Bigger News Than The First Day of School

Remember this guy on the first day of school???

The bigger news is that he came home from a great first day of school and did this:

ATE AN ENTIRE PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kanyon is cheating on the Magic Bullet with a FORK!!!!

We've been letting him try foods and I've even showed a video of him using a fork. He thinks its cool to have his own fork or spoon. He's been trying lots of little bites of food, but still hesitant and not really eating MUCH of anything. After his first day of school, I made a PB & J and was going to give him a couple of little bites to see if he would eat them while I blended the rest of his meal. I looked up and the bites were gone, so I gave him a few more....and they were gone....a few more.....gone.....until the whole thing was gone!! So that night for supper, I gave him baked potato and poppyseed chicken and he ate the whole thing. He did that ALL WEEK!! He's eaten everything we've eaten and done great feeding himself! I still feed him breakfast and will probably have to blend most of his breakfast things until he gets a little more comfortable with it. He's never been a morning eater so I figure this will be the last thing for him to "get". But, hey, I can handle feeding him one meal a day! SHEESH! I also learned that if we go to Chick-Fil-A I need to order more chicken for HIM...there wasn't enough for me AND HIM!!!

Our war is not OVER completely, but we've won a MAJOR BATTLE!!!!! We are excited, relieved, and so proud of Kanyon! We're able to trust him a little more with when he's hungry and when he's not. His volume isn't as much as it was with the blended foods, but he's eating more often, so we're confident it will balance out. His weight is steady and our pediatrician is comfortable letting him go try this eating thing and not worry too much about his weight.

As I said, we haven't been able to totally abandon our "protocol" but we are glad we have that. There are a lot of good things about it that we will keep using. But it does feel good to be able to give him so much control and not have to fight him every meal. He seems to be enjoying it all so much more!!

Before you go feeling sorry for the Magic Bullet, know that its still getting used. I still make qsp's food with it and will still use it for klp's breakfast and any fruit that I add to things like yogurt or cottage cheese. Its just that I don't spend SO MUCH TIME standing over that thing mixing, blending, and scooping it out. UGGHH!!

I think us getting to this point is a combination of A LOT OF THINGS and A LOT OF TIME (remember he's 3 1/2)

The fork was a big one. He loves doing it himself so I think sometimes he likes to eat just because he likes to use his fork. He chases the food down on his plate and once he stabs it, he puts it down, claps for himself, and picks it back up to take the bite!

Same idea with the spoon. Big boy.
Tasting bits and pieces of other people's food has been going on for a long time and was an easy way to let him try if he wanted to, but not if he didn't. Here he is with our friend Jay. He ate his brownie. He'd never eaten something cakey like that before. He would usually just lick and it and then give it back. Luckily for Jay, klp decided to eat it instead of handing him back a wet, slobbery remnant of his brownie!
snack of fruit. He does pretty good with fruit. He won't buy into the banana thing. Never has really liked it. He'll eat peaches like there's no tomorrow! The bad thing is all of the stands are closing down and I didn't even get to freeze any! He also eats LOTS AND LOTS of apples.
Here is the triumphant warrior after his first MEAL!!! One of his favorite eating toys joined him for the occasion.
Like I said, we've got a ways to go still, but its nice to know that if we were stranded on an island, I wouldn't have to have a magic bullet to feed Kanyon!

First Day of School

Well, we (mostly meaning I) survived Kanyon's first day of school. I dreaded it and "boo"ed it and did a thumbs down every time I drove by school, but its really OK. I just feel like its forever. Last year when we started, it was March so we only really had 2 months. Now, we have a WHOLE YEAR!

It's a good thing and I know it does a lot of good things for klp. Its just the mom thing....I like being with them all the time. We're thankful we have a place that we feel like is good for him.

Here is the man ready for his first day

kids in backpacks are TOOOOOOOO cute!

don't hate on me...it was early....
When they come in their room in the mornings, there is a tunnel at the door that they all have to crawl through. Kanyon knew exactly what to do just like he did it yesterday. You can see his teacher and a classmate cheering him through at the end. Speaking of, everything is the same. Same room, same teachers, same kids (pretty much....some may have moved up and out, but no new ones that I know of) so that is nice.
Daddy ran around to cheer him through
Here are 2 of his classmates waiting for him!!
And q eagerly watching the action.
Here is his teacher Mrs. Paulette. She's taught PPCD for a long time and I hear from therapists, etc. that she's really good. I feel like she is and she does a good job making them work hard AND loving them. Its nice to hear that from the therapists though.
There you have it. We've got one week under our belts and everyone is great. klp has adjusted great and is not super super tired when we pick him up. Last year I had to work to keep him awake long enough to eat lunch then go down for an early nap. This year he has done good coming home and playing, eating, and making it to his normal nap time. YEAH KANYON! He's growing up!!!

He did great at school and did even better when he got home, but that is news for another post...stay tuned.....IT'S GOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phillips Boys Film Festival

I remembered there were several videos I've been meaning to post. I'll just put them all on one big post.

Kanyon has just figured out how to move on his dump truck. Just yesterday he made it all the way down our hall with minimal steering assistance. He got this truck when he turned 2 and has been working on riding it ever since. Still working on getting on it by himself, but we'll get there!!

You'll also hear him go "wooooo" when he feels the air of the fan. He ALWAYS does that when he feels air blowing!

This is a daily occurrence. Pardon klp's wimpy behavior when his baby brother barely touches him. Sheesh!!

This was cracking us up the other night. He was chowing down!

I may have posted this already. I can't remember. They did this for a LONG time, I'm glad I caught this laughter on film. I have a feeling this will be music to my ears forever and ever.

Birthday Cakes, Baths, Baseball, and Fat Superman

klp helped me make KLP's bday cake last week. He's so good at it, he can do it with his eyes closed.

not sure what this pose is....
I caught him in the middle of kicking and squealing with excitement!
Fat Superman. Another outfit bites the dust. I have missed LOTS of hand me down outfits because by the time I get them out, he's already outgrown them. UGHHH!! Clint and Rachel gave klp these pj's and I was so excited for qsp to wear them. He wore them, his belly just hung out a little.

Quinn is beginning to hold his own in the bathtub with Kanyon.
Speaking of....just looking at these pictures will make you want to take a bath. When Kory's softball (I said baseball in the title because it started with a B...) games weren't too late, we'd go up to the fields and watch. By watch I mean watch our kids play in the dirt, tell Kanyon not to throw dirt, make sure they share the buckets and shovels, and monitor the amount of dirt intake.
Kanyon used to prop his feet up just like this.
we ran out of shovels so I gave klp a spoon to play in the dirt with. A few minutes later the lady sitting where near where the kids were playing motioned to me that klp was eating dirt off the spoon. His back was to me and I couldn't see! oops. Seriously though? He'll shovel dirt in his mouth, but not food. I don't get it.
Addison, Mallory, Kanyon, and Blake playing away.
Go Daddy!!!
q caught a nice nap in the HOT HOT HOT stroller
I'm doing this post because my Kan Man is at SCHOOL. Boooooo! Today was his first day. I'll post pics soon!

Word Up!

Pardon me while I brag on my own child. I'm not sure if that's OK or not, but I'm going to do it.

Back in July, Kanyon had his yearly check up with his neurosurgeon. (All was well by the way) In meeting with the Dr. he asked several questions about what Kanyon was doing and he asked me how many words I thought he knew. I said 10-15. That was my guess right there on the spot.

Fast forward to just the other night......

Kory and I were talking about how good he's been talking lately and how many words he can say. We decided to write them down. So we started rattling off the ones we knew. And the list kept growing and growing and growing. The grand total? 46!!! That makes my estimation of 10-15 waaaaaaaay off!! YEAH!!

I'm not saying all 46 of these words are clear to the untrained ear. His words may need some interpretation, but we counted them if he says them on his own and in the right context. There are several others that he can repeat if we say them, but we didn't count those. Wanna see the list? Ok. Here it is in no particular order:

light, Mama, Dad, Bubba, slide, sit, more, Ollie, ball, book, door,

poo poo, tee tee (he says those anytime he sees a toilet....maybe this will help when we are ready to potty train), drive, Paw Paw, Gay Gay, bath, move, please, outside, down, movie, T.V., basketball, Jeopardy, up, cracker, cookie, nose, eyes, no, yes, cheese (as in for the camera), spoon, night night, hi, bye bye, uh-oh, go, draw, sheeew (anytime you say a word like dirty, nasty, gross, or anytime he sees a diaper), bubbles, hide, keys, bird

Of course we are very proud of this. I'm sure he'll be adding more and more words to his vocabulary. The talking thing is/will be a big help in a lot of ways in our lives. Plus, its pretty cute because a lot of times, he just says a word and we didn't even know he knew it! I think his teachers at school will really notice. When school got out in May, he was pretty much only saying Mama, Dad, Bubba, light, and bye bye.

On a sort of related note, he knows some animal sounds. I took this video a while back and I had to take 2 because I forgot an animal each time I did it. So, here they are.....

Yes, Ollie and a dog have 2 different sounds. Ollie doesn't really bark.

That may not sound like any cat you've ever heard!!!

I left out COW on the first one.....then I left out lion on this one...so I'm showing you both to make sure you hear ALL the sounds! haha

Silly Quinn

The other day, I was in the kitchen while Q was playing in the living room. When I peeked in on him, this is what I saw:

I watched him for a long time and he just acted like there was nothing different. I was surprised he wasn't fussing since he couldn't really see the toys he was playing with. Then I walked around and saw this:
He had one good eye!!! :) He was just playing away with the bandanna on his head.


Is he trying to tell me he wants to hear hats now, or doo rags, or that he's embarrassed of his hair??? Or did he start to play peek a boo with himself and get distracted half way through!??!

Kanyon's Eating Freedom

Kanyon's eating is still a very prevalent "issue" at our house. It is one that tests my every single nerve every single day. At the same time, I realize we've come SO FAR and that this thing is a marathon, not a sprint. You'd think I would've learned that by now, but I have to remind myself of that almost daily.

I feel like I've spent the majority of the last 3 years worrying/working/thinking/crying/talking about eating. I have questioned myself over and over as to whether or not I've done the right thing with all of this. But, I have to remind myself of the progress we've made and just chill out. One day I was questioning my motives for working so hard with Kanyon's eating. Was this all selfish? Was I doing this because I was tired of struggling to feed him? Was I frustrated and annoyed so I wanted it to get better for me? Do I want to have one less thing to do everyday? Do I want the freedom of him eating like a regular kid? Am I doing this so that I can not have to stop everything I'm doing to feed him for 30 minutes? Am I tired of blending food? Those all sounded pretty selfish to me. As I thought about it, I thought about how he begs me for food and when I give it to him, he just can't seem to make himself eat it. He holds the tasty bite in his hand wanting to eat it and you can see him psyching himself up, working up the courage and often times all he can manage is a tiny touch on his tongue. Its like he spends all of his courage and STILL can't eat it! It breaks my heart to see something be so hard for him that is supposed to be FUN and GOOD. Watching him have one of those "encounters" reminds me exactly why I'm doing this. I don't want eating to have to cost him any courage. I don't want it to be stressful for him. I don't want him to have to work SO HARD just to fill his tummy. Eating is the thing that won't go away. Ever. I don't want him to spend his life fighting this battle with food. Sure, I don't want to fight the battle either. Sure I want to be able to just sit him down and hand him food. Or give him the freedom to say, "Mom, I'm not hungry right now. " or " I want ______ to eat for lunch." But more than that, I want this to be easier for him. So, the war continues. I'll tuck my white flag away again and decide NOT to surrender (though I really don't think I could surrender since he HAS to eat).

We ARE making progress though. So here is some of it:

He eats Popsicles!! He also enjoyed a little bit of a sucker the other day! KLP was eating this Popsicle and gave klp a lick and it wasn't long until KLP just went and got his own because klp wanted to keep licking it! This may seem like nothing, but this is GREAT. He's enjoying something and he's in total control!

We are trying to give him more freedom and control with food. That is a delicate balance, but it is something he is BEGGING FOR and I feel like will lead him to eat better in the long run. My hope is that the freedom will make that eating time more positive and fun for him.

For little snacks during the day (when I don't really care how much he eats) I let him pick where he wants to sit. I give him his own spoon and the bowl with his food. This was apples and blueberries (He eats apples well and I'm trying to add blueberries to his list of foods he'll eat without blending so I put them in the bowl too. No luck this time, but we'll keep trying. )

I think the food started out on the table and he decided to put it in the window....it was pretty cute to me.
Total excitement when he spots Ollie out there!!!!

This day it was pickles and SunChips at the table.

See that left hand up there??!!! Atta boy!!!
I want so bad for him to be a normal eater and I wonder if that will ever happen. BUT I have to trust that it will. Until then, we keep on chuggin' along, thankful for the great progress he's made, knowing that it could be much worse.

Quinn is 8 months old!

As sad as these pictures are, they describe his 8 month "birthday" pretty well. Kanyon fought a virus all week that gave him a high fever and it hung on to klp long enough that qsp got a little taste of it too. He woke up Sunday morning with a little fever (hence the Tylenol in his pics) and didn't feel so good. BUT his passed quickly and he was back to his sweet self in no time.

So as not to only show pictures of him freaking out, here are some I took Saturday....

At 8 months I think we're nearing the next stage. He's not crawling, but I don't think it will be long before he figures out at least an army crawl. Until then, he's transporting himself by rolling and squirming. He's sleeping a little later now (YIPEEEE!) which I think will eventually make him a 2 nap boy instead of a 2 nap plus one short one in the evening.

He's eating baby food 3 meals and only nursing 4 times usually. I often have to resort to a chair in a dark, boring room when feeding him because he gets quite distracted.

He is starting to demand a little more of my attention...as in...he screams if you take something away from him, he cries if he sees me across the room or sees me walk by and I don't go over to him, and he usually fusses if I take him off my hip and put him down (how DARE I not hold him!!). I've learned that letting him get too sleepy is ASKING FOR IT....by IT i mean scream freak out get mad and LOOSE IT!!! SHEESH the boy can yell!!

He loves to shake toys...so he loves rattles and anything that makes noise. He hasn't figured out how NOT to hit his own head.

His thighs are still huge.....12 inches around to be exact. That's almost 2 inches bigger than Kanyon's.

He's still BONKERS in his sleep, but he's figuring out how to move around in his bed and not wake himself up. His thumb helps too. I am a big fan of thumb sucking babies!

If you haven't had enough of ol' Q yet, then enjoy this video. He was just being himself, and I wanted to capture it. Its long and its nothing exciting, but he does lots of things he's doing right now (that doesn't make very much sense). He's trying to get to all 4's, babbles with his hand on his lips, speaks in his clicking language, and pops his lips together.....oh yeah and flashes his sweet 2 tooth grin. The light was bad, so its kinda dark...sorry.

Around the House

We have a lot of fun here at our house. I like being at home. For one thing, its just easier. Everything is there the way everyone needs it. But, I just enjoy the little life we have here under this roof. It ain't always pretty, but these are good times!

Big brother helping feed his baby brother.....(mom hoping it will sink in and rub off on big bro!)

This was their first bath together. klp is a pretty aggressive bather. You gotta bring your A game if you want to survive a bath with him. Well, q was ready for an introduction to it. It was a success. klp had to give him a hug as soon as he got in.

my bathing blue hippo

klp lookin' like a big boy sitting at the table eating a goldfish......with no pants. That's another good thing about being home. A little boy can go pants free if he wants! (or if he scoots out of his shorts for the 500th time that day and his mom is tired of putting them back on.)
He's loving his bench. He likes to sit on it and watch Oxi Clean commercials!
qsp really loves his exersaucer. I really loves his leg rolls...there are too many to count.
This is a REALLY rough pic of me, but let me explain. klp had to have a test done and he had to be sleep deprived. He could only have 4 hours of sleep the night before. Instead of waking him up early (remember, he's NOT a morning person) we decided to keep him up. LATE. We needed to keep him up until 2:30 am. We did it!! Kory stayed up with him from 10-12 and then I stayed up from 12-2:30. We were ready to have to pull out all our tricks and games and all sorts of things, but believe it or not, it wasn't hard. He just played like it was a normal day. He got to take a 45 min. bath at midnight and eat cheetos non stop, but other than that it was pretty normal. I was proud of him for doing so good. Again, Kanyon Luke rises to the occasion and does what he's gotta do. Chalk another one up for the Grand Kanyon! He's a tough boy. SOOOO I took this picture at 2:30 am as we were getting ready to go to bed.
KLP put my hat on klp which left me exposing my nappy hair (which is why I was wearing a hat in the first place) but it was cute of klp!
Quinn got his turn too!