"Gagnon Demolition"

Ryan is living up to the name of Uncle Marc's business, as displayed on his little t-shirt. Andrea and Kevin build up the blocks . . .

. . . and Ryan takes them down!

Demolition is hard work! Ryan needs some rest.

Ryan was really talkative in the tub that night, too. I'm not sure if he was telling me about his day, or simply having fun in the bath. He was waving, and it sounded like he said, "Hi, Mama!" He also seemed to be singing with me.

March Madness?!

Crazy Weather: Crazy Kids: Crazy Busy!

(Crazy Mommy!)

***

Early in the month, some unseasonably warm temperatures completely melted the piles of snow we had. Then, on one Saturday night, we got an unexpected snowstorm and a couple inches of lovely packing snow. The next morning, Daddy and Andrea worked together to build the "cool" guy pictured above.

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In mid-March, our big upstairs TV suddenly died. Let me tell you, it was a crisis. I dragged the old 32", 500 lb. monster (or so it felt!) upstairs and hooked it up, after one day without TV. I managed to last almost 6 days before we went to purchase a new TV. The new TV also needed a new stand (different style--a new plasma TV now). We cleaned up our old A/V stand to use in the basement. Kevin, being Kevin, immediately discovered that he fit quite snugly in the old A/V stand when the doors are closed!

Now this is an entertainment unit with built-in entertainment!

Ryan also enjoyed the transition from old to new TV. Unfortunately, our new TV stand puts everything right on his level, and we can't put the doors on it because the remote control won't work through the doors. Ryan's not into it constantly, thank goodness, but we do have to watch that little monkey. He likes to press the buttons on the DVR and pat the top of it, because it's warm on top, and well, just because he can!

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I went a little overboard with the bubbles the other night, but Ryan thought it was great. Now that he's sitting well on his own, and crawling around, he enjoys playing in the bathtub and splashing in the water.

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In general, Ryan's a happy little guy. When he's not sick, he's quiet but cheerful. His favourite thing to do, though, is watch TV. His favourite shows are Dora, Mickey Mouse, Bear in the Big Blue House, and Franny's Feet. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is still the favourite, I think. One day, I caught him watching a certain episode where things were extra silly, and he was laughing like crazy!

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In terms of RYAN, there is so much going on: plenty to update, and plenty of issues yet to be resolved. One good thing is, he's crawling! He mastered crawling this month. He loves to explore, and plays really well on his own with his toys.

I especially like the video above because we caught one of those unexpectedly funny, good-timing moments. In the first part, when we ask Ryan, "You gonna get that truck?" it sounds like he says "No" quite clearly!

He also has good posture; considering his low muscle tone in other areas, his helpers can't believe how he sits up so tall and straight. He also enjoys daycare.

Other items:

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  We got his hearing tested, and Kevin's, too. Both boys have hearing in the normal range, though Kevin has one ear stronger than the other, and Ryan has fluid in his ears. Ryan will probably be referred to an ENT for follow-up, but I think it's just that he's had so many ear infections lately.


• 
  
  Ryan is still eating only stage 1 baby foods (pureed). He will also only drink from a bottle. We will be getting a feeding assessment with a speech pathologist and an occupational therapist within the next week or so. They are concerned Ryan might develop food aversions because of the way he gags whenever we try to give him textured foods, and they want to check if there's any physical reason why he has trouble with textures. He also needs to learn to hold and maneuver a regular cup--most babies his age are moving on to this step.


• Another concern we have for both boys right now, and the one that causes me the most worry, is the issues with their communication/social development. They would like to do a psychological assessment on both boys this summer (Kevin will be 4, and Ryan 18 months, so data would be clearer). We've seen a lot of improvement in Kevin's communication skills, but he still gets irritated by noises easily and screams his frustration a lot. He is also still showing a preference for individual play, and some unusual, repetitive behaviours during free time. Our Resource Consultant threw around the word autism a bit, but made it clear that she wasn't saying he did/didn't have some form of autism. She also made it clear that Kevin is a child who doesn't exhibit any obvious signs, and is very high-functioning, so he wouldn't need an educational assistant in the classroom: probably just some accommodations. We have actually scheduled a school meeting for Kevin on May 2, where we will meet at the school with the potential teachers, etc. to discuss Kevin's strengths and needs. Oh, and Kevin has moved up to the final room at daycare. He is loving being in the "big-boy" room, so that's a good thing.


• However, it seemed to me that they were even more concerned about Ryan's social skills. Ryan is not really speaking yet, just like Kevin was at his age. He is still babbling mama, dada, nana, baba like he was at about 6 or 7 months old. What is more concerning, though, is that we've noticed Ryan rarely makes eye contact with people. Even if you get right in his face, he tries to look past or away from you. He also does not seek out interactions with others. He will sit and play by himself for hours on end. He is also addicted to TV when he's not engrossed in his toys. He doesn't try crawling up to Mommy or Daddy or the kids to get attention. He rarely responds if you call his name; you might get a passing glance. He usually just cries when he needs something, although he does babble and smile to himself. We do get him to laugh at some things he enjoys (like Andrea's hula-hoop, or during tickles). The speech path. told me to start getting in Ryan's face, even if he doesn't like it, and that does happen: often when you get down on his level, or near his face to talk to him, he will try to lean away from you. He often pushes Andrea away when she gets on his level and tries to play/talk with him. They were throwing around the word autism for Ryan, too.


• At this point, they had a few suggestions until we can do more investigations, especially for Ryan. Like I mentioned, they want us to really get in his face, even if he doesn't like it, to get him used to that kind of social interaction. They also suggested I make an "experience book" all about Ryan that I can read with him. I just finished that yesterday. It's all pictures of Ryan doing familiar things with familiar people, told like he was saying it: "I like to watch TV," "I love toys with wheels," etc. They also told me to sing a lot with him (which I already do), but to really personalize it with his name and routines. This has been working well during meals: I noticed he's looking me in the eye more, and seems to be paying more attention to the process of eating.


• Finally, they want us to take another Hanen communication course for the boys, especially Ryan. We took the Talk 2 Me course about 2 years ago for Kevin, but I guess this is a different one specifically designed for parents of children with social communication difficulties. It was designed with the parents of autistic children in mind (damn, that "a" word again, but nobody is confirming a "label" for the boys just yet).

***

Furthermore, it's tax season. Daddy is crazy busy at work. Mommy just finished her first block at work, survived exams and final reports, and has begun the new block with lots of stress, but thankfully, only a few minor headaches. There is just so much going on in my head. I just got back to work in January, and I'm already looking forward to summer vacation!

"LOLCam" Photos

The activity Andrea enjoys most lately is the LOLCam. We found this application through Facebook. You use it to take pictures with your computer, and then the program distorts them in fun and interesting ways. Andrea has learned how to use my computer to do this on her own. Here's a sample of her silly pictures.

Andrea's 1st Ballet "Recital"

Tonight we attended Andrea's last ballet class for this session. Usually just Daddy (and sometimes Kevin) goes with her, while I stay home with Ryan. However, they were putting on a little show for their final class, so the whole family went to watch. Andrea was so excited that everyone was coming to watch her: even Grandma and Papa came, and as a surprise, they brought Izzy! We had to sit a bit far back from our little ballerinas, so they could have plenty of room to show off their moves, which made it kind of difficult to get good pictures. Still, they were very cute to watch, ranging from 3 to 5 years of age.

Andrea's teacher and her classmates

waiting attentively in her "cookie sit" position

little ballerinas :)

this little girl kept hugging Andrea--too cute!

lovely spins

posing at the bar with Izzy (looking a little winded from the performance!)

"Taaa-daaa!"

***

You know I had to get some of the "recital" on video. The little girls were too funny. Andrea was pretty good about following the teacher's instructions and trying to do her ballet moves, but with an energetic and excited group of 3-to-5 year old girls, there was quite a bit of, shall we say, "individual expression."

First the girls did some warm-up exercises and dancing to the Mickey Mouse-ker-cise.

Then they practiced different styles of "ballet walk" across the room. Andrea was so swept up in the moment, and her guests, that she paused to hug Izzy and Grandma as she danced her way from one side of the room to the other!

Finally, they had an actual dance routine to perform for us. Andrea did well, but I had to laugh because my poor daughter got the sneezes in the midst of her grand finale. Then I was groaning, because they had to form a circle and hold hands right after she sneezed! I could just feel the other parents cringing behind me. ;) Still, the main thing is the little girls were having a great time. We decided to enrol Andrea in the next session of ballet too, because she's having so much fun in the classes.

Andrea and Ballet

Andrea's been taking ballet classes for about a month now, and she just loves it. Daddy usually takes her to class on Thursday evenings, while I stay home with the boys, so I haven't had a chance to see her dance yet. This week, before class, I asked her if she would put on a little show for me, so I could see what she has been learning. Ever my little performer, she was happy to oblige. Here are some of the basic positions she has been learning (I won't try to tell you what they are called, especially since Andrea's pronunciation of French is questionable at best!).

I also encouraged her to put some of her moves together into a ballet routine I could record on video. She created this on the spot, so I was fairly impressed. I asked her if she does any of this dance in class, and she said yes, the part with clapping and touching her toes. Then, Kevin wanted to have me take a video of him. When Andrea coaxed him to put on a show, he tried to imitate some of her routine. It was very cute. The funniest part to them, though, was that Kevin accidentally walked into the frame at the end of Andrea's video, so Andrea decided to pop in at the end of Kevin's video. I swear, they watched their videos about 20 times, and laughed hysterically each time one of them popped in at the end of the other's routine! It never ceases to amaze me, what amuses these two!

February Pictures and Videos

Family Super Bowl Party 2011

Andrea and Izzy in their matching colour-your-own-princess shirts

Kevin and Papa excited for the football party to begin

Hannah being shy, but a nice view of how she coloured her princess shirt

Pauline and Nathen

They've grown so much since the newborns they were last year, and can really interact now!

Aww . . . baby hugs and kisses

Great-Gram with her new grandbaby: Uncle Pook and Lori's little guy, Jacob

Nathen the Party Animal :)

Kevin being . . . well . . . Kevin!

Mikenna getting into our Kleenex ;)

Ryan showing Aunt Stephanie his football pjs for Super Bowl

Aunt Stephanie giving Ryan tickles!

Kevin falling asleep on Gram and Papa, while Gram rubs his back

Student of the Month

Andrea got the Student of the Month Award for January. Daddy was able to go to her school and see her get the award at a school assembly. She was so excited, and we are so proud of her!

Ryan's Bad Hair Day

We hadn't been able to get him a haircut recently because he had been so ill and cranky. He definitely needs a trim soon! ;)

Matching Red Jerseys

Ryan and Kevin wore matching red Canada hockey sweaters to daycare on Valentine's Day.

Same Sweaters, Different Expressions!

Ryan Making Progress

I said, "You hold it," and he did!

Ryan Sitting Up By Himself and Crawling!

Ryan Laughing at Kevin and His Truck

Ryan Hiding From the Pasta

February Update (Sorry, no photos/videos yet)

Goodness, so much has happened over the past 3 weeks or so with the kids, I feel I have to get on here and mention a few things before I forget. I have some pictures and videos, too, but we are already at mid-term time at work and I have been a bit overwhelmed as it is, adjusting to the back-to-work-with-three-kids-now lifestyle, so I haven't had time to upload/edit them. (Can you tell how busy my brain is by that crazy long sentence?) So, here's a point-form update of some of the highlights I'd like to mention.

• Annual Family Super Bowl Party here on February 6th: It was fun to see all of the babies who were infants (or not yet arrived) at least year's gathering playing together this year.
• Ryan's Gross Motor Skills progress: he started to get up on all fours about 2 or 3 weeks ago; he started getting from crawling to sitting position on his own, and remaining sitting with no support, last week; this week, he has finally started to crawl! It starts in four-point position, but then he usually flops down as he tries to go forward, then goes into a fairly quick army crawl.
• Ryan's Food/Drink progress: Well, he's finally eating "solids" again after refusing anything but formula for almost 3 weeks, while he had those viruses. The good news: by tomorrow, he'll be completely off formula, and the milk seems to be going over well with him and his tummy. The bad news: he eats like a champ, but only if it's infant oatmeal or pureed stage 1 jar baby foods. He still refuses anything with lumps, and doesn't like any "real" foods.
• Ryan's Fine Motor Skills progress: As it relates to feeding, Ryan still won't try to feed himself, and will only play with a spoon for a few minutes. He rarely tries to put a spoon near his mouth. As for bottles, I finally said to Ryan tonight, "Buddy, you're almost 13 months old. You can hold this bottle yourself! Do you want it?" He grabbed it and tried to put it in his mouth when I held it out, so I put him on his back on the floor and voila--he fed himself the entire bottle!
• Ryan and Daycare: He is doing fantastic. He almost never cries, sleeps great, and is always happy as long as he's feeling well.
• Ryan and Hearing: One thing the daycare teachers pointed out (and I had noticed, too) is that Ryan often doesn't respond to people talking to him, or noises, unless you are right in his face. I took him for his 12-month immunizations today, and asked the doctor to book him for a hearing test. I tried a few things myself, like clapping and calling his name from behind him, and even popping balloons--no response. However, he did turn around when I put on the vacuum the other day. Hopefully, it's just some temporary thing due to the ear infections he's had lately. (?)
• Ryan's Height and Weight: He's a big guy like his siblings were/are: at a bit over 1 year old, he is almost 30 inches tall and weighs almost 25 pounds!
• Ryan and Occupational Therapy: We are getting him into OT soon. He needs help with feeding himself and will soon need to learn to drink from a cup. He has low muscle tone just like his siblings, so we know from their history, we might as well get him some early intervention.
• Kevin's Developmental Assessment: Kevin's resource consultant from Children First conducted the LAP-D to see what his strengths and weaknesses are as we prepare him for the transition to junior kindergarten. Some results were as expected: his gross and fine motor skills are a bit behind the average child his age, but there is nothing that would really impede his learning/participation in regular classroom activities. The big surprise was in his language comprehension: apparently, he has a language comprehension level comparable to the average SIX-year-old. (!) However, his expressive language is right at the average level for his age. Another area of surprising strength for Kevin was counting and matching, where he was about a half a year above average.
• Kevin's Assessment--Concerning Behaviours: While he worked great one-on-one during the assessment, Kevin's teachers expressed concerns about his preferences for "solitary" play which is accompanied by "repetitive" actions during free time. I have had my own concerns about this for some time as well. What's interesting is these behaviours come and go: he has better days than others, where he interacts with Andrea (and his peers) just fine. Then there are other days when he will scream if someone interrupts his solitary play, or do something like walk on a line, pushing a chair, and watching his feet--and get very upset when the line stops. (?) After puzzling this over for a week, I think I have some ideas as to what's going on, but I'm no expert. My guess: it's some manifestation of a childhood anxiety disorder. (I won't go into how I arrived at this conclusion. It's complicated.)
• Kevin Signed up For Kindergarten: We took Kevin to the Lassaline (Andrea's school) open house tonight and got him registered for September. Andrea was too funny: since she's still in SK, she knows all the kindergarten teachers and helpers, so she was introducing Kevin to everyone. Kevin was excited to be there, and he enjoyed checking out the JK classrooms. He was walking around Andrea's classroom counting the chairs, and Andrea's teacher said, "He can count! I want him in MY class!" We also found out that Andrea is considered a "mother hen" by the kindergarten staff, and that's specifically why she was chosen to be in the split JK/SK class. They said they knew she'd be a great helper with the JKs in her class, and she is!
• Kevin's Transition to JK: We will actually have a on-on-one meeting with Children First and Lassaline staff in the spring, to ensure Kevin's physical and emotional needs continue to be addressed properly as he makes the move from daycare to kindergarten. Our hope is to place him with a teacher who will develop a learning plan which makes the most of his language comprehension and numeracy strengths, and flexible enough to accommodate any emotional/psychological needs he may have (re: the concerning behaviours).
• More about Andrea, the "Mother Hen": Quite frankly, at home, this trait is downright annoying. It would be alright if Kevin didn't mind her "assistance," but he gets very angry when she tries to "help" him or correct his behaviour. It usually ends with them screaming at each other, and someone hitting or pushing the other. Andrea's intentions are good, but her approach needs work. Plus, Kevin knows Mom's the boss; I can tell he totally resents it when Andrea tries to tell him what to do. However, Andrea is really sweet with Ryan, and he seems to enjoy her attention, unless she gets in his face when he's tyring to watch TV!
• Andrea and Ballet: Andrea is about halfway through her first set of ballet classes, and she is loving it. I finally got her some kiddie ballet slippers this week (long story), and she is happy her ballet outfit is complete. Daddy usually takes her to lessons, and I stay at home with the boys, but she shows me what she's learned when she gets home. I know they usually do a little "recital" for the last class at the end of March, so if I can't get to one before, I'll definitely go with them that night.

Wow, so this was supposed to be a brief update. Hmm. Like I said, so much has been going on over the past month, I had to start getting it all blogged! Now, it's 10:30 PM, and I'm off to do a few loads of laundry. Ack. Being back to work is nice for the mental stimulation and the money, but it seems like there's never enough time to do what needs doing . . . and I'm always YAWNING. ;)