Santa Pictures

Our ward has a couple in it that looks like Santa and Mrs. Claus all year long. It's just around Christmas they put their outfits on. We took the kids to the ward Christmas party and I was very impressed that Jett didn't react the way he did last year:

2010 (I still can't get over Mrs. Claus' face

2011

And as always, Cruise was a huge fan as well. When Santa asked what Cruise wanted for Christmas, he said, "I want candy cane pweese.":

MyAutismTeam.com

A few of you have probably heard me mention MyAutismTeam.com before. They are an awesome resource for parents of children on the spectrum where you can find local care providers from doctors to music lessons. The site also provides a forum to discuss issues and questions with other parents as well as be able to give and receive support and empathy with each other. I absolutely LOVE the site and have been active on it since September.

When I first joined the site, I think they may have been about 50 users and now there are more than 13,000. So since I was one of the first active users, MyAutismTeam.com asked if I would be willing to speak with media about my experiences with the site. I was more than happy to help them out and figured local newspapers would be contacting me. But to my surprise I was asked to interview with TIME magazine as well as The Washington Post. This kind of blew my mind, but again, I was happy to spread the word about such an amazing autism resource. The stories just recently broke so here are the links to those pieces.

TIME Magazine:
http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/08/myautismteam-for-parents-of-kids-with-autism-new-site-offers-advice-and-emotional-support/

The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-parenting/post/myautismteamcom-new-social-networking-site-for-parents-of-autistic-kids/2011/12/09/gIQA9HlxrO_blog.html

Breakfast with Santa on the Moon

For Christmas this year, I told my parents instead of getting the boys toys, to take them and do something fun. After all, memories last longer than toys (and they are definitely more valuable). So for Cruise, I found a Breakfast with Santa event at the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City. It sounded perfect! Cruise's two favorite things in one place!

A few days in advance, I put together Cruise's visual schedule for the event, from Grandma & Grandpa picking him up to seeing Santa, to watching a movie in the theater. He hardly could contain his excitement! "Gonna go see Santa!" he'd say every 30 seconds...for two days.

Grandma & Grandpa Greer picked Cruise up at 7:30am. I stocked them with the portable DVD player, the visual schedule, and his noise canceling headphones (just in case). I kissed the boy goodbye and he left with a smile stretched from ear to ear.

Apparently he did awesome! Which is so good to hear! You never know when it comes to things he's never done before, but luckily he had been to the planetarium before.

They ate a buffet breakfast and Cruise got to sit on Santa's lap on the moon.

After visiting Santa, Cruise somehow convinced his grandparents that he needed another space shuttle (making the total count of space shuttles to 7). They bought it for him not remembering the extent of his space shuttle collection and because he seemed like he just HAD to have it! Lol! That kid. The ticket also came with a showing of the new movie Arthur Christmas, so they went and saw that at the megaplex next-door.

Cruise making off with his space shuttle gift, thinking, "Ha ha ha, suckers."

At the theater. 

I guess after the movie my parents asked Cruise if he'd like to go eat some lunch, but because it wasn't on his visual schedule he declined and said, "All done! Time to go home!" He was so excited when he came home and told me all about Santa Claus and space and eating breakfast! Oh yeah, and his SPACE SHUTTLE that came with ASTRONAUTS! So cool! I am so happy he had a blast and so grateful to my parents for taking him out, it will definitely be a memory he'll cherish for years to come. Thanks guys!

All About Jett

 I have been waiting for Jett's checkup to post this. We had to keep pushing it since he kept getting sick and I didn't want him to get shots when sick. So finally we got him in and checked. Here are his stats:

Height: 35.5 inches (76th percentile)

Weight: 27.8 lbs (46th percentile)

Head: 19.7 inches (82nd percentile)

As always, he's tall and skinny and he's got the large Greer head. Comes together quite nicely though:

Jett is quite the little guy. He is overall a very happy kid. He loves to smile and really lights everything up. However, he also uses it to his advantage to either get what he wants or get out of getting into trouble. He also is pretty good at picking up the ladies. He has such a great temperament and is able to calm himself really easily. However, he is so sensitive and cries so hard if he thinks you're angry with him. This is actually nice because putting him in time-out is pretty effective. 

Jett, as always, is such a mischievous monkey that rather than Cruise being a bad influence, Jett is actually the one that influences Cruise. Jett will come up with some "bright" idea and Cruise will just follow along (man, I'm in trouble when they get to be older). And of course Jett thinks it's all hilarious. Jett also cannot contain his energy when going pretty much anywhere. He wants to run around, makes lots of noise and get into things. Yep, he's a 2 year old alright!

Jett is slowly learning how to be left in nursery at church. He has a pretty hard time and mostly it's because of sensory issues. If there are a ton of kids in the room, he really cannot handle it. Luckily there is a really nice nursery worker who will take him out and walk him around. So that is so nice! 

Jett has still not figured out how to climb out of his crib, which is AWESOME! Containment is always nice. : ) Jett loves to jump off of high places, just like Cruise. I think he's seen Cruise do it so much that he figures that Cruise is still alive so, jump away! 

Jett was just recently tested with Early Intervention and was found to have mild speech delay. So he has begun Early Intervention with Kids On the Move! We're excited about him getting services and hopefully we can help him catch up. His receptive language is remarkable, but expressive language is a bit limited. He really tries to talk and as his mom I can understand a good portion of what he is trying to say, but the problem is is that he says parts of words. So "cuh" is cookie as well as cookie monster. "Meh" is milk. "Huh" is up. "Heh" is help. "Chews" is juice as well as shoes. But the kid does have "NO" down very well. : )

Jett is still my snuggled and loves to just sit with you and watch one of his favorite shows. He loves Garfield, Kipper, Backyardigans, Elmo, and Phineas & Ferb. He is a very good eater and will try anything. He sleeps like a champ! And he loves to follow his brother around. He has gotten to that awesome stage where he can finally play with Cruise and they have a blast! (As long as they don't want the same toy). 

Jett is also very good when he needs to be. I took him to get his haircut a few months back so I could figure out how to cut such fine hair. He sat and pouted the entire time, but did not wiggle or cry. When we go to the doctor, he follows all the doctor's directions and just robotically does what she needs him to do. Such a good boy! 

Finally, Jett is such a sweetheart. If he is mean to his brother or accidentally does something he wasn't supposed to, he is very quick to say "sorry" and give a hug or a kiss. He is so loving and really admires his brother and especially his Daddy. He is quite the Daddy's boy and cannot get enough of him. It is so sweet! 

We are so grateful for Jett and all of his personality and sweetness he adds to our family! What a kid! 

Thanksgiving, Christmas Tree & A Little Paint

Thanksgiving
This year my grandmother, whom goes by Grams, came up to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. My sister Ruth and her family came but spent the actual Thanksgiving with her husband's family. But we did get to spend some time with them and their cute kiddos.

For the food we each took assignments and I volunteered for the sweet potatoes (I'm not gonna lie, they're like Texas Roadhouse's only better).  I'll have to post the recipe if anyone would like it.

The whole day was topped off by Jett getting lost. Now, any of you who think I'm this great mom should know that I, Emily, lost my son without realizing that he was gone. Holy cow! Jett was downstairs watching a movie but without my knowing it, had snuck upstairs and his big brother let him out of the house and shut the door behind him. A twenty minutes later we get a knock on the door asking if we had lost a child. I was like, "No, Jett's downstairs." But when I went to check, he was no where to be found! Apparently he had been wandering around and since my parents' house looks just like all the rest, got lost and was knocking on someone's door. The poor kid! I felt like such a terrible mom but so grateful that he was safe and protected.

So there you have it, another "World's Worst Mom" award for my mantle.

Anyway, enjoy the photos:

Casey & Dad

Jett cheesin' it.

Abby & Casey

The men entranced by Star Wars.

Grandpa & Jett

Cruiser-Man

Mom

My plate. Yes, there are two helpings of string bean casserole, but little do you know that one has bacon & mushrooms in it. SOOOO GOOD! (Thanks to Abby & Casey)

Grams & Mom

Christmas Tree
I was so excited to get a real tree this year. I LOVE getting a Christmas tree. The smell and all! A lot opened up on Center Street that had a Mater in front. So of course that drew our attention. Since my sister's family was in town, we decided to meet them at the lot and then buy our Christmas tree.

That evening the boys had a blast decorating the tree. It took a total of 10 minutes since the tree is small and we only own so many ornaments. But that's what's so great! Pretty darn easy! Dave wrapped some tree lights around the front door and window since we decided not to put lights up on the roof. So we still have a little lights on the house.

A Little Paint

Most of you have seen or come into contact with those poorly designed and built IKEA kid's tables. They only last so long until they start falling apart. So I decided I needed to either do something about it or throw it out. So, I decided to fix it. This is what those tables look like brand new. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of mine because it was pretty much thrashed. 

Here's the finished product:

The top of the table and chairs is actually contact paper. I found it at Target and then went and bought a small bucket of green turquoise paint. Voila! New table. The best part about the contact paper is that you can't see where the kids have drawn on it now since it camouflages it so well. That's a nice touch.