Pennington Speech Assessment

On Monday we finally had Pennington's speech assessed. Six weeks ago he was saying 10 words at the most. Now he attempts to repeat anything you ask him to repeat and is learning to say new words everyday. So as expected he is now at age level when it comes to language. The ladies that met with us on Monday said that if he didn't progress over the next six months that we could call them back but we all agreed that the likelihood of that happening was very slim. I'm glad that I got him assessed because it made me realize how much he really does now. It is so amazing to watch children learn things for the first time. Definitely one of the greatest joys of my life.

One of his favorite things to do right is find objects within the pictures. We call it "I Spy". It is amazing all of the new words he is learning from "I Spy". We have to look at "I Spy" books every night before he goes to bed. It is so cute to hear him say "I don't know" when he can't find something in the picture. It feels really good when the next time you ask him to find an object that he couldn't find the night before that he is able to find it.

I hate posting without pictures so here is a recent picture of Pennington.

Storage Unit

I realized recently that we have been paying $88 a month for almost 2 years to store some of our stuff in a storage unit. This is crazy to paying that much especially when we are really enjoying living with my parents and we have no plans of leaving anytime soon. So I have set a goal to get everything out of the storage unit by the end of the year. Last weekend Johnny and Poppy made one trip to the storage unit to get some boxes. The kids had a grand old time helping us organize the garage so we could fix what was in the storage unit into the garage. I turned around at one point to find Piper half way up the ladder. Below are some pictures of my two little climbing monkeys.

Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving this year Mommy, Pennington and Piper joined Nonie, Poppy, Uncle Henry, Uncle Elliott and Leasley at the cabin. Daddy wasn't able to join us because he had to work. It's hard to give up time and a half on holidays especially during these hard times. Mommy picked Pennington up early from school on Wednesday and drove up to the cabin with Piper and Poppy. As hoped for both kids slept most of the drive.

When we go to the cabin the Luangaphays get the "Bunk Room". The bunk room as two bunk beds in it which each have a full mattress on the bottom and twin on the top. While Pennington would love to sleep on the top we tell him he has to be five years old. Mommy tried to get the kids to sleep together on one of the bunks but in the end we all slept together on a full bed. Mommy decided she wasn't going to do that again so she forced Piper to sleep in the pack-and-play for at least half the night and Pennington to sleep on the other full bed. That worked much better the second night.

Pennington and Piper enjoyed exploring the cabin since they hadn't been there since May. There was a few inches of snow on the ground so we spend some time outside. Pennington tried to make snow balls but wasn't very successful as the snow wasn't just right and mittens are not easy for making snow balls.

As usual we ate plenty of delicious food and watched looks of football. Mommy asked Pennington what he was thankful for and he said "football". This shouldn't surprise anyone.

Below are some pictures of the kids at the cabin.

Sleeping

Thursday was the the day. The day I decide I had enough. The day another mom told me it is okay to go cold turkey on your child to get them to sleep. So that is exactly what I decided to do. From now on when I say it is time to sleep, Piper will sleep. No more letting her sleep with me. No more being a human pacifier. NO MORE!

I have decided that once I have read her several bedtime stories and feed her for a final time, I will just kiss her goodnight, lay her down and close the door. The first night I think she cried for 30 minutes or so, last night about 5 minutes and tonight maybe 1 minute. Last night was the first night I decided when she woke up in the middle of the night I would feed her and then lay her back down. I have to be honest that I don't really know how long she cried when I laid her back down around 1:00 but it is possible it was for an hour and a half. I decided I wasn't going to go back into her room until I had slept for several hours. She woke again around 5:30 so I went to feed her and then lay her back down. I think this time she only cried for about 5 minutes. She then slept until about 8:45. It was awesome.

Today for nap time she cried for about 5 minutes and then about 30 minutes later woke up because she heard me going up and down the stairs. I decided not to go in and get her since she had only been asleep for 30 minutes. She cried for about 5 minutes and then feel back asleep for another hour and a half. Again, this was awesome especially since Pennington was napping.

Wish me luck again tonight, tomorrow night, ect. I think 15 months of no real sleep is long enough. I think it is about time I free myself from the disaster I have created. While some might say this is cruel I have to disagree. I have catered to Piper's every need from day one and I am one very tired mama. Below is a picture of my sleeping child. I took the picture this morning when I realized it was 8:00 am and she wasn't awake yet. I believe this is the second time ever that she woke up after 7:00 am in her crib.

Pityriasis Rosea

Starting last Tuesday we were concerned that Piper might have the Chicken

Pox. For those of you that don't already know this there is now a vaccine that Children get so not everyone gets Chicken Pox little when we were little. Pennington has had the vaccine and Piper is due to have it in about 2 weeks. So I was thinking just my luck she would get it 2 weeks before she gets the vaccine. We

ll a few days went by and the rash didn't get any better or worse. Finally on Sunday morning I decided I had enough of her not sleeping (not that she ever really sleeps) and that the rash wasn't going away so I decided to take her into the doctor. I LOVE the fact that I can take her to see the doctor on the weekend. Dr. Roy at Treasure Valley Peds saw Piper. I mentioned to him that I thought she might have Pityriasis Rosea since I have had it twice and it looks a lot like it. Well sure enough that is what she has. Dr. Roy was very impressed that I knew what it was. Below is the totally official wikipedia definition of pitariasis rosea.

Pityriasis rosea is a skin rash. It is non-dangerous but may inflict substantial discomfort on some people.Classically, it begins with a single "herald patch" lesion, followed in 1 or 2 weeks by a generalized body rash lasting about 6 weeks.

I had pityriasis rosea once my junior year of college and then again when I was pregnant with Pennington. Reading up on it again I found that it is rare to have it twice (weird that I have) and rare for toddlers to get it (of course this would only happen to me). They have no idea why people get it but they think it can be brought on my stress. They also don't believe it is contagious. I know that sunlight can help it and that the worst part is the first week or so. When Piper is driving me crazy I just dose her up on some Tylenol and benadryl but Dr. Roy told me to only do that when nothing else will calm her down. All in all Piper is doing fine. She is just not 100% sure herself. Boy do we have a long few weeks ahead of us if this rash doesn't go away soon. Below is a super sweet photo of my little rashy girl.

Chef Pennington and Piper

Nonie just got back from visiting her sister in Italy. She brought back some very adorable chef outfits for the kids. Nonie is the plural form for grandparent in Italian. The kids hats say their names and the aprons say something like "I help Nonie" in Italian. They are so stinking cute.

Stringing Work

I have to take a moment to brag about my son and the work he does at Montessori Home. For Halloween the kids did some stringing work. Below are the two pumpkins Pennington strung all by himself. I guess the teachers poke holes in the paper in the shape of a pumpkin and then start the stringing for the kids. The kids are then told how to sow by using a metal needle to go over and then under. I am so impressed. I have been told many times that Pennington is really good at string work.

Halloween 2011

We were very busy this year with three Halloween events that the kids attended.

First, my company (Deloitte) does a trick or treat event at the office. On Friday Johnny and I took the kids to go trick or treating at my office. The kids got candy, snacks and a Halloween coloring book. Below is a picture of Mommy, Pennington and Piper at the Deloitte Halloween Party. Piper was Little Red Riding Hood, Pennington was a Garden Nome and Mommy was a Fairy.

Below is a picture of Pennington's entire outfit. I know he looks annoyed but honestly he really enjoyed dressing up. Oh if only I could get this child to smile for the camera.

Second, we took the kids to Boo at the Zoo. It is a really fun event but super crowded. One highlight of going to the zoo is that we got to see the Lions in action. One of the Lions was only a few feet away from Piper and I. The zookeeper gave the Lions a box with a pumpkin in it. It was really fun to watch the Lions get the pumpkin out of the box and then fight over it.

Third, Uncle Elliott, Leasley, and Poppy took the kids trick or treating on Monday evening around the neighborhood. While the only made it to 10 house I heard they had a lot of fun. One of the highlights for Pennington was getting to see the moon. That evening when I was putting him to bed all he could talk about was the moon.

Below is a picture of Piper's outfit. I could never get her to wear the cape. She would take it off within 5 seconds of me putting it on her. Since she didn't have the cape on she sort of looked like St. Pauli Girl on the beer bottle. Yes we did have some people ask us if that is what she was which was a bit comical. Piper loved her costume. Specifically her super cool black patent leather Mary Jane's that make really cool sounds when you walk around on the hardwood floors.