Sam is talking!!

We recently found out that Sam had fluid in his ears that was preventing him from hearing clearly. He was sent for a hearing test since he is language delayed. We noticed the language delay around 18 months age or even sooner, but decided to wait until age 2, based on the Dr.'s advice to do testing because he may have just been a late talker. Even after age 2 when we started going through the process of having a full evaluation, most people told us that he was probably fine, that the evaluation probably wasn't necessary and that they knew lots of later talkers. Something was setting right with me about it though, so we forged ahead.

I never would have guessed that it would have been his hearing that was the problem. I did note that he screeched a lot, but thought that was due to frustration over not being able to talk. We ended up seeing a specialist for him who told us that he needed tubes in his ears. It has been a little over a week since he's had the tubes in and what a difference!! The first couple of days I didn't notice a change, but about the third or the fourth day, it was like night and day.

He is having a language explosion. He picks up new words everyday and is even stringing two and even three words together. We couldn't be happier with his progress. It's amazing what a little modern medicine can do! The operation took all of 10 mintues, maybe less, and I was back with him.

His new word for today was snow. We all went to Pittsford park because yesterday they had dumped a huge truckload of snow there for Snow Fest. They had games and sled rides down the hill that they put snow on. We had a birthday party to go to yesterday, so we didn't make it, but today was even better because it was FREE! We didn't have anything for them to use to slide, but a bunch of kids had brought sleds and boogy boards and were kind enough to share with the kids who didn't have one. It was great. There was an older boy there who was really great with the younger kids, taking him down the hill on his boogy board. Sam grabbed daddy by the hand and took him off to the play area of the park while mom watched the older two in the snow. They slid down that hill for over an hour and didn't want to leave for lunch.

We are planning to take them to see real snow next month since daddy has a friend who owns a cabin in the mountains where we can stay. That should be a lot of fun for the boys, as they have never been to the snow before. If today was any indication of how much they'll enjoy it, I'd say it will be well worth the trip!! I just wish I had brought my camera.

Ben's 5th birthday!

Last weekend was Ben's 5th birthday party. I have never seen anyone so excited over thier birthday. He wanted a big party with all of his friends at Pump it Up, this party place that has huge inflatible slides and bounce houses for the kids to jump in and run around on. We all had a blast, even the adults. When you saw that big slide, you just couldn't *not* want to try it out! He picked Power Rangers as the theme so we went to the party store together and picked out all of the trappings- cake plates, goody bags, table clothes, etc. and of course the number 5 candle that he blew out.

It's hard to believe he is already five! It doesn't seem like it's been that long since we moved to Orange County and we were only here a few months before celebrating his 2nd birthday. I remember that he was into dogs when he was 2 and had a dog cake and we gave out dog bone shaped cookies with the kids names written on them as the party favor. And now he is five! He's smart and articulate and has us laughing on a daily basis. He came into this world an "old soul" and still very much seems that way. I really don't believe in reincarnation, but some days he has me wondering where he gets the things he comes up with. He's a great kid and growing up so fast.

Just when I think they hate each other...

they do something really sweet. First I'll say that I'm really glad that we chose (uh, okay, well not exactly chose but I will spare the details) the child spacing that we did. Having Will and Ben so close in age has mostly been a blessing. They enjoy a lot of the same things and play together a lot. They also spend a not insignificant amount of thier time together beating each other up. They have been doing a lot of this lately, so I was really happy to hear this exchange this morning.

Me: Will, Matt has invited you to spend the night at his house Friday night. Did you want to go?

Will: Spend the night?! Yay!

He then runs off to find Ben and says, "Benny we're spending the night at Matt's house on Friday!"

Me: Well, actually honey just you are invited to spend the night at Matt's house. He's your friend from school so his mom just invited you.

Will: Awwwww. If Benny doesn't come I will miss him. I miss Ben.

See, they do love each other!

Pictures

Just a few more pictures!

Yet more Christmas pictures!

More Christmas pictures

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas and Christmas eve. We were able to steal a couple of hours on Christmas eve to go to the park and play baseball with the kids.

Our Christmas

This year we stayed home for Christmas and Grandma Kathi and Uncle Kevin were here. Then later in the week we had Christmas round two at Grandma Zukie's. The kids had a great time looking at lights in the neighborhood on Christmas eve, baking cookies, and leaving cookies out for Santa (we almost forgot, but got them out of bed at the last minute to do it!).

Christmas morning we woke up before dawn and opened gifts. The boys were super excited about thier Star Wars Lego sets and Floam (warning- stay away from this stuff, it is messy and doesn't do what it's supposed to do!) and then ate ginger scones, sausage balls, and quiche for breakfast/brunch.

Later in the afternoon Grandpa Ed and Irene came over and we all hang out and opened more gifts and then ate dinner.

The day after Christmas my mom and I hit the mall and we scored some great deals.

The day after that we went over to Grandma Zukie's house where the boys got more Legos, which we have been really busy with ever since, games, and Ben got some power ranger clothes that he has been wearing almost every day. Brian and I also had the opportunity to stop by San Antonio winery and pick up a few bottles of wine. It's a really neat place in L.A. that I didn't know about until recently.

All in all it was a really great Christmas! We hope that everyone else's holidays were happy and that everyone is healthy and doing well!

Sammy bones

Just a quick funny Sam story.

One of Sam's many silly nicknames is "bones". This stemmed from when he was a baby and we started calling him "ham" because on his first Christmas I said he was the size of a little Christmas ham. The name stuck and morphed into "hammy", "hammy bones", "sammy bones" and just plain "bones".

Sam is learning his body parts right now. We'll ask him to point to his nose or eye and he (usually) will do it. Well, for the past few days he has been pointing to his head and saying, "bowl" or something that sounded similar. Brian was joking, saying he was saying the Spanish word for hair, "pelo". Yesterday Brian said, "Bones" talking to Sammy, and he pointed to himself and said, "bones". Yes, we are saving for his future therapy sessions!

My little comedian

This morning I was lying in bed with Sam and Brian had gotton up with the boys and turned on the t.v. for them. Ben came in when Brian left for work and said he was hungry and wanted breakfast. I told him that we didn't have any waffles left (his usual) but that he could have cereal or eggs. He said that he wanted something with syrup on it. I joked with him that we could put syrup on his eggs and he said, "No! That is going to be gross. I'm going to give you a bite and you are going to think it's nasty!". So I asked him about putting a little syrup on his cereal. He thought about it for a minute and then very seriously said, while pointing his finger at me, "Ok. I will try it. But if I don't like it I will try something else. I will try candy". Yeah, nice try bud!! This child cracks me up!