big french fry

Although he was never really gone, I feel like I finally have my husband back. For the last 9 months, Nate has been working hard on his National Board Certification portfolio, an advanced teaching credential. As soon as he drops it off at the post office tomorrow after school, he will be DONE! Then he has to take a test in June to prove his proficiency in Spanish and wait until November to hear the results. It's not exactly over, but his weekends spent working on the portfolio are over, so we went out to celebrate!

We went to Chili's, because we knew it would be Lucas-friendly and pretty quick. Lucas did really well too, and even sat in his high chair the WHOLE TIME! That doesn't always happen. We ordered him a kid's meal with broccoli as his side, because we knew that he would have a couple of Nate's french fries. Sure enough, as soon as Nate's burger came out, he asked for a french fry. But he was not happy with the small french fry he was given. He wanted a "big french fry." We weren't sure we heard him right the first time, but sure enough, that's what he was saying, and he was not happy until he got a "big french fry". He's definitely 2.

I am thrilled that Lucas is age appropriate right now in both receptive and expressive language. But, I always fear that he won't maintain that level. Our ongoing challenge in the coming years will be to keep it that way. Well, tonight confirmed for me that Lucas continues to progress in his language acquisition and usage.

Lucas is quite the flirt when we're out in public. He waves to people as they arrive and says bye-bye as people leave. Older people especially enjoy his waves. As one couple was leaving the restaurant tonight, a gentleman waved back and told him that he liked his "flashing light". It was very nice of him, and at least he didn't mention contacting outer space...

On the way home from dinner, I caught a little video of what Lucas regularly sounds like when he's narrating his own play. There are a few intelligible words, but mostly jargon. He's usually more understandable than this, but he is definitely trying to tell a good story here about the sun. You should be able to understand "bye-bye & sun". I also hear him reference a snowman at the beginning. Enjoy!!!

*Don't forget to turn off the music player to the right. This video is not captioned, because I don't know how I would caption jargon..."

spring is in the air!

Today I was reminded why springtime is my favorite time of year. I love not having to wear a coat, I love the sunshine, I love hearing the birds, and I love not being couped up inside. I feel like springtime is a time for new beginnings and new life; it gives me a more positive outlook on life. I look forward to spending lots more time outside with Lucas and the wonderful new language opportunities it will bring!

Lucas enjoyed his first trip to the park in about 5 months. It was so much easier now that he can walk well! It was great PT too, walking on uneven surfaces. He could climb up himself and slide down by himself, both improvements from last summer. He even willingly gave me his ear before going down the slide when I asked for it.

He giggled with delight, like I haven't heard him giggle in some time. It's going to be a great spring.

mommy jacket off!

Oh blog, how I've missed you! It's been a while. That's not to say that nothing exciting is happening though! Here's an update on what's going on in the life of Lucas.

Lucas is starting to string together 2 & 3 word phrases, and his jargoning is starting to make sense to me! On Friday, when I took him to Nate's mom's house before work, he wanted me to stay, and he kept saying "mommy jacket off!" His 2 word combinations are much more spontaneous, and no longer consist of just "_____, please", etc. His vocabulary must be 300+ words now.

Did I mention that he's testing age appropriate in language? At the end of January, he was re-tested for his annual IFSP review, and the results were outstanding. I can't believe that he made up 2 years of language in 1 year! Now the trick will be keeping it that way! The language journey is far from over.

Lucas is definitely 2! And he's so much fun! It's really enjoyable to watch him engage in pretend play. He picks one of his animal "friends" and he'll read to them, cook for them, take them for a walk, etc. He even wanted to give his bear a bath the other day. He will also imitate situations, like conditioned play and being placed in time out. He'll take the peg puzzle I use with him to do conditioned ling responses, and hold up the pieces to his ear as he says the lings (unprompted). He'll also take his "time-out" chair, put it against the wall, sit in it, and yell "no, no, no"! It's definitely time to carefully watch what we say and do around him!

His music class must be paying off, because today I noticed that he was singing the isty, bitsy spider. I got it on video... so enjoy his *singing*! You will have to use your imagination a little bit, but you should be able to understand "itsy", "spider", "sun", "wash", "out". I think the spider gets washed out a little much in his version though, LOL!

On March 31, Lucas is finally having surgery at CHOP to repair his trigger thumb. We were waiting to see if we could combine it with another surgery he was going to have, but ended up not needing (yay!). I'm all about the two-for-one surgeries. Your prayers for an easy procedure and quick recovery are appreciated! (both are anticipated)