Harvest Card

Classic Chartruese 5x7 folded card

Modern greeting cards and party invitations by Shutterfly.

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Happy Thanksgiving from our family to Yours!

Hat Approval

Last night we tried on a few hats to see what would fit Elise for the upcoming winter. She actually liked the white flower hat and wore it around the house for awhile until she got too hot. As for the pink one, she gave it a thumbs down. (Ignore the cut on her forehead... Elise woke up one morning with it. We'll blame it on her plastic spider, Betty Webb, or her fingernails. As for the pizza sauce on her nose.... it was a good dinner!)

One of few words...

As many of you know, Elise is one of 'few words'- literally! There isn't much of surprise that we are noticing a delay in speech due to her prematurity and late walking. However, by 20 months of age (Elise is 22 months... but you can still adjust her back to 20.5 months) a toddler should have a 20 word vocabulary. Elise has 11 words.

Thankfully we are surrounded by such support through 'Help Me Grow'... a program that is offered in every county in Ohio. Our early intervention specialist team comes to our home once a month to check on Elise. Yesterday they also brought along a speech therapist since we were beginning to worry. This is also the same speech therapist who attends our weekly playgroup (also affiliated with Help Me Grow) so we already had established a rapport.

By the end of the appointment, we had learned quite a few things. First, Elise's vocabulary/speech level is that of a 17-18 month child. By 18 months, children should be 'copying' sounds a parent makes and should also be able to make most sounds an animal makes. Example, the cow says 'mooo..' and the cat says 'meow..'. For the most part, Elise hasn't hit that stage so it's a matter of time before she does. Seeing how she walked about 4 months later than most of her peers, we would anticipate that she will begin speech 4 months later. This means, we should be on a brink of great strides! Secondly, it's not all bad news! While Elise is 'delayed' in speech, she still has a few sounds she makes that are advanced. For instance, she says 'F', 'R' and 'S'.. typical sounds that don't develop until 3-7 years of age.

What are we doing to help her?

Modeling: when Elise points or attempts to say something, we should say 'Yes, you want a banana' or 'Yes, the oven is hot'.

Signing: we should continue to sign words to help her with communication. Also, we are introducing the sign 'Please' so if anything, she will be learning some manners and will learn you have to do something to get something.

Playgroup: we are on a wait list for a second playgroup that will be held at an indoor playground or YMCA. This playgroup will be more about gross motor skills which usually aid in developing speech (brain development).

Finally, finding out what makes Elise tick: We will try through singing, dancing, reading, etc. to see what makes Elise excited about making sounds. We have looked into joining a Kindermusik group in the winter to help bring out Elise's music side and we currently go to a weekly library storytime... both which may get her jabber and talk.

So, we are doing everything we can. It's up to Elise. The speech therapist will re-evaluate her in January (age 2), at which time the magic 5.5 week adjusted age gap disappears... She should have a 50 word vocabulary (like her peers) otherwise we will more than likely visiting with a private speech therapist.

Halloween

Halloween started out like a regular day with Elise making Mommy and Daddy toast for breakfast.








After naptime, our friends the Hebekas came over for trick-or-treating.... or maybe I should say that a transformer, bear and Cookie Monster came over with their parents. Elise must have been having so much fun with her friends that she didn't even protest wearing her monkey hat! She was just excited to be outside with a ton of kids in costumes. Daddy (and Dr. Hebeka) took the kids to all the houses while the mommies stayed home to pass out treats.








Apparently Elise was content to just run down the sidewalk and only stopped at a few houses. Then again, why stop at a house when you don't even know what candy is!! I'm sure that will be different next year!











In the end, all the exercise just made our little monkey extra tired....Zzzzzzzzzzz.