Mommy brain

What do you get when a Mommy tries to bake a "Perfect All American Chocolate Butter Cake" with two kiddos in tow?

A "Perfect All American Chocolate Cake" and two sticks of butter sitting on the counter.

Oops.

The first layer came out of the oven and tastes pretty good. It is a little on the sweet side, but exceptionally good considering I forgot a title ingredient and the only fat in the cake is in the egg yolks. Still, I might give it another go tonight once the kids are in bed and I can concentrate better! I plan to decorate this cake (practice for my sister's wedding cake) and take it to a church potluck on Sunday. I'm trying to see if it'll keep a few days - a requirement for a wedding cake!

In other news, John has his first speech therapist appointment tomorrow, but I think he's already made a lot of improvements. When they tested him, his speech included "No", "Da", and "Da-Boo". Now he says "sssshoezzz", "ssseee", "Bye Bye", and appears to be mimicing (or trying to mimic) about 30% of the time. (A problem the speech evaluator noticed was that he didn't care to mimic facial expressions or noises.) We've set up one mirror in the living room that we make faces in and have been doing things like blowing in straws and blowing on food for facial imitation.

John loves Anna! I moved her carseat next to his so we could sit an extra person in the car last week and kept it there because they do so well together (SHOCK SHOCK SHOCK!). He can't quite touch her face yet and hasn't figured out how to do so with his feet (Jane!). He basically holds her hand when she cries and smiles at her to make her laugh. I tried to nap them in the same room today, but that was quite a failure.

We love the stroller and go out a lot. John isn't satisified by walks of less than 90 minutes, and I say the more the merrier. My diastasis seems to be healing better now that Anna is no longer in the front carrier and causing extra stress on those muscles. John also has taken a liking to baths and is getting a long bubble bath about four times a week now.

Crazy week

This has been a crazy week.

It started last Saturday morning, with John throwing up in my lap at a Ladies Prayer Breakfast at a friend's home.

This was John's first real ickiness. In December he was throwing up but acting normally, this time it really hit him and he was exhausted. We all stayed home Sunday, first because I needed the car to take John to the doctor and then later because it was snowing/freezing raining.

Monday John seemed better so we kept our appointment to have him evaluated for an early intervention program on Tuesday. Although we are only concerned about speech (he still hasn't said "mama!" - boohoo!) the evaluation was in all categories. It turns out that John is significantly ahead in receptive speech (what he understands) but is considered 10 months behind in expressive speech, so he qualifies for no-cost-to-us early intervention until age 3.

During the evaluation, one therapist gave him a set of 10 nested cups, took them apart, put them back together (to demonstrate what to do with them) and then put them on the floor randomly. John put them back together correctly! When he got one wrong, he took it out and fixed it carefully. The therapists sat there amazed and said, "We've never seen a child finish this task before." They said most children dump all the cups out if they make a mistake or just give up.

On Wednesday we drove an hour north to purchase a Baby Jogger City Double. I took it out today and love it. It is so nice to have a double stroller and be able to take both children out easily. Since we'll be living in an urban environment next year, I expect to do a lot of walking. After losing a wheel in Vienna last summer when the frame suddenly broke, I decided a lifetime warrently on the frame was worth spending more for.

One reason for the trip Wednesday was that the boiler for the home EXPLODED at 1 am Wednesday morning and we were without heat and hot water until 10 pm Friday. Who wants to be home for that???

On Thursday, I went grocery shopping. I wasn't in a rush to get home (see above) so when I couldn't find a car cart, I decided to let John walk next to me during the shopping trip. He did amazingly for the first 3/4 but wanted to be carried by the time we reached produce. I think the non-linearity of the produce department was difficult for him. Also, by that time, he had been walking for 45 minutes. The comments I received were interesting. Three old men said very positive things like "I see you've got a helper" or "You're a good son for your mother." Young women generally looked like they were upset that I was taking so long to get through the aisles. John carried my list and helped me get applesauce. He did a fantastic job of staying with me.

The repair men were here today for 14 hours. Yay for them! They left just after 10 pm, but not before coming upstairs to make sure everything works. Whoohoo! It is warm and cozy now.

Tomorrow a local Moms of Multiples group is having a rummage sale. I hope I can get there to buy clothes for next year for the kiddos!