How did he do it?

First there was the redecoration of the room. Then there was the disassembly of the dollhouse. Then, following today's adventures in not-napping, we discover this:

Notice the new gold knob on the lower drawer. So, where exactly did he acquire the new knob?

And where did he put the old knob?

But here's the thing. How did he do it this time? There was no screwdriver in the room!

We obviously need to get this boy some kind of outlet! We're thinking erector set maybe?

The Weekly Review: Week Ten

Funny Blog Post I completely agree with:

Kristen at Motherhood Uncensored wrote a hilarious post about her philosophy of motherhood. Check it out first for the humor and second for the nuggets of wisdom hidden within.

Blog Post that made me want to give the author a big hug

Mona at kirida dot com recently wrote a post about her pediatrician recommending that she have her son evaluated for autism. It was a touching post. I thought she did an amazing job of expressing the awfulness of having to wait to be evaluated for a diagnosis.

In August 2010, Mona wrote a post about her son's speech and her feelings of protectiveness that really resonated with me. I think I found it so meaningful because I was already ignoring so many red flags about Ava. This post perfectly expresses so many of my own feelings about Ava. Then, and now, it helps me feel less alone.

Website Resource of the Week:

Therapy Fun Zone is a website full of great OT and PT activities. Even if your child doesn't need PT or OT help, the activities are still a lot of fun. I'm going to start with this one as soon as I get to the store for gumdrops and toothpicks. Fair warning though: the website is incredibly slow and each page takes several seconds to load. I feel like I'm on a modem. Second, the pages are poorly designed and an email signup form shows up at the top of each page so you have to scroll down to see the actual article. The activity ideas (complete with pictures) are worth putting up with the technical issues though.

Sibling Moment of the Week:

The children have large stuffed armchairs. Their game of the week (intended to give me a heart attack) is to tip an armchair on its side, climb on top together, and then slowly shift their balance so the whole thing tips over tumbling them onto the floor in a heap. Laughter from the two of them fills the air and they work together to tip the armchair back over again so they can start over.

Quote of the Week from Michael:

Michael has coined the phrase, "Visitor Day" for the day of the week that we usually have friends come over to play. He'll say, "Is tomorrow visitor day Mama?"

Ava's Quote of the Week:

"Come sit with me, Mama!"

Project of the Week:

I was happy to get my three part series on Apraxia Therapy Principles finished and posted.

Another Perspective (On NutriiVeda) Is Always Valuable

We've been trying NutriiVeda with Ava. I'm frustrated by the lack of anything other than anecdotal evidence of improvements, but given that lots of parents are seeing improvements with their children I had to try it. Tentatively, I feel like we've seen an increase in the amount of speech from Ava, and in the length of her sentences since we started using NutriiVeda about six weeks ago.

However, NutriiVeda is expensive and there is no scientific evidence. I came across a well written post on the blog of another mother with a daughter who has Childhood Apraxia of Speech. She tried NutriiVeda with her daughter for three months and did not feel like she saw significant improvements. She saw no regression when she stopped using the product. Check out her post on NutriiVeda. If you're thinking about trying NutriiVeda, you should read the opinions of people who tried it and didn't like it in addition to the posts of all the parents who love it.

While on the topic of the Apraxia Adventures blog, I really identified with her post on her son learning to kiss as well. I am way too familiar with that bittersweet feeling of being happy and sad (jealous!) at the same time.

Since both of my children have oral apraxia, I feel it when I see another woman's baby look at me and smile - so easily and naturally. I enjoy the smile. I enjoy the sweetness of it. And then I wish I had been able to experience that with my children. I wish it had been natural and easy. Or recently, I watched a video of a toddler Ava's age being interviewed by her mother about things like her favorite toy, food, game, etc. The video was adorable as was the toddler. Her speech was so clear. The sentences were so long. I want that ease for Ava. Will I always see other children through the lens of what I want for Ava?

Bah! Enough of this self-pity and sadness. Overall things are good. Improvements abound. I refuse to dwell overly long on depressing thoughts. I'll just share them briefly and then move on.