ClintandTina.com

(after coming in with a small leg cut from a particularly mean game of kickball with Daddy)

Tina: Caleb, what happens if you don’t clean out your cut?
Caleb: You have to amputate.
Tina: Um, no… you have to put that nasty brown stuff on it.
Caleb: Yeah, but if that doesn’t work you have to amputate.

God blesses my family with the coolest dialogue!

This video is hilarious. Caleb is definitely groovin’ to the beat and all the kids are playing along to our favorite Duran Duran Rock Band song…

And of course grandma and nana got into the action later with their own “special” musical tribute to the grandkids:

We watch our 2.5-year-old try to wrestle with the concept of doing two physical things at once. It’s quite comical and very illustrative of one of the more important developmental stages he’ll go through when he’s a little older.

This went on for about 4-5 minutes and YES we did eventually help him!

Caleb sings “Eye of the Tiger” phonetically… Of course, this is less funny when I recall that I actually learned most songs phonetically… Though I did try to verify my lyrics before going on stage…

Just wait til I get them both on tape, with Caeden jammin’ on guitar!

My youngest son, Caeden, is so agreeable… If you ask him if he wants something, he’ll typically say yes… Even if he doesn’t havea  clue what it is. Of course Caleb is now learning this and starting to take advantage of this useful trait. Here is an example conversation I overheard this morning:

Caleb: “Caeden, do you want a nuggie?”

Caeden: “Uh-huh.” (yes)

Daddy: “Hold it right there, Mister!”

Yes, beng a dad is never boring!

Here are some photos form Christmas morning!

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Tina made the mistake of telling Caleb that artists actually get paid for their artwork… Watch how fast this 5 year old can crunch numbers!

Caeden’s hearing test was yesterday. Basically, they just tested to see if hearing could be causing the speech issue. He can hear the entire speech range in at least one ear. Due to that, the Audiologist said there was no reason to put him through the trauma of extensive testing to see if he has partial hearing loss. She said that if I become concerned and see signs of a possible hearing issue, we can test him then.

We saw the speech therapist last week. The only concern I had was that she tested him using a 18-20 month old test and he turned 21 months today. She is not concerned and thinks he may just be lazy (I assume she meant his mouth muscles are lazy =-)). It is amazing to me that there are exercises and stuff to help with forming sounds.

Caeden learned “ball” (he says “baaw”) a few days ago and is so excited that he uses it all the time and very loudly. The produce department at the grocery store was quite amusing. It is amazing how many things are round there.

No one seems to want to give Caeden a diagnosis, but I think that is because I was between pediatricians when I approached the state early intervention program.

Short Answer: Yes, he qualifies. Speech Therapy will start soon.

Long Answer: During the evaluation, they scored Caeden in 5 different areas. 85 and above is normal, but you have to be 79 or below to qualify for the program. His Motor Skills and Cognitive were in the 100′s, but his Self-Help/Adaptive and Social/Emotional were 80, which made me nervous. The last one was Understanding and Communicating where he received a 78, so he qualified for speech therapy through their program. I think his Self-Help/Adaptive and Social/Emotional are affected by his lack of speech. They want us to get a hearing test done by a Pediatric Audiologist which is scheduled for Aug 19 and we need to cut back on signing and reward any non-whining verbal response. After the hearing test, he should have two 30 min. speech therapy sessions a week.

Well, we are finding that the state program is an exercise in patience. The program is only available until they are 3, and two months will have gone by just to get Caeden in for an evaluation to see if he qualifies. He is finally set for 1pm on July 25 (right in the middle of nap time). We are most interested in a hearing test because although his speech is very delayed his problem solving skills seem to be normal for his age.