Team Mantor has grown!

It's a girl! A 15 year old girl! We have welcomed a new addition to our family. For the next 10 months Linda will be staying with us. She is an exchange student from Germany. She got here last night around 9:30pm. She got bit by some strange bug while in between Washington D.C. and Texas. Her first day here and we are battling an injury already. yikes!

We are so happy to have this opportunity to be her host family. She will start school this week. Welcome to Mantorville Linda! Yippie!

Small moments = Big Days

It was a big day in the Mantor house yesterday. Big Cody and I were sitting on the couch and both of us held our arms out to little Cody at the same time and said, "come here Cody." He looked back and forth at both of us and then ran to daddy and leaped into his arm with a giant hug.

Both of my boys were grinning ear to ear. And I have to admit, I was too.

Cody is talking, Little Cody, that is...

Big Cody talks, too but it usually isn't anything to blog about.

I need to get some of little Cody's words down here so I will remember. He has a language articulation disorder. That is what they are calling it. (A few other things we are working on with an occupational therapist and so on.) We have been given a few tips and skills we can do to help him. After the 2+ hour screening appointment he decided he was going to start using some of the skills they were testing him on. So besides suddenly talking after being mostly silent of real words for the last 9 months he is also problem solving, identifying colors, putting 2 words together, and communicating better in general. I am really excited.

His word of the week when the girls were here last weekend was "mine." Everything was his, let me tell you. Mine mine mine mine. I thought he was a Finding Nemo Seagull.

This weekend his word was Gool. I love it. He is saying cool, but it comes out as gool. Sometimes he even draws it out. Gooool...

And today it was car. We went to Target and he pointed to every. single. car. car. car in the parking lot and told me it was a car.

He also has said with out prompting (in parenthesis is what is sounds like when he says it): Elephant, Butterfly (utterfly), dog (gog), please (peese), drink (ink), more, all done.

With prompting he says a lot more: Open, Plane, Amen, Cat (at), thank you, Bella, Stephanie (en-en-nee), gramma (gra-na).

He also will finish these phrases.. Ready... Set.. and he says..Go!! and there is 1...2...he says...reee!!

I am sure there is more. I am happy to see and hear these changes. He is so cute. He is so smart and fun. I can't wait tell he can express to me what he wants. He does say Woody and Buzz, too. This was at the Magic Time Machine Restaurant where all the wait staff dresses like a character. We love it!

And his hair has grown back!!

My mommy and daddy came to visit....

And I had to work!

But we had such a good time. We miss them a bunch!