What a difference a year makes.

A year ago we started the whole process of having Zack evaluated because of his lack of speech. Well what a year we have had with him. From the time of the first evaluation in January 2008 to the second one in June 2008 he still hadn't had any improvements in his speech. Still the same 5 words he was saying for over a year. Finally in late July a therapist started coming to the house to work with him once a week. He took to her immediately which is why I believe he has done so well. By the end of August he had added 9 more words to his vocabulary. I was thrilled to say the least.
Now just 4 months later you can not keep this child quiet...at all. There isn't anything he won't at least try to say. Even if he doesn't say it right or perfectly he is still doing incredibly well. I would say he talks in sentences but that is a lie...it is more like paragraphs!
I look back and think wow I couldn't wait for him to talk so we could communicate more than just with some sign language signs that we used. Now there are days I wish he would just keep quiet for 2 minutes. (I feel like an awful mom for saying that)

Here is a conversation that happened today.
Zack ~ "Mommy, where Daddy"
Me ~ "He's working"
Zack ~ "Why?"
Me ~ "So he can make the pennies" (long standing phrase we have with Zack since he gets pennies for his piggy bank)
Zack ~ "Mommy...So Why?"
Me ~ "So we can live in the house we live in"
Zack ~ "Um So Why?"
It went on like this for 5 minutes before I finally just said "I don't know".

I can handle the "why" questions but the "So Why" is just flat out annoying the crud out of me.

I fear that when he starts school he is going to be one of those kids who is always getting in trouble because he can't be quiet when the teacher tells him to. Note to self: Give the teacher Kris' cell number let him get the your kid is in trouble again calls.

Next month he is going to be getting another evaluation done to see how far he has come and to see if he still needs the therapy. If he needs it at all it will be for articulation.

I still got it.

Last night I played a couple games of Scrabble with Lilly, Kris and David. I have got to say it... I kicked Butt. Poor Kris, I am such a brat when playing word games with him. I am sure I deflated any ego he may have had. It got so bad David and Lilly were harping on him and I don't think they will let him forget any time soon.
Sorry Kris but it is just so much fun picking on you when we play games.

My Favorite Flower

Merry Christmas.

I hope your Christmas was a merry one. We had a great one. I think all in all everyone was pleased with their gifts and the fact that we were all together.

Zack went to bed late last night so he was a little cranky trying to get him to bed. This morning he woke up and was excited but still a little unsure of all that transpired while he was sleeping. After all that Santa is a sneaky one coming while your sleeping and being so quiet you never hear him.
We let him 'ride' his new bike while we were getting breakfast ready. We decided to eat first then open gifts otherwise Zack would never have eaten.
He really got the hang of tearing open the gifts. A few times I had to snatch some out of his hands that were for other people. Once we finished opening gifts all he wanted to do was play trains. Kris had a time trying to convince him that Santa left one upstairs. First he checked under the tree in his room, nothing. So he went to the playroom opened the door and was all shades of excited to see the train table with tracks already set up. At this point we lost him. He wanted nothing else to do with anything other than play trains. It has been like that all day.
When my parents were leaving Zack wouldn't come down but he did yell from the top of the stairs "Goodbye Grandma and Grandpa, Come again and bring pie".
Priorities... trains and Grandmas Pie what more can a 2 year old ask for?

Oh what a night

Can we say disaster?

Last night we decided to go to a festival of lights. I have been looking forward to it for a few weeks now. So after dinner we head that way. It was probably a 40 minute drive just to get there.
We pull in the entrance and I hear Kris say "hum, maybe I should have gotten gas first". I look over and there is less than a 1/4 tank of gas! Not a good start to our adventure.
After being in this long line of cars for about 45 minutes or so I start to feel nauseated. After about 1.5 hours of being in this line just to get into the park to see the lights David and I take a little walk to the bathrooms (aka porta potties). The fresh air didn't do me any good at all.
2.5 hours after arriving we get to the entrance, I took Zack out of his car seat so he had a very clear view of everything that was there. (we were barely moving 5 miles per hour). At this point he tells me his belly hurt. Oh great. We get done and quite frankly I didn't see it all for having to close my eyes ever now and again.
We stopped at the gas station Zack is going nuts crying. As soon as we started to pull away he got sick. Not fun. Cleaning him and the truck up on a freezing cold night was awful. Poor kid was shivering so bad. Thank goodness I had a spare hoodie I left in the car.
Today he is acting fine. I am fine and now I have a ton of extra cleaning to do, the car seat, the clothes, my truck. If I get a chance to see the pics Kris took for me I will post some.
Maybe we will try again next year...