To our fallen heroes, and their families... thank you for your service and sacrifice. You have my eternal gratitude, today and every day.
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Monday, May 31, 2010
Encyclo-bitty-a
CommentsLabels: quotes, speech, updates
Little Bitty can often be heard rattling off all kinds of animal facts and figures.
"Sea turtoos... way eggs on wand!" (sea turtles lay eggs on land)
"Da anaconda... is wuh-da wargest snakes... in da wer'd" (the anaconda is one of the largest snakes in the world)
I have lost track of how many different animal flash cards and books he has. A couple of weeks ago, he was playing with the Wii and kept clicking on the "photo channel" and getting upset that there were no pictures. I offered to download some animal pictures for him so he'd have something to look at (we look them up together on Google Images). Ever since then he wants to look up new ones every day, and our "Wii ah'mals" collection now includes over 400 pictures.
He has branched out from farm animals and household pets, and he's developed an appreciation for all animals - woodland animals, desert animals, ocean animals, arctic animals, jungle animals, insects, the list goes on. He's asking me for pictures of animals I'd barely heard of before - a "Ura-peeya adder" (European Adder, a snake for those who are like me and had no idea what that was), "free-toe swoff" (three-toed sloth), "ekih-na" (echidna) are just a few of them.
I love the way he gets excited about seeing them... even the most, um, unattractive (to me) animal pictures are met with a huge grin and a "ee's berry cute!" from Bitty.
~~~~~~~~~
On a related note, Bitty is not only a walking animal encyclopedia, but sometimes he's a very cute little dictionary too. When dh and I went to visit his class for their end of year party, the class sang a couple of songs they'd learned and then joined the parents to watch a slideshow of pictures from the school year. As Bitty walked up to me, he said (looking around at all the parents), "a cwowd... iss a wahj gwoop of peepooh"
It took me a minute before it clicked.
"A crowd is a large group of people?" I asked him.
He looked back at me and nodded.
"Do we have a crowd here?"
He nodded again with a shy grin :).
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"Sea turtoos... way eggs on wand!" (sea turtles lay eggs on land)
"Da anaconda... is wuh-da wargest snakes... in da wer'd" (the anaconda is one of the largest snakes in the world)
I have lost track of how many different animal flash cards and books he has. A couple of weeks ago, he was playing with the Wii and kept clicking on the "photo channel" and getting upset that there were no pictures. I offered to download some animal pictures for him so he'd have something to look at (we look them up together on Google Images). Ever since then he wants to look up new ones every day, and our "Wii ah'mals" collection now includes over 400 pictures.
He has branched out from farm animals and household pets, and he's developed an appreciation for all animals - woodland animals, desert animals, ocean animals, arctic animals, jungle animals, insects, the list goes on. He's asking me for pictures of animals I'd barely heard of before - a "Ura-peeya adder" (European Adder, a snake for those who are like me and had no idea what that was), "free-toe swoff" (three-toed sloth), "ekih-na" (echidna) are just a few of them.
I love the way he gets excited about seeing them... even the most, um, unattractive (to me) animal pictures are met with a huge grin and a "ee's berry cute!" from Bitty.
~~~~~~~~~
On a related note, Bitty is not only a walking animal encyclopedia, but sometimes he's a very cute little dictionary too. When dh and I went to visit his class for their end of year party, the class sang a couple of songs they'd learned and then joined the parents to watch a slideshow of pictures from the school year. As Bitty walked up to me, he said (looking around at all the parents), "a cwowd... iss a wahj gwoop of peepooh"
It took me a minute before it clicked.
"A crowd is a large group of people?" I asked him.
He looked back at me and nodded.
"Do we have a crowd here?"
He nodded again with a shy grin :).
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Sunday, May 30, 2010
End of the school year
7 commentsLabels: school, updates
Hard to believe, but another school year is now over...
Despite a challenging year, both Bearhug and Cuddlebug managed to get through it with mostly A's a few B's. And an even more exciting development - each of them has developed a real friendship in recent weeks. More on that in another post :).
They have both been sooo excited for summer break to begin.
Little Bitty on the other hand, I don't think he really understood that the school year was coming to an end. He was happy for a break for a couple of days, but today he is asking about school. We've tried to explain when school will start again, but while he understands the concept of "tomorrow" versus "today," trying to explain "two and a half months from now" is a little tougher. I'll make him a countdown calendar as it gets closer.
So it's official now - we have two 4th graders and a kindergartner. It seems like just yesterday we had two preschoolers and a baby :).
The upcoming school year will be one of transitions for all of the boys. As a new kindergartner, Bitty will be going to a new (to him) school, joining his big brothers at elementary school. We have already met his new resource teacher and really like him. We won't know until August who his regular ed teacher will be, but as with our older boys, his resource teacher will have some say in choosing a teacher that will be a good fit for him.
Cuddlebug and Bearhug will be in the same class for the first time next year. They will also have a new resource teacher for the first time since kindergarten. Generally the resource teachers cover two grades but Ms. D ended up changing grades and moving up with them. We absolutely love her as she has made such a big difference for both of our boys, but we've heard great things about their new resource teacher so I know they'll be in good hands next year too.
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Despite a challenging year, both Bearhug and Cuddlebug managed to get through it with mostly A's a few B's. And an even more exciting development - each of them has developed a real friendship in recent weeks. More on that in another post :).
They have both been sooo excited for summer break to begin.
Little Bitty on the other hand, I don't think he really understood that the school year was coming to an end. He was happy for a break for a couple of days, but today he is asking about school. We've tried to explain when school will start again, but while he understands the concept of "tomorrow" versus "today," trying to explain "two and a half months from now" is a little tougher. I'll make him a countdown calendar as it gets closer.
So it's official now - we have two 4th graders and a kindergartner. It seems like just yesterday we had two preschoolers and a baby :).
The upcoming school year will be one of transitions for all of the boys. As a new kindergartner, Bitty will be going to a new (to him) school, joining his big brothers at elementary school. We have already met his new resource teacher and really like him. We won't know until August who his regular ed teacher will be, but as with our older boys, his resource teacher will have some say in choosing a teacher that will be a good fit for him.
Cuddlebug and Bearhug will be in the same class for the first time next year. They will also have a new resource teacher for the first time since kindergarten. Generally the resource teachers cover two grades but Ms. D ended up changing grades and moving up with them. We absolutely love her as she has made such a big difference for both of our boys, but we've heard great things about their new resource teacher so I know they'll be in good hands next year too.
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010
SEW & WW: My sweet Bearhug
8 commentsLabels: pictures, Special Exposure Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday
Bearhug has been doing really well lately.
It's so nice to see his beautiful smile :).
He has an inner strength and courage, that I'm not sure if he even recognizes yet. I've seen it from the time he was a baby, and it has only grown since then.
He has the physical strength to match, and is well-known for his lung-crushing bearhugs. Yet he is a gentle person with a caring heart.
He loves being a big brother.
I love him :).
For more Special Exposure Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs.
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Monday, May 17, 2010
Evening visit to the park
5 commentsLabels: pictures
Bearhug, my fearless climber!
Race!
The boys love to swing like this :)
Bearhug
Cuddlebug
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Sunday, May 16, 2010
SOOC Saturday: Cuddlebug's smile
6 commentsLabels: pictures, SOOC Saturday
I love his smile.
I love him.
I love that he still nods when I say, "you're my sweet 'Cuddlebug'" I've been telling him that since he was a baby. :)
He's not a baby anymore, but he's still (and always will be) my sweet 'Cuddlebug.'
I love this picture of him. It's his "real" smile (ie. not the "say cheese" one although that is cute too of course). Also I managed to capture his eyes (ok, at least one of them). So often his eyes are hidden behind the brim of his hat.
For more SOOC Saturday, visit Slurping Life.
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Blogoversary x2 :)
CommentsI completely forgot until I saw a couple of comments wishing me a happy blogoversary, that yesterday marks two years since I started this blog.
Here's what we were up to a year ago.
And a year before that.
And as I was looking I realized that tomorrow is one year since I started my photography blog.
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Here's what we were up to a year ago.
And a year before that.
And as I was looking I realized that tomorrow is one year since I started my photography blog.
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Friday, May 14, 2010
"Outrageously"
6 commentsLabels: autism, quotes, social awareness, speech
Cuddlebug tends to use certain words and phrases over and over (sometimes repeatedly in the same conversation). Like stopping every 20 seconds to say "and guess what?" before continuing on with what he was saying.
His latest word is "outrageously." For example, T-rex's are "outrageously powerful." (he and Bearhug are really into dinosaurs right now).
One night as I was tucking them into bed, Cuddlebug told me, "heyMomguesswhat?... silly bands are outrageously poplee-ar. Everybody at school has at least one. Some people have LOTS of dem."
For those who don't know what silly bands, er, silly bandz are, they are basically rubber bands made in different shapes - animals, musical instruments, fruits... you name it, there is probably a silly band for it.
He and Bearhug have been bringing silly bands home from school, most of them earned from the "treasure box," and some traded with other kids I think. When I finally got around to looking them up on the internet (because the boys REALLY want the dinosaur ones) I found out that apparently these things are "outrageously poplee-ar" around the country, not just here.
I have to say I was really impressed to hear him say that. Usually our boys are into whatever THEY are into and if other kids like it too that's fine and if they don't, that's fine too. Nothing wrong with that, I rather like that they are individualist in that way, and not following the crowd. :) But I thought it was great that he had *noticed* a trend at school, and even more so that he actually cared. That's quite the social awareness IMO :).
And I will admit, I am also relieved that the "in" thing at my sons' school turns out to be relatively inexpensive too :).
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His latest word is "outrageously." For example, T-rex's are "outrageously powerful." (he and Bearhug are really into dinosaurs right now).
One night as I was tucking them into bed, Cuddlebug told me, "heyMomguesswhat?... silly bands are outrageously poplee-ar. Everybody at school has at least one. Some people have LOTS of dem."
For those who don't know what silly bands, er, silly bandz are, they are basically rubber bands made in different shapes - animals, musical instruments, fruits... you name it, there is probably a silly band for it.
He and Bearhug have been bringing silly bands home from school, most of them earned from the "treasure box," and some traded with other kids I think. When I finally got around to looking them up on the internet (because the boys REALLY want the dinosaur ones) I found out that apparently these things are "outrageously poplee-ar" around the country, not just here.
I have to say I was really impressed to hear him say that. Usually our boys are into whatever THEY are into and if other kids like it too that's fine and if they don't, that's fine too. Nothing wrong with that, I rather like that they are individualist in that way, and not following the crowd. :) But I thought it was great that he had *noticed* a trend at school, and even more so that he actually cared. That's quite the social awareness IMO :).
And I will admit, I am also relieved that the "in" thing at my sons' school turns out to be relatively inexpensive too :).
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Sunday, May 2, 2010
SOOC: A breakthrough
16 commentsLabels: pictures, SOOC Saturday
Notice anything unusual?
Those who've been reading for a while may see it...
It was the first thing I noticed when I came home from work that day.
Here's a little hint...
Admittedly, it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and not something we were actively working on, but it was a welcome surprise. It didn't last... but if it can happen once, it can happen again :).
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