Ben's Sports

Ben has been taking t-ball and skating classes. In hind-sight we may have gotten overly excited about his new found eligibility, since he turned three. Going forward were only going to sign him up for skating again. Last night, he had a really awesome lesson. He's starting to apply all the things the instructor has been telling him and he was able to stand up on his own for the first time. He was laughing and giggling with the instructor the whole time. Funny since two weeks ago when I took him he wouldn't even get on the ice. I think the new mandatory skating day nap is really working.

Ben's Report Card

They don't really call it a report card, instead it's a second trimester IEP. I can't find what IEP stands for, so as far as I'm concerned it's a report card.
• Ben now produces the /p/ and /t/ in the final target words without model or cues (verbal examples or visual cues). Since October he's gone from needing model and cue 100% of the time to 90% of the time producing the sound without model or cue.
• Ben has 100% met the goal of producing /k/ and /g/ in isolation upon request.
• Ben produces the /k/ in the final and initial position 100% of the time with model, emerging in conversation

Ben's next objective is to produce the /s/ blends (sp, st, sm) in target words with model and cues.

Were pretty happy with Ben's progress and we look forward to him mastering those /s/ blends. I think I'm going to request he work on /l/. We've been practicing LOCK for the /k/, but the L always comes out as a C. Well see what his teachers think.

One Step Closer…

to being a grown-ass man. Ben peed standing up today.

Baking Cookies

Something about spending time with my mom makes me want to bake. I got inspired by a playdough cookie he and my mom made. So we made "peanut" butter cookies. Ben may be allergic to peanut and egg, but that didn't stop us. We used a lot of substitutes. Sun butter, baking powder, oil and water plus some light cream cheese to try and keep the fat down for me. They actually came out really good. Ben is an excellent cross-hatcher. Neil is just good at eating them.

Earthquakes, Accidents, and Seizures

We had a earthquake here at about 4 am yesterday morning. I slept through it this time. Since were on a fault line, that's why Galena is so beautiful, I'm sure we'll have more in the future. I think my sleepy brain thought it was a snowplow.

Ben had an accident the first one in a long time.

Blue had a seizure. It's been a while since she had one, but I have noticed they're getting longer and more intense.

What's all this add up to? Things just aren't right when daddy's away.

Brian's away

Brian left for his regional sales meeting this morning. He had to change his flight to first thing this morning since Southwest was canceling the rest of the days flights. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will still be able to return as planned on Saturday evening. So far the boys and I have shoveled the snow out front once and the deck has been done twice. Ben still had school and my exercise class was still held. Hopefully it doesn't snow too much more or we'll have to miss our MOPS steering meeting tomorrow morning. The more activities we can do the better while Brian's gone. Hopefully Grandma and Great-Grandma will still be able to make it on Thursday. Ben is already very excited for their visit.

How We Keep Busy

We pulled out the dress-up box this week. Not being able to play outside is finally getting to us. Here's Ben as a policeman and a cowboy. I think the policeman is from the transformers, hence the futuristic look. Also check out the padded muscles. Ben's sporting a six-pack. Neil worn a fireman costume, but was bored after 5 minutes or so. Ben also spent some time as Spiderman. All the costumes are courtesy of our friends the Kuebelbeck's.

Ben had a great skating lesson last night. He was coached by Beth the woman who runs the hockey program. He's finally on the ice the whole time. It's been really difficult getting a good shot, but here's what we have. Neil and I went to the library last night. One of the books I picked out was "Hockey Hero". It's quite a hit with Ben. We've read it three times since last night.