Here’s a great game for children who struggle with speech. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Lily and Luke play Go Fish. He’s at the age where he can understand the concept. We used littlest pet shop cards that have cute animals and numbers. It’s great practice…
“Do you have a pink lizard?”
“Do you have a brown puppy?”
“Do you have a yellow duck?”…..
“Go fish!”
This is a wonderful game while you are working on “F”.
Go fish, go fish, GO FISH!
Sorry, I couldn’t resists….
We all laughed about this all weekend (even Pres). Thankfully, he was not hurt, only a few scratches.
Kids bored? My crafty niece taught us today how to make robots out of recycled trash. Kept them busy for a while. Good job Jen-Jen, love it!
Comes complete with microphone, purse, and power pack.
It’s like I’ve been in a dream, in a fog. It’s been intense. It’s not lifting hardly at all. When you love some one and you lose them, it’s just something you can’t get over. I know a lot of people think, well it’s your mom, you knew she wasn’t going to live forever, but I thought she was! It’s like I’m going crazy. I think, well I’ll go on a trip and I’ll get a sign, I’ll find her. I just want to know she is O.k. I have always had faith but I have to admit, I’m shaken. I look to the sea, I look to the sky, to the mountains, I can’t find her. I’m heart broken!
I suppose the fog must be lifting a little. Lately I’ve been looking around and realizing just how quickly time is passing. I want it to just slow down, stay on my side for a little while. My girl, she’s growing like a weed…
Pres is just on the brink of a whole lot of things. Nearly pre-teen, what happened? He’s discovering lot’s about life right now.
Soon little crabs and star fish won’t be in his beach priorities.
And when the heck did the dog learn to drive the RV?
Campground squirrels are now using shovels, Where have I been?
I always end up full circle.
If you want to get in the water sometimes you might have to climb through this…
If you want to learn how to surf you might look like this…
I can’t miss these moments, I know she wouldn’t want me to…
Hope your summer is rolling in long waves, and you are surrounded by the people who bring you the sunshine!
Cupcakes, door-to-door. Lemonade stand. Once the kids started making money they were hooked.
I could not get them to come in all day. I think they ended up with nearly fifty dollars. At fifty cents a glass, that’s a lot of lemonade.
So thankful for my freedom. Grateful to live in this country.
These faces always make me smile!
I never allow comments on Luke’s You-Tube videos. In the past I have received some of the most random and occasionally just down right rude comments. I try to guard my son against things like that. Of course he didn’t decide to show the world his struggles with Apraxia, I did. I have second guessed my decision several times but in the end I like to think I am raising children who want to make a difference in the world. I like to think if Luke ever questioned me about it, I could say, “You gave people hope, you showed other families what is possible!” And I like to think that would settle his thoughts. I hope I’m right.
Yesterday I was doing some random searching on Apraxia videos. I haven’t checked in on my posted videos in a long time. I was so surprised to see Luke’s very first therapy video has received over 12,000 hits. I think people are drawn to it because he looks so young. He WAS young, just barley two. A lot of people sent me responses wondering how he could even begin therapy at such a young age. I ran across another little guy, Owen! Owen’s mom posted a video of Owen at 33 months, after six months of taking fish oil. I remember Owen. This was the video I found and watched nearly two years ago when I was searching for answers myself! This little guy is so cute. It was wonderful to see him talking and answering questions independently. I scrolled down and started reading the comments. I chuckled as I read this one,
“Are you sure he has verbal apraxia? Cause he not even 3, and he bright!! (and really cute too.”
I loved Owen’s moms quick response,
“Yes, I am sure. He was diagnosed by a speech clinician. Many children with verbal apraxia are very bright and very cute ;-)”
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That just reminded me and reassured me of what a great idea it is to keep You-Tube comments in the off position….
CUTE? YES!
After a day at the beach Luke says, “I want to jump in a sleeping bag and go swimming!” I said, “Luke, that doesn’t sound like such a good idea.” He says, ” Yes it is, that way sharks can’t get me!”
CLEVER? For sure!
Luke took a good wiff of his hot sweaty summer time feet and exclaimed, “peee-you, WINKY WEET!” Yes, we are still working on “F” and “S”. It seems like we have been working on “S” forever. Luke is having a tricky time with the sounds that require that forced air. It’s so funny now that he is getting older, he laughs at me when I say, “Luke try sss-stinky fff-feet. ” He just says, “No, I have WINKY WEET!” and chuckles. He knows what he says sounds different than what I am saying.
It has been such a long time since I have posted any videos of little man. I have been stuck in the deepest valley of my life. I realized the last video of Luke was almost a year ago August when I posted my little movie (time flies). Since that time Luke has continued to make great progress. It reminds me of the tortoise and the hare story. We just keep moving at a slow pace but it doesn’t matter as long as we just keep MOVING!
I have been so blessed to continue to take Luke to speech therapy twice a week for almost two years now. I will forever be grateful to Luke’s SLP Megan. She is an amazing person who has invested so much time and effort into helping my son find his voice.
I remember when we received the diagnoses of severe childhood Apraxia of speech. It was a devastating blow. I remember reading and hearing the words, YOUR CHILD MAY NEVER SPEAK. I was just like whoa, what if he never learns to talk , what will that mean to him and to all of us. What does having a voice mean? A voice means so many things. Something that is taken for granted everyday by most of us. It means more than just being able to speak, it’s Christmas carols, telling a secret, making a new friend, calling your dog, saying I love you, telling a joke, speaking your mind, saying wedding vows.
Having a voice=FREEDOM!
It means singing a song to your mama, just the same way she remembers singing to her mom.
Keep the faith friends.
Love,
Jen
The sun shine has brought a show of beautiful flowers. When your child has Apraxia, every talking opportunity is taken. The House of Krause has adopted a flower, the Snap Dragon aka the talking flower. If you come across a snap dragon let little fingers have a pick, squeeze the sides of the bloom and you have an instant talking flower. Luke is adorable when he makes up conversations among flowers. You never know what flowers might say to each other!
Haven’t been blogging much. I’m to busy ripping my house up from one end to the other. Change seems to be my solution for the moment. I am having a hard time. My mom has been gone now for two months (feels like forever). I miss her desperately. I doubt I’ve even scratched the surface on my emotions. Some how I still think she’s just gone on a trip and any day she’s going to come walking right back in the door… big curly blonde hair, huge smile, some funky colorful outfit, and say, come on lovey let’s run up to the store! See here I go again. Let’s just get back to the “ripping my house apart.” Any how, I have decided that it is time for some organization. Going through all of my mother’s things has been exhausting. My dad could not find anything, she kept EVERYTHING! Bless her heart, she could not throw a single card away. I found a bag that had 50 paper slips from fortune cookies in it. Pack rat, YES! I have to admit, I am my mother’s daughter. I refuse to ever leave my husband or kids in such a state. It’s amazing the things one might find when they begin to organize and throw out.
I was fortunate enough to nurse all of my children. Some for a short time, some for a loooong time. When Luke was born the new big thing was Hooter Hiders. Lovely little covers that you strapped around your neck and provided privacy while you were nursing your child. My Hooter Hider was my favorite accessory. I bought a really cool brown one, retro print, it looked like a blanket. So much so that my brother-in-law thought it was a blanket. One time I was feeding Luke and he came right on over to see the new baby. He quickly came right in to my personal space. My brother-in-law lifted up the corner of the hooter hider and was gazing at my boobs the baby before I could even react. He’s going, awe, he’s so cute. so tiny. He was totally oblivious. I just thought, well if he’s not afraid to check out a nursing baby then o.k, braver man than most. Right then my sister walks up behind him and screams, Jeff, she’s nursing him!!!! Oh my gosh, you’ve never seen a man throw the cover and jump back ten feet so fast in your life. It was so funny. He was so embarrassed. Guess I should have said something. We still laugh about that one. Back to the point of this whole thing. When Luke was about one I decided I liked my nursing covers so much that I would go into business and come up with my own line. Not having a clue what I was doing, I did my best. Found a super hip fabric company. Had a great seamstress in L.A come up with a design and had them sewn. Made my logo, did it all up. Well soon after that everything started happening with Luke, so my little nursing cover business was pushed to the side, as were so many things in our life. Bottom line… The House of Krause has hundreds of really cool nursing covers! In the mist of my organizing, I came across some sweet covers that I made the mistake of having sewn, not realizing there was a tiny flaw in the fabric. An expensive lesson learned- always check your material before you have them cut and sewn!
I would love to ship you out a FREE nursing cover (while supplies last). These particular ones are girly. Chocolate brown with pink swirls. They are funky too (didn’t I say I was my mother’s daughter). They are trimmed with pink pom pom. These covers are for mom’s, not to be used as baby blankets, or toys, the pom pom trim would not be a good idea for little one to chew on!
If you would like me to ship you one please send me your address or P.O Box to roselinks@yahoo.com. (within U.S please). I will ship them out later on in the week. If you or some one you know is a nursing mom you have to have one.
Time to clean house people!
Want to see all my prints and patterns visit www.thehungrybaby.com
