Bobo Eats Bananas

Yesterday was a full day of speech-related stuff. Peyton and I began the day at Edmond Public Schools to begin the transition process from SoonerStart to the EPS program. He will begin speech therapy with them in August when school starts.
The meeting went well. His current speech pathologist and our SoonerStart coordinator were there and the EPS service coordinator, speech path and hearing-impairment spec were there. They will wait on Peyton's next hearing test to see if he needs the hearing help. If he doesn't, he will stick with the speech therapy only. If he does have hearing loss, they will get him started with the hearing specialist as well. Basically this was a meeting to tell me we had another meeting with our elementary. I think they legally have to tell us we qualify for services, too. It was good for them to all see Peyton play, though. Only Jill, our current speech path, has really gotten to know him. He was really good. He was clearly engaged and curious and different people commented on how observant he was. Anytime we all laughed about anything he would look at us with that smile of his like, 'oh good, you were watching!'.
Then in the afternoon we had speech therapy with Jill and that went really well! Peyton has made SO much progress in just two weeks! He is talking more often on his own and has said two 2-word phrases on his own! Yesterday, though, Jill got him to respond immediately with words. He is beginning to pretend (he hasn't been doing that) and Jill said we need to capitalize on his pretend play. She said kids should increase their verbal abilities when they begin to pretend play because they go through a kind of narrative in their head as they play. Typically kids begin to pretend younger than 3. So she played with one Bobo and he played with the other and you could see the gears begin to turn! Peyton banged on a can like a drum and Jill had Bobo react by putting his hands on his ears b/c it was loud. Peyton loved it! So Jill showed him how to bang the can softly and Bobo danced. Peyton loved it! Sometimes Bobo would bang on the drum and the other Bobo would react. We all did this for a while and then Peyton moved on to feeding Bobo. When Peyton said Bobo and then put the plastic bananas to his mouth Jill said 'Bobo eats bananas'. Peyton repeated 'Bobo eat'. So Jill said 'Bobo eats bananas' again. Peyton said "Bobo eat banana'!!! She said now is the time to narrate what Peyton is doing as he pretend plays. He needs help putting the narrative in his head as he plays but once we give him the words, that will help solidify the words for him and he should be able to put them together. By the end of the session, he had said several new two-word phrases on his own and could repeat three word phrases if he was playing.
Jill said he is doing so well that we are going to stop focusing on one or two letters at a time and just correct his speech as it comes. We might be correcting every word sometimes but thats okay. And he doesn't have to correct the word right then, just hear it. We are just supposed to repeat the word correctly and then move on. And when he says one word like 'Drink', we should expand by one word and say 'Drink milk'. And then if he repeats that we can add another word. She actually said she expects his speech to take off in the next couple of months. Based on the amount of progress he has already made, I am confident he will, too.

:)

Its 3:00. I have my big coffee. All is right with the world.

Thanks A Lot, Heine Bros!

It is 1:07pm and I am 1/2 way thru my morning coffee. It was 'one of those mornings'. Peyton was supposed to sleep in and go to Kathy's later this morning but he didn't. He woke up in a perfectly good mood and right on time. I hadn't planned for that so I left just a few minutes late but I thought I could make up the time and prayed for good traffic. I had planned to get to work just a little bit early to run by the hospital cafeteria for coffee (we were out at home) before settling in at my desk but I knew that plan was out. I'd just have to wait for everyone else to get settled in and then go grab my coffee. I could wait that long.

I was disappointed.

After a horrendous drive in to work, I waited the appropriate amount of time to take a morning break and ran across the street to find my morning fix. I got to the cafeteria and the door was closed!!!!!!! (How does a hospital cafeteria CLOSE!?!?!?) The sign said 'come back at 11'. Bah! I vowed to keep the impending caffeine-withdrawal headache away by sheer will and went back to work.

11:00 came and I didn't have too much of a headache plus I felt bad for leaving the office again before lunch so I decided to wait until lunch to seek the elusive cup of coffee.

12:00!!! Hooray! The ache was just crawling to the edges of my head and I knew I had better get some caffiene quick. I eagerly left for the cafeteria fully expecting the lunch rush but I knew exactly where I was headed and I'd push through. When I got to the beautiful, fully stocked coffee bar oasis, I found that my target - a 32oz white cup - was missing. THEY WERE OUT OF MY CUPS!!!! I would either have to settle for a piddly little 16oz of caffeinated bliss or go for the honking king size cup. Since I brought exactly enough money for the cup I expected, I grudgingly picked up a little cup, poured my coffee and headed to the flavor station. I just wanted a little creamer but, of course, they were out of that, too. I was running out of patience and the hungry people trying to get other drinks were threatening to run me over. So I grabbed a packet of powdered creamer, a few sugars and went on my way. I dont know if it was the bewilderment of the unexpected, the bright sunshine or if it was just time for it to hit, but on the way back to my office the headache hit full-on.

The headache is waning, I can almost see clearly now, and the silver lining is that at 3:00ish I intend to take another walk in the beautiful spring weather and try again for my 32oz of liquid happiness.

P.S. - No judging me for my caffeine addiction!! I have a wonderful justification (just ask me)! Plus I'm not asking anyone to join me. So if you judge, do it silently!

Hooray!

I think Peyton is starting to take great strides in his speech. Twice this weekend I caught him using 2-word phrases!! He said 'thank you mommy'!!! He said it all on his own and on more than one occasion. The first time he said it I was so shocked I almost didn't lavish him with praise! I know I stood there staring blankly at him for more than a second after I decoded what he had said. It wasn't the most clear thing he had ever said but the words were in there. After I realized what he was saying I noticed him saying it fairly often. He also says 'have a good day' when I leave him in the mornings. He runs it all together but the intention is there. He still has episodes of gibberish but I have recently learned that those are only for me. He doesnt seem to speak to anyone else that way. Luckily he does it in front of other people so I dont think I'm completely looney! Its hard not to laugh when I say, 'I"m sorry Peyton, I don't understand. Can you say it again?" and he responds with 'Again'. I DID ask for that!

Peyton also had very few potty accidents this weekend - mabye just one, come to think of it. He used the potty at his Nana's house several times without being asked. Putting his clothes back on after is another story but I'll take what I can get! He is almost exclusively in underwear now and only wears a pull up to bed and when I know we wont have access to a potty for a long time.

Once again, Peyton is doing things on his own schedule. He always worries me until one day he just decides hes ready to do whatever all the rest of us are ready for him to do. I'm not discounting the therapy, though. He still does not speak clearly but its like he gets it now. I think the biggest help is that I have learned to slow down when I speak to him.

I think one of Peyton's words pretty much sums up the weekend, "Hooray!"

I love this kid!!

Peyton is showing off his personality today! Lately his favorite response is 'uh.. no...' Here's a conversation excerpt: "Peyton, do you need to potty?" Peyton: 'Uh... (let me think about it) no.' (with a smile and a slightly turned head - 'but thank you so much for asking'!) I don't try to imagine where he got that!!! :/

This afternoon Brandon is watching the Masters on TV. Peyton was cold after his bath so I bundled him up in a towel and put him in Brandon's lap. A little later when I was in the kitchen I heard this 'hoooOOO...... hoooOOO....' sound and I couldnt figure out where it was coming from. I thought maybe one of the dogs had tried to get out of the fence and had gotten stuck. I asked Brandon if he heard it and he said 'yeah'. I asked him if it was the dogs and he said 'no, its Peyton.' so I went to look and Peyton was hooting at the golfers! It was SOO cute and really funny!

Now he's not being so cute. He's likely about to break the disk drive of my computer. I better go!

Welcome to Spring! And all that comes with it!

It was a sad evening in the Anderson household yesterday. Peyton and Kathy and I had a fun time playing at the 'big park' last night. On a Friday evening we figured it wouldn't be TOO packed and it wasn't. There were probably only 5 familes playing when there are normally at least 20. But the one thing that brings down all of the excitement of Spring had arrived at the park... a 2+ ft baby bullsnake (we think) was slithering along beside the playground equipment. All of the parents kept the kids away from it- mostly from stepping on it (none of the kids had any clue it was even there) - until it finally went into a hole under the cement. All of that was fine- it added a little excitement to the evening- but it was a sad reminder that our pests will probably be arriving soon. Ugh! I hate finding those things!!!!
Then we came home and I began my inspection of our soaps. Luckily I only found one brand that contained triclosan. Sadly (very sadly) the one brand was our favorite hand soap. I had looked online to see if Bath & Body Works handsoaps contained triclosan and it didn't look like they did. But there it was, clearly marked, the active ingredient is, in fact, triclosan. So sad! Today I'm on a mission to find a reasonably priced, reasonably smelling liquid handsoap.
Other than that it was a great evening! Peyton and Kathy and I had dinner at a fast food-style japanese steakhouse that we always forget about but love! While we were there we saw friends from church. Then we went to the big park instead of the little park (we're tired of the little park- its boring now!) and then we had frozen yogurt. What a great start to a spring weekend! Peyton and I are going to pot up the container plants this afternoon. No WAY am I going to go in my unmowed backyard after my almost-peed-my-pants episode at the park last night. Then Brandon and I are going out (somewhere, who cares where!) for the first time in about 6 weeks and Peyton will get to have a night out with his local aunt and uncle. The church tomorrow and spring cleaning tomorrow afternoon. How fun!

Oh- and speaking of fun... Peyton decided to watch Nemo for the first time in a long time. Its an entirely different experience watching it with him now. He is very concerned for Nemo's safety this time around. He got pretty upset when the shark (or whatever) ate all of the fish eggs and then he was trying to tell Nemo not to swim away to the boat. Its pretty funny!

Oh! Also- he put two words together last night!!!! I dont know if it will 'count' but when I asked him if he was ready to leave the park to go get ice cream, he said 'oh no. play.' Normally he would just say 'oh no' or 'play'. We'll see what Jill says!

Oops! We're getting greener!

Today I realized that we are taking one more step into the green zone. That is to say, eliminating another chemical from our household. Its not in an effort to become one with nature or anything hippie-ish like that. Its that our family is so very sensitive to all of the chemicals infiltrating our lives!! I recently discovered that there is a high probability that Brandon is allergic to triclosan. The brand name is Microban. Heard of it? Its EVERYWHERE!!! Its supposed to prevent bacteria from growing on the surface of things like grocery carts, mouse pads, restaurant chairs, etc. Last year Brandon learned that he is allergic to Crocs shoes. He had infected chemical burns on his feet in the exact places that the shoes touched his skin last summer and the cause was his ultra comfy shoes. One of the features of Crocs is that they aren't supposed to stink. Guess why... Microban(!) keeps the odor-causing bacteria from growing! He also has a recurring rash on the palms of his hands. Turns out, triclosan in its liquid form, is found in hospital and commercial hand soaps/sanitizers and in some household soaps and cleansers. Anything marked 'antimicrobial' has a good chance of containing it. Our soaps at home shouldn't contain it but there is a good chance the soap he uses at work contains triclosan. We will try changing that to see if it helps. Liquid laundry & dish detergents are common culprits also.
In all of my recent researching of triclosan, though, I found that it is actually everywhere. While it is not FDA approved for anything you would injest, simply because of it's presence in so many things (cleansers, particularly) you can end up injesting a trace amount. When the trace amounts build up triclosan can interfere with thyroid function!!! (thats why it's not approved for consumption- not that I can see why it would be necessary...) So this weekend I intend to read lots of labels and eradicate our house of yet another chemical.
Also on the 'green note' - I just might plant our garden this weekend. I dont know yet. I had planned on doing it next weekend. Our last average frost is the 15th and it scares me to plant too early plus I had planned to weed the garden this weekend. On the other hand the seedlings are getting ginormous and are taking over the corner of my kitchen again. Maybe I'll just weed the garden and plant the container seeds for now. (really whats happening is a co-worker is getting super excited about planting her first garden this weekend and is making me jealous that I'm not... I should probably stick with my plan.)

p.s. I added the Oops! part because we don't see ourselves as a hybrid-driving, compulsive recycling type family. But we do seem to be coming closer to 'all-natural' everyday.