Simplifing and Other Random Happenings

Our life is constantly in motion.  There are school schedules, extra-curricular activities, therapy sessions, family function, field trips, doctor appointments, more therapy sessions.  Whew!  I know that so many people are juggling just as much and maybe more than us, but the pace is starting to get to me.  So, I've made the decision to cut-back on what we do each week.  To unplug a bit more, recharge our batteries, enjoy down time as a family.

It's a bit strange of a time to make this decision, but we already started paring back a bit on our activity.  On Friday we skipped our typical Field Trip Friday since both Julia and I just wanted to stay at home and Emma decided to sleep until 10 am leading me to believe she wanted the same thing!  I recorded High School Musical earlier in the week and we spent the morning on the couch watching the movie.  Julia rated it very highly saying she likes it as much as Camp Rock 2:  The Final Jam which is her favorite movie these days.  

We've pulled out our holiday books and added a new one to the stash this year - Llama Llama Holiday Drama and it's a hit.  I love reading it and the girls love listening to it.  If you are looking to add a book to your Christmas library, put this one on your list.  Santa also left Julia a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas at a party we were at on Friday night for the Cochlear Implant group at our hospital.  I'm planning to read it to the girls tomorrow night.  The books we are reading sometimes a bit longer and it's nice to have less commitments at night so we can devote more time to the night routine that we love.  

This weekend us girls made a Gingerbread house.  Well, really Julia and I made the house from a kit that Aunt Mary Lou gave us (thank you!).  Emma was our chief cheerleader and candy stealer.  She sat in her ChildRite chair and was able to lift her arms up to the table top (Go, Emma, Go!) and then grab the candy over and over and drop it on the floor to Finnegan.  She loved this and was not the least bit interested in putting candy on the house so we gave her the rolling pin to play with as the candy started to get scarce.  Julia was very intent on making the house look like the picture and I was amazed with how much patience she had with the whole process.  She is really good at this!  I think we might have to make this an annual tradition because both girls really enjoyed it.  

We also have a break from ice skating lessons for the rest of the month, leaving us with another night to read books and play and incorporate the iPad with Proloquo2go into our schedule.  We are working so hard to give Emma a voice with expressive language and the truth is it is a bit exhausting, so the more down time we have to just play and use it in our everyday situations the better.  Also, Emma can tell when we are working on language and pretty much refuses to play along, but when we are just playing and incorporating language she tends to do some good things.  Today she burped a few times and we always laugh when she burps and she laughs, too.  It's our thing.  Silly, but it's a way she can join in some fun.  Today I said "Emma, you burped.  Can you say burped?  Burped?  What a silly word, burped!  Do you want to say burped?" and I could swear she said "Bur".  Really.  Clear as day.  She does stuff like this sometimes and mostly when we are playing.  It gives me hope that she is learning everything we are doing with her. 

And so while we are trying to cut back on everything, I am also thinking about Christmas break and how it would be great if Emma could do 20 HBOT dives and an intensive of ABM (Anat Baniel Method) therapy.  I'm not sure if we'll do either of them during the break because it requires travel, money and time, but I'm sure we'll be happy with the decision we make.