Saturday, December 20, 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

Mini Martha Stewart


So I officially fail at keeping this up to date. Now, for real, I'm going to get better!

Alex loves to "clean" around the house. Yesterday, I found him in the kitchen with a chair pushed up to the counter, busily scrubbing away at the counter. Of course, the sponge was sopping wet, so there was water all over the counter and floor. I took the sponge and mopped up the water, then squeezed the sponge over the sink and gave it back to Alex. He then started swiping the counter, then holding the sponge over the sink and trying to wring it out, then back to the counter, then the sink, and so on, until I finally had to drag him away.

Now if only he would keep this up once he's older...




And to illustrate just how helpful he really is, here he is helping with the laundry :)


Saturday, October 18, 2008

More? More?

I finally got a video of Alex signing and asking for more :)


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Getting started...

So here we go. I finally did it. I set this blog up some time ago, but never got around to actually writing anything!

What do you write about in a blog? I keep everyone updated on Alex's adventures via email and my MySpace blog...so there's not really any need for yet another way to keep track of them! So I suppose this'll just be a combination of EVERYTHING that goes on in our lives! And we have many adventures!

So I guess we may as well just jump right in!

Alex is currently going through speech therapy. He's almost 21 months old and should have at least 12-15 words. However, he has 0. Yes, you read that right. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. None. I suppose some of it is our fault as parents. We know what he needs and just give it to him rather than making him ask for it. So what the speech pathologist said it may take is sabotaging his environment. Basically, that means that whenever he wants something, he doesn't get it until he "asks" for it. He doesn't have to say, "Mother, I'd like a glass of milk, please." He does, however, have to make a sign and/or vocalize something that sounds vaguely like "milk". We had tried doing that before, but once the meltdowns started, we'd give in. But we're getting better about that! It's just a matter of catching that he wants something before he gets close to the meltdown point.

With the help of a wonderful speech pathologist and early intervention coordinator, he's learned a few signs. He reminds me a lot of the dog, Dog (very creative, I know), my roommates and I had in college. When you asked him to do a trick, he'd go through all the tricks he knew until he got the right one. "Dog, lay down!" would get a sit, then a shake, then a roll over, before finally laying down. Alex is the same way. When he wants something, he'll sign "open", then "more", then "please". Usually in that order. I suppose they're interchangeable though...at least when it comes to his needs/desires. Open the cookie tin, I'd like more cookies, cookies please. See what I mean?

I'm not sure he quite gets it though. A couple nights ago, he woke up around 10 or so. I lifted him over the gate and we headed toward the living room, him rubbing his little eyes as he toddled along. He came into the room and headed towards the garage door, where the diaper bag is. He started frantically signing, "more more more". I don't think he understands that in order to get more, you need to have some to begin with! However, we understood that he was looking for a drink and hooked him up with a sippy cup. I was just so proud that he actually asked without having to be prompted! I need to get a video of it....