Life as Vinny's mom: April 2010

Monday, April 26, 2010

Kara's Birthday

We went to Kara's birthday party yesterday. Sometimes it is so nice to just relax and hang out over there....

Vinny brought carrots over for the horses.

Jump! Jump! Jump!

Kara blew out her candles too fast for the camera...

Happy 19th Birthday, Sis!

Last week I decided that it was time for Vinny to be completely done with sippy cups. I told him that on Saturday, that we would go and throw them all away and he could go and buy big boy cups instead. He really wanted Buzz Lighyear cups, so he was excited. He asked if he was going to be a party, and I told him yes... We would have a "Bye Bye Sippy, Hello Big Boy" party. Of course, then he said that we needed a cake, with candles, and balloons... I was all for it... If it really worked, then it was well worth a cake.
When we went to the March of Dimes walk, he got a balloon, so he said that he didn't need party balloons anymore... whatever works, kid :O)

So about 4:30 on Saturday we had his party. We went around the house and searched (in case of any strays) dumped them all out of the cabinet, dug them out of the sink and unloaded them out of the dishwasher and put them in a garbage bag. He had a ton!

Then we had cake. He wanted us to sing to him, so we sang "Happy Big Boy Day to You" and he blew out the candles...

Then he drank out of his new cup. I decided to just go to the party store and get a bunch of paper cups. This way he could change his mind on the design when these were gone, if he wanted.

So here it is Monday morning. He hasn't asked for a cup once. We are shocked. I really thought that at bed time or in the car that he would ask (that is when he wanted them most) but you would think that he never even had them. I am so proud of him for going cold turkey and doing so well. Hopefully this will last :)

Grinding stumps

About 5 years ago we had 3 big trees taken out of our back yard. At the time, to save $, we decided to just leave the stumps... well, we finally decided to have them ground. One was right in the middle of our yard, so I am excited to have the extra room!

Before:

After:

Before: (this one was starting to rot)

After:

Sunday, April 18, 2010

What a smart boy!

Vinny has been doing very well in his speech therapy. He has learned a lot more sounds and his speech is improving a lot. He has been meeting with Dawn at Providence once a week for a little over a month now. We also went for an evaluation at Marysville School District. I go back this Friday to find out their results and see if they have a plan for him. It sounds to me like he will go there for a 1/2 hour a week, and continue going to Dawn until September, when the new school year starts, but we will see.
He has gotten so smart.. He now knows how to write most of his letters in both uppercase and lower case. If he can't write them, he can recognize them, and knows many of thier sounds. He can count to 20, and it starting to add and subtract small numbers. He writes and draws all the time. I just amazes me.
I just signed him up for Preschool. He will start in September and go 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day. It is at Bethleham School in Marysville, which is actually where I went to Preschool. I am excited for him to go and learn all of the social aspects to prepare himself for Kindergarten.

The frog warmed up too.

Baby Jules

Jules Nicoli Hemrich was born April 13th, finally! :) Tania did great! Joe and her are such happy, proud parents. He was 21 inches and 10 lbs 5 oz... what a big boy!