Mother's Day Recap 2011

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. I slept in a little and then came downstairs to discover two vases the children had made for me. Their daddy took them to an activity at Lowe's on Saturday where they made "surprises" for Mother's Day. Turns out the vases were the surprises. Daddy filled them with flowers from the yard before I came downstairs. There was also a very sweet card and my favorite special occasion treat. A local restaurant has the best apple pie ever and I only get one on special occasions. It was a beautiful way to start the day.

My parents came over and we all enjoyed a decadent lunch and then took the children out in the yard for a couple of hours before nap. The slide on the playset had gotten extremely hot in the sun and we decided on a whim to try to cool it down with the hose. That turned into a giant water slide adventure. Daddy climbed into the playset to turn on the hose every time Michael climbed back up. Michael probably went down that slide 50 times. He loved it. Ava tried it once, but it was too fast when wet for her. She couldn't control her landing and decided to just sit on the sidelines and cheer her brother on. We all had a blast.

After getting the children down for nap we had apple pie and ice cream for dessert. It was a really nice family centered Mother's Day.

As an almost completely unrelated tangent, I took this picture in the backyard today. It's two baby birds hungrily awaiting the return of their mother. You're looking at the nest from below. The nest rests under where our deck used to be before it rotted away and had to be demolished.

Speech-Language Pathology Topics: Voicing Pairs

Here's a quick speech lesson of the day. Don't you always want a speech lesson on Mother's Day? (Happy Mother's Day everyone!)

Say, "Ssssssss" out loud like you're making a snake sound. Draw it out as long as you can and while you're doing it place your hand on the front of your throat near your adam's apple. Now say, "Zzzzzzzzz" out loud like you're making a bee sound. Draw that one out as long as you can too while keeping your hand on your throat.

The first thing you should notice is that your throat vibrates while you make the /z/ sound, but it does not while you make the /s/ sound. That is because /s/ is a voiceless sound. You can make the sound without vibrating your vocal chords. The reason you feel your throat vibrating when you make the /z/ sound is because it is a voiced sound. You have to vibrate your vocal chords to make the /z/ sound. Other than that one difference, voicing, the /s/ and /z/ sounds are made in exactly the same way. You raise your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your teeth and blow. So /s/ and /z/ are a voicing pair. They are two sounds made in exactly the same way except that one is voiced and one is not.

There are lots of voicing pairs. /t/ and /d/ are voicing pairs. /t/ is voiceless while /d/ requires vibrating your vocal chords. /p/ and /b/ are voicing pairs. /p/ is voiceless while /b/ requires vibrating your vocal chords. /k/ and /g/ are another example. /k/ is voiceless while /g/ requires vibrating your vocal folds.

What does any of this have to do with apraxia? Well, making a voiced sound is a more complicated motor task. To make a /b/ you have to do everything you have to do to make a /p/ and then coordinate vibrating your vocal chords at the right time for the right duration. So often, children with apraxia will find voiceless sounds easier. /t/ and /p/ are often easier than /d/ and /b/. Just another example of how complicated the motor planning of speech is and why our children sometimes seem to have trouble with a sound or word for no reason when there really is a reason after all.

Friday Night Fun

So many things enter your life with parenthood. Love, tenderness and pride. Fear and worry. Responsibility and fatigue. Many you are prepared for, and some you are not. You get through them all. Sometimes with grace. Sometimes not so much.

And then there's the illness. The neverending illness. I do not exaggerate. I'm pretty sure that we have not gone more than one to two weeks since October with everyone in this household being well. I personally have not gone more than a week and a half since January without being sick. I had heard that having children in daycare often involves them bringing home bugs, but this is getting ridiculous. They are only there two mornings a week.

Last night my husband entertained the children while simultaneously getting a quote to replace our rotting deck, played with the children in the yard, and then fed them dinner. All by himself. I spent 2 and 1/2 hours at my doctor's office walk-in clinic and then waiting for my prescriptions at Walgreens. Diagnosis this time: Bronchitis.

Someone tell me this ends. Please. Tell me that I am not going to spend three out of every four weeks for the next 16 years sick.

Now I'm off to drink more hot tea and to try not to cough too much.