Kieren's favorite fruit is black cherries. We buy them canned in juice. She LOVES them!!!!
Tuesday, January 30
I LOVE CHERRIES!!!!!
Kieren's favorite fruit is black cherries. We buy them canned in juice. She LOVES them!!!!
Monday, January 29
We Have Success!!!!
Kieren was playing with Andy tonight (while I worked on the seating chart for Chinese New Year again). Suddenly, she stood up and (hmmm...how should I say this?) grabbed her crotch. Andy asked her if she had to go potty and she ran for the bathroom!!! Shocked the poop out of Andy! He had to jump up and chase after her. He strips her down, plops her on the potty, and Kieren went potty!!!!! YAY!!!! She was so pleased and a little surprised. Kieren also wiped herself and flushed the potty. What a big girl!Okay, I know some people are reading this and thinking "what's the big deal". Well, Kieren lost most of her words about 7 months ago so she can't tell us she needs to go. And Kieren is only 22 months old. We have been working on this for about 2 weeks, but only a couple times a day. Once I'm done with CNY (Chinese New Year), we'll be home more and have more time to train. So for Kieren to let us know she needed to go and to actually go is HUGE!!!!
YAY, KIEREN!!!!! (She will read this one day and kill me!)
Thank You!
Thank you for all the wonderful support and advice everyone has given me!! Kieren has an appointment with Cincinnati Children's Hospital on February 7th. You all have been amazing!!! It's nice to know I'm not alone! ~Sam
Saturday, January 27
More Potty Training Photos
"Excuse me? Is that a camera in your hand? Can't I try out my new potty-seat in peace?!"(Kieren is such a big girl!)
"I just love a good book!"(Look at those long, skinny legs!)
How to keep a toddler on the potty - coloring books!
"Oops! Dropped my crayons! MOM..."(We are trying out a different potty. I really HATE cleaning the pan in the little potty! Kieren seems much happier on this one. The seat just snaps down over the toilet seat. Kieren also likes to flush when potty time is over! Nothing to really report on potty success, but we had to stop for a few days so I could get the new potty. I'll update you when things get moving!)
Friday, January 26
Donna's Photo Challenge: Profiles
Kieren's I'm-not-really-eating-this-I'm-only-sucking-on-it-to-make-Mom-happy-and-then-feeding-it-to-the-dog-while-Mom-isn't-watching profile. Yeah, she's still cute doing it!
Too Cute!
Crombie has decided the couch is his. Pumpkin really doesn't care about Crombie's opinion! She is the little Princess in this house (Kieren is the Empress)!!!
Thursday, January 25
Wednesday, January 24
Avoiding This Post...
I've been avoiding this post. I've started typing it so many times, but then just can't/won't finish it. So I erase it, sigh, and go on with life. I just want to state that I'm not one of those Moms whose child has to be better than yours. I've never been that way, not even when Cull was little. Every child is a unique little person. They all have their good points and their not-so-good ones. Where one child excels, I know another one lags behind. I love that every child excels at something! Now this is where I usually stop typing and hit delete. (I know, I'm being a Drama Queen.) I guess it's because we have so many unknowns and questions right now. I'm so tired of fighting for what my children need and deserve. I'm so tired of being a bitch to get these things. I'm so tired of not being able to sleep at night. I'm just so damn tired.
Let's start with the easy one. Cullen is doing much better. He is taking a medication that controls his daily vomiting. We had a battle getting the meds due to insurance not wanting to let us have it (not on their approved meds list). The GI specialist wouldn't fight for us and gave us something as effective as Tums, but the insurance paid for it (yeah, whoop-dee-doo). Cullen continued to vomit while on this. So, while Kieren was in for a sinus infection, I told our family doctor about the meds/insurance issue. She gave us enough samples of the good meds for a month and it really seemed to help. When the meds ran out, Cullen resumed the daily purge. Well, now that this is a new year, our insurance has added this med to their approved drug list. Our family doctor (not the GI) gave us enough samples for another 6 weeks AND a prescription for the year!!!! They even called the insurance and were ready and willing to fight for this drug for Cullen!!!!! The GI did nothing. Nice, huh? We love our doctor's office sometimes!!!!!!
Avoiding the hard topic a little longer, I will give you an update on Cullen's CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder). Cull has been going to Occupational Therapy every Friday since the end of November. Let's just say WOW!!!!! Cullen has brought up every single grade! His report card has A+s thru Bs. Nothing lower!!!! His handwriting is so improved that I didn't think the papers he brought home were his! O...M...G...!!!! The teacher is thrilled, as are we! Cullen will continue with OT for another 4 months. He loves going and adores his therapist. (It's so cute! He's taller than she is!) He LOVES school and was one of the first 4 kids in his class to complete all his math facts in 2 minutes or less. (The teacher treated the first 4 to ice cream after school as a reward!) We couldn't be happier or more proud!
Okay. I've danced around it long enough. I'm too tired to dance anymore. Kieren is having major delays. She was doing so well until she was 15 months old. Physically, she's awesome! She has the most amazing balance!!! You should see her walk across the back of the couch (it is NOT against any walls). She is great at puzzles too. She is so smart and so sweet! The delays are speech and lanuage issues. Kieren was excelling until her 15th month. She was developing a huge vocabulary. Then one day, she just stopped talking. She lost all of her words. I know this happens a lot within the adoptive community. The girls seem to "stumble" for about a month and then just take off again. It's almost like their brains have to "dump" the Chinese language to make room for the English language. Well, Kieren's speech didn't kick back in. We know her hearing is fine. Her comprehension of what we say is great. She follows directions (as well as someone her age does). She babbles, but she just can't talk to us. She has a vocabulary of about 6-8 words. She rarely uses them without prompting and even with prompting.
Before I start getting well-meaning advice, I want to state that we do NOT cater to Kieren. We do not anticipate her needs and do everything for her so she doesn't need to speak. Please don't piss me off by telling me not to give her food, drink, or whatever unless she speaks the words. Kieren is VERY FRUSTRATED by not being able to communicate. We have had Help Me Grow come out. After 3 months or more of screwing around, they determined that we need to take Kieren to Childrens Hospital for an eval. (The women who did Kieren's eval through Help Me Grow were not the ones assigned to work with Kieren. They gave me an Early Childhood Intervention specialist. Not a speech therapist. WTF...?)
So let me take a moment to vent on this. You see, we switched doctors at our practice because the first doctor didn't see anything wrong with the fact that Kieren is not talking. Her view was as long as Kieren could speak two words and gained two more by age two, she was great! HELLO????? That's not normal! I am not a first-time mom. Cullen was talking circles by 18 months! This is also the same woman who said Kieren wasn't having Night Terrors, she was manipulating me! (Give me a f-ing break! If this is true, Kieren will win an Oscar by age 2!) Anyway, we weren't given a referral for a speech eval so I called the County and had Help Me Grow come out. They lost our paperwork for over a month and then couldn't see us for another month for the eval. Finally the first woman shows up 30 minutes late (got lost) and the second woman 15 minutes later. They did their little eval thing and left. The first woman came back a couple of weeks later. Guess what? They had lost the eval paperwork! So I answered the same questions AGAIN. I get a call the next week. The earliest someone can come out is January 3rd (a month away). The woman comes as scheduled, sits on the floor with me and Kieren, and proceeds to tell me she's not a speech therapist AND Kieren needs a speech eval. We get an appointment with Kieren's new doctor a week later. They get us a referral (took 5 days to get it). Dayton Childrens can't see us for TWO MONTHS! So I call Cincinnati Childrens. They can see us this month. I call our doctor and leave a message that we need to reissue the referral. OVER A WEEK LATER (and after many messages left by me), the nurse calls me back to verify my request. So now we are waiting again to hear from the hospital. Okay, I'm done venting about that.
I guess the hardest part about this is listening to everyone we know tell about how much their child is speaking and excelling. It's on their blogs. I see it at playgroup. I hear it on the phone. I know it's not done as a slap to me, but God it's so hard hearing it! I hate watching Kieren struggle. She so wants to speak! She watches my mouth. She tries moving her lips. She just can't get the words or sounds out. She is so frustrated! She has said a couple of new words, but she has only said them once or twice and won't say them again. Kieren now takes me to what she wants (food, drink, a toy she can't reach). I feel so helpless and like I'm failing her.
The woman from Help Me Grow was so quick to say we should teach Kieren sign language. NO! (The woman freaked when I told her no!) Kieren needs to learn to speak! I've seen too many kids rely on the sign language instead of their words. We were told by a speech therapist at a FCC meeting not to teach her. Don't get me wrong! The sign language is a wonderful solution to a certain point. (We taught Kieren a couple of signs when she first came to us.) We agree with the speech therapist that Kieren would rely on the signing too much. Every child is different and has different needs. Just because we feel sign language is wrong for Kieren, doesn't mean it's wrong for another child. I don't want anyone to feel I am judging them!
So we wait. And wait. Kieren was 7 months delayed at 20 months. She falls further behind the longer we wait. She becomes more frustrated the longer we wait. So do I.
Let's start with the easy one. Cullen is doing much better. He is taking a medication that controls his daily vomiting. We had a battle getting the meds due to insurance not wanting to let us have it (not on their approved meds list). The GI specialist wouldn't fight for us and gave us something as effective as Tums, but the insurance paid for it (yeah, whoop-dee-doo). Cullen continued to vomit while on this. So, while Kieren was in for a sinus infection, I told our family doctor about the meds/insurance issue. She gave us enough samples of the good meds for a month and it really seemed to help. When the meds ran out, Cullen resumed the daily purge. Well, now that this is a new year, our insurance has added this med to their approved drug list. Our family doctor (not the GI) gave us enough samples for another 6 weeks AND a prescription for the year!!!! They even called the insurance and were ready and willing to fight for this drug for Cullen!!!!! The GI did nothing. Nice, huh? We love our doctor's office sometimes!!!!!!
Avoiding the hard topic a little longer, I will give you an update on Cullen's CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder). Cull has been going to Occupational Therapy every Friday since the end of November. Let's just say WOW!!!!! Cullen has brought up every single grade! His report card has A+s thru Bs. Nothing lower!!!! His handwriting is so improved that I didn't think the papers he brought home were his! O...M...G...!!!! The teacher is thrilled, as are we! Cullen will continue with OT for another 4 months. He loves going and adores his therapist. (It's so cute! He's taller than she is!) He LOVES school and was one of the first 4 kids in his class to complete all his math facts in 2 minutes or less. (The teacher treated the first 4 to ice cream after school as a reward!) We couldn't be happier or more proud!
Okay. I've danced around it long enough. I'm too tired to dance anymore. Kieren is having major delays. She was doing so well until she was 15 months old. Physically, she's awesome! She has the most amazing balance!!! You should see her walk across the back of the couch (it is NOT against any walls). She is great at puzzles too. She is so smart and so sweet! The delays are speech and lanuage issues. Kieren was excelling until her 15th month. She was developing a huge vocabulary. Then one day, she just stopped talking. She lost all of her words. I know this happens a lot within the adoptive community. The girls seem to "stumble" for about a month and then just take off again. It's almost like their brains have to "dump" the Chinese language to make room for the English language. Well, Kieren's speech didn't kick back in. We know her hearing is fine. Her comprehension of what we say is great. She follows directions (as well as someone her age does). She babbles, but she just can't talk to us. She has a vocabulary of about 6-8 words. She rarely uses them without prompting and even with prompting.
Before I start getting well-meaning advice, I want to state that we do NOT cater to Kieren. We do not anticipate her needs and do everything for her so she doesn't need to speak. Please don't piss me off by telling me not to give her food, drink, or whatever unless she speaks the words. Kieren is VERY FRUSTRATED by not being able to communicate. We have had Help Me Grow come out. After 3 months or more of screwing around, they determined that we need to take Kieren to Childrens Hospital for an eval. (The women who did Kieren's eval through Help Me Grow were not the ones assigned to work with Kieren. They gave me an Early Childhood Intervention specialist. Not a speech therapist. WTF...?)
So let me take a moment to vent on this. You see, we switched doctors at our practice because the first doctor didn't see anything wrong with the fact that Kieren is not talking. Her view was as long as Kieren could speak two words and gained two more by age two, she was great! HELLO????? That's not normal! I am not a first-time mom. Cullen was talking circles by 18 months! This is also the same woman who said Kieren wasn't having Night Terrors, she was manipulating me! (Give me a f-ing break! If this is true, Kieren will win an Oscar by age 2!) Anyway, we weren't given a referral for a speech eval so I called the County and had Help Me Grow come out. They lost our paperwork for over a month and then couldn't see us for another month for the eval. Finally the first woman shows up 30 minutes late (got lost) and the second woman 15 minutes later. They did their little eval thing and left. The first woman came back a couple of weeks later. Guess what? They had lost the eval paperwork! So I answered the same questions AGAIN. I get a call the next week. The earliest someone can come out is January 3rd (a month away). The woman comes as scheduled, sits on the floor with me and Kieren, and proceeds to tell me she's not a speech therapist AND Kieren needs a speech eval. We get an appointment with Kieren's new doctor a week later. They get us a referral (took 5 days to get it). Dayton Childrens can't see us for TWO MONTHS! So I call Cincinnati Childrens. They can see us this month. I call our doctor and leave a message that we need to reissue the referral. OVER A WEEK LATER (and after many messages left by me), the nurse calls me back to verify my request. So now we are waiting again to hear from the hospital. Okay, I'm done venting about that.
I guess the hardest part about this is listening to everyone we know tell about how much their child is speaking and excelling. It's on their blogs. I see it at playgroup. I hear it on the phone. I know it's not done as a slap to me, but God it's so hard hearing it! I hate watching Kieren struggle. She so wants to speak! She watches my mouth. She tries moving her lips. She just can't get the words or sounds out. She is so frustrated! She has said a couple of new words, but she has only said them once or twice and won't say them again. Kieren now takes me to what she wants (food, drink, a toy she can't reach). I feel so helpless and like I'm failing her.
The woman from Help Me Grow was so quick to say we should teach Kieren sign language. NO! (The woman freaked when I told her no!) Kieren needs to learn to speak! I've seen too many kids rely on the sign language instead of their words. We were told by a speech therapist at a FCC meeting not to teach her. Don't get me wrong! The sign language is a wonderful solution to a certain point. (We taught Kieren a couple of signs when she first came to us.) We agree with the speech therapist that Kieren would rely on the signing too much. Every child is different and has different needs. Just because we feel sign language is wrong for Kieren, doesn't mean it's wrong for another child. I don't want anyone to feel I am judging them!
So we wait. And wait. Kieren was 7 months delayed at 20 months. She falls further behind the longer we wait. She becomes more frustrated the longer we wait. So do I.
Tuesday, January 23
Donna's Photo Challenge: SHOES!
Hmmm... I think we have a few shoes for Kieren. Actually, it's not as bad as Andy thinks. Three of the pairs are too big. One pair is too small. She is about to outgrow two more pairs of Squeaky shoes (her last). Two pairs are plastic pretend shoes. One pair is for Summer. And one pair is for snow. So really, Kieren needs more shoes!!!!! Thanks for the challenge, Donna!(Notice how many are pink? Kieren will only wear pink, squeaky, or light-up shoes. She tolerates the snow boots because she LOVES snow. If you try anything else, she rips them off and throws them!)
Dayton FCC - CNY
Okay, this information is useless to most of you, but hey! I have to do it anyway!
The Dayton FCC (Families with Children from China) will be holding its Chinese New Year Celebration on Saturday, February 3rd. If you are in the Dayton, Ohio area and wish to attend this year's event, you will need to send in your registration and fees by this Wednesday, January 24th. That's right, folks!!! Sam is dropping the hammer! We are almost at capacity and we need to give the caterer the final count. Any registrations received after this date will be placed on a waiting list.
In case you haven't guessed it, I am Co-chair for this event and I am in charge of registration. Nothing as fun as trying to assign seats for almost 400 people!! OY!!! (You should see some of the seating requests!) I have to say that it has been a lot of fun. Carol, the Chair, is a sweetie!!! She is "next" for a referral!!! I hope she gets it right before the event! The regulars on the committee have been gems too. I have had a great time getting to know everyone!
If anyone is still interested in attending, drop me an email ASAP! I will give you information on costs, location, and payment. My sense of humor is pretty much gone right now (story for another day), so don't mess with me (Got that, Heather?)!
Okay, my public service announcement is over. You can return to your regularly scheduled blogs now. Thank you.
The Dayton FCC (Families with Children from China) will be holding its Chinese New Year Celebration on Saturday, February 3rd. If you are in the Dayton, Ohio area and wish to attend this year's event, you will need to send in your registration and fees by this Wednesday, January 24th. That's right, folks!!! Sam is dropping the hammer! We are almost at capacity and we need to give the caterer the final count. Any registrations received after this date will be placed on a waiting list.
In case you haven't guessed it, I am Co-chair for this event and I am in charge of registration. Nothing as fun as trying to assign seats for almost 400 people!! OY!!! (You should see some of the seating requests!) I have to say that it has been a lot of fun. Carol, the Chair, is a sweetie!!! She is "next" for a referral!!! I hope she gets it right before the event! The regulars on the committee have been gems too. I have had a great time getting to know everyone!
If anyone is still interested in attending, drop me an email ASAP! I will give you information on costs, location, and payment. My sense of humor is pretty much gone right now (story for another day), so don't mess with me (Got that, Heather?)!
Okay, my public service announcement is over. You can return to your regularly scheduled blogs now. Thank you.
Sunday, January 21
Busy Blog Day!
THERE ARE LOTS OF POSTS TODAY!!!!
This has been a busy weekend. We had Panda Cubs Playgroup on Friday morning, Cullen had OT on Friday afternoon, a basketball game on Saturday morning, and now snow. Kieren turned 22 months-old yesterday and today we celebrate having Kieren home for 13 months. So, sit back and relax. There's lots to see!
Kieren has been home 13 months today! The photo on the left was taken at the airport. The one on the right was taken today. Yes, that's the same hat! It's still cute on her!!!!
Kieren and Cullen both got hair cuts on Thursday. Isn't she cute?! Cull won't hold still long enough for a photo.
"Are they twins?" NO! They just look cute when they dress alike! A couple of times a year, I buy Kieren and Helen (Jan Tracy's daughter) matching shirts. It's fun!
And look who can sit up all on his own!!!! Ian is getting so big! I just LOVE the hat and sweater!!! He will hate us for this when he's older!!
This has been a busy weekend. We had Panda Cubs Playgroup on Friday morning, Cullen had OT on Friday afternoon, a basketball game on Saturday morning, and now snow. Kieren turned 22 months-old yesterday and today we celebrate having Kieren home for 13 months. So, sit back and relax. There's lots to see!
Kieren has been home 13 months today! The photo on the left was taken at the airport. The one on the right was taken today. Yes, that's the same hat! It's still cute on her!!!!
Kieren and Cullen both got hair cuts on Thursday. Isn't she cute?! Cull won't hold still long enough for a photo.
"Are they twins?" NO! They just look cute when they dress alike! A couple of times a year, I buy Kieren and Helen (Jan Tracy's daughter) matching shirts. It's fun!
And look who can sit up all on his own!!!! Ian is getting so big! I just LOVE the hat and sweater!!! He will hate us for this when he's older!!
First Good Snow of Winter...
Today we finally got our first good snow! Kieren was so excited!!! She kept running to the patio door and pulling on the door knob. During lunch, I brought in a snowball for Kieren to play with. She thought that was too fun!!! The snow tapered off around noon so we bundled-up and went out to play. We thought Kieren was a water-baby, but holy cow! She LOVES the snow!!!! She rolled in it, crawled in it, stomped in it, threw it, and rode her sled in it. She did NOT want to come back in. The only disappointment was that Cullen wasn't here to share in the fun. He spent the night with Nanny & Pops last night. Oh don't worry! Cullen has THREE ACRES to play in at Nanny's house. I'm sure he is having a wonderful time too! It's supposed to snow more this week so I will have to get photos of the kids together.
I'm soooooo cute!
What do you mean I'm not dressed warm enough yet?! I want to go outside!
Am I ready yet? I can't move!
Here I go!
I'm soooooo cute!
What do you mean I'm not dressed warm enough yet?! I want to go outside!
Am I ready yet? I can't move!
Here I go!
SNOW!!!!!!!
Hey! What is this white stuff?!
Where did my feet go?
Oh no! The white stuff is all over the car!!! Daddy is gonna be so mad! I better clean it off fast!
I LOVE SNOW!!!!!
My First Sled Ride!!!
Cullen is at Nanny & Pops' house this weekend so Jake, our neighbor Kathy's grandson, was thrilled to give Kieren lots of rides on her sled!
Faster, Jake!!!!
Go faster, Jake!!!!
Wwwwhhhhhhheeeeeeeeee!!!!!!
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