New/Old member

[my3bugs]

I've been registered for awhile, but have been really quiet. I had to reregister because my computer was giving me fits. (Thanks for taking care of my old account, Sara!)

I'm a happily married, SAHM to three kids (my 'bugs': a first grader, a preschooler, and a toddler) who keep me pretty darn busy all day! I live in New England which just got dumped with loads of snow. Our family's current frugal goal is to save money so that we can get a LOT better about building up savings accounts, college funds, and starting an IRA for me to help save for our future. DH has a good 401k, but we want the extra coverage, just in case.

[matt&roxy]

Welcome to the Village my3bugs.........

Glad you finally jumped in........I look forward to getting to know you........

[Darlene]

Welcome! So glad Sara could help you out, she's just the best.
Make yourself at home.

[Dixie]

Welcome to the Village, my3bugs.

[homesteadmamma]

Welcome Jess again. How are those kids doing?

Computers sure can surprise us at times. Mine often locks up on me.

Nice to see you again.

[nodmicks]

Hi there! Nice to meet you

[DaisyLady]

Welcome! Hope the computer doesn't give you any more trouble!

[my3bugs]

Thanks so much for the warm welcome everyone! It's so nice to see that the friendly and familiar faces are all still here.

The computer's motor has been making noise no matter how many times we clean it, and I've been trying to put off having to majorly clean out the family computer and reinstall windows. But, it's looking like that's the next step so I can avoid having to purchase a new one. It's only 3.5 years old so I am not relishing spending money on a new one. In a way, though, it's forcing me to simplify even on my computer ~ it has WAY to much stuff on it and I don't visit nearly as many spots on the web as I used to. Life is too busy for that! LOL!!

CJ, the kiddos are doing really great! Thank so much for asking! We had a horrible rough patch with Miss S who is nearly 5.5 at the start of winter. (She has Autism Spectrum Disorder, for those who are just meeting me. ) She had a huge and scary backslide in her emotional state (began panicking and stressing out easily) and her behavior (in reaction to her upset) which was affecting her progress in other areas. BUT, after 2 weeks of terror, she had a sudden, tremendous jump in skills but especially in her language. Her pediatrician (a regular ped, but he specializes in special needs kids b/c it is his passion) thinks that her little body was gearing up for it, and didn't quite no how to handle all the new synopsis firing in her brain, thus the stress and tantrum behavior. So now, instead of hearing a yel that consisted of just "I want cheese!!" We'll hear full sentences: "I'm SO hungry! I need to eat some cheese!" It blew me away and had me all teary eyed!

C (who also has developmental delays, but much milder than S) is 7.5 and doing really well in first grade. She's a speed reader and a math wiz! We're still working on her social language, though, and her being shy by nature makes it all the more difficult. But, she is such a sweet and smart little girl, she just amazes me with her tenacity to learn and grow!

L (my little guy who is going to be 2 next month!) is progressing like a pretty typical little boy! He is a little monkey and climbs onto anything, anywhere! He's a real cuddler and has been communicating very well, which is SUCH a great sign developmentally! (the girls had troubles with comunication right from the beginning) He understand everything we're saying, and we're just now starting to understand him, luckily supplimenting with sign language has been a big help in that department.

How are your kids, CJ?

Thanks again everyone! Can't wait to get to know you all better!

[homesteadmamma]

Just so everyone knows, this is Jess (mommykins). Some will remember her from frugal moms.

Jess, lets see. J is 6'4" tall and is a savant when it comes to stats. He reads encyclopedias like a regular book and is just amazing when it comes to knowledge. He does have a struggle socializing. He just turned 17, can you believe it.

Michael is still our challenge. He turns 15 in a couple of days. He gross motor skills are excellant and his fine motor are improving.

C turns 15 in June. She is our designer/artist. She is into making clothes, quilts and loves to design her own patterns. She struggled with math and reading for quite some time, but now has no problems whatsoever.

I still continue to homeschool and we continue to love our homesteading lifestyle in the country.

Its so good to hear your little guy is doing well.

[QuilterMom]

Welcome back, Jess!

[SewCrafty]

Hi Jess! Welcome back to the village!

[Strawberry]

Welcome back Jess! It's nice to see you again.

[my3bugs]

It's hard to believe how much time has gone by since FMs ~ I've grown and changed so much since then! How I look at life is so differently since it is ALL about my kids now. I just don't sweat the small stuff anymore, and appreciate what I have soooo much more than I used to, now that life has had some more twists and turns for me and my family. KWIM?

I'm not surprised your kids are progressing and flourishing, CJ, they have you as their Mom and their Teacher! If you have ANY tips on improving fine motor skills I am SO ready to learn them and utilize them. Poor Sammy has such poor fine motor skills, that now she'll often just avoid tasks where she'd have to hold a pencil or crayon. Coloring lasts only a few minutes because she gets sad the crayons won't do what she wants them to. And it's things like THAT which really put things in perspective for me ~ she has to work so hard for what comes so easily for most of us. I really have it so much better than I let myself think i do when I let myself feel down...



edited for many, many typos! LOL!

[Sara Noel]

I hope you don't mind me jumping in here, but since my Zachary (5) is also on the spectrum and struggles with some fine motor skills, I thought I'd offer some suggestions.

With pencils, we use the grippers. (triangular slide ons) helps with his grasp.

We do activities like crunching newspaper into wadded balls.

Lots of playdoh activities. (sticking small objects into the dough too so he'll pick them out)

Squeeze bottle games. (adding water so they'll use the trigger)

Picking up straws.

putting coins into a piggy bank

Another thing is taking golf tees and hammering them into styrofoam and then taking yarn and letting them wrap the yarn around the golf tees.

Twisting door locks. (the little locks on regular door handles..not deadbolts lol) putting keys into door locks too

Winding hand wound clocks or those little plastic wind up toys

Picking up cotton balls and qtips

helping them to squeeze with a hole punch

lots of shaving cream fun. We put shaving cream on a plastic tablecloth and just let him mush around.

Picking up popcorn

electronic keyboards

playing with a deck of cards

picking up rubberbands or craft pom poms or wooden clothespins


Can you tell we work on small motor skills a lot here? My son's OT gives me tons of ideas all of the time to improve his fine motor skills.

pulling apart velcro

picking up cooked or raw macaroni/pastas

magnetic letters

bead mazes

[PrairieRose]

Welcome back Jess. I remember you from FM's. You probably don't remember me b/c I was a lurker....lol.