This will be a somewhat shorter blog to be followed up by a longer blog with pictures and videos next week. You'll just have to wait till then. ;)
The reason I'm not posting a longer blog till next week is that Mike is going to Utah for some work related training. We leave on Monday afternoon, when Mike gets off of work, and come home Thursday evening. Our kids will be staying with their Grandma and Grandpa Aitken. Emily has become very clingy and needy lately. I wish them all the luck in the world in dealing with her. But, rather than tell you all our plans, I'll just tell you what happened when we get back.
Emily is doing a little bit better with her motor skills, although she still isn't crawling. We met with a case worker for the Infant Toddler Program who is trying to get us set up with a physical therapist who will come out to our house once a week to work with Emily. Until then, Mike and I are just trying to do all we can to encourage her to use her legs. She can drag herself with her arms and propel herself forward a little by pushing off with her toes. She can get around to wherever she wants to go, but it still isn't quite crawling. Lately though, she has been jumping in her Exersaucer (bouncy saucer toy thing) which I think has been helping her to build some much needed leg muscles. I don't think it'll be much longer before she really does crawl.
Emily is also starting to talk more. Currently, her vocabulary consists of Dad, Mom (pronounced "Bob"), brother, DeeDee (the cat's name), kitty, duck, bath, and hooray (as she lifts her arm into the air). She's so adorable!
Good news for Hyrum! He got accepted into the early intervention preschool we've been trying to get him into. We have a meeting with his teacher and the rest of the staff on November 13th. He'll start some time after that, attending 4 days a week, 2 hours a day. We are SO anxious for him to start talking. He turns 4 on November 17th, and still can't successfully communicate with us.
We got a good scare the other day. Mike let Hyrum outside to play for a little while, but he didn't expect him to go very far because it was raining. After less than 5 min, I asked Mike where he was. Mike told me he was right outside the door, but he wasn't. Mike stuck his head out and called for him, but no answer. A quick walk up and down the row of condos set us into a panic. Hyrum wasn't anywhere! Mike walked around several blocks before he came home and got the car to help him look better. I bundled Emily up and strapped her in her stroller and went out on foot. We looked everywhere. I was about to call the police and Mike was about to check the major road near our house to see if he had gone to watch the trucks or tried to walk to Jack-in-the-Box. He loves their french toast sticks. As Mike headed off to search some more, he passed by the alley that our house sits in. There in the driveway, perched atop a pink and purple tricycle, was Hyrum. We tried to ask Hyrum where the tricycle went.. told him to put it away, but he only tried to park it in our garage. Mike took him around to some of the neighbors who we know have young kids, but we never found the owner. To this day, I still have no idea where Hyrum went. It couldn't have been any of our nearby neighbors, because we checked with all of them. We parked the tricycle next to the road hoping someone would recognize it and pick it up. It sat there for half a week before it finally disappeared. I guess we need to get Hyrum one of his own so he doesn't do that again.
I was lazy this year for Halloween. I usually make the kids' costumes, but this year, I bought them. Yay for eBay! They won't be as cute or of as good a quality as when I make them myself, but it's so much easier this way! I'll probably go back to making them again next year. I've updated the poll for you to guess what they will be. The question will be answered in the form of pictures when we get home. Those of you who already know the answer, feel free to vote, but don't spoil it for everyone else!
