The Cannon Hackett Chronicle: Weekend fun & mouthy developments

We spent the better part of this past weekend in Austin at the "Rally with No Name" (scooter rally). Sadly, we missed the Saturday morning rally activities and some of the Sunday fun because Clay had to work (& Ben had a Sunday morning meltdown), but we still had a blast. Those Austinites sure know how to throw a rally!

ready to ride (@Rally With No Name, Austin)

Also going on in Austin this weekend was my good friend from high school & college, Elaine's wedding. So while Clay and Benito did scooter rally things on Saturday night, I got all fancied up and got to see some of my best friends from high school (for the first time in like ten years!).

In other news yesterday Ben turned 14 months old! How old is THAT! He now knows the following words (most of the time): Mama, Dada, dog, duck, Moo (as in what a cow says--well actually he usually says "mo"), Meow-meow (his word for cat), baba (ball), drop (as in "wow! I just dropped it on the floor!"), shsh (shoe), and some others that I'm forgetting right now. He (ASL) signs: "milk," "eat," "more," and "all done" pretty consistently. Oh, and he also shakes his head an means "no"-- that's pretty useful!

Yesterday Ben and I went out to lunch with my friend & around-the-corner neighbor, Patty. Ben got to amuse her with his oh-so-gross-but-still-endearing eating habits at lunch and then we got to hang out with her two adorable scottie pups afterwards. Few things are as cute as a pair of scottie dogs!

I also got some Halloween decorating done on Monday during his nap (Ben napped in the crib for a total of like 2 hours!!), and got a lot of pleasure out of seeing how surprised and interested Ben was in all the decorations. I also made a Dia De Los Muertos altar for the first time ever. I found it really moving and satisfying finding photos or objects to represent loved ones. In a way I think building the altar made more of a meaningful impression on me that passing by the altar every day now.

Ben had his second visit with the speech therapist today. She said he's already doing better than during his initial evaluation; she could actually see him trying to chew a little with the sides of his mouth (although mostly food would still fall back into the front of his mouth near his tongue). She gave me some new ideas to try during snack time (working on getting him to let me put a piece of food on one side of his gums and pressing down slightly, then alternating sides of his mouth), & still trying to get him to let me feed him (maybe by giving him his own food and spoon to "play" with and trying to feed him with a spoon).

I guess the main concern is that he's still not getting the amount of solid food he should be for a kiddo his age, oh, and he should be weaning better off the bottle. She wants me to encourage him to take more milk from a cup or through a straw each day. She also said that the more practice he gets at using his tongue to push his food to the sides of his mouth, the better he will get at it, and the more he will want to try it. I guess that makes sense; I don't like to do things I'm no good at either!