that helped him not be over tired and he was content watching movies for most of the way. They both started screaming with about an hour left, but I'll take that over them screaming the whole way. It "only" took us 7 hours to get back home.

Here's an example of how smart/stubborn Isaac is. We stopped at a rest area and I told the boys they could pick a snack out of a vending machine (I had a whole grocery store supply of snacks in the car, but vending machines apparently have better snacks.) Isaac chose M&M's and I accidently chose "dark" M&M's which come in a purple bag. I didn't think Isaac would notice, and he didn't until we got outside. He finally realized that it wasn't the "normal" brown bag and he threw it down on the ground and started stomping his feet and screaming. People were looking at me like, what in the heck is his problem? I opened up the bag and showed him that they were M&M's and that just made him scream louder. I ended up going back to the car for more money and got him the other bag. He instantly stopped crying and went on like nothing had happened. And the funny thing is, I never even opened that bag and was giving him the dark ones! Such a little stinker!
Read the next few posts for more about our trip.....

Gym rats

One of the reasons I wanted to go to MN was to watch Annemarie play volleyball. We took the boys to her volleyball game on Thursday night. We were late getting there (because someone was taking FOREVER to eat supper), so we only got to see her play for a few minutes. I wanted to stay for the next game since I also know girls on the varsity team (It's hard to believe that some girls I used to babysit for are seniors!). Caleb loved watching them warm up and wanted to stay and watch the game. Isaac, not so much. He was screaming and crying because he wanted to play with the balls, so we decided to leave. As I was getting C's coat on, Isaac laid down on the gym floor with his blanket. I was really tempted to just let him fall asleep there. But, I decided to be a good mom and take them home.

Annie had a tournament on Saturday too, and since I haven't gotten to watch her play for a long time, I wanted to make sure I saw a few games. I was going to just take Caleb with me, but of course Isaac freaked out. So, we all went. They were really good for the first match (2 games). Caleb sat with me during the second match, but Isaac and my mom ran around in the halls.

Here are a few pics (My mom found these shirts at Gymboree...my hometown team is maroon and gold):

Caleb and I passing time while the teams warmed up:


We took them home and gave them lunch and then I put them down for a nap, which I hear didn't last very long. My mom let me go back to the gym and watch the rest of the tourney and she stayed back with the boys. (They had a lot of fun making cookies after their naps.) Annie's team won the tournament...YEAH!!

Down on the farm

As you all know Caleb and Isaac LOVE anything and everything John Deere. I grew up in a farming community, but didn't live on a farm. But, I know a lot of people who who live "in the country." My friend Matt has been offering to show the boys his real tractors for a long time. I finally took him up on his offer this weekend, even though it was super cold out. Matt was hoping to take Caleb on the combine in the field with him, since they are in the middle of harvesting. But it rained 4.5 inches in 3 days while we were there, so the fields were way too wet. But, the boys loved the fact that the tractors/combines were in the sheds and they got to sit on them and "drive" them. I had forgotten how BIG tractors really are! Matt was impressed how much Caleb knew about everything. He is still talking about "Matt's farm." My pictures didn't turn out good, but here's a few.

It's hard to see, but Caleb and Matt are up in the cab:


Isaac on the lawn mower and Caleb in the combine tire:


More tractors:


The backhoe


Isaac on the "old" tractor:


Caleb and Matt:

Joel's project

While we were gone, Joel put laminate flooring in our den/playroom. The carpet was getting so bad that even the steam vac wasn't making it completely clean . He also decided that the den and our front living room needed ceiling lights, so he put them in too. Everything looks so nice. I don't have "before" pics but here is what the den looks like now. (Although we still need to put the armoire back in, hang the pictures back up, add a rug, fix the fireplace padding, and put all the toys back in.) It won't look this open/clean for long!