Well, I suppose I'll start with Christmas! As I mentioned in my last post, BJ was "wide eyed" during Christmas this year! It was so entertaining watching him just "soak" it all in. Everything was magical and amazing for him. Let's just say nothing past him by without notice! He spent Christmas with his Grandma and Grandpa Oliver. Do you think they spoiled him? They'll tell you "no," but I'm here to tell you a 100x "Yes!" The poor kid got so frustrated because we weren't letting him play with anything he got because we wanted to him to unwrap it all first. Well, he's a child that is totally into the gift, not just the unwrapping. In fact, we had to take about 3 intermissions in the gift unwrapping process because he just couldn't handle it. Every time he would unwrap a new toy, he would let out a "Wow!" or a "Woah!", would inspect it front and back, and then would demand that we open it for him so that he could play with it. I couldn't resist giving into that request. I mean these were his gifts that we gave to him! So in all, he opened gifts Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after Christmas. And this wasn't all. He still had to open gifts from his daddy and I and then over New Years we visited his Grandma and Grandpa Kockie, Uncle and Aunt and cousins in Ohio. Then the gift giving started all over again. And oh the fun was just beginning for him because don't you know his Birthday is the day after Christmas. So you guessed it, that meant more gifts!
So my question for all of you parents out there is "How do we keep our kids humble when they are spoiled rotten?" BJ is not a child that gets whatever he wants when he wants it. We do keep gift giving for special occasions mostly. But I was even feeling overwhelmed with this on slot of gifts! My little guy is still so grateful for everything! Even a little match box will light up his entire week! I want so desperately for him to stay this way, but I'm fearful with this
Christmas/Birthday tsunami of gifts, that he will lose his tender sweet thankfulness. This is what makes giving him gifts so much fun! Any ideas?
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Of course after Christmas we celebrated his 3rd Birthday! I can hardly believe he is 3! He has grown so much in so many different areas! He can hang with the other 3 year olds pretty well, but is still quite a bit smaller. This area doesn't concern me too much as he has had continuous growth on his chart (in height and weight). I figure he'll catch up eventually. Potty training is still "NOT" happening. He is on a very good schedule and will go whenever he gets put on the potty, however, he doesn't get the whole "I feel it!" thing. He is also mindful of going "poopy" in his pants, but doesn't tell us until he's already gone. I suppose that is a step up from a few months ago when he could've cared less if he sat in it all day! LOL! I'm not too concerned about this either. He has been working on so many other areas of development that he just hasn't taken much thought in this one. It will come.
BJ's speech is still a HUGE concern for us! He has developed many new skills in his communication,but is still largely behind on his expressive speech. I know I posted about this a few months ago, but as you can probably tell I'm highly frustrated with what to do. The main concern is not really knowing what is "wrong" with him if anything. He has already had about 6 months of speech and I feel it did nothing. He uses his sign language often and does try to speak more! However, he is almost completely impossible to understand. He has about a 75 word bank (many others are used, but aren't understandable) that when prompted to say independently can be understood. Some quite clearly in fact. However, when he tries to string them together, the sounds go right "out the window!" We have had some professionals tell us Apraxia and others just say it's a delay. The problem with this, is that if he is being treated for speech, Apraxia takes a very specialized approach and should be started immediately (from my understanding). If he is simply delayed, then group therapy and being immersed should be enough to catch him up. Our problem is, no one seems to know what to do, especially considering his background.
So we have decided to take him to University of Iowa's Children Hospital to have him tested. They use all types of test and technology and are VERY thorough. So I'm hoping to at least get a cause as to why he is having so much trouble and at best a prognosis that we can do something with. Any other ideas? He is in a pre-k program right now and loves it! He is only going two days a week, but at least he is getting exposure with other children his age. It's crazy to say pre-k because I still feel like he's my baby! Hope you enjoy the B-day picks of my baby! LOL! BJ also had an opportunity to go to a fun restaurant called Choo Choo Johnny's. It deliverers your meals on a train! I don't have the photos uploaded yet, but will post them as soon as I get them.
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That's brings us to the BIG SNOW! You know that snow storm that brought a foot to almost everyplace it hit? Well it us and dumped 17 inches of snow! It was the most I've ever seen at one time here in Illinois. It brought with it three snow days and fun filled day of shoveling for James. He loved it and spent the whole day and half outside shoveling snow. BJ loved it too, although it was little too cold for him to stay outside for too long. However I did get some fun pics and cute video of him talking with our neighbors. In some parts, the snow was deeper than he was tall!
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Have you had his hearing tested? My niece was 3 and could not talk very well (I couldn't understand anything she said). They did a hearing test on her and said her hearing was pretty bad. They put tubes in her ears and 6 months later she is talking great.
ReplyDeleteI so completely understand your frustrations about the speech and not knowing what is going on. We went through the same things with Molly when she was little. You are right not having much background info. does make it harder for them to figure out what is going on. Apraxia is what was finally determined for Molly. Molly went through a lot of speech therapy as well. She was probably where BJ is now when she was his age. I do not remember exactly what her word count was but I think it was close to his. It took a long time to really see the speech therapy kick in but she did get there. Molly does still have some issues with speech but now she is understandable the majority of the time. The apraxia only really kicks in now when she is talking really fast or is not paying attention to what she is saying. Even then she says anything and everything now so if she has a couple of words wrong in a sentence most people can still figure out what she is trying to say b/c of the context. Not always but it improves daily. Honestly the thing that helped Molly the most was when she started learning how to read. The phonics skills taught with reading helped her to really see and understand what she was supposed to be saying and why. Phonics has done more for her speech than anything else ever did. BJ will catch up as well. You are such a great Mommy making sure he is getting the help he needs. Your help and support will do so much for his speech and his confidence with it. I have been right where you are now and understand what you are going through. If you ever want to talk or have any questions I might could help with let me know.
ReplyDeleteThank you Renee and Heidi for your ideas. Renee, we tried to have his hearing tested several months ago and is was huge flop! But you are right, we need to do it again. Even though I think his hearing is fine (he almost seems super sensitive to sirens and such), we still need to rule this out. However, if this turns out to be the case, I'll feel really bad, but then be glad our problem is solved!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! So glad to be caught up :) I bet the pictures are fantastic, but I will have to check back, they said "slideshow not available." I bet having a birthday the day after Christmas is tough. Lucas' is in Jan. and I agree, it can be overwhelming with all of the gifts!! I love that our children are so loved, and spoiled to some extent :) I always put away some of (or most of) the birthday gifts still in boxes. That way in a few weeks or a month we can bring a new gift out and say, let's play with this today, it's from so and so and we never opened it. Then we can do that through out the year as surprises, and all of the new toys don't seem so overwhelming. I have also found that Lucas plays with more toys if he doesn't have too many choices. Silly as it might sound, I rotate his toys just like I rotated centers when I was teaching.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with speech, I understand your frustration. I remember the first hearing test at 2 years, what a mess. Hopefully they can get a better test now that BJ is 3, and that may lead to more answers.
Happy Belated BIrthday, B.J.!!!
ReplyDeleteWe are struggling with the gift-giving situation, too. We like it that Caroline (like B.J.) is so grateful for gifts, and we don't want her to start to become unappreciative because she gets so many. I think that one thing we both have in our favor is that the biggest gift giving times (Christmas and birthdays) for both of our kids are so close together that by the time they roll around again, they will be very grateful again. At least that's what I'm hoping.
About the speech, it's funny to read this now because Dave just commented on Saturday, when he saw you three, that B.J. speech is getting really good. Dave was impressed that he said, "Hi, Caroline. I'm going to tumbling." So the things you are doing are working. Keep it up, super mom!
Hello!
ReplyDeleteKeep us informed about how the test goes -k? Adam's speech is very delayed too and more than anything I want to have a conversation with him. I get sad thinking he might think..."No one understands me!" He also probably has about 75 words, but when he strings them together it's utter gibberish. His speech and language therapist are having him work with various horns. The various mouth shapes are suppose to help him building muscles and such. I see a little improvement, but not enough. Parent - teacher conferences are coming up and it should be really good discussion.