Boys Will Be Boys

My Boys.....I love them so much.  Even enough to start blogging again after a 3 month hiatus.  Yup.  So, where do I start?  Stryder and Krew get along extremely well, most of the time.  They have started to interact more and more lately, which is just a joy to see.  This weekend we were at a party and Stryder started to crawl under peoples' chairs, then Krew sees what he's doing and he speed-crawls over and does the same thing.  "Monkey See, Monkey Do," is what spectators called it.  He he.

Stryder turned 2 in April.  We made him his very own Toy Story cake with the help of some friends.  To prove how spoiled our child is, he also got a mini-toddler-size-totally-and-completely-safe-trampoline!  The thing is that his brother likes the trampoline more than he does.  Something about being totally enclosed in a small space just doesn't sit well with Stryder.  He has grown so much this past year, I cannot believe the little boy he is becoming.  He certainly is one of a kind!  The outgoing, active kind!!  Stryder has struggled with speaking, however, but he is learning quickly and able to comprehend and problem-solve greatly.  He spends about an hour each week with a speech pathologist, who assures us that he is making great progress in this area.  Since starting this, we have noticed that he is approximating words more often, and he regularly says 'mama, yeah, out, up, ball, and quack-quack!'  I am so proud of him and know that it is not easy for him to be taken into the clinic on a regular basis for speech sessions.  But he is such a determined little guy and he makes the best out of it.  Stryder gets the biggest smile on his face when he says something, because we always try to give him so much praise when this happens.  Keith and I both have had vivid dreams of Stryder speaking in full sentences with his cute little voice.  We both have faith that he will overcome this challenge, and we strive to do everything we can to help him.  We also continue to learn ways to help in at home.  Continuing with sign language is important, since this gives him a way to communicate his needs with us, when he is unable to verbalize them. Stryder is smart and finds ways to tell us what he wants.  He has even started making up his own signs.  When he wants something, he takes us by the hand and looks us in the eye and points until we understand.  A few weeks ago, the boys had a babysitter here.  When she asked Stryder what he wanted to dinner, he took her over to the fridge, pointed to the eggs.  She asked where the frying pan was, so she could cook scramble eggs, and he promptly pointed up in the cupboard where the frying pan is.  Clever kid.  He is starting to simultaneously use signs and sounds, such as the more sign accompanied with 'mmm' sound.  Stryder is so active and full of life.  Today, he played outside in the rainy drizzle with a smile on his face.  He loves being around other children and is very friendly.  He has concern for others and loves his baby brother, as the first sign he does when he wakes up in the morning is "baby."

Krew is a sweet, sweet baby.  He is extremely happy and calm.  Krew loves interaction with people.  He is a little more shy than his big brother, but when he warms up to someone, he will be just as friendly!  Krew gets complimented all the time on his handsome baby looks.  I'm not kidding.  He seems to get their attention by his infectious laugh, which I wish I could clone and seal in a bottle!  Krew is a little sensitive at times and will let us know if he is in need of some attention.  He has started crawling.....and fast!  With crawling soon came pulling himself up on things, furniture, people, whatever's in sight.  He also says "mama" over and over again.  I am not sure he knows what he is saying, but it is cute and endearing nonetheless!  Krew is a little piggy....he eats and eats and eats.  Yesterday, I got home from my workout class and put Krew in his highchair and started to feed him a big bowl of baby food and rice cereal.  Keith came into the kitchen and said, "Les, What are you doing?  I just fed him."  Then he realized I obviously didn't know this information, and rephrased his question to a statement that summed it up: "Krew is eating AGAIN?!"  Krew and Stryder have started playing with each other.  It warms my heart to see them as brothers be best friends.  Krew will bust out laughing at Stryder just by looking at him sometimes, and this will make Stryder laugh, too.

Keith's last rotation was plastic surgery, which he really enjoyed.  Anyone who knows Keith, knows he is one of the least vain people on the planet, which makes the whole thing somewhat of an enigma. Or a dichotomy.  Really, though, one of the reasons I knew he really did like this field of medicine was when he came home after a day they had seen a patient who had her nose removed because of cancer.  She essentially had no nose, and the plastic surgeon was able to take a small portion of skin from her forehead and flip it down to make her a nose.  He said that the majority of cases were similar to this, which is what he really liked about this rotation.  Plastic Surgery unjustly has a poor connotation, no doubt due to Dr. 90210 and other reality shows.  A better fitting name for this field, in my opinion, is Reconstructive Surgery, which has a more humble assumption.  Keith has been little concerned about choosing a field that will challenge him, keep his interest, pay well, and be somewhat family friendly.  We continue to pray about this and I try to be supportive of whatever makes him happy.  On a completely unrelated side note; I hear the Anaesthesia lifestyle is not too shabby ;-)

Nothing is really going on with me, accept that I am still a mom, a nurse, and a, yes, still a student.  That pretty much keeps me busy enough.  Now that summer is here, I so cannot wait for warm weather, if there is such a thing in Wisconsin.  We are going stir crazy in the house, my kids included.

My parents recently moved to Oklahoma, which makes us empty-nester's here in Wisconsin.  We miss them, and all our family.  We are gearing up for a fun summer, as we will be visiting Utah for the whole month of July.  Not looking forward much to two full days of driving in the car with two active kiddos.  Thank heavens for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the modern invention of DVD players for your car.

Well, to leave you with a photo, so aptly captioned: "A picture is worth a thousand words."