Let me preface this post by saying that, as a parent, I generally have incredibly high expectations for my son. I am told that this is not uncommon for first-time parents. I believe that it's also not uncommon among parents who were high-achieving children themselves, and that probably has a lot to do with my expectations.
It is part of my parenting goal to NOT refuse to talk about subjects that make me uncomfortable. (Granted, there isn't too much that falls under that category.) Little E has a very broad vocabulary and a wide array of knowledge, often pertaining to things that most children don't know much about. He knows the proper anatomical names for body parts on men and women, and he also knows where babies come from (which is something that will be discussed in a later post). He wrote his name for the first time when he was two-years old, and his speech is very developed--E often surprises me by using nouns that I don't realize he knows.
Vocabulary withstanding, there have been times that I've wondered if his pronunciation and speech patterns weren't very developed. Not very recently, but more when he was 2 and 3, there were times when I asked my mother if she thought his speech wasn't very good. (By this, I was referring to the ability to understand his speech...not his vocabulary.) She responded by exclaiming, "He's only two!" or "He's only three!" So. I guess I might occasionally have unrealistic expectations.... :P
For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you know that I babysat a couple of children for a few weeks this summer. OY. VEY. I was taking care of my own son, who was three at the time, another three-year-old boy, and his one-year-old sister. Now, I am not a parent who compares my child to others, mostly because I've never really been around him while he's interacting with peers (not that I would be comparing anyway...I mean, what parent does THAT?! lol). Babysitting these children actually provided me with an opportunity to do a little compare-and-contrast.
This isn't exactly relevant to the overall discussion, but often, these children were not from the best background: dad apparently likes to get drunk while watching them, and they would usually show up at my house unbathed, with dirty faces and dirty feet. Cleanliness aside, they were sweet kids and I wish that they were worked with a little bit more because they were very difficult to understand--the girl because she was only one, obviously, and the boy because...well...I don't know. His speech really wasn't much better than his little sister's, and it made me kind of sad. I always got the impression that they weren't really read to or talked to when they were at home.
Anyway, all the while I babysat these children, all I kept thinking was just how grateful I am to have the child I have and to have the chance to parent him in a way that nurtures his mind and body.
I am grateful that I have the means to provide him with a home that is clean and safe.
I am grateful that I have the means to provide him with a good education.
I am grateful that I have been imbued with a love of education, art, music, and learning, and that I am able to pass on that love to my son.
I am grateful that I have a college education and that over the course of obtaining my Bachelor's of Science in Education I learned about all of the resources that exist for parents of not only school-age children, but parents of babies and toddlers, as well. (There was a stage a few years ago where I suspected Autism, Asperger's, or something behavioral and had to seek advice and testing from Special Education providers.)
I am grateful that my son is highly intelligent. (Expect a Nature vs. Nurture blog in the future! lol)
I am grateful that my son has very understandable speech.
I am grateful that my son is able to hear me and understand (most of) what comes out of my mouth.
Now, this isn't at all meant to come off as me touting my child's capabilities. This is really just me saying that I am grateful for my situation and my child. If Mr. E. had been a late talker, I would be just as grateful and love him just as much. If your child is a late talker, I truly apologize if I sound like an arse, but I cannot apologize for being honest about something that makes me happy.
If you do have a child who is a late talker, please, do not worry! This is generally a totally normal thing! Some children do not begin to talk until they are three or four years old...some later than that. Many of these children have the vocabulary and the ability but choose to remain silent, often for varying reasons. Two of the more common reasons I have seen for delayed speech are 1) having an older sibling (or parents, unfortunately) who do all of the talking for the child, therefore eliminating the need for the child to talk, and 2) being afraid of making a mistake...many young children are already self-conscious and choose to remain silent until they know that they can speak with 100% accuracy. Obviously there are other reasons, but among the children of my friends, relatives, and acquaintances, those two have been large factors.
If, for some reason, you believe that there is something amiss and believe that your child has developmental issues that are causing his or her delayed speech DO NOT HESITATE TO SEEK HELP! You might consult a family doctor, or if your child is enrolled in school you should always be able to discuss your concerns with a classroom teacher or Special Education instructor (and will most likely end up talking to doctors, anyway). Many school districts have Early Childhood/Early Intervention programs through which they can perform testing on toddlers or pre-school-age children. (I believe they should be available free-of-charge, but I cannot say for certain.) Early Intervention programs exist for the purpose of catching developmental delays in children at an early age and (TA-DA!) providing intervention and assistance to the child and his or her family.
I am going to go ahead and quit here, but I will close by saying that around the time I meant to write this post (July, I think) I was talking to a friend who was concerned that her child wasn't talking early enough and that he was having difficulty mimicking sounds accurately. What I told her was basically what I just said above. Her child is not quite two-years of age, so I told her that it might not be anything to worry about, but if you're a hypochondriac (like she and I lol), you might just want to play it safe (for your child and your mental health) by seeking expert advice.
Blessed be you and your small ones! )O(
Monday, December 10, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Big Changes!
Due to some huge changes in my life, I have been entirely absent from my blog and from my YouTube for quite some time now, and I really and truly have intentions of making this up to those of you who follow me (which, might actually be limited to two people :S ). I feel so awful for falling so far behind on the Year and a Day videos I was doing, as well as on my book reviews...and surprise! I have about three book reviews for you when video-making time commences! Woot! (Also, if you write me snail-mail letters, I'm getting to it!)
Anyway...here's a little update on some life changes I've made recently:
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
This past weekend (or the weekend before yesterday? lol) found us moving from our cozy little apartment in western Nebraska to a not-so-cozy apartment in northern Iowa. As of right now, my son and I are living in a one-bedroom apartment that basically consists of a hallway and a few rooms built off of said hallway. It is an incredibly inconvenient living arrangement, but we are making do with what we have. My boyfriend and his brother helped us move my hoarder's apartment 9 hours away with a flat-bed. Bless his heart, J's dad bought some lumber and the boys put up sides on the trailer, so my belongings didn't fly off. My packing skills are apparently not as BA as I had hoped because I was still packing until late last Saturday night/Sunday morning...oops. We got most everything, and I should have insisted on furniture coming over first, but it is mostly still sitting in NE, along with my kitchen and my bed. This weekend Baby E and I are going to make the 9-hour drive back for Thanksgiving with my (hopefully) future-in-laws, which will be another three hours south of the old home with the (hopefully) future-grandparent-in-laws. Oy vey! The man child will stay with his now-surrogate grandparents on Friday whilst the big man and I head back to my still-not-vacated apartment and finish packing my belongings and moving my furniture into storage.
(Here, I do have to say that I am not a hoarder in the traditional sense--my mother gave me everything she'd saved from my childhood, so I have been trying to weed through all of my history, which is definitely not easy for a sentimental soul like me...although, I will admit to being a total bibliophile...packing all of my books was incredibly daunting.)
I will be bringing back all that I can fit into my little car--my dishes, food, teaching curriculum that I somehow forgot.... I think that most of my larger furniture is going to sit in a storage unit until I can sell it on the Facebook garage sale pages. (I've been trying to get rid of that beast of an entertainment center I bought for my witchy items, but nobody wants it...poor thing.) Yours truly should really be grateful to have such great people for potentially future in-laws...J's mother has offered to let me use her basement for storage, and I am definitely taking her up on that offer. My storage unit (which holds my piano and an antique dresser awaiting refinishing) gets unbelievably dusty, so I'll store my furniture in the storage unit and my boxes in the basement.
Oh...but living arrangements. My love has yet to join us, but our goal is for him to be here by the end of December or beginning of January, and this seems to be a very reasonable and attainable goal. He is not really wanting to stay working in foster care because of the emotional toll it takes on him, and I find that completely understandable. However, there is a part of me that wants him to just grow a pair and let all of that slide off of him because he is good at his job and actually gives a damn about where the kids whose cases he handles get placed and he actually gives a damn about their well-being, which isn't the case with all social workers, unfortunately. Regardless of what he decides to do, I will support him...as long as he hurries up and gets here! :P This past week has kind of sucked due to not being able to see his face and love on him, but it hasn't been too awful because I know that I will see him in...OMG TWO DAYS OMG!!!!
When he gets here we'll probably move out of our one-bedroom top-floor apartment with the paper thin walls. Yay! (Also, this will be the first time I have ever lived with anybody, so I'm gonna need prayers!)
EMPLOYMENT
The reason for our sudden move: I will be fulfilling the role as a K-12 music teacher for a small school not far from where I am currently living, as the contracted person has failed to show up for work since February. (WHOA!) I really have a fairly easy schedule for school, and it is very appreciated by my mental health. I'm actually sitting here blogging at the end of the school day. :) Making the decision to take this job opportunity and move my little family was met with much tribulation and many tears. As you well know, I have been unemployed since resigning from my previous teaching post at the end of the 2011-2012 school year, and I have had quite the time affording to maintain a roof over our heads and putting food on our plates. I don't think I blogged or vlogged about it, but I actually applied for a number of jobs in our town in Nebraska, but apparently holding a Bachelor's Degree takes you out of the running for jobs that require a high school diploma. Who knew?
Anyway, I went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth about taking this job. J was very encouraging because of the financial opportunity that it would afford me, but he was also understanding of my reluctance to take Baby E out of his wonderful daycare and away from his home and the people he's known his whole life. (Well, as far back as he can remember, anyway.) While I started to get serious about coming out here, I did apply for a CNA job at a nursing home in Nebraska, and to be honest, I would have LOVED that job, but a few days before it was offered to me, I called the principal at the IA school and told him I would fill this district's need. And hey, wouldn't you know it?!: Within about five days of accepting this job I received three job offers in Nebraska (after months of rejection). Hm. When it rains it pours, eh?!
DIET & NUTRITION
My diet has suffered a bit over the last week or so. I am a person who bakes everything from scratch, cooks everything from scratch, and doesn't consume a great deal of processed food. Having left most of my kitchen in Nebraska, I have resorted to microwavable food *shudders* or sandwiches for both my son and I, and consuming alcohol to eliminate the hunger. I've also been using styrofoam plates and bowls (because my mother brought them to me) and feel like a total whore. (That might actually end up becoming a post of its own).
...anyway. This change in diet definitely affected me--the alcohol not so much, but I ate a tv dinner last week and was sick within thirty minutes. Needless to say, I am not buying any more tv dinners! After I retrieve all of my kitchen utensils, spices, etc. this weekend, I do plan on returning to a more healthful diet!
Also, I am making it a goal to exercise more while I have this time away from my love. Normally, I spend my evenings with my son, and then when he goes to bed I am with my boyfriend. Now, I plan on using that time to exercise or go to bed early so I can wake up early and exercise. Granted, this new exercise plan has not been put into effect yet, simply because of my jet-laggish exhaustion at the end of the school days...I get home and just want to collapse!
SCHEDULING/SLEEPING
My body has forgotten what it's like to be absolutely and completely exhausted at the end of the day, so I have been adjusting to a new sleeping/waking schedule...quite different from that awful habit I got into this summer of staying up until 3am! I started work last Wednesday, and every single night I was 100% drained and felt like dying when my son didn't want to go to bed at 7 pm!
Oh. Sleeping. That also brings up the fact that we have moved to an entirely different time zone. We were living on Mountain Time in western Nebraska, and here we are on Central Time. I suppose that moving right after the end of Daylight Savings Time has helped me, though. In preparation for our move, I didn't set our clocks back, which put us on post-DST Central Time. I really am loving this because it isn't dark at 4:30 here...living on the eastern edge of a time zone during the winter is a bit hellish as far as daylight hours go.
(My boyfriend and my mother have both been calling me to wake me up in the morning, so I suppose I have some more adjusting to do!)
FINANCIAL SITUATIONOkay, so the financial opportunity that has been given to me by taking this position is an absolute gift from above. I will be receiving long-term substitute teacher pay, which will be about twice as much as I made teaching as a contracted school employee at a private school last year. So. I am definitely winning on that front! Part of the plan for the bf moving out here consists of me actually supporting him for a month or so, and truth be told, I would love to be able to support him because he has done so much for me and I don't really know how else to show him gratitude. I don't mean for this to sound materialistic in any way. He has provided for me when I've needed it the most, and he needs some respite from job stress, so I feel that he deserves to be taken care of. Does anybody understand that? Good! :P
So, provided all goes well, I will be able to afford rent and living expenses, afford for Baby E to go to a good daycare/preschool program while I work, and hopefully pay off all of my medical bills and avoid being taken to collections. (Guess we need to figure out something for health insurance, though.)
YAY!
Alright, well, now that I've been typing for several several minutes and you've been reading for several minutes, I thank you for caring and suppose it's time I pick up my desk (yay, I have a desk!) and head home...I'll try to come back tomorrow! :)
Anyway...here's a little update on some life changes I've made recently:
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
This past weekend (or the weekend before yesterday? lol) found us moving from our cozy little apartment in western Nebraska to a not-so-cozy apartment in northern Iowa. As of right now, my son and I are living in a one-bedroom apartment that basically consists of a hallway and a few rooms built off of said hallway. It is an incredibly inconvenient living arrangement, but we are making do with what we have. My boyfriend and his brother helped us move my hoarder's apartment 9 hours away with a flat-bed. Bless his heart, J's dad bought some lumber and the boys put up sides on the trailer, so my belongings didn't fly off. My packing skills are apparently not as BA as I had hoped because I was still packing until late last Saturday night/Sunday morning...oops. We got most everything, and I should have insisted on furniture coming over first, but it is mostly still sitting in NE, along with my kitchen and my bed. This weekend Baby E and I are going to make the 9-hour drive back for Thanksgiving with my (hopefully) future-in-laws, which will be another three hours south of the old home with the (hopefully) future-grandparent-in-laws. Oy vey! The man child will stay with his now-surrogate grandparents on Friday whilst the big man and I head back to my still-not-vacated apartment and finish packing my belongings and moving my furniture into storage.
(Here, I do have to say that I am not a hoarder in the traditional sense--my mother gave me everything she'd saved from my childhood, so I have been trying to weed through all of my history, which is definitely not easy for a sentimental soul like me...although, I will admit to being a total bibliophile...packing all of my books was incredibly daunting.)
I will be bringing back all that I can fit into my little car--my dishes, food, teaching curriculum that I somehow forgot.... I think that most of my larger furniture is going to sit in a storage unit until I can sell it on the Facebook garage sale pages. (I've been trying to get rid of that beast of an entertainment center I bought for my witchy items, but nobody wants it...poor thing.) Yours truly should really be grateful to have such great people for potentially future in-laws...J's mother has offered to let me use her basement for storage, and I am definitely taking her up on that offer. My storage unit (which holds my piano and an antique dresser awaiting refinishing) gets unbelievably dusty, so I'll store my furniture in the storage unit and my boxes in the basement.
Oh...but living arrangements. My love has yet to join us, but our goal is for him to be here by the end of December or beginning of January, and this seems to be a very reasonable and attainable goal. He is not really wanting to stay working in foster care because of the emotional toll it takes on him, and I find that completely understandable. However, there is a part of me that wants him to just grow a pair and let all of that slide off of him because he is good at his job and actually gives a damn about where the kids whose cases he handles get placed and he actually gives a damn about their well-being, which isn't the case with all social workers, unfortunately. Regardless of what he decides to do, I will support him...as long as he hurries up and gets here! :P This past week has kind of sucked due to not being able to see his face and love on him, but it hasn't been too awful because I know that I will see him in...OMG TWO DAYS OMG!!!!
When he gets here we'll probably move out of our one-bedroom top-floor apartment with the paper thin walls. Yay! (Also, this will be the first time I have ever lived with anybody, so I'm gonna need prayers!)
EMPLOYMENT
The reason for our sudden move: I will be fulfilling the role as a K-12 music teacher for a small school not far from where I am currently living, as the contracted person has failed to show up for work since February. (WHOA!) I really have a fairly easy schedule for school, and it is very appreciated by my mental health. I'm actually sitting here blogging at the end of the school day. :) Making the decision to take this job opportunity and move my little family was met with much tribulation and many tears. As you well know, I have been unemployed since resigning from my previous teaching post at the end of the 2011-2012 school year, and I have had quite the time affording to maintain a roof over our heads and putting food on our plates. I don't think I blogged or vlogged about it, but I actually applied for a number of jobs in our town in Nebraska, but apparently holding a Bachelor's Degree takes you out of the running for jobs that require a high school diploma. Who knew?
Anyway, I went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth about taking this job. J was very encouraging because of the financial opportunity that it would afford me, but he was also understanding of my reluctance to take Baby E out of his wonderful daycare and away from his home and the people he's known his whole life. (Well, as far back as he can remember, anyway.) While I started to get serious about coming out here, I did apply for a CNA job at a nursing home in Nebraska, and to be honest, I would have LOVED that job, but a few days before it was offered to me, I called the principal at the IA school and told him I would fill this district's need. And hey, wouldn't you know it?!: Within about five days of accepting this job I received three job offers in Nebraska (after months of rejection). Hm. When it rains it pours, eh?!
DIET & NUTRITION
My diet has suffered a bit over the last week or so. I am a person who bakes everything from scratch, cooks everything from scratch, and doesn't consume a great deal of processed food. Having left most of my kitchen in Nebraska, I have resorted to microwavable food *shudders* or sandwiches for both my son and I, and consuming alcohol to eliminate the hunger. I've also been using styrofoam plates and bowls (because my mother brought them to me) and feel like a total whore. (That might actually end up becoming a post of its own).
...anyway. This change in diet definitely affected me--the alcohol not so much, but I ate a tv dinner last week and was sick within thirty minutes. Needless to say, I am not buying any more tv dinners! After I retrieve all of my kitchen utensils, spices, etc. this weekend, I do plan on returning to a more healthful diet!
Also, I am making it a goal to exercise more while I have this time away from my love. Normally, I spend my evenings with my son, and then when he goes to bed I am with my boyfriend. Now, I plan on using that time to exercise or go to bed early so I can wake up early and exercise. Granted, this new exercise plan has not been put into effect yet, simply because of my jet-laggish exhaustion at the end of the school days...I get home and just want to collapse!
SCHEDULING/SLEEPING
My body has forgotten what it's like to be absolutely and completely exhausted at the end of the day, so I have been adjusting to a new sleeping/waking schedule...quite different from that awful habit I got into this summer of staying up until 3am! I started work last Wednesday, and every single night I was 100% drained and felt like dying when my son didn't want to go to bed at 7 pm!
Oh. Sleeping. That also brings up the fact that we have moved to an entirely different time zone. We were living on Mountain Time in western Nebraska, and here we are on Central Time. I suppose that moving right after the end of Daylight Savings Time has helped me, though. In preparation for our move, I didn't set our clocks back, which put us on post-DST Central Time. I really am loving this because it isn't dark at 4:30 here...living on the eastern edge of a time zone during the winter is a bit hellish as far as daylight hours go.
(My boyfriend and my mother have both been calling me to wake me up in the morning, so I suppose I have some more adjusting to do!)
FINANCIAL SITUATIONOkay, so the financial opportunity that has been given to me by taking this position is an absolute gift from above. I will be receiving long-term substitute teacher pay, which will be about twice as much as I made teaching as a contracted school employee at a private school last year. So. I am definitely winning on that front! Part of the plan for the bf moving out here consists of me actually supporting him for a month or so, and truth be told, I would love to be able to support him because he has done so much for me and I don't really know how else to show him gratitude. I don't mean for this to sound materialistic in any way. He has provided for me when I've needed it the most, and he needs some respite from job stress, so I feel that he deserves to be taken care of. Does anybody understand that? Good! :P
So, provided all goes well, I will be able to afford rent and living expenses, afford for Baby E to go to a good daycare/preschool program while I work, and hopefully pay off all of my medical bills and avoid being taken to collections. (Guess we need to figure out something for health insurance, though.)
YAY!
Alright, well, now that I've been typing for several several minutes and you've been reading for several minutes, I thank you for caring and suppose it's time I pick up my desk (yay, I have a desk!) and head home...I'll try to come back tomorrow! :)
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