Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Graduate School Update

We are still waiting to hear back from a number of schools, but here is what we have so far....

-wait-listed at Vanderbilt
-rejected from Stony Brook (in New York)
-ACCEPTED at UC Riverside!!!!!!!

So far...California is our #1 option. It's one of the top schools Justin wanted to go to anyway...so we are very happy!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Farm Country

On Saturday afternoon, my dad came down to play with us and we went to "Farm Country" up at Thanksgiving Point. It was awesome! Joshua is learning animals right now, so it was fun to see real ones. He is feeding the goats some straw.

He is riding the fake cow. He is making a "moo" sound, that's why his mouth is shaped the way it is. (There were lots of real cows too, he just couldn't ride them!)

But he could ride the horses! Grandpa made sure he didn't fall off, but Joshua was a pro-horse rider!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

New Words

I decided to start off February on a good foot. Day 1 and a post done already! :) Joshua is quickly learning lots of new words. We had a little worry a couple of weeks ago when we visited my sister in North Carolina and she noticed he wasn't really talking much. Her oldest is autistic, so she's pretty aware of where kids are supposed to be. A lot of why he wasn't talking there was also because his cousins were pretty overwhelming to him, but still.

We had his 18 month check a few days later and the Dr. was also a little concerned. The only two words he was saying very consistently at that point were "ball" and "gog" (dog). The Dr. said they like to see them saying 15-20 words consistently at 18th months.

So he might participate in an early intervention program. But while he's getting tested for that, Justin and I decided we were going to try extra hard to really WORK on words with him, instead of just assuming that he'll pick them up when he wants to. He has come SOO far in the last week and a half. Here are some things he likes to say...

"meow"
"woo-woo" (woof woof)
"moo" (for a cow)
"moo" (moon)
"clock" (doesn't pronounce it quite right, but...close)
"doh" (door)
"cah" (car)
"uh oh"
"no" (nose)
"no" (as in N-O...usually more like 'no, no, no!!!!')

A few other words are in the works, but these are the ones he says regularly. A month or so ago, Justin and I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert with Brian Stokes Mitchell. He sang a song called "New Words" that really touched both of us and now I am experiencing it! It really is incredible. Here are the lyrics:

NEW WORDS
Words and Music by Maury Yeston

Look up there,
High above us,
In a sky of blackest silk.
See how round,
Like a cookie,
See how white - as white as milk.
Call it the moon, my son,
Say "moon".
Sounds like your spoon, my son,
Can you say it?
New word today…
Say "moon".

Near the moon,
Brightly turning,
See the shining sparks of light.
Each one new,
Each one burning,
Through the darkness of the night.
We call them stars, my son,
Say "stars".
That one is Mars, my son,
Can you say it?
New word today,
Say "stars"…

As they blink all around us,
Playing starry-eyed games.
Who would think it astounds us,
Simply naming their names.

Turn your eyes,
From the skies now,
Turn around and look at me.
There's a light,
In my eyes now,
And a word for what you see.
We call it love, my son,
Say "love".
So hard to say, my son,
It gets harder…
New words today,
We'll learn to say,
Learn "moon"
Learn "stars"
Learn "love".

(as a side note, I am pretty sure Brian Stokes Mitchell is coming out with a CD that has this song on it. He has a pretty incredible voice and a fun sound...I would recommend it!)