Keeping me in check

When Tim got home from work yesterday he asked Oliver what he had done that day. He told him all about our fun play date at Aiden's house and what we ate for lunch. And then he says, "and a new man came over!" Tim looked at me and gave me a "care to elaborate" look. What Oliver should have said was that my uncle Jerry and cousin Josh came to pick up our love seats. He has met these men a handful of times. They are not strangers. As my dad would say, "remind me not to rob a bank with Oliver".

That's my girl

You can put her in waterproof pants and shoes, but that doesn't mean she's going to stay dry. Amelia was instantly drawn to the puddles. It was not that nice out that day. Needless to say, we didn't make it too far on our walk. I let her play for a few minutes and then I brought her kicking and screaming into the house to change into dry clothes. We did go on our walk but she was buckled in to the stroller. She still enjoyed herself. I intentionally drove the stroller through the puddles for her.

Alex the Fish

He came

He saw

He wanted nothing to do with us.

We decided that a fish was probably the best starter pet for our family. Oliver, Amelia and I went to the pet store and got a fish, some rocks and food (we already had the tank). We paid our $9.04 and were on our way. Oliver was so excited and Amelia seemed to get that there was something cool going on. We got him all set up in his cage and fed him. So far so good. I woke up on the morning to Oliver switching the tank light off and on saying, " Alex wake up. Mom! Alex won't wake up." Alex was "sleeping" on the bottom of the tank. Luckily there was a 14 day warranty. Tim and Oliver brought Alex to the "doctor" aka Pet Smart and got a new fish. Oliver must not have been that attached yet, because it didn't even phase him.

I'd like to introduce you to Alex the Red Fish.

He's been going strong for over a week. I think he's a keeper.

Happy St Patrick's Day

I used food coloring to make our lunch festive. We had green mac and cheese, green apples, green banana muffin and green milk. I didn't have green milk. I had a hard enough time eating the mac and cheese. It was weird, but the kids loved it.

Awww

Who doesn't like puddles?

Who doesn't like puddles?

Oliver likes puddles!

Amelia does too!

Frosty the Two-Faced Snowman does not!

Who needs broccoli...

Who needs broccoli when you can just lick the ranch dip stirring spoon instead.

Amelia is definitely my dipping kid. She loves anything she can dip into ranch, ketchup or anything sauce like. She actually dips and eats the bite (she doesn't just lick the sauce off). She is a functional dipper with very little training.

Trust me....I'm the mom

Let me start this blog off by stating, I am very grateful that I have two wonderfully “perfect” children. I know that the issue I am going to write about is not that big of a deal. I will love my children no matter what hurdles come our way. And I am well aware there will be hurdles. This is just my first.

For those of you that aren’t aware, Oliver’s teacher was concerned about his speech. Here is our quick conversation we had as I was on my way out the door after class. I also had 2 impatient bundled up kids waiting for me:

Miss Alice:“Are you concerned about Oliver’s speech?”

Me: “No, why” Miss Alice: “can you understand him, because I can’t?”. Me: “Yes” Miss Alice: “okay, we can wait and revisit the issue in the spring if need be”.

Done deal. HECK NO. I turned into crazy and obsessive mom. I scoured the internet for hours trying to find “normal” speech guidelines. I think there are many people in our lives that are sick of hearing “did you understand what he just said?” I think the worst part is that it made me doubt my parenting skills. Could he really be that behind and I am just unaware of his shortcomings? I have never been one to obsess with milestones. My philosophy is that every kids develops at his own pace, but the fact that a very educated, experienced, well meaning teacher brought it up, made me think I there may be an issue. I tried really hard to convince myself there was not a problem and just let it go, but I couldn’t. I lost a lot of sleep. Finally, I called the school early intervention a couple weeks ago to schedule an assessment. What could it hurt? Today a very nice lady came to our ECFE to evaluate Oliver’s speech. She observed him for awhile and then played with him when I left the room. I was in the other room when she left so she called me a few hours later. “Your son is no where close to qualifying for special ed,” she started with. “I KNEW IT.” She said he did a great job during the evaluation. She was impressed with his vocabulary and his ability to stay focused. She will be closing the case. That is exactly what my mom instinct was telling me. I just needed some validation. Ok lesson learned. He is my child and I do know him best. Take that Miss Alice.

ps. Trust me, I know my children are by no means perfect, but in my eyes they will always be.