The Time Has Come...

...to move Logan's mattress down. The monkey has decided to try and get himself out of the crib. I have heard of children doing this, but Korben was content in his crib till he was over 2, so I (yet again) wasn't prepared for the Loganator.

Hi Mom! Look what I can do...

It's not funny anymore, get me outta here!

Jumping High & Far...

Korben's occupational therapist recommended that we get him a mini-trampoline. She said it would help him strengthen his muscles, gain better balance, and get the deep muscle pressure that he craves. It is also nice when he is getting a little out of control to have him "go jump" and get his energy out.

He was so excited when Mike put it together that he wouldn't eat his dinner. I was able to fix this by jumping on it for him while he watched and ate. If he stopped eating, I would stop jumping. He would say, "Mommy jump!" and I would say, "Take another bite." He would chew and I would jump...and we eventually got through dinner. By the end, my calves were killing me, so maybe this trampoline will be good for me too. :D

We have only had it for a few days, but it has already gotten lots of use (and not just from the boys either. It's amazing how tempting a little trampoline can be.)

Korben and his trampoline.

I asked Korben to make a "silly face" for me...

Logan likes trying to jump too. He is still a little tentative, but I'm sure he'll master it in no time. This clip also shows him saying the first words he learned "uh-oh".

This is a bunch of clips of Korben put together. As you can see, he loves to say "Cheese" now. The middle part where he is singing for a second is a song he learned from his bug cd. It uses the tune from The Battle Hymn of the Republic and says "The green grashopper has strong legs for jumping high and far...(I only got part of it, but at least you'll get what he is singing). The end of the clip you can see him jumping in silence with his back to me. He jumps facing the wall because he likes to watch his shadow. :D

Korben Success

We have known for a while now that Korben really is too big to be in a stroller. The problem is, that he is really hard to contain in any other way, so I have continued to put him in them. This usually leads to lots of trying to escape, fights between him and Logan, overall frustration on my part and giving up on shopping or going anywhere in general.

I decided to try and treat him like he is 3 (novel idea) and have started pushing Logan in the umbrella stroller and asking Korben to help me push. Although this makes for some interesting maneuvering on my part, it is working. Korben loves to feel strong and independent, and if he starts to wander I can always ask him to help me push and he is right back on track. We have had successful trips to the library, to his school, and to Target. Woot!

The other battle has been going to the grocery story. I have been putting Korben in the cart because he would run off. This made it really hard to get groceries since I had to stack them around him. That would be okay if he would sit still, but instead, he would stand up the whole time making me nervous he was going to fall on his head. Then he would jump up and down making it hard to put anything mashable near him. And don't even think about putting eggs or grapes in the cart with him because those items are just to hard for a little boy to resist.

Since the stroller thing was working so well, I decided to let him walk by me yesterday in Winco. At first it just made him cry because Logan thought it was funny to kick him in the face and to pull his fingers off of the bar. However, he soon figured out that he could push more to the side and avoid this...it also gave him a good view of everything we passed, so he was pretty stoked about that. I'm happy to say it went VERY well at the store. He would occasionally wander off a little bit, but he found a great deal on animal crackers, so who am I to say nay? He loved helping me get the milk, pick out tomatoes and load the groceries on the conveyor belt. I loved having room in my cart, not having to worry about where to place things and not having to constantly beg him to sit down/be careful.

I think I just need to be better about trying these things out with Korben. It might be more work for a bit on my part, but I really should give him the benefit of the doubt rather than treating him like a baby.

Lots of lessons being learned this week. Will I ever feel like I've got a handle on this Mom thing?

A Sunny Day in January

Today was a wonderful sunny day. It was still chilly outside, but the boys desperately needed to get out of the house.

We started off with the bubble machine. Logan was amazed at the bubbles and for a while just stood back and laughed and laughed...

...then his bravery came back and he stood directly in front of the machine, letting the bubbles hit him right in the face. The bubbles were much more dense than usual (I'm assuming because of the cold), so ended up looking almost like snow.

I'm also assuming that this bubble mess was because of the cold. Rather than popping, the bubbles just kept gathering on the patio. It was really cool looking and Korben thought it was the greatest thing ever.

This is a picture of him blowing on the bubbles

Here he is "catching" bubbles.

After growing tired of bubbles, we moved on to the swings. It was nice to use our swing set again, since it has been neglected for a few months now. Korben is back to using the big swing (for a while he was refusing and would only swing in the baby swing), and it was nice to not have a tantrum when I tried to put him in it. Logan, as usual, giggled the whole time. The time was wonderful because, not only was the sun out, but there wasn't a single episode of crying, fighting, or whining. A mamma's dream afternoon. :)

I think this picture of Logan is so cute. I also think he looks a lot like his cousin Jeremy in this photo.

Korben kept testing the waters by taking his hands off the ropes. I don't know if he was testing his balance, or testing me to see if I would catch him when he fell, but he thought it was pretty funny either way.

Early Education

Korben was accepted to the early education school this week. WOOHOO! He had to re-do all the evaluations that we had done at the developmental rehab. because the school district has a different standard of testing. I wasn't surprised that he was accepted in every area since I already had the results of the other tests, but it was nice to get the official acceptance on Tuesday.

I don't know exactly how many days a week he will be going yet, but he is on the afternoon schedule that is a 3 hour block from 12:20-3:20. The neat thing is that they pick him up in a bus (with seat belts for all the kids) and also bring him home, so I don't have to drive him across town to get him there. He will eat lunch at school as well, so no worries about him getting hungry. And the very best part: IT IS FREE! They are currently working up his Individual Education Plan and he should be starting school sometime in the next 30 days.

Some of you have asked if I am nervous to send him to school, and although I have little worry moments about how he will do, I know that this is what is best for him and am excited for all of the concentrated effort he is going to have on his part. I have a few friends who have had children attend this school and have excelled from it. I know this is the first step in helping Korben get on the right track so am way more excited than nervous. That being said, it was really weird filling out school registration forms for my 3 year old. I didn't plan on doing that for another 3 years. :)

I'll keep updates coming as I find out more info.

Growing Up

The boys are growing up. It's not like this is a new thing, but it really hit me today that they are growing up and it is happening without me even noticing. It has probably come on so suddenly because both of them grew out of their clothes at the same time. Logan is now in 18-24 month clothes and Korben has moved to 4T. It is weird to see Logan wearing the clothes that I swear Korben just grew out of, and then I realize that there are 2 tupperwares of clothes in between those sizes and I'm wondering where that time went.

Some Korben progress:

Korben has been making huge strides in language lately. He is at the stage where he repeats pretty much everything. He loves to sing; his favorites right now are Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and Happy and You Know It. His cutest phrases are: "It's too big"(too big applies to anything that is too big, too small, is under something, or is hard to get to), "Drink a Water"(although he has stopped asking and just pulls a chair to the fridge and gets his own now), "Throw me in the sack"(when he wants Daddy to launch him in the love sac), and "Spinning the rope" (he twirls his chew tube). I know all of this is typical of a child that is learning to speak...all the cute things etc. But for Korben I feel like everything he says is a huge accomplishment and makes me so happy I have to share...

Mike wrote a post about "pop up words" that are characteristic of autistic kids. They are words or phrases that seem to just pop out on occasion but are never really heard again. The other day this happened when Korben brought me a toy and I said, "Thanks" and he said, "No Problem". I laughed so hard because we haven't taught him that, but I say it all the time. I haven't been able to get him to say it again though, so I'm assuming it was a pop up phrase.

Korben eating his "Paw-sickle"
A funny side note: Korben is saying, "Cheese" in this photo. He just figured out that when we say "cheese", we mean smile. I think I could have saved a lot of headache with our family photos if I had simply said, "Smile" instead of "Cheese". How would he know that when I was saying, "Cheese" I wanted him to smile and I wasn't talking about one of his favorite snacks? Oh well, he gets it now. :D

Latest Logan News:

Lately it has seemed like I can't get Logan to eat anything. Everything I put on his tray would end up on the floor after one little nibble. The thing is, I know he likes these foods...so I couldn't figure out why he wouldn't eat them. The other day he climbed up to Korben's plate and started using the fork to try and eat. He wasn't very successful, but he would try and then pick up the food with his hands if he couldn't get it on the fork. I realized that he is plenty old enough to give utensils. These milestones always seem to pass me by. Sometimes I wish kids came with a timer or something that would go off reminding you of these things. Of course he can try a fork...how is he going to learn to use one if I never give him one? So now, I give him a utensil with every meal, and a lot more of the food is going in his mouth and a lot less on the floor.

I think a lot of the reason for his desire for a fork is simply that he watches Korben do it and wants to be like him. He gets upset if he can't do something that Korben can do. Once again, I had some oranges set out for Korben (who won't eat them peeled, only sliced) and Logan decided they were for him. I always break the oranges up for Logan (again thinking he is too young to possibly have a slice), and he never seems to eat them very well. So on this occasion, he chose to show me that he was old enough to have a full slice. The poor kid is going to have to fight to grow up!

"See Mom? I can do it too!"

On the table of course...because he couldn't possible sit in a chair like a normal person.

Harrison Family Photo 2008

We had a huge success this past week...we got family pictures done!! This may seem like an easy thing, but I have had shirts purchased twice now (the first set in MAY) and had 3 appointments set that have all had to be cancelled because of work. It is seriously sad because this is our first family photo with Logan and he is over a year old.

The fact that we even have decent photos is something to celebrate about. We went in on a Saturday and the experience was awful. Korben was running wild and the photographer didn't have a clue how to pose us or even begin to work with Korben. None of the family pictures were usable, and the pictures of Mike and I looked like bad homecoming photos. We requested that we have the manager take more pictures the following Monday, which they were fine with. A friend of mine, who also happens to be an occupational therapist, recommended that we give Korben gum to calm him down. It worked like a charm, and throw that in with a competent photographer, and we got some great photos.

So now the dilemma is choosing which one to put on our wall. I like this first one. I like the pose and I like how I look in it more than the next one.

Mike likes this photo. I agree that it is great of him and the boys, but I kind of feel like I shouldn't be in the photo because the three of them are so cute in it and I'm like a prop in the background. A prop with hair that is all over the place.

So, I want input. Votes, if you will. Which photo would you put on your wall?

Christmas 2008

We didn't get a lot of pictures this Christmas...it was all very laid back and none of us really cared to make a big deal out of it. The best Christmas gift that we had was to have Mike home for a few days, so all the other stuff just kind of fell by the wayside. Here are some of the photos that we did get:

Logan was very proud of himself for waking up Mommy on Christmas morning.

Logan playing with his new animal train...he loves this toy.


Korben was really cute because he wouldn't even look at what the gift was until every single piece of wrapping paper was off of the box. You can see in this picture how focused he is on the paper...not giving a second thought to what is under it.

A Cheesy Christmas Photo...

Jim came down from Seattle to spend Christmas day with us. Korben really enjoyed having him here...this is also the only picture that we have of Korben smiling, or even looking at the camera for that matter, from Christmas day.

Since I was gone for Thanksgiving, we had a frozen turkey that needed to be used. I made turkey, potatoes and rolls, and Jess made ham and frog eye salad. Add some olives, pickles and cranberry sauce and we had a pretty decent Christmas meal.

This is my favorite moment from Christmas day. Mike had been playing a game on his laptop and when he left it for a minute, Logan decided to take over.

Check out that concentration...14 months old and already a gaming machine. :D

One of Korben's gifts was a set of crayons and markers that you use to draw on the tub during bath time. This was a gift that was recommended by his developmental pediatrician. He loves his "colors" and twice in the last week I have found him stark naked trying to get into the tub to color.

Another one of Korben's gifts was the fisher price easy link system. It is really great because the little figurines take him to all of his favorite websites, but keeps him from getting into anything else on the computer. You can set a time limit as well so that the games stop and he can't do anything else when time is up. He LOVES this set-up. However, he gets a little to engrossed, as you can see, and ends up in some treacherous positions...(I know, my floor is nasty - I was appalled when Mike showed me the picture and have repented and cleaned the sty up.)

The only thing I wanted for Christmas this year, was a wedding ring that fit. It hasn't fit since Logan was born and all of my attempts to lose enough weight, to get it back on my finger, have failed. I had accepted the fact that maybe my finger will always just be a little fatter and really just wanted to be able to wear it again. And since the Shane Co. re-sizes for free, it ended up being an easy Christmas gift to get.

Mike and I had decided on a no-gift-for-each-other policy for 2008, but on Christmas Eve decided to get something. Of course we made this decision at around 4pm when everything was closing at 5, so were running around like idiots...it was wonderful. We ended up getting the Lego Batman game for the PC. Unfortunately, nobody had the controllers that we needed for the game, so we ordered them online that night and they are supposed to be here sometime this week. That's what we get for waiting till the last second I guess. :D Batman is hott even as a Lego character. HeHe

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's!