Sunday Dress

Isn't great when you find that sunday dress that doesn't really show stains and is easy enough to be a play dress too? Well, thanks GRAMINGO and Vicki for the wonderful dress.

Nugs loves it!

Or rather- I love it- and Rich loves it too because there aren't any buttons!

Elmo

One of my favorite things about the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix is that there are so many things for families to do (sometimes you have to search- but really, they are out there!) and most of them are FREE!

Today we took Nugs to the Ahwatukee My Gym where she was able to meet a giant ELMO! She brought her (daddy's) Elmo doll with her and got to sit on his lap and had so much fun.

Even more fun than ELMO was jumping on the trampoline, hanging on the bars, sliding down the slide, and playing in the ball pit.

It was quite the adventure and she was definately worn out.

Here is Nugs climbing the rock wall (with assistance) and my definately showing 24 week belly!

Speech Therapy Anyone?

So as most of you know, Nugs doesn't talk much. She is pretty hysterical and funny and keeps us on her toes- but for some reason she hasn't felt the need to talk.

And of course we all know she is very independent.

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At 18 months our pediatrician was concerned about how few words she was saying. So she had me come back in at 21 months to get her evaluated and at that point she referred me to the Arizona Early Intervention Program.

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Think whatever you want (i have heard it all from, "oh- you better get her checked..." to, "well, we know she isn't dumb..." to, "She is just a late talker...") but I went ahead and had her evaluated. The first evaluation put Nugs below the charts on her language development- well, duh, I knew that... so the official "speech therapist" was called into our home.

Part of me kept thinking that it would be really nice for someone to come to our house every couple weeks or months to help teach me how to teach Nugs how to talk. It is free, it can't hurt, and it will help me develop my skills as a parent and a teacher.

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Well, we were denied.

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Do you cheer when you are denied? Or feel bad? I haven't decided yet.

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The 6 page paper that came along with our denial letter had quite a lot of information in it. it was very detailed and described exactly what happened during the evaluation. It really boiled down to a couple things:

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1. Nugs understands everything we say to her- thus we know she has the ability to communicate, even if it is one-sided.

2. Nugs has a "very strong sense of self" (therapist's words) even though she doesn't use her own name or say "mine".

4. Nugs makes all the appropriate sounds for her age so she will eventually put them together.

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So that is where we stand.

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The initial evaluator also reminded me that Nugs is now "on file" so if things don't develop well over the next 6 months then we can have her re-evaluated. However, I am sure she will be fine- the extra help just would have been nice.

Adventure

Every day with a toddler is an adventure. For example... last night we went to get the mail. Of course we had to bring the fish food with us- because what if there are hungry fish on the way to the mailbox?

Who remembers the red echo in the back?

And then we have to stop and play in the puddles on the street.

And then by the time we actually get the mail it is getting dark.

And then we try to race home- Nugs is a pretty fast little girl!

I hope she makes this face when she runs track someday!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Great for the cute outfit for Christmas! Nugs loves it!

Sorry for the blurry pictures!

Way too funny not to post...

So here is a little story that is somewhat embarassing for me- but I am telling it anyway for humor sake-

So, Rich is in the bathroom (or library as he likes to call it) and the pregnancy bladder sounds it warning so I run into the other bathroom and do my business. All of the sudden I realize that I have been stranded (aka- no toilet paper).

I start yelling for Rich- when will he be done? Can he bring me toilet paper? Well, he gets the genius idea to have Nugs bring me some. I yell for her and she comes into the bathroom and I hand her the empty toilet paper roll and tell her to "bring this to daddy"

Then Rich starts yelling for her to come to him. After a couple minutes I realize this is hopeless and I am just going to have to wait this out. Well, I give it one last ditch attempt and start yelling for Nugs again. In comes my sweet angel-faced toddler holding a brand new roll of toilet paper!

So it turns out Rich gave her 3 different rolls and fortunately one made it to me- the others were randomly scattered throughout the house. Oh well. I was saved by my Nugs and I couldn't be happier!

Petting Zoo

Today Nug's friend Jaidin had a birthday party with a petting zoo!

Nugs had a blast- especially on the pony ride!

However, she made sure that I was never touching her as she was led around.

This is the most I got to touch her and you can see her reaction.

Oh- and it is a belly picture. Not very impressive- huh?

It was also pretty hysterical to see her face the loudest of all the animals...

The DUCK!!

Here is Nugs staring intently at the duck

And now she is still staring at the duck as he moves around.

Needless to say- she stayed away from the duck for most of the party.

Nugs also loved the goats, cow, bunnies, chickens, and llama. I will try to post a video soon.

Silly Nugs

Ryann's cute pigtails got a little messy during her nap- so instead of pointing backwards they are pointing forwards! She is too cute.

She also loves eating her popcorn from target! She loves target trips because she and daddy share popcorn.