Preparing for Patrick’s Birthday

We’ve been getting ready for Patrick’s birthday, which always seems to come around quickly.   Getting the house ready and a party pulled together when I’ll be 35 weeks pregnant wasn’t appealing to me, so I had tried to make it easy on myself by asking Patrick if he would have his birthday party in a bouncy place this year, so basically all we would have to do was book the place and they would take care of everything else.  Patrick insisted he wanted his friends to come to his house, and told me that he wanted a Shark Party.  I then asked him if he was sure? and for a few days he couldn’t decide between a Shark party or a Snake party, before telling me that he was going to have a Shark party this year, and a Snake party for his 7th birthday next year.  Then I again tried to make it easy on myself and asked if maybe we could just invite the boys from his class?  but he insisted that we invite the girls as well because, he said, “All the girls really like me!”  So we’ve ended up inviting his whole class, and I know it’s going to be completely CRAZY! 

So preparations are already in full swing – I made the invitations and they were sent out a couple of weeks ago….

We’ve been surfing the internet and have the cake designs all picked out (I again tried to get out of lots of work by only having cupcakes but Patrick told me that his friends would like cupcakes but Grandma and Aunty Kristal want to have a big cake so we have to have both!) (Yes, I know I’m getting played, but at the same time I love that he’s so into his birthday!)  We’ve been planning games and we’ve got lots of decorations to make. 

Patrick has already been going off by himself and making some of his decorations – here’s a shark that he put on the bathroom door so that his friends will know where the bathroom is!

 

I’ll post more photos as we get to things!

Bump

We were taking photos yesterday, when Owen wanted to take a photo of Patrick and Laura together.   I thought I had stepped back far enough to get out of shot, but obviously I’m bigger than I think I am!

Little Miss Moneybags

Patrick and Laura are both into their piggy banks, and love getting money to put in there.  Laura especially will say “Oohhh!  I love MONEY!” and has occasionally been found stealing from Patrick’s piggy bank to top up hers!

Disney Princesses on Ice

We took Laura to see the Disney Princess on Ice show as part of her Christmas present.  The boys stayed with Grandma, so Laura had her Mommy and Daddy all to herself, which she thoroughly enjoyed.  I took Laura downtown on the train to meet Brad after work – and as always whenever I spend time one on one with Laura I think to myself “Wow, she really talks a LOT!”  I suppose most of the time she talks to Patrick and Owen as well as to me, but when we’re one on one she talks both my ears off!  She was very excited to be getting on the train, and giggled and chatted the whole journey. 

(Here’s Laura in the train waiting room – look at those excited sparkly eyes!)

 

 

 

 

 

The show itself was very entertaining.  Mickey and gang did all the introductions, and we watched 3 condensed Disney Princess stories – The Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, and Tangled.  I have to say Tangled was by far the best, and Laura thought so too – at some points she danced and sang along and she did a lot of spontaneous clapping!  At the end all the Disney Princesses came out to skate around, and Laura really loved seeing all her favorites.  It was such a fun night out!

November Photo Shoot

We had some photos taken back in November; we used a few for our Christmas cards, but in case you didn’t get that or you want to see more photos, here’s a nice selection for you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patrick’s School Work

Patrick’s Kindergarten class have been working on a ‘Bucket of Love’ and the idea that every time they hug or kiss their family the bucket gets filled up with love.  Yesterday Patrick came home with a picture he had drawn of our family, and it made me laugh so much I had to share…

See how Mommy is in the middle with a big tummy that he obviously thought wasn’t big enough so he made it even bigger?!  And how Daddy is touching the tummy?  So cute!  (In reality Brad doesn’t actually touch my tummy because he’s grossed out by it, but still, Patrick had a cute take on our family.)  Then we have a random person there next to Daddy, and when I asked who it was, Patrick looked around his picture, thought a bit, then asked me “Is it Grandma?”  So we decided that it’s Grandma. 

---

Patrick came home with a little booklet today that he had made, which is called “My 100 Day Book”.  It goes like this:

I wish I had 100 _______ (and Patrick wrote “toys” and drew a truck)

I wish I had 100 _______ (and Patrick wrote “cupcakes” and drew a cake)  (He only likes the frosting though, he’ll never eat an actual cake).

I wish I had 100 _______ (and Patrick wrote “legos” and drew a lego block).

But I wouldn’t want 100 _________ (and Patrick wrote “Daddys”, and when I asked him Why?  He said “Because my Daddy is the best and I just want my one Daddy!”

---

Today I had Patrick’s 3 year speech re-evaluation, which went very well.  He’s gone from having a Severely Profound phonological delay to having a Mild phonological delay!  He’s doing awesome!!  He’s doing very well on the word articulation, but when he gets excited and talks in full sentences he tends to focus on some of the sounds and will miss some of the others.  So he can say “I go to school” but when he gets into a conversation he’ll focus so hard on getting the “SC” blend at the beginning of “School” and will say “I doh to school” and will mess up the “G” at the beginning of “Go” even though he can say the word “go” perfectly.  So we just have to keep correcting him, and all his teachers and therapists are confident he’ll get there soon.  He’s not lagging behind academically or socially, and we are very very happy with his progress.

How Owen likes to sleep…

… with things on his head, usually his doggie.  He often settles himself down to sleep at night by putting his doggie on his head, and making sure the white plastic ring is around his nose (presumably to stop doggie falling off?)  In the middle of the night, we’ll often find him in bed with his legs sticking out but his body and head hidden by 4 or 5 different cuddly toys or pillows. 

Owen also has a new favorite toy, his ladybug (you can see it above – it’s red and rubber and spiky).  It’s basically a bouncy ball shaped like a hairy ladybug that’s had a slow leak and is almost all deflated.  It’s disgusting and makes him smell like rubber, but he’s very attached to it!

At the movies

Laura and I went to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D with a couple of our friends.   She's so into movies and TV so she was very happy to sit and keep her glasses on and watch the movie (even though she’s seen it loads of times before.)  She loved the snacks – she ate practically that whole bucket of popcorn.  I always have to sit with my leg on her seat because Laura is such a little peanut that the seat folds up on her!  (I’m good, I hold her seat down even though it’s hilarious to watch her fold up on herself and disappear!!)