Week 5 at Kennedy Krieger

Lauren gave away our family motto of "First, Do Nothing" today at Kennedy Krieger. Let me explain. Lauren and I made pumpkin muffins on Sunday and decided to put some in a nice little tupperware box to give to her therapists at Kennedy Krieger. We forgot to take them in on Monday, and on Tuesday, we remembered them. Lauren proudly handed the pumpkin muffins to her PT, Ms. Sara, who thanked her. Ms. Sara asked her, "What do you think we should do with them Lauren? Should we put them in the kitchen?" Lauren replied, "We should leave them in the box for days and days". Sadly, at two years old, she's already adapted to our atmosphere of resting inertia.

Speaking of the pumpkin muffins, Delanie told me while we were making them that I needed to work on being a better mom. I was filling the mini-muffin cups with a tablespoon and spilling pumpkin muffin mix here and there (between the cups). So Delanie told me that if I were an older mom, I would be a better mom and not spill the mix on the spots between the muffin cups. Hmm, older moms are better moms according to Delanie. So if older moms are better, are grandmoms the best?

We can now add the sun to the list of things that are unsatisfactory to Lauren. She told me on the way home from therapy last week (just after I finished the "this car is too big" blog) that, "The sun is too bright. I want a new sun." She's also very unsatisfied with her crib, and our "small house". She wants a "new house". We have to be more careful what she overhears.

Lauren's still doing well as far as her awareness of her right hand goes. She insisted that she eat an entire meal the other day with her right hand (with assistance) despite not having a cast on the left hand. She's definitely interested in using her hand and keeping it in practice. She's been pointing to things in books with her right hand, and beating up mom and dad with Righty. She also tells me or complains if her right hand is covered by her shirt sleeve now. She has her own independent therapy that she does where she goes, "Open, CLOSE! Open Wide! Close tight!" and opens and closes her hands. It's cute to watch because inevitably her eyes open and close with her hands, and she sometimes makes effort noises while closing the hands (similar to when she's "pushing the poop" on the potty).

Lauren and Delanie are very excited about Christmas coming. Lauren will periodically ask, "Where's Santa Claus?" as if he could show up at any moment. Delanie will reply emphatically, "Lauren, Santa Claus comes on December 25! Today's only December 5th silly!" Delanie is trying to learn the lyrics to all the Christmas songs and is getting pretty good with Jingle Bells, and Frosty, the Snowman. She listens to easy listening on the radio every night and they're playing on Christmas songs since Thanksgiving. Whenever Christmas songs come on the car radio, she says, "This is the music from MY radio!"

The kids were very happy when it snowed over the weekend. When Lauren first saw the snow coming down, she shouted excitedly, "It's raining snow!" Delanie decided to teach us all a song she learned in school whereby you sing "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow . . . for _____" and you point to somebody and everyone says their name in the blank. I tried to teach her the song Let it Snow that starts with "The weather outside is frightful, and ever so delightful . . . " and she shot back at me "That's not a song, mommy!"

We have three different countdowns to Christmas: two advent calendars (one flat and one pyramid shaped boxes), and one Santa head calendar with pockets for the dates. The kids are really enjoying counting down and will jump up first thing in the morning, change the date on the Santa head, and ask for the candy from the advent calendars. I've been telling them they can have the candy after a meal, so then they ask for it directly after breakfast. When we drive around, they shout "Christmas lights! Christmas lights!" at all the houses that are lit up and Delanie of course makes it a contest of who can find the lights first and shout "Christmas lights!" We were hesitant to decorate the house and get a tree because of the move in a month, but have been pressured into it by the enthusiastic little ones. John broke down and put up lights outside this weekend and Delanie chose a spot for each of our little singing stuffed reindeer, dog, Santa, etc. I guess we'll need to get a tree next.

Only two more days at Kennedy Krieger. Lauren is doing pool therapy tomorrow, which I'm sure she'll be thrilled about. We're talking about her "exit plan" to go back to community based therapy starting Friday at Mount Washington. I think I'll miss coming to Kennedy Krieger, partially because the therapists are so good here, but also because of the down time that I've gotten. I hope that Lauren does do another month long program here in the future. They said that prior to Kindergarten is a good time to do it, so maybe then. In the meantime, will try to continue my blog. It will be nice to have a record of what's going on with the kids and my thoughts on some of this stuff in addition to the billion pictures (mostly stuck in e-world) documenting their life.