Do you know what this is?

Here is my mother's stove-but what's in the kettle? Any guess? Ok I will tell you.

This is a kettle full of sap. It will boil and boil and boil and then, when it is thick and syrupy, we enjoy it on pancakes and waffles! Did you guess maple syrup?

Nope. Its boxelder syrup! Which is very similar to maple syrup but more amber in color. Finally a use for boxelder trees. We started on this adventure with Laura who brought us the first pint of syrup to share. We were happy to discover several more gallons of sap the next few days after that. It takes approx. 50 gallons sap to make 1 gallon syrup, according to Dad.

Early Springtime

Well, it looks like Spring decided that MN might just be worthy of a visit. It was around 60 F the last two days....the cats are fighting, lambs are being birthed, the birds are flying around, the wind is warm. Yeah! Sounds like spring. We are really ready to say goodbye to winter for awhile. The forcast says rain tomorrow.

Yup that's me trying to get the lawn raked so all the sticks and other hazards that accumulate all winter are cleaned up. Then the kids can run outside easily.

Nice to be outside. : )

Ta Da!

Found my camera. Well really Ellie found it in my coat pocket. Way to go kid! then I remembered I brought it to my brother's house for Calebs birthday party. Why couldn't I think of that yesterday?

What is it?

I am taking your best guess as to the age, make and model of my "new" farm truck! This one looks just like mine EXCEPT mine has a blade on the front. I couldn't get a pix of mine because my camera is missing!

Oops

My camera is missing. Just when I wanted it too. I had something to show you. But then, can't find the digital camera....still looking here and there.....

Henry's Ears

This is Henry and a baby chick.

Henry and I went to the Audiologist specialist appt I blogged about last week. Guess what?

Henry PASSED easily! They did a hearing test in a sound room, he did great. They put little doo-hikies in his ears and it measures that he has normal hearing with the exception of some limitations related to a head cold. They did a tympanogram and it was fine. They want to see him again in one month to re-do and confirm that the very minor hearing loss was indeed head cold related. There was nothing significant enough to cause a speech delay/problem.

This news put me in a down mood. The reason is, a speech problem generally is easier to cope with when it is hearing related vs. developmentally related. Further I had to take a day off work to make the appt and then it was bad news! We went to Burger King and then we went home.

NOW WHAT? The speech problem is not a hearing problem like our regular doc (and I) thought!

What is going on in Henry's head....

We have an appt the beginning of April with the Speech Specialist at the Hospital....

News

I have been concerned about Henry's speech for quite some time. He is almost three years old and cannot speak coherently. We often know what he says, because we understand his unique words and mispronounciations after much trouble trying to figure it out initially. This bothered me since both my older kids spoke well, easily and early.
I finally got frustrated. I contacted the speech therapist at the public school. She thought maybe he could catch up but we should speak more to him. She also wondered if his birth overseas may be making him speak at a later age. (whaat? sounds silly to me) She was very encouraging and thought that he probably would not qualify for additional help. Just keep talking to him, she said, and pronounce words very carefully.

This advice was nice but not too helpful. After all, me being his mother, he gets spoken to alot. In various ways, such as "Your such a wonderful little superhero!" and "Get your little tail outside and help get wood in NOW!" and lots of story books, songs, and conversations about power rangers and everything under the sun. Well ok then.

I was thinking about this and almost mechanically called the local clinic to make an appointment. Enough sitting around thinking. Now I am doing-- They didn't have any more appts that day but we got an 8 am appt for Saturday.

Guess what.

Henry definitely has a hearing deficit.

He failed the hearing test at the small clinic and we have an appointment in the city with an Audiologist specialist. At that appointment they will determine whether it is a problem of the middle ear, inner ear or conduction in the brain. They will hopefully be able to tell whether he was born with this or developed this later. Also probably he can qualify for some kind of speech training now.

It is a relief to finally get some help with this. Henry is so smart; he often breaks down in tears because he is trying so hard to communicate but we don't know what he is saying. I should have made that call earlier.

And Yet More great things my Kids Said

The kids were playing with a bunch of toys in the living room when Uncle Ben noticed that the Batman toy had a damaged arm.
"Hey boys. What happened to Batman?"
What did Henry say????

"He fell off the tractor Uncle Ben."