Speech Therapy, Round Two

The Suz just finished her second round of speech therapy. In order to qualify, she had to test quite a bit below average than her peers, and she easily did that last fall. So, for most of the school year, I've been taking her to a 45-minute class each week where she gets help with her speech.

Make no mistake, speech therapy is no miracle cure--it's actually the parents who have to do the hard work of working with and correcting the child at home. Kudos to the Pa for being the more consistent of the two of us as he was quite instrumental in getting the Suz back up to speed.

Anyway, there were three other little four-year-old girls in Susie's speech class, and she consistently out-personalitied them all. The other three girls were shy and reserved, scared of their own voice, much like I was at that age. They found a fast friend in the Suz who was always ready and willing to "talk" for them, regardless of how sloppy and spitty it might have sounded.

That's my girl. So helpful.

Her teacher adored the Suz, well, for the most part. I mean, sometimes the Excitement Level got out of hand and sometimes the Suz had to be reminded that it was someone else's turn to talk, seeing as it was SPEECH therapy, and not LISTEN therapy. 

Just recently, Suz was tested again because we all felt she had reached a point where she was back up to normal for her age. She passed with flying colors, delighting the two testing ladies to no end. Truly. She is the child who fully engages with adults and loves to participate and tells funny little stories about her world. I've never met another child as likeable as her, God bless her gene pool, as those traits are severely lacking in someone like me.

During Susie's last session, the teacher had a little graduation party for her, complete with cookies and snacks that I'd brought in for the occasion. It was her way of celebrating Susie's progress and allowing the other girls to say goodbye to their smiley, talkative friend.

I don't know yet if she'll need therapy in the future--time will tell. But for now--good job to the girl on talking more clearly!

 


 

Go Tell The Rhody Garden The Old Gray Goose Has Hatched

There's yet another garden inside our city limits, and it's full of rhododendrons. And even when the rhododendrons aren't in bloom, which is roughly fifty weeks out of the year, it's still a lovely place to visit. Trails of discovery, man-made waterfalls, bridges, and ducks and geese a-plenty.

The kids and I met up with my friend and her three boys, smack dab in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. The place was a ghost town, complete with six little shriekers running around and scaring the already frazzled moms.

My friend was thoughtful enough to bring baggies of animal food, one for each child to feed the ducks and geese. The Suz was quick to use up her food within ten seconds of entering the garden. Ziggy used his in moderation, and the Campers saved most of his and then doled it out to those who deserved it, meaning, those who used their first batch responsibly. I don't know where he gets these crazy ideas; I blame it on the Pa.

*COUGH COUGH*

We also saw some eggs that had recently hatched a duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, GOOSE!! Okay, I don't really know which one, I'm a bit clueless, but it was the egg of one of those animals. Zig The Animal Lover would have liked to take the empty shell home to love it and hug it and call it "George." Meanwhile, Suz In All Her Delicateness was attempting to stomp on said shell.

Before we left the garden, all three of my kids had gotten their feet soaking wet, and Campers went so far as to fall in the water up to his waist. I must be half-numb because this sort of thing feels normal--expected even. I suppose once the kids are grown I'll have to resort to pushing Pa in the pond just for old times' sake.

Enjoy the rhodys.

 

Percussion Concert

For the past few years, I've taken the kids to "kinderkonzerts" put on by our local symphony orchestra in the area public schools. We pay a small entrance fee and get to see four concerts per year--one for each instrument family (brass, woodwinds, strings, percussion). The last concert of the year is always the percussion, which is a particular joy for my kids who happen to like striking things which then make a noise.

Speaking only of instruments, of course.

We generally see a few of our friends at each concert, and the kids also enjoy being inside a Real School full of Kids Their Age and Other Magical Wonders such as Hallways and Cafeterias. It's the small things, you see.

I'm pretty thankful that the education department of city's symphony is top-notch and yet so friendly and accessible to the kids. Win all around.

 

Imagination Station

After four years of being in our city, we've not yet tried every park. Pa knew that there was an Imagination Station in the area, one very similar to the Imagination Station the boys played on "back home."

We headed there one day when the sun came out, as that in itself is a reason to celebrate. We even picked up pizza on the way home because we were so charged up with Vitamin D we couldn't stop ourselves! Crazy!

That was of course after I had sat on Pa's glasses right there in the park. You see, we've reached the glorious stage where we can say "SHOO KIDS, DON'T BOTHER ME" and for the most part, they play happily at the park without interference. YES, AMEN AND HALLELUJAH, THERE IS A GOD. So anyway, that meant that Pa and I got to sit on a blanket and apparently I'd had too much Sun to drink as I soon, and accidentally, sat down on his very expensive and specialized glasses. Uh-huh. That's what I did, and then felt sick to my stomach, and nearly cried, which is saying something right there. 

To answer your question about the glasses, Pa plans to just use an old pair until we've saved up the money nerve to replace them. Yes, I damaged them that badly by sitting on them, I know, the jokes just write themselves.

So the playground was fun and we had a great view of planes flying in and out of the airport. Correction, the kids and I had a good view of the planes, and Pa did not. That's kind of the down side to a pair of broken glasses.

We Came, We Saw, We Arbored

We recently celebrated Arbor Week--did you? Mmm-hmm, that's what I thought. Guess we care a little bit more about trees than you do.

Our local arboretum ("arbor" for "tree" and "etum" for "chow down") had a guided walk one day so we decided to learn about magnolia trees. Well, we decided to learn all about magnolia trees for about 15 minutes and then conveniently disappeared into the arboretum, forging a trail at a more kid-friendly speed, meaning, anything but standing still.

The sun had come out that day, thus giving my kids an opportunity to see the color "blue" in the sky. You know, "something other than gray."

It was also a clear day, which around here is as exciting as seeing a double rainbow. From up high we could see Mount St. Helens, which is always a treat. I may or may not have shouted "THE MOUNTAIN IS OUT!!!" at an inappropriate volume, I don't know, ask the kids, but sometimes I can't contain all the excitement.

If you wonder why the magnolia trees aren't pictured, it's because they hadn't quite bloomed in time for the official Guided Tour. Shame on you trees. Get your schedule lined up for the sake of all that is good and timely. The trails were lovely this time of year, I will admit, and we had ourselves a nice hour or so amongst the trees.

On The Butte, Where The Sun Does Shine

The thing I love about my city is that there are several places within the city that feel nothing like a city at all. Powell Butte is an extinct volcanic cinder cone (What's that? I don't know I just read it off of Wikipedia.) within the city, and has been lined with trails for the mamas with spring fever to hike. Or other people too, I suppose. It's great exercise and a nice wide open place for the kids to run. Run, kids, run!

We met up with another family at the park, and hiked for nearly two hours. We caught the sun while it was out, thanks to the hourly play-by-play from www.weather.com. The kids had a great time simply being kids.

Campers played with our GPS about half the time, figuring out latitude and longitude, and for a while there, I seriously thought we'd need that contraption to get us back to the van. Let's just say the adults got to talking and walking and not paying too much attention to where we were going. Ahem.

Ziggy had a buddy along, a nice mild-mannered little boy, and they talked of many things, all boyish in nature and quite delightful as always.

And the Suz hung out with me, except when she ran away from me, those several times, and we had fun braving the muddy spots together. "Fun" being a code word for "not so much fun."

On a clear day, you can see several mountains from the top of the butte. Unfortunately, our day was sunny, but it was not clear. Can't have it all, I suppose.

Enjoy--Powell Butte.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Susie's First People

I love the day when my kids start to draw their first "people." Suz has finally reached that milestone, and she's taken that opportunity to emphasize the eyebrows. 

In order from left to right: Mom, Suz, Campers, Ziggy, Pa.

Couldn't you tell?

The two dots under her eyes (on the drawing) are her nostrils. According to her, every person has "two noses," or what we might call, "nostrils." I am also fond on the antenna-like bodies.

What Happens When You Have Three Kids

Kids: "Mom! May we have some quarters to run these machines?"

Me: "The machines run on imagination."

I never said these kinds of things to the firstborn. And I've sworn him to secrecy.