Therapy Tuesday: Jingle Bells!!!

Laila made a Jingle Bell!!! It's painted red and green pasta on a pretty wire and one bell.
She did some more spontaneous demands and she is picking up much quicker. But I have noticed that she has become very active. We have to find an outlet for her, quick!

Muffin Tin Monday: Christmas Shapes

I have been in a muffin tin stump. Ever since I took that week off I have just fell off of the muffin tin wagon. Maybe soon I will get my fire back, but for now here goes nothing.

So the blue stuff is play doh cookie dough and we rolled the dough out and cut out cute shapes. Then we have Hershey Kisses, Marshmallows, grapes, and juice.

Therapy Tuesday: No- flake

She did another craft. A no flake. Really a snowflake, but she called it a no flake.
So in this session she stringed three words together, and also didn't break out into song. She did pass gas, and I was so embarassed for her, but something tells me she did it on purpose!

Muffin Tin Monday : Snowy Day

This book is about a boy and his snowy day. The reason why we chose breakfast? Later on in the book he goes out in the snow after breakfast and plays and plays until they call him back in.

The contents are waffles, syrup, beef sausage, applesauce, and chocolate milk.

Book Review: Yum-O

Yum-O is a branch of all of Rachel Ray's cooking adventures for families.
There are many kid friendly meals that adults wouldn't mind eating. It comes with perfect photos, and of course tips on what you can let the little ones do to help you prepare the meal.

I have tried 3 recipes already. Pb & J french toast (without the J), chickenadas, and whole wheat mac and cheese.
I don't know about you guys, but I am not all into decieving my child into eating something. I want her to know what exactly it is she is eating, and I'm not going to hide it. This cookbook is perfect for presenting new food in a fun way( besides the muffin tins).

Therapy Tuesday: B-I-N-G-O

In the middle of her session she breaks out into song.
B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O,B-I-N-G-O, and bingo was his name oh.
The therapist stayed on task and told her that they could sing the song at the end.


This morning she was getting out of the car and turned around and told me I Love You! and gave me a Kiss!!!! She said this on her own and I was so suprised, shocked, excited and emotional all at the same time. It made my day.

Therapy Tuesday: Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

During this session Laila made a Turkey. She also learned the sound a turkey makes(hence the title). While she picked out the feathers she learned her colors, and numbers (again), and her eyes, and ears. She did really well with her spontaneous language(speaking without prompt).
At home she has become a real Chatty Kathy.

Therapy Tuesday: Red Apple, Green Apple

Lately I haven't been sitting in the observation room for the whole time. Laila is there for 50 minutes. Some weeks I do sit ups and push ups in the ob room, on other days trips to the rest room or to get water help make the time go by.
This week we hit a stumbling block with colors. The ST asked her to pick out the green apple vs. the red apple, and the red leaf vs. the yellow leaf. Laila had a hard time telling the difference. If all of the colors are side by side she knows how to find red, green, yellow, and blue.
Same object different color, that's our homework.

Muffin Tin Monday : Fruits, Veggies, Dips and Spreads

The little one and I have the cooties( like the kids say). Lots of coughing and sneezing and blowing noses, and vicks vapor rub on our Feet!! Yeah, it's serious.

So we ate tons of bland food, and drank lots of liquid.
We had bananas, peanut butter, grapes, oranges, and whipped cream.

Muffin Tin Monday

This week we had a theme, family heritage, and we actually did have a meal with a mixture of my side and my dd's other side, but not in a muffin tin.
Here is the one we had. I have been on a salty craving kick, and finally I had a sweet tooth! So I made one with cold treats and toppings. We have Edy's double fudge, skittles, pop ice, chocolate sprinkles, lime sorbet and m&m's.

Therapy Tuesday: First Meltdown

She normally does really well, but this time she had a couple of meltdowns. Not even seconds later she was back to normal. She requested to go pee- pee potty(that's just the way she asks), and she loves to say bye to everything. Bye door, bye chair, bye car, bye school. It's so cute!

Muffin Tin Monday

Lately I have been on a sandwich kick. PB & J, Tuna, Turkey, Beef Bologna, anything I could put on two slices of bread, I was doing it. So for muffin tin monday we had grilled cheese, peas and carrots, salsa to dip, pepperoni slices, apple sauce and grapes. I tell ya' my grilled cheese and applesauce hit the spot!

Therapy Tuesday: Trick or Treat

She got the chance to do some early trick or treating. All of the therapists that were in the office had pumpkins up to show the kids that they had candy. So we stopped at the pumpkins and she would say want candy, and thank you and bye bye.
This helped her with interaction and prepared her for Friday.

Tales of the Cultureprincess: A day at the Symphony

There was a special music series for the whole family at the symphony on Saturday. I was able to obtain 2 comp. tickets. The whole shindig started at 10 with pre activities. It was cool to see all the kids dressed up. Bunnies, turtles, princesses, pumpkins, and some really cute dressed up little kiddies were all ready for the show.

The conductor and her orchestra had a little theme. She needed the magic hat to match her magic wand and this would make her a real magician.

Each set of songs included a new character and a new obstacle. I think my kitty did well.

Meow!!!!!!

Hey, where's the rest of my candy???

Muffin Tin Monday: Fantastic Fruit

This one includes: Lime sherbert, grapes, whipped cream, pears, applesauce, strawberry, mandarin oranges, welch's fruit snacks, peanut butter, banana, juicy juice, and peach yougurt.

On Thursday princess complained of an upset tummy and I had to leave work early. I made her an all fruit spread. She loved it! Well kinda, she had the whipped cream, strawberries and grapes.

Therapy Tuesday: Pumpkin!!!!!!!

Laila made a jack o lantern out of paper with her Speech Therapist. I didn't get a picture this time. It was really fitting because we went to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday. That's all she has been talking about, Pumpkins!!!
This session they worked on taking turns, Mr. Potato Head to learn body parts, Cars for Ready, Set, Go (for her G sound), and this one that one to identify objects.
She learned the sign for potty.

Pumpkin Patch

Talking to the chickens



Standing in the corn maze( a little one). I get freaked out in mazes.



Chilling with the scarecrows, not sure what she was looking at.



She liked this pumpkin, but later decided on a baby pumpkin.

Muffin Tin Monday: Halloween Challenge

Ok, so I was all prepared this time. I had our muffin tin on Sunday for lunch so that I could have it ready to post for today, but I left my cord to upload the pictures. So stay tuned.




It includes: one mummy dog, mustard, mummy eyes(olives), caldron bubble(lime sherbert), cheetos, candy corn, goblin sandwich, goblin eyes, apple juice, and bugs(raisins and peanuts)

Bragging

Here is a brag email from Laila's teacher. I am so proud of her. When I read this email I cried.

I hope you are having a good day. I wanted to brag on your daughter. Yesterday afternoon, she was beginning to get upset about transitioning to Fun Company, so I sat with her. When I asked a few minutes later if she wanted to join her friends, she appropriately said "no" (no getting upset at all). She went fine once Ms. Jessica came.

THEN....she came up to Mrs. Kim this morning. When Mrs. Kim asked her what she needed, she said "potty" (no icons or anything).

THEN...she was washing her hands...no one near by...and she said "help" (again no icons or anything).

We have just been so proud of her today....I had to share!!! :)

Therapy Tuesday: Fish and Ice Cream

I know it sounds gross, or like some weird pregnant lady's craving.
Before speech therapy we went to Ben and Jerry's for ice cream. I'm still feeling it right now(can you say lactose free). We got the chocolate chip cookie dough, it was yummy.


For her therapy session they worked more on animals, colors, and sign language. She also worked on asking for things, and not just taking them. When she wanted the key instead of taking it, she asked for it. She got goldfish treats and actually said fish. Her expressive language is becoming better, and clearer.

Muffin tin Monday

For this Monday we stayed home. There was no school, and a parent teacher conference. I had some time to think about a 12 cup tin. So here it is.
The contents are: turkey sandwich, grapes, banana, caramel drizzled rice cakes, chex mix, oranges and later added m&m's. She enjoyed it!

Therapy Tuesday : Cowboys and Sign Language

I am trying to get some weekly entries going, so that I can have an actual topic to enter.

Every Tuesday Laila has private speech therapy. She goes once a week for 50 minutes.
This Tuesday they worked on animals. Laila looked at the cow and said MOO, Quack- Quack for the duck, cluck-cluck for the chicken, and when she got to to horse she said Yee-Haw!!!!

She has been learning sign language and her expressive language is much better. She knows the signs for more, stop, help, drink , all done, and eat.

This time the thearpist had a craft activity for her. It's pictured below.

Great Week!!!!

Cultureprincess has had a great week! This is very encouraging. Last week she was having bad reports and being very defiant and tensing up when she was angry. Every day this week she has had good reports, Yippeee!!!!!

Open House

There was Open House at Laila's school on Thursday night. We actually had to go do some testing for her so left school early. After we were finished we went back to school, and she wanted to play with the after care kids on the playground. I caved and she played with her friends while I waited for 5 p.m. The school's principal introduced the school and NCLB, and PTO. I sat there for 15 minutes and thought, "Is this really relevant to me?" We are only at this school for the blended classroom setting and next year she will attend her school of zone. She gave me a tour of her class and read to me, showed me her favorite spot(water, sand and rock area), her locker, her family flag, and a self portrait.

After the tour we picked up a cookie and juice and went home. It was late when we got there so it was time to get ready for bed.

Bath, book, and brush teeth and hair. Out like a light!

Yippeeee Vitamins!!!!

I never in a million years thought I would be excited about vitamins.
I ordered fish oil supplements for Laila(to help with her speech), and grape seed, and biotin for me. I need for my hair to grow. It just seems like it's frozen in time. That's why I haven't posted pictures of me in a while. I need length!!!! I should try drinking more water, but that's boring.
Now I will kick up the vitamins!!!!!!!!! I have some vitamin E to take as well. Don't worry I am not going to OD and take them all at once, just one every other day.

Not so good days of school

This past Friday and Monday Laila had some severe meltdowns. On Friday her teacher included an ABC Observation. It gives you step by step what the student did and what the teacher did, and the end result. I was shocked. I am at a loss of words and really can't think of what to do. Her teacher has been doing a very good job of emailing me and letting me know what's changed. On Monday I just decided to call Laila's speech therapist and let her know the issue. We see her today and she said she would work on a communication book for her. I assume it would include phrases like "I don't feel good," "leave me alone," and "No, I don't want to." This would make the second communication book we have in stock. The first one goes over the basics like: stop, quiet, mad, wash hands, get dressed, bathroom, clean up, wait a minute, and Great!

I am really hoping for some progress. All of her frustration comes from her not being able to say her words, so we are always dealing with melt- downs.

Wish me luck!

Muffin Tin errrr Monday night?

(includes: two servings of chicken, carrots, red pears, pasta with marinara sauce, and garlic bread)

I snapped the picture after she dug in.

I have been following this craze of muffin tins on this crafty lady's blog. I couldn't wait to do it. I couldn't help but notice all the cool and cute food that other parents were putting in their kids tins. I am creative, at least I think I am.
I wanted to start out small. I used a six muffin tin instead of a 12 muffin tin for dinner.



She didn't think twice about her carrots : (

Speech! Speech! Speech!

I was so excited last night! Laila had her first meeting with her speech therapist. It went really well. I sat in the observation room while she had her one on one with Laila. Whenever she was prompted to say words she did really well. She went quiet on her one time, but she was really patient.I picked up a lot of reinforcement ideas from watching. She pointed out objects while reading and wouldn't turn the page until she identified items. She also wouldn't let her grab anything until she asked for it by name. Laila also matched all of her shapes without any help! Way to go!!!!

Making Some Progress

Oh, man. I am so super excited right now. We are really making progress with Laila. She attends the Pre- K with a class size of seven and she was in daycare with about 16 kids a class with 3 teachers. Now that she is in Pre- K with a smaller class size she is really getting the attention she needs. But since she is behind in her communication skills her Dr. recommended that she take private speech therapy. Last time we did it took us several months before we could get an appointment. The 2nd time around it has happened so quickly. I am so excited. We will start her theapry on September 9th on top of the therapy she is getting at school! Yipppeeeee!!!!

Survived the first week of school

She blinked....


Ready to get in the car and go!!


So far so good. Laila is completing her first week of school as we speak. I must say I am very impressed with her behavior. She does an awesome job in the morning. At daycare she would cry almost every morning, who knows why. Maybe she didn't like it there. She only had one accident, which I contribute to her not being too familiar with her new surroundings. Other than that her teacher has reported that she had a great week.

I took more pics today. Her school has a little garden area, which I love. I just have a really good feeling about this place. And I know she will blossom.

My blog's attitude.

Your Blog Should Be Purple

You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything. You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey. You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Presenting: Flower Girl Laila (wedding)

Here is Laila with her flowergirl dress on. As soon as we got there she had to get dressed immediately. There was a little sash pinned to it ( as you can see in the picture) that made it tight. We tried to get it over her head, no go. We tried to get it over her legs, no go. I eventually had to push her butt in to get the dress up. We later decided to just take the sash off so that it wouldn't squeeze the life out of her.



Here she is being accompanied by the parent of the other flower girl. They did really well, although Laila didn't drop a flower! She just walked behind the other little girl and stood in the correct spot.



Here they are with the bride. Both of the girls know her so they were pretty comfortable with her. They weren't quick to take pictures but she managed them well.



We joked about this during the ceremony. Laila would hold her dress up a little while she walked. Everyone mentioned how Miss USA tripped on her dress during the Miss Universe pageant, so they said she learned from their mistakes.

Thanks for looking.

Presenting: Flower Girl Laila (rehearsal)

Here we are at the rehearsal. We weren't sure what to do, but we showed up and braced the heat. They grillled some meat and had sodas, and juice. So it was almost like a get together of friends and family.

Happy Birthday Cultureprincess!

It's official, at 3:59 pm today princess will be 4 years old. I made about 18 cupcakes for her class and made the white icing purple to match her dress. I sang Happy Birthday to her this morning and I am going to do something special with her this afternoon. I can't believe she is 4. She is even going to be starting Pre-K soon, and taking a backpack and wearing a uniform. (eyes watering)
How did this happen so fast?

Rewind

Although it is officially July now I have some expired posts.
This weekend I had a bowling party for my little one’s b-day. She will be 4 soon! That makes me feel really old. The party started at 1 p.m. People didn’t really show up until 2. I couldn’t come up with a party theme or where to have it. There are tons of things that I know she likes, but I wanted to check some activities off my list. Bowling was one of the things I wanted to do with her, so I just made it into a party. Voila! Good times had by all.

Tales of the Cultureprincess Part 8

Recently I have signed up with all these different restaurants. I have myself, and princess signed up for the kids club. There is this cool little burger joint called Red Robin. She has a b-day coming up soon. On Wednesday they sent a coupon for a free kids meal in honor of her b-day. I really didn’t feel like waiting, so off to Red Robin we went. This place has over 50 gourmet burgers, chicken burgers, salads and seafood. They also give all the kids a balloon. When I told the server that the coupon was for her b-day he brought out the crew to sing for her. She also had a sundae with a cherry on top.
It was so cute to see her look at all those strangers. She was hesitant at first and close to the end she began to smile. We both had lots of fun.

OKC road Trip

We spent our Memorial Day vacation in OKC. We went on a road trip. It was just me and princess. I was really proud of her. She maintained her cool with color wonder books and lots of naps and a few Capri Suns. The drive was ten hours and very scenic. When I got to Arkansas which is known as the Natural State there were lots of parts that literally looked un touched. It was something words can not describe.

Our one and only attraction was the National Cowboy Museum. It was really cool, although it didn't sound like much fun. The day we arrived they were having a Kiddie Corral with samples of food and craft tables for the kids.



The actual museum had an exhibit for Cowgirls. It was a good Girl Power thing for us. There was also the pioneer days reinvinted with old banks, markets, churches, and saloon. Here I am at the ticket box to get on the "train."

And as you can see princess enjoyed every minute of it.

Tales of the Cultureprincess Part 7

This is princess drenching some California Roll sushi in soy sauce. For the first time she tried sushi. I just knew that she would love it. She has been exposed to all kinds of food and has never really turned anything down, but Sushi was not a winner.

She took a bite...........

No go for cultureprincess, she lost a few points.

Guess who got to eat the soy drenched sushi? Me.

Back to what she knows, chicken fried rice.

Seven facts about me

I've been tagged by Mom to 3 flowers.
Here is what I have to do,
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .

I can do step number two and the rest will be left as is. The odd thing is we all know the same 7 people so that means some people would be tagged twice, and that's against the rules ; ).

1. I have seen a cow pee(looks like somebody turned on a faucet)
2. I know my calling is to be a teacher for ESL students, I'm just being a chicken.
3. I have been completely bald before.
4. I regret not going to Mexico on a mission trip a few years ago.
5. I love chocolate and pizza
6. I have been coming up with names for my second imaginary child
7. I have this weird fascination for Cowboys and Bull Riders. (weird, huh?)

So there you have it 7 facts about me. See if you can top that!

The school system sucks!

This was an email title that sent out. Some of you may know that Princess is “developmentally delayed”, in a nutshell she does not have the vocabulary of a “normal” 3 ½ soon to be 4 year old.Since the beginning of the year she has attended a Language School. There has been very little progress, but little is better than none. At least now when I ask her questions she will nod her head yes and no. For the summer she will attend school 5 days a week. Her hours will be from 8-11. This means we have to get up a heck of a lot earlier, get her breakfast and to her main school no later than 7:30 for them to pick her up. The problem is when and if she is going to make it back in time for lunch???? And why would the language school not provide it? That’s why I say the school system sucks!

Tales of the Cultureprincess Part 6

*These are not my exact ones, but you get the idea.*

In honor of Cinco De Mayo princess and I attended a Latin Street Fair. The music was good.
There was a small dance floor that was not being used. Princess danced to every song and bowed when the crowd clapped. There was good food like arroz con pollo, empanadas, super pollo, snow cones(which she loves), pina colado, ice cream, and a host of other things. They also had face painting and ballon making. I attempted to get a sun on my face, but somebody wiped it off. Princess went bonkers for a balloon hat. She finally got one, Yeah!!!!! While waiting for that guy I was going to pull my hair out!!! Moving on, I started to feel the money in my pocket itch. I bought a pair of handmade earrings from Peru for 5 bucks. Not bad for handmade earrings. The next day we attended the Children’s Theater. It was too much dialogue and not enough action for her. We will try again later. They were complimentary tickets.