Outside w/o gear for the last time this season?

These were pictures I planned to post with charmingly witty captions during NaBloPoMo, but I feel like I should get them up quick because it is SNOWING! And they will soon be totally obsolete. What a luxury to be outside with no coats on. I noticed this morning that wearing coats and hats and the like adds 50% more time and 64% more screaming to our get-out-the-door routine. Can't wait till there's slush to contend with!

Can you believe all the crap we hauled out in the yard? Our neighbors LOVE us-- wouldn't you?


Love his little flabby cheeks

Santa makes it so klassy


They even took their coats off. Ahhh, memories.



I am actually pretty bummed about the snow that I am watching fall right now because Harry is like a puppy-- he needs to go outside and be exercised (exorcized?) for at least 2 hours a day. here is is playing his favorite game-- Running Up and Down the Sidewalk While Screaming. In a pinch he'll play this around the kitchen table or on the stairs. Oy.



Aaaand then they spent some time pushing each other off the slide. Yay for safety!

Not quite speechless

Thanks for your comments on my post yesterday. Very nice to listen to my rant, which I deleted.

The evaluation was pleasant, actually. Jack had a great time, and the women agreed that his motor skills are excellent and that he is very funny.

He does, in fact, have a language delay, which seems to be the result of some oral motor difficulties he has. The SLP didn't know if he is delayed enough to actually qualify for services. She has to score his evaluation and get back to us because he is right on the border.

(he has some food issues-- he doesn't like the way slimy textures feel in his mouth; he stuffs his cheeks until he gags, and he doesn't use his tongue to move food or drink around his mouth. all of these things may be related to his inability to form sounds, which is what our pediatrician said at his 18-month appointment. we asked our doctor if we should contact the Birth to 3 program for a speech evaluation and he said we could if we wanted. he said he thought Jack was developing okay-- definitely slower than his big brother, but still not alarmingly slow-- but if we had concerns we should call the place and get Jack seen. he also said Jack's speech issues seemed to be with pronunciation, not acquisition/understanding/sensory development-- all huge reliefs.)

On one hand, we are glad that he is sort of okay. We are also glad that he DOES have a problem and we aren't just being stage parents or something. But having him on the cusp of getting help through this program is really frustrating. If he is delayed (and he is), we want him to have some help.

Obviously, this program is not the only place to turn for therapies-- there are books and curricula and exercises and private therapists, etc. The SLP made it sound like they would probably NOT recommend services now, but they would do another evaluation when he is 2 and if he hasn't had a language explosion they'll help him then. I am not going to be able to just sit tight for 5 months listening to Jack's entire vocabulary being expressed in 3 consonant sounds because I am anxious like that. so I'll keep you posted.

NaBloPoMo debriefing

At the beginning of the month, I had high hopes for intertextuality. I wanted lots of hyper links to my old posts, to other blogs, to things of note on teh interwebs. And really that should have been simple-- I mean, there is a button on the top of the page that inserts links, for goodness sake. But, alas, I was too lazy most days to make the connection. Am too lazy now even to search through this month's archives for posts that used links. FAIL.

Oh! But did you read this post from Becca? Of all the great posts I read this month, "Ouch" is my absolute favorite.

My other favorite thing about NaBloPoMo was the plethora fantastic blog posts flooding my google reader everyday. In years past, I have felt overwhelmed by the volume of blogging in the month of November, but this time, I felt connected to the stream of blogsciousness. In addition to my old favorites and a blog I've recently started reading, I discovered/became a more vocal commenter on three others.

Hmm. So maybe I did find that intertextuality after all.

I am glad, too, to have documented a random month in my kids' lives and to have found time to write everyday. Next semester, I am going to use that writing time for, um, scholarship, but I'll credit the discovery process to NaBloPoMo.

I bought Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present by Hank Stuever today, and I am so excited to spend some time away from my screen reading it. BUT there are some blog-worthy things in my life right now-- I am having a problem keeping my eating in check and am afraid the weight I lost last summer will creep back on, for example. Also, this little guy

who still doesn't say very much is getting evaluated by our state's early intervention program on Wednesday and will start speech therapy if he qualifies for services, so I am sure I'll be back-- needier than ever-- soon.

Holiday wrap up

Wednesday and Thursday night at my parents' house, Ben and I counted down the screamy seconds until Harry and Jack went to bed and then we immediately got silly drunk and played euchre with my dad and brothers until we fell asleep (some may say passed out). Way too fun. We cussed a lot. Said really vile things to each other. Used the phrase "suit f*cked" more times than we ever should (shouldn't probably ever say that, actually). Ben and Ben even chest bumped after each point they scored on Thursday night (right after we all ate giant plates of cold leftovers-- I had stuffing, cheesy potatoes, and chocolate cherry cheesecake, a winning combination. I looked over at Jon and assumed he was eating pumpkin pie, but he was actually devouring a triangular slab of chopped liver. No utensils. This made me happy because I was afraid our card-playing behavior was sketching out his girlfriend who was being subjected to her first Thanksgiving with my family. But if she still liked him after he licked liver off his fingers, we were totally off the hook. And I think our refusal to pretend to be nice or polite at any point in the night is a sign of how much we like her-- we already feel like she's part of the family.)

Jack and Harry were super helpful on Thanksgiving day:


Pretty table

My mom modeling the apron Bomma made her

Family portrait with Buzzes.

Poor Brae-- Harry and Jack competed for her attention and space next to her ALL NIGHT LONG. The next day, I got DVD footage of Harry saying how pretty she is.

Jack, up to no good.

Harry had this elaborate plan to pass out muffins (not intended for T-day consumption-- more of a next-day breakfast) out to everyone at the start of the meal. We tried to dissuade him, but he freaked. MUFFINS NOT OPTIONAL.

Jack climbed up on a chair and started to eat one.

then he threw a couple in his matzoh ball soup. And then our dumb asses took him out of his chair so he could help pick out his food in the buffet line, and he went apeshit and refused to get back in the chair, so Ben and I were pretty much SOL after that

The next morning, Harry demanded that my mom cook him breakfast (not like she just made a huge meal or anything)

and we continued our tradition of being awesomely polite guests by stopping by Ben's parents' house for some leftovers for lunch.

Harry modeling his new hat and gloves-- love it

the best picture of Ben EVER


Thanksgiving was fantastic. We had the best time ever eating lots of food, drinking lots of adult beverages, and playing lots of cards. Also? I am demonstrably the best euchre player in the family. Possibly in the world. Chest bump that, Bens.

Woof

Sometimes I think Harry and Jack might really be puppies.

Border collie puppies-- you know, the ones that are smart but destructive and full of nervous energy who tear crap up if they are left to their own devices.

Maybe I should crate train them

But still. When they are sleeping. Oh when they are sleeping.

Smooth Operators

The other morning, Harry woke up in a heinous mood.

He stomped into our room, yanked back my covers, and wedged his way next to me in the bed-- as is his custom at 5:45-ish everday. Then he grabbed my face in his fat hands, pulled me toward him and said "I waaaant my MILK."

"Okay," I replied, slowly sitting up. "I'll go get it for you." I am as dumb as a bucket of hair in the morning, and I would have done anything to make the whining stop. Padding downstairs to turn on the coffee, grab some milk, and jack up the heat didn't sound too out of line.

Harry burst into tears. "No!" he insisted. "I want Dada to do it. You stay here with me."

Ben groaned himself away and locked squinty eyes with me: it was shaping up tp be one of those mornings when you think you might sell your 3-year-old on the street sometime before lunch.

He cried six more times before we were even out of bed-- once because Jack had the audacity to LOOK AT HIM and TOUCH his PILLOW.

I tried a hundred things to make him happy, but he was unrelentingly terrible.

"How about a smoothie?" I asked in desperation, sure that something that lame would never work.

He closed his cryhole and said, "Sure."

He was so happy to peel the banana and dump in the blueberries that he even let Jack push the "blend" button. Jack was entranced, and the whole time the blender blended, he tried to make the same noise as the machine-- too funny (also annoying until I put the blender on "pulse"-- then it was just funny again)

Since that morning, they've eaten 3 bunches of bananas, 2.5 huge tubs of yogurt, 2 bags of frozen strawberries, 2 bags of frozen blueberries, a bag of frozen raspberries, and half a plastic-bear-ful of honey.

As you might imagine, they are very regular.

Off Roadin'

Lately whenever we go from the garage to the house, Jack points sadly at his little red car that he got for his birthday and says quietly, "Zzzzzzhhhh," which is the noise he makes when he wants to drive or ride.

But it has been too something for him to ride lately-- too late, too wet, too cold, too busy.

Finally after his nap one afternoon before we subjected both boys to a marathon shopping trip, we told Jack he could go play with his car.

Then we remembered his Batman Power Wheels motorcycle that Ben's parent's got him for his birthday and is just about the coolest toy ever

As you can see, much awesomeness ensued.