Unlike the last post, Owen is generally a happy child, but passionate. He fights for what he wants and at 19 months old, often this involves some whining. We are so happy with his progress though, including learning recently to blow a flute and various whistles. This clip is of him blowing the flute and then whining hoping to get the book Lewis is playing with.
He's also learned his sounds from the Leapfrog Letter Factory video. Here he is doing the sounds while I sing.
We took a lot of video during bathtime the other night. Lewis is learning about various adjectives and I'm constantly asking him if he is handsome or ugly, sweet or mean etc. Here's one of our conversations.
And finally, Lewis has composed his own song about taking showers. I sing the correct version when he refuses and then he sings a new version where the nouns are all replaced with "big burp." Such a creative child we have.
Finally a couple of pictures. We don't do group bath time at our house because we think someone would get hurt. When the boys got these Thomas bath toys at Christmas, it was yet another good reason to keep baths for one boy at a time. That way they both get to play with all of the trains and there's no fighting! Here's Owen with the trains.
Just after my last post, on January 15, I had an IEP meeting at school to discuss some of Lewis' goals, especially regarding speech etc. I have to say that I'm so impressed with his school, the teachers and therapists and their love for Lewis. We knew they'd fall in love with him as we all have, but they really do care and are doing a great job. While I was gone, our good friend, Mandy Guss (I like to call her Mandarin) watched the boys. She is part of "Team Lewis" and did an ABA session with him just before my meeting so it was very convenient for her to stay a bit extra. She has an iPod Touch and both boys love it. It's like an iPhone that's not a phone. It has a ton of cool apps and the boys have taken to fighting over it if left to their own devices. I left in a hurry, and returned to find this:
Mandy was very carefully and gently rubbing Owen's feet and he had totally melted as a result. It was just so precious, I had to post these pics. Mandy has joined staff and is raising support to go overseas to Sweden long-term with Campus Crusade. For the moment, she is an essential part of our lives, providing therapy, friendship, at times childcare and we really appreciate her (and the rest of our team!). She's really flexible so we see her often.
I'm going to have to get her to show me her secret on this one.
He's got about 20 words now: bye bye, mama, daddy, go, ball (seems to vary between baseball, basketball, football), in, all done, I did it, up, down, pop, girl, balloon, blue, cracker, spoon, again & star. He does lots of animal sounds and letter sounds too. We ran into Target after our appointment and on our way out Owen noticed the letters on the sign outside and started saying "tuh."
I was a bit surprised that Lewis weighed a little more at his 18 month appointment, but Owen is so much more active that he is certain to burn a lot more calories. He's such a brave eater too. He's even eaten some bananas recently, still in the peel. After Lewis refused to eat so many foods, it has been interesting to see Owen eat oranges and bananas and even try to eat whole apples. He eats pasta and all types of bread. He's not mastering utensils yet or anything, but he eats so much more variety which is amazing.
We had a very promising trip to Vanderbilt recently too. They did an autism eval on Owen right at 18 months. He does not appear to have autism at this point, which is a big relief. He is still showing some delays, but otherwise appears to be social and seems to follow others' pointing (and points a bit on his own, mainly at pictures in books) which is a key indicator. They will see him again at 24 months.
The other fantastic adjustment in Owen's life has been his schedule. He's been waking early, between 6:30 and 7 a.m., but then ends up sleeping for 3-3 1/2 hours for his big nap in the afternoon. Lewis has been skipping a lot of naps, so it has been convenient to have a good chunk of time with just one child. Another highlight to parenting Owen is how super excited he is to go to bed whenever it is time. He loves soft blankies and is always happy to get in his crib and snuggle. It is something we are truly grateful for because it is so easy to put him down.
Owen goes back and forth between happy and angry sometimes, but we love him dearly. He's a very sweet boy.
We have been enjoying the snow, sort of. The cold is getting old. We are excited it will be warming up over the next few days. Oddly, despite the fact that Warren Co. schools have been out for 4 days, the city schools only closed on Friday when Lewis doesn't go, so he hasn't missed any school. Really, it's a good thing because the routine is so helpful for him, and for all of us. One of the doors isn't working on our van right now, but otherwise life has carried on.
Owen immediately loved the snow. Lewis had to be forced to walk around out in it, but then didn't want to go home.
We took some self portraits, and a video of Owen walking in the square.
In other news, Lewis is loving his numbers and letters right now. He is counting to a hundred and singing a song he learned at school. Apparently they do exercises along with this song, and Lewis is singing it at home, but also trying to play it on our piano. We got a copy of it from his teacher, so maybe we'll be able to encourage him along. He also is in love with the Leapfrog Letter Factory video. Owen has even learned many of his sounds from watching this one. Both boys see a letter and immediately say its sound. Lewis even sounded out the name "Bob" on a book the other day. We have to recommend this one!
On Friday, we took Lewis to the allergist. He's had random rashes for as long as we can remember, but has tested negative to all common food allergies. This visit we tested for environmental allergies, and poor Lewis had strong reactions to just about everything, except dogs, horses and dust mites. He's allergic to all kinds of pollen, molds, dust, and cats. He's been doing well with a daily allergic medication, but we will be trying some different things as we get closer to allergy season to try and lessen his symptoms.
He's not too worried about it though, and has kept up his tradition of dancing to daddy's music.
After Christmas, my sisters stayed for a couple days to play with the boys. Lewis and Owen are both addicted to the iPod/iPhone. They love some of the cool preschool apps like "Preschool Monkey Lunchbox" and a couple others. Here's Owen trying some things.
He's gotten pretty good at it and loves the encouraging phrase "You did it!" He now says "Did it" and sometimes "I did it!" Here's a clip of when that started.
Lewis and Aunt Ellen.
After Christmas, I got to reunite with some old roommates/teammates from my time in Minsk, Belarus. Here is Natasha Rybinskaya, Val Morozov, and Tasha Caruthers. It was so good to see them and catch up. Natasha has been living in Ukraine and is now an aunt to an adorable set of twins. It is so wonderful to be able to talk in person as a group!
All of us: Heather Morozov, Tasha, Natasha and me.
Natasha got to be my date for New Year's too. She was visiting us in Bowling Green when Lewis came down with a horrible stomach virus. He was spending a lot of time in the bathroom and we figured a trip in the car would not suit him or us. Our plan was to visit more friends in Lexington (many from Belarus or with past connection) and to leave the boys in Louisville with my dad and Martha. So, Justin, being the fabulous husband he is, stayed home with Lewis so that we could sort of keep our plans. Natasha and I had a good visit in Louisville and then left Owen with the grandparents.
We rang in the New Year surrounded by old friends and it was a lot of fun. I got to brush up on my Russian language too! :)
Natasha got to snuggle with baby Nikita Foushee (son of Vera and Lovell Foushee). Sweet baby!
The kids at the party: Val Morozov, 5, Annabella Morozov, 2, and Nadia Shliakov, 3. They were pretty jazzed and were able to stay up until midnight. Wow!
Annabella celebrating 2010! She just learned how to blow her party favor and was so excited. What a big girl. :)
We are happy to report that Lewis is feeling much better thanks to an anti-nausea prescription and some immodium. May this be our last bout with that in this new year.
