Toddler Rosetta Stone

 If you are not aware, we found out that Dominic had significant fluid blockage in his ears in December. So much that he had 30 decibel hearing loss and basically was hearing things like they were being spoken under water. I believe that because he had so many ear infections from 18 months-2 years that they were blocked the entire time. Due to that blockage, Dominic suffers from a speech delay. He had tubes put in in mid-December and with the help of weekly speech therapy sessions has been showing a lot of improvement. His hearing was immediately improved to the normal range after the surgery as well.

I can't lie and say that it is not heartbreaking to see kids younger than he is speaking in full sentences or perfect English. It hurts and makes me feel guilty that I have done something wrong ( I know it isn't my fault). Dominic does have his own little language and he and I can for the most part communicate well. I sometimes feel like I could go to another country and communicate with them because I am able to do it with him. He has his own words and phrases that would make no sense to anyone else but I get it--which is great because I am with him all the time. Often, Lou turns to me and asks "What is he saying?" lol.

 Last fall, he was put in daycare four days a week and when I would pick him up the teachers would proudly tell me something like this:
them-"Ohh Dominic came up to us today and said :I need to go potty:"
me-*thinking* Oh really because he can only say the word "go" and the kid could care less if he has poop or pee in his pants (at the time)

Those kind of situations make me feel especially grateful that I am now able to stay home and help him daily to learn and communicate better. I'd say that his vocabulary has probably tripled since he had the tubes put in and each day is getting better. Some days I still get frustrated or sad that this vocabulary miracle didn't occur the minute he came out of anesthesia--but it's not up to me. All I can do is my best to foster learning and communication. He will talk, not just to me, but to others. He does tell everyone "Thank You" pretty clearly so at least he has the important stuff down!

I've had a lot of people give me advice or their two cents about our situation-and it's a tough pill to swallow because not one single person is in our situation or has ever been. One of my all time favorite piece of mind by anyone about Dom's speech is "Oh don't worry some day he will be talking your ear off and you'll just wish he wasn't talking"

I can honestly say when that day comes, that thought will never cross my mind.

Hello Spring!

The weather was finally nice last week and we were able to get out and
play! Dominic and I took full advantage of the sunshine and went to
the park. He had so much fun with the slides, climbing and giggling
all over! It's so neat to see how different he is this year from last
spring-I no longer am having to follow him around on the equipment in
case he fell or have to go down the slides with him (which is super
nice for Mommy!) I do realize that with a winter thaw comes MUD and we
are definitely going to have to invest in some play clothes and shoes!
I can't wait to get outside again!!

Yee-haw!

This weekend was a "Toy Story" marathon on tv and Dominic was
mesmorized. At one point he wanted to wear this cowboy hat to be like
Woody. Oh and please disregard the fact he is pantless, he's also
begun the "loves being nakey" phase and is pulling his clothes off
every chance he gets! (thank goodness it's usually at home and not in
public!)

Fun at speech!

Dominic has been going to speech therapy every Friday since getting
tubes put in in December. He loves his therapist and seems to have so
much fun playing! Here he is playing on the computer with miss K.

Does this work?

Mr Dominic deciding to wear two hats yesterday. Such a silly boy

Buffalo Chicken Soup Recipe

I've had many people asking for my very simple, delicious and (can be worked to be) healthy buffalo chicken soup! I know winter is (hopefully) coming to an end but this is still a hearty soup for any season!

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup (I use reduced fat)
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup (also reduced fat)
1 cup of Franks Red Hot BUFFALO sauce
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1/2 onion (optional)
1/2 can of reduced sodium chicken broth (to lessen the thickness of the soup-also optional)

Toppings:
Blue Cheese crumbles (they have reduced fat variety as well)
Sour Cream

1) Cook and shred chicken, set aside.
2)Combine Soups, Buffalo Sauce, celery and onion. Let simmer (and stir often!) until celery and onion have cooked in.
3) Add chicken and let it simmer in the soup for about 5 minutes.
4) Serve with blue cheese crumbles on top and sour cream for a nice, cooling factor.
5)Enjoy!!

We have also used Tostitos Scoops with this soup. Hope you all try and love it as much as we do!

This is what happens when you don't blog for a while..Assistance needed!

Ok, well I really did have good intentions to blog tonight with a couple of cute pictures of Dominic. For some reason I cannot upload pictures onto blogger. It has me sign into google cloud or something and then denies my pictures. I uploaded on Friday and LOVED the new uploading abilities. Can anyone help me?

Another question, I also LOVE that I can post from my iPhone-but HOW do I get the pictures to come up? I tried to text the pictures and they never came up.

Thanks so much! I know, a boring post but once I can clear these issues up I will be a bloggin' machine! :)

My beef with cartoons

Now that I am home all day with Dominic I get to catch up on my "shows" aka cartoons. Actually, I've been leaving the tv completely off during the day with the exception of the 30 or so minutes that I need in the morning to get ready. This usually falls into the time slot of many Disney and Nick Jr shows. I often find myself talking back to the cartoons (yes, I realize I'm losing it) but I do have some questions for these characters. At this point, Lou better push back any plans to visit Disney World because I would probably interrogate the characters! So here are some of my questions/concerns...

 Mr Lopert. WHY oh WHY will you not let Manny help you fix or build things? THAT'S HIS JOB! He's Handy Manny for goodness sake! Look at those gloves, the tools, etc. He's practically screaming to help you and offering his talents for free!!

 Dora, I actually would like to take this one up with your parents. You are just a cutie patutie out to help your friends. But I don't think you are quite old enough to be gallivanting all over the town by yourself. And do you really want me to believe that your "super soccer kick" qualifies you to be in the World Cup on your cousin's team?? Speaking of cousins/primos, I'm not sure what the laws are in South America but I'm willing to bet that Diego is not old enough to drive a car, jet ski, boat, hang glider etc.

 I really do like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but I have one very obvious issue with the show. It's a show of animals with a PET DOG? Isn't Goofy a dog? Why does Pluto have to be the pet? It's unfair-he can't even talk!?

Honestly, this is one of my favorite cartoons for Dominic to watch. I never really saw the cartoon as a kid but I do remember reading the books. Arthur teaches some really great life lessons and I've seen shows on conditions such as cancer, autism, aspergers, hearing and sight impairment. It really is teaching children empathy and acceptance of everyone. Only on PBS! :)

Do you ever find yourself talking to the tv? I would love to hear others thoughts on cartoons or tv shows!