Cookies and Crayons

The next step in our vacation was to get onto the cruise ship. This was a special trip for us because we were celebrating out 10th anniversary (it isn’t really until September but I’ll be too pregnant to cruise by then). We opted for a room with a bit more space because it was such a special time and because we’d have Dougie with us and knew he’d need a bit of extra room. Much to our surprise, we then had our room upgraded. It really was a thrill!

The Room

It turned out that it was great to have the space. With Dougie’s naps and early bedtimes, we did end up having a lot of time in the room.

We did manage to escape from the room though. Dougie invented a new game of golf. It involved hitting the ball once with the putter and then picking the ball up, putting it beside the cup and rolling it in. Tiger Woods he is not but Scott is looking into getting him on a junior tour.

Dougie also played some basketball. Being less than 3 feet tall, it isn’t quite his game yet but, with Daddy’s help, he managed.

We also made several trips to the buffet. Dougie learned they had “cook-kee-kees” which he requested every time we got near the buffet or any time he just thought about it.

Not to worry though, the cruise wasn’t all about cookies, there was ice cream too.

You can see why we enjoyed it so much. We’ll cover port stops soon.

After our quick trip to Canada, we had a handful of days at home and then we were off to Europe for a family vacation. As you can imagine, we were more than a bit nervous about having Dougie on a very long flight across the Atlantic not to mention our concerns about dealing with a toddler and serious jet lag. Overall, we all did exceptionally well with the trip. We had a few early flights that taxed all of us but we pulled through and made it to Copenhagen without any major international incidents.

Our first day there we spent mostly in recovery mode. It was raining most of the day and we were all very tired so we napped and didn’t wander too far from the hotel. Fortunately, we were very close to a lot of the action of the city so even with just a short walk we could experience city life.

Day two we decided to get out and do some real site seeing. We took a boat tour in the morning. It was a great way to see the city and Dougie enjoyed the experience of being on the boat enough that he was happy to sit through the tour.

After some lunch and a short nap, we headed to Tivoli. It’s a small amusement park right in the center of Copenhagen. I think that may have been the highlight of Dougie’s entire trip. There was a large children’s area that had an inflated mattress like thing that the kids could bounce on.

There were also slides and other more standard play things.

It was a challenge to get Dougie away from that area but eventually, we did. We decided to try him on some of the rides. Daddy took him on the first one.

It looks like he’s screaming there but he’s actually saying “Hi Mama.”

I drove with him in some little cars and then we moved onto the carousel.

Dougie loved the carousel so much, we did it again. This time, he wanted to ride the giraffe.

It really was huge. Scott kept a hand on him the entire time though.

It has been a long day by the time we finished on the rides so we had some dinner in the park. Scott decided to get some ice cream but Dougie felt that he should share.

We decided to finish the day by burning off a bit of energy back on the bounce thing.

There were a lot less kids the second time so Dougie was able to run without worrying about hitting someone else.

It was a fabulous day. The next day we headed for the cruise ship. More about that soon.

This week, Dougie started his group speech therapy program. He was initially a bit nervous about going but I walked him to the room and then he seemed happy to go in with the other kids. There are 4 children in the class, all boys. Interestingly, they are also all left handed.

This week, our theme is “At the Beach.” We’re working on beach based words – fish, sun, sand, wet, dry, dig, find, etc. Dougie did exceptionally well. He has a greater vocabulary (at least with beach words) than all but one child in the class though he is one of the hardest to understand.

The best part was that I was able to watch the entire class, except for gym, from behind one way glass. The program looks like it will be a great step for Dougie to get a bit more vocabulary. We continue with it until late July and then will determine if we should continue with it starting up in early August. We’ve now had our second apraxia diagnosis so it’s possible we’ll switch classes to something that will more directly address that need.

It has been a long month of traveling but we’re home! We’ve had a great time and plan to post lots of pictures.

To start, we went up to Toronto for Pauline’s wedding. We worked in a few extra days so we could spend a bit of time at home. We only had a day before we headed up to North Bay so we had a quiet day at home. Dougie spent some time playing with Grandpa and showing him his soccer moves.

Dougie became a bit distracted with the various interesting things outside so their game had to be cut short but they enjoyed themselves anyway.

Later that night, Scott flew in and we drove up to North Bay the following morning. We got in pretty late and Dougie was tired so we just looked around town a bit and then called it a night. Dougie did manage to get some time playing in the lake though.

At first, he was just happy to play in the water

Then he discovered the joy of throwing sticks (I believe Daddy had something to do with this discovery)

Tired and a bit wet, we finally convinced him it was time to get some dinner

Dougie wore his suit for the last time to the wedding the next day. He looked cute but it clearly was a bit small.

The wedding was lovely but we were glad to change into some warmer clothes after the ceremony. Once we were all warm, we grabbed Pauline and Theresa to get a quick picture.

Dougie then tried his best to stay entertained, even if it meant finding someone to help him out.

In fact, Theresa did such a good job that he decided he would show her his soccer skills as well. Unfortunately, the ball had no air, but Dougie made do.

The next morning, we headed back to Toronto. On the way, we met up with Mike at a park not too far from his house. Dougie had a great time playing ball with Uncle Mike.

Yet another person to observe his mad skillz.

When he finally tired of traditional soccer, Dougie and Uncle Mike invented a new game. I don’t exactly know the rules but it involves a swing and trying to catch a soccer ball.

We ended the trip with a great day at African Lion Safari. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery at that point so I don’t have any great pictures from that but I can assure you that Dougie very much enjoyed it. Especially the monkeys climbing on the car.

Our speech therapist recently told us that she feels Dougie may have a condition called apraxia. The link below explains the condition as well as answers some other questions.

FAQ About Childhood Apraxia

At this point, we cannot confirm a diagnosis because Dougie doesn’t have sufficient language. Regardless, if he does have it, he is not severe. Our therapist strongly believes that we should be able to move past it with continued therapy as well as practice at home. We are changing our therapy a little bit to increase focus on sound groupings and less on learning new words.

In exciting news, we think we managed to get Dougie into the special group speech therapy we had been wait listed for. We are going for an evaluation on Monday morning but, at this point, we have no reason to believe he won’t be able to get into the program.

The program is preschool-like with a focus on language development. It is offered through the Callier Center who are run through the University of Texas at Dallas. Here is the description of the program:

SmILE (Small-group Intervention for Language Emergence)
This group program is designed to facilitate language development in young children. The curriculum is organized by content themes in preschool routines that are utilized to provide intensive language intervention and social skills development. The program is led by a certified, licensed speech-language pathologist with the support of graduate student clinicians.

Everyone I have spoken to who knows anything about the center has told me how wonderful it is. This will be a great addition to Dougie’s therapy and should really help move him along.

Scott and I are very excited to announce we are adding to our family – and it isn’t another dog. Though it may be some sort of gummy bear.

We’re expecting our new addition on Thanksgiving day (US). So far, everything is going very smoothly, morning sickness has even been gone for a while now. The doctor will be keep a close eye on the baby’s growth to ensure we don’t have issues like we did with Dougie but she indicated that previous issues are not the sign of future problems.

While the Sharabura’s were here, we took them out for BBQ. There is a great whole in the wall type place not too far from here that is apparently one of the best places around. After lunch, we walked around back to see the cows.

(Imagine you had just had brisket and you’ll know how I felt – I knew I should have had the pulled pork.)

Anyway, the guy was out there talking to the cows and getting them to moo. Dougie thought it was awesome and tried to moo back. Then, the guy brought out some food and let Dougie feed them!

Initially, he wasn’t so sure about the whole thing

Then he got right into it

Dougie (and Scott) were both covered in cow slime but it was a fabulous experience!!

Grandma and Grandpa Sharabura came out to visit last weekend. It was so nice to see them and Dougie sure enjoyed spending time with them.

We took them to the park to play.

Then had a little rest to watch the ducks and geese. Dougie wanted to sit with Grandpa.

We had fun at home as well. Dougie invented a new game to play with Grandma. As best I can tell, she has to sit there while he jumps over her feet.

By far, the cutest part was they discovered this game Saturday evening and then Dougie took Grandma’s hand and brought her over to the couch so they could play again on Sunday morning. He even patted the couch so she’s know to sit down.

We all had a great time with their visit and can’t wait to see them again!

This morning, we noticed we had an unexpected house guest.

He’s living out by the front door in the carport. He’s pretty cute and by all accounts, he’s full size. I expect he (who is actually likely a she) is building a nest there. At this point, he/she can stay because he isn’t bothered by us but if he/she starts “protecting” the nest, we may need to get someone out to help relocate it.

In other news, we’re all well though Dougie and I have been sick for the last week or so. We’re both feeling better though and looking forward to our planned house guests later this week.

Unfortunately, Dougie was sick for most of Grandma’s visit and wasn’t able to go to swimming or soccer. So, we decided to take him to the park yesterday for a little bit of family soccer.

We had to work to keep the ball (and Dougie) out of the pond

A little game of Dougie in the middle