A New Place to Play

My sister, Mom, and I are always on the lookout for fun, new places to play in our area and we recently learned about E2 Toys to Try. We went to play for the first time this afternoon, and all three of the boys loved it! It is an indoor playspace with a huge variety of gross motor, sensory, and pretend play toys, along with a toy store to purchase unique and fun items! As promised in my last post, here are some pics from this afternoon:

Riley crawling through the house that he and I built together.

Ross playing with the toy train set. He said "choo choo"!

Riley is filling up his tow truck with gas. When he drove the truck over to the gas pump, he didn't quite drive close enough for the hose to reach the car. So, instead of driving the car closer, he got out and picked up the gas pump and carried it over to the car. I like his problem solving skills!

Cutie pie cousins!

Riley steering the pirate ship.

Ross steering the pirate ship.

Riley has become very interested in stuffed animals lately. He found this cat and carried it around for quite a while. In this photo, he is giving the cat a ride on a fire truck.

Ross driving the tow truck! He was actually able to make the truck move forward a little bit, which is a new skill for him! He hasn't been able to figure out ride on toys until now.

There is a wonderful vestibular tent swing in the middle of the playspace that is big enough for all kiddos to get into together. Ross loves all vestibular swings and zoned out in there for a while, but Reid and Riley just kept popping in and out to visit.

Ross had a great time with the pretend kitchen!

This is a picture of Riley walking up the ramp onto the pirate ship! This was really hard and I was impressed with how well he was able to walk up this ramp! He figured out how to use the ropes to help pull himself up and didn't need my help at all!


Brotherly love inside the vestibular swing.

Lots of words!

I know that it has been nearly a month since I've posted and I apologize for that! The boys have been busy playing and learning and just generally doing beautifully! We did have a rough couple of weeks when they were both sick (croup!) but, thankfully, that is over now.

Riley is talking up a storm these days! He is combining 5 and 6 words all the time, and his vocabulary astounds me. Most recently, he has been talking about how much he misses me when I am at work and how he feels "so happy" when I come home. You know I love to hear that!! He describes and narrates everything he sees, and is full of curious questions about the world around him. It's so much fun to see his mind at work. He comes up with something hysterical every day and I love waiting to hear his latest revelations when I come home from work.

Ross' language, though, has truly been the greatest miracle lately! He is repeating a TON of words, and his spontaneous language has really taken off over the past couple of weeks! He is saying "all done" when he is finished eating or finished playing with a toy, without having to be prompted. He is saying the noises that various animals make, and the names of all of the letters and the numbers up to 10. He also says banana, but it sounds like "manana" which is just adorable! He says "up" when he wants to be picked up, and he says "hi" and "bye" like a champ! He has said lots of other words here and there, and it seems like each day he adds another word that he is suddenly able to say.

Ross recently had a check-up with the developmental pediatrician who diagnosed him PDD. A the time of his diagnosis, 6 months ago, she felt that his language skills were at the level of a 9 month old baby. Now, only six months later, she feels that his skills are at the level of a 15 month old. That's terrific progress! Of course, Ross is actually 31 months old, so we still have quite a way to go, but it's so encouraging to see him make such great strides!

I know that many of you really only check in because you want to see pictures or videos and I hate to disappoint you....but I just haven't taken many lately! I am so sorry! I will try to take some this weekend and post them soon.