Andrea's First Friend Sleepover

On Saturday, June 13, the Robinets came down from Oakville with their little girl, Chloe, who is the same age as Andrea. They stayed overnight with us because we were all going to the Red Bull air races the next day. Since Andrea has a pull-out/trundle bed under hers, we got that ready, so Chloe could sleep in Andrea's room, and they could have their first friends' sleepover together! Even though they hadn't seen each other since the Christmas holidays, Andrea and Chloe were again best friends within minutes.

Princess Andrea and Fairy Princess Chloe


Kevin was really excited about Chloe, too. Once in awhile, the girls would let him join them (like above), but usually, they ganged up together and chased him away. Poor Kevin!

Don't they look adorable? Seriously, how cute are they, all snuggled up together? :))

Um, yeah. This is a more realistic representation of how the REST (no pun intended) of the night went.

Andrea ended up going back up to sleep in her own bed, because she wasn't used to sharing a bed with someone. Then, the girls played in their beds and talked until about 11:45 PM (when they both usually got to bed at 8:00 to 8:30 PM)! When we'd go in and scold them to go to sleep, they'd say WE were being too loud, and that's why they couldn't sleep. Ha! Besides, what could two three-year-olds possibly have to talk about until nearly midnight? Chloe's mom caught part of their private conversation; apparently, they were discussing their toys. :))

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Incredibly, they were up and raring to go at 7:00 AM. Ugh. I threw on a Dora DVD, and that kept them occupied. They tied their blankies around their bodies like princess dresses, and danced along with Dora.

I don't think they were completely immune to the lack of sleep, though. After a bit of dancing, they wanted to cuddle together on the little couch with their blankies. :))

Overall, it was a typical little girls' sleepover: lots of giggles, and not much sleep!

Almost a month! So much to update . . .!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've posted anything. I guess that gives you an indication of how crazy-busy I have been lately!

Kevin Updates

Kevin is doing really well. He is making a lot of progress. On May 1, Kevin took his first solo steps! He took about three or four steps from my dresser to Daddy, just as we were leaving the house for work! It was totally unexpected. Of course, since then, I have only seen him do that twice more. However, he uses everything to help him walk now--he walks along the furniture, the walls, and often uses his push toys. He usually walks barely holding on to one of our fingers. I think he just needs to build up some confidence. He has also become proficient at climbing onto things, and opening doors!

In terms of his speech, he still has a lot of grunts and non-verbal sounds, but he is also doing well with the words from the speech therapist (we are moving up to the next sheet of words next week). In addition, he often randomly imitates words that he hears on TV or from one of us (for example, "rainbow"--"rah-bow").

Kevin's had a lot of doctor's visits in recent weeks, too. We went to the neurologist, who said there's a 95% chance we won't find the cause of Kevin's delays, and eventually he'll catch up to other kids. She's still scheduling an MRI to make sure his brain structures look good (just to rule anything out) and we may do some genetic blood tests to check for any diseases/syndromes, but she hasn't decided yet.

Kevin finally had another hearing test, too. The results were pretty much the same as last time: fluid in both ears, and they are not sure what is causing it. Therefore, they're sending us to an ENT (Ear-Nose-Throat specialist) who will hopefully sort out the cause of the fluid, and decide if Kevin will need any intervention, like tubes in his ears. The audiologist said Kevin is definitely hearing sounds, but the fluid could be muffling sounds, which could be what's affecting his speech. Still, we aren't sure. So, off to another specialist in the search for answers!

Indoor/Outdoor Fun

With the arrival of the nice weather, we are either at the park or in the backyard almost every day. Andrea, especially, has reached a stage where she gets bored very easily. Kevin isn't as adventurous, but he enjoys the outing, too.

Andrea likes to help Kevin when they are outside. She likes to push him on the swings, and show him how to climb up on the slide. He always gets excited when she plays with him. There is still a lot of sibling rivalry between them, especially as Kevin doesn't understand some of his actions, and Andrea gets bossy at times. Overall, though, they seem to be enjoying each other's company a lot more lately.

(In the video above, Kevin is trying to imitate Andrea jumping off her stool. It's too funny how he just kind of crawls over it, and goes "mwah!" when he makes it over, like a big grunt of effort!)

Easter Weekend 2009 (April 11 and 12)

Saturday

On the Saturday of Easter weekend, Gram and Papa Gagnon had an Easter egg hunt for the kids at their house.

Hannah's First Easter :))

Hannah found an egg!

Kevin found some eggs, too!

After all the eggs were found, Gram and Papa sent the kids upstairs for an extra surprise--special Easter gifts!

Kevin and Hannah have to put up with our whims . . . they can't protest too much.

Thanks Gram and Papa! Group hug!

After the egg hunt, we stayed for a visit and a tasty lunch. Of course, the kids were too excited to eat much, and were more focused on the sugary treats. Andrea was thrilled with Gram's Marshmallow-Peep-and-jelly-bean-topped cupcakes. Cupcakes, with more candy on top? Andrea's favourite!

Kevin demolishing a Peep--it didn't stand a chance!

As Papa cleaned up after lunch, the girls amused themselves by sticking flower and smiley-face shaped post-its on his behind. I can't believe the things he lets these kids get away with. :))

Kevin discovered the cupboard with the pots and pans. Notice that he was "decorated" by Izzy and Andrea, as well (although he pulled most of them off).

Easter Sunday

The Easter Bunny came! He left a little trail of chocolate eggs from both Andrea and Kevin's beds to their bedroom doors. In fact, Andrea woke us up by running into our bedroom with her hands full of half-melted chocolate eggs, and she was so excited about the eggs in her room that she could barely tell us what she'd found! When Kevin saw the eggs on his bedroom floor, he crawled right over, grabbed one, and popped it into his mouth foil and all! (Don't worry; we got it in time.)

The Easter Bunny also hid chocolate eggs all over the living room. As many of them were at/near floor level, Kevin actually started finding the eggs first. He also spotted the baskets right away. Once Andrea started finding eggs, she was so thrilled with each one she found. Considering there were about forty of them, it was funny how she exclaimed over every single one she found!

Kevin checking out his Easter basket

Andrea sporting her chocolate-scented bunny ears

Kevin: "I'm only wearing these so Mom will give me more chocolate."

Andrea received a special Easter dress from Grama Marty and Grampa Rick. She still loves being a princess, and wanted to put it on as soon as she saw it in the morning. Of course, I made her wait until we went out in the afternoon, so she wouldn't wreck it (mean mommy that I am). Once she got to put it on, I had no problems getting her to pose for me. She knows she's beautiful. ;))

We went to Gram and Papa's for a visit and supper. Kevin had left some of his eggs there from the day before, so he had some treats to enjoy while we were there.


Are there any more?

Gram and Papa have a princess bike that they bought for the girls to play with when they come over. Papa was giving Andrea a ride around the basement.

Kevin wanted a ride, too! Daddy wasn't thrilled with Kevin being on the princess bike, but what can you do? All his cousins there are girls!

Both Andrea and Kevin enjoy colouring. Gram made sure they were playing nicely (and they were!), while the men watched the Masters golf on TV.

Did I mention that Andrea loves to dress up, and to pose?

(I like this one because of the cowgirl hat; it goes well with the dress sent from Montana!)

***
Papa always likes to give the kids a bath when they come over in the evening. Of course, it's more like a swim and Gram and Papa's big tub!

Kevin enjoys simple, repetitive activities. He seems to enjoy focusing on/analyzing things. Pulling the strings through these cards kept him entertained for ages.

Andrea, on the other hand, is a social butterfly and must move from activity to activity to be entertained. At the end of the night, I think she was working all the sugar out of her system. She was pretending to be Bouncing Tigger. Gram would push down on Andrea's head just like you would do with the toy, and Andrea would bounce like the toy! (Hey, at least it made her nice and tired for bedtime.)

Overall, Easter was a lot of fun this year. Kevin was able to participate more, and Andrea was really excited and enjoyed all the Easter activities. :))

More Kevin Progress :))

Kevin is making lot of progress right now in his development. I wanted to mention some things before I forget!

He's saying more new words over the past few days: "Empty" (referring to his juice cup), "Night-night" (saying goodnight to everyone before bed), and "Hiding!" (he has a new game where he closes himself in the closets, and I ask, "Where is Kevin hiding?").

I've also gotten him to stand up and walk with his walking toys. He's still pretty hesitant about it, but seems to enjoy it once he gets going.

He is also pulling himself up to standing well now, and frequently cruises the furniture. He loves climbing stairs, especially at Gram and Papa's house.

He is also starting to nod his head "yes" to things that he wants or agrees with, which is new, and point to things that interest him. He likes to point to objects and have me tell him what the word is for them. His comprehension seems much stronger, as well; when I ask him to do things like "Go get the ball, and bring it to Mommy," he responds appropriately. He is also doing a lot more independent babbling this week, like he's trying to tell me things. I can't understand it, but it's great to see these sudden leaps in those pre-language skills he's been working on. :))

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That's it for now. It might be awhile before I get a chance to post about our Easter. It was busy and fun, so I have lots to say about it, but not much time to do long posts this week!

"Hockey" and "Bubbles"

The title of this blog refers to Kevin's two newest words. :))

Daddy has been trying to get Kevin to say "hockey," well, since Kevin started making sounds. Suddenly, a couple of night ago, he repeated it while he was in the bathtub! Now, he says it all the time. Daddy has even made up his own "hockey" flashcard to put in Kevin's word bowl. I'm not sure what the speech therapist will think of that!

***

Yesterday evening was beautiful--sunny, and about 60 degrees. Daddy I and took the kids for a wagon ride to the park, so they could get some fresh air, and go on the swings. Andrea's also been asking me to do bubbles lately, so I brought them along with us to the park. When Daddy was blowing bubbles, I got Kevin to say "bub-ble" several times!

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Kevin and Andrea did their annual HOP for Muscular Dystrophy at daycare yesterday. Here they are, sporting their bunny ears, after school. Notice they got into their Easter treats from daycare the instant they got home. Gotta love Kevin's chocolate face!

I'll be posting about more Easter Weekend fun in the next few days. :))

Kevin's New Pediatrician

Today Papa G. and I took Kevin to Dr. A's office. He is our new pediatrician, who is going to help us investigate the underlying causes (if there are any) of Kevin's delays.

My first impression of Dr. A's office was great. There was a TV playing Elmo in the waiting room, and some little tables and chairs for the kids to play at. The rooms had big cartoon characters painted on the walls. The nurses were cheery and friendly, and there was even soothing/cheerful music being played in the examining rooms! Dr. A. himself seemed friendly and knowledgeable (although Kevin screamed when he saw the doctor--he hates doctors).

Dr. A. asked lots of questions, and then did a quick but thorough exam of Kevin. He said that in 90 percent of cases like Kevin's, the child will drive everyone in the local medical community crazy for a few years, and then will be fine, and caught up to the other children, by the time he is four or five years old.

However, he did have some concerns about Kevin. One, of course, is Kevin's low muscle tone, which we are all well aware of. The other is that the soft spot on top of Kevin's head hasn't closed up yet. Most babies' soft spots close by about 18 months of age.

So, Kevin has to go for some blood tests to check his vitamin and mineral levels (soft spot sign of low calcium? metabolism/enzyme issues?). He is also being referred to a neurologist, to see if his low muscle tone is due to a problem with his nervous system.

I hope that Kevin falls into that 90 percent of kids who just need some extra time to build up their strength.

***

By the way, Kevin officially moves up to the Toddler Room at daycare tomorrow. He has been spending time in there this week, and seems to be doing well. I'm not sure if they've ever had a toddler that doesn't "toddle" yet, but they seems to be doing their best to accommodate his needs. Right now, I think he's a bit overwhelmed by all the new faces and new activities; however, I also believe the new stimulus will be good for his development.

Actually, we witnessed a new skill last night: as Papa left our house, Kevin pulled himself up to standing at the railing by the stairs. Then, with Papa's encouragement, he walked from post to post for a couple of steps, until he got to Papa!

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Here's a video of Kevin I took about a week and a half ago, when he started climbing up on Andrea's bed!

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Random Kevin Pictures . . .

Accountant in Training

Practicing Sounds from his Word Bowl

Waiting for Andrea to Finish Going Potty

(He was banging on the door and calling to her!)