kare-en!

Jude gets a visitor once a week that sometimes frustrates him! Karen, his speech therapist, brings all kinds of new toys and pretend play into our toy filled living room.

feed the puppet

I thought our readers might enjoy a glimpse into speech therapy, because like me, many of you have never experienced this. The sessions are based around play.

jude's turn

This particular week Karen brought a bag of plastic fruits that Jude can 'cut' in half using a knife and cutting board. We worked on the words 'cut' and 'stick' and naming the particular fruits. He also got to stir the big bowl and serve fruit to the puppets.

jude won't eat green fruit, maybe the puppet will?

Karen also builds in time for speech on demand, so to speak, where Jude has to say a word or make a choice using words, to get the toy he wants. One time he had to say apple or orange to keep the play going. Jude gets extremely frustrated with this game sometimes and often looks to me as if to say "Are you gonna let her do this?"


But the therapy is helping his natural speech development. Our little guy has added a ton of words recently. His current favorite phrases are "Where'd it go water?" This occurs when we drive by or see water but we keep going. He also likes to say "No Ma" which means stop doing that or I'm not finished, even if his mother is not involved.

We are glad to have Miss Karen visit.

big shoes to fill

Jude loves to imitate his mom and dad these days. Recently he even wanted to walk in dad's shoes.

'elp' me daddy

do these come in brown?

Pinocchio's Travels in preschool

Baby Jude, now Toddler Jude, took a trip with Pinocchio this summer...when he joined the Academy of Movement and Music Preschool.
Before the trip, Kara worked through mom-guilt about leaving him two mornings a week and concern that our young two year old was just too young for a structured program. It was Greg who made the final push to encourage enrollment. He reminded me Kara that its OK if she takes a break from Jude, and that Jude would love time with other kids.

First day of preschool

Preschool proved a big hit with Jude and his mom! He cried the first day of drop-off, but loved going the rest of the summer. The only two-year-old trauma were the meltdowns during pick-up, when he had to wait in line while he could see mom in the lobby.

jude's school schedule

The creative program features a different theme everyday. On the 23rd jude brought home popcorn they had mixed and made in class. He also cleaned the animals one day with toy animals, a bucket of water and a toothbrush! This came in handy on our recent trip when Jude fought his bath. Mom asked him to clean his ducky as he did in school, and then got permission to also clean Jude.

school projects he brought home

I know one day I will tire of the many projects, pictures, and 'art' that Jude creates. But these few things from his first program rank up there with my most precious possessions.

this hangs in the kitchen

I (Kara) found the break made me feel more like myself. I was more energized and excited about being a mom the rest of the week. Cooking became fun again when I had time to grocery shop for creative meals, take George for a short walk without Jude, or get a haircut.

thank you Academy

The A.R.T.S. summer program wrapped up last week. We are on the waiting list for the fall and hope a spot for Jude opens up. But either way, it helped make a great summer for Jude and Kara.

july 4th minus fireworks

This fourth of July we decided to stay flexible with our schedule instead of Kara getting her heart set on seeing the fireworks inside the Oak Park football stadium in our annual tradition.
Having a two year old, especially one prone to tantrums when tired, made the naps and bedtime important.

When Jude woke from his nap we were packed and ready to toss him in the car and head for the village parade.

parade ready

We even took the rare, if never before seen, step in the Miller house of sporting matching t-shirts for the holiday. (thanks old navy!) Jude got very excited to wake from his nap and put on a shirt that both momma and dada already had on.

the matching millers

Despite our patriotic apparel and enthusiasm, the actual holiday was more a dud than a dazzler. We arrived at the parade, gave Jude his miniature flag, only to see a little league team on a truck, a firetruck, and the street sweeper cleaning up at the end.

We put Jude back in the car and headed to our church potluck and party. But the scorching heat had them packing away the food and festivities a few hours ahead of schedule. So we arrived to watch them clean up. At least Jude got to splash in the kiddie pools for a bit.

Next up was fireworks. We put Jude to bed at his normal 7pm and planned to wake him in time to drive to fireworks. But by 8:15 it was raining, hard. We decided not to risk an awake kid and no show. But the skies cleared at 9 and we were at home, only hearing the booms and seeing the faintest flickers above the treeline.
Guess this year was our family fourth. Next year we vote for fireworks