Giggle

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aren't these Red Orchids gorgeous?!

Pinterest = Obsession

My friend Carmel invited me to join Pinterest this past summer. I was busy so I didn't join and at the time I did not know what Pinterest was.

Then friends started telling me how much I would like LOVE Pinterest and I should really get on there.  I still didn't fully know what the site was but was starting to understand more of what it was about.

Then last night I decided to check out what all this interest in Pinterest was all about.

I couldn't find Carmel's original invite to Pinterest...remember she sent it last summer....

So I requested a login. That's when I discovered I was put on a WAIT LIST for a login. WHAT?! After all this time of resisting the urge to explore this site I've been told that I will LOVE I can't get some instant gratification?! 

So I did what anyone else would do -- I griped about it on facebook...

Not realizing that Dave was still logged into facebook. I left the comment as is because now that's funny! *giggle*

Within a couple of hours I had my log in to Pinterest and I logged in.

That's when everything fully sank in...

 OH MY GAAWD!

This site is my new favorite site! I now fully understand why you can loose hours of time going through this site.

Essentially Pinterest is a virtual inspiration board, reminder board, bulletin board all rolled into one.  You can pull images from the web and "pin" them to virtual bulletin boards as you would a regular bulletin board.  No more bookmarking sites, printing things to remember for later.  Just click the "pin it' button you add to your browser and viola! your spot of inspiration, reminder, or what have you is saved for later! What are you supposed to pin?

ANYTHING YOU WANT! The options are limitless!

Now for someone who is an anal organizer like me this is simply FANTASTIC!

When I see a pair of shoes or a skirt I really like online but I need to think about it first I can now pin it to "My Style" board and come back to it later. Perhaps not to purchase but to compare to other items I may like and I can pick out the best one. (hint...also a great place for Dave to find things I like and purchase as gifts!!) 

Then there is the Cute things for the House board I created for all the things I like and would like to decorate our house to create our home.

Here are my Pinterest boards so far. I know...not too exciting yet. But just you wait! I'm a bit addicted to Pinterest at the moment! There is so much out there to see and look at!

You can create an board for anything! I created a board for cute outfits I find online for Elaina, places I want to visit/travel to eventually, I created a board of fun things to do to Create Memories (Rememberances), craft ideas and I could go on.  I can be as specific as I want with the categories to organize my thoughts and things I find.

Now what I find the most fun and intriguing part of the site is the repin function. Once you add friends to your Pinterest account you can follow them as you follow your Facebook friends. So you can SHARE in the INSPIRATION.  See an idea or a pair of shoes you love too?  Just hover over that pin and click on the repin button and add it to one of your boards.  BRILLANT!

Pin It

Speaking of Speech

This past fall we had Zach's speech re-evaluated via Kindergarten round-up. He was evaluated when he was three but he did not qualify for speech services at that time; however the speech therapist that evaluated him when he was three told me to have Zach re-evaluated as soon as we could after he turned four and he may qualify for services at that time. Zach has a bi-lateral lisp and many people had difficulty understanding him -- even us.  So we signed him up for speech.

However, it wasn't that easy.

Zach's preschool is in the Stillwater section of the Washington county school district while we live in the Woodbury section. So when we had him evaluated for speech class we were given the following options by district 833:

* Move Zach to a preschool within the  boundaries of the Woodbury school district. 

* Provide our own transportation from Primrose to the location of Zach's speech class.

* Complete open-enrollment paperwork to cross-register him in speech classes via Stillwater schools and then Stillwater will provide classes and transportation.

Moving Zach from Primrose was out of the question. We love Primrose as do Zach and Elaina so on to options two and three.

We could have asked Primrose to provide transportation for Zach to his speech class; however we wanted to explore the options for open enrollment and compare the Stillwater program to the Woodbury program.

The Woodbury program was 1:1 for 20 minutes, one day a week while the Stillwater program was three days per week in a class with four other kids for 1.5 hours each day.  Zach would also receive 1:1 time each day during the 1.5 hour sessions. AND Stillwater would provide bus service to and from Primrose.

We chose to use open enrollment and enrolled Zach in the Stillwater program.

Zach has been attending speech through Stillwater public schools since January 4 - so he's had six weeks of speech.  There were days where there was not class so he has not gone 18 times yet; however it does not matter because he is doing so well!!

In just this short amount of time you can really tell the difference in Zach's speech. He has been working on his affricatives: /ch/, /J/; plosives and stops: /k/, /j/; liquids /L/; and fricatives /s/, /z/.

One of Zach's Primrose teachers was out having/recovering from surgery when Zach first started speech. When she returned she was amazed at how much his speech had improved in such a short amount of time.

The primary reason is because of Dave. He works with Zach every night practicing the speech sounds Zach's speech teacher sends home with him. The best part is Zach ENJOYS practicing his speech with daddy every night. So much so if you ask him if he wants a book at bedtime or to practice his 'words' he chooses 'words' every time. humm....it seems we have a studier on our hands. *giggle* 

Daddy Dave is very proud of the progress Zach has made thus far in his speech articulation. I am too; however, I am also proud of Dave as well because he has done a lion-share of the work in the evenings with Zach. I've been putting Elaina to bed and Dave has been putting Zach to bed and doing his bedtime routine. So they've buddied up on "words" which is good. On the nights that Dave has curling and he isn't home to do words with Zach. Some nights Zach will let me go over words with him however, most nights he wants to wait until daddy gets home and do words then. So we do the 'old-fashioned' reading books.

At times, I wonder how Zach's speech would be if we hadn't read aloud to him each night at bedtime and all the other times during the day.  Children learn to talk by saying what we hear and hearing what we say. Listening to the world around them is the avenue through which children develop sounds and learn the language of their culture. Not only talking and having conversations with your child but reading to them helps to develop their speech and vocabulary.

Zach may be a bit behind in how he pronounces and articulates his words but thankfully his phonological awareness is high. Ms Holt from Primrose shared with us her conversation with Zach the other day while he was waiting for the bus to pick him up for speech. She asked him what word sounds they were working on in his speech class and he said the /K/ sound. Ms Holt said there is a /K/ sound in your name. Zach's reply, yes but it is a "c" not a "k" but they sound the same right?! Ms. Holt then said, he is a Primrose kid! I would have to agree there! *giggle*

Zach has phonics daily at Primrose. He started Primrose just over a year ago when we moved to Woodbury and just in that year his speech improved leaps and bounds. I think that progress he made has a lot to do with the curriculum and practicing phonics daily. Phonological awareness prepares kids for reading as well as reading comprehension. Practicing phonics and reading aloud to a child on a daily basis strengthens the connection of listening and talking with reading. A robust receptive and expressive vocabulary is necessary for proficiency in communication, reading and writing. It's all tied together. 

Zach's progress with his speech has been "a village" effort - his speech class with Miss Steph at Stillwater, his fabulous Primrose teachers, daddy Dave going through his words at night, mommy reading books to Zach and let's not forget Zach and all of his effort and desire learn and improve.

Yeah Zach!

Exploring the Sensory Table

Elaina had fun this past week exploring the sensory table at Primrose.

Elaina loves exploring the world with her hands. She also really enjoys art.