Eat Dirt!

Wyatt: Mummy, this dirt is really good.
Mummy: No Wyatt! Don't eat the dirt!
Wyatt: Why not? I reaaaally like it.
Mummy: Stop! Yucky! Don't!
Wyatt: What's your problem lady?

CICC Conference

We had a really lovely time at Glenwood Springs. It took about 4 hours each way to get there. We found ourselves daydreaming about retiring up there - its sooo beautiful. Eric took Wyatt swiming in the hot springs pool while I was in the conference and then later that afternoon we went for a hike to the old cemetary to see where Doc Holiday was buried. It was quite a hike, but the view from the top was worth it.

Glenwood Springs

This is where we are going for the CICC conference tommorrow! I am so excited - especially since Early Intervention is payinf for our gas, meals and lodging! WOW!

Hot Springs Lodge, Glenwood Springs

End of My First Semester at School

Here are some of my cakes. The first one looks lopsided in the pic - but I swear its my photography and not the cake! It was carrot cake with cream cheese and a pistachio crust with fresh pink daisies.

I really like how the fondant heart cake turned out. It was also for a baby shower. I think next time I'll do different shapes, like teddy bear and a star etc.

The electric guitar was for a friend's son. I learned my lesson with coloring butercream with bright colors - everyone's mouth turned blue! I won't do that again. No one seemed to mind, but blue teeth aren't really attractive.

I love the skate board cake - it turned out really well.

The last one was my first attempt at fondant. I learned my lesson with the piping - colored butercream stains white fondant - so don't mess up! I figured out amethod where I printed out the wirting on the computer and then pinpricked though the writing on the "stencil" and then piped over the holes.

CleftAdvocate and Volunteer Work

As you know I am a Pathfinder for CleftAdvocate. That means that I am listed on the website as a resource to other parents in Colorado. I was very excited to become a pathefinder last Aug 2006. Per my earlier post, had my first speaking engagement at Early Intervention in October 2006. The Director was very supportive of my cause and asked me to return to speak in Jan 2007. With Wyatt's birthday, his surgery and the holidays, I decided to lay low until the new year.

So in Jan, I spoke to 25 speech and occupational therapists. From this meeting I was asked to sit on a Parent Advisory Committee for the new Children's Hospital being built in town. We meet once a month with the Managing Director of the hospital regarding ways to educate staff and parents on "family based" care. This term means that the Drs should involve parents in decisions, rather than simply informing them on how they (the Dr) will be proceeding.

Being on the committee got me an audience with the local cleft team. The Managing Director gave the name and number of the person to contact and told me to tell them that she had referred me. It worked. I have an appointment with them in May to discuss how I can be an asset to them and to learn how their clinic works since I only have exereince with the team in Denver.

I spoke at the hospital's pediatric rehabilitation center to another 20 private occupational and speech therapists in Jan/Feb. So far, in 3 months, I have been contacted by 5 families. Really, my main hope was that my packets with the cleftAdvocate information would be distributed so that parents could go to the website for support. To personally touch the lives of people in my own community is way beyond anything I could have hoped for.

Recently I was asked to sit on the Local Interagency Committe of Colorado (LICC). This committee has reps from each of the local (city/county) agencies so that all of the different organizations are on the same page. I attend my first meeting next month.

From this the state paid for me to attend an overnight Parent Leadership Retreat with other parents doing outreach in their communities. We came from all over Colorado. We learned about leadership, and then we focused in on our own missions and set up goals to accomplish them. It was a powerful experience. We meet again in May to give each other an update on our progress. Can you believe that we are so lucky that the state actaully provided this training for us?

This week I am being sent to Glenwood Springs for a meeting on the state level. Eric and Wyatt are coming with me as Glenwood Springs is a hot springs resort in the ski country. We thought it would be a nice getaway before Eric leaves for his 6 weeks training California. I am so excited.

So anyway, its been amazing. I'm loving every minute of it.

I Just Can't Do One Square Cheryl!

http://entertainment.bodogbeat.com/sheryl-crow-saving-the-world-one-toilet-paper-square-at-a-time-43344.html

Signing Book and Computer

Here are the boys down In the basement, or as I like to call it - "Eric's man cave". Note the fashionable use of the Raiders blanket as a window treatment! Anyway, the first pic is of Wyatt signing "book" and the other is of him signing "computer".

Budda Belly

I see a lot of Eric's features in this pic.

We call him Budda belly all the time. The Dr actaully commented on it last week. Tonight I actually started to wonder if its normal... I can't help it. With everything else, I think you just get a little more paranoid than the average mom...

Wyatt in His Monkey Towel

Baked Bean!

Words Wyatt says:

Mama, (won't say daddy - only signs "daddy"), bye-bye (he also blows kisses - thanks to our friend Sandy), please (sounds like "peace" he mostly says this when I say he can't have something - he's learned that trick quickly), fish (sounds like "pish"), car (he says it like an Australian - he he), ball (sounds like "bo"), cheese (sounds like chis), Ella (a little girl at daycare), LaLa (one of the teletubbies) and tonight he said... baked bean! Hilarious! It happens to be one of his favorite things to eat right now. He won't eat meat, so I've been giving him beans. He actually giggled the other night after farting - Eric laughed and I cried :-) His speech therapist says he has a wonderful sense of humor.

Wyatt's Signs - We're up to 35!

I am so proud and amazed that Wyatt is signing - its incredible to think that he signs and that Eric and I tought him! Here's a list of things he signs:

Signs Used Regularly
Daddy, Drink, Milk, Please, Book, Again, Ball, Cheese, Avacado, Fish (he does this for goldfish crackers and crackers in general now), Hot, Cold, Cat, Baby, Bird, Dog, Car ride, Tired/Bedtime, Teletubbies (he made this one up), Elephant, Boat, Bath, Computer, Shoes, Chair, Table, Frog, Pig, Yummy.

Signs Used When Prompted

More (he favours "again"), Thank you, Cracker, Monkey, Lettuce, Cookie (his speech therapist's name is Cookie!).