Cork

To Do Tomorrow:

Write out wild rice, lentils and bacon recipe

Ceviche (or rather "ceviche" since I poached the scallops and shrimp) ditto

Explain the concept of ice luminarias when they do and do not look exactly like breasts

 

To Do In Ten Minutes:

Go to sleep (I'm migraine-y)

 

To Do Right Now:

Caroline styled herself today a la Rainbow

Not for the first time I am struck by how well she would have done at the French court; all sharp intrigues and elaborate hair.

She went to find Edward, who was properly appreciative.

He said, "Caroyine! Your head looks like... a rainbow racing car!" and, really, what higher praise is there? Then he smooched her and she got all giggly

and she said, "Edward, let's never fight again! Let's be best friends forever!" and he said, "OK! We'll share our toys and our food!"

Imagine my surprise when this period of detente - that I assumed would see them peacefully through high school - was shattered only an hour later in an exchange of violent booster-to-booster seat blows over whether or not it was okay for me to use the car defrost in order to see out the windshield while driving. Edward thought not.  

Speaking of Edward he is getting better at his L's when he is prompted. I mean he doesn't dance around the house declaiming the fact that the leaping yellow lizards lick yellow lollipops but when he says I yike it and I say you llllllike it? He'll try again with a lll..like. 

Except today. Today Edward said he wanted a peanut butter and jehyee sandwich.

I said, "OK. Can you say jeLL-ee?"

"Jeh-yee."

"JeLL-ee."

"Jeh-yee."

"JeLL-ee."

Edward said, "I want peanut butter and jam."

Comments

[a]

He's an excellent problem solver, that Edward!

[CA]

Do you ever just sit around and think about how crazy it is that you went through what you went through and now you have these kids??? And just bask in being so glad that you didn't give up?? Ugh I'm so happy for you (and for us being able to delight in them from afar) I barely know what to do sometimes.

Thank you for posting even though Migrainey. I have two kids just as good as yours but still your posts are a particular delight at the end of a long day. Hope you feel better.

[Laura]

Well, there's a difference between initial-l and medial-l (l at the beginning, l in the middle) in words, and the age at which children acquire/master them. Medial-l is harder, and therefore later.

http://www.speech-therapy-information-and-resources.com/speech-sound-development-chart.html

[Clarabella]

Thinking on his feet. I love it!

[Cara]

My sister had the opposite problem - instead of saying Y she would say L. My parents made sure she said lummy lummy logurt possible more than was completely necessary.

[tgsdmom]

I sooooo sympathize with Edwards right now. This is EXACTLY what happened to me at a similar age - with a different word. (It was "frigidaire" which is the common word for a refrigerator in Hebrew, and which I pronounced "frigirare").

Also, "L" in the middle of a word is not the same as "L" at the beginning. Glad Edward's pronunciation is advancing.

May you enjoy as many dark and quiet hours as needed. Do you think the migraine came because of the tension relief after the bday? I had a friend that would get migraines on weekends, and she thought it was her body's response to tension relief.

[Elizabeth]

My daughter was working on K sounds with her SLP. SLP held up a picture of a kangaroo. After a couple attempts that came out s"tandaroo," Adriana gave the SLP a mischievous look and said "wallaby." I was kind of proud, actually.

[Allison]

As a preschooler my father tormented me with offers of squirrel ice cream as my pronunciation for squirrel and swirl were the same garbled "swarl". I grew to love chocolate best. ;)

[Sarah Wynde]

I would really like you to add like buttons to your blog (no, I don't know how that's done) so that I can upvote CA's comment about what you went through to get your kids and how nice it is for us to delight in them from afar. I have a fairly vivid memory of crying in the living room of my rental house as I tried to explain to my son how sad it was that you were pretty sure 13A had become nonviable and how in fact I had never met you and didn't really know you. (Was it 13A? I remember the moment, but not necessarily the details. Of course, this is the internet -- I could just go read the archives. But I'd rather not. It made me cry.) Anyway, yeah, I want to upvote CA, and I love Edward.

[Sarah Wynde]

June 2007, and it was 13B. And I did cry again while I read your very scientific list of the 8 things that might be wrong. I'm so glad none of them were.

[Betsy]

Like Sarah, I wanted a "Like" or an upvote button for CA's comment. Those kids delight *me* and they aren't even mine. I can't imagine the joy you get from having that little tribe. They are awesome; thank you for not giving up!

(P.S. Sarah, I remember that post about one of the twins showing as not viable and being devastated because it was so. darn. unfair. I'm so glad it turned out to be a false alarm. What would we do without Edward?)

[Sandra]

When my daughter was small, she struggled with the same y-for-l thing that Edward does. I was starting to worry. Finally one day she walked into the kitchen and said "Mama - I want a LOgurt." Problem solved.

[Arnebya]

Outside of my delight in your stories each day, I am warmed by commenters who are reminded of your fertility struggle. The internet is a beautiful, yet sometimes scary, yes, thing. I've read here many years and have only delurked this year. Not sure why but it seemed like time. I join the others in remembering and saying as genuinely as possible: I have cried for you and with you and it brings me so much joy to watch your children grow. I am happy for you to a degree that is weird for strangers and yet completely normal.

[Sally]

I've been reading for ages but never commented. I have boy/girl twins that are 5 1/2 and can relate to you on many levels. My daughter could not say girl, it always came out "gurrr". So at the age of 3 she would refer to any female, age 1-100 as "that lady". It's much better now but I got a kick out of it while it lasted.

[Pam]

My niece when probably Edward's age (now 21) couldn't say her L's either. The one story I remember vividly was that she would call a "slide" a "snide". So her Dad would say to her "do you want to play on the snide" (obvoiusly making fun) and her angry response was always "it's not a snide, it's a snide!"

[Tine]

I hope your head's feeling better this morning! Also: you crack me up. That is all.

[Liz]

Ha! Edward's exchange reminds me of one from my French preschool.

Kid: Can I go to the bathroom??
Teacher: en français! "Puis-je aller aux toilettes?"
Kid: ...Yes! [runs out of classroom]

[Julie]

My nephew struggled with W-for-L and a couple of Christmases ago he was helping me ("helping" me) decorate the tree and we had this conversation:

Jake: "Pretty wights!"

Me: "Yes, very pretty lights. Can you say lllights?"

"Wights."

"Llllllights."

"Wights."

"La-la-la-Lllights."

"La-la-la-Wights."

[Shairstin]

My take away is that Caroline looks like you but with Steve's coloring. And Edward is a perfect blend of both of you!

[Jackie]

My twins had the same language quirk, and one is named Lucy. So my other daughter used to come running in and say, "Yucy is ready for her yunch now!" I still say it sometimes myself, but now they are ten and roll their eyes at me!

[KeraLinnea]

Oh, you are so screwed. (she said, chuckling darkly.)That kid is one smart cookie.

Those kids! So amazing! As a loooong time lurker, I will echo all the people upthread who remember this blog's dark days. I am so glad you kept going through your valley of sadness. Every time I read something funny or touching or just awesome about Caroline and Edward, I am proud of you all over again. You went through hell, and you did it with grace and humor, and you were so unbelievably strong in the face of shattering adversity. Well done, Julia.

[Candy]

Now I've got the Stones song in my head..."She comes in colors every where, she combs her hair ...she's like a rainbow."

[liza]

My 4 year old corrected her "l"s on her own -- like Edward she said them like "y" -- except she went too far in the other direction. Now the sun is lellow and when she's outside she loves to lodel. "Lo-de-lay-HEE-hoo!"

[Cory Ellen]

My daughter is practicing her Rs. She's finally figured out how to say them if she really concentrates on it, but they're a little too far back in her mouth and it makes her sound like she's doing a bad imitation of a Canadian accent. It's hilawious, eh?

[Rose]

She is gorgeous! I love hearing about the Ls, as my oldest daughter said them that way too. We still say we want "yots of yemon in our tea" and that everybody yuves Yucky Charms cereal !

[winecat]

What CA said, I simply adore your children.

[alianora]

Heh. My kiddo is now five, but when he was itty and just learning to say his name, he said it with an "M." So, "Griffin," which is a perfectly lovely name, imo, came out as "Miffin." We worked and worked and worked on the GR sound, and finally he would introduce himself as "GR-Miffin."

Close enough.

[Shannon]

Peanut butter and Jam! Totally giggling at my desk! (Yes, I'm a week behind on my blog reading.)

The the kiss was priceless. :)

[interior designs]

This post offers clear idea in support of the new users of blogging, that really how to do blogging and site-building.|