2/28 - Roller skating, monster trucks & therapy

I need to start doing better on the blog. It's just that I've been so tired and I always seem to have so much to do. Let's do a quick rehash of the last couple weeks. Aiden went to his very first roller skating party. His friend, John Britton (JB), just turned 5 and Aiden went to celebrate with him. Here he is playing games with JB's older sister. She was so sweet with Aiden.

It was pizza time and of course Aiden will not eat Pizza. He had a granola bar I had in my purse. He also got to try Sprite for the first time. He knew it was a kind of soda so he wanted so bad to like it but his face screamed "This is sour but I will love it because big kids like soda." It was too funny.

I was not sure if Aiden would even try roller skating. He said he wanted to try so we just got some of the skates that go over your shoes. The picture below is the first time he stood up. I was taking a gamble because I literally helped him stand up, told him not to move, and then stepped back for a minute to take a picture.

He did much better than I ever thought he would. He said he really liked it and "wanted to get some skates for home." The only thing he doesn't realize is there are no smooth surfaces near home and it will only be that smooth in the roller rink. This poor child will not even ride his bike on the road because it is "too bumpy." He would let go of my hand and do short sections by himself. I was really thankful that it was a small enough place that they let me go out in my shoes on the rink and hold Aiden's hand.

Here is a quick picture with the birthday boy! John Britton tried the next step up from Aiden's skates. Aiden asked why his were a different color and when I explained it to Aiden, he said he would rather be safe in the orange skates. The kid cracks me up. He said he didn't want to "go too fast" in black beginner skates.  

After Aiden decided he had enough skating, he played a few more games. Did I mention they have tickets with all these games? Needless to say, he counted up all his tickets and was only off by one!! That's pretty shocking. He told me had 86 tickets and he ended up having 87. Not too shabby for a 4 yr old.

We have found a game that Eli really enjoys. It's a story-telling game. He's got such a fun imagination that he enjoys coming up with stories and taking turns with us sometimes.

Therapy is going well for Aiden. He is getting so much stronger now and the focus has shifted from fine motor control/strength to more gross motor control and sensory stuff. Here he is below pinning crabs onto his shirt. The pinning is great fine motor control but the fact that he didn't mind pinning those to his shirt was quite amazing to me. He normally doesn't like stuff pulling/tugging on him so I was quite surprised when he loaded his shirt up with crabs.

He had to find the crabs before he could pin them on and he had to do that by digging through some beans (sensory).

Of course Mrs. Rusty turns everything into a fun game and adventure so Aiden doesn't realize he's doing all the these things that make him work and be uncomfortable (which is awesome). Here he is looking out a periscope. He thought that was pretty cool.

Once he had collected all the crabs he needed and then the rocks he needed to build a campfire, it was time to start a fire by rubbing the fire sticks together (they were rhythm sticks with lots of grooves in them; sensory again). He had fun doing that. As always, he had a fun adventure with Mrs. Rusty being a pirate for the morning.

And then there is Eli. Poor Eli. He's been a tad emotional lately. Here he is in the van after a complete breakdown before I failed to exit his door at daycare first. Both of the boys were holding open a door and due to logistics of the building and what doors you can enter/exit through, I needed to go out Aiden's door so I could come back in Eli's door and then go out Eli's door again. Well, Eli wanted me to go out his door first. Wow. You would have thought I had tortured the kid. He screamed the whole block home. I tried to rationalize with him (for some odd reason, that didn't work) and also promised he I would go out his door first the next day but that didn't do anything. He refused to get out of the van when we got home. I would unclip his seatbelt and he would buckle back up and scream that he wanted to go back to daycare. This went on for a while. Brad came out and we tried switching places/roles for a bit. Needless to say, Brad finally kinda convinced Eli to come in after about 30 minutes of screaming outside (and eventually getting him out of the van and locking him out so that he would have to come inside). He is a persistent little booger. A few weeks ago he did something similar about getting a piggy back ride to bed. He pitched a huge fit and had a breakdown before bed about not getting a piggy back ride. We explained he chose that option (we are heavily focusing on giving the boys options and making them realize they are in control of the outcome because they know what it is going to be) and maybe next time he should chose a different option. Needless to say, he put up a great fight and cried himself to bed that night. Well, he also woke up at 3:00am crying so I run into his room. I ask him what is wrong and he says, "I want a piggy back ride." Are you kidding me?????  Nope, he was not kidding.

While Eli has his rough moments, he also has his great moments. He LOVES bath. We had a great time together the other night playing. I played with him for about 30-40 min in the bath and it was great for both of us. He does fine playing by himself so I just let him do that often forgetting that playing with me could actually be fun. Um. I have no fun pictures to post of Aiden. He is still crying/screaming through a good portion of his bath time. Sometimes his bath lasts 15 min and it's all screaming and sometimes is lasts 40 min (with about 10-15 min screaming).

God blessed us with a neat opportunity to go see a monster truck a few weeks ago. We were literally on our way to dinner and there was a giant monster truck parked by a business a few blocks down from our house. The boys thought it was amazing and had never seen one this close up. They were letting them even climb up in it.

Aiden thought sitting on the tire was pretty fun. It was so huge. Eli was scared to death for me to try and lift him up on the tire. Brad lifted Aiden up so he could see inside/underneath the monster truck.

Aiden really wanted to get up in the drivers seat. Eli was way too scared but once he saw Aiden up there, he decided it would be okay ... for about 2 minutes. 

We got them down and then Eli just wanted to play with the spinner wheels on the monster truck and Aiden wanted to go eat dinner.

I picked up the boys early from daycare the other day and had their bikes in the back of the van. We went to park down the street and rode around for a while. Eli is really starting to get the hang of using the pedals!! We ran around the playground for a while putting pretend fires out and getting some exercise.

In the academic world, we have a huge breakthrough: Eli can write his name. It's pretty crazy to watch because he switches between his right and left hand. On this one he wrote the first two letters with his left hand and then switched to the right. On the paper he did after this one, he wrote his name using his right hand for the first two letters and then switching to the left. Crazy. He doesn't want to hold the pencil/crayon/chalk the "right" way yet but at least he's making some letters. 

Aiden has learned all about logos and started getting a little obsessed with Fords (those who know Brad know he LOVES Ford trucks). So, I taught Aiden Toyota (our minivan). Well, he also knows Chevy ("short for Chevrolet" he will tell you) and he follows that up with "daddy doesn't like Chevy's." It's too funny to hear him say it.

2/14 - Activity dice & sensory bags

Rainy days drive me just about as crazy as the boys. I came up with an idea though and searched on-line for a dice template. I finally found one and created these: activity dice. One the one dice I put the standard numbers (1-6) although I wrote the number rather than using the dots to represent the number so it would be easier for my 3-yr old to play. On the other dice, I put a bunch of random physical activities (bear walk, run, steps, twirls, frog jumps, etc). We take turns rolling the dice and then performing the required task. I even made some blank dice and asked the boys what are their favorite animals and/or exercises (we actually have 3-4 different activity dice). It's a great way to be active and have fun together. We have contests and whoever can make it through xx (you fill in the number) gets a sticker, an extra bedtime story, etc.

So I've been searching on the internet for something for Aiden to hold and touch and pick at rather than pick around his mouth, his nails, or strings on his socks. I couldn't find anything. Nothing and I'm pretty good getting around the web. So, I decided to make my own. I did find out that lots of kids (and some adults) like 'fidget toys' as they are called. Something to do and keep your hands busy without making noise and distracting others. Brad and I went shopping together and looked at all kinds of fabrics, textures of fringey stuff, and buttons. We came home and I put together a few sensory bags (that's what I am calling them). I'm still playing around with them but it's a neat idea for the right population. You can see below two different bags that I made. They are about palm size which I think is a little too big to use as I was intending. However, Aiden does like to play with them. The one on the left is made of black curdoray and a snuggle dinosaur print on the other. On one side I put some string/ribbon with little orange balls and then a large pearl button towards the bottom. I also attached an elastic wrap on this one. On the scorpion and green bag, I put the rough side of velcro (that is supposed to be really relaxing for some people to play with) and then some actual leather fringe on the other end.

After flipping the bags over, you can see the other sides. On the dinosaur side, I have a black tassel that Aiden likes to rub on his arm and leg and is pretty relaxing for him. On the green fabric, there is a round button that has texture on it and then I've also put some ribbon that has little loops on it so that each little piece/section can be played with and touched.

I've done a couple more and will take pictures of them soon and post them as well. I am experimenting with filling the bags with various things such as rice, fake grapes, foam squares, jacks. etc. I'm playing with all different kinds of stuff to see what Aiden and other kids like. 

2/13 - To-go fun & straw maze

OK. So here is a change of pace. Aiden loves to be busy so I found these cool little books at Wal-Mart for just a few bucks. However, when you like to stay busy as much as he does, he can easily do a book in a day or even a few hours which can get expensive. Also, he doesn't nap that often but at his daycare, he is required to lay down and not really move for 2-2.25 hours and I needed to find him something he could do quietly and discretely.

I've heard of putting paper in page protectors and then using dry-erase markers, thereby, saving the paper. However, without a wet wipe or something similar, the page never really gets clear again. Also, erasing is hard on a page protector because they move around some (and can cause a little noise). What I decided to do was tear out pages to the books I bought and trim them slightly so I could fit 2 pages onto one page of laminate.

I have a thermal laminator an I love it. It's totally worth the money. I can't tell you how often I use it, especially since Aiden loves to stay busy with seat-work type activities. So, I laminated a bunch of sheets (I put 4 activity sheets into one page of 9x12 laminate because I also made them back-to-back) and then cut them out. After I cut them into a single page (there are puzzles on both sides of the paper), I used a hole punch at the top so I could put them all in a ring.

I actually made a few of these and keep them in various places (car, nap bag, etc.) so that we always have one somewhere. I buy the dry-erase markers with the eraser on the end so it eliminates the need for a wet wipe.

Another fun activity we did a bit ago was to build our own straw maze. I took the top of a big and taped the four corners together. I got a bunch of straws at the dollar store, a pair of scissors, and eventually tape. 

We put a star where we wanted to start and finish our maze at. I then let Aiden cut up straws of various sizes. This involves fine hand coordination to cut the straw and great visual skills to have to cut the right size. I told him we could make the paths in pencil and then put the straw down but he wanted to just put the straw down right away. He cut the pieces and then I would help put glue on the straws and then he would place them or he would have me draw a glue line on the cardboard and then he would cover it with straw.

It was a fun activity. We let it dry overnight and then the next morning it was ready to go. I must admit that even though I used craft glue (which is strong than school glue), many straw pieces came off. This was also due to our 3-yr old not realizing that you have to be gentle on it and that the straw maze (we actually used a ping pong ball because it was lighter and bigger than a marble) quickly became a race track for a handful of mini-cars that we have. I taught Aiden how to put tape over the straw to keep it in place so he could fix it on his own if one came off. It's now officially a race track and parking area for our mini cars.

Feel free to let me know if you try and of these. I am always looking for activities that sneak in some education and/or occupational therapy with fine motor skills or sensory stuff.

2/13 - While Nana was here; Eli sick

We had 1-2 days of both boys feeling pretty well. The boys had so much fun with Nana while she was here. Eli is getting pretty good at playing catch. Here he is with Nana and you can see how excited he was about catching the ball. You can see Aiden in the background. He wanted to shovel dirt into the driveway entrance so that the rain wouldn't get on the road (there was lots of rain in the forecast).

The boys asked to play with play-doh while Nana was here. I got the stuff out and they had lots of fun with Nana. She is very creative and she built them baskets and then they put little balls of play-doh in them.

I thought we escaped with just Aiden being sick. Nope. Exactly a week later, Eli came home with a fever from daycare at noon. You could tell he really was not feeling well. His face got all flushed from his fever and his nose started running a ton.

It was just after nap time when I went to daycare and Aiden wanted to come home too. Here he is playing on my phone while Eli was laying around not feeling well.

Eli just wanted to cuddle for the rest of the day. Thankfully Nana was here and could give him the attention he wanted :)

While the boys were lounging around during the afternoon, I got a text from Brad that said he was about to fly over the house. He has gotten his private pilot rating and has been flying about once a month or so. We all ran outside (well, I carried Eli), and got to wave to him. He even made the wings of the plane flap so it looked like he was waving to us. Here is Brad flying over our house. He had a great time flying and took a friend with him which made it even more fun.

I took Eli to the doctor on Thursday just to get him checked out. He didn't have a really high temperature like Aiden did with flu Type B but I couldn't be sure it wasn't the flu without a test. Also, he had said a few times that his ears hurt and I didn't even know if his tubes were still in so it was possible he had an ear infection. To make matters worse, there was another boy in Eli's class that was just diagnosed with strep throat. There were too many unknowns so I needed to take him in. They swapped his throat for strep and his nose for the flu. We went home and waited for the tests to be done and the results phoned in. Amazingly, he didn't have strep or the flu!! Praise the Lord!! Both of his tubes are still in but the right one is facing upwards somehow and she said it's probably causing him discomfort. The left one is in and looks fine. It was just a cold. He "rested" on Thursday with me at home. In the afternoon, we got Aiden and the boys had lots of fun opening a package from Ms. Jen, our neighbor in Jacksonville. Eli was starting to feel a little better and decided to try and balance his new Mr. Potatoe Head cup on his head.

Eli said he was feeling pretty good on Thursday night so we all went out to dinner at a new pizza place that is in downtown Prattville. We had a good time and the food was yummy.

This is a really cute picture of the boys and Nana below. Aiden wanted to make sure his lizard was in the picture and Eli was starting to feel much better and was being goofy.

They boys played for a bit once we got home. Aiden has discovered that he can take his new ball that Mrs. Jen sent him and bounce it against the brick column by the front door and it will come back to him ... assuming he hits he column. Otherwise, it goes into the toy room. :)

Both boys went to daycare on Friday. We did lots of yard work during the day. Nana and I picked up the boys early on Friday and took them to the YMCA to play. They had fun and enjoyed getting to show Nana where they like to play at. I think they had more fun with the containers that hold the shoes than they did with the actual play structure this time.

Nana let the boys open a little present she gave them for Valentine's day. It was a painting book. Actually, 2 books. One has a strip of paint at the top of the page for each page so you don't need anything else besides a paint brush and water (in theory; the paint doesn't really show up though). The other is a water color paint book. They had fun playing in those. I got out the bingo markers for them to use to paint with and they then decided to put a mark on their finger and then run to the bathroom to wash it off. I'll let Aiden put ink on himself all day long. He did it about 2 times and then realized he doesn't like washing his hands so he went to another activity. Eli put ink on himself and washed his hands for a good 40 minutes. I'm not kidding. It was too funny.

The boys stayed in their jammies almost all day on Saturday. Nana left on Saturday so we were just enjoying our last bit of time with her.

Here are Aiden and Nana being goofy with a pvc pipe that was leftover from our tent (I'll blog about that in the next day or so). It's so amazing what will entertain kids!

Eli was really sad that Bronco was going with Nana. He was sad Nana was leaving too but this little boy is quite fond of animals. Here he is petting Bronco and then giving him kisses with Aiden.

The look on Bronco's face cracks me up. He is like, "hey boys, stop kissing me and just leave me alone. I'm not allowed to give you kisses so you can't give me kisses."

The boys both decided they want to start taking pictures with my camera. The one of my mom and I was taken by Aiden.

Here is one taken by Eli. Eli cracks me up because he tells you what kind of face to make before he takes the picture and then he shows you. I need to take a video of it.

We had a great 2 weeks with Nana. Both boys were sick and I was so so so scared Nana was going to get sick. God is great though and kept her protected and healthy. Brad safely drove her to Georgia and then my dad got her back to St. Pete. I am behind in blogging because 1) I've still been pretty darn tired and 2) I've spent the little energy and free time I have had obsessing about a tent project.