Early Steps

On Friday, we took Nathan to Early Steps in Orlando for a development evaluation since we have some speech concerns. We weren't sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. The facility was beautifully decorated and provided lots of age appropriate toys for Nathan to play with while we waited for our appointment. We were told the appointment would last 2 hours and they were right. It was a long morning, but very informative. Nathan did well on the evaluation. Especially in the area of gross motor skills! He did qualify for speech therapy and we will start those sessions at home in a few weeks. We are thankful that our pediatrician recommended going through Early Steps and the entire process has been headache-free! Now that Nathan has the tubes in his ears and with the help of speech therapy we are sure that within a few sessions he'll be our little climbing, chatterbox.

Using Utensils!

While feeding Nathan waffles he pointed and grunted at my fork, so I handed it to him and surprisingly he did great feeding himself with it. So, I gave him a child size fork and he ate THREE waffles using it! Yay, Nathan!

Blowing Bubbles

When Thomas turned four he was allowed to start chewing bubble gum. This week he finally learned how to blow bubbles with it! Now, he constantly is asking for gum to practice his new trick.

First Lollipop

Nathan snuck into the snack drawer and found a stash of lollipops. Before I knew it, he had the wrapper off and the stick in his mouth. The entire time he said, "Mmmmmm!". When I got out the camera I think he got a little confused about how to say "cheese" and eat the lollipop all at the same time!

The Florida Aquarium

For months now, we have talked about taking the boys to the Florida Aquarium. Thomas desperately LOVES the octopus. We looked up the aquarium's information and when we saw that they had an octopus, we HAD to go! Since winter break was very long this year, we decided to take a day and ride over to Tampa. The boys were super during the car ride. We got there in good time and spent several hours touring the aquarium. Of course, Thomas' favorite part was the octopus. In fact, we saw two! Nathan loved the Coral Reef exhibit. He kept shouting, "Oh, WOW!" while pointing at every animal.

"Mom, it's too bright to smile!"

The sting ray tank. We couldn't touch them like you're allowed to due to water conditions.

"Look, it's NEMO!"

"Cheese."

Touching starfish.

Another octopus. This one is hiding!

playground area

"Cheese."

Sitting in the daddy seahorse's pouch

We thought that it would be too much on the boys if we drove home that same day, so we stayed overnight. It was nice that we booked at an extended stay hotel so that way there was plenty of room for the kids and a full kitchen for all the snacks and juice we brought. Plus, Papa has some good connections. (wink.wink.)After we checked in we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The boys behaved great! I have to admit it was a different dining experience with children, but it was great that they had a children's menu. We had such a fun time and look forward to going back to Tampa. We didn't get a chance to go to the Lowry Zoo or The Children's Museum, so those places are now on the top of the list of places to visit!

Thomas jumping on the bed.

Nathan jumping on his.





Spreading Out the Holidays

Thanks to the Stomach Bug of 2010, we weren't able to celebrate Christmas with my family on the day we originally planned. It ended up working out even better since Elizabeth and Brian were back from their week long trip to New Hampshire. The kids loved opening more presents and were super excited to get Pillow Pets! It was certainly a wonderful holiday season and it was the perfect way to ring in the New Year together!

Christian LOVED making Thomas laugh!

"I'll take a picture of you while you take a picture of me."

We TRIED to get one of the boys, but wiggly Nathan had other plans.

Thomas is Five and a Half!

On January 2nd, Thomas "celebrated" his half birthday. Only six months until he turns 6 years old. Gee, it's going so fast! We were at Nana's and Papa's to celebrate Christmas and we also celebrated Christian turning 15 (yikes). We sang only half the birthday song to Thomas but let him eat the whole cupcake. :)