C-DAWG!

Buckle in - this might get lengthy. This sweetest of all sweet boys in the whole world is our Corgan, also known as C-Dawg (to which he actually responds better.)

It does not escape my notice the unfortunate timing of my blogging "hiatus." It fell during many key early moments in Corgan's life, and I therefore feel that my record for him is incomplete, and unfair given the attention I've given to documenting the other boys' happenings. I am going to try to remedy that, and I must tell you that just looking at this picture as I type, I've got a big ol' lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. All I want to do is go wake him up, cuddle him and squeeze him. I just love him so, so much. However, he would never let me do such a thing.

Corgan has always been very different from my other boys. I often describe him as being like The Girl with a Curl:

"There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good, she was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid."

I hesitate to say he's ever "bad," but that little rhyme always has entered my mind where he is concerned. He's just always been very excitable, easy to upset, and always does things that completely baffle us. Minor examples from early in his life were that he could not walk until he was 19 months old. (I was much less concerned with this than strangers and minor acquaintances were, trust me.) He had also started out saying words, and then he just stopped talking. It was all screams, all tantrums, all the time. I've been around kids my entire life, personally and professionally, so I know what is typical and what is extreme. Trust me when I say his behaviors become extreme. Screaming bloody, horrible murder in public - for no discernible reason. Throwing himself down in tempers - for no discernible reason. He's overly aggressive and rough. And he's also often not involved with what we are doing. He kind of moves along in the periphery of our family, or whatever group we may be with. The below picture, which I love, demonstrates this. It wasn't a stolen moment of him smelling flowers. This was all he did, just moved along as the whole family walked, in his own little world, investigated the environment, and often had to be called back into the fold, as he traipsed on his merry way. I can't get more specific, it would take ages, but he has definitely been a challenge. I have, until recently, chalked it up to being difficult, like me, and hoped he would grow out of it.


We were able to get somewhat of an answer because of his constant ear infections. The poor boy couldn't hear very well. Once we had tubes put in, things calmed down considerably for a few months, he started to say one or two words, but then that was it. The extreme behavior started again, and he wouldn't talk - never even calling me "Mama." I finally decided these things were not going to correct themselves over time, so I called ECI: Early Childhood Intervention. After several evaluations and meetings, more evaluations and more meetings (occupational therapists, speech therapists, child psychologist, child development specialist, etc.) he was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, more specifically, he is a "sensory seeking child." SPD "is the inability to use information received through the senses in order to function smoothly in daily life.... an umbrella term to cover a variety of neurological disorders." A child like this often can't translate cues in his environment to modify his behavior. For example, the child will pull the cat's tail, and get scratched, but he can't connect the two, so he continues, baffled at the cat's response. This is something I am still learning about, having only gotten a few chapters into the recommended book, The Out of Sync Child by Carol Stock Kranowitz. Brief examples from the book followed by Corgan's similar behavior:

• "Craves fast and spinning movement and may not get dizzy. Moves constantly, fidgets..., is a dare-devil and takes bold risks." Corgan often does not know his own strength. In an effort to be physically stimulated, he will hit us (not to be naughty), throw things, run into things. This all he thinks is absolutely hilarious. He enjoys grabbing Duncan and pushing his head down really hard. He does like to cuddle, but isn't still for it. He just constantly moves and shifts. Also, the story from my last post about him just riding his tricycle off the steps, that's very typical. And I watched him do it - it wasn't an accident - he very purposely did it.
• "Craves bear hugs and being squeezed and pressed. Seeks heavy work and more vigorous playground activities than others." Once he was officially diagnosed, they gave us a vest that is very tight for him to wear occasionally to give him some of that stimulation throughout the day. It is amazing what an impact this has had. He loves it and often asks to wear it. We've also discovered that when he is having one of his melt-downs, if we just grab him and SQUEEZE HIM so tight in a bear hug and apply firm pressure as we massage his back or arms or legs, he calms down pretty quickly. It is now very common for him to run to us asking for a "SKEEEEEZE!" They have also recommended a weighted blanket which will give him that stimulation at night, to help with mornings, which are very rough 99% of the time. But these blankets are quite pricey, so that will have to wait.
• "Seeks visually stimulating scenes and screens for lengthy times. Is attracted to shiny, spinning objects and bright flickering light, such as strobe lights or sunlight streaming through blinds." Now all kids love them some TV, so at first this was a weird one for me, especially since Corgan actually doesn't like to watch TV much. He used to like Yo Gabba Gabba, but now he doesn't care. (It'd actually be a big help if I COULD get him to watch some TV.) But then I realized something about the lights. He's fascinated with lights, turning them on and off obsessively. And something that I finally JUST connected to all of this was the way he will get a light-up toy or flashlight, and shine it on a wall or the cat, or most often Duncan's face, and he cracks up so hard he starts to cough - just because of seeing the light's reflection.
• "Welcomes loud noises and TV volume... May speak in a booming voice." Ewan and Fynn have always been very sensitive to noise, and both were completely terrified of the vacuum and lawn mower. Not Corgan. He's obsessed with the vacuum and the lawn mower. We have to keep him from getting too close. He also likes to see how loud and high-pitched he can get his voice to be, and revels in my not-so-favorable reaction.
• "May taste or lick inedible objects, like Play Do and toys..." Yes, all kids eat play-do, but Corgan will put absolutely anything and everything in his mouth, still. He'd eat anything if I'd let him, except for the actual food I put in front of him!

There are many more examples, but these are the ones I can best describe. Since he has been receiving therapy from the different therapists listed above, things have really taken a complete turn. There are still many challenges, but he is learning and using words at an exponential rate, we are able to curb more tantrums than we ever could before, and I finally feel not so helpless. Things had gotten so bad that sometimes I had to close my eyes or look at pictures to remember him as a little baby so I could extend my patience just a little bit more.
One of my best friends, Scarlett, was visiting from L.A. Her parents own some land and several horses, and she and her sister have ridden their entire lives in competitions and taught lessons. It was mentioned by one of the therapists how horse-back riding is sometimes used for children like Corgan for speech therapy. As Scarlett took him around on this horse, she told me he really blossomed and was chattering and she could tell a big difference in his demeanor as they walked along. I wish I could afford to enroll him in some sort of program. He sure does look at home on that horse.

Besides all this, he is a very sweet, very smart and fun little boy. He loves to play with his trucks and cars and he loves the exercises they have given us for him. Strangely enough, even though his speech is many months behind schedule, he knows all of his ABCs and some of his numbers. He loves Duncan and will rub his head and say "so soft." His favorite person on this planet is Bryce. He LOVES his Daddy like I've never seen from any other kid I've ever been around. If Daddy is home, I am persona non grata. But that's ok. He loves me deep-down, and nothing makes my heart skip a beat more these days than when Corgan calls out, "Mama!"

Happy 6 months to C-Dawg

The Corganator rolls over both ways, shrieks like an owl just to hear himself, cries a lot over his teeth, is fascinated by the kitties, laughs and grins like the Cheshire cat, adores Ewan and is being really stubborn about sitting-up practice. Oh, and he reeeeeallllly loves his mommy. And I love him. *Sigh*

On a related note, happy 7 months to baby cousin Jonah!

Taylor Status

What is the plural of "status?" Is it "statuses?" "Stati?" Hold on, I'm going to look it up... Oh, wow. It's "status." Hm! Who knew? Anyway... I know I haven't been doing regular posting here other than the occasional picture explosion, so I felt like just posting the state of all things Taylor-oriented.

Corgan is ginormo-baby. Every day, Bryce or I say, "When did he get so big?!" He has no teeth, yet, but he drools like a leaky dam. He's rolling over from back to tummy, and he's starting to experiment with some consonants, constantly screeching out "D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D!" He's a very happy baby, a major contrast from the colicky screamer he was the first few months. Every time he looks at someone, usually women, his jaw opens in a gigantic gummy grin and he crinkles his nose. We've made real progress in that our friend John doesn't make him cry anymore.

Fynn is so stinkin' fun. I can't believe how much he is growing and talking. He loves bugs, and we frequently find him on his belly, very closely examining a tiny creature. I have to stop him from picking up ants and spiders, but I do let him carry around a June bug when he finds one. The other day, he kept one in his hand, alive, through two hours of car travel and shopping time. However, that little booger WILL NOT sleep at night. We put him to bed at 8:00, and that kid will get up over and over again - sometimes more than a dozen times. Nothings works, either. We tried Super Nanny's advice of not saying anything to him, but immediately putting him back in bed, we've tried spanking (just a little tap). Nothing. Right now, having been put to bed an hour ago after not napping today, he's still in there taunting Ewan and roaring like a tiger.

Before I get into an update on Ewan, just a little about him. He's been quite difficult the last couple of years. He's very anxious and seems to have some sensory issues. It's all quite difficult to explain, but it has been a struggle, one that I fear will go on and I won't know how to handle. On the other hand, he's very smart. We could hold full conversations with him when he was barely two, and when he was three, he started sounding out and reading words on his own. He's very curious about words, and asks what everything he hears means. We recently (finally) got him into Pre-K through our elementary school. It has made such a difference. He'll now draw pictures (would never before, only scribble) and is more willing to work at something, whereas before if it was just a slight challenge, he would run screaming from the room devastated. Today, his teacher flagged me down to tell me their language and speech person visited the room today. She said to me, "This boy will read anything you put in front of him." Apparently, they gave him word lists, and he was reading at above a 4th grade level. So this language specialist is going to come in each week and work with him and see what else he's capable of. I was just so excited, because I worry about him so much. I had a hard time not crying in happiness for him. He's not into sports at all, but seems to have a very scientific mind, and you'll always find him in the company of adults rather than children. More than once I've gotten to school to pick him early and found him on the playground, talking his teacher's ear off while the children ensued in hilarity around him. He's quite an interesting, awesome kid.

Bryce is working hard, but may need a second job soon. I'm trying to keep up with everything, and barely succeeding. The kittens are cute and growing and each one has a home waiting for it. In fact, one will be staying with us and Ewan has named him Flex.

Fynn scopes out the insect life.

The biggest worm I have ever seen, even after being accidentally cut by a shovel.

So disgusting, yet so AWESOME.

Flex is on the left. Say a prayer: Fynn is determined to slam the door on one of them.

This is what Fynn does when I've banned him from the kittens. I tried to get a shot of one of their paws coming out, but they were too quick.

Just because I'm bored and it's cute

This is a picture of Ewan when he was one year old - his first Easter. I accidentally flipped to this last night in a photo album, and was shocked at how much I see Corgan in this little face. And I can't believe Ewan isn't this little baby anymore.

Glorified Online Picture Album

I realize this is what my blog has become, but I'm okay with that. My energies are going to other places right now. At any rate:

One of the fun things about having boys is getting spectacularly goofy shirts like this one that remind me of stuff my brothers would have worn.

I know he's only two, but I swear he's never going to grow out of using his ice-cream bowl as a hat. Maybe I should stop taking pictures of it. It perpetuates the myth that it's amusing.

Huh. I guess it is amusing. And cute. Until I have to clean it up. You should have seen his booster seat. Maybe he does it for the afternoon bath that inevitably follows.

We never found the third white kitty that disappeared. I really am completely flummoxed as to what could have happened. Here are the two white survivors. They have markings like a Siamese. One of them will have a permanent home with us. Probably the boy.

Yeah, enjoy it now, Mama Kitty. The vet is calling your name.

Mary Ann has staked her claim on this little guy. He is quite cute. Wait, it's a girl. I think.

Hodgepodge

Saturday, we wanted to get out of the house, and since the Wisteria are blooming everywhere, I really wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens. My grandmother had Wisteria growing all over her back fence, and in the spring, you could smell it the second you pulled up in her driveway, and the backyard would just be a wonderland of purple. She's been gone for nearly twelve years now, and whenever I see Wisteria, I think of her. (I think of her with many flowers, actually.) I have some growing in my yard, but they don't bloom yet because it's a young vine. Watch - the first year we are out of this house, they will explode. We were looking for them at the Gardens on one of the paths, when Ewan and I both said, "I smell grapes!" We turned a corner, and BAM! there they were. It was gorgeous. They are right next to the roses, and the combination of the two scents made me feel like I was sitting RIGHT THERE in Grandma's backyard, talking about flowers and babies. She lived only a few blocks away, and when I was babysitting my nephew Chandler, Amy and I would put him in the stroller and walk over there. He'd play by her little fish pond while we all talked.

From a distance - look how high they climb.

Strolling

I wrote a poem years ago about sunbathing with turtles. I would post it here, but I'm sure it's not as good as I thought at the time.

A reluctant pose from Ewan. His favorite part of the excursion was sitting and being able to play with his new Transformers.

Another reluctant pose.

I didn't even ask him to sit for this. He just wandered over to this tree like it was a professional shoot, and he was a model. Then he started ripping daffodils out of the ground.

My attempt at photography.

Mommy and a 5-month-old Corgan. Let this serve as his 5 month post.

I could not resist posting this, with Fynn's arm around Corgan like real chums. I love these boys so much. Continuing on the 5-month-post vein, Corgan is growing so much. He "talks" all day and shouts out to hear himself. He's rolling from stomach to back, and almost from back to stomach. He usually ends up turning a 180 in the attempt.

Rebelling against Bob Barker

We're great grand-parents. Ruby is the proud mother of four wee babies. And they are cute. So cute. There really aren't words to describe brand-new baby kittens. Cute isn't enough - but what else to say? The pics aren't the best because I really just want to leave her alone with them and I was trying to hurry. There are three whitish ones and one gray one with a white chin. I wonder which one we'll keep? Side note: this is a big day for an even better reason than new kittens. Check back later today...

Cute, proud mama, telling me to get the h*** away from her spawn. Just kidding. She seems to like me there.

One of the white ones. I'm hoping it will end up with Siamese markings.

Very blurry shot of the gray one and another white one. So stinking cute!
I really want to squeeze their little pink noses.

Corgan

On Friday night, we had the Saunders and the Bowers over for a little Wii tournament and pizza. When you combine Ewan, Fynn, Ben, Brady and Natalie together, the chaos that ensues is far worse than any accounts you'll hear of the L.A. riots. It's loud, and I mean LOUD. We laid Corgan down for the night, and we were all amazed at how well he stayed asleep through all of it. Our house is quite small, so the chaos was basically right outside the bedroom door. But he slept right through it. I may know why - I stepped in to check on him at one point and found him covering his ear.

I thought this was a girl thing...

Needless to say, Ewan is now sporting an incredibly short buzz cut. We couldn't do it as short as he cut it, or he would have been bald. How he cut that close to the scalp without cutting himself, I'll never know.

And just because they are so cute, pictures of the other boys for fun.
If he's not wearing his Superman cape, he's wearing his backpack, usually with a baseball hat.

Growing up.

Inventions

As mentioned in this previous post, Ewan has always been into "inventions" and he also does little experiments around the house all day. He has become even more interested in these things since he started watching "Sid the Science Kid." Not one day goes by without some sort of new invention from Ewan, which is usually some toys held together in various incarnations with some Scotch tape. And they involve a very long explanation as to what they do. Today, I found him trying to execute the following, something he thought up on his own.

This one actually has a real-life function. That's a toy golf club Scotch-taped to the fan chain. Now he can reach it. He was quite proud. He needed a little bit of my help, but he deserves all the credit.

And this is his other invention. It's a "super-fighter stick." No doubt used to fight off Decepticons or monsters. This is made up of a baby toy - a ball that splits in half to house other, smaller balls, and the rods are from a ring-toss set Shannon gave Fynn for his birthday. I wonder if Ewan will be a scientist.

A bonafide PreK-er

Bryce and I have wanted Ewan in Pre-K for a long time. He attended one at a recreation center last Spring, but had some anxieties about it, and didn't want to go back in the Fall. For those of us who know us well, Ewan has some issues feeling very anxious and timid a lot. But he's so smart, and he is so very bored here at home. I haven't pushed preschool on him, because last year, it was not pretty. And, um, we can't afford it. However, it has become more and more apparent that he needs it. After talking to our Primary pianist, Mary (now 1st counselor, yay!), we found out we actually qualified for him to attend for free.

First thing this morning, I enrolled him, and he was able to attend this afternoon. There were a few moments that made me afraid he was going to panic, but he did very well, and came out with a huge smile. I'm excited about it for him, although I was a little peeved when after asking him what they did today, he said, "I don't remember. We watched Cars." Is there an emoticon for severely irritated and distressed? Or rather, a "What the hell?" emoticon? Anyway, he assured me it was only the last part of the movie, and right before they dismissed. I'm hoping it's because it was Friday... I mean, even though it's free, I can stick Cars in the DVD player here at home. We're going to give it a week and see how it goes. A bonus for me, though: He gets dropped off at 12:20 and is dismissed at 3:20. Fynn's nap is from 1:00 to 2:45. Corgan sleeps whenever he's snuggled with me. Do you see where I'm going with this? Mommy gets a nap, now! YAY!

Fynn was very upset when we dropped Ewan off. I'm not sure if it was because he was going to miss Ewan or because he got a glimpse of all those toys in the classroom. After nap, I told him we were going to pick up Ewan, and he was so mad when I didn't walk out the door right that very second. He was screaming - he wanted his "Ooowah."

To celebrate the occasion, Ewan got this brand spankin' new Transformers backpack. Alas, he doesn't actually need it for Pre-K...

But he doesn't love it any less, especially since it came with this super rad bifold wallet. With a real dollar bill inside!

After taking the above pictures, I look down to see this. You think he wants his picture taken with his backpack, too?

It was pretty cool being here with Fynn alone for awhile. It's so hard when I'm juggling the three of them, and Ewan requires a lot of intervention and involvement. But today, I was able to spend quality alone time with him while Corgan was asleep. He's so fun and is talking so well.

Ewan and Corgan are great friends.

Four month old blondie

Corgan turned four months old on Sunday. He has become the most smiley, laughing little boy ever. When Ewan and Fynn were babies, they didn't cry much, but getting a smile out of them was like pulling teeth. With Corgan, he's quite the crier, but when he's not yelling, that baby can GRIN. And he laughs so much. I discovered at my parent's house the other day that if I hold him in front of the mirror, he will talk to himself and giggle. I tried to capture this on my camera today as my friend Vanessa held him. The picture is awful and it won't upload anyway, but I assure you it is quite cute. Also, I don't even know what to think of this - but his hair is growing in very light - almost blond so far. My other boys have such dark hair, so it's kind of strange to see him looking so different! I'm pretty sure he wasn't switched at birth. I guess I just figured they would all look so much the same. It's going to be fun to watch the differences emerge. I should have a better four-month picture, but he was so cute sleeping on the couch with his mouth open and tongue hanging out. He makes it so hard not to squeeze him as hard as I can. Which would be very hard, indeed, because his cuteness fuels my strength.

Unloading the camera

Ewan and Fynn got new baseball hats.  Fynn sleeps with his every nap time.  I found him like this the other afternoon.  Trying to shield the light from his eyes?

Chillin' on a Sunday afternoon.

I think she wants some gerbil meat.  Must be a pregnancy craving for protein.  Yep, she's pregnant.  Want a kitten?  You know I'll end up keeping one.

If only Corgan had been next to Fynn instead of Bryce, and I would have had perfect little stairsteps.

Do these belong to you?  I washed a load of laundry and these were in the bottom of the washer when it was done.  I have never seen them before in my life.  Neither has Ewan.  Fynn can't tell me what I need to know.  I cannot figure out where they came from.  Please let me know if they are yours, and I shall return them.  I guess the exchange rate for a pair of socks is two play butter-knives.

More best pictures ever

Here are more shots from our family photo session with Missy. There are so many beautiful ones, I don't know if I'll be able to limit myself on posting them. Ewan does this a lot to Missy when she gets the camera out, he just makes faces and acts so goofy. But I love the look of sheer joy on his face in these pictures. He looks so happy and like he's having so much fun. Fynn just takes my breath away. And Corgan, we just love him so, poor thing was cold and wanted to be somewhere warm. I really like these, especially the fun, unplanned ones where the boys' personalities show through.