Beantown Bugle: Roddie Report: January 2013 update

Roddie has been growing and growing up in leaps and bounds! We saw some friends today who last saw him in October, and they commented on how much older he seemed. He's becoming more clear every day, it seems, with talking. In addition to the enunciation, he's also expressing himself very well and in full sentences. He still won't eat a vegetable, but we're expanding his palate all the time and I'm hopeful that he will eventually come around.

He had his 'exit interview' for EI (Early Intervention) recently. We were in the program to try to get to the root of his eating issues which we feel are sensory related. I'm not entirely convinced that it really made any difference, but he tested well above his age level on all their standardized tests, so overall, we certianly have no cognitive or developmental concerns.

He has kind of stalled out on the potty training front... we didn't exactly stay on him over our extended Christmas vacation, and he claims he'll only go potty for Miss Julie, one of his teachers at school. On the up side, he does go for her multiple times each day, although dry diapers are pretty rare. I've been trying to entice him with some big-boy underwear, but while he thinks the dinosaurs and monkeys are cool, he says "Me Baby, Norah wears underwear" Alas, I guess he's not ready quite yet. They say boys tend to be later than girls in this regard, so we may have a while to wait - Norah was potty trained just before Roddie arrived, at 2.5, which he is fast approaching!

I am amazed at how quickly the kids pick up new technology... I suppose each generation is surprised by the next in this regard. In the past few months I've started doing some Kindle activities with both kids. Norah, of course, doesn't need my assistance at all, and apparently neither does Roddie.

Who needs old school wooden puzzles when you can do it on the tablet?

If you're wondering what the full story was about his face smashing the other day, here it is. He was really excited to show one of his teachers something he had built with blocks. In his excitement to get her attention, he tripped and fell face first into the slide in their classroom. I felt so bad for the teacher who had to call us, at the end of her work day, on her birthday! Both she, and the other teacher were so worried about Roddie, who, it turns out is fine after all. He and Matt went to the ER on Wednesday, then on Friday, when the swelling went down, he had an X-ray, that confirmed that there was no fracture. So, I imagine by now you're wondering just how bad it looks.. well not that bad after all! He has some bruising around his nose, and a scratch on top, but that's about it!

My Bruiser!

This holiday season, Rod was learning how to express himself, and see how we reacted to it. For instance, he had a hate on for any incarnation of "The Nutcracker", backing away and saying "I don't like that guy!" He's also got quite the extensive bag of tricks when it comes to bedtime stalling. Far beyond anything Norah, who does love her sleep, ever did! One of Roddie's "I don't like"s was the snow. He did NOT want to walk on it! In any case, he got over if after a few tries...

I like this snow!

Both kids continue to amaze me with their active imaginations. They make something out of nothing, all the time. Or rather, they make spaceships out of chairs, cash registers out of steering wheels, food out of blocks, and so on. For some reason, the other day, they were big on taking the bus to church, which, to my knowledge, they've never done.