11/15 - More updates

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Unfortunately, grandpa Hank passed away on 11/1/11 early in the morning. He had a great 95 years though. God is great. It worked out that with my mom here, I could go to the funeral. I left really really early on a Friday and came back on Sunday late morning. I managed to take some pictures before I left. Here is Nana helping Aiden put together his alphabet puzzle and then walking all over it.

Nana also spent time with him threading different shape cut-outs that we have. They had fun.

Both of the boys thoroughly enjoyed one-on-one time. Eli got a chance to do some puzzles and loved that too.

Eli was Nana's little buddy while she was here. We would get home from being gone for a few hours (or from daycare) and he would get out of the van and start screaming, "Nana" as he ran to the door. It was too cute.

The boys had fun with Nana talking about colors and using window clings to experiment with what happen when you place something that is orange over something that is blue. Nana always thinks of creative fun things to do with the boys.

Empty boxes are always a hit in our house. Aiden decided he would try and push Eli around the house in the this box I got out of the garage.

Both boys enjoyed getting to spend some time with Bronco. They had to take turns feeding him (they both like to do that). Eli was a little more tentative around the boys than he has been in the past but they boys are getting older (and louder) and can follow him around too. Bronco was pretty good with Aiden but wasn't so sure of Eli.

We've been practicing some of Aiden's occupational therapy stuff at home. We ordered putty for him to play with and I hid some "treasures" in it. He doesn't really like playing with the putty but it's really good to help his motor skills and build up some strength in his fingers and hands. In the second picture, he's concentrating so hard that is tongue is sticking out. He actually does this a lot and his therapist said it's probably a safety feeling for him.

We got out all of our matchbox kits and the boys love to hook them all up and play together. We don't even have enough bridges to hook them all up because we've bought most of them (except one) at consignment sales or Goodwill and most have missing bridges by the time we get them.

Eli really enjoyed the time with Nana. He's often left in daycare 4 or 5 days a week because Aiden has therapy, sometimes as often as two times a week, that Eli cannot attend. He was basking in the extra attention and personal play time.

Eli is trying so hard to use his words. We can only understand a handful of them of this point. He does such a good job trying though so I'm not too concerned. He'll actually try and repeat 3 or 4 words that we say. Aiden didn't even attempt that until he was about 3.

Aiden enjoyed the special time with Nana too. I had a very fast visit to Iowa for grandpa Hank's funeral. Brad was able to leave Nevada and come over as well. With the help of some awesome friends, Nana did a great job with the boys. Ms. Amanda took the boys to daycare on Friday and Jen, our neighbor, picked them up and dropped them off. On Saturday, Ms. Sara came and took Aiden to her house to play with her 3 girls for the morning and then brought him back for a nap. Jen, Ryan, and Kia took Eli in the afternoon and did some errands. On Sunday, Nana had them all to herself until I came home around 1:00pm. Everything went well and Nana did a great job.

God has been teaching me that I really don't have control over things like I'd like to think I do. He had to take away my Plan A and Plan B and leave me completely relying on others (and Him). It was a humbling experience but I think that was the only way I was going to learn that lesson. I'm very thankful Brad is back home for a bit. We are trying to get back to normal. I only have a couple weeks left teaching which will be good. While I have thoroughly enjoyed it, it has taken the majority of my attention on daycare days and has greatly limited what I am able to do. Throughout all this, my eyes have gone nutty on me and I've learned this: Eli gave me a transverse fracture on my nose about 5-6 weeks ago; my eyes are so bad that I need bifocals; progressive bifocals are crazy expensive (I just spent almost $400 on 2 pairs of classes).