We do lots of zoo trips, lots of playing at the park, and playing with our pets and cars and trucks.
I almost wish the kids seat faced into the cart. He does this in every cart!
We struggle so much with church- to the point we are considered inactive. I hate it. Cameron is absolutely terrified. He starts melting down Saturday night when we pep talk him about being a big boy at church. At first we thought it was just nursery, but he melts down hard core- makes himself vomit and everything. There are so many reasons we need to be at church, and it feels like everything is working against it. We have toyed with trading weeks and just waiting to take him til he is older, but that has it's pros and cons and it doesn't feel right to me. I don't know what we are going to do... We are praying like crazy for a solution.
He loves primary songs and jesus and prayers at home- I don't know why church is such a struggle.
He absolutely loved this goat. He kept trying to kiss it- I do believe that is the first time I have ever been grossed out about kissing an animal.
Cameron is growing by leaps and bounds. I believe he will graduate from early intervention before he starts preschool.
He is finally talking lots! His list of words includes:
- No- of course!
- Fan- his first word
- Buddy
- Cocoa
- Daddy
- Mom
- woof woof
- Meow
- quack quack
- Duck
- Bock Bock- this is how he refers to chickens. Both varieties: our pets or a stop at chick fil a.
- Truck
- Car
- Fix it
- Broke
- Jaxsix- Jaxson
- Charli
- Ben
- More
- Please
- Tank you- Thank you
- Hey you!
- See you!
- See
- side- outside
- Shoes
- Socks
- Play
- Snack
- Book
- A-B-C
- Bubble
- Help
- Wash
- Watch
- Bike
- Knees
- Cheek
- Eyes
- Eat
- Blank- Blanket
- Soft
- Phone
- Hi
- Bye
- Apple
- POOP
- Bed
- Sleep
- Dink- Drink
- Juice
- Milk
- Choo Choo- Train
- Hot
- Cold
- A heb- Amen
- Prayer
- Fox
- Fork
- Raff- Giraffe
- Moo Cow
This is overwhelmingly exciting- since I was so stressed about his delay. He is catching right up and doing really well.
We also recently found out he has sensory processing disorder. We are working with an occupational therapist to figure out all the quirks of it- but his initial assessment shows that he is under stimulated in the proprioceptive sense- something I didn't even know about until this. We have 8 senses- Cameron struggles with 2 maybe 3. The proprioceptive sense refers to the sensory input and feedback that tells us about movement and body position. This was originally brought about because Cameron has a formed a comfort habit of rocking- but it has become more than a comfort habit. We switched him to a big boy bed because he was rocking in every chair, in his crib, so much so it was causing self harm. He would rock so hard he would nearly tip kitchen chairs, or in his crib at night he was hitting the rails and wall- to the point that he formed GIANT CALLUSES on the back of his head and middle of his back. Giant lumps- the one on his head was extremely noticeable becase he also rubbed the hair off. The occupational therapist is working to figure out why he isn't getting enough hard motor input to satisfy this need- and has given us activities to help meet the need he is lacking. Frustratingly enough- I haven't noticed a difference- yet. He still rocks- but thankfully, not against anything so the lump in his back and head are gone! I have been trying to get him to know what and where it is appropriate to rock since the behavior isn't going away- and that has helped.
He also doesn't like people to touch him. He is very reserved- he is outgoing, friendly, silly, and fun- but don't touch him unless you are his mom or dad. He is slowly coming along with that one- mostly that one is just to understand and respect his boundaries- and help him learn what kind of touch is safe and good.
His vestibular or hearing may or may not be a problem- it will become more apparent as we work with his occupational therapist.
I am really nervous about this- because most people don't know about sensory processing disorder, and they often negatively associate it with autism or other severe handicaps. The only thing I can say to that is- do some fair research. Also- Cameron is not on the autism spectrum at all. They won't even entertain that- because he connects to people- he seeks out eye contact very regularly and wants to relate.
So! Aside from those things- we are just busy and happy and always doing new things and fun projects.
Cameron still isn't a great sleeper. Up at least once, but usually 3 times. The fact that he can communicate more now helps though. He is also very proud of his big boy bed- and the switch wasn't hard for him at all. And!! Lucky for me- he doesn't realize he can get in and out on his own. So I will prolong that as long as I possibly can!
Cameron is a huge helper- sometimes for real- and sometimes not so much. He has chores- he throws his own diapers away in his diaper pail, he puts his dirty clothes in the basket, and cleans up his own toys.
He also loves to er, um, "help" feed the pets, vacuum, do dishes, and laundry.
This is a whole bag of chick feed- he wanted to feed the dogs.... oh and himself... the dogs and cameron were full of stinky toots after this "meal"
We had a very sad catastrophe with our chickens. We babysat a friends dog- one we had never watched before. I had a bad attitude about it from the start- out of character for the animal lover that I am. He was completely undisciplined- and neither Dan nor I envisioned he could prove to be as much trouble as he was.
I have posted about our chicken run- and because winter and wet make the ground soggy, I kept the chickens in their coop and run all winter. Their scratching would have ruined our grass. Anyway- knowing they are safe in their run- we never thought anything of it- but that damn dog busted in the back side of the run- a large job to do- heavy roof, large 2x4x8's and wire- and killed 4 of my 5 chickens. I was actually still in bed- and I woke up to screaming- "OH NO! CHERISH! your chickens are dead!!!" That dog had strewn chicken all over our yard. Dan said that our poor dogs while not perfect- have never tried to touch our birds- were sitting on our patio watching in horror with their ears tucked back and their tails tucked because they knew that meant death.
We called the friends- they arranged for their dog to go to a boarding kennel- and paid for us to replace our birds.
Not just from a pet standpoint- but also a practical and production standpoint- we were now down 4 egg layers. I was so upset- fuming really- and after the mad was gone, I was really sad.
We did however- replace the chickens- and we added 3 ducks! So now we have 5 chickens and 3 ducks- and it is a ton of fun. None of the ducks or new chickens are laying eggs yet- I don't expect them to until the end of summer- but it has been fun and I love the responsibility although currently very limited on Cameron's part- it teaches.
Our ducks are: Quackers (aka Quackie Jackie- dear MIL's namesake) Lulu, and Honk.
We have Henny Penny- who was the only surviving hen- and our 4 new gals that still need names.
