Heat Wave

The last few days it has been ridiculously hot for this time of year. We did find out that our AC doesn't work so we are waiting for somebody to come look at it this evening. It is supposed to cool back down to the normal 60 and 70 degree weather, but it will also be rainy. :-(

Yesterday we went to Target looking for a hose and sprinkler for the bosy to play with, but they didn't have much to choose from. Since we were trying to avoid being in the 90 degree house we drove to Glen Burnie since that is the closest Kmart. We found a hose and sprinkler there. After that we got food at Quiznos and went to Ben's mother's house to eat and hang out for a bit since their house was much cooler than ours.

Ben set up the sprinkler and their baby pool this morning so that I could let them play during the day. They had such a fun time playing in the pool, sliding down into the pool and playing with the sprinkler. Batman also enjoyed his very big water bowl!

This weekend was very hot for the end of April, but it was sunny and we kept busy. On Saturday we spent the day in Annapolis watching Josephine's lacrosse game and having a cook-out at my grandmother's house. The boys had a great time during Josephone's game playing with another set of twins that were close to their age.

Today we went to Harford Live at Ripken Stadium and the boys got to play a game, go in a moon bounce (Ryder didn't like it, btu Zak did), and pet some goats. This afternoon Ben put up the 3 ceiling fans and then we went to IHOP for dinner with Ben's mother and sister. When we got home it was so hot in the house so we turned on the AC. However, we are not sure the AC is working all that well so we will look into it.

We are also in the process of looking into some options for fixing up the bathroom. Hopefully we will make a decision soon and get it done.

CARE Resources

This morning the boys and I drove to Baltimore for an appointment at a pediatric therapy center. I had a hard time finding therapists that worked with children and took our insurance, but luckily I stumbled on the phone number to a place called CARE Resources. They work exclusively with children and take our insurance for occupational and physical therapy. They offer speech therapy, but do not accept any insurance for that service. So we will have to pay out of pocket for the speech therapy, but we feel that he really needs this extra help.

When we got to the therapy center I was greeted by some very nice women who sat and talked with me along with giving me a tour of the facility. They also played with Ryder to get an idea of what therapies he would benefit from and they agreed that speech is his big issues right now. So we are going to schedule a formal speech evaluation and then start speech therapy sessions. Once we get into a schedule for speech we will probably add in some physical therapy, but they like to start with 1 therapy and then slowly adding in others as needed. The speech sessions are 30 minutes long, but the OT and PT would be 45 minutes to 1 hour per session.

The really nice thing about using this facility for Ryder's private therapy is that these therapists are also the therapists that work for the county which means he could have the same therapists for his private therapy and the Infants & Toddlers program.

Our Weekend

The weather this weekend was amazing! We tried to take full advantage of it by doing lots of things outside. Saturday morning I went to meet another pediatrician (Bright Oaks Pediatrics) in the area because the more I thought about it the less comfortable I felt with the first one I had met with. I am so glad that I went with my gut and met another pediatrician because I absolutely loved this office and the staff. They remind me a lot of our pediatrician in Annapolis. The office is about 10 minutes or so from the townhouse and they have great hours (M-Th 7am-8pm, F 7am-5pm, Sat 9am-noon). The added plus with this office is that one of the doctors is actually a developmental pediatrician which will be great for Ryder. So the boys have an appointment May 12 with Dr. Rogers who is the developmental pediatrician. Once I got home from that meeting we all got in the car and headed to Annapolis to meet Rich & Laura to pick up the futons from a fellow AMOM. Then we came home to set up the futons and relax for a bit. Around 5pm we went to feed and walk Bandit in Millersville because Tracy & Dave were at Hershey Park all day. The boys enjoyed going back to their house and play with dog-dog. After that we had dinner, went to Safeway, and then headed home because it was getting close to bedtime for the boys.

This morning we met Ben's grandparents at a local playground which the boys had a blast at. We were there for a while and the boys enjoyed every minute of it. Zak was great at going down the big slides and climbing on all of the equipment while Ryder preferred to run around and stay close to the ground. Once we left the playground we all went to lunch at Bob Evans then we came home to lay the boys down for a nap. While they napped Ben worked on putting up a ceiling fan and I did some laundry. The boys woke up a while ago and we have been outside playing in the yard again. It now looks like it will rain so we have headed inside. Ben's grandparents might come by sometime to see the house while they are visiting in MD.

Our upcoming week consists of Ryder's intake appointment with Care Therapy (OT and Speech) on Tuesday morning in Towson and then possibly a playgroup at My Gym in Bel Air on Friday.

Soda

This afternoon Zak and Ryder decided to play with cans of soda (no, they were not open). I was laughing at them because they were trying to drink from them and even started to make fake drinking noises. They were also fairly entertained for a bit with some window clings that I got on clearance at Target today. Here are a few pictures...

Tonight Laura & Dani came over to watch the boys while Ben and I went to the HOA meeting. The meeting lasted about 2.5 hours and there was a lot talked about. Finances were a big part of the meeting along with information about various other things. We met a few people at the meeting, but it is pretty obvious that not many people in the community are involved (there were only about 20 people at the meeting; there are 594 houses in the community).

Tattoos

Yesterday we received a package from my mom that had candy for Ben and I along with fake tattoos for the boys. Last night Ben decided to put one on each of the boys so of course I took pictures.Today Ben is working late so I am trying to think of something to do out of the house for the boys and I. It is cold and raining so it will have to be something inside.

Developmental Pediatrician

Today I took Ryder to the developmental pediatrician. She went over all of the surveys that we had filled out and sent ahead of time along with the notes she took while talking to the regular pediatrician. She then asked tons of questions to learn more about his development. After that she did a bunch of "tests" such as putting pegs in holes, putting shapes in the right place on a puzzle, pointing to pictures, pointing to body parts, stacking blocks, and several other things. Ryder looked at most of that as playing which is how they can get kids to cooperate for the tests. Once all of the test and questions were done she told me her findings along with what she feels Ryder needs in terms of therapy. Right now Ryder is a little over 20 months old, but his development is at about a 14 month level. Even though he is at the 14 month level he is still missing a lot of the smaller in-between skills below 14 months. She feels that Ryder would really benefit from receiving private speech therapy and private occupational therapy in addition to the free therapy he gets from the county program. She explained to me that the services provided by the county are a great resource and do wonders with working on the major milestones, but they don't really focus on all of the little things that Ryder is lacking. She would like to follow-up with another appointment in 6 months to see how his development is and then visits will spread out as he gets older. We also talked about his genetic disorder and she agrees with the geneticist that he has more going on than the average Klinefelter's boy so something else must be playing a part in everything.

Now I am working on finding out what our insurance will cover and hopefully find therapists near us.

More Easter Pictures

At about 1pm yesterday we left the townhouse and headed to Riva to have Easter dinner with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins at Paul's. The past few years I have not been able to make it to Easter dinner with my family so it was nice to be able to get there this year. I remember going to dinner when I was little and now to take my boys was really fun. They behaved pretty well until closer to the end when Zak started to act up and throw his tantrums. My grandmother took him for a walk and they came back with a stuffed bunny that the restaurant let him have. Then Ben took him for a walk outside by the water. After dessert Ben took Zak to the car because he was just done and wouldn't behave. Ryder had a great time playing with my cousin Nick who made paper airplanes for him. After dinner was over we went to my grandparents' house for a little while. The boys had lots of fun running around and playing with everybody there and they got Easter baskets filled with lots of good stuff. Once we left their house we went to Tracy's house to pick up somethings and then we headed back home. It was about 7:30pm by the time we got home and the boys were ready for bed.

Zak was turning the lights on and off in the restaurant

Easter baskets from my grandparents

Zak eating a peep

Ryder with the bunny from the restaurant

Zak with the bunny

The boys with my grandmother

Family at dinner

Ryder with the paper airplane

Zak drinking water out of Ben's glass

Ryder kissing the bunny

Nick & Tiffany

Ryder

Zak

Happy Easter

This morning we gave the boys their Easter baskets and they had lots of fun with them. We didn't do anything big or spectacular, but we wanted to give them something. They had lots of plastic eggs filled with baby goldfish, Easter marshmallows, peeps, plastic farm animals, and mini-Twinkies. They also had bubbles, colored pencils, M&Ms, and a big egg with a car inside. Zak loved eating the marshmallows and goldfish while Ryder enjoyed taking everything out of the eggs and just playing with the eggs. Zak would then go pick up and eat whatever Ryder had sat down on the floor. They both LOVED the M&Ms (1st time having them) and are now hooked on them; we might think about using them as rewards for potty training.

I took a few pictures, but they are not great since I had to use my cell phone. My camera battery has died and I have not found the box with my other camera battery and the charger.

We are driving into Annapolis to eat with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins at 2:30pm this afternoon. Then on our way home we are stopping by Tracy's house to pick up some stuff that we left behind while moving.

Pictures and Videos

This afternoon the weather was nice so I took the boys and Batman into the backyard to play. Unfortunately both boys have discovered that they can climb through the fence and get into the neighbor's yard. I had to get Zak out of the neighbor's yard twice and Ryder climbed through the back of the fence into the open field. We have future plans to put up a new 6 foot fence, but in the meantime we will have to staple some plastic stuff onto the fence to cover the holes.

Dinnertime tonight was fun because for the first time ever the boys were able to sit at the dining room table. Our new table is just tall enough for them to eat at in their high chairs. They seemed to enjoy it even though they were not happy with what we gave them to eat. Finally, Ben heated up some peas and they were very excited to eat them.