Ice Cream!

One gift that Colin has given me is appreciating the little things. I think so many people (myself included) are so guilty of rushing through things and not noticing all of the small little things that make everything so great!

I haven't spoken about it in a long time, but we have made some very small gains in the feeding department with Colin. Although we are not where I would like to see us at this point, we are ever so slowly working ourselves there, with a lot of practice. I think I mentioned in one of my last posts about feeding that we stopped going to the feeding clinic because we really felt that we were not making any progress with it. Ever since then, we have been working on some little things with two goals in mind; independent eating and varied food items. We have been very unsuccessful in introducing new foods (we are still sticking with scrambled eggs, yogurt, pudding, cottage cheese with berries, applesauce, pancakes and ice cream...that's IT) but we do notice some small gains in the independent feeding arena. We have been encouraging Colin to use the spoon or fork independently as much as possible. We are now at the point where we only have to hand Colin the spoon (instead of feeding it into his mouth) and he will put it in his mouth, but we can not put the plate or bowl on his tray and expect that he will do it himself. Occasionally he has done this with his yogurt, but it has to be the things he doesn't want to waste a drop of.

Tonight, I decided to give it a whirl since ice cream is very precious to him and he would never want to waste one tiny little bit. If he isn't interested in doing it himself, he will push the item away and refuse to do it himself. However, he fed himself the ENTIRE bowl of ice cream tonight! I am so proud and certainly appreciate that one small gain! Although this won't be consistent just yet, at least I know there is ONE food item he will feed himself!

Ugh, and Kailey? She is a gagger and it seems to be getting worse. Tonight I tried a small amount of applesauce and she gagged and wretched so hard that she threw up her peas that she had just eaten for dinner.

In this video, you can see Colin feeding himself and say ice cream! I was so excited (another appreciating the small things moment) because as I was scooping the ice cream, I could hear Colin talking so I looked over and he tried really hard and slowly pronounced ice cream! I got a glimpse of it on this video. So proud of my little boy!

9 Months Old!

Happy 9 months to our beautiful Kailey girl!! So much has been changing with her lately and I feel as though time is just flying by! If you ask anyone, they will tell you she is a really easy going baby, however, she definitely has her moments. Her witching hour is generally any time after 4:30 pm because she doesn't nap during the day. Dinner time can be really rough because of this and she is usually in bed BY 7pm and sound asleep.

Although she is NOT our snuggler, she doesn't like being left along either. She needs a perfect balance because although she loves it when you pick her up and talk to her, she doesn't like being held too long either or else she gets really fussy and tries really hard to get out of your arms. If she is tired, she really doesn't like being rocked to sleep and won't settle in until you put her down in her crib. On Saturday, she had a really rough time trying to nap and it was the ONE time I got a nice hour snuggle with her when she fell asleep in my arms.

Kailey has become really chatty lately and will try to repeat a lot of what you say to her. She is saying Ma-Ma and Da-Da and loves copying you with an "ah!" noise. She will go on and on chatting (or complaining!). She has just become mobile too and we find that she will more easily entertain herself now that she can roll herself around the room or army crawl to what she wants.

She has perfected this "look" that is a mixture of a bashful/what are you looking at look and it's really cute!
We are still waiting for her 2 bottom teeth to come in and she has therefore had a runny nose for over a month! We are still struggling in the feeding department as she is a big gagger. I have been trying lots of different textures and tastes and I am not to successful in getting her off baby food. It's kind of frustrating since we were hoping it would be much easier with this one!

She is a screecher when she is happy and sure does lighten up any room she is in. She still loves her brother so much and they are really starting to play more and more together now. She laughs so hard at him and always tries to be near him. Looking forward to what the next month has to bring with her!

We love you Kailey!!

What We've Been Up To

A blog friend of mine commented in one of her posts recently about feeling bad when you miss a day here and there. I feel the same way when I go on my stretches like I just did recently where I miss a few days occasionally, especially after coming off of a month like October where I managed to post every single day. We have been really busy here lately; so busy that I ended up taking off on Friday because I have gotten myself so stressed out (mostly over school stuff) that I felt ill from it. I didn't get out of bed until noon and I feel so much better now.

Both of our kids are taking off when it comes to accomplishing new skills. Colin is walking more and more and it isn't prompted all of the time. Kailey just figured out how to move around by doing the "worm" crawl.

The other night, we found Kailey sleeping like this, with her face pressed up against the rails of her crib.

We had the Special Olympics of NJ Young Athlete Program Holiday Party yesterday. I know I have mentioned this in previous posts, but I really enjoy going and watching Colin participate in the different activities. It's nice to be around other families that we would consider our "peers". Although Colin is still a typical 2 year old when it comes to his attention span, I can see that as time goes by, he will give a bit more attention to some of the activities. Kailey has fun too!

Coach Greg has been working really hard to try and get Colin to walk for him and try different activities. Colin is not always willing and lately, the only time he gives Coach Greg attention is during circle time when he crawls over and sits in his lap. However, we were so proud because yesterday, Colin appeased Coach Greg and walked across the blocks holding on to the bars like a big boy!

Later in the night, we went to Daddy's basketball game. Colin LOVES any kind of sport and will stop what he is doing while playing if football, basketball, baseball, and especially soccer comes on the TV. Last year he really enjoyed Chris' games, so I knew this year would be better. As soon as we got in our seats, Colin was so excited cheering and clapping at all of the right times. He was so happy and was waving to Daddy from our seat. Unfortunately, it's late for him, so from half time on he was very sleepy, but they were both so good!

Today we had my family over for a turkey dinner. I was so happy to cook for everyone and also feel pretty good to have my grandparents over and show them what I can do.

I am really looking forward to Christmas as I think it's going to be a lot of fun with Colin and Kailey this year!

This and that

I haven't been the best about updating lately, partially because I am still riding on the high of having Colin doing a little bit of walking and partially because I have been very overwhelmed with other things that I need to get done. We have had some fun and busy weekends lately, and really starting to get in the holiday spirit.

This past weekend, we participated in the Special Olympics of NJ Jingle all the Way 3K race with Colin's Aunt Beth and Uncle Jason. It was really fun and the first one that we participated in. I really enjoy being a part of the Special Olympics now. There are some feelings that I get when we are involved in different things that really make me feel like we are a part of something. I love that Colin is a part of his Young Athlete Program, and I really enjoy watching him move around excitedly from one thing to the next checking everything out when we are there. I ran the race the other day, and shortly before the finish line, Chris gave me Colin and we walked across the finish line together. However, Colin let go of my hands and walked independently across the line into Daddy's waiting arms. How cool?

A photographer got our picture and we ended up in the newspaper! What a great way to represent the Special Olympics by having my little boy walking! To see the picture, click here!

While we were there, Colin saw Santa and at first sighting, was extremely excited to see him. However, after multiple attempts, he was still pretty nervous seeing Santa.

We also put up our tree last night which i just love! Colin was a big helper initially, but since it was getting late, both him and Kailey were not full into participating. Chris and I flashed forward to our potential future when they didn't want to help...lol.

At the very end, Colin did NOT want to take a picture in front of the tree, but Kailey was ok with it!

He's Walking!!

I can't contain my excitement any longer. We get closer and closer with each day and it's putting me on such an emotional ride because I am SO PROUD of my little boy!

Colin, Kailey and I were playing together tonight (after I was going to put them to bed...so glad I didn't!) because Kailey had rolled herself all the way across the floor and then underneath the easel on the other side of the room (while drinking her bottle, mind you). Colin would stand up and take a few steps to me, but at one point, he stood up with his back to me, so I said "go ahead!" and he walked across the room! Every time I videotaped, he fell down halfway, but the coolest part is that he gets right back up and keeps going!

The video is about 4 minutes long, and the best walking is at the end so hang in there to the end. I am so excited because we are just about there!

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Fun with the Webcam

It's no secret here, my kid LOVES seeing himself in the mirror, in pictures, AND on camera...

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Even Closer!

I always thought that I wouldn't do a post about Colin standing and walking until he was really walking. Like, no question, walking.

However, I never knew I would be THIS excited over each of the little steps that are leading up to the day he is just going to take off. When I got to school to pick up Colin, his one teacher (who has been working hard with him too) excitedly told me that while she was walking with Colin today he let go, and took 5 steps independently!

He is standing up in the middle of the floor (only when HE wants to) and I just feel that we are so close.

We have literally been waiting a solid year and a half for this and the feeling of getting closer is amazing...

We just might have the best Christmas gift ever this year!

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