We met Grace and Andrew the December after we got married. They went to UCLA, attended the same church as my sister, and got married at a church down the street from ours here. Dan talked with Andrew a lot because there aren't a lot of young, technical guys at our church. The also have two littles, a boy and girl, just a bit shifted from ours.

In January, Andrew was diagnosed with cancer. He and Grace blog about it at graceandrew.blogspot.com. It isn't an encouraging, easy read, but it is a helpful read as he and Grace lean on God during this difficult time.

A goat?

We live in the suburbs. On Saturday night, a neighbor we had never met came over to our house quite late at night to ask us if we had heard a scream. We had not. The neighbor seemed quite upset and repeated that she had heard what sounded like a child screaming.

This morning, I saw a goat in my neighbor's yard. That neighbor lives in a house, which, like ours, has been split into multiple apartments. Maybe the other tenant was keeping a goat in their kitchen... I'm not 100% sure it was a goat, but last time I checked dogs didn't have horns or eat grass!

Potty Learning Time?

About two weeks ago, John started giving me a sound kick to the ribs everytime I tried to change his diaper. Consistent discipline didn't deter him, and a warning as I picked him up onto the changing table only encouraged him ("Remember, you'll be disciplined if you kick Mommy," was followed by a WHACKKKK straight to the ribs). I told a friend about this at church on Wednesday night and suddenly the light went on. John doesn't WANT to be in diapers anymore!

Something similar happened about six months ago. John was consistently throwing food from the high chair. Warnings (like above) and discipline were totally ineffective. We moved him to the table on a booster seat, gave him a normal plate and silverware, and the food stopped being thrown.

So, after considering this Thursday, I put him in underpants on Friday afternoon. He had NOT ONE accident until Daddy came home, at which point life was too exciting to bother with the potty. He's done fine today (2.5 hours). He can pee on cue, though we haven't had a poop yet. He peed in the potty five times yesterday, three times today so far. I'm worried he'll have an accident so I offer the potty about once an hour! The first time it took him about 5 minutes, now it takes about 1.

The speech therapist comes every Monday. I am learning things, but I also notice that John's behavior is worse when she is here. For example, he throws his toys every time she comes. She has given me "strategies" for dealing with toy throwing, but he doesn't throw toys if she isn't here. I'm not sure if it is because bad behavior like toy throwing means I just put him down for a nap immediately or because her desire to talk about everything he does encourages toy throwing.

If John threw a toy when she wasn't here, I would say, "No, we don't throw toys. You probably need a nap." End of it. No more toys get thrown for days. (He has thrown one toy once in the past week - it was in the afternoon after she was here. When she is here, he might throw ten things before he calms down.)

When the therapist is here, she says, "John, toys don't fly. Can you find something that flies? Airplanes fly! Birds fly! Toys don't fly." John might say, "fff," and that would be rewarded with a response of, "FLY! That's right, toys don't fly!"

Well, that toy DIDN'T fly; John threw it. It was John's fault, not the toy's!!!

On the other hand, she has had a few suggestions that have been helpful. John's nose was running and I had a wash cloth within reach. I grabbed it to wipe his nose and he started crying and turning away. She told me that John recognizes that a washcloth is for washing, not for nose blowing. She grabbed a tissue, held it up to his nose, said, "Blow, blow, blow," and that was that. I've consistently used that "method" since then without a single fight.

The cakes are from the last four weeks in the order I made them. I still have a ways to go, but I think I'm getting better.

Isn't Anna big? John is too, and he loves hats!

Culture clash

Overheard at church between a woman raised on a farm and a city girl:

Pam: While we were driving, we hit a deer.
Steph: You hit a deer?!?!
Pam: Yeah, but Troy wanted to get our money's worth so he put it in the car so we could butcher it.
Steph: He put it in the car?!?!
Pam: Don't worry, it couldn't have been much bigger than Bambi.

Dan's been on a publishing streak (hopefully it'll be about four papers in two months, if I count correctly). He's finishing projects which have been in the works for months and it is great! We've got a steakhouse lined up to go to when the fourth gets submitted for publication. Dan's advisor is a perfectionist and exceptionally successful so Dan's been working diligently to get this last paper up to his advisor's nearly unreachable standards. I think he's almost there... When Dan gets excited about papers, he wakes up early (between 3 and 5 am), goes into work, and works until dinner. He sometimes does this two or three days per week. This work schedule has greatly increased his productivity, as you can imagine. I appreciate Dan being home in the evenings so this works well for our family.

Anna is a mover now. I don't bother to put her on blankets anymore because she moves off of them so quickly. She can move 8' in a few minutes by a combination of rolling and scooting. Dan thinks she'll just stand up and walk one day because of the wild gymnastics she does all the time. I'm busily baby-proofing the house. John never needed much baby proofing - he holds things but doesn't put them in his mouth. Anna loves it when John sits on her. (Hey, it is attention from HIM!)

I hope to post some pictures of the kiddos and my recent cakes this afternoon when I post some shoes for sale on E-Bay. Hey, I wear a weird shoe size; I think there must be someone out there who wants some barely worn women's size 12 black pumps.

Second speech appointment

We had John's second session on Monday. The therapist was speaking to him in very short phrases (not even sentences!) and I was becoming increasingly frustrated. Hadn't she read the report about John and his receptive language? Maybe she was just used to children who had problems with expressive and receptive speech.

I verbalized my opinions to her (thankfully!) and she told me, firmly, that the point isn't what John can understand during speech and recognized that he can understand *a liot*, but what he can repeat. She told me that although he understands and carries out long commands, he doesn't repeat them. She suggested I limit myself to three (!!!) word phrases as much as possible. I guess he'll still get a lot of complex speech from our family times...

At the end of the session, she pointed out to me that John repeats "Bye-bye", which means that it is time to give him a longer phrase by adding a name at the end. So as he repeats my short phrases, I can add more words.