A Journey for Kelty

A very special journey for Kelty ....

Immediately following our visit to Vermont for Mike's graduation from medical school, we drove to Boston for a series of medical appointments for Kelty. Some time ago, Kelty was diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech, a neurological speech disorder that affects the brain’s ability to send the proper signals to move the muscles involved in speech. Apraxia-Kids.org is a wonderful site that helps explain Apraxia of Speech, treatment options, and resources available. I really encourage you to browse through the Family Start Guide which does a wonderful job explaining Apraxia of Speech .. it's been a tremendously helpful resource for us.

Kelty started working with a speech pathologist over 2 years ago ... wow, 2 years! Over the course of these 2 years we have literally taught Kelty every sound, syllable, and word that he now has in his vocabulary ... we've taught him how to move his lips, tongue and muscles to communicate verbally. We've literally had to train Kelty to speak. We have an AMAZING speech pathologist here, truly amazing. Kelty responds so well and we've all formed a wonderful bond ... it is through all of our efforts, including Kelty, that Kelty now has a voice. But this is a long journey for Kelty and though he has made great progress ... we have a long way to go.

Kelty with his speech pathologist, Julie ... working on finding "g" and the "guh" sound.

Kelty has no other developmental delays ... and though we are truly blessed with that, the challenge is that Kelty is very smart and understands EVERYTHING! We have in a Kelty a very bright, happy, imaginative, expressive, active and social little boy that simply cannot speak what he knows! He has stories to share but cannot tell them ... he has feelings to share but cannot speak them ... he has so much to say but a voice that fights back. He loves to talk, but his speech is filled with word approximations and mostly goes misunderstood. He makes up for his speech difficulties by animating ... I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be a little actor.

Several months as we were plugging along at our speech appointments, Julie had a little heart-to-heart with me. There was MORE that we needed to be doing for Kelty ... and our journey to get Kelty seen at the Center for Communication Enhancement at Children's Hospital Boston began ...

On May 23, 2011 after consults, referral paperwork, coordination with insurance ... Kelty had his 1st appointment at the Center for Communication Enhancement at Children's Hospital Boston. I'll be honest, Al and I were hoping to hear "Kelty is fine, just keep doing what you're doing and he'll be tracking normally soon" ... but it's not what we heard. Instead, they confirmed what Julie had already told us ... Kelty needed the aid of an Augmentative Communication Device. Over the course of one week, the speech pathologists worked with Kelty on various communication devices and decided the Vantage Lite would be best suited for Kelty. Of course the decision was ultimately for Al and I to decide and we are still in a state of disbelief, but it is our job to give Kelty every opportunity to speak and to be understood.

This device will essentially "give Kelty a voice" until he is able to communicate successfully on his own. He can build sentences, ask for help, ask for things he needs and share with us everything he know but cannot speak ... I am so excited to hear what Kelty has to say!

Now, we are in a state of waiting from the insurance company to decide whether or not this device will be covered. Though we've been assured that it will, does anyone have luck with their insurance company the first time around? If not ... we will make this work.

On the lighter side of things ...

In between appointments; we were able to enjoy a little of Boston with Al's parents, who were able to continue their visit with us after leaving Vermont ...

We visited the tomb of Paul Revere ...

We spent an afternoon at the Children's Museum ...

Every little boys dream ...

and this too ...

Hands-on learning ...


We ate at Cheers (that's my Bloody Mary)!


... and despite a busy schedule, we enjoyed some great family time and Kelty was able to have fun with his Mimi and Papa.

Support Those With Apraxia of Speech

The Vivint Gives Back project is giving away $1,250,000 to charities ... and YOU decide where it goes! By simply following them on Facebook, you can make your vote count ... and don't forget to VOTE DAILY! Please click the banner to start the voting process ...

I'm asking for your vote to support CASANA, the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America. In doing so, you will also be supporting the community that provides support to our family and our son Kelty, who has Apraxia.

Kelty! You can't pass up that smile!

A little about CASANA ...

Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America is the only charity organization dedicated solely to helping children that have the neurological speech disorder , apraxia. Their mission is to strengthen support systems for children with apraxia of speech to give them every opportunity to develop speech. CASANA's goals are to support the children and their families, educate current and future speech language pathologists in correct treatment of apraxia, to fund research into childhood apraxia of speech and to raise awareness about this neurological speech disorder.

Please spread the word!

It's A Bird ... It's a Plane ... It's

... SUPER KELTY!

We've been living with a superhero!

He tried to fly ....

and was very upset when he couldn't ...

turns out, our little superhero is our son in disguise ... who knew!

Super Kelty visits us almost daily ... he is a happy superhero who runs fast, jumps high and gives great hugs! When entering and exiting he puts his hands on his hips, puffs out his chest, and exclaims "Uh Huh!". I hope he sticks around for awhile!

Playground ~ "No Bye"

Spring = More Outdoor Play! This weekend we spent a lot of time outside and amongst other things, took a trip to the playground. But all good things must come to an end ...

"No Bye"

I don't know how I managed to capture this; but it's classic! Kelty is reaching back desperately for the playground ...

... but don't be sad, he was actually full of smiles! Oh how I love the happiness behind a spontaneous smile!

Day to Day ...

I'm attempting to break out of my blogging hiatus! We've been so busy! We're finally feeling a little relief from Al's work schedule, Kelty had the "crud" for a week and is now back to his former active self, I've been busy filling Etsy orders and playing around with my new Silhouette machine, I started an on-line photography course and am developing a 3rd blog dedicated to my business and DIY projects! We've also been making arrangements for a medical TDY to the states for Kelty and planning a few summer excursions to Greece, Cinque Terre, and Norway. Holy cow! Here are a few moments I've captured along the way ...

We're feeling a little Spring in the air! Ok, so it's still cold but nothing we can't manage with a few a layers! We've been taking frequent family walks and enjoying the fresh air. Kelty is sporting his new Camelbak ... he loves it.

We love our little outdoor adventures. Al picked up toddler hiking poles a few months ago when he was in the "states".

Kelty donned his "work glasses" before working on his train track ... safety first! ;o)

Repairing the railway.

Kelty takes good care of his bike.

The kiddo has a slight addiction to Lucky Charms. I caught him in the kitchen digging through the Lucky Charms bag to find the marshmallow "charms" ... what's even better is that he's wearing a Lucky Charms graphic tee. Oh how I love this little guy!

The "big" slide ... I can't believe he's big enough to do this on his own and I can't believe my heart survives watching him go down it!

An early evening bike ride to visit the horses and the nearby Horse Farm.

A few cute "un-photo" moments:

Kelty has started calling the crescent moon, "Banana Moon"
Kelty melts my heart with random kisses on the forehead followed by "Love You Ma"
Kelty has this thing about playing "robot"
He picks out 3 vitamins every morning ... one for Dad, one for Mom, and one for himself
Kelty seems to enjoy burping ... then saying "cuse me"
He navigates around our new Ipod Touch better than I do!

... and that's a bit of a photo journey of our life, day-to-day.

No "Nugget" Left Behind ...

If you're drinking your morning coffee ... put it down. If you're drinking soda ... put it down. If you're eating ... stop. Now ....

Today Kelty and I were running errands. We were standing in the middle of base Thrift Shop and Kelty announces ...

Kelty: "poo!"

Mommy: "Oh! You have to go potty!"

Kelty: "no"

Mommy: "You don't have to go potty?"

Kelty: "poo" (as he is signing the word "potty")

Mommy: "Did you already go poo?"

Kelty: "ehh" (his version of "yes")

Mommy: "Uh, oh. Ok, let's walk over the grocery store to use the bathroom."

Mommy walks with a waddling child .... out of the store and starts toward the staircase ... mommy suddenly sees a little ball roll on the floor ... mommy leans in for a closer look ... it's a "poo nugget" ... crap! ... mommy scoops up Kelty ... and walks briskly towards the door (thinking she'll return for the nugget in a minute before anything else happens) ... mommy walks down the staircase and down the stairs ... out drops another "poo nugget" ... crap! ... running faster out of the building through the parking lot and to the grocery store and to the bathroom. Mommy pulls down Kelty's pants and little "poo nuggets" spill scatter on the floor. Mommy cleans up Kelty and the floor and briskly walks outside and back to the store to (as inconspicuously as possible) pick up the nuggets. Mommy stops to pick up the last seen nugget ... looks up and whoa! there's another ... picks it up and whoa! there's another ... picks it up and whoa! there's another. Mommy followed a perfectly laid trail of "poo nuggets" up the staircase, down a hallway ... and into the store ... and through the store.

My child pooped in a store today ... and left a trail of poo about every 2 feet. Thank God people were too busy shopping to realize they were prancing around little "poo nuggets" scattered throughout the shop.

... for the love of being a mommy.

I'm sharing this with other mommy bloggers over at
Real Moms - Real Laughs!

Whining Has Consequences ...

Lately I'm hearing A LOT of whining when Kelty wants something ... whether it's water, juice, milk, a snack, a toy he can't reach, etc. There is no build-up to the whine ... his request simply starts with a whine and it gets louder and louder and louder ... when he wants something he wants it immediately.

For a while I was catching myself yelling back, "hold on!", and then it hit me ... I grabbed the timer from the kitchen and had a little chat with Kelty. I explained if he needed something then he needs to ask nicely and sometimes he may have to wait a few minutes until I can get it for him ... if he whines I will set the timer to 3 minutes and I will not get his juice/water/snack/toy/etc. until the 3 minutes is over and the timer rings. I'm hoping this will teach him a little patience ... and that whining has consequences.

A Little Christmas Cheer

Last weekend Kelty had his school Christmas Pageant! He was so excited to get on stage! Unfortunately Al had "school" and wasn't able to join us. Kelty was so content during the entire event ... clapping and cheering for each of the classes that performed after him. Awwww. After the pageant I took Kelty to the BX to meet Santa where he promptly told Santa he wanted a "baw" ... ball. That's it ... it's all he wants for Christmas! After our visit with Santa we did a little shopping in the BX and enjoyed lunch together at Johnny Rockets ... it's Kelty's favorite little place to eat. I love these special little trips with Kelty.

Finally after over a year ... I've uploaded a video!

.... look at the focus. (Jessica, Kelty was wearing one of John Charles' old Christmas sweaters ... it had a little reindeer on it!)

Kelty hopped right up on Santa's lap and signed "ball" accompanied and said "baw me" (ball please). Since this visit, Kelty has requested 2 balls for Christmas.

Celebrating 3!

Kelty turned 3! I'm just as happy to celebrate Kelty's 3rd birthday as I am to celebrate the fact that Al and I have survived 3 years of parenting! Before becoming a parent I had thought that parents do all the teaching ... I have realized over the last 3 years that children teach parents just as much as we teach them. Oh how I love our little kiddo!

We kept our celebration small again this year. Our neighbors, Heinz and Evi, came over to celebrate while Kelty blew out his candles ... we also Skyped with the families so they could get in on the action. A few hours later the Wagner family visited and we opened presents, ate cupcakes, enjoyed a pizza night and just let the boys play ....

Kelty's last night as a 2-year old!

Kelty always has to have a sip of water after hopping in bed ... doesn't help him keep a dry diaper during the night though! Notice ... no more paci!!

Al and Jordan putting together Kelty's train table.

This little layer cake is turning into a birthday tradition. I decorated the sides with an airplane, boat, car, and hot air balloon that coordinated with his cupcake toppers.

His little transportation-themed cupcakes.

Oh, there is a story behind this! I had purchased a 12-piece train mold set to make a train cake for Kelty's birthday. I had a vision of building a little track with pretzel sticks and setting out the cake train cars across the track all around the table. Ha! The night before his birthday (with our great friends Tina and Jordan still visiting from FL), Tina and I set out to make this cake. I separated the cake batter and made 5 different colors and set out to make my first batch. Total disaster ... none of the mini cakes would pop out of the mold and I ended up with blobs instead of train cars. So around 11pm I started making Kelty a mini-cake and used the rest of the batter for cupcakes. Tina does a lot of graphic design work and downloaded transportation themed stock photos and transformed them into little circles so I could make cupcake toppers! At 1am we finally wrapped up and went to bed .... did I mention they had to get up at 5am to catch their flight back to the states? Thank you so much Tina for making the "finishing touches" possible!!

Mommy and Kelty

Daddy and Kelty

During the days leading up to his birthday, Kelty would wake up each morning and say "day?" and imitate blowing out candles .... you can only imagine his excitement when the moment finally arrived!

Hooray!

Showing Heinz his new train table

Playing with Luke and Elijah

The Wagner's just celebrated the birth of their 3rd boy! Kelty adored baby Jonah!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kelty!

Looking back on 2!
Looking back on 1 (Part 1)!
Looking back on 1 (Part 2)!

Halloween!

Halloween was short and sweet this year! Al returned from a 2-week TDY just a few hours before we headed to base for a little trick-or-treating! Since he was in "the states", I put him on costume duty ... he gets an A+ for picking out such a fun costume for Kelty! Kelty loves the horse farm near the house and was really excited about this costume. He wore one of my cowboy hats and an old red bandana from my "dance drawer" ... paired with the little jean jacket that Nana and Papa gave him it was the perfect "thrown together at the last minute" costume!

We could barely get him to stand still for a photo ... Kelty spent the entire evening galloping around!

Oh my gosh ... the rear view was just as cute!

Kelty took to trick-or-treating very quickly. He couldn't say "trick-or-treat" but he could manage "treat" and would sign "thank-you" after each goody. He was a hit!

Playtime With a Toddler Gone Horribly, Hilariously Wrong!

There we were, Kelty and Mommy, playing nicely in his room banging on the drum, playing with little matchbox cars .... when Kelty decided to pull this little battery-operated hamster toy out of his stash and turn it on. He put it on his face and I said "no, no" .... so he put it on the top of my head. In a blink of an eye those little turning wheels sucked up my hair and created a snarled mess. My hair was (ahem ... is) wrapped up in the wheels of this toy! I sit here, writing this blog post (with a hamster stuck on my head), hoping Al will get home soon because this thing is REALLY starting to hurt.

So what does one do when they have a hamster stuck on their head and is patiently waiting for her prince to rescue her .....

Take photo's and blog about it ....

Yeah, doesn't seem so funny anymore .....

Then I got bored ... so why not feed the little guy?

Then I'm sure the little guy is thirsty up there perched on my head ...

What the heck, this calls for breaking out the wine halter ...

.... still waiting!

Home Sweet Home

We just returned from a 2 1/2 week visit back to Michigan to visit my mom and dad (Nana and Papa to Kelty)! Oh, what a fabulous trip! Al was on a training TDY for the entire month of August so I made plans to visit my parents. I braved an 8 1/2 hour flight ... alone with my toddler ... and despite the in-flight entertainment system being BROKEN, we managed really well! I have to admit that I was a little proud of myself for pulling it off!

This was my first extended trip back "home" during the summer since, well ... I think our wedding 12 years ago! It was as beautiful and comforting as I remember it growing up and it was truly a beautiful thing watching Kelty enjoy "home" the way I enjoyed it when I was little ...

We spent most of our time outside and Kelty used this time to release a lot of energy!

We went dinosaur hunting in the woods with Papa on the Mule ...

Our exploration led us to the lake where Kelty played in the water ...

Kelty spent HOURS driving the John Deere around the property ... this awesome little vehicle has been through most of the grandkids! Kelty collected branches, acorns and moss ...

We played in the ball pit ...

Raced the John Deere and the electric scooter ...

Hopped on Papa's BMW motorcycle ...

Drove the golf cart ...

Fed the bunnies with Nana ...

Drove the tractor ...

Went hunting for acorns with Nana ...

Took adventures on the Mule ...

Went to the Circus ...

Made Nana and Papa very happy ...

Fed the birds ...

Played with bubbles ...

We laughed ...

Visited Kelty's cousins ...

Cut the grass ...

Played in the bounce house ...

Played in the woods ...

Had fun with Nana and Papa ...

Made some very special memories ...

Oh! And finally Al made it up to visit ...

and as we always do when we visit home ... we shot guns! Don't mess with Momma!

In hindsight, I should have blogged along the way so I could share all the beautiful details behind the photos ... but, I didn't. Another lesson learned for next time!

Thank you Mom and Dad for an absolutely beautiful visit, it couldn't have been any better. Thank you for giving us the gift of very loving home and the ability to share that gift with our children ... there is nothing more precious.