Geoffrey Update:
Classic pictures from last year :)
Geoffrey's favorite YouTube videos
If you would like to drop us a note (or recommend video for Geoffrey's video page) please write to eliza.porter@gmail.com
01/28/2009: Ouch, this is almost the retrograde of the last time I posted. Sorry about that. I don't know if anyone reads this website anymore. We are doing so well. Geoffrey is healthy and ridiculously smart. Margot is frighteningly smart. She's talking and signing in sentences at 19 months old. Phillip is doing really well in Grad school. He has a Fellowship this semester and that is a reflection of his skill. We're coasting along. Each day has it's challenges, but mostly it is just life. I get a walk/run about 4 days week while Geoffrey is in speech. I learned how to make scallion pancakes recently and have made them 3 times in less than 2 weeks. It's a good life. It's been a little over a year since Geoffrey started to go to speech at school. He's no longer the smallest kid in his pre-k group. He's starting to get good muscle tone and look lanky. Margot, having been raised around so much speech therapy uses funny inflection in asking for things. Like "I want(high pitched" and then "Water(low pitched)"
10/19/08: I think it is so funny that this whole year, we have not very much to show for it, as far as the blog goes. I mean, usually we separate the blog by season or something. But there is a blessed dearth of exciting things going on. This year Phillip did decide to go back to get a Masters in Research Evaluation and Methodology. That has been exciting. But the kids are healthy and growing. That is fantastic.
10/08/08: I totally missed the enjoyment of 08/08/08. We were going to have a family reunion and use it as a pun. "I Ate and Ate and Ate at Starvation Reservoir 08/08/08..." But the date didn't work out. I hope I enjoyed the date.
The kids are asleep and that is great too. Margot is getting really good at climbing. She has her brother to keep up with and it is a little scary how well she is following his example. On the bright side, she has a huge signing vocabulary. She's over 70 sings and she's only 15 months old! These are some of her favorite signs: Mom, Dad, Airplane, Squirrel, Dog, Tickle, cereal, ice cream, my turn, please and thank you. Her signs are growing exponentially just like Geoff's. Soon she'll be picking them up too fast to keep track of. She vocalizes for all her signs too. The sign really helps me understand the difference between "Peas" (Please) and "Peas" (Pretzel)
Geoffrey wrote and cut out this sign for Bus all by himself. This is the kids at the pool yesterday. It may be our last day at the pool this year. Last weekend we went out to FSDB and watched a football game. The kids loved it. I loved all the signing.
10/05/08: We all got sick this week. So the children have been fussy and the parents have been less able to deal with it. Blagh. But the kids have bee really super cute too. When Geoffrey is sick he is just way cuddly and occasionally breaks down crying over not getting his way. Margot is super cute but has a yucky nose and cough. We had a great summer and now the school schedule is starting to settle into place.
Here is our most recent family movie
09/05/08: For better or worse, Margot can sign and say Hot Dog... Geoff is doing a lot of cute things. He loves to Joke, especially about food. He'll pretend to feed Phillip some pizza then snatch it back and sign "Joke Dad." We're back to getting speech 5 times a week and that's nice. We are so blessed for him to have access to so many great people that can gauge his progress. Phillip has started classes at UF. Last night he took the kids up to see the Airpot while I was at a church meeting. He's a great dad.
8/21/08: Geoffrey is so cute, but a rascal too. He's very resistant lately. Mostly he's pleasant and communicative, but every once in a a while he really decides something has to be a certain way and it breaks his heart. That's growing up, and not always getting your way. We are so thrilled with his language though. He's using lots of spoken phrases and generally so sweet. Today I made him a NASA Shuttle out of map board. He said "Mom Made Rocket, Mom Love Me, Make Rocket" It's pretty precious. Margot is teething her first molar and it's touch and go. She can be soooo adorable and the next minute she's screaming. I just have to remember it's the pain talking... :) The hurricane has been nice to us, at least not mean, so that's good.
A fun project we've been working on lately is for him to paint the alphabet. We have this lovely 12 x 20 paper and I write each letter Big and little. I write a few words that start with the letter and a picture. Geoff goes through and spells the word signing "N - U - T Means Nut" It is so fantastic. Then we stick it to the fridge and let him paint the letter. Some days he obliterates the letter. Other days he traces it so well, I'm amazed.
8/4/08: Life is so good. I think I say that a lot, but it really is so good. Margot and Geoff are having such fun together. Margot can run fast enough to not get knocked down in the hall when Geoff runs by. It's like watching someone running from the waves in the ocean. She's super cute. Geoffrey is a darling. He'll offer the prayer for bedtime about once a week, and it is the most precious thing I've ever seen. Phillip is updating our home and it is delightful. Me, I'm just enjoying life. It's pretty amazingly great.
Geoffrey got this super cute coat and hat from our dear friend Lorien. Eliza and Margot got on the other side of the camera this summer at a wedding for my niece Tara. Geoffrey loves his daddy and they have really cute feet.
7/14/08: We flew and we camped and we sailed and we played with cousins. We did so many exciting new things on our trip to Utah. Geoffrey and Margot were really very good and of course, cute. I hope to have some new videos up soon. It is great to be home but we will treasure this summer trip for a long time.
6/28/08: So we've all had this mysterious fever sickness. Hopefully we're getting better soon. Geoff is really loving schooll ;
6/6/08: School is out and it is summer! I've found that I can take the kids swimming without too much trouble. Geoff and I had gone a few times. Now I just strap Margot on with a "Cozy Carrier" and she's secure. So we've gone swimming 2 days already this summer break. Phillip is taking Geoff camping tonight. I'm so excited for them. I'm so glad my children have a dad like Phillip.
06/03/08: So I'm going to brag about the kids, but hey, that's what this page is about. Today we were driving down the street and he was fingerspelling something. So we paid attention and scanned around to see what words he could be seeing. E N U E = the end of Avenue. He's doing some great "reading." Signing time definitely helps. The other night he was wearing a shirt that said Dance Marathon on it. He spelled out D A N C E MEANS DANCE. Usually he calls that shirt the GATOR PARTY SHIRT. Margot is moving along really well. She's a baby, so she bumps her head a lot. She is too cute twisting her little pointers at her head when she gets bumped. Fun Fun Fun.
5/30/08: Super cute kids. Margot is officially a walker and that sixth tooth is showing up nicely. Geoff is potty training and learning to say "no thank you" instead of his normal cute refusal. We got to hang out with the older deaf kids at Geoff's school and they were so sweet with him. They give me hope for how great Geoff can be. They're so polite and sweet. It helps that they adore Geoff :)
5/27/08: Today was tickle day. Geoff and Margot are both really good at being tickled just from me looking at them. Cute, cute cute!
5/15/08: Geoffrey is so fun. The other day he asked Phillip to throw him the football and said he'd run. So he goes to the end of our 12 foot living room and runs toward the computer. He catches the ball on the run and grabs it into his chest. It's a little weird how he just comes up with these things. We don't try to force him to be super sporty. He's just so adorable.
5/10/08: We have this big board that Geoff can circle objects from "Bob's Borrow Shop" on. I'm using it to work on Geoff's listening skills. It's also great for him to start learning to circle things. Yesterday he was doing really well. I thought he might be bored when he started to color a big spot on Bob's face. But then he said "MAKE, PIRATE." Rock on Geoff. Happy Mother's Day!
5/07/08: So this is the magic of the brain. It's not a remembering machine, it is a forgetting machine. I'm so grateful for that. Do you know what Monday was? Well it was one day after Lori's birthday. It was just a normal day. It also happens to be the 3 year anniversary of Geoffrey getting diagnosed with Leukemia. And I totally forgot. I didn't anticipate it with dread. I didn't feel anxious to talk about it. I didn't even hold him and cry more than usual. It was just another day. Another gift.
Geoffrey is amazing. He's able to score on a 10 foot hoop (with a 5 inch basket ball). He's really into bumping and setting with the same 5 inch ball. He's learning to ride his bike, now that we raised the seat enough for him to pedal :) He remembers the night the dome fell off our ceiling fan in the middle of the night. I know he wasn't 2 yet, so I don't know how he remembers that. I hope he doesn't remember other traumatic things. Best of all, he has the language to tell me about that. He signs REMEMBER, LIGHT FELL BROKE SCARED. His vocalization is coming along really great too.
Margot is adorable. She is almost walking. She has a firm grasp on the sign MILK and has a pretty good MOM and DAD. She'll wave bye as soon as the door closes. Her hair keeps growing in blond and her eyes keep sparkling brown. She and Geoffrey have a lot of fun together when they aren't fighting. Hearing them laugh together is the most beautiful sound ever.
4/19/08: Wow, another great day! We arranged to go with Grandma to the museum and have a picnic. Bonus?! It is earth day, so there were tons of extra activities at the museum. Geoffrey had tons of fun with a "GEARS" set and even got to power a light bulb using a hand crank. When we got home he was so done. Thankfully he never breaks down in public, it's always when it's time to get out of the car and go inside. But with lots of love and hugs we made it inside. Margot is finally getting her top incisor teeth. She's been looking like a very cute little hippo. Her bicuspids were in but not the top incisors. She's super cute. Eliza's glasses got broken courtesy of Geoff stepping on them. But you know, it's a lot easier to tickle the babies without them, so it's not so bad.
4/17/08: Thursday and Friday were fantastic, action packed days for us. On Thursday Geoff's program got to go fishing. Phillip and the whole family went along and had a great time. Friday, we went strawberry picking and to the playground before 12! That's very action packed for our Friday mornings. We've been posting a lot of videos lately, I'll post some pictures soon.
04/08/08: We're having a great Spring Break. Lot's of time together and a few car trips for variety. We found a great park near the Orlando Temple on Tuesday. Today we went out to FSDB for a tour. What a beautiful facility! We got lot's of praise for Geoff and reassurance that we're doing a good job with him. It was welcome news. It is so easy to feel worried about his progress. But any time we meet with people work with Deaf children, he gets rave reviews. Geoff is great! Margot has 4 teeth and an adorable smile. She's getting more and more into playing with Geoffrey. He is getting very good at saying "No Baby!" Though, it sounds more like "Moh Babm!" Every once in a while he gets out a good strong No! We have new videos up, feel free to check them out!
03/22/08: Life is up and down, but mostly just fine. Eliza got freaked out recently because it looked like Geoffrey had created a sign for shooting a gun. With his fists stacked he would flick out the top finger and say "Choo,Choo." It turns out that he was describing a scene in Veggi Tales where the firey furnace starts shooting white light out. So we're ok. Margot now has 3 teeth, 2 bottom, 1 top. We just got a new AC, our old one was recommended to be replaced for the last 2 years. So we decided to get it done before it broke again in June. Happy Easter.
3/8/08: We went up to the farmers market and the kids were ridiculously cute. Life is great. The big green thing in the picture is Mustard Greens. My tribute to Florida is to annually try some sort of large green. We've tried collards, Kale, and a few I don't know the name of. And now, our February video, devoted to you, our loyal fans!
2/25/08: Opps, I didn't write the code write for the previous post so now you get 2 at once! We are really doing great. Geoffrey is getting use to going to school for "speech, Lori" and is progressing nicely with more complex sign and word combinations. Margot wants to eat everything and anything. Eliza is enjoying the warm weather. Phillip is preparing for a wild week of performances. So that's us. Geoffrey continues to amaze us with his sporty skills, he can shoot, catch, kick, swing, run, climb and jump. He loves ice cream in a cone but won't touch it otherwise. He also loves pop corn and still has a delightful laugh. He's a great big brother and is learning to lower Margot to the ground instead of push her away...
2/15/08: Margot has 2 teeth! She's been crawling for a while now. She can get up to standing at the coffee table and cruise along a little. She finally learned to get down. For a while she would just cry or fall when she wanted to get down. Geoffrey is making so many fun discoveries and learning so much. The last two nights he's been interested in sleeping under the toddler bed. He's also starting to want to do hand stands. He can do summersaults and all sorts of fun monkey tricks. His new favorite game is to have Mom play defense while he shoots baskets in his room. Today we made home made finger paint with corn starch. It's amazing stuff. We're getting over a sickness that kept us out of school for a few days. Happy Valentines everyone! Life is great and the kids are super cute.
2/5/08: Oops, it's been a long time. But look at these fantastic videos!
Margot has tooth :) and Geoffrey is fantastic. School has been going well, Geoffrey has adjusted to a new schedule really well. He's learning the routines like sitting at a table, raising his hand, etc... He's adorable.
1/14/08:Geoff got registered and started school today. Later we went to grandma's and "fixed up" his new bike, aka poked a screwdriver into various holes.
1/8/08: Margot can officially crawl. I had put her on the floor to do some laundry. Then I looked down and thought "She's moving, but she's on hands and knees... what's wrong with this picture... OH, she's crawling!" Margot will be 7 months old on Sunday. Geoffrey is conquering frontiers of cuteness left and right. Yesterday when Phillip offered him the last bite of cookie, Geoffrey broke it in half and gave some back to Phillip. Tonight he drew an awesome smiley face (shown here).
Tonight as we were going to bed Geoffrey was rattling off a long series of things and I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. I quote "REMEMBER, BUG, AND, HELICOPTER, AND AIRPLANE, CHRISTMAS, OUTSIDE, CHURCH. BUG flew up and then down. AIRPLANE, FAST, flew all around, BROKE. BUG, RED AIRPLANE, HELICOPTER." I told him I didn't remember that and I couldn't figure out why he was using all those signs together. Phillip remembered though, that on Christmas we went to the church with the remote control Bug, Helicopter and Airplane that Grandpa gave all the boys. Sometimes he just makes us so proud and amazed. Other times we're almost scared at how amazing his memory is :).
1/6/08: We got to go to St. Augustine for a visit today. Geoff went off to Sunday School just like a big boy. When I came to pick him up, he signed to the teacher that he saw me rather than just running to me. It's great when he expresses himself because he will be understood. He has the alphabet really well and will even vocalize for all the letters now. They've both been fighting a cold since Christmas and now Phillip is succumbing also. Life is super great.