Yesterday, Rashae and I loaded up the kids and took them to the Sea-Life Aquarium in Grapevine. Here are some photos from our fun trip.

Carter had his two-year well-baby checkup on July 19. He weighed 28 pounds 9 ounces (just above the 50%-ile) and measured 36 inches long (just below the 90%-ile).

At the appointment, I talked to Dr. Moore about our concerns with Carter’s lack of clarity when speaking. She said that at two-years old, a stranger should be able to understand 50% of what he says. I knew that wasn’t the case so she suggested we schedule a hearing evaluation to make sure he is hearing all the tones. Then to schedule a speech evaluation.

On July 25 he had the hearing test and it told us that he hears all the tones just fine. He was getting over a cold and had a little bit of fluid in his ears at the time so they had to turn up the volume slightly to get past the fluid. But otherwise everything was normal — just as we suspected.

On August 27 he had the speech evaluation. Based on my description of the problem, they started with the articulation test. They ended up skipping the language test altogether because it was obvious that he has no problem putting together sentences, using all parts of speech, and even picking up new words and using them in another context.

He scored 75 on the articulation test, the normal range is 85 to 115, so the therapist recommended therapy two days a week for the next three months.

We really want to help him overcome this minor obstacle before it becomes a source of frustration for him. The therapist sounded extremely optimistic that he would respond well to therapy in a short amount of time. He was able to form all the sounds she asked him to and even though he was a little shy, he worked with her very well and did everything she asked him to do. It will be a few weeks before we get therapy scheduled but we are looking forward to starting it.

These were all recorded over the past month.

Raine: “Daddy do you know how to say ‘peas’?”
Daddy, trying to impress her with his wisdom: “Yes, I know how to say ‘peas’ in two different languages. Do you know how to say ‘peas’ in Portuguese?”
Raine, with a very unimpressed look on her face: “Peas in Portuguese.”

Raine, yelling from the bathroom: “Daddy, I went poo-poo.”
Daddy, exasperated at having to wipe Raine’s bum again: “Raine, you need to wipe your own bum.”
Raine: “No I can’t!”
Daddy: “How long am I going to have to wipe your bum for you?”
Raine: “Until I’m 16.”

Raine has always been very in-tune with emotion in pictures and books. Now that she is writing, each of the letters she makes also has an emotion.
Raine, writing her name: “That’s a happy R but the A is sad. … Oh, that’s a tired I.”

Raine: “Mommy, I know how to climb a tree.”
Mommy: “You do?!!”
Raine: “Ya, we get a ladder and that’s how you climb a tree.”
Mommy: “Oh, I see. That’s a good way to climb a tree.”

Carter: “Momma, pay bah wi me” (play ball with me)
Momma: “Ok.”
After a couple tosses I make a bad one and it goes off Carter’s arms.
Carter: “Oh, Momma!”
After a couple more tosses Carter makes a bad toss.
Carter: “Oh, Me!”

Carter, pointing to each person at the dinner table: “Daddy bah (bear), Momma bah, Rah-rah bah (Raine bear) . . . ”
Pointing to himself: “Me bah!”
He puts ‘bear’ after everyone’s name, even his stuffed dog: “Ruf-ruf bah”

Carter after dropping some food: “Uh-oh me!”

Carter has reached the independence phase. All day long I hear, “I do it.” He has even started saying his own prayers. The other night it sounded like this:
Thank you for . . . “Daddy rahr (lion), Mommy rahr, ooo-ooo (monkey), elebah (elephant), ruf-ruf (his dog), night-night (his blanket).”

He just prays for whatever he sees in front of him (all those animals hang on his bedroom wall). Obviously we need to spend a little more time working on the eye-closing thing!
At meals it sounds like this:
Thank you for “kip-ees (rice krispies), guh (milk), bo (bowl) . . . “

Daddy hit the big three-five this year and the kids have informed him that he is OLD! He has now joined the “age 35-44” demographic. We started celebrating his birthday on Saturday evening — since we don’t get to see much of him on Sundays. First we helped him open a few of his presents.

Then we took him out for hamburgers and swimming.

It just so happened that the water park had fireworks the night before his birthday — choreographed to 80’s music no less — how more perfect could you get!

Sunday we enjoyed a YUMMY cake!

Then we opened the last few presents…

…and Daddy tried out his new music stand.

Happy birthday Daddy, we love you!

The kids spent last week in Houston, at the Rumsey’s house . . . without Daddy and me! Shannan agreed to take care of these two monkeys while we were in Belize. The kids had so much fun with six-year-old cousin Alexa that they hardly had time to miss us! I don’t know all the details of their adventures, but Shannan sent me some photos to document the fun.

August 1 – playing at the park.

August 2 – playing at Bouncing Bears. Carter and Alexa at the top of the slide.

Carter at the bottom of the slide.

Raine looking cute.

August 3 – pizza by the pool.

August 4 – dancing with Davis.

August 5 – saying good-bye.

Thanks again Shannan for taking such good care of them for us!