father's day 2012

today was mr. h3b's 3rd father's day. finley learned to say "hoppy fater's daaey" just before dad woke up. it wasn't remarkably different than other weekends for us, but i tried to make it special in little ways. we woke up and did all of the prep this morning. every year we make a card for dad with a black ink foot print. i can't do it in advance because he'll see the ink stain and know...so to "surprise" him we do it the morning of. finley's foot is so much bigger. between year 1 and year 2 there is growth, yes. but this year? it's like a kid foot. finley decorated the paper bag wrapping paper with his crayon art. he learned to make "circles" for the occasion and spent some time scribbling away. he's been in love with "markers" (what he calls all coloring tools) and we color daily. as a treat, i let him use scissors. he said the word "cut" without prompting and my heart swelled with pride. this boy is learning every day. side note: i'm not sure what he's doing in the picture here, but his inquisitive little brain is up to something. also note the bruised and scuffed legs contrasting the melon painted big toes. he insists on getting his toenails painted and on occasion we do them. he's not patient so this last time i limited it to big toes only to avoid melon stained furniture. back to father's day. i made omelets and toast (at husband's request) and after breakfast we headed out to the beach. finn could spend hours at the beach with his daddy. dad doesn't mind standing in the cold water, fetching rocks, and wandering off to find seagulls. (not that i mind, but that water is cold!). in true form, finn threw a tantrum and sobbed the entire walk of the beach when it was time to head in for lunch and nap time. we spent the rest of the evening mini golfing (finn's first time - pictures to come) and enjoying a feast of south indian food at one of our favorite restaurants. finn is lucky to have a daddy that watches him play, teaches him new things (like hitting a "ball with a stick") and exposes him to foods and cultures outside of our bubble. he doesn't need lots of things (which he has), mostly just time and love (which he gets). we finished up with a trip to a local food market to stock up on fresh, cheap produce (7ft of sugar cane for $2 should fuel my mojito appetite). it was a simple day full of the things that matter. i'm so thankful to watch my son watch his daddy. he's got a great role model and friend and i'm excited to watch their relationship grow. as soon as we get out of the tantrum stage i bet it's going to be so sweet ;)

early intervention updates

finn started early intervention at the end of october of last year (2011). until early may 2012 he was seeing two therapists, an hour each, every week. one was for speech therapy and one for developmental therapy. sessions were held in our home and were play focused, meaning he didn't have to sit still and "learn", rather he learns through interactions and basic play.

when we started at 18(ish) months, finn could confidently say the word "car" and had a few other words within those first few weeks. he was significantly delayed in speech and had some minor delays in development. our main objectives were to increase his ability to do tedious tasks and of course, to increase his vocabulary and verbal communication skills.

he excelled in the developmental therapy and has largely caught up. where he couldn't do puzzles and wouldn't attempt new/difficult tasks, he now masters these and more in sessions and in everyday life. his patience has grown and he rarely throws new toys when confused or frustrated. he loves his developmental therapist and she is great about incorporating speech focus into their sessions. i was never concerned about this element of his development but we qualified for it and he has thrived, so i'm glad we've worked on the skills with him.

when we began speech, finn wouldn't imitate sounds/noise/words and expressed little interest in verbal communication. he understood commands and requests and had no trouble signing, he just wasn't using words. what was most helpful was that the therapist created ways for us to teach finley in everyday tasks and offered suggestions on how to increase mouth sounds. he quickly caught on and went through a period where he was adding noises (animals, vowels, etc.) and words almost daily. after a few months he dropped some of his initial words and was at a bit of a standstill. he still had not used two word sequences and just didn't seem interested in using his words unless prompted by us. he also went through a tantrum period in which sessions weren't very productive. eventually he came around and within a month or so he added 2 and 3 word phrases and seemed to really understand concepts.

he now communicates without prompting and has only a slight delay. he doesn't sing songs or engage in lengthy conversations with himself or others. he rarely babbles and his expressive communication is still somewhat limited. he easily labels objects he knows and can tell us what he needs/wants. he remembers activities and can describe them ("boat all gone" when a boat from a day or two ago leaves the water) but he can't string words together in conversation like other children his age can/do.

in may we decided to reduce his therapy to every two weeks per therapist. he still see someone once a week, but they rotate so he only sees each twice a month. at our 6 month meeting everyone agreed that finley has excelled in therapy and we are confident he'll be able to fully catch up (not that we thought it wouldn't happen!). he'll continue these appointments through the summer and then we'll re-evaluate his needs. i know he's still behind in speech but he's doing so great and i'm so proud. i'm happy we chose to do the therapy even though i questioned whether he truly needed it. eventually he would have talked, i'm sure, but having professional to help in the journey was certainly better than us struggling to figure out what methods to use. our pediatrician didn't pressure us to see someone or to have him evaluated. just as everyone else said, she agreed he would communicate verbally at some point but  also noted that an eval couldn't hurt the situation! so...he's a talker now :)

(the pictures have nothing to do with the post, obviously.)

he's a character

finally, it's almost summer weather! it's my most favorite time and i'm sure since i'm more fun when i'm warm and drinking refreshing beverages (iced tea! lemonade! sangria!), it will be a treasured time for finley, too. it's much easier to pop out the the beach at a moment's notice (and for us especially so as we literally live on the water - great in the summer, not so great in the winter) and there are so many summer things to occupy this young boy we have on our hands.


so this weekend we ventured out on a near 90 degree day to visit the botanic gardens. it's a place for finn to run free and see lots of nature all at once. and i know he's older now because we didn't even bring the stroller. i rarely bring it anywhere anymore, honestly.

and he's so funny. i wanted to get him one of these trendy hats because he enjoys hats and has been requesting to wear his winter beanies. surprisingly he has taken to this one and unless it's windy, he keeps it on. obviously, he's a character and it's often the subject of one of his silly games. and the shades? yeah. i could not stop laughing.


he is suddenly happier (2 year molars have finally broken the gums) and when a two year old is happy, i think most people are happy. this smile here? his favorite thing to do (in public) is walk up to elderly people and flash that grin while holding up his hand for a high five. often the generational gap is too much and rather than high five, the person questions me about his gender or tells me about their child/grandchild with curly hair. before i can respond, finley is bounding away and i'm left saying a hasty good bye to an older stranger before we even get to chatting.

and here at the gardens was no exception. we walked past an older couple and finley grinned at them and ran ahead. i overheard the man ask his wife, "now, was that a boy or a girl?". well, i cut his hair and people still can't tell. maybe it's because he's just so precious? ;)


we spent time looking at geese and fish and smelling flowers and just enjoying our time with this boy who now uses words to respond and even promote conversation. this boy who wears his baby mraz hat and his fear and loathing sunglasses and his cute attitude. i bet he's going to bring it this summer ;)

i'm hoping my next post will be about our experience with early intervention. i'm not sure anyone is still reading (anyone?) that doesn't speak to me in real life and already knows, but just in case and for my own personal record, i'd like to jot down finley's road to speaking with help from therapy.

mommy. momma. mommyyy.

i love my boy. i really do. and i'm soon going to make a post about how early intervention has helped him talk more. but right now, on day two of my husband being out of town, i've become acutely aware of his vast language development and his willingness to use words to get my attention and it's driving me a tiny bit insane. despite a larger vocabulary, his single most favorite thing to say right now is mommy. see also: momma.



scene: anywhere, any time. (like, the car. the kitchen. outside.)
finley: mommy! mommeee! momma? mommy.
me: yes? what's up?
f: momma....mommy.
m: yep? what do you need?
f: :points at something, possibly nothing: mommaaaa. mommy?
m: what is it finley? your shoe? the dog? that car?
f: ehh. :walks away:

multiply that conversation by 10 per hour and welcome to my day! i swear i thought the mommy stage, like the "why" stage, was more dramatic in storytelling than it was realistic. i was wrong. he's napping right now and i can hear his repetitive mommy-ing running through my head still. it would be sweet, but it feels a little less special the 578th time.



these images, which have really nothing to do with this post, were taken during a special afternoon bath. this weekend finn was so busy and missed multiple evening baths due to his party-filled schedule so i made sure he was clean by fitting in a blue water and bubbled filled bath. and i promise he filled the conversation with plenty of "mommy" requests.

biking around

filling finn's days with things to do can be a challenge. i'm not super mom and finn doesn't happily participate in pinterest craft projects on the daily. despite him preferring ladybugs to all other bugs and often choosing pink or purple as favorite colors, he is "all boy" when it comes to activities. rough and tumble, outside getting dirty,  burn off energy kinds of things. so, with warmer weather on it's way, out we go.

last summer he was just kind of into this like pedal-less trike, but this spring he is all about it. he calls his helmet a hat and he gets so excited to get out and ride. it requires lots of movement from him but it isn't hard to control and it's unlikely he could fall over. we do 2-3 laps around a city block at a time and i get tired just jogging to keep up with him!

he's such a character. here he's riding up the wall. testing boundaries, figuring out what works and what doesn't...what he can do and what's not possible. in this case, it seems you can't drive up the wall any more than this.

when he's on the go he just doesn't have time for me and the camera. his little two year old attitude is in full force and while sometimes it's not funny, there are little moments that are so comical to me. i don't appreciate him storming off to his room and slamming the door (yes, he does this!) or responding to my requests with a curt "no!".

but the "no more pictures" point signaling that i'm ruining his biking time with my camera? i still find that pretty funny.

oh, hey there.

::slinks back into blogging::

i'll skip the whole i waz busy! life with a toddler is hard! because, yeah, truth. :)

let's just bring it back to current with a simple: finley turned two in february (!). i passed out briefly over the knowledge that i have a two year old. he's cute and fun and a handful and i'd like to document some of his life via blogging again just because i kind of liked sharing in that way. you haven't seen him since november, i know. or, it's likely you have, since the only people that read this blog have access to my life "in the real world" and as such, have no shortage of finley. so, fast forward through his 2nd christmas (fun first time at home just the three of us! lots of presents! family!), right through his 2nd birthday (milkshakes! balloons!), past other other holidays and milestones and memories, right into right now.

yesterday, finn flew his first kite. it did not go as planned and lasted a quick five minutes. before we even made it to the beach (which is 40 steps from our front door), he was complaining that it was "too vinny". it was seriously windy and he hates the wind.

we coerced him onto the sand where the wind was whipping and set the kite sailing with no trouble. he was "all done". over and over "all done?!" before we got much kite flying in. and then he ran off the beach toward home and hasn't stopped mentioning how "vinny" it is outside since.

a quick photo op and the memory that the first time you flew a kite there was just too much wind.

20 months

by now, 20 months and some weeks. he is such a little boy. all traces of baby are virtually gone and we are quickly approaching two years. it's still a hard concept for me. two years ago i was pregnant. he has had every first holiday, and almost every second holiday. it's crazy.

i don't have any stat updates as we don't see the dr. until two, but he's slightly heavier than at 18 months and taller for sure. he can reach things that used to be safe from his grasp. he is active and sleeps less at naps. he's had trouble sleeping at night and wakes between 5:45 and 6:45 am sobbing but still tired. i've tried to let him cry it out because honestly, no one in our house is ready to get up then, but most days i have to go in and put him back to sleep for another hour or so. he's always slept later (7:30-8:45am wake up) so i don't believe that he is ready for the day at 5:45 am.

he eats fine but is more independent and picky as the weeks go by. one day he loves kiwi, the very next he gags over it. sometimes he'll eat dinner that the family eats and other times he won't. i dont make two meals but i do add items to his plate (in advance, not after he rejects other food) that i know he will probably eat.

developmentally, he is growing leaps and bounds. we've only had three total EI session (developmental only) but we've spent a considerable amount of time working on structured activities rather than all day open play and it seems to be helping. he is great at puzzles already and he will spend a bit more time doing things he doesn't prefer. verbally, he is just beginning to advance. a day or two before his EI eval he said his first officially word: car. that was less than a month ago (i think?).

for my own sake, here are the words he can now say:
mama (technically his first word, but it hadn't been used with purpose)

dada


ball
bee
baby
bus
boat
bye
car
go
hi
more
uh-oh

he knows most of his body parts, the signs for more, please, all done, thank you and help, and a variety of animal noises/actions. his fish mouth is particularly cute ;) he threads beads, matches items, plays with play doh, uses finger paints - typical kid stuff.

we start speech therapy this monday so i am anxious to see how it helps him. he seems to finally be interested in saying words with purpose and understanding their connection with communication and objects, so i'm hopeful that he'll catch up in no time and chatter my ear off soon :)