He Loves It, She Loves It Not

On Saturday we went on our annual outing to Kings Island.  It's sponsored by Craig's employer and we always look forward to it.

This year both of this kids were tall enough to do some rides.  Rex was about one centimeter away from reaching the next height level which will open up another set of attractions for him, so he has something to look forward to for next year which is a good thing because the kid loves rides.  He did about six different ones, including a very tiny rollercoaster with a few hills and curves.  We had to buy the picture that was taken on that ride because it is so representative of how the day went: Rex having an absolute blast and Emilia being pretty terrified.

It actually kind of surprised us that Emilia did not enjoy the rides more because at home she is a motion junkie.  She likes being tossed up in the hair, swinging, dangling upside down held by the ankles, hopping on laps and trampolines, etc.  She did find a favorite in these swings which the kids did three times because Rex also had fun with it.

I am excited to see how Rex and Emilia will do at Kings Island next year.  It's kind of a marker that shows us progress.  This year we had both of them meeting the minimum height requirements and we noticed that Rex was patiently waiting for the rides to start, rather than fussing and crying, while other children loaded and the safety checks were performed.  He also signed "more" and "play" at the end of rides or in-between to let us know he enjoyed himself and wanted to keep going.  Emilia exhibited some fears which is probably not a bad thing for our little girl who might still run off into the horizon if we don't keep an eye on her.

The Latest On Prompt

Prompt Therapy has changed Emilia's life.  When she started it in March, she could barely speak two words and that was after six months of traditional speech therapy at our local children's hospital.  Now Emilia uses over 70 words independently and functionally across contexts.  About half of these words should be understandable to anyone and the other half are understood by those who know her well.  She is constantly picking up new vocabulary and imitating to the best of her current ability the sounds and words she hears. Success with communicating verbally has altered Emilia's overall outlook tremendously.  She is now interested in learning new things and compliant when we work on pre-academic and motor skills.  Her feeding/chewing skills have improved as well.  She is so much more confident.

Right now, Emilia and her Prompt therapist are working on speaking short sentences like "me do more" or "me more hop" which we also encourage and practice at home, as you will see in the video.  What's amazing to me is that Emilia has begun using the tactile cues on herself when she struggles to get out the words she wants to say.  She is also using Prompt methods on Craig and me because, you know, we really need help with jaw control and rounding our lips.

Rex started Prompt Therapy just a few weeks after Emilia in early spring.  Unfortunately, for the first five months, he was paired with a therapist that was not a terrific match for him.  She was too lenient in regard to his task avoidance strategies and not able to provide him with enough sensory and gross motor input while working on his speech.  Therefore, we are excited that Emilia's very experienced Prompt therapist was able to fit Rex into her schedule this fall.  Rex adores her and does amazing work with her.  We hope to see some measurable progress in him by year's end.

If you have tried traditional speech therapy with no or low results, I urge you to look into Prompt and try to find a therapist in your area.  Even though it's a fairly new approach and not recognized by everyone in the medical establishment, our insurance covers 70% of the expense of the kids' sessions which, by the way, cost about a third of what our insurance was charged for an hour of speech therapy at our local children's hospital.  Yes, it's cheaper and it works better for our children.

I cannot tell you how thankful I am that we found this method and this particular therapist to work with our special preschoolers.  We already feel blessed by what both have done for them.

Vospov Kufteh

Last weekend our family attended the annual potluck picnic of our local Armenian community.  I decided to prepare a traditional Armenian dish to share: Vospov Kufteh or lentil balls.  I got the recipe from my friend Bev who is of Armenian descent and to whom it was passed down from her Aunt Rose.

The recipe is really not that complicated, but I still wanted to make it just right as I was serving it to Armenians.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup split red lentils

3 cups water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp red pepper

1 cup medium bulgur

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 medium onion chopped 

2 scallions, chopped

1/2 sweet green pepper, chopped

2 cups parsley, chopped

Boil lentils 30 minutes in the water (will look pasty).  Add salt and red pepper and additional water, if needed and boil 2 minutes longer.  Put bulgur in a large basin and pour lentils over it.  Mix, cover, and let cool one hour.

Cooled lentil bulgur mix

Brown the onion in the melted butter or margarine add add to the bulgur/lentil mixture.  When cool enough to handle, knead 5 minutes until well-blended.  Mix in the chopped vegetables and add more salt and red pepper to taste.

Veggies and herbs added to the mix

Shape into individual servings by squeezing a portion against the palm of your hand gently with your fingers.  Serve while still warm. 

The final product

I served the kufteh cold which seemed to be no problem and about 2/3 of them were eaten at the picnic. Emilia enjoyed them very much as did Craig and I.  The leftovers we brought home are long gone.

I am so happy I found a healthy, easy, yummy Armenian dish that I will be able to prepare for years to come.  If Rex stays gluten-free, I will experiment with substituting rice or quinoa for the bulgur which should be delicious, too.

Pay It Forward July & August

I know I am a bit late with this information, but still wanted to let you know the families we helped recently with our Pay It Forward money.

In July, we supported the Huizinga Family by bidding in their online adoption auction.  We won some cherry jam for $30.  You can follow the journey to their daughters here: http://www.zingermama.blogspot.com/.

And in August, we were so happy to be able to give to the Rickenbach Family who live not too far from us.  This wonderful young couple is waiting for a referral of one or two children from Bulgaria and is open to special needs.  We donated $30 to their account here: http://bothhandsfoundation.org/andrew-and-katie-rickenbach and we also hope to be able to be a part of their day of service for Mrs. Gobel.  If you want to learn more, hop on over to their blog: http://adoptingourchild.blogspot.com/.

If you know of a family in process of adopting that could benefit from a donation or has a fundraiser going on in the next two months, please let me know.

Supermarket Score

My local Kroger store is "rearranging."  I guess it's trying to become more upscale as far as Krogers go; consequently for the last several weeks I have not been able to find anything that's not displayed along the exterior walls.  Fortunately, we don't shop for much in the interior aisles, but still.  

The upside of the overhaul is that the store is putting a bunch of inventory on extreme clearance, so during our last shopping trip, Craig and I decided to peruse the clearance section.  We walked away with a loot of goodies that originally cost over $220 for just over 70 bucks.  My favorite find was the sunscreen which is good through next summer and Craig was all over the rechargeable batteries.

The one item not pictured above that we found on the clearance rack is this pair of sunglasses for Rex for two bucks, originally six.  He's been sporting them off and on over the last several days.  That cuteness alone was well worth the two dollars to me.

Labor Day Weekend In The Kitchen

I had some pretty ambitious culinary plans for this three-day weekend which all started with my dropping about $50 with one of our favorite farmers.  I bought tomatoes, fifteen pounds of peaches, five pounds of plums, and some corn.  

When I came back home, the first thing I made was summer salsa, so it would have time to meld in the fridge until we were ready for snacking:

Next I made a plum cake, using my Oma's recipe.  No one makes it quite like she used to, but this was delicious and brought a smile to my face with so many childhood memories.  The cake didn't last 24 hours:

Then I went down to my garden and harvested lots of basil to make spicy pesto which we will keep in the fridge for the next few months.  Rex enjoyed a GFDF grilled cheese sandwich with pesto right away.  He's so got the opposite of a sweet tooth:

This morning I made a batch of peach jam:

And this afternoon a batch of peach-plum jamly.  I decided to call it that because it's kind of a mix between jam and jelly.  I didn't juice the fruits, but I did run them through the food processor to turn them into a puree before cooking:

Twelve jars of preserves for the winter along with two big bowls full of them in the fridge for immediate consumption:

Then I made 28 cubes of freezer peach sauce to enjoy with yogurt or icecream and last, a pot of Arborio rice cooked in coconut milk with fresh diced peaches.  I will divvy this up into portions and freeze it for Emilia who loves this rice and fruit concoction:

We still have plenty of peaches and some plums left to eat.  If we can't get through them quickly enough, I will make some kind of frozen peach treat for the kids to enjoy in the coming months.

And now I am spent.

So Busy

The next two weeks are going to be crazy busy.  Here's what's on tap for our family:

7 speech therapy sessions
2 medical appointments
1 swim class
1 art class
1 musical play class
1 picnic with the local Armenian community
1 birthday party with friends
1 family fun function sponsored by Craig's employer

We have also been invited to two special needs events in the community, but I think we will have to pass, simply for lack of time.

Once these two weeks are behind us, we will (fingers crossed) enter into a period of relative calm until Halloween.  Waiting to exhale on September 15...