A Speech GRADUATE!

It was only a little over a year ago that I wrote this post. Reading it brings back the emotions I felt at that time and it is amazing to see how far Jocelyn has come since then.

Looking back, I am unsure that the diagnosis was correct. Yes, Jocelyn most definitely had a speech delay. She most definitely was unable to express herself through words that others could understand. She needed to receive speech therapy. That was not a question for me, but Apraxia was? She did show certain signs of it, but seeing now how quickly she progressed in the time since the diagnosis, I now question if the diagnosis was correct. It really doesn't matter, though. Jocelyn got what she needed and she is now our little talker. Everyone can understand (as well as they can understand any other 3-year-old) when she speaks! It seems so simple, but for us, and especially for her, it means the world. She has overcome her expressive language delay! We are so proud of her!!

On Friday, Jocelyn went to her very last speech session. It was bitter-sweet. I didn't' enjoy the long drive at the inconvenient time, but Jocelyn loved going! She loved her therapists, she liked the other kids she played with there, and she simply enjoyed having an activity to do each week. Friday was speech day!

She has come so far from that day last year in June when I cried worrying that having this "problem" was going to change her. Well, it didn't. She is still the same little girl who loves going out, doing things, and playing with other children. She is just now better able to express herself and can actually talk with other children and adults. All the changes happened before they affected her self esteem--and that was just my worry, not something that was a guarantee to happen.

It took her a little getting used to when people actually started understanding her. When they would ask her to repeat herself it was usually because she was speaking so low that they physically couldn't hear her--it wasn't that they weren't understanding her. She was set in thinking people just didn't understand her, and that made her a little shy to speak to others and answer questions when she was asked, but that has changed and now when someone asks her something like, "What's your name?" she often yells the answer to them-- "JOCELYN". She has to make sure they can hear her, and I just smile knowing what an accomplishment something as simple as being able to say your own name is for my Jocelyn.

I will never forget the first time she was asked what her name was, and when she answered, the person understood her. A single tear rolled down my cheek and I was so excited for her! I wanted to stand up, jump up and down, scream and yell. Such a simple thing, yet such a colossal moment!

As we drove home that day, I was so proud of her. She has worked so hard to speak. Something that comes naturally to so many, but just didn't happen as quickly for her. Her hard work payed off. She has graduated from therapy. The journey that started when she was 20-months-old is over. Jocelyn and I celebrated with her favorite treat--ice cream. And as we sat there eating it, a woman approached us and told me what a a beautiful little girl I had. I thanked her and she then asked the ubiquitous question: What's your name? Jocelyn looked at her, smiled and yelled, JOCELYN ! My silly little girl. My silly little girl who can say her name (and much, much more)!

Dewey Beach 2011

Although this wasn't Reagan's first trip to Dewey Beach, it was the first trip in which she was aware of what was going on and interactive with the world around her! After a brief period of acclimation, Reagan LOVED the beach! She enjoyed walking in the sand (although it was a hard feat at first), playing in the sand, and she especially loved the water. We had to hold her back from walking right into the ocean!

Jocelyn is an old beach Pro. She knows just what to do now! She was ready with her buckets as soon as we got there!

Reagan got to enjoy the rides at the boardwalk this year & Jocelyn enjoyed having a riding partner. Mommy and Daddy got a big dose of reality as to just how much money one can spend on ride tickets when you have TWO children who are able to ride! ;-)

It was a fun trip, as short as it lasted. Traveling with a baby is hard & Reagan is a bit more challenging than Jocelyn was at her age. She had fun at the beach, but nighttime was just not the same as it is for her at home! Mommy felt like she needed another vacation once we got home and settled in! The memories are worth the trouble, though, and we learned from our time with baby Jocelyn at the beach that it just gets easier and easier every year.

Here are a couple more snapshots of the fun times!

Until next year, Dewey! We shall see you again!

Jocelyn's First Trip to the Cinema!

Today we took Jocelyn to see her very first movie at a movie theater! We saw Winnie the Pooh

It was very cute and Jocelyn had a great time! She ate the majority of a large bag of popcorn too!

She looks so tiny in that theater, doesn't she?

Reagan's First Birthday Party!

How fast a year has gone by!

We just celebrated Reagan's FIRST birthday!!!

Our baby girl is one and we can hardly believe it!


We had Reagan's first birthday party on Sunday, July 10th. The day before her birthday. I decided on a polka dot theme, and had a lot of fun with it!1

Here are what the invitations looked like:

I went a little crazy with decorations and spent a lot of time making the banners, but like Todd kept telling me, you only have your first birthday once! ;-)

This banner had a picture of Reagan for each month of her life.
Thank goodness we had a tent! It was a pretty hot day the day of the party.
I had my heart set on a pull-apart cupcake cake, and decided to make them look like giant polka dotted cupcakes. I really had fun making and decorating these as well! I was really happy with how they turned out.
Reagan's chair was decorated as well!
I made some polka dotted party favors too!
I also couldn't resist personalized M&Ms. They just look so much like polka dots, and how cute is it that you can get little pictures of Reagan printed on them?I did always want to eat that cute little face! ;-)


After eating lunch, which included chicken salad on croissants, meatball hoagies, fruit salad (which I may add looked very polka dotty as the watermelon, cantaloupe were scooped out with a melon baller), pasta salad and potato salad (thanks Grandma 1). We all moved inside to sing 'Happy Birthday' to the birthday girl. She resisted the highchair at first, but gave in after being given a spoon to play with. Everyone sang, which Reagan really seemed to enjoy, and then we gave her her first-ever piece of cake, which she also enjoyed!



After she was cleaned up, she got to open all of her presents! Reagan had a really good time at her party. The funny thing about it all is that we were all there to celebrate her and she hadn't a clue. She didn't appreciate the decorations or the cake (besides the fact that she got to eat it), that her grandparents had driven up from North Carolina and New York to celebrate with her, she just loved being around everyone she loved. I'm so happy we were all together to celebrate our little Reagan!

The 4th of July

This was Reagan's first 4th of July!
She wore the most fitting shirt: Little Miss Firecracker!
Jocelyn got to try sparklers for the first time!

We went to the Brentwood 4th of July parade--who would miss it?!?

Jocelyn's friend Ansley came too!

Meme and Papa were here as well!

Later that night we went to Kennywood. We stayed for a couple of hours before the rain came and closed the park down. That was a real bummer!

But at least Jocelyn got her first taste of Potato Patch french fries while we waited out the rain!

Reagan got her first taste too. I don't think she liked the ketchup!

We were planning on watching the fireworks at Kennywood, but ended up back in Brentwood for the show. Reagan's reaction to them? She could have cared less. She sat on my lap and watched them and at times seemed irritated at how bright they were, turning her head into my shoulder. I was most amazed that she stayed awake for the entire show and even the walk home. She didn't go to bed until 10:45pm! What a trooper!!

It was a fun 4th!

Our Littlest Walker

As of June 28th, Reagan has decided that walking is her #1 mode of transportation. She no longer tries to crawl. She immediately gets up on her feet and walks. As you will see in the video, she sometimes falls, but she gets right back up again and carries on. It's so funny seeing that short little thing walking around the house! How amazing that only 11.5 months ago she couldn't even hold her head up and now just look at her!

Housework

Hey Kid,

When you're done with that vacuuming would you mind getting on top of ironing those clothes on the couch? Thanks!

Love,
Mommy

Father's Day

Happy Fathers Day Daddy! We LOVE you SO much!!!!

We have a swing set!

We went to Home Depot to buy a door, and ended up with a build-it-yourself swing set as well! Jocelyn was so excited. Todd and I thought it would be pretty easy to build--the directions said it would take 1 to 1.5 hours for assembly. Well, an entire DAY later, we finally had a swing set. The girls LOVE it!

Reagan

Reagan is 11 months old!

My Peach!

Jocelyn is still loving her favorite fruit!

August 2008
7 months old


June 2009
17 months old

August 2010
2 years old

June 2011
3 years old