It's NH Time, Part 1

We've been looking forward to making the NH August trip a tradition since we left my parents' place last August.  Here we go, year 2!  It's so great to get the boys with their grandparents, out in the woods, to the beach and up to the lake.  Doug and I enjoy relaxing around the house and the extra help of my parents with the kids.  It's such a retreat for our whole family.  Unfortunately, year 2 has gotten off to a somewhat rocky start...Tavin (big surprise) has a nasty cold.  Doug and Koen packed up the car and the little guys and I loaded in for our 2:15pm departure (Doug is all about sticking to the schedule).  Doug and Koen were dropping us off at the airport and then they would drive on to Eastern PA to spend a night at Doug's parents and then complete the trip to NH on Tuesday.  Originally we had high hopes of all of us doing the roadtrip in the "awesome minivan," but alas, Southwest had a sale and we thought it best to fly myself and the little guys up like last time (phew!).

Tavin and Penn both had to miss their afternoon naps because of our flight departure time of 4:40pm, but they did great.  Here they are playing in Pittsburgh International Airport's "Kidsport."  

Our first flight took us to Baltimore.  This flight is super short, so the flight attendants handed out the peanuts early.  Tavin was thrilled (Penn just enjoyed making noise with the bag).  While they were hanging with their Southwest snacks preparing for takeoff, I tried to snap a good pic.  Here's the best of the best (not too bad).

Poor Tavin has a really awful cold.  Despite his sneezes, snot and cough though, he enjoyed the flights and never complained (not even about his ears).  Our second flight took off at 7:35pm (past bedtime).  They still did so well though.  Penn was a little sad at first, but then he got settled and snuggly and I just loved the precious time to hold him tight as he rested on my lap.  Tavin got to watch Thomas the Tank Engine, so he was fine. =)  We arrived on time in NH and got a fantastic welcome from my parents.  Tavin was beaming as he ran to Grampa for a big hug and then was carried to baggage claim.  So sweet!  Well, we were destinated, now for the nighttime that ensued...Tav went straight to sleep and coughed intermittently all night long.  Thankfully he slept through it all (not that I did).  Penn, on the other hand, came down with the cold as if a light switch turned on.  So bizarre.  Only an hour and a half after I laid him down he was congested and having trouble sleeping.  He was awake trying to deal with it all until about 1:30am (and I was awake listening to him and one time had to go comfort the poor thing).  Penn slept until 6am, but thankfully went back to sleep after some sadness due to his congestion and slept in until 8am.  I ended up with about 4 and 1/2 hours of sleep, but oh well, at least I'm on vacation.

So, Day 2.  Tavin and Penn were miserable snotty messes, so we just hung around the house getting acclimated and letting them rest.  I took 3 walks today. =)  The big event was the arrival of Koen and Doug this afternoon.  They made it here in only 7 hours, which was a new record over last year.  They had a great evening with Doug's parents the night before and we were so thankful for the stop-over for them to refuel and rest and then head out onto the road refreshed.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  They arrived a little before 4pm.  Koen was so excited to finally be here, he was beaming.  I'm so thankful that my boys love being here as I do!  After Tav got up from his nap it was time to get this vacation started right...with a Jeep ride of course!  Here's Koen warming up the driver's seat.

Pretty excited to be with Grampa!

Tav and I waited on the front lawn for Koen to get back and then it was our turn.  My little sick bug flashed some smiles due to the anticipation of the Jeep ride.

Now here's a way to cheer up a sad, sick kid.  A Jeep ride with Grampa!  This is perhaps the best self-taken action shot ever.

The rest of the night was low key and all the kiddos got to sleep on time.  I'm praying for healing for the little guys as they are quite miserable and then of course for protection for the rest of us so that we can all set about fully enjoying this time away as a family.  

Penn Pulls Up to Standing!!!

Penn has been pulling up to his knees for about a week or two.  Just last night as we were waiting for our friends to arrive, he was doing just that.  I turned to look up the street and when I looked back down to check on Penn, this is what I saw!

I called Koen over to see and he got Penn to turn and look at me and smile.  He was one proud baby!

After awhile he got sad as he has not yet figured out how to sit back down (which is so pathetically cute).  I'm sure that will come in the next few days.  Good job, Penn Rye.  Happy Standing!!

What We've Been Up To This Week

I've had about zero downtime this week with usual busyness, added  extras and friends visiting, but the dust has settled and now all I have to do is get us packed for a 2 week visit with my parents in about 48 hours.  I just couldn't resist squeezing in time to catch up the blog though.  It's therapeutic (and nice not to get too far behind!).

So, on Tuesday there was threat of rain, so we headed to the Children's Museum for our planned playdate with Deborah and her kiddos.  The boys loved the Clifford area again.  Melder boy reading time.

Koen and Miles hung out for a good Clifford story too.

After the Clifford exhibit we headed to lunch and then up to the water floor.  It's a tough floor for Penn as it isn't crawler friendly, but he absolutely loves to touch the water and he enjoyed the sprinkler area very much.  I just love his expressions as he watches and feels the water.

Tavin got really into the water floor this time and was concentrating for quite some time on building a damn.

He is focused!

Koen and Miles tag-teamed for some engineering in the plumbing area.

It was a great morning with these friends once again.  Koen did especially well after having a few rough days with listening and obeying, so it was really encouraging.  Unfortunately, he spiraled down about 30 minutes before we left with being quite wound up and not treating me with respect, but the majority of the outing went well, so I'll take it.  I think he was still overtired or something.  

On Wednesday, we had our Osceola playdate as usual.  That day was amazing weather, so even before our meetup around 11am, I wanted the boys to be outside.  They enjoyed some digging in the backyard for about an hour while Penn napped.  Tav loves to be in the dirt with his machines!

Once we got to Osceola, I realized how fresh the air really was.  Adrianne and I were even a little chilly.  It was such a nice change of pace!  Penn didn't seem to mind the fact I didn't know to put him in socks.  He still loved the swing.

Penn also got some playtime on the equipment and he was so happy.  

On Thursday we had plans to hang out with Krissy and her twins, Jonathan and Faith, and their new little one, Joshua.  It was another amazingly gorgeous day, so we had to meet up outside.  This time at Montessori playground.  The kids had a blast and were running around most of the time.  And when they weren't doing that, they were eating the entire contents of the huge Tupperware of watermelon Krissy brought.  Tav could be the poster child for a watermelon commercial (if one of those existed of course).

Penn and Joshua had some get-to-know you time on a blanket in the shade.  Joshua rolled his way over to my legs and was being so cute gnawing on me with his gums (precious!).  I think Penn got a little jealous of his friend getting so close to his mom.  "Hey, what do you think you are doing?"

"Here, Joshua, maybe I can lure you away with this super yummy sunblock bottle?"

Krissy and I of course enjoyed catching up and chatting as usual.  It's so fun to see our 6 year-olds playing together after years (pretty much since birth) of them getting together for similar playdates.  Unfortunately we missed the photo opp, but maybe next time. =)

Friday was a super special day (well, Daddy's day off is always a special event) because we were expecting our friends' arrival around dinner time.  My college roommate and bridesmaid, Jenny, and her family were stopping in for the night on their way to a wedding.  The last time we were together was last October, which is pretty good, but we will take any and every opportunity we are presented with to hang out!  The kids were immediate buddies again and enjoyed playing together in the backyard and eating their dinner (we adults enjoyed a gourmet meal prepared by Chef Doug after the kiddos were in bed).

3 year-olds and 6 year-olds playing with bocce balls.  Watch out!

The kids all did a great job getting a good night's rest despite the excitement of having such fun friends only rooms away.  After everyone was up, we had a lovely family breakfast and then it was playtime.  Just as we thought we should get the kids outside for a walk and some fresh air before the rain hit, we got surprised with a powerful downpour.  Oh well, more inside play.  The big kids ended up landing on a super cute sandwich shop game that they played for over an hour.  The little kids entertained themselves and the adults??  Well, the guys built a ridiculously huge Lincoln Log fort.  Hilarious.

After the morning stuck in the house, we thought getting lunch out would be fun.  We were hoping the rain would break and we could walk somewhere super close, but yet again as we got ready to go there was another crazy downpour, so we drove over to Mad Mex.  Koen sat next to his buddy and they did great keeping busy writing and drawing in their notebooks.

All the kids did great throughout the meal at Mad Mex and then we headed home for naptime and for Jenny and Scott and the kids to get back in the car and head to the wedding they were around for anyways.  First, Jenny and I had to try for a "roomie" shot.  

Jenny and Scott...thanks so much for the visit.  You are welcome here anytime.  We love you and your girls!

Well, that's about it (in brief) for the big events of the last few days!

Status Update: Tav's Speech

I'm steeped in the application process for Medical Assistance.  Apparently this is a common route for those needing so much outpatient therapy as private insurance only covers a certain amount, but under some loophole situation in the government, it is possible to gain coverage for a child with needs such as Tavin.  That being said, it is not easily navigated or accomplished.  I'm an educated woman with an undergrad degree and Masters degree and it has been a tribulation dealing with the red tape, inefficiency and duplicity throughout the system (not to mention various numbers with no dial tone that are supposed to offer help).  Anyways, tonight I wrote an expose of sorts as one of my supporting documents as to why we need to gain this Medical Assistance.  I think I am probably going above and beyond what this government office requests, but if they are going to ask for information from this momma who loves her son so much and has been so amiss these last few months wrestling with this speech struggle, they were in for an earful.  I thought it made for a good way to catch up the blog followers, so here it goes.  Grab the tissues, well, at least I did.

Parental Description of Need for Special Services for Tavin Melder

At age 2 our son, Tavin, spoke many words with confidence.   He just failed to articulate well.  Since he was only 2 at that time we were not concerned.  As he progressed through his 2^nd year into his 3^rd we noticed his vocabulary increasing, his words stringing into sentences and sentences then into paragraphs, but unfortunately, he still lacked clear articulation.  Actually, instead we noticed patterns in his speech and that his verbose conversations were very much in his own language and unintelligible to everyone outside of his big brother, myself (his mother) and his father.  At his 3 year check-up with his pediatrician, in December of 2012,  I casually mentioned our concerns and the pediatrician, Dr. Paul Rowland, suggested we have him evaluated by UPMC’s Children’s Hospital here in Pittsburgh.  At that evaluation (in late January 2013) it was clear that Tavin falls short of the average intelligibility for his age group and they found him to have phonological disorders causing the lack of articulation.  Upon this evaluation they recommended that we have speech therapy twice a week.  Starting in mid-April of 2013, Tavin has had speech therapy twice a week at Children’s Hospital.  During the time between his evaluation in January and the commencement of therapy in April, we learned of the intermediate unit of Pittsburgh Public Schools’ early intervention program.  We pursued this avenue of treatment as well and therapy began once a week with Pittsburgh Public starting in early April 2013 as well.  So by May 2013, Tavin was seeing a qualified speech therapist three times a week between the two programs.

In the past three months we have seen progress in Tavin’s phonological issues, but there is much work to be done.  We are thankful that particular words have improved and those words are more understood by peers and adults, but his conversational speech remains mostly unintelligible by those outside his familiar inner circle.  In this process of therapy we have come to terms that we will most likely need to continue treatment three times a week until Tavin is school age or perhaps further in order for him to learn how to overcome these phonological problems.  In the paperwork we received from the County Assistance Office we were told to provide how this “disability” causes our child difficulty in social relationships and situations and educational opportunities.  

Here are my explanations…

Tavin is a child filled with joy.  He is vibrant, expressive, creative and imaginative.  He is full of life and this pours out of him when speaking to me (his mother), his father and his brothers (ages 6 and 1).  But in social environments, a paragraph of excited information can be cut short when he, at the age of 3, sees that he is not being understood.  When asked his name and he states it in his own way, he turns to me and says, “oo say i-ya, Mommy?”  He is clearly starting to be quite aware that he needs a translator and is misunderstood much of the time by most of the people he spends time with.  We are obviously working against this with therapy, but it is a long, uphill battle.  His social capability is great due to his fantastic personality, but the ill-function of his conversational speech does threaten it severely.

As for education…Tavin is heading into preschool this Fall (2013).  He will be attending a private preschool two days a week.  At the preschool, Pittsburgh Public’s early intervention intermediate unit will be providing 45-60 minutes of therapy in this social environment.  That being said, we are concerned about Tavin’s ability to be understood by his teachers and peers on his own.  He is so excited to go to preschool as he remembers his brother attending this particular school, but as parents we are wary about how it will go due to his language skills.  It particularly pains us to think that perhaps his lack of intelligibility could cause him to withdraw from his vivacious personality and feel uncomfortable in educational settings.  This is why we are so passionate about Tavin receiving the therapy needed to help him overcome his speech problems.  This child is not only gifted, tenacious and a huge blessing to us, but he has so much to say.  We know this, but we want the world to know what this special little guy has to say and we look forward to when they will.

Sunday Fun

So this weekend has just been packed with taking advantage of fun stuff this city has to offer and Sunday (today) was no exception.  This morning we went to the 9am service at North Way Oakland.  Then we headed on from there to Mellon Park with Aunt Megan, Uncle Nate and their boys for "Bach, Beethoven and Brunch."  This is a fantastic, simple cultural event offered every Sunday throughout the summer.  Today was the West Hills Symphonic Band.  It was fantastic.  Classic band music (Daddy, it brought me back to the days of the Hopkinton Band).  The boys enjoyed it, but moreso they liked hunting for sticks beneath the shade of the trees and eating their picnic.  Here are all the boys as Megan and I were trying to get a picture.  I was just happy that everyone is looking my way (some of the faces and looks are comical though).

The music was winding down and the kids were getting restless (namely Koen was being a terrible listener and Tav was getting whiney), so we headed across the street to the other side of Mellon Park where there is a new spray park and a great playground.  We continued our fun hangout there (well, again, Koen was intense on the playground as that same kid from a few weeks ago happened to be there...what are the odds!  Cut me a break!).  They did pretty well, but Penn was so happy.  Next time I'm bringing his swimsuit.  He loved putting his arm out into the sprinkler.  So cute.  

Penn is such a trooper just hanging out as his big brothers get to take real advantage of these types of outings.  

Well, it was a fun way to spend the morning.  Thanks to Nate and Megan for hanging with us.  It's so nice to have the company on Sundays.  

Pittsburgh's Grand Prix...So fun!

Pittsburgh's Grand Prix might be my favorite family outing in the city this summer.  I just think it is so unique and special that Pittsburgh has a Grand Prix and then it is located in beautiful Schenley Park.  We enjoyed it with some of our favorite friends: Alex, Hilary, D and Huck.  The weather was hot, but breezy, and we found a place in the shade for our picnic, so it was very comfortable much of the time.  The kids were fantastic and the races were exciting and interesting.  Then, on top of all that, there were so many other things going on with car shows, activity tents and more.  Why have we never done the Grand Prix before??  Here's a glimpse of the great event...

When we arrived it was Lotus races.  

And a video, so you can hear the engines!

The buddies.

The chance to climb in a beautiful Porsche.  Yeah, no big deal.

The second race we got to see was the Vintage Time Trials.  This was very exciting to watch as the cars changed places a lot and they were super loud!

And a video again so you can experience a glimpse of it.

And what Melder family event doesn't include a few cute pictures of Penn Rye?  Here he is.  He was amazing.  Such a trooper just hanging out in the BabyBjorn, stroller and on the picnic blanket happily for hours.  Oh and this must-be car lover didn't even mind the engine noise (by the way, have I mentioned he says, "vroom!" now?!?).

Well, the Melder Grand Prix day was a huge success.  This event is definitely going on the "must-do annually" list.  Thanks, Pittsburgh!

Riverhounds

This is another example of how I love that we live in the city.  Doug and Koen are at a Riverhounds soccer game right now.  It's Pittsburgh's minor league soccer team.  They used to play farther away from the city, but in recent years they got a stadium on the South Side and it is state of the art and has a beautiful view of the city.  We have a friend who is actually a goalie on the team, so Doug follows them and keeps Koen up to date on their progress.  Tonight they had the opportunity to take in a game.  Unfortunately, a thunderstorm rolled in right before the game started, but Koen and Doug had their own tailgate party in the back of the van with popcorn and peanuts they brought from home.  Doug is such a great Daddy, just rolling with the punches!

I got this picture once they were in their seats.  Look at the beautiful Burgh!  

Sometimes I wonder if Koen is getting spoiled with all these special things.  But I pray that it just gives him an appreciation for all the different things the world offers and ultimately leaves him grateful for all the Lord has blessed him with that we can enjoy.  Go Riverhounds!!

The Little Mermaid

I think I mentioned on my birthday blog post that my gift from Doug and the boys was tickets to the Pittsburgh CLO's production of "The Little Mermaid."  Originally Doug thought that we would take both big boys, but as the date got closer I figured Tav wasn't quite old enough for a 2 and 1/2 hour production with loud music and a mer-monster during his usual naptime (not to mention Penn would never survive eating lunch without Doug or I feeding it to him, that kid cannot loosen up with a babysitter!).  So, Koen and I went just the two of us and invited another mommy and one of their kids along (Julia and her 3 year old Keely who adores Disney princesses attended).  The show was magnificent.  I've seen a few Broadway shows over the years, but I have to say I think that perhaps this was my favorite (well, Doug would be sad if I said it topped Les Mis, so maybe not my absolute favorite).  

Here's me and my handsome date...

Thanks to my boys for this special cultural outing.  The show was so beautiful and it was very special to share it with Koen.  He was amazing.  So attentive, quiet, patient, still and just enthralled.  We really enjoyed our afternoon together.  Oh, how I love living in the city and taking advantage of these types of things.  Thanks, Douglas (and Koen, Tavin and Penn).