Wiggles & Giggles

Pictures!

Roger, age 3; Calvin, age 9

 
Christmas Time, Playing with Slot Cars:  Roger, age 4, Calvin almost 10

 
Can you roll your tongue?

 
Catching Snowflakes! 

The Speech Journey

Little Roger was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. When he was born, I was optimistic that we would not have the same speech problems that other cleft kids have, as his brother learned to speak really well before he was two. I also thought that listening to us and his older brother would help him learn how to speak correctly.

At age two, he was not saying any real words. There was a lot of whining and grunting and pointing. This was probably the hardest time because everyone, including Roger, was frustrated that we did not understand him.

We had some success with communicating by learning signs from Signing Times.  He was able to sign Yes and More and other basic signs which helped get the message across. One thing I noticed is that he really understood everything that we were saying and readily followed directions.

He started speech therapy at age two. I am sure that it did some good, but I didn't notice any vast improvement until he started pre-school at the age of three.  When he started, I remember saying that his speech was poor. It made me sad to say such a thing, but truthfully, I, as his mother, could not understand much of what he was saying.

One of the biggest break-throughs was when we started enunciating each syllable. We started to make sense of what he was saying as he progressed from making one-syallable grunts to multi-syllable grunts. Yes, they were still grunts. But, it was evident that he was making progress. We helped teach him the different sounds by clapping out the syllables of each word. Like Ba - Na - Na.

Now at age 4, people that are not normally around him are able to understand some of what he says. His speech report has gone from poor to fair. P's and B's have been the most noticeable struggle. He usually substitutes those for a G sound. But, just recently, he has been able to make both of those sounds, it just isn't consistent. We now need to help him remember which words have the P and B sound. 

So, it's a long and sometimes frustrating road. I am thankful for the speech therapists and enjoy applying their techniques. I am just glad he has whole year and a half before he starts kindergarten.

Merry Christmas!

Forth of July 2008

We had a great time on the 4th of July.  We can watch a spectacular fireworks show right from our deck.  There were three parachuters that floated down to kick off the show.  We listened to music and danced around.  Calvin had a great time helping Dad set off the "ground" fireworks.  Roger oohed and aahed over some of the fireworks before he went to bed.  He miraculously slept through all the booming and music.  We let Calvin stay up until midnight.

Boys of Summer

Sum-Sum Summertime

What the heck -- it's already June 30th.  Slow down summer.  It's time to literally stop and smell the flowers.  We need to look around and take it all in.

Cleft Friends

I have been slow to do this, but I added a few of the cleft web sites of families that I have communicated with.  These are just some wonderful examples of little ones who have gone through the process and those that still have their first face.  The transformations and stories are amazing.  If anyone else happens to be on my site and would like their little one added, just let me know.

Digital Scrapbooking

I love digital scrapbooking.  But, it takes me almost as long as regular scrabooking because I spend a lot of time trying to make it "perfect."  Here is Roger at 9 months.  I love this photo!

School of Rock

I took Calvin to see the School of Rock Music play Pink Floyd's The Wall.  It was hands down the best thing I have seen in a long time.  Kids ages 6-18 were shredding their guitars and screaming the lyrics.  They sounded like the real thing.

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter was about month ago now, but I just put up photos from the event.  Even though Roger already had his first Easter, this was really his FIRST Easter, as he was able to run around looking for eggs.  We put Teddy Grahams and Mini Oreos in his basket.  He also got a toy that lets you hit balls with a hammer down a hole throw a maze.  He is kind of our little Bam Bam, so this is a good toy for him. 

Calvin got a little ATM.  He puts all of his money in it and it adds it up.  He also has a little card so he can make withdrawals. 

We also went to the church egg hunt.  I got Roger to dress up, but Calvin would have none of that.  Roger was very cute at the church egg hunt as he discovered there was CANDY in the eggs.  He was dumbfounded as he looked at the candy and he almost couldn't move.

We found him sitting under a table quietly eating chocolate.  What a mess!  It turned into chocolate drool all over his face, clothes, hands, and even on the carpet.  There's no turning back once you've had your first taste of chocolate.