Summer Scavenger Hunt...A trip to Amy's Farm

I was not happy with this place at all and I don't recommend it! especially if you have little kids. There are no specific Directions on what to do once you get to the farm even though I called ahead and scheduled a tour. once we finally got started (like 20 minutes late) we were paired with a large preschool group. we were told groups had to be smaller than 10 people. 20 people for Madison with her "Social skills underdeveloped" is not something that goes well. it was extremely hot but we were told about that ahead of time so I wasn't too stressed about that. there's no room for strollers so if you have small babies don't bother bringing one. there's very little shade to "hide" the really little guys in which was bad since I had a "really little one" who was trying to sleep. however if you go at the right time of year in a smaller group and a better situation the tour was quite educational and the kids do get to do alot of hands on stuff and touch and see animals really close up.

 

 

Summer Scavenger Hunt...A trip to the Chino Farmer's Market

I was seriously pulling teeth to figure out where to go for a farmer's market in our area. I really wanted this to be a fun experience for the kids and have some things for them to do while we were there. I really wasn't impressed with this one but i was really trying to find one and it came down to the wire so I just had to settle for the little one down the street.

 We had a little dessert (madison was not a fan of the shaved Ice)

 

 Played with Hula Hoops (this was a big hit)

And planted a flower in a biodegradable carton to put in the ground at home. she decided to give it to daddy. (no she's not a daddy's girl at all! *cough cough*)

Summer Scavenger Hunt...make smore's

This one was super simple and super fun for madison. I have to admit i was pretty suprised how well she did and how compliant she was about not touching the fire. we kept it simple and since we dont have like a fire pit or something i decided the stove was probably the best way to go. clearly this activity was a big hit from the begining to the end. I love this oversized red shirt i have for her. I use it for everything I dont want her to do in "good cloths". since Caleb was too small we just waited until he went to bed and then got to spend a little time with just mommy and daddy (which is rare).  I'm pretty sure she thought the best part was eating it at the end cant you tell?? p.s. she's never had one of these before!

 

Summer Scavenger Hunt...4 in 1 day

The kids were a little sick on a sunday (too sick to go to primary for madison but she didnt act sick just an obnoxious cold) so we kept them busy by doing a bunch of activities on the scavenger hunt list.

First up was to do a science experiment. I had to do something that would catch Madison's attention but also be something she might understand. so we made a rubber egg. you put an egg in a glass and then cover it completely with distilled vinegar. let it sit for 24 hours then drain the vinegar and rinse the egg. place the egg back in the glass and refill with vinegar totally covering the egg and let sit for 7 days.

Caleb joined us on the table even though he just watch (who knows maybe he learned something) and we let Madison do most of the activity with a little of mommy's help.

Next we painted flower pots to put outside in the garden (that's really just roses not a true garden) this ended up being an all Madison thing. mom and dad watched, Caleb slept and Madison painted away in her famous red shirt.  this activity was a really big hit...so i decided after to give her a piece of paper to paint on and that was a no go...she pretty much refused.

 I'm not sure anthony really wanted to do this but i begged and he was the best ever and obliged me. We made a family stepping stone. I'm not super creative but i'm very "emotionally" connected with my family so i decided we should make a family stepping stone. so we painted our hands first and then  did the kids. I even was able to get caleb in on this one which made it all the more fun!

 And last but not least we painted bird houses. Anthony painted his with an angels theme. madison asked for pink! everything is pink in her world. I did talk her into a little purple. and I chose a teal nd brown. it was fun and we were forced to talk to eachother.

Summer Scavenger Hunt...Build a fort

I was a little surprised at what a big hit this thing was. I'm not the greatest fort maker (please don't judge me) but she loved it and had a blast. A simple activity that went off great. she had lunch in there, read in there, and kept telling me "night night" and laying on the pillow.

4 months of lovin

This baby boy is growing so fast! I can't believe he has been apart of this family for 4 whole months it feels like he has always been here. This is one of my favorite times in the first year because they become a whole lot more active and can really enjoy what is going on around them and they start eating rice cereal.

this month Caleb:
   

• Gained Good head control
• Started sitting with support like me or Anthony behind him and he started sitting in the little high chair pretty good too
• Loves to stand on his legs and has started playing in the baby Einstein quite a bit
• He is lifting his head pretty good when he is on his tummy and usually puts his arms under his chest and props himself on his elbows
• Rolled from back to side and most of the time sleeps on his side even if i put him to bed on his back
• Explores and plays with hands and anything i can get in them
• Tries to reach for objects but overshoots
• Grasps objects with both hands
• Laughs when we talk to him
• Enjoys being rocked, bounced or swung
• Loves to scream
• Drools alot
• Started eating rice cereal and oatmeal
  
  
  

Summer Scavenger Hunt...A magic show at the library

 

Sorry there are so few pictures of this one they were really picky about not letting us take pictures so the ones that I do have I had to be sneaky about. this guy did a magic show all about the food pyramid and healthy food choices. Madison totally didn't get this but all the kids around us were having a good time. afterwords the diamond bar library has a used book section where you can buy books for a dollar. so we went on over to the used book section and I let Madison pick out a couple of books to take home. we went home with the hungry caterpillar and the grouchy lady but. by the end of this i was carrying Madison out with no shoes on and her screaming at me. it was a rough day but I hope something gets through and she will remember about healthy food choices later.

Already 3 months

Man where has time gone?? My sweet baby boy is already 3 months old. Caleb gets more active all the time now. He's awake way more than he sleeps and he puts himself to bed for the night at 8 pm or so which is crazy now both my kids go to bed at 8 and me and Anthony have the rest of the night to ourselves! I grow more in love with this sweet boy everyday.

Things to remember about this month:

We are  finally on an eating schedule of every 4 hours which means my cute chubby boy only eats 4 times a day but he's eating 6 oz bottles of breast milk

He loves the water during bath time

He still has baby acne really bad

He sits in his bumbo pretty good

He sits with us at dinner sometimes

He love to interact with Madison and she's the only one he will laugh for

Madison gave him his first fat lip

He does not like the carseat

He doesn't sleep on any schedule other than at bed time

Skills I noticed he gained this month:

• he is starting to bear weight on his legs
• Able to hold head up when sitting but still bobs forward
• When lying on stomach can raise head and shoulders between 45 and 90 degrees
• Holds objects but does not reach for them
• Clutches his own hands and pulls at blankets and clothes
• Follows objects 180 degrees
• Locates sound by turning head and looking in the same direction
• loves to Squeal, coo, babble, and starting to chuckle
• he “Talks” when spoken to
• Recognizes faces, voices, and objects especially mommy
• Smiles when he/she sees familiar people, and engages in play with them
• Shows awareness to strange situations

Summer Scavenger Hunt...A trip to the Discovery Science Center

The discovery science center's theme was midevil Lego's. it was super fun and just the right age timing for Madison! she played dress up, got to sit in furniture that was made from Lego's, they don't really have a "second theme" but they had several rooms where they had different stuff going on. in one room they had blocks and pipes for the kids to learn to build, just a bit further down they had a set of pipes at different lengths that when you hit them with a flip flop they made different noises and you could play songs like twinkle twinkle and itsy bitsy spider. we went with Kylie and brayden (and Brittany of course) the boys slept most of the time and then we went to the mall next door to have lunch. it was quite the day but we sure had a great time...so great in fact that both kids passed out on the way home!



 

Our sleepy boys did so great! Caleb was about 10 weeks old here.








This Lego area was so fun and the Lego's were huge!

 

 






















 

This was a pully system and each one had a value above it that stated how much of your weight you were actually lifting. madison had a ball on the "ride" and caleb is strapped to my chest with the moby sound asleep!
 

 

It really was a totally amazing day.  I'm starting to feel more confident taking the two kids out all on my own but i have learned it is certainly going to take some practice and getting used to

Summer Scavenger Hunt...A trip to the movies

This summer we spent a lot of time at the movies. we have a theater near us that does what they call a summer movie special. they play 10 movies over the course of 10 weeks and you buy the movies for $5 so $.50 a movie. All of the movies were played in the past year sometime. Madison hadn't seen any of them because she has no attention span. I thought what a great way to help her focus and sit for long periods of time. when we started this I tried taking Caleb with us and he did okay at first but as he got a little older it just got very challenging so I decided I would take Madison by herself and have a mommy daughter date once a week with her while my mom watched Caleb. Much to my surprise Madison did great! she loved the movies, sat pretty well, and i learned she's a big fan of popcorn! We also met up with Kylie, Brittany, and Brayden most weeks. It has amazed me at how he relationship with Kylie has grown...they are practically inseparable when we are all together.

Madison quarterly report June 2013

Now that we have Madison all settled in with a new teacher the teacher has to leave. She had a major issue with her pregnancy. But before she left she did us a huge favor by requesting Madison do more therapy so now she does speech therapy 1 time a week and occupational therapy 1 time a week each one for an hour.

Madison -30 months

Social/ Emotional
3/20/12 -8 months
11/30/12 -20 months

2/15/13 - 23 months

6/6/13 -34 months

Adaptive/ self help
3/20/12- feeding 8 months; toileting 12-15 months; dressing 12-15 months

11/30/12-  21 months for all categories 

2/15/13 - 26 months

6/6/13 - 33 months

Fine motor

3/20/12 -8 months

11/30/12  -16-19 months

2/15/13- 20-23

6/6/13- 29 months

Cognitive

3/20/12 -8 months

11/30/12  -20 months

2/15/13 -24 months

6/6/13 -27 months

Communication

3/20/12 -Receptive: 7 months      Expressive: 3 months

11/30/12 -Receptive: 24 months   Expressive: 9-12 months

2/15/13 -Receptive: 29 months   Expressive: 13-14

6/6/13 - Receptive: 29 months    Expressive: 28 months

Gross motor

3/20/12   -11 months

11/30/12  -26 months

2/15/13 -29 months

6/6/13 -29 months

I am beyond amazed at Madison's ability to gain new skills. She is working so hard and we hear and see her growth daily. It is believed that Madison has developmental apraxia of speech. This disorder causes issues with language, reading, writing, math, comprehension, spelling, and motor skills.