Therapy through Play: Speech Therapy

Sheesh! I've been meaning to write about this for six months now. Time just gets away from me. I wonder why? *smile*

Back at the beginning of the year, we talked to Debbie, our Occupational Therapist, about our kids' speech development. At the time, Ellie was saying a few words, Abby was making a few sounds, Elijah had fewer sounds, and Caleb didn't have anything. We were happy when Debbie agreed that speech therapy would be a prudent move.

So we now have Debbie for Occupational Therapy, Jessica for Physical Therapy, and Tasha for Speech Therapy. We have such a great team working with the kids, and have different combinations of therapy sessions twice a week. Like Debbie and Jessica, Tasha comes to our home. The kids are in their own environment so it helps that there isn't a transition time to a new environment. (It also helps keep mommy sane!)

So although we have been working with Tasha for seven months, and it's old news at our house, I'd love to share with you how speech therapy works with our toddlers. Some of these ideas can easily be adapted to your own home if your kids are struggling to find their words.

Blowing Bubbles: One of the first things Tasha started working on was getting the kids to be aware of their lips and tongue. Bubbles are one of the items in her arsenal. Teaching them to blow bubbles helps them realize that they are in control, plus, they get the reward of seeing bubbles appear! Now she is trying to get them to blow on the actual bubbles, but it seems they think popping them is more fun. Something to keep working on!

Practicing Sounds: Debbie is the point person on our therapy team, so she is always here when Tasha is. Since Debbie is in our home two times a week, and Tasha is here only three times a month, it works out really well! With the way it is set up, Debbie knows what they are working on in speech therapy and continues working on it for the rest of the month. I really like the way that First Steps integrates the therapies together and makes sure that one person knows everything about what the kids are doing. (That's why Debbie is in some of these photos.)

I've written often about how much Sean and I enjoy reading, and how we hope to instill that love in our kids. Our therapists back us the whole way with that! When they are here, we read a lot of books and practice basic words and animal sounds. Even though Ellie isn't technically in speech, she participates in everything as well and really has monkey sounds down. Lol!

Singing Songs: With Tasha's help, we've realized that the kids do really well when rhythms and motions are associated with sounds. She said that muscle memory helps them move the sounds from their brain to their mouths. There is a scientific name for it, but I don't remember what it is. Sorry, not so helpful if you are into the technical side of things, but if you need the name, let me know and I'll find out! Hopefully you follow what I'm saying anyway. For example, we sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" while making rowing motions. In fact, that song is responsible for helping Caleb learn one of his very first words, "row!" That was a HUGE deal for my child who is the most speech delayed.

Whistle Blowing: What parent voluntarily gives their kids whistles? Ah, the concessions we make to meet developmental milestones! Tasha uses whistles to help them learn to pucker their lips, control their tongue, and blow out. Actually, I really love that she incorporates normal, easy to find items in their therapy. It just never would have occurred to me to use them without her!

Common Household Words: There is no way to cover all of the activities that Tasha does with our kids, but this is another great one as well. Tasha has a Little People House and all of the furniture that goes in it. The kids work on common household words for objects and activities while playing with it. The crying baby is a bit hit! (and then she takes the crying baby home, which is fine with me!)

Originally, we just had the boys set up for speech, but added Abby about a month later because she wasn't making much progress. Ellie now repeats almost everything, Abby is making some great strides, Elijah has a few words and can ask for "milk," a "show," and announce that he is "all done" with a meal. Caleb is progressing at a much slower rate, but we finally have him counting to 10 (and then he started counting backward from 10 on his own!). He does babble a TON more now that we are working so hard on it though.

We are incredibly grateful for the help and love of our therapists. Our kids are always so delighted to see them come through the door and wait at the window for them to arrive. And I'm happy to call them friends!

If you feel like your kids might be developmentally delayed, most states have a version of First Steps that will help you evaluate them for services. The therapy itself is subsidized and free or has a very minimal cost based on your family income. Early intervention is so important for kids, so if you are on the fence about it, please take a minute to look into your options and give your kids a good start on their milestones!


Curious what our Occupational Therapy looks like? Jump over there and take a peek!

Sheesh! I've been meaning to write about this for six months now. Time just gets away from me. I wonder why? *smile*

Back at the beginning of the year, we talked to Debbie, our Occupational Therapist, about our kids' speech development. At the time, Ellie was saying a few words, Abby was making a few sounds, Elijah had fewer sounds, and Caleb didn't have anything. We were happy when Debbie agreed that speech therapy would be a prudent move.

So we now have Debbie for Occupational Therapy, Jessica for Physical Therapy, and Tasha for Speech Therapy. We have such a great team working with the kids, and have different combinations of therapy sessions twice a week. Like Debbie and Jessica, Tasha comes to our home. The kids are in their own environment so it helps that there isn't a transition time to a new environment. (It also helps keep mommy sane!)

So although we have been working with Tasha for seven months, and it's old news at our house, I'd love to share with you how speech therapy works with our toddlers. Some of these ideas can easily be adapted to your own home if your kids are struggling to find their words.

Blowing Bubbles: One of the first things Tasha started working on was getting the kids to be aware of their lips and tongue. Bubbles are one of the items in her arsenal. Teaching them to blow bubbles helps them realize that they are in control, plus, they get the reward of seeing bubbles appear! Now she is trying to get them to blow on the actual bubbles, but it seems they think popping them is more fun. Something to keep working on!

Practicing Sounds: Debbie is the point person on our therapy team, so she is always here when Tasha is. Since Debbie is in our home two times a week, and Tasha is here only three times a month, it works out really well! With the way it is set up, Debbie knows what they are working on in speech therapy and continues working on it for the rest of the month. I really like the way that First Steps integrates the therapies together and makes sure that one person knows everything about what the kids are doing. (That's why Debbie is in some of these photos.)

I've written often about how much Sean and I enjoy reading, and how we hope to instill that love in our kids. Our therapists back us the whole way with that! When they are here, we read a lot of books and practice basic words and animal sounds. Even though Ellie isn't technically in speech, she participates in everything as well and really has monkey sounds down. Lol!

Singing Songs: With Tasha's help, we've realized that the kids do really well when rhythms and motions are associated with sounds. She said that muscle memory helps them move the sounds from their brain to their mouths. There is a scientific name for it, but I don't remember what it is. Sorry, not so helpful if you are into the technical side of things, but if you need the name, let me know and I'll find out! Hopefully you follow what I'm saying anyway. For example, we sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" while making rowing motions. In fact, that song is responsible for helping Caleb learn one of his very first words, "row!" That was a HUGE deal for my child who is the most speech delayed.

Whistle Blowing: What parent voluntarily gives their kids whistles? Ah, the concessions we make to meet developmental milestones! Tasha uses whistles to help them learn to pucker their lips, control their tongue, and blow out. Actually, I really love that she incorporates normal, easy to find items in their therapy. It just never would have occurred to me to use them without her!

Common Household Words: There is no way to cover all of the activities that Tasha does with our kids, but this is another great one as well. Tasha has a Little People House and all of the furniture that goes in it. The kids work on common household words for objects and activities while playing with it. The crying baby is a bit hit! (and then she takes the crying baby home, which is fine with me!)

Originally, we just had the boys set up for speech, but added Abby about a month later because she wasn't making much progress. Ellie now repeats almost everything, Abby is making some great strides, Elijah has a few words and can ask for "milk," a "show," and announce that he is "all done" with a meal. Caleb is progressing at a much slower rate, but we finally have him counting to 10 (and then he started counting backward from 10 on his own!). He does babble a TON more now that we are working so hard on it though.

We are incredibly grateful for the help and love of our therapists. Our kids are always so delighted to see them come through the door and wait at the window for them to arrive. And I'm happy to call them friends!

If you feel like your kids might be developmentally delayed, most states have a version of First Steps that will help you evaluate them for services. The therapy itself is subsidized and free or has a very minimal cost based on your family income. Early intervention is so important for kids, so if you are on the fence about it, please take a minute to look into your options and give your kids a good start on their milestones!


Curious what our Occupational Therapy looks like? Jump over there and take a peek!

7 Easy Sand and Water Table Sensory Activities

 

Sand and Water. Summer doesn't get any more iconic than that!

A couple of weeks ago, we found the perfect day to head outside and discover all of the fun things we could do with our Sand and Water Table! We were blessed to have it passed on to us by the Barrs when they moved to Alaska early in the spring. To break it in, we invited Rachel and her mom Sarah over to help us with some fun sensory activities, and decided that it might be fun to share them with you as well!

First, let's start with a couple of quick things:

1. What is a Sand and Water Table? It's exactly what it sounds like. It's a child-size table that is divided in half. One half contains sand; the other half contains water.
2. Where did you get the awesome toys in the photos? Glad you asked! The toys in the photos are from the Melissa and Doug Company. They make some of my very favorite kid toys that are super durable and can stand up to lots and lots and lots of playing! We have the Seaside Sidekicks Sand Baking Set, Seaside Sidekicks Brick Building Sand Toy, Clicker Crab Hourglass Sifter and Funnel, and the Finney Fish Spray Bottle x 4! Additionally, this post is part of the Melissa and Doug Summer Fun Calendar! Make sure you click the icon below to follow along with great ideas to make your summer a blast!

Sensory Activity #1: Touching

The first things the kids discovered was the texture of the sand. They would grasp it and then let it fall back through their fingers. It didn't take long before they started experimenting with taking a fistful of sand, putting it in the water, and then pulling mud back out. It's like magic! Our friend, Rachel, was a pro at this activity, and yet somehow managed to stay the cleanest of her little friends. The wisk in this photo is from the Seaside Sidekicks Sand Baking Set.

Sensory Activity #2: Splashing

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Abby was going to town with the splashing. She thoroughly enjoyed splashing everyone around her and feeling the water droplets hit her face. Why did I take a shower that morning? Smacking the water with objects makes a bigger splash than if we just use our hands!

Sensory Activity #3: Scooping

Ellie quickly found the measuring cups in our stash of toys, and alternated between scooping up the sand, then dumping it back out, and scooping up water, then...drinking it. As a side note, I washed the table before we started, so everything was clean. Besides, I didn't want to ruin what she was doing. By scooping and dumping from both sides of the table, she was feeling different weights and watching the materials leave the measuring cup at different speeds. A lot of education is worth a little dirt!

Sensory Activity #4: Funneling

I'm really glad that we got this funnel! It is awesome because the kids could watch either the sand or water fall through it. The sand goes very slow, but the water falls very fast. The kids could also hear the difference between what it sounds like as the sand hits the table, and what it sounds like when the water does the same thing. Elijah thought is was really interesting to play with.

Sensory Activity #5: Sifting

Our big mixing bowl has a sifter on top. This was such a great toy to use on the sand side, because we could bury toys in the sand and then shake it back and forth until we found them again. It's like a mini-treasure hunt! I also appreciated that it required a different movement than scooping and dumping.

Sensory Activity #6: Squirting

Based on how much we enjoyed the spray bottles, I can only imagine the number of water guns in my future! The kids were fascinated with the way the water came out of the bottle and hit their skin. The mission of the day was to figure out how to spray themselves! (The spray bottle has been discontinued, but these squirters will do something similar!)

Sensory Activity #7: Packing

It had rained the night before, and that made for some perfect packing sand. We have these great little brick sets that come with the brick mold and trowel. Ellie did an awesome job learning how to pack sand into the mold until it was full, and then turning it out to make a brick. Of course, it didn't last long as she learned how to build and destroy with her brick maker.

Sensory Activity #8: Tasting

Just consider this a bonus activity! I wish I could claim coming up with this one, but Caleb is the creative mind behind it. To fully absorb the sensory experience, you can also eat the sand. In case you were curious, it's really crunchy.

It's true that Sand and Water Table activities can be messy (next time everyone will be wearing swimsuits so that I can spray them down afterwards), but all of the textures, sounds, and movement associated with those elements make it a very fun, and educational way to spend the afternoon!

Many thanks for Melissa and Doug for providing the toys in this post! This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.This post may contain affiliate links. 

 

Sand and Water. Summer doesn't get any more iconic than that!

A couple of weeks ago, we found the perfect day to head outside and discover all of the fun things we could do with our Sand and Water Table! We were blessed to have it passed on to us by the Barrs when they moved to Alaska early in the spring. To break it in, we invited Rachel and her mom Sarah over to help us with some fun sensory activities, and decided that it might be fun to share them with you as well!

First, let's start with a couple of quick things:

1. What is a Sand and Water Table? It's exactly what it sounds like. It's a child-size table that is divided in half. One half contains sand; the other half contains water.
2. Where did you get the awesome toys in the photos? Glad you asked! The toys in the photos are from the Melissa and Doug Company. They make some of my very favorite kid toys that are super durable and can stand up to lots and lots and lots of playing! We have the Seaside Sidekicks Sand Baking Set, Seaside Sidekicks Brick Building Sand Toy, Clicker Crab Hourglass Sifter and Funnel, and the Finney Fish Spray Bottle x 4! Additionally, this post is part of the Melissa and Doug Summer Fun Calendar! Make sure you click the icon below to follow along with great ideas to make your summer a blast!

Sensory Activity #1: Touching

The first things the kids discovered was the texture of the sand. They would grasp it and then let it fall back through their fingers. It didn't take long before they started experimenting with taking a fistful of sand, putting it in the water, and then pulling mud back out. It's like magic! Our friend, Rachel, was a pro at this activity, and yet somehow managed to stay the cleanest of her little friends. The wisk in this photo is from the Seaside Sidekicks Sand Baking Set.

Sensory Activity #2: Splashing

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Abby was going to town with the splashing. She thoroughly enjoyed splashing everyone around her and feeling the water droplets hit her face. Why did I take a shower that morning? Smacking the water with objects makes a bigger splash than if we just use our hands!

Sensory Activity #3: Scooping

Ellie quickly found the measuring cups in our stash of toys, and alternated between scooping up the sand, then dumping it back out, and scooping up water, then...drinking it. As a side note, I washed the table before we started, so everything was clean. Besides, I didn't want to ruin what she was doing. By scooping and dumping from both sides of the table, she was feeling different weights and watching the materials leave the measuring cup at different speeds. A lot of education is worth a little dirt!

Sensory Activity #4: Funneling

I'm really glad that we got this funnel! It is awesome because the kids could watch either the sand or water fall through it. The sand goes very slow, but the water falls very fast. The kids could also hear the difference between what it sounds like as the sand hits the table, and what it sounds like when the water does the same thing. Elijah thought is was really interesting to play with.

Sensory Activity #5: Sifting

Our big mixing bowl has a sifter on top. This was such a great toy to use on the sand side, because we could bury toys in the sand and then shake it back and forth until we found them again. It's like a mini-treasure hunt! I also appreciated that it required a different movement than scooping and dumping.

Sensory Activity #6: Squirting

Based on how much we enjoyed the spray bottles, I can only imagine the number of water guns in my future! The kids were fascinated with the way the water came out of the bottle and hit their skin. The mission of the day was to figure out how to spray themselves! (The spray bottle has been discontinued, but these squirters will do something similar!)

Sensory Activity #7: Packing

It had rained the night before, and that made for some perfect packing sand. We have these great little brick sets that come with the brick mold and trowel. Ellie did an awesome job learning how to pack sand into the mold until it was full, and then turning it out to make a brick. Of course, it didn't last long as she learned how to build and destroy with her brick maker.

Sensory Activity #8: Tasting

Just consider this a bonus activity! I wish I could claim coming up with this one, but Caleb is the creative mind behind it. To fully absorb the sensory experience, you can also eat the sand. In case you were curious, it's really crunchy.

It's true that Sand and Water Table activities can be messy (next time everyone will be wearing swimsuits so that I can spray them down afterwards), but all of the textures, sounds, and movement associated with those elements make it a very fun, and educational way to spend the afternoon!

Many thanks for Melissa and Doug for providing the toys in this post! This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.This post may contain affiliate links. 

Backyard Playground

Nothing is sweeter than the childhood delight of playing in the backyard!

A couple of months ago, we received a message from our friend, Crystal. Her daughter outgrew their swing set and they were getting ready to replace it. They offered it to us! And then on top of that, Crystal's brother had a matching swing set that his kids had outgrown. They offered that one to us as well!

Over the last two weeks, they've brought over both sets and set them up in the backyard. We can't believe that they just gave us the swing sets! We are beyond blessed as we wanted to get some backyard play items, but it wasn't in the budget.

I love that God provides for wants as well as needs! 

We invited Aunt Sarah and Cousin Aly over to help us break them in. I'll let the photos do the talking. The kids have been all over the swing sets since they arrived!

Ellie 

 Cousin Aly

Abby 

Aunt Sarah, Cousin Aly, and Elijah 

 Caleb

Caleb 

Abby 

Ellie 

Elijah

How fun to have a playground right in our own backyard now! And to have friends who love our kids enough to pass it on to them!

Nothing is sweeter than the childhood delight of playing in the backyard!

A couple of months ago, we received a message from our friend, Crystal. Her daughter outgrew their swing set and they were getting ready to replace it. They offered it to us! And then on top of that, Crystal's brother had a matching swing set that his kids had outgrown. They offered that one to us as well!

Over the last two weeks, they've brought over both sets and set them up in the backyard. We can't believe that they just gave us the swing sets! We are beyond blessed as we wanted to get some backyard play items, but it wasn't in the budget.

I love that God provides for wants as well as needs! 

We invited Aunt Sarah and Cousin Aly over to help us break them in. I'll let the photos do the talking. The kids have been all over the swing sets since they arrived!

Ellie 

 Cousin Aly

Abby 

Aunt Sarah, Cousin Aly, and Elijah 

 Caleb

Caleb 

Abby 

Ellie 

Elijah

How fun to have a playground right in our own backyard now! And to have friends who love our kids enough to pass it on to them!

Therapy Through Play: Cardboard Blocks

I thought it would be a fun to show you some of the activities that our kids do during their therapy sessions. Debbie, our Occupational Therapist, is a master at using toys to encourage the kids to try new developmental skills. She has been doing therapy through play with the kids twice a week since they were six months old, and they love her! It's so cute to watch them wait for her at the window or wave goodbye as she drives away. 

While every therapy session is unique depending upon which kid she is working with, there is a core set of skills that all of the kids are working on right now. And since our kids have the attention span of gnats, most of the time she works with all four of them at some point during each session.

We recently got several sets of the Melissa and Doug Jumbo Cardboard Building Blocks for the kids to play with and they have been so much fun to use during our sessions! I decided to bring out the camera to document how we incorporate the same toy into lots of different exercises while still making it fun. It keeps the kids interested and also lets us have extended use out of our toys since we use them in structured and free-style playing.

We are always so glad to see the kids exploring new things! We keep our blocks out in the garage and bring them in periodically. The idea is that the blocks stay fresh and entertaining so that the kids find the novelty worth pursuing. They definitely have to work hard during their therapy sessions so sometimes a little bribery is helpful! The kids are a hoot when the blocks first come out! The first thing they do is take all of them out, and then a lot of times one (or more) kids will climb into the storage box and empty the last ones from the bottom. I'm all for encouraging exploration in a safe way and these blocks give them the opportunity to do that. They also provide a nice distraction from their need to explore the toilets, pantry racks, and electronic equipment (there is never any downtime here!).

Stacking is one of the skills that we are working on right now. Normally the kids need some coaching and assistance with balancing items, but I turned around to find that Elijah had built a tower all by himself without any prompts. Proud Mama! Then, of course, there's Caleb who much prefers to knock down every tower his siblings try to build rather than build any himself....we will keep working on it though!

Stepping up is one of the biggest developmental skills we are working on with everyone. The end goal is that they are able to walk upstairs and downstairs while either holding onto the banister or using one hand to hold Mommy or Daddy's hand. The kids would much rather crawl up and down though, so it's a process to convince them to give it a try. (Hey, if it ain't broke...) We work on encouraging them to take that first step up with no assistance by asking them to reach for a toy while stepping up at the same time. It requires them to balance and focus simultaneously. This exercise definitely asks them to "step" outside their comfort zone.

A couple of our kiddos struggle with clearing toys with their feet. Ellie and Caleb in particular try to walk around any obstacles in their path rather than navigate over them. These blocks are awesome for creating obstacles of different heights and widths. Much better than pulling pillows off of the couch since those aren't nearly as interesting to toddlers!

I took four of the big blocks (that hold up to 150 pounds!) and filled them with rice to weigh them down. After I added the rice, the big blocks weighed in at about 2 pounds each. Since the cardboard blocks are so light, I wanted some heavier ones to use for "stairs." Our real stairs are blocked by a gate (simply because I don't need four toddlers running rampant through the house) but that does pose a problem with their stair experience. Using the weighted blocks is a great way to get them some time on "stairs" without losing my sanity!

My sweet boys have very little core strength. Because of that, they do a lot of planks. Giving them something fun to hold on to makes it more enjoyable for them. The picture doesn't show it, but we ask them to use their hands to "step off" and then "step back on" the block. It takes a lot of control and strength to do that, and honestly, they hate it. Having something brightly colored does help to make it more interesting.

So if you ever wonder what we are doing on Monday and Wednesday mornings, now you know! We do a lot of variations of these exercises, but we try our absolute best to keep it fresh and entertaining. If you've ever done therapy yourself, you know it's not always pleasant. Thankfully, we are able to use toys to make it a little more interesting.

Also, consider this a head's up: someday I'm sure they will have their stacking skills down and my living room will be full of block forts and flying stuffed animals. You've been warned!

This post was sponsored by Melissa and Doug. Thank you for allowing me to sample your toys! This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

I thought it would be a fun to show you some of the activities that our kids do during their therapy sessions. Debbie, our Occupational Therapist, is a master at using toys to encourage the kids to try new developmental skills. She has been doing therapy through play with the kids twice a week since they were six months old, and they love her! It's so cute to watch them wait for her at the window or wave goodbye as she drives away. 

While every therapy session is unique depending upon which kid she is working with, there is a core set of skills that all of the kids are working on right now. And since our kids have the attention span of gnats, most of the time she works with all four of them at some point during each session.

We recently got several sets of the Melissa and Doug Jumbo Cardboard Building Blocks for the kids to play with and they have been so much fun to use during our sessions! I decided to bring out the camera to document how we incorporate the same toy into lots of different exercises while still making it fun. It keeps the kids interested and also lets us have extended use out of our toys since we use them in structured and free-style playing.

We are always so glad to see the kids exploring new things! We keep our blocks out in the garage and bring them in periodically. The idea is that the blocks stay fresh and entertaining so that the kids find the novelty worth pursuing. They definitely have to work hard during their therapy sessions so sometimes a little bribery is helpful! The kids are a hoot when the blocks first come out! The first thing they do is take all of them out, and then a lot of times one (or more) kids will climb into the storage box and empty the last ones from the bottom. I'm all for encouraging exploration in a safe way and these blocks give them the opportunity to do that. They also provide a nice distraction from their need to explore the toilets, pantry racks, and electronic equipment (there is never any downtime here!).

Stacking is one of the skills that we are working on right now. Normally the kids need some coaching and assistance with balancing items, but I turned around to find that Elijah had built a tower all by himself without any prompts. Proud Mama! Then, of course, there's Caleb who much prefers to knock down every tower his siblings try to build rather than build any himself....we will keep working on it though!

Stepping up is one of the biggest developmental skills we are working on with everyone. The end goal is that they are able to walk upstairs and downstairs while either holding onto the banister or using one hand to hold Mommy or Daddy's hand. The kids would much rather crawl up and down though, so it's a process to convince them to give it a try. (Hey, if it ain't broke...) We work on encouraging them to take that first step up with no assistance by asking them to reach for a toy while stepping up at the same time. It requires them to balance and focus simultaneously. This exercise definitely asks them to "step" outside their comfort zone.

A couple of our kiddos struggle with clearing toys with their feet. Ellie and Caleb in particular try to walk around any obstacles in their path rather than navigate over them. These blocks are awesome for creating obstacles of different heights and widths. Much better than pulling pillows off of the couch since those aren't nearly as interesting to toddlers!

I took four of the big blocks (that hold up to 150 pounds!) and filled them with rice to weigh them down. After I added the rice, the big blocks weighed in at about 2 pounds each. Since the cardboard blocks are so light, I wanted some heavier ones to use for "stairs." Our real stairs are blocked by a gate (simply because I don't need four toddlers running rampant through the house) but that does pose a problem with their stair experience. Using the weighted blocks is a great way to get them some time on "stairs" without losing my sanity!

My sweet boys have very little core strength. Because of that, they do a lot of planks. Giving them something fun to hold on to makes it more enjoyable for them. The picture doesn't show it, but we ask them to use their hands to "step off" and then "step back on" the block. It takes a lot of control and strength to do that, and honestly, they hate it. Having something brightly colored does help to make it more interesting.

So if you ever wonder what we are doing on Monday and Wednesday mornings, now you know! We do a lot of variations of these exercises, but we try our absolute best to keep it fresh and entertaining. If you've ever done therapy yourself, you know it's not always pleasant. Thankfully, we are able to use toys to make it a little more interesting.

Also, consider this a head's up: someday I'm sure they will have their stacking skills down and my living room will be full of block forts and flying stuffed animals. You've been warned!

This post was sponsored by Melissa and Doug. Thank you for allowing me to sample your toys! This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Ellie's Contagious Giggle!

Every now and again, you come across a laugh that is insanely contagious! It doesn't matter how many times you hear it, it just tickles the funny bone every single time. And Ellie has a giggle that fits the bill!

I finally managed to catch it on video during her therapy session a few days ago. Elijah also thought Miss Debbie was funny, so you can hear his laugh throughout the clip as well, but Ellie's is so genuine, I doubt that you can watch this without grinning yourself!

Ellie's Contagious Giggle!

*************

My mom stole me away for a little bit today and treated me to some girl time out of the house. It was a wonderful break for me, and I came home to find all four babies crashed out in their cribs. Daddy really worked them hard while I was gone!

And he took pictures! Obviously, I'm training him well! :)

Backyard Play Time

Apparently, at one point Ellie got going a little too fast down the hill in our backyard. She toddled right off of the grass and straight into that giant pile of leaves in the photo below. She ended up neck deep! Sean tried to take a photo but she wasn't happy with the situation so he ran to save her instead. What a good Daddy!

Sean also thought it would be fun to turn on the hose and see what they would do. 

Caleb thought it was fun! Actually, he thought the whole play time was fun! I'm excited that he felt comfortable enough to run around and not cling to Daddy! Maybe we are starting to make some progress!

 Caleb, Elijah, and Abby all checked out the hose. Dry outfits were needed all around by the time they were finished. I have a feeling that they are going to want to play with it again the next time we go out!

 Sean said that Ellie checked out the hose too, but preferred to spend her time in drier parts of the yard. :)

Aw! I love that Sean is such a hands-on Daddy! I know that it's something that I shouldn't take for granted since so many fathers are too busy for their kids. Seeing all of the fun they had together is really special to me (and so was the fact that all of the kids were asleep when I got home!)!

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One last thing! I have a poll going on over on our FaceBook page. We are two months out from Halloween, and I'm starting to think about costumes! You have to start early around here to keep up with everything. :) I have a really cute idea that I've been mulling over, but I thought it would be fun to see what you think as well. Jump over and vote in the poll or let me know if you have good costume ideas! Last year, they were the Four Seasons! Totally fun! :)

Every now and again, you come across a laugh that is insanely contagious! It doesn't matter how many times you hear it, it just tickles the funny bone every single time. And Ellie has a giggle that fits the bill!

I finally managed to catch it on video during her therapy session a few days ago. Elijah also thought Miss Debbie was funny, so you can hear his laugh throughout the clip as well, but Ellie's is so genuine, I doubt that you can watch this without grinning yourself!

Ellie's Contagious Giggle!

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My mom stole me away for a little bit today and treated me to some girl time out of the house. It was a wonderful break for me, and I came home to find all four babies crashed out in their cribs. Daddy really worked them hard while I was gone!

And he took pictures! Obviously, I'm training him well! :)

Backyard Play Time

Apparently, at one point Ellie got going a little too fast down the hill in our backyard. She toddled right off of the grass and straight into that giant pile of leaves in the photo below. She ended up neck deep! Sean tried to take a photo but she wasn't happy with the situation so he ran to save her instead. What a good Daddy!

Sean also thought it would be fun to turn on the hose and see what they would do. 

Caleb thought it was fun! Actually, he thought the whole play time was fun! I'm excited that he felt comfortable enough to run around and not cling to Daddy! Maybe we are starting to make some progress!

 Caleb, Elijah, and Abby all checked out the hose. Dry outfits were needed all around by the time they were finished. I have a feeling that they are going to want to play with it again the next time we go out!

 Sean said that Ellie checked out the hose too, but preferred to spend her time in drier parts of the yard. :)

Aw! I love that Sean is such a hands-on Daddy! I know that it's something that I shouldn't take for granted since so many fathers are too busy for their kids. Seeing all of the fun they had together is really special to me (and so was the fact that all of the kids were asleep when I got home!)!

**************

One last thing! I have a poll going on over on our FaceBook page. We are two months out from Halloween, and I'm starting to think about costumes! You have to start early around here to keep up with everything. :) I have a really cute idea that I've been mulling over, but I thought it would be fun to see what you think as well. Jump over and vote in the poll or let me know if you have good costume ideas! Last year, they were the Four Seasons! Totally fun! :)