Nathaniel's First Words
Submitted by kim on Fri, 04/04/2014 - 22:19 in Augmented Communication, Nathaniel's Story
Nathaniel's first word was BATH. He said it with his hands a few weeks ago.
It happened like this:
While I have been talking to therapists and reading, Rich has been quietly doing his own thing. Consistently. For months. He undresses Nathaniel, signs "bath," and says, "Let's go take your bath!" One afternoon Rich and I were talking about the bedtime routine and decided we were under a bit of a time crunch and would skip Nathaniel's bath. After dinner Rich took Nathaniel into the nursery like normal and started to undress him. As soon as his shirt was off, Nathaniel signed BATH.
We made time for a bath!
The Right Language Test and Therapist
Submitted by kim on Wed, 04/02/2014 - 15:20 in Augmented Communication, Nathaniel's Story
I have been kindling a dislike of speech therapists for months.
If I were perfectly honest I have been kindling a dislike of speech therapists since I was in elementary when I had to sit in a hot little rectangular room with four boys practicing my "s" and "r" sounds.
But my weariness of speech therapists has started to change.
Toddler Toy Boxes
Submitted by kim on Mon, 03/31/2014 - 20:56 in Parenting
We have spent very little money on toys for Nathaniel and somehow THIS happened.
Between generous friends, his first birthday, Christmas, and toys we had saved from the first set of children, toys seemed to be suddenly out of control. We had a situation with our private duty nursing last week that made everything feel very out of control, so I woke on Saturday morning determined to bring order to some part of our lives. Even if it was just toys. I decided to create toddler toy tubs that can be rotated every couple of days with each tub offering opportunity for gross motor play, fine motor play, sensory play, and messy play.
First task was to group the toys into categories.
Top Ten of September '13
Submitted by kim on Fri, 03/28/2014 - 22:24 in Nathaniel's Story
Nathaniel and Mom enjoying a moment together.
Helping Josiah with math.
Playing guitar with Dad.
On Little Boys' Piped Collars and Time
Submitted by kim on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 09:50 in Homemaking, Parenting
I've spent the last couple nights scouring Etsy for a little boy's romper and piped collar white shirt for Nathaniel for Easter. A couple decades ago I had the luxury of homemade special occasion outfits for my babies and toddlers. Rich's mom and I would sew them.
We lived with Rich's parents for seven years; my first born was three months old when we moved in and I had three more children before we moved out. I spent a lot of time with Grandma - hours every day tending large vegetable and flower gardens, preparing meals, taking walks in the subdivision across the street, sitting side by side at our sewing machines in the guest bedroom.
When Rich crawled in bed and asked what I was doing last night, I said, "Wishing your mom was still here so we could make Nathaniel an Easter outfit together."
"We have a box downstairs of the outfits you two made," he said, "I'll get them out for you tomorrow."
