Happy First Birthday Saya!

Today, my baby Saya turned one year old. We did not have a big party but had a nice family time to celebrate her birthday. We had a cake (which I got for free from QFC!) and sang happy birthday to her with one little candle standing in the middle. Of course, she had to wear the "I am one" party hat, the very same hat Aly wore on her birthday. She didn't make a huge mess (her brother Noah did! oh my!) but she liked the whipped cream off the edge and helped herself to the sponge part all by herself.

After the cake, we took the kids to the Issaquah Zoo since it was nice out. The last time we went there was when Sean was 7 weeks old, the very week he started to flash tons of social smiles at anyone. They have random collection of animals from tigers to African cranes, and it is an itty bitty zoo. It's a nice size though for very young children and the kids had a blast looking at the animals. Aly and Sean liked looking at the tigers and they thought that they are big kitties (well, that's true). Noah liked looking at the parrots as they made lots of noise. Saya was just wide-eyed and sat quietly in the stroller.

We then went to our favorite pizza joint in downtown Issaquah to have supper. Mike and I like it because it reminds us of Boise, a good thick dough with lots gourmet of toppings and of course the beers on the tap! Kids behaved well mostly and we were just amazed that we are actually dining in a restaurant with all four children. At one time though, Aly decided to scream like she saw a ghost for no apparent reason and the restaurant fell silent for a fraction of second. Maybe no napping had something to do with it. Saya liked their bread sticks and she was just munching them away in the stroller.

We had a really good day and took lots of pictures. I hope to look at the photos with Saya in the future and tell her about the fabulous day we had.

Oh and one more thing. Since she is one now, she can face forward in her car seat!! Yeah!! I was looking forward to it because the car seat takes up a lot of space when facing backward. A small thing, but it makes me happy!

Sinus Infection and stuff

I wish I had a better title, but that is our week this week. Saya is on the mend but now Noah is suffering from the same thing. A good thing is that he can take the right antibiotics that works from the beginning thanks to Saya who had to try two different ones before getting her third medication. Noah seems to have lower immune system than Aly or Sean. Poor thing gets sick all the time.

As for the first picture, Sean creates art-like pieces like this with unusual objects. He carefully chooses the positions and very picky about how things lay or stand. When he is done, he does not want anyone to touch it or move it. A good way to make him mad would be to knock it down, which Aly does all the time. One time, he made a bloom stand up (the hairy side down)!! I was quite amazed about that. I mean really, looked like what you see on a magic show.

And look who's gotten so big? She is going to be one next weekend!! She is our last baby and it's sad to see her graduate to a toddler hood. She is a very happy girl and we just cannot imagine life without her!

Sick Girls and Sensory Diet

Saya likes to stand but she still cannot sit down from standing.
With my kitty Grace

Saya likes to play with Grace

She is a very good kitty, doesn't raise her paw at kids.

Aly wasn't herself today. She acted tired all day long.

Cuddling up with Grace.

Well, Saya has been sick since last Friday and she is finally starting to show some signs that the antibiotics is doing what is supposed to do. She's had moderately high fever since Friday and today is the first day she doesn't have any. Her nose is still very runny and she has the wet coughs. Her ears must still hurt because she cries every time she coughs.

Aly was a different girl today. She is normally the loudest and most vivacious little girl in the house, but she was clingy and quiet most of the time. I hope she's not going to develop a full blown sinus infection like Saya did.

On Sean's sensory issues, I read a print out Jessica the OT gave me the other day about "Sensory Diet" and decided to try out this new approach to resolve his strange behaviors. Sometimes out of blue he would start knocking all the toys down off the shelves, or scream for no reason etc... and we thought that he was just seeking attention for the longest time. But I figured out that he probably is seeking stimulation because his brain thinks that he is under stimulated. A lot of autistic people have this problem, their brain stops or slows down processing stimuli and they seek it out by their action of choice. "Sensory Diet" recommends observing the pattern through out the day and "feed" him the appropriate amount of sensory activities he needs. The activities could be jumping together or giving him a tight hug. I like that it is a proactive method and I am going to experiment with it and see how he responds.

Spring Break '10

Sean spent a lot of time playing with Alyson last week. They get along much better now.
Saya was about to stand up and she is trying to climb up the stairs - oh no!

Poor Saya is sick now since Friday.

Amy braided Aly's hair and Sean was impressed and kept saying that "Aly is a princess!"

Mr. Noah looking slick!

Aly is into looking pretty these days. Very much in a princess stage. Loves her princess cup and utensils. Anything pink is "Aly's".

Noah patiently waiting for the carrot cupcake.

Aly loves to wash her hands and tries to do a lot of things by herself these days.

Spring break might be a party time for some lucky people but it means more work for people with kids in school. The week started out stressful because Sean wasn't used to the new routine, but we all learned to enjoy the extra time we have together by the end of the week. Amy had her spring break, too, so she came and helped us last week. We didn't do anything special and I actually don't remember what we did, but looks like we had a good week looking at the pictures I took. a

Sean now goes to two hours of Autism Therapy on Wednesday afternoon from 4 to 6. I have a super busy schedule on Wednesday because Sean and Noah have multiple engagements that day. The day starts out by me taking Noah to his class in Issaquah at 9:00 am. When I get home, I leave with Sean to go to the Crossroads Mall to pick up a couple of fresh croissant before going to his occupational therapy at 10:45. He fusses that he doesn't want to go see the therapist, Jessica, but he always has a good time once we get there. The OT ends at 11:45 and his speech is at 12:00 in Redmond, so I dash out in my little minivan to get there on time . He acts up when we go see Julie, the speech therapist, and sometimes screams when he sees her.

Again though he enjoys the therapy with Julie once it starts out. We come home to eat lunch around 1:00 and then off to pick up Noah from his class at 2:30 pm. I take all my other children with me, sleeping or not. I used to have to kill time with all my four children between 2:30 and 4, before Sean's Autism Therapy in Issaquah, but I got a call today from the school and they have an opening for a speech therapy at 3:00pm! That made my day. Now I can just take him straight to school after picking Noah up. I am normally flat out exhausted by the end of the day and I consider Wednesdays my double work day. I tell myself, if I can get through Wednesday, I will be ok the rest of the week. Now, Aly's going to start her preschool on Wednesdays and Fridays from the end of April, so I will have to see how I can tackle that.

Milestones

Before I forget, I wanted to report the recent milestone achievements in the Campbells household.

Sean -- he is finally pooping in the toilet after bribing him with a special access to the "treasure box." He still prefers pull up diaper over toilet, but with time and encouragement, he has done it three times already. His poop schedule is very consistent and that is helping us a lot with prepping him to sit on the toilet.

Noah -- He is starting to make more sound and says "poppe" for hoppe (cheeks in Japanese), mama for me and dada for Mike etc... He is working twice a week with a behavioral therapist and he is making some good progress. She says that he tolerates working with her for longer time now. He just seems happier in general these days, perhaps he understands that interacting with people is more fun now.

Alyson -- She is combining more two words and she is doing a great job understanding both English and Japanese. She is stronger in English now but I am working with her in Japanese. She pretty much imitates anything and everything Sean does and very motivated to be a big girl. She likes to sit on the potty although the deed has not happened yet. She asks to go sit on the potty all the time and I think she is ready to be trained.

Saya -- She is working on third and fourth teeth on the top, one of them not the middle tooth. And she is now a proud member of "I can stand" club and she has been pulling up whenever she can. She is still wobbly and cannot sit down from standing, but as active as she is I think it won't be too long before cruising. Mike and I are pretty sure that she now says "Dozo" for giving something to someone (there you go, in Japanese). I think she is going to be an early talker.

Anyways, I don't have any new pictures at the moment but I wanted to post these for the record and to share the good news with you!

Birthday and Easter

I have been meaning to post, but I was not very motivated this week.

We had a very good week with my 38th birthday on Thursday, another date night on Friday and Easter on Sunday. I felt pretty satisfied that I turned 38 as a mother of four and married to a good man. My life is near perfect and I want to thank my parents for raising me to be appreciative of what I have, to be able to tackle any problems that come my way, and to strive to improve myself for the better. It may sound like a pretty ordinary things to say, but I came pretty far from when I first hopped off from a tiny plane at the Twin Falls airport 20 years ago! I hit so many walls, bumped and bruised myself and sometimes didn't see a point in getting up in the morning, but all those things made me a toughie that I am today. I have a lot of work to do of course, but I do feel that I am starting to enjoy the fruit of my labor. Maybe it is too premature to make a statement like that, I am only 38 not 60, but at this moment that is the way I feel. And it's a good thing!

Mike and I went to I love Sushi on Lake Bellevue for a date on Friday. I really wanted to eat good sushi as it has been too long! Well, we went to the right place. The atmosphere was great and the food took me to a different planet. We sat at the counter (we always like to sit at the counter when we go for sushi) and I heard the lady sitting next to me mention about my home town, Yodogawa-ku. So, I started to talk to her and she was from Nishi Yodogawa-ku Utajima which is pretty close to my house. We thought that was pretty cool because you don't really meet people who lived so close that often. And then her friend, a Japanese guy, said he went to College of Idaho in Caldwell and found out that he and I have some mutual friends! That was so much fun to chat about my old friends from Idaho. Small world! We exchanged contact details and decided that we'll have Osaka party sometime.

Easter - we didn't do much for Easter, but one thing we did was egg hunting around the front yard. After we put Saya to her morning nap, Mike went to hide 12 eggs filled with stickers inside (didn't like the idea of giving kids too many chocolates and candies) and some toys in the front yard. The kids had so much fun finding the eggs and the toys. Sean was being cute helping his sister find eggs. Noah wasn't too interested but had fun being outside. We thought of going to the church, but then Saya's nap schedule didn't work out. Plus, I am not a fan of their nursery (their toys are blackened because they don't clean them...)

So, we had a pretty good week. Sean's school is out for spring break this week, so we'll see how it goes. I might just turn insane.