Two Little Monkeys

I was busy in the kitchen, and I look over to find this...

Little monkey is already starting to follow suit. I'm in for a lot of trouble! The joy of being a mom to two little boys. ;)

Death by Chocolate in 5 Minutes or Less

DISCLAIMER: Dieters beware!
We are not liable if you break your diet. ;)

THE WEAPONS: A Large Microwave- safe Mug & the Microwave

THE RECIPE FOR DOOM:

4 T flour (or rice flour works for a gluten-free version)
4 T sugar
2 T cocoa
A pinch of salt
1 egg
3 T milk
3 T oil
3 T chocolate chips
A small splash of vanilla

Mix ALL ingredients together in the mug.

Cook on High for 2 1/2 minutes. The cake will "grow" out of the cup. It looks like it will spill over, but it does not.

Dump the cake out of the mug onto a plate. Cut, cool, and enjoy! Ben and I often share one because there is plenty to go around. I posted this at Ben's request, this is now one of his favorite ways to have a quick chocolate fix with little mess and little effort.

Any Suggestions?

On Saturday, Ben and I went to Wal-Mart and bought hair clippers. Gavin who was Mr. Shaggy Monster was in serious need of a haircut. THE REASON: he HATES having his haircut... from day one it's been this way. When he was little we tried to give him a style... now it just gets buzzed off. After a half hour of torture for all parties involved, Ben and I finally managed to finish... and yes, it took both Ben and I to manage getting it cut at all. So here is where I need suggestions... How do I get my kid not to hate and fear haircuts so much!? I've tried everything. We've given him candy/food (the magic of a sucker didn't work), we tried to let him watch tv/movies, we've bribed him with all kinds of toys and had people try to sit and play with him during it, and we have tried just about everything we can think of to make it a game and fun for him to no avail. I would love to give him a haircut more often, but I end up waiting as long as I possibly can because I end up frustrated and covered in hair, and Gavin ends up covered in hair, snot, and tears.

Isn't he cute with his little buzz cut!? I took this picture because he had gotten himself stuck this way in the highchair and couldn't get out by himself. It was pretty funny.

The Buggy Bug Crawl

Xander has started to get the crawl thing down now. He doesn't go very far yet at a time, but he slowly gets around. I thought I was pretty well baby-proofed, but I'm finding that there are lots of things that I have forgotten little hands get into. Here are a couple of videos of the little bug.

The Gavinator

I did an update on Xander, and now it's Gavin's turn. About a month ago or so, we bought Gavin his own little bike and helmet. As many of you know, this little boy is very boy and loves anything with wheels. Every time we passed the bikes outside the front of Wal-Mart he was in heaven... Whenever we left them, he quickly crashed back down to earth. This also happens with the riding lawn mowers at Lowe's. ;) So Ben and I decided to get him his own bike. He doesn't know how to pedal yet, but we think that by the end of the summer he'll have it down. IF it stops raining all the time. We've had so much rain recently he hasn't had a chance to practice very much, but he loves it all the same.

Since Xander has started sitting in the highchair to eat, Gavin has decided that hey he wants a turn too. It's so funny, but he eats almost all his meals in it now. A year ago if I had tried to put him in the highchair, you would have thought I was putting him in a torture chamber! And if I'm too slow or busy, he climbs on the table so he can climb into the highchair. I'm okay with it because it helps contain an active two year old and his mess!

At the beginning of June, we finally got the thumbs up from the eye doctor to stop patching. We were all quite excited to get the good news. As long as his eyes don't revert, we should be done patching, and his glasses will be enough to keep his vision corrected.

For those of you who have met Gavin know he is a sweet, active, little boy, but he doesn't talk very clearly. He's good at copying sound effects and as a baby snorting like a pig when he cried, but he's always had trouble with words. For a while, I thought he would eventually "catch up", that he was a "late bloomer." When he turned two and was still so far behind, I was a little concerned and wanted to have it checked out. We had his ears tested first, and then when those results came back normal, I went to the Infant and Toddler program here in Idaho. In November, they tested Gavin both developmentally and specifically on speech. He was where he needed to be on everything accept articulation. So he qualified to have a speech language pathologist.

Finally in January, one of their SLPs had an opening and Derek began coming once a week to work with Gavin for an hour in our home. Gavin loves it when Derek comes to play because he brings cool toys with him. We've seen a lot of improvement since November between getting his glasses and working with an SLP, but his progress is slow compared to other children his age.

About two weeks ago now, we had a meeting with our social worker and Derek to see if the goals we had made in the beginning needed to be adjusted to better meet Gavin's needs. During this meeting, Derek expressed some concerns and told us that though it's not an official diagnosis at this point he believes that Gavin has a speech disorder known as Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Because Gavin is young and has only been in speech therapy a few months, Derek didn't want to label and diagnose Gavin yet, though Gavin displays several red flags of this disorder. He asked me to do some research and see if I thought apraxia, or dyspraxia, fits Gavin because often times mother's intuition is correct.

So that's what I have been doing... RESEARCH. Derek gave me this site: www.apraxia-kids.org. I have also looked other places online and gotten books from the library, including one called The Late Talker. From what I've read, I also believe that there is a very high probablity that Gavin does have apraxia. I've had mixed feelings over this likelihood. On the one hand, I hate seeing something that I can't just make better with a kiss, and I don't want my kids to go through really hard things. On the other hand, with a probable diagnosis we can focus the help Gavin gets to really be what he needs, and I also know that the Lord never gives us more than we can handle, and through Him anything is possible: our greatest weaknesses can become our greatest strengths. Hard things in life are how we grow and come to know God. With a lot work and effort on all parties involved, apraxia is fixable. Gavin can learn to speak clearly, but it's a slower road than we first imagined. But we are so proud of him and the progress he has made in the last six months!

The X Files: Attack of the Cereal and Other Stories

Xander is almost 8 months now! It's so hard to believe that he's already almost 2/3 the way through his first year of life. He's growing and learning so many things. I love that he puts out his arms to come to you. I love his crooked new teeth grins... he's up to 5 teeth and still counting.

He also loves to eat! (If you couldn't tell by looking at him ;) !!) He now eats rice cereal, carrots, squash, pumpkin, applesauce, and we are adding more every week or so. Some times he has a little too much fun eating. He thinks it's hilarious to blow bubbles when the spoon is in his mouth with a pile of food on it. The result...

At least the mess landed on him!

Xander's hair is getting long and after his bath theother night I had way too much fun making a faux-hawk out of it! And he just loved working the camera.

Xander loves to be on the floor sitting and even attempts to lean out and get different things. He's going to be crawling before too long! He also tries to pull himself up to standing all the time too. I'm about to have my hands full with two mobile, energetic boys! When I get a video of Xander in action I'll post that, too. He's getting so grown-up!