Logan

Yesterday was Logan's mid-year preschool parent teacher conference.  We've been so pleased with his preschool, and more importantly, his progress since being in preschool.  I've talked so many times about our challenges with Logan; he's been in speech therapy since 20 months for a slight speech delay. As a result of the speech delay, he's always been more easily frustrated and sensitive.  We, at times, have really had to dig deep and conjur up an extra five doses of patience to help Logan learn how to regulate his emotions and teach him how to be a good friend, a good brother and make the right choices.  I've talked about Life with Logan a fair amount on the blog, but I've tried not to whine too much.  For all the challenges and tears, and feeling consumed and desperate at times, there are also so many days full of laughter and triumphs. 

I'm proud of him everyday. But this week I am particularly super duper extra proud.

I was apprehensive about starting him in preschool as a young 3-year old this past fall.   I didn't know how he'd react when another child took his toy, told him 'no' or if someone he was talking to wasn't able to understand him.  I didn't know if he'd follow directions, or obey the rules.  At the same time, we felt it would be an exciting experience for him, to gain more independence and confidence, and it would give me a break a couple of mornings a week for mental recovery.   So, we decided to give it a go.

Through the school months, I've had many conversations with his lovely teacher.  We also decided to get a little extra help when we hit a rough spot a while back found a behavioral therapist to help him and just as importantly, to help us help him.  Not something I talked about on the blog, it just really seemed like a personal thing and not something I wanted to take public.   But I'm here to say that everything we've done - all the appointments, all the testing, even all the drives up to Kennedy Krieger in the early days...., all the discussions and books and everything, everything.  Its been completely worth it, 100%.

Yesterday, Logan's teacher sang his praises and told us how much he is thriving at preschool.  He's not had any issues controlling himself at school.  He is learning to write his name.  He can recognize almost every letter of the alphabet on his own, and he knows all of his shapes, colors and numbers to 20.    He can spell his name.   He goes to music class and participates and uses his manners.  He initiates communication with his teachers and friends, and sits still and pays attention.  He's wonderful at sharing, at following directions and his verbal skills have completely taken off.  In fact, so much so he's probably going to be released from speech therapy next month.  He was released from behavioral therapy today since he's met all of the goals we had set for him.  Its been quite an incredible, monumental week for him.

He's worked hard, we've worked hard, and its paid off.  Its been a long road, and not an easy one.  The child we have today is much happier, communicating his thoughts and feelings and making friends on his own.  He enjoys who he is and is proud of his abilities. 

This has been a huge learning experience for us as parents.  I've come to believe you have such a small window before certain behaviors and cycles become part of who a child is and become hard to 'undo'; before small delays turn into bigger delays when they're older and are noticed by other kids.  What I've learned in the past two years is get your child help as soon as you feel they need it.  Don't wait.  While it might be hard to acknowledge you're child isn't perfect, it will be much harder later in life if you haven't given them the skills they need to be happy and independent.  And if no one will give you the services, fight for them.  We were always told Logan's speech delay was so slight he barely qualified for services.  But we fought for him and got him help. Because how happy can a child be who can't always be understood when he's talking?  How happy can a child be who can't settle himself down when he gets upset? 

Because bottom line, he is our child and we weren't going to settle for waiting to see if it all just worked out one day. 

I've never been as sure as anything as I am of this.  There is no shame in getting help for your child.  Logan will never remember he had speech or self regulation issues.  He's just 3 1/2.  He won't remember all these hundreds of sessions of speech therapy and behavioral therapy.    What he'll know is that he's a happy, loving, smart boy who feels good about himself and can do anything he sets his mind to.  One that makes friends easily, cares for people and makes good choices in life.

My heart overflows for you, Logan, and you get more amazing every single day.

Star of the Week

This week, Dylan is Star of the Week in his first grade class.  Which is to say we spent the weekend pouring through hundreds of computer folders picking out the photos that best depict his 6 3/4 years on earth so far.  His family, things he likes to do, stuff he likes to eat...  Then printing them out.  Then mounting them on a posterboard for him to share with his class.

On Friday, I'll be going to his class to read a story.  And then he gets to share a "mystery item" from home (item TBD - it specifies no live animals though!  Maybe Logan can be his mystery item?), he'll prepare clues for his classmates to guess his super secret mystery item.  And then we'll partake in a lovely cafeteria lunch together.  Sweet, mystery meat!

two cuddlebugs

Every once in a while, when I'm in the kitchen making dinner, I'll hear two little whispering voices. And I'll look over into the family room, and see the boys cuddled up on the couch.  Sure, they're sharing a video game.  But cuddling is cuddling. And its ohsocute.  Logan now asks to sleep in Dylan's bed every night.  We only let them on the weekends, when there's no school the next morning and its not a big deal if they stay up giggling a little bit.  Sure, there's many a moment when they're wrestling, kicking, tackling.  The physical nature of boys is still something I'm getting used to....they can be so rough and they rarely ever sit still.  So when I capture them in a moment like this, its worth a photo.

best potatoes, ever.

I'm a meat and potatoes girl. What can I say, I was born in Ohio.  Hash browns, french fries, tater tots, baked, mashed, au gratin, in salad, pierogies, in soup.  I love me some potatoes, I do.  I've really been missing summer produce lately and that fresh taste only summer can bring.  Andrew has started planning our garden for this year and has already started some seeds inside.  My mouth waters thinking of sweet corn and tomato mozzarella salad.  But potatoes are your friend year-round (yes, I realize they're a starch, not a veggie but just let's just go with it...).

When we need an easy, delicious side dish (winter or summer), this one gets heavy rotation at our house.  So simple, so delicious, and as an added bonus, easy on the wallet!  It goes with just about anything, too.

Super Easy Delicious Roasted Potatoes

• medium sized red potatoes (use about 1 per person you're serving)
• one medium yellow onion
• olive oil (about 1/8 to 1/4 cup, depending on amount of potatoes)
• seasoned salt  (I like to use this one, but you could use any kind of seasoned salt that is a blend of sea salt, garlic, onion, paprika, and red pepper).
• black pepper

Preheat oven to 425.  Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick spray.


Cut up potatoes into bite size chunks (eighths).  Dice onion.  Place it all into a large ziploc bag.  Pour in olive oil just to evenly coat them.  Sprinkle seasoned salt and pepper (to taste).  It doesn't have to marinate long, maybe 20 minutes to let it soak in a bit.

Dump potato/onion mixture onto baking sheet into one even layer.   Bake for 45 - 50 minutes until potatoes are brown and crispy and onions are carmelized.

These are great with any sort of meat/pork or chicken entree, and lovely with a dollop of sour cream for dipping.  If you have fresh herbs, dice up some chives and throw on top before serving. Delish!

P is for pizza

Yesterday was Report Card Day.  I can remember those days when I was in school, feeling a little nervous, hoping I did enough to make the grades my parents wanted to see... wanting to make them proud and to feel good about all the work I had done.
I highly anticipated seeing Dylan's report card when he got home from school.  He's been working really hard since last grading period in all of the areas he's struggled with so far in first grade....reading, getting his work finished and finished on time, following written directions, and staying focused.  We've had several meetings with his teachers, and formed a partnership with them to try some strategies to keep him on track.  I haven't talked much about this on the ole' blog, but its definitely been a big area of focus for us and for him. When he got home, I sat down with him so we could read his report card together.  He seemed confident I was going to be proud of him, I knew I would be.

The kids don't really earn 'real' grades until third grade but they do earn letters telling us which areas they need to show improvement, where his work is satisfactory, outstanding, etc. 

I've been volunteering in his language arts class to be able to help him (and the other kids) and to better understand myself what the classroom is like, and how it can be a challenging and chaotic learning environment.  And I'm so proud of the progress he's made, as reflected in his reading testing scores in January, and also on his report card.

Snippets of his teachers comments:

• "developed stronger sight word vocabulary, used reading strategies in order to make progress as a reader, enjoy expressing his ideas in writing....."
• "continued to develop an understanding of the first grade math skills including addition, subtraction, geometry and fractions."
• "spirited and energetic child"

Last night Dylan got to pick whatever he wanted for dinner, and he chose a yummy pizza dinner at Ledo's, complete with mozzarella cheese sticks and Sprite -- some of this very favorites. 

We are going to make reading a big focus this summer when school is out, so he can go back to school in the fall with the same confidence he's developed this year so far.  I think reading is such a great gift to have in your life, and I don't want our kids to dread it or feel intimidated.   We'll take him to eat pizza whenever he wants if it keeps him reading.

Spicy! And check out that price point!

Wegman's, you're killing me!

they'll sell anything at Wegman's...

  ...at least its microwaveable.  Just sayin'...

can I get a glass with that whine?

There hasn't been much to report around here, as we've been in a snow-induced hibernation of sorts.   I've had a head cold for two weeks now and I've forgotten what it feels like to breath and hear like a normal person.  And let me tell you, being hearing impaired while you're snowed in for 11 days with your two sons has its advantages.

Yep, we're on Day 11 of the boys being home from school.  11 days of staying up late, sleeping in, eating leisurely breakfasts, and not having to be anywhere, anytime.   11 days of hibernation.

When we look out our front door, this is still what we see.  Nothing but piles of white.  Probably until April.

And then there is this little situation in the front yard we're going to have to take care of sooner or later:

Logan has taken on a fierce independence (which more or less stems from his total lack of patience waiting for anyone to help him) and now makes his own cheese sandwiches and picks out his own outfits every day.  Which is why today he's wearing his dress corduroy pants and a Halloween shirt. 

And though we've tried to fill these long days with some sledding (as much as our backs could stand)...

...and some mean rounds of Bananagrams, Skyping with Grandma and Grandpa, baking, Wii marathons, planning two vacations, there has admittedly been a lot of TV in our lives, too.

I spent three days obsessing over this puzzle, with some help from Andrew.

All complaining aside, we've made the most of these 11 snowy days with some good solid family time.  Andrew worked from home all of last week and we hunkered down for some days and evenings filled with coziness, good food and friends, Olympics watching, cookie baking, game playing, story reading and just being together.

Sometimes its nice to slip into hibernation and let time stand still for a little while.

Snowmageddon Part Deux

As if 30" wasn't enough snow already, they're predicting another 10" - 20" today and tomorrow.  Schools are closed for the entire week.  Some local businesses have had to close, for fear their flat roofs can't take the weight and will collapse soon.  The Federal Government is closed again.

Andrew has gone out for more provisions and is probably fist-fighting someone over the last carton of eggs somewhere.  We have plenty of batteries for the Wii remotes, plenty of toilet paper, and a giant bottle of bourbon.  We're all living in our  pajamas and showering every other day. 

Our daily conversation revolves around "what shall we eat next?"  (Andrew is preparing a lovely shrimp bisque for tonights' dinner.) We're all going to come out of Snowzilla 15 pounds heavier.

I've seen some funny names for the snowfall of the century, but the two funniest:

Kaiser Snowze and Snowtorious B.I.G.

I'm sure before this is all over, we'll have thought of a few more terms of endearment.

32.5 inches

I think this is about how much we got, or maybe thats the number of inches of hot cocoa the kids have in their bellies right now.  Maybe its the number of ibuprofen we've had to ingest to calm our quivering forearms and spasming backs.  Anyway, it doesn't matter.  After you hit about 2 feet it just doesn't matter anymore.  Its a lot of friggin' snow, more than I've ever seen at once.

This is Andrew's car in our driveway yesterday afternoon. And all the snow we had to shovel. By hand.

Our neighbors pine trees across the street, getting ready to bend in half.

Poor photo quality thru the window, but we can't get our screen porch door open to get out back and take a photo. In the background is our trampoline, bending with the weight of the snow. In the foreground, our patio table and chairs competely buried.

And today the sun is out, the sky is blue and it looks so innocent out there.  And blindingly white.  Our street has been plowed but other side streets near us are still knee-deep (chest deep for Logan).   Which made for an exhausting spin around the neighborhood this morning.  We got home after what felt like a 3 hour excursion, only to see we had only been gone about half that time.

We put more shoveling time in first, then walked to our local sledding haunt.  People were  out walking around in the middle of the streets, completely unrecognizeable from all their snow gear and shades, shaking their heads and heckling the weather Gods to throw us another storm (they are calling for another 6" - 10" Tuesday into Wednesday).   Schools have been closed Monday and Tuesday already, and if we get more snow there's a chance they'll be off all week.  Which is great news for our neighborhood Super Bowl Party tonight.  No one has to wake up tomorrow and do much of anything. 

Our house, the snow pile almost as tall as our light post.

Andrew takes a break from shoveling.

I don't think we're getting mail anytime soon. 

Dylan and Logan, taller than the light post.

Awesome ride down.  The walk back up, not so much.

Beautiful and treacherous.

Think I'll just lay right here...

Logan and I take a spin down the hill.

Andrew and Logan go head first.

Our friends built a snow slide in their yard.  The boys gave it a try...

....and came to a dead halt in the middle of the street into a snow bank.

i don't even know what to say...

i'll just let the photos tell the story. and its supposed to snow until 10 pm tonight.  the kids won't be going to school for a long, long time.

Our Front Yard

1:30 pm Friday February 5th

3:30 pm

5:30 pm

8:30 pm

***********************************************

 7 am Saturday, February 6th

that's our mailbox, almost buried

our front pine tree, sagging from all the snowy branches

This is our front porch, our corner tree that was higher than the roof has snapped in half from the weight of the snow.

the deepness. the coziness. the craziness.

3 pm and its not sticking much yet but the big stuff is yet to come, especially overnight.

We've started snacking on some of our food rations and can only hope I bought enough to last for a couple of days.

Kids are passing the time between Playdough, Starfall.com, The Garfield show, Leapster and tackling each other.

I am trying to start planning a June weekend getaway to Hershey Park, slow cooking ribs in the oven and putting laundry away.

Andrew is working from home.

Wondering when the feeling of coziness is going to be replaced with GET ME OUT OF THIS HOUSE!

and so it begins..

The snow has just started falling this morning, and we're anticipating the craziness they're calling

Snowmegeddon 2010.

Countdown to Snowpocalypse 2010

I spent my morning at the local Harris Teeter surrounded by frenzied shoppers gearing up for the Snowpocalypse of 2010. They're predicting a major snow event, maybe 24" or even more. It’s just completely wackadoo that we'd get double digit snow not just once but TWICE in one winter. When you see terms like crippling accumulations, and it also happens to be Super Bowl weekend, you know that means ONE THING and ONE THING ONLY. 

To the grocery store, pronto!

And there I was, among the harried, glaring shoppers heaving overflowing grocery carts full of Superbowl snacks, pet food, cereal, toilet paper and beer. I saw one lady with about 15 twelve-packs of Diet Coke in her cart and I just want to be at that lady’s house after she drinks the 40th can and is able to shovel her entire driveway in 45 seconds.


After an hour and a half of torturous shopping (A. I don't know where anything is in the store since I usually shop at my beloved Wegman's but I had a $10 offer Teeter coupon burning a hole in my pocket and B. Did I mention Logan was with me?), I got in line to pay and dropped a giant bottle of Spicy V-8 juice which exploded all over me and the floor, up my pants, in my shoes, and on my face. A bloody mess. I was trying to be a nice wife and buy it for Andrew to make Bloody Marys when we get snowed in this weekend (I don't even like Bloody Marys, I'm more of a mimosa kinda gal). It even splashed up and got in my eye, and then I was blinded and couldn't help the lady clean up the giant slippery puddle.  Hell, I could barely operate the debit card machine to finish my transaction.  Did I mention the entire time this was unfolding, Logan was yelling "I want a ballloooooooon!!!!"

And the 8 people behind me in line looked like they wanted to meet me in the parking lot for a serious ass kicking. Which I totally deserved.

Sigh.

On a positive note, Andrew and I had our babysitter come over last night while we attended a fancy awards dinner at the lovely Tysons Corner Ritz Carlton. It was AMAZING and yummy – filet mignon and lobster tail. Spectacular! Andrew was presented with his VIP award at this dinner with some of the highest partners in his firm there to do the hand shaking, and an honor it was, as only 24 awards were given out of over 5,000 IT employees. Soon we’ll get the travel website information to help us plan our vacation. We're looking forward to a quiet, relaxing and exotic destination (with no trips to the grocery store) to celebrate our 10 year wedding annivesary later this year. 

We also got to bring home the incredibly beautiful centerpiece from our dinner table.   This will definitely bring a bright spot to an otherwise cold and snowy weekend ahead.

monday morning tournament

What do you do on a Monday morning when your 6 year old has no school and you have some alone time together?  Go to the bowling alley for a little Mommy & Me bowling tournament, of course.  And if you're Dylan, you spend more time on the floor then you do standing up.