Babbling, anyone?

Whew, I’ve turned into one of those bloggy Moms who promised to blog even after they got their child home, and you barely hear from them again!  I didn’t mean to, I promise!  LOL  

Things seem to be on an even kilter right now.  Daycare is going well, I have a really nice little group of kiddos, the older ones seem to have fun together (all girls, so they play Barbies or “house” or “school”), and the little ones are all little boys and so darn cute you just can’t be mad at them when they get in the middle of the Barbies or “house” or “school”.  Hehe  They all seem to get along well, so that’s a plus too.  We have a good little “schedule” we play all morning (in or outside), and while the littles take naps, the bigs do a craft or watch a movie, or play board games.  Then we play more (usually outside for this time unless it’s raining again!!) till everyone is picked up.  The afternoon is also our “water” time, sprinkler, wading pools, etc.   We also go to the library, and the movies, and the park.  The weather has been so crazy though that outings have been minimal thus far.   

We had a van issue last week, but thank God it was under warrantee, and our mechanic is awesome, so it was done in one afternoon.  He even did the oil change while he had it since we were getting close to needing to have that done too. 

I’ve found my new dishwasher.  I can’t wait to get it (saving my pennies and should be able to get it next week!)!!  It’s hard keeping up with the dishes with it being summer and having a full house with the daycare kids without my dishwasher (I have to sanitize things by hand without it so it adds an extra step to the process).  It’s the same one we had before (newer model of course). 

Timothy started his summer speech therapy sessions.  He goes twice a week for 30 minutes.  The therapist says that he is up to about 70% with his recognition(she says show me the apple and he points to the correct picture), and his repetition is about 25%, she understands about that much of what he says, and repeats after her.  I work on him repeating after me too, cup, drink, eat, etc.  He knows all of the signs for those things, so we say & sign most everything.  He is good at asking for help, saying thank you, please, etc. with signs too.  July 6^th is his big “developmental” appointment.  He’ll see the psychologist, and speech therapist, etc.  I’m anxious to see what they all have to say.   He has changed so much…

I think his bottom front teeth are loose.  I told everyone to watch him so hopefully we can catch it before he swallows them.  LOL  We go to the dentist again in July, so we’ll see what he has to say. 

I started this post on Sunday and haven’t had a chance to get it up. 

We’re gearing up for our 4^th of July festivities.  I love the West Burlington celebration.  Living in a small town is so great because there are things happening all day long, either downtown, or at people’s houses.  There’s a craft show/sale, there’s a little street fair/games, bike races, a dunk booth that usually has one of our police officers, or fire fighters, or even city “officials” for people to aim at and dunk.  All in fun of course.  There’s a talent show and karaoke.  There is a community worship service.  A big BINGO game. A raffle, a pancake breakfast at the fire station, a parade, and of course, it all wraps up with fireworks (the best display in the county!). The block off most of downtown and the streets are lined with concessions, games, and fun stuff!  If you get bored or go hungry, it’s your own fault!  I love the 4^th of July.  I can’t wait to take Timothy to all of the festivities this year.  I had a craft booth last year, and had his pic on a poster for people to see, it will be fun to have HIM to show off this year.   

It is bittersweet though, the memories of my childhood 4^th of Julys are haunting me this year.  4^th of July was one of Dad’s favorite holidays. My Birthday is the 3^rd, so we just partied for days!  Cookouts, wiener roasts, pool parties, you name it, we did it over the course of a few days during this time of the year.  We always had sparklers to burn.  We always had watermelon, and homemade ice cream.  No matter what we were doing, you could always count on there being plenty of food, lots of friends, and most of the family around.

John & I have made our community celebration our own family tradition because the old ones have faded away.   Many of the friends are long gone now, either lost through the years by the miles that separate us, or they have passed way.   No sparklers to burn, I’m too afraid that someone will get hurt.  My Birthday usually passes without much excitement these days (I’m too old for a “party”!  LOL).  Dad is gone.  And, well, the family isn’t really a family anymore.  

Mom will spend most of the day with us, the pancake breakfast, watching the parade, and the fireworks.  We’ll cook out at some point, with some of our friends.  We’ll make it and it will be a nice day.  But for me, there will still be something missing…

Ugh!  I’ve read and re-read this post a dozen times, should I hit publish? Should I not?  If you are reading it, you know.  LOL   I’ll take lots of pics of the kiddos and post them, I’m excited about making them some memories.