Fun was had by all!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was completely hectic on Christmas Eve and I thought I was going to fall on my face..but all in all..it was nice. The kids had a blast! Santa brought Scott and Anna bikes. Anna has had a blast with hers and Scott has acted like we were pulling his teeth. He had much more fun with his building games and his World Map puzzle then he did with his bike. We are really trying to step him out of his comfort zone and I thought this would be a great boost! Today we all went to a parking lot to ride bikes. Scott practically needed an anti anxiety pill to get up the very small hills. Dave and I really tried to be positive and encourage him but it was no use. He was not thrilled with the whole biking idea. It will be something that we have to really work with.

Anna got a Dora big wheel and LOVES it! She wants to fly down the hills and has a blast. Her feet don't quite hit the peddles but they are so close! I can not wait until she can do it. It is right up her alley. She also got a mini trampoline from my parents. She loves it. She and Scott are learning to take turns which can ben interesting to watch. We really need a timer. Right now I am using the microwave one so they do not kill each other. The novelty is wearing off though. Thank goodness!

Tomorrow we will go to Virginia to my home town. I can not wait to get there. I have not been home in a year! I can not wait to see some old friends and their babies!

Ok, I am going to try and attach some pictures on here. It is always confusing to me!

Merry! Merry!

You know, I just wrote this whole blog out and it deleted. Darn!

We are getting ready for the holidays! I am baking and getting excited to host Christmas for the first time. I will have both sets of grandparents here and it will be fun. The kids will have a blast! It is fun because Anna kind of gets it this year. She can recognize Santa and it is so cute! I also love that Scott is in the Pageant and gets the whole story of Jesus etc. It is a really fun time right now. I can not wait to watch their excitement on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. It is a magical time, I think.

I pretty much wrote about how much I love that Scott and Anna play together now. It makes things so much more fun having her be at the toddler-like age. They chase each other and play and it is so nice! I love it. I love that Anna has taught Scott about pretend play. At one point Scott was at her age bracket for pretent play but he has slowly surpassed her..thank goodness! I was shocked when our speeach therapist said that Scott and Anna were at the same level. It was kind of sad for me to hear. I hated that Scott was not like his friends in that he could enjoy the fun things that kids do. BUT, the things that a lot of kids do are not fun for Scott. I asked Dave once if it made him sad that Scott did not have fun doing things that are suppose to be fun. Dave said "Katy, you have to understand..Scott does not feel like he is missing anything because he does not see them as fun." It is hard sometimes for me to understand that. I always thought I would have a kid that would run around the soccer field with me and play lacrosse or something and he just does not enjoy that. It is just one of those things..you can't always expect your kids to be what you thought they would be..right? He is a neat kid, it just takes some adjusting some times. Now Anna will be SPRINTING around the field hockey field! I can just feel it. She is so strong I can not wait to see where her interests go. It will be fun to watch!

Whew!

Wow, my last week was crazy! I was sicker then a dog and completely miserable! I have no idea how I made it through last week. Dave went out of town from Wed-Thursday night and it was about that time that I was at my worst. It was awful. I could not breath, could barely move..I was just dying! The doctor said it was a viral infection and that it will take up to 2 weeks to get over. dang! That is a long freaking time.

Anyway, I am a bit better but not 100%. (not even close to 100%)

I have a few more things I want to document about Scott before I forget. I want to have all of this written down so when I look back in a few years, I remember how old he was when he did certain things. I thought I would always remember when he was little and I have completely forgotten. It kills me. I have some of it written in my other blog and I am so thankful! I just think it is fun to have down for the future.

When I had knee surgery in December of last year, Scott was 3 1/2 years old. I remember sitting down with him and introducing math. He could add and subtract at that point so I wanted to teach him the addition sign and the subtraction sign. We sat down and I would write things like 3 5 = 8 I would then ask him what sign would go in the middle and he would tell me the addition sign. Then we would do something like this 4+ __ = 9. He would then fill in the blank. We did this a lot of different ways and it was so cool! He could also count to 100 by 2's, 3's etc etc. I just wanted to make sure I wrote it down. We were doing math during church yesterday and I was trying to remember when this all started. He is up to 4th grade math but only in addition. We need to go back a little bit and work on the other stuff. He can add this kind of thing together now

6789
7398
4398
+2345
_______

We are starting to print out multiplication etc to start him into that. He really loves math. He told his teacher at Thanksgiving he was thankful for it over his family. Nice!

Now, about Anna! I think she is the freaking cutest little thing ever. I am LOVING dressing her up. Especially for the holidays. I think we have an outfit for almost every day of the week until Christmas. It is insane! I am having so much fun. Her hair is growing and she has some curls and it looks so cute with a bow. I am dying. She loves playing babies and doing tea parties! I am so excited that she is into imagination. It is so fun! I never got to do this with Scott and it make sme so happy! Another thing cracks me up about her. She doesn't know her colors. Every time you ask her what color something is, it is green. I always laugh.

At this time, Anna can tell you what the shapes are and she can count to 14. Once she gets to 14 she keeps counting but saying everything is 14. It is cute. I have no idea what is good or bad but I think she is so cute when she does these things. She does love her shapes!

Today I get my stitches out finally! I was suppose to get them out last week but I was too sick to get there. It is going to hurt like hell because it has been a month since surgery! I can't believe it. I feel so much better. I am trying to be so careful. I feel tons better one month out now then I did 1 year out last time. That just pisses me off that I had to do this again. I want to run soooo bad. I can not wait to start!

I started WW again...but I got sick and stopped eating. Now I want to eat everything. It is a sick cycle.

Anna's biday was a hit!

We had a fantastic day for Anna's 2nd year birthday! Dave's best friend from growing up came by with their 4 children and the kids played all afternoon. Anna had a cupcake with them and then we moved on to our "food court birthday!" It was such a cheap way to do it but it was fun. The kids had an absolute blast! Mary took videos and I took pictures. I will share when they get downloaded! Anna got lots of girlie fun presents! I know she loves them! She got dress up clothes, play jewelry, baby dolls and a tea set! She LOVES them!

Anna is such a cute kid. I am so excited that she is two and doesn't scream all the time. She is very strong willed but I am working on ways to deal with it. I do get very frustrated with her but I am really going to try and stay more calm with her and talk her through things. Who knows..she is so thick headed!

Pictures will be up soon!

Pictures!

These pictures are out of the order that I wanted them in. I wanted the one of Anna in the white dress first and then the other ones of her next. The white dress picture is her 1 year picture. It cracks Dave and I up. She looks like a child that could cast spells on you. The way she looks makes us think she is thinking "what until my powers get stronger" It cracks us up but is soo her! The other two are her 2 year pictures. I am her mom so I have to think this but I think she looks like a freaking DOLL! She is so cute! I know, I am biased. : )

The First picture is Scott's 4 year picture. I have no idea what we did for his 3rd year picture. I need to find them because I can't remember what we did! I might have taken them at the beach..I have no

I need to go back and find his other pictures. I can't remember doing his 3rd year one!

idea!

Tomorrow is my girl's bday!!

Anna's Doctors appt

Today was Anna's 2 year check up. It was fun to find out her stats. She is 25% in height and weight and like 80% in head! LOL! Poor kid! The Dr. has been working with us since she was a baby so she has followed us the whole way. She said that Anna was stonger then a lot of 4 year olds she sees. She said she is way advanced physically which I LOVE LOVE LOVE! I can relate to that! It means that she is agile and can run and throw like an older kid! I think that is the bomb! I sooo want a little athelete! I really want to go to her games and have her work out with me etc. I know, I am living in la la land but this is something that I can relate to! Dave and Scott have had their music, math and nerdy interests and I have been odd man out!

Along with being strong phsyically, she is strong willed! : ) Which is EXHAUSTING!

Ok, I had to come and brag on my little Mia Ham! ha ha

I am back!

I can not believe how long it has been since I have blogged! I think it has been exactly 2 years! 2 years ago this week, Anna was born. My last blog was her birth story. That is so crazy. I can add a link to that blog on here. This is a new one for me.

So much has happend and is happening in my life. I guess I could write it all out by numbering the things!

1. I just had knee surgery again for the 3rd time in my life. I hope that this will be my last. I am so ready to get back to running, I can taste it. I was in surgery 2 weeks ago and I am sooo much better already. It took me 4 months to get this far last time. I had a screw ball for a surgeon last time. He was a million years old and had me wait so long to start PT. By the time I started I had built up all of this scar tissue and was in horrible shape. I have not run in a year as a result! I did do the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer for a 2nd year in a row but was not comfortable in it. That is a whole story in itself. It was and always will be this huge thing in my life that I did. That is for another paragraph. : )

2. Anna! Anna will be two in 2 days! I am in shock. She acts like she is 5 but she is only 2. She came into this world with a huge attitude and it has not slowed down. At least she hugs and kisses me though. That makes her thick headedness a little bit easier. Not much, but a little bit. She is a spit fire. She runs everywhere, climbs, talks about everything and is just super fun/frustrating. She is cuter then I could ever imagine my girl could be and she is also more bull headed then I could have ever been. It is an interesting combination. I have no idea what she will be like but I do fear her teenage years.

Developmentally, I have no idea where she stands. Scott is so off the charts that I have nothing to really compare her to. I can not wait to talk to the Ped this Thursday at her 2 year to ask how she is doing. She can count and tell me her shapes but she has no idea about colors. Everything is green! I think she might be color blind! Who knows. I will ask at the appt.

3. Scott! Wow, I don't even know where to begin with this kid. He freaking blows my mind away. The things that he can do are at a level that I am afraid to even have him in kindergarden. Is he going to be so bored his eyes are going to pop out? He isn't bored now..I don't even think he knows to be bored. The social aspect is challenging for him so I am thinking that distracts him from knowing to be bored. It is hard because there are very few people I can talk to about this stuff. I am amazed and completely blown away by what we have. It is so hard to wrap my brain around the stuff that Scott can do. I am going to write it all out so when I look back years down the road I will have this in writting for my own memory's sake.
Scott is 4 years old as of June 22nd.
He can do the following things:
- We have flashcards of the USA states. They are just pictures with a star where the capital is located. On the front is the picture and on the back is the state's name, capital and information. Scott can recall every single state faster then I can say my own name. He barely even has to look at the picture and he knows. These states are all the same size. (meaning, texas is not bigger then Maine) They are not in any order and there are no words on the front. He can even tell you if the state is upside down while going through it at a rapid fire pace. It is absolutely dumbfounding to watch. I have no idea how he learned it and I have no idea how he has retained it. I am talking..he can tell you which square is North Dakota and while one is South Dakota by where the capital is located. He doesn't even have to take a breath to recall the info..it just fires out of his mouth like he is being asked what color things are. It is freaking crazy. He also knows where they are located on a map along with 20% of their states. He knows more then I do, which is pretty sad on my part, really.
- Scott has decided that he loves math. A month ago we started doing 2+3+5 = 10 He has progressed onto 345+456+654+569= type problems. He knows to carry the one or whatever number to the next colum. It is crazy! It really is.
- He can read. He doesn't just fumble through..he reads like he learned 5 years ago.
- He knows shapes like Octogan, Heptagan, etc. Not just square and rectangle.
- He can spell words up to a 3rd grade level.
- He can hear instruments and tell you what they are. He can also tell you all the different parts of the orchestra. Along with that, he can say which instruments are the highest pitched and lowest pitched instruments in each section of the orchestra. (Brass, Woodwind, strings..etc) It BLOWS my mind to hear him answer these questions. He knows what a freaking picalo is and how it is the highest pitched instrument in the woodwind section. I did not know this...he taught me. (I may even have remembered it wrong..i think that is right though)

You know, we moved to Chapel Hill to provide Scott with the best public education we can. I pray that we have done the right thing. I hope that this school system will meet his needs and help us with making him as well rounded as possible. Right now, I am freaking out some. He is not your normal kid that goes and kicks the soccer ball around. If we could..he would sit and do math, workbooks and write all day long. He is constantly learning. We are really trying to branch him out but it is just hard. It is hard to get someone to want to go and run around when they just don't feel comfortable doing that. He will do it some but it is sooo not like other kids. It makes me sad sometimes to watch. Anna loves to just be. She loves to run around, push her stroller, ride a trike etc. Scott is just a nervous nelly, really.

I am glad that we went through all the testing with him to help us understand this better. Our Psychologist told Scott's speach therapist that he has only worked with 2 other children like Scott. This guy has been doing this for over 30 years. I just can't believe that I have this kid that is like this. I have so much stress about making sure we are doing the right things and making sure his needs are being met socially as well as academically. It is overwhelming. One minute it is super cool and the next minute you are wishing he could just be a kid. Ya know?


I know I am completely going off but I think this will be my place to document this stuff. I will definitely want to look back on this in the future to remind myself what happend when.

I don't want any one to think that Anna is overshadowed by her brother. That is beyond true. She has so much personality and is sooo out there that she will never be. She will be the kid hooking up with boys in the hall at school while Scott is rushing by to get to debate team. : )