No one ever said it was going to be easy...

Cameron had his scheduled monthly visit with his speech therapist yesterday.  The last time she was here we worked with Cameron during his snack time.  The goal was to have him ask for the snack using a word or gesture before he was allowed to eat it.  He would get one piece of the food (Goldfish crackers at the time) each time he asked for it.  If he didn't ask for it, he didn't get it.  He did it sometimes, but by the end of it he was just mad that there was food within his reach that he was not being allowed to eat.  I was given the task of continuing to work on this with him throughout the rest of the month.

At some point in the month, Cameron started saying "cracker."  He would come up to me, say "cracker," and we would go to the pantry together and get a cracker.  I was ecstatic because not only was he using a word to communicate a want to me, but we were able to do it without him sitting in the high chair and screaming because he was hungry and I wasn't giving him what he wanted.  The therapist quickly burst my happy bubble when she told me that she still wanted to see him sitting in the high chair at a time designated for snack at some point throughout the day.  And here I thought we were getting somewhere.

She went on to tell me that she thought Cameron has too many things at his disposal throughout the day and that he is not using his words because no one is really requiring him to do so.  Her remedy for this?  Remove ALL the toys from our living room.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Not only does she want me to remove the toys, she wants me to get 2 clear plastic bins.  Throughout the day when Cameron wants a toy, one toy will go in each bin.  The bins will sit out of his reach and he will have to make a choice as to which toy he wants by either saying a word or pointing to the toy.  He will get the toy, play with it, then put it back in the bin when he is done.  Then we do it with two more toys.

In addition to this, she feels it would be best to put Cameron on a schedule.  She is making laminated cards that will have different tasks on them that will stick onto the schedule.  When he/we complete(s) a task, we take the card off the schedule.  This would include things like getting dressed, eating meals, going "bye bye," playing, bath time, and bed time.  The purpose, as I understand it, is that a schedule will require him to communicate more.  He will be offered choices throughout his scheduled day like, "Do you want to wear the blue shirt or the red shirt?" "Do you want to read this book or that book?"  The schedule is just a way of presenting him with different options and requiring him to choose between them.

While I absolutely see where she's coming from, I have to admit that this is stressing me out a little.  I have been playing it out in my head, trying to think of where in the world I can store all of these toys in our house so that they are still easily accessible to me, but not to Cameron.  I am trying to figure out where the plastic bins will sit so that they are out of his reach but still able to be seen clearly by him.  I am picturing early mornings when I am trying to get myself and 2 children out the door by 8am so that we can pick up another child and head off to pre-school.  The last thing I want to do on those mornings is wait for a not-yet-2-year-old to tell me which freaking shirt he'd like to wear.  At 7:30 in the morning, I don't care what shirt he wants to wear.  I just want him to get the shirt on!

Not to mention the fact that this is going to be a total shock to Cameron.  How do you explain to a not-quite-2-year-old that he now has to ask for his toys and will now be required to follow a schedule?  The answer:  you don't.  You basically have to suffer through it for a few weeks teaching him that things are now different and he is going to have to accept it and eventually adapt.  So goes the life of a parent, I suppose.

I want to do what is best for Cameron but I'm still trying to work all this out in my head and decide if this really is what's best for him.  I worry that putting him on a schedule will eventually make him dependent on a schedule.  Yes, he is on somewhat of a schedule now as far as when he eats and sleeps and even with that, if you deviate too far from it, he doesn't accept it very well.  I don't want to feed into that and make him even less adaptable.

Well, I've done what my husband hates most and given you a post full of my babble and lacking in what you all really come here to see.  And I've done it two posts in a row!  I guess he'll just have to start his own blog! ;)  Seriously though, I just like to post a Cam update every now and again so that I can look back years from now and remember everything we've gone through.  So if you've made it this far, thanks for sticking around.  You'll soon be rewarded with some cute photos!

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? That is the question!

No one hates a sick infant/toddler/preschooler more than I do.  Especially when the media is scaring everyone so much.  But I'm still so hesitant to vaccinate my kids against both the regular seasonal flu, as well as the H1N1.  I know I vaccinated both of them last year but I'm just not sure I want to this year.  I keep hearing so many convincing arguments on either side of the spectrum and it's just making it harder to decide what to do.  I know that they have removed Thimerasol from most of them and those that still have it, it is supposedly a trace amount.  But from things I've read, Thimerasol is not the only concern here.  There are many other additives that I'm just not sure I want to be pumping into my small children.

I am not trying to say that I don't think vaccines are necessary.  I really believe that they have helped eradicate many deadly childhood diseases.  However, when does it become too much?  I worry that if we keep vaccinating for every disease, we are not allowing our bodies to build up proper immunities to things.  I also worry that we are just putting too many things into the tiny little bodies of these kids at one time.  My boys are current on all their required vaccinations, even though I am still not 100% confident with the decision I made to do so.  I still worry that they will be affected by all the vaccines they've had at such a young age at some point in their lives. 

My purpose for this post, though, is not necessarily to discuss the pros/cons of all vaccines, but more to discuss the pros/cons of the flu vaccines.  As I said before, I've heard convincing arguments from both sides of the spectrum.  My problem is that I just don't know who to believe!  I can read something against the vaccines on the internet and immediately tell myself that there is no way that I will allow my children to be vaccinated.  Then I talk to our pediatrician or to another person whom I feel is well-educated and I respect, and I am convinced that they should get the vaccine.  While I have talked to our pediatrician about the seasonal flu vaccine in the past, I've not brought my concerns up to her this season because I'm still waiting to here what the American Academy of Pediatrics has to say about it all.  Given my past discussions with her though, I have a feeling that she will say it is safe for them to take, though she won't push me to do so.  I still respect her and think she is a very good doctor for us, so I'm not intersted in changing.  In fact, why would I think that I should change doctors?  For all I know, she could be completely correct in her belief that the vaccines are safe for them.  Which brings me back to my whole point, how do I know who is right? 

I realize none of you are doctors, but I do know that many of you are parents with the same concerns I have.  So I'm curious, what will you be doing this season?  Will you be getting both flu vaccines?  Will you be give them both to your child(ren)?  Why or why not?  I'm asking you to weigh in on this issue for me!  Even if you've never commented here before or you think I already know where you stand or you're not a parent of a small child, weigh in!  I'm very interested to see what everyone thinks about this and your comments might help someone else who is struggling with this decision as much as I am!

Taking Comfort

Nearly every kid has them--those little things they turn to when they need to feel comforted.  I was attached to my pacifier for so long that I actually remember when I got rid of it.  I went to a local store and "traded" it in for a Bert and Ernie watch.  The memory of handing over my "puggy," as I called it, to the store owner is still so vivid in my mind.  I actually thought I was buying that watch with it.  And I still have the watch!   I have heard so many stories similar to mine--being so attached to something as a child and having a difficult time parting with it.

Owen never had a blankie and only took a pacifier for about a month, at the most.  I think his attachment came in the form of his sippy cup filled with milk.  He could be at the end of his rope, offer him some milk, and he was a happy kid again.  And, of course, he still has his music that he listens to in bed at night.

And then we have Cameron, whom I've starting calling my "Little Linus."

I bought him this blanket last year when we were vacationing in Lake of the Ozarks.  He has such an obsession with all things microfiber and he just LOVES his blankie.  I actually had to go out and buy 2 more just in case something happened to it!  So now we have them all over the house and he is elated when he sees one.  He grabs it and walks around the house with it like this:

He has yet to really ask for it or really want it when it's not in sight, but I have a feeling that time will eventually come.

Then, a few weeks ago, Owen pulled a little Mickey Mouse out of the pile of stuffed animals in Cameron's room.  Cameron saw it and instantly took to it.  Now, whenever he sees it, his face lights up, he runs for it, and he doesn't let it go.

Yes, we've had a few times where Mickey had to join him at meal times.  He, along with the treasured blankie, are also fixtures in the crib at night.  I'm really hoping these will help him feel a little better and more "at home" if/when we do finally decide to travel with him again.  Hey, a girl can wish, right?

And he insists that he doesn't need a nap!

In the last month or so, Cameron has come to the conclusion that naps are overrated.  It is beyond me how I could have two children who dislike napping as much as they do.  Seriously, if I could find some way to make napping a job and get paid for it, I would totally do it.  And I would pull in 6 figures. 

Anyway, as I said, no more naps for this guy.  Most of the time, it works out ok for us because he goes to bed at 7:30pm and falls right to sleep.  However, there have been a couple of nights where we've had this happen:

That's right.  As he was eating dinner one night, things seemed awfully quiet so I glanced over at him and he was sleeping!  He has done this one other time and both times he was snoring as we all carried on with our dinner.  This particular time, however, he awoke for a split second, looked at me, and smiled:

Then he reached for his milk for a quick drink.  But it was just too difficult to muster up the strength required for drinking and soon he was back to this:

Now that we are waking up earlier to get Owen off to preschool, there have been a few days where I've gotten him down for a bit in the afternoon.  But more often than not, Cameron continues to follow in the footsteps of his let's-give-up-the-nap-earlier-than-Mom-would-like big brother.  Only he's doing it even earlier.  Add this to the "Cons" of having a possible third child.

The Big Guy Never Disappoints

A couple of weekends ago, Owen and I headed up to Boone for our 3rd consecutive "Day Out with Thomas."  Cody and I decided that it would be easier if Cameron didn't go this year since he's still too small to really enjoy it.  We also thought it would be fun for Owen to have a big boy day all to himself to do whatever he wanted without having to worry about Cameron's needs and wants.  I was so excited that I got to share the special day with him!

We grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald's in Boone before we made our way over to the train station.  As soon as we got there, we got our tickets and boarded the coaches.

Owen had so much fun on the 25 minute ride.  We sang Thomas songs and talked about all the different trains we saw on the tracks as we rode along.  He kept saying, "Mommy, we're riding through the countryside!"  As soon as we got off, we jumped in line to have his picture taken with Thomas.

As you can see from the ear-to-ear grin on Owen's face, he was in Thomas heaven.  He was, however, a little upset that Thomas didn't actually talk to him.   Next up, meeting the Fat Controller, Sir Topham Hatt.

Again, he made the comment that Sir Topham didn't talk, but it didn't seem to bother him too much.

After that we, went in the Imagination Station, where they had a few different train tables set up. 

I couldn't help but think to myself that we have all the same stuff at home and more, yet he was fighting to get in there and get just one train to play with amongst all the other kids.  But as long as he was having fun, I guess that's all that matters!

After playing for a bit, we headed over to the Story Telling Caboose where we met the star of IPTV Kids (Iowa Public Television), Dan Wardell.  He's a real celebrity in our household so Owen was just over the moon to see him in person, as you can see here:

Dan read a story in the caboose for all the kids:

After that we packed in a few more activities, spent way too much money at the gift shop, and decided to head home.  Owen was so well-behaved, which made the day even better.  Even when I told him it was time to go, he said, "Ok" and didn't scream or cry one bit!  It was one of the best days the two of us have had together in a long time and I think we both thoroughly enjoyed it!

Cameron Counts

Yes, that's right, my developmentally delayed child counts to 10. He doesn't do "1" and he skips "7" but I figure it's good enough! He's been doing this for about a month, I think. Of course, once I turn the camera on him, he's not nearly as willing to do it so this is the best I could get. We are starting to learn that Cameron has decided that he is just going to do what he wants to do rather than what books and doctors tell him he should be doing. He's an enigma, that's for sure. But isn't he a cute enigma?

Stay tuned for some other out-of-the-ordinary things our not-quite-2-year-old is doing!

A Worthy Cause

As many of you already know, a friend of mine from Murphysboro's 2 year old son is battling cancer.  His name is Cole and he was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma in April.  He had to have one eye removed and has been doing rounds of chemo.  I have been following the family's journey through a blog that his mom writes and have been so inspired by the strength of everyone in their family.  It is amazing how much fight children have in them, as well as how much strength a parent somehow musters up when faced with such a serious illness attacking their child.  I am truly in awe of all of them.

When I saw what another one of my friends from college is doing, I just felt compelled to share it with all of you.  My friend, Bill, who is training to be a Chicago Fire Fighter, will be participating in St. Baldrick's on September 25th.  St. Baldrick's is the world's largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research.  Thousands of volunteers shave their heads as a show of support and unity for children fighting cancer.  In turn, they ask for donations to fund childhood cancer research.  Bill, along with his Chicago Fire Department Academy class, will be shaving his head.  I will be donating in honor of Cole.  If you can, I urge you to visit Bill's donation site and donate to such a worthy cause.  They have nearly reached 50% of their goal, help them get to 100%!

I am happy to report that Cole is nearing the end of his journey with chemo and will hopefully be cancer free when he is done.  Yay for Cole!  Please keep him and his family in your prayers, along with all the many other children who are suffering in the world.  Now go hug your own babies!

Big Day in the Muhs Household!

Today started off with a bang in our house.  Not only is it Daddy's birthday, Owen had his first day of preschool this morning!  Daddy decided since it was such a big day for us he would take the whole day off.  We are so glad that we get to spend this special day with him!

We woke Owen up around 7:30am, an early morning in our house.  He ate his breakfast, got dressed and stopped to pose for a few pictures showcasing his backpack before we headed outside.

Portion Control is Overrated

As you can see, I've changed the look of the blog.  I also decided to add labels to all the posts.  You can find the "Labels" section over in the right colum.  Click on a label of your choice and it will take you to all posts that have been tagged with that label.  I am going back through and adding labels to everything so it will be a while before all the posts are labeled correctly.  I'm also thinking of doing a few other things here at Muhs News so stayed tuned for that! 

Anyway, on to a few "lost" pictures. (I also created a "jump" for posts.  You will have to click on "More Muhs News" to read the remainder of the post.  I'm kind of trying it out for now so I'm not sure if I'll stick with it.  I think it's good for longer posts so the whole thing doesn't load right on the first page.)  Let me know what you think about all the changes!)

An Evening in the Park

Last month we went to one of Owen's favorite parks one evening. It's a huge play structure made out of wood and kind of resembles a castle. There are lots of nooks and crannies to hide, lots of slides, and swings. Owen calls it "Wood Park." This was the first time we've ever taken Cameron there so it was fun to watch him explore it for the first time. He spent his time climbing on things and just running around enjoying his freedom!



Meanwhile, Big Brother weaved in and out of hiding places, stopping for a few quick seconds to let Mom snap a quick photo.

We even attempted to send Cam down the slide for the very first time. Cody went up there with him, got him all poised to slide, and he just kind of sat there not knowing what to do! Cody tried to give him a gentle nudge but his little body just couldn't figure this sliding thing out!



So what's a Dad to do? Go down with him, of course!

Now every time we go to a park and Cameron sees the slides he says, "Wheeeee!!!" He's even getting the hang of going down by himself...sort of.

Wrigley and Soldier Field in the same weekend?!?!

Yes, my husband was, indeed, in sports fan heaven. Not only did he and Owen get to watch the Bears practice at Soldier Field, it just so happened that the Iowa Cubs were playing a game at Wrigley Field that weekend, too. I, of course, thought this was too much to pack into one weekend but what do I know? Cody really wanted to take advantage of this because, like the Bears game, it was a cheap way to take Owen to Wrigley Field.

Ginna got to join in on the fun this time around.

Are they cute or what?

The next couple of pictures are a prime example of what we are going through these days in trying to get a good picture of Owen. Kid will not look at the freaking camera to save his life. Drives me nuts!

Oh well, at least that's a good one of Matt and Gianna! The real reason Cody wanted to go to this game was because after the game was over, all the kids in attendance got to run the bases. Yeah, Owen was excited about it but Cody was over the moon.

"I got to touch the ivy," was all he kept telling me. I'm surprised he was able to concentrate long enough to get pictures of the kids running the bases. I'm also surprised he didn't just take off and run with them!

The kids were allowed to run from first to home and then they were done. Come on, do you think that stopped our Owen? Of course not! He kept right on running, rounding home and making his way back to first! Here he is being instructed to go back to his father, that man over there who is drooling over the ivy and trying to think of a way to take some of it home, too busy to collect his son once he got to home base.

Once again, a good time was had by all. I'm just not sure who had more fun--the die-hard-Cubs-fans Daddies or the kids!

Grandma's Block Party

Grandma Lynn's neighborhood throws a kickin' block party every summer. We didn't realize just how kickin' it was until Cody and Owen were there to join in on the fun. Cody came home and told me it is worth planning a trip to Grandma's house just for the block party! Not that going just to see Grandma isn't worth it. ;) Owen had a grand time as is evidenced by the pictures:

He rode this train once with Grandma but then said he wanted to ride it by himself. Cody said he kept commenting on how this was his first time riding on a "real train!" I'm not quite sure why we spend so much money doing this every year if the above train qualifies as a "real" train. But I digress.




Owen has quite a love for inflatables so I'm certain he was in heaven on this thing!




Apparently he borrowed this from one of the neighbor kids.

Thanks to Grandma and her neighborhood for showing our boy a great time! Count us in for next year!

Bears Family Day

A few weekends ago, Daddy and Owen headed to Bolingbrook/Chicago for a Big Boys Only weekend. They had a weekend packed with fun that started with a day with the Bears!



Every year the Bears have a Family Day where you can pay about 7 bucks to go to Soldier Field, participate in some fun activities, and watch the Bears play a scrimmage game. We thought this was a good start for Owen since it was so cheap and didn't require him to sit still for a long period of time like a real game would. Uncle Matt, Dominic, Matt's brother, Dave, and his son, Jake joined them and a good time was had by all!

You know me, I have to include a picture of the band!

Look how close their seats were!

Look closely and you can spot Brian Urlacher!

We are looking forward to a time when Cameron is old enough to go so we can experience this as a family. Or maybe Daddy and the boys go and Mommy gets a shopping day all to herself? Stay tuned for more Chicago fun!

Lemonade Stand

One day Owen was watching an episode of "Max & Ruby" where they had a lemonade stand and he decided it looked like fun. So he asked me if we could make our own lemonade stand. This was also one of my favorites as a child so I could hardly refuse him! We made a sign and attached it to his little table and he used his little baseball bank to deposit his earnings. I, of course, had to be the customer.




He waited all day for Daddy to get home so he could sell him some lemonade. As Daddy walked in, he sat in the chair and said, "Hello, sir. Welcome to Owen's Lemonade Stand. Would you like to buy a glass?" It was just the cutest thing. Whenever he was done playing for the day we had to put a "Closed for the day" sign on the table. He played with it for a few days until he saw an episode about a bake sale. Now he keeps asking me when we can play that. That one's not quite as easy as lemonade!

Lazy Summer Days

One evening a few weeks ago, I took one look at the loads of unfinished laundry, the pile of dirty dishes, and the millions toys strewn about the living room and said, "Let's go to the pool!" We have a great community pool here in town and it stays open until 9:30pm a couple of nights a week. So as soon as Daddy got home from work, we suited up and headed out!

I tried a couple of times to get Cameron in a pool last summer but he was never a fan. I was so reluctant this summer that it took me until July to finally give it a try. Like most things with Cam, he was a little slow to warm up but by the end of the night he was screaming when we made him go home!

Judging by the smile on this face, a good time was had by all!