12:14am Tomorrow Cori heads down w/ daddy to the ranch for Labor Day weekend. Allen is working in Tucson and then will be home. Ethan goes down to the ranch Friday w/ Leah. Allen is trying to talk me into going, or letting him go, to the ranch on Sunday evening. I don't wanna! I'm tired and I don't want to sleep on a bad mattress and I want Allen home! PLUS, we have soooooo many projects to work on around here! ARG!

Cori:

8/28/05 I picked up the pictures of you and Georgia today! You are getting so big and are so pretty! Your smile is so bright and inviting. I am so glad to have you around! You are a big help and blessing in my life!

Georgia:

Georgia, Georgia,
The whole day through
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind
I'm saying Georgia
Georgia
A song of you
Comes as sweet and clear
As moonlight through the pines
Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you

4:12am 8/22/05 I am sooooooooo tired! I love you!

8/28/05 This week, watch your baby discover her hands and feet. As strange as it sounds, she's just beginning to realize they're part of her body. You can add to her fun by playing "This Little Piggy" with her or giving her wrist and sock rattles to wear. Also, don't be surprised to hear more gurgles, coos, and grunts as your baby learns to express herself with sounds beyond crying. Is my baby developing normally?Remember, each baby is unique and meets cognitive milestones at his own pace. These are simply guidelines to what your baby has the potential to accomplish — if not right now, then shortly.If your baby was born prematurely, keep in mind that he'll almost always need a bit more time before he can do the same things as other children his chronological age. That's why most preemies are given two ages by their pediatricians — their chronological age (calculated from their birthday) and their adjusted age (calculated from their due date). Doctors generally assess a preterm child's development from the time he should have been born and evaluate his skills accordingly.If you have any questions at all about your baby's development, check with your practitioner.

The song I will always remember my papa by!

Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone. Let's pretend that we're together, all alone. I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low, And you can tell your friend there with you he'll have to go. Whisper to me, tell me do you love me true, Or is he holding you the way I do? Tho' love is blind, make up your mind, I've got to know, Should I hang up, or will you tell him he'll have to go? You can't say the words I want to hear While you're with another man,If you want me, answer "yes" or "no," Darling, I will understand. Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone. Let's pretend that we're together, all alone. I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low, And you can tell your friend there with you he'll have to go.

Ethan:

Ethan Ladd Shreeve. Ethan for Ethan Winthrop on Passions. Kind of embarrasing for me to admit, but you were named after a soap star because he was soooooo cute! Ladd for your grandpa Howard Ladd Gamble, the best man in the world!

Ethan was diagnosed w/ Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia or Developmental Apraxia of Speech at age 2.5.

Best definition of apraxia so far: So to some degree or another, a child with the diagnosis of apraxia of speech has difficulty programming and planning speech movements.

These two terms are generally synonymous. Developmental verbal dyspraxia is often shortened to "DVD" and developmental apraxia of speech to "DAS". The "a" in "apraxia" stands for absence and "dys" in dyspraxia stands for partial. Thus, apraxia is absence of speech and dyspraxia is used by some to indicate some speech ability. "Praxis" indicates difficulty executing skilled movements. However, more recently Childhood Apraxia of Speech is the preferred term for describing apraxia of speech in children.

What is apraxia of speech and how does it differ from a developmental delay of speech? Apraxia of Speech is considered a motor speech disorder. For unknown reasons, children with apraxia have great difficulty planning and producing the precise, highly refined and specific series of movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and palate that are necessary for intelligible speech. Apraxia of speech may also be called verbal apraxia, developmental apraxia of speech, or verbal dyspraxia. No matter what it is called the most important concept is the root word "praxis." Praxis means planned movement. So to some degree or another, a child with the diagnosis of apraxia of speech has difficulty programming and planning speech movements. Apraxia of speech is a specific speech disorder. A true developmental delay of speech is when the child is following the "typical" path of childhood speech development, albeit at a rate slower than normal. Sometimes this rate is commensurate with cognitive skills. In typical speech/language development, the child's receptive and expressive skills are pretty much moving together. What is generally seen in a child with apraxia of speech is a wide gap between their receptive language abilities and expressive abilities. In other words, the child's ability to understand language (receptive ability) is broadly within normal limits, but his or her expressive speech is seriously deficient, absent, or severely unclear. This is an important factor and one indicator that the child may be experiencing more than "delayed" speech and should be evaluated for the presence of a specific speech disorder such as apraxia. However, certain language disorders may also cause a similar pattern in a child. A gap between a child's expressive and receptive language ability is insufficient to diagnose apraxia.