gordyhulten.com

Rody

Gordy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:18:11 +0000

Will 2.5 working off some cabin fever on his Rody.

Champaign City Council

Gordy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:28:08 +0000

WDWS radio asked me about my interest in applying for the Champaign City Council vacancy that will be created by Dave Johnson’s resignation.

Dave Johnson is a good friend and has served us well on the Council, on County Board, and at the UI. When I heard about his resignation, I began to discuss with my family and friends about the great opportunity to further serve my community. The Council has not yet determined their process for filling the vacancy. When they do announce that process, I plan to apply and I hope to be considered.

February Blues turned into Blast!

Pam — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:56:26 +0000

This snow is getting really old around here and we all needed a change of scenery this weekend. So we headed out with our best friends (Cirks & Uncle Jackie) to Utica, IL for some fun at Grizzly Jack’s Bear Lodge. Highly recommend it for kids of all ages. The indoor waterpark had a lazy river, wave pool, toddler slide/pool, huge waterslides for the big kids and more! The resort also has an indoor amusement park with carnival rides for all ages and lots of carnival games to win those cheezey prizes! The resort also has planned activities for kids including movie nights and magic shows. It was a great way to kill a holiday weekend with our friends.

See all pictures here of our trip to the Lodge.

I also added a ton of new pictures in the Will Hulten Gallery under the Month of January including sledding down the famous hill in Champaign for the first time, getting his second haircut at the Troy Barber Shop with Dave and Uncle Al and our quick Saturday trip to Shedd’s Aquarium in January!

Recovery

Gordy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:07:35 +0000

I think I’m in recovery. I hope so anyway. Here’s the fun part:

Other January and February photos uploaded here.

Shivers

Gordy — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:48:57 +0000

Will 2.4 has had the same favorite book for as long as we’ve been reading to him - The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree.

He’s read it so many times that he has many parts memorized:

2.4 and Stuttering

Gordy — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:01:33 +0000

I apologize for the infrequent updates. Pam and I have both migrated a lot of the stuff we used to put on here (quickie thoughts about Will, snapshots, etc.) to facebook. If you’re not following us there, you should be.

Will turns 2.4 today - I really need to get some new video and pictures of him so that I can share with you just how much he’s growing and developing. Maybe after the Primary election on February 2? (You are voting for Kirk Dillard for Governor, aren’t you? I’d consider it a personal favor….)

Will has, in recent weeks, begun stuttering a little bit. It’s not terrible, but noticeable, and he does it more when he’s tired or excited, so my unscientific diagnosis is that he’s thinking about what he wants to say faster than he can get his muscles to actually say it. We’ve done some quickie research online about how to help him with it, and this is what we’ve settled on:

Things Parents Can Do To Help The Child Who Stutters:

1. Listen patiently to what the child says, not how it is said. Respond to the message rather than the stuttering.
2. Allow your child to complete her thoughts without interrupting.
3. Keep natural eye contact while your child is talking.
4. Avoid filling in or speaking your child’s thoughts or ideas. Let the words be her own.
5. After your child speaks, repeat slowly and unhurriedly, using some of the same words. For example, if she says, “I s-s-see the b-b-bunny.” You reply in an easy and relaxed way, “oh yes, you see the bunny. He’s cute.”
6. Wait a second or so before responding to your child. This helps to calm and slow things down and should help her speech.

Everything else we’ve read says that a phase of this is somewhat common and almost all kids grow out of it quickly, but if it doesn’t improve we may need speech therapy.