First Words

We went to the Baltimore City Infants and Toddlers program, where we met with a caseworker who explained what would be done for his evaluation. Then we met with all of the therapists and evaluators at once. We sat in a room while they had him do some simple tasks - stack blocks, finish a simple puzzle, play with a crayon.

Not only did he do well, he was above his age range for nearly everything by at least one to two months with the one exception of speech. His responsive speech is fine (meaning he understands basic direction given to him) its his expressive speech which is lagging. But, strangely enough, today we got his first words. That's right, not singular word - words. His first understandable speech? "Thank you."

It's the one thing we probably say most often to him. When he brings us items, when he is finished with a meal and he lets us know, etc. Also, this week at daycare they have been working on the sign for "thank you", which I think contributed to it. His expressive speech is at a 14-month level, but they expect with a bit of help on our end, that he'll pick up soon. They told us that if he didn't catch up in the next 4 months to come back for another evaluation. But mostly, he was fine.

So that was it. Oh, right, and he'll be moving up to the next room in daycare within a week or two. Kieran will officially be a Spectacular Seal (aka Pre-toddler) at the start of June. Which is funny because Miss Karen, who just started this week, is already sad to know he won't be there for long. Yeah, he's her favorite :-). OK, gotta vacuum, the Mother In Law is coming today. Love to all, blog again soon.

Sugar Rush

We had a good weekend just hanging out. We went to Wine in the Woods on Saturday and the Aquarium on Sunday.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at the Cheesecake Factory (since we hadn't gone to the grocery store just yet) and Kieran's breakfast was french toast, strawberries and bacon. Well, the strawberries had a syrup on them (had I known I would have requested they leave that off) and our little man LOVED it. Dipped a piece of french toast in it. Then proceeded to run like mad around the aquarium. Ken and I looked at each other and agreed - as little sugar as possible for this kid. He is naturally active and doesn't need the extra boost.

OK, that's all to report. Blog again soon.

Home at Last!

Whew. Made it home - half hour late, but that's OK. I was still home before 9 pm, which is a change over my regular travel.

Ken was waiting for me (open arms and pursed lips!) when I stepped through the door. Kieran was already asleep, though I peeked in at him. He was happy to see me this morning but a bit daddy-centric. But, he can get mommy-centric too when Ken's been off doing stuff for several nights in a row.

OK, back to work. Blog more soon. Love to all.

On the Road Again...

Travelling for work this week and I'm not liking it so far. I miss Ken, I miss Kieran. I feel like I'm missing all the cool stuff. As if he'll say his first word and I won't be there. I think I'd be crushed.

That's about it. I'm beat, I'm travelling with some folk who can party like it's 1999 (or there's no tomorrow or whatever cliche you'd prefer). These are the same people who don't understand the reasons for having a kid. So, here I am, fogey that I am, beat and it's 9:42 pm. Ah well, I know the joys of the first smile of the morning, the run and hug, and the last cuddle of the night. I'm perfectly content in my fogey-ness.

Old Photos

My dad sent me these. I kinda freaked out when he told me the ages, which I'll put at the bottom of this post.
Ok, so here is a brief explanation:
Photo on left is Uncle Gary, my dad and Uncle Stanley.
Photo in the middle shows my Bubbie (aka my Dad's mom - Anna) in the middle
The last photo shows my Zadie (aka my Dad's dad - Leonard) on the right (shown below)

I'm not 100% sure who the other people in these photos are. The comment from my dad about ages...

He and Uncle Gary are 12, Uncle Stanley was 14. Not too scary yet.

Bubbie was 33 and Zadie was 36. Now that's a scary thought. I'm 35 this year and the idea of having a 14 year old is just... wow.