8/31 - Randomness (art, food, bikes)

I want to update about food stuff first. Aiden must be going through a growing spurt because the kid is eating food is mass quantities and of things that are not even close to his favorites. He is still enjoying making his menus every week and making the lunches too. I need to get a little better with the timing of making his lunches because sometimes we don't have quite enough time at night and he has a breakdown over it. 

When we moved in to this house we decided we were going to make things more accessible for the kids so that they would have the opportunity to be more independent. We did just that and it's working out quite awesome. First of all, we gave the kids their own space in a cabinet. I bought a bin from walmart and it's full of cereal bowls, snack cups, and regular drinking cups (see upper right picture). In the pantry, we also gave the boys their own shelf. It has all their snack foods on it (see far left upper picture). I've taken everything out of the bags/boxes they come in and have put them in containers which the boys can easily open and close. I didn't do this at first but found the food getting stale rather fast from little hands not fully closing bags. What you cannot see is that also in pantry to the right of the boys shelve, there is also a 1/4 cup measuring cup. This helps them know how much to take and also makes sure they are not just sticking their hands in the container and touching all the food. I must say it is so awesome for me and for them that when it's snack time or they are hungry, they can get it themselves. They've also had to put their dishes away but we have also changed a policy since moving. We get one cup a day. They know to put their cups on the counter and the rest of their dishes go in the sink and the one cup a day rule is helping a ton on not having 6 glasses to wash by the end of the day. In the middle picture on the left, we also have a snack bin. This is a special bin and is typically used for on-the-go snacks. If we are running out the door and will need a snack (and I haven't already gotten something together), they can reach in and choose something. Some of it is pre-packaged store bought stuff but some of it is snack items I've just placed in small baggies (dried fruit and nuts, homemade fruit leathers, etc). Aiden picking the items in his lunch is going great and he's coming home almost everyday with everything eaten - even the veggies that he normally won't touch at home. And yes he actually eats them and doesn't throw them away :) Allowing them to be more food independent has been a great decision for our family.

Here is little Eli walking to the van one day after I picked him up from daycare. He just got off the playground which is why he is all sweaty. His daycare is going well and he really likes his teacher, Mrs. Chari. He has even found a friend in class that he pals around with now.

I don't know why I like this picture of Eli sleeping so much. There is just something so cute about sleeping his and it looks like he just feel asleep while pondering something with his hand under his chin like that. He has been napping great at daycare (2 hrs everyday) and the little stinker hasn't taken a nap for me in weeks ... until today. God knew I so needed to rest myself I think.










I love how much fun the boys can have with a random wardrobe box. Aiden has become so creative with things like this from all his therapy and crazy stuff he did with Mrs. Rusty.





Lowe's has been making characters from the movie Planes this month and we have made both of them. They have been the hardest things we've built from any of the workshops.











Eli really likes electronics. Too much for my liking. That said, I have been beyond exhausted lately (more on that in the next post) and some times I just have to let things go. At least he is forced to play educational games for the most part. Here he is with a Leapfrog handheld game a former neighbor gave us.




The boys have really enjoyed having Bronco around. Aiden enjoys playing with him and helping walk him. Aiden just threw the toy down to the master bedroom area and he's watching Bronco bring it back. Eli loves to love on Bronco like Bronco is a stuffed animal and Bronco hasn't exactly taken to that just yet. Sometimes the boys gang up on Bronco because they are trying to do something crazy to/with him. They are slowly learning that Bronco doesn't play chase or tag or like to wear blankets.

Eli went to the ENT last week to get his left ear checked out. His 2nd set of tubes fell out of his right ear months ago but is left ear has really been bothering him lately. The dr looked at it and then he had a hearing test last week. He did much better on the hearing test than before (yeah) and they gave him these ear plugs to see if that helps with the pain he experiences with water. He wore it in the bathtub so now I just need to find the time to take him to the pool. [Man I love that little dimple]

About 1.5 weeks ago I bought a trampoline off Craigs List. It's slightly larger than the mini-tramp I was thinking it was but it's great. The boys love it. Especially Eli!!! They both enjoy jumping on it but Eli goes on that thing multiple times a day without me suggesting it. 

This collage below is from a few weeks ago. We decided to do some painting. You can see Eli and Nana in the upper left. Eli was using water colors but he's not so great at cleaning off the brush before he goes to the next color and that drives me a little crazy. Aiden decided to use the bingo markers (so he won't get dirty) and he actually did really good trying to draw things. He normally just makes shapes and then is done but he made a truck (middle left) and in the upper right he was working on an ice cream cone. I just love how he sticks his little tongue out when he is really focusing. Eli then switched to a different kind of paint and decided to paint with brushes that had texture/design (bottom right picture). Eli just loves painting and would probably do it everyday if I let him. 

This week was a big week for me. I started teaching in the classroom again. I'm teaching at Jacksonville University 3 days a week. It takes me about an hr to get there but that is because of the way I go. JU is NE compared to where I live so the shortest way it to take I-10 across the water but as you can see in the map below, there are 3 red dots already on that path. That route would take me about 1.5 hrs to get through all the traffic (without traffic it takes 45 min) so I just bypass it all by adding some mileage and going up and around on I-295 (the big yellow circle). It adds mileage but there is no traffic and accidents so at least it's moving and also consistent which is important for me to make my 9am class to teach. I am teaching Sport Specific Conditioning and am loving it. The ride home is much quicker than to work as well. My mom is helping out a ton with the boys this semester so that I can teach which is great. On the three days I go in, I get all the boys stuff ready and breakfast on the table and then head out and she get them to the bus stop and daycare. I'm so thankful she is willing to help out this much so that I can get back in the classroom.

I've had lots of medical stuff going on lately but try and make it home in time for Aiden to get off the bus. After I got Eli home the other day I made a bike obstacle course. I made one a few days earlier and  the boys really enjoyed it. It rained that same day and erased all the chalk marks so we made a new track the other day. It had rained a little earlier but most of the sidewalk and driveway was dry enough to use chalk. They love following the arrow around and it makes it more purposeful for them than just riding around in the circles. I've just ordered some more cones because they really like weaving in and out of them.

I had to include this last collage for Rusty. I went grocery shopping this morning and this is what I found when I got back. Aiden had created a target on the wipe board easel and gave everything a point value (the small purple circles around the outside are worth zero pts) and then he was using his arm thing that shoots out discs that he got for his birthday to try and hit the target. He would watch where they would hit at and then put a check-mark by the corresponding number. After he used up all the discs (4 or 5 I think), he would then go to the other side of the easel which is a chalkboard and then write down all his point values (see middle right picture). After he wrote down all those, he got the calculator and added up all his points (I taught him how to use the calculator a few weeks ago). Welcome to Aiden's world of math. This is what he enjoys doing. :)

We ended off the evening tonight playing Tell Tale and Aiden was actually having fun doing it. Eli loves to make up stories but Aiden is usually too scared/nervous and won't speak up. Tonight he was speaking loudly and not even concerned about if his stories made sense which I LOVED!! He is making such huge strides in some areas right now.

5/28 - Before our trip to TN

So I'm backed up on the blog. Here are a few random things before we left for our TN trip. Here is Aiden at therapy doing one of the things he dislikes most - using a sponge and getting partially wet. Mrs. Rusty let him do an exercise with another child and that was helpful because I think it's good for him to see a normal reaction to water and someone getting wet. He had fun doing it but it's so funny to see this other 3-4 yr old just not even give a thought about water and then watch Aiden who then balks at all things water. He is making some progress though.

We found these fun dinosaur hats at the Dollar Store the other week and the boys both got one. They like to fight with them on and see who can knock the others' dinosaur off the others head. That doesn't always go over to well.

Speaking of dinosaurs, here are the goodie bags I've been working on. So they aren't your traditional bags. I blew up balloons and then paper mached the majority of the balloon leaving just enough room to put in the goodies. I let it dry and then popped the balloon.

I then stuffed the goodies in (some eggs have slightly different contents than others) and then paper mached over the small hole.

Pouncer was trying to help me make sure they all had the things they were supposed to have inside before I finished sealing them up. After they dried, we spray painted all of them brown to look like dinosaur eggs. It was a fun project. Now, we just need people to come to Aiden's party.









Last Sunday was our church family picnic. It was at the YMCA right by our house and we had a great time. The boys got to swim (the water was COLD) and enjoy the outdoors for a while. Aiden even got to swim with his friend Jessica for a bit.

After we swam for a bit and ate some food, it was time to go indoors. We got to listen and watch the Children's Choir practice for their summer tour coming up. Jessica sings in it and Aiden really enjoyed watching her and the rest of the kids. Aiden even started clapping at one point and was having a great time. Eli doesn't quite have the focus that Aiden does but he LOVE music. He started to get quite silly from sitting and watching so long. 

Eli eventually started to get pretty goofy. Towards the end of the performance, there was a drama so only a handful of kids were up performing. Thankfully there was a girl that was sitting down in the back and Eli was making crazy faces and she started making crazy faces back at him. It kept him entertained and quiet for a while and then finally, the boy next next to her made a few faces too. Aiden decided to follow in Eli's steps and start to go a little crazy in his chair.

On Monday or Tuesday afternoon, the boys offered to help Brad wash our vehicles. They did a pretty good job and Brad was pretty patient with them in coaching them how to do it. They took turns with the hose and with the soaper brush. 

5/15 - A Lawn Maze & Both boys at Therapy

We are living up the last few days of our grass mazes right now. Here are pictures that were taken almost 2 weeks ago so you can imagine how high/good the grass and mazes are right now. The boys (and I) have had so much fun running around in them. We plan to mow it all down tomorrow and then let it grow again over the next 2 weeks and then make more mazes for Aiden's birthday party.

After some outdoor time in the maze, we came inside and did some sensory painting. I mixed shaving cream with some tempera paint. I got out cookie trays for the boys to play on and then I found some cars to play with as well. At first they just played with the cars and making paths on the cookie sheet for them. After a bit, I added the colored shaving cream. Aiden did play which was great although he did not get any shaving cream on his hands. Eli had fun and didn't mind getting "dirty" as long as he could rinse them off and then dry them off. They had a great time. I'm determined to eventually have Aiden touch the shaving cream but we will work up to that I guess.

We were grateful to have the opportunity for Eli to go to Aiden's therapy last week. Eli has never been to Aiden's therapy here in Alabama and I really wanted him to see what it was like. They were both super excited for about 1.5 weeks leading up to the day. It was so important to them that I woke-up at 5:30am (eastern time) to drive 6.5 hr and met Brad straight at the location of therapy in Montgomery. There was no way I was going to miss this (and potentially cancel the appointment if I wasn't back in time). 

We got there and right away, Eli just wanted to run around and play. He quickly learned that is not how things work at therapy. Mrs. Rusty set up an obstacle course for them. I took it for granted that Eli has not experienced some things like a ball pit. Part of the obstacle course was standing in a ball pit and Eli was quite scared that he was just going to drown in all the balls. 

Eli got tired of doing the obstacle course and wanted to "play." I wasn't sure what he meant by that but I feel like I have watched Mrs. Rusty enough to know I could figure out how to make whatever he wanted to "play" with as part of something to do with therapy. We did lots of different things. He really liked the reacher thing (see directly below this text, top row). He grabbed those crabs and put them up on the platform and then put them down and then back up. He kept switching between his right and left hand. I was surprised he had the strength to do it but he was more accurate with his left hand than his right hand. 

Overall, Eli had a blast. He definitely learned that therapy is not doing just fun things and that he has to do things he doesn't like to. I think this helps because Eli realizes Aiden doesn't get to go and play all during his therapy time. 

4/29 - Fun at home

I love to do crafty fun educational stuff at home when I have the time and energy. This is an idea that I found from Pinetrest. We call is Sight Word Parking. I call out a word and then Aiden parks a car on that spot. I made it for Aiden but then realized that Eli wanted to play on it to. I then decided to go back and add a second row. For him, he looks at the bottom characters (either a letter, number, or shape/color).

It's a great way to have spend time with the boys and have fun together.

I've also gotten a little obsessed with black lights lately. I'm planning a blacklight party and have been experimenting with different things. My main objective is to combine something the boys like (black lights) with something that Aiden doesn't care for - sensory stuff. After lots of research and a little shopping, here is one of the things we have done. I put neon paint and water in a mini spray bottle and then let the boys have fun in the bathtub. They could paint the walls or themselves. I turned on 2 backlights and they had a blast. They painted the walls, Eli painted himself, and they both painted cars in the bath tub.  

I've also colored some rice that glows and have come up with a bunch of other stuff that I'll do a post on soon. Here is something else I found: water beads. They are actually these tiny little pellet things and then they get huge when you add water to them. We've had lots of fun playing with them. Aiden actually even helped me "catch" some in he bathtub and Eli has loved pouring them from one container to another. I was very surprised Aiden would handle these because they are all slippery when they are wet. 

It was Papa's birthday last week and the boys made a card for him. They also made something for Nana but I haven't mailed it yet (sorry Nana).

Aiden had a good therapy session last week. Look at this picture below - he's leaping/jumping!!! I'm so proud of him and happy for him.

Here is Mrs. Rusty having him climb up the slide backwards!!

Little Eli. We were waiting for his doctor appointment the other day and he sat in the van with me for a few minutes. He ended up finding a pair of my sunglasses. He's too cute. On a positive note, we thought he injured his foot but it just turns out he bruised it and all the redness and swollen area was from a bunch of bug bites. This poor kid has been falling over a lot lately and he has scabs on both his knees and one elbow; oh yeah, he has bruises all over his legs too.

Eli has been such a great napper but that is starting to change slightly which doesn't surprise us; this is about the same age Aiden started to have trouble napping. He still usually takes a nap but he stays up pretty late at night. He is in his bed by 7:45pm but he often gets up and goes potty and then just rolls around in his bed for an hour or two. Here is how we found him the other night: passed out at the opposite end of his bed. He was actually laying on the book storage chest with his puppy dog blanket. 

And finally, the boys have really started to figure out how to play outside on their own. It's been great. Eli loves the water and seems to want to play in it all the time. It's great for Aiden because it's something he would never do on his own. As you can from the sequence of pictures below, they both started out in clothing. Eli quickly got pretty wet and promptly removed all of his clothing. Aiden kept getting a little wet every now and then he would rather take the wet clothes off then wear them. Eli would stand right under the facet and let Aiden turn it on. Little stinker Eli knows how to push Aiden's buttons. He's learned that he can put his whole hand over the facet and then the water sprays every where (they call is water fireworks) and usually gets Aiden wet. Eli thinks it's too funny but you can also see in the last picture on bottom right, Aiden has fun too. He runs away from the water but he is still having fun.

I love watching them play outside together and see how much fun they have. I have another update to do tomorrow on the blog. Until then ...

3/31 - Park & fake snow

Brad took the boys in the morning last Saturday to Bass Pro Shop. I took them in the afternoon to Pratt Park (aka Castle Park) for the first time in a few weeks. They had a ton of fun running around. We explored a new area and found a cool new path that the boys really enjoyed. They were running around and finding rocks and then throwing them into the water and watching them sink. It was fun to just watch them play for a bit and I was super excited that Aiden actually picked up dirty rocks to throw. :)

The boys thought it was fun to take pictures of each other at the park too. The one below is cute because you can see them looking in to the screen so they can see themselves while Eli is taking a picture.

Little Eli is so fun. He lost one of tubes last week and is no longer pulling on his right ear all the time. 

After lots of running around in the afternoon, we decided to let the boys have a movie night. Here is the plate I made for them: carrot stick, 2 vanilla wafers, strawberry for the nose, and chicken nuggets for the mouth. They both thought it was pretty fun.

Here are Aiden and daddy doing a craft (therapy project) before Cubbies last week. 

I decided to take Aiden to the dr on Monday because his arm started to get much worse where we thought he had a spider bite. It turns out the dr thinks that it is ring worm although it did not present like typical ring worm at the beginning. They took a skin scraping sample to make sure it's nothing crazy but it's already starting to look a ton better.

Aiden had therapy on Monday this week. Here he is playing a game with me while we were waiting. It's a subtraction game where you take eggs away from the hen house. He thought it was pretty cool and had fun doing it. I'm still trying to decide what to do with him next year about school. A lot of it depends on where we end up living at and if I can teach any classes at UF. I just need to be patient and know that God is in control. The thought of home-schooling terrifies me because I'm the kind of mom that needs a break but ... we'll see what God has in store for me. Last week was very frustrating at daycare for me and Aiden. On Monday, after we returned from Aiden's dr appointment, the Big Green Bus was there in the morning. It threw Aiden all off because it normally comes in the afternoon. I was frustrated because I pay for that service so I would have rearranged things if I knew they were coming in the morning. All the classes had already gone and the babies were in there when we showed up. The man offered for Aiden to come in for the last 10 min but Aiden didn't want to because he was so freaked out with the timing and that it wasn't "his class." I finally got him calmed down and then walked him to his classroom to find out his class was actually in the classroom next door and they were eating lunch at 10:40am. His world was rocked again. Not his classroom. Not lunch time. Not his normal seat..... Poor kid. He was about in tears when I left. I felt horrible that he was so upset and was frustrated that they were eating lunch at 10:40am. It was spring break week around here last week but I felt like they were just putting all the kids down early for nap which frustrates me. Nap is supposed to be from 12-2 but they get down there at like 11:30am and don't get up until 2:15/2:30pm usually. That's a long time when starting at 11:30am you already begin yelling at kids to lay down and be still and do not move. Anyway, my stomach was unsettled and I felt like I needed to go talk with Aiden. I went there at 11:40 and all the kids were already down for nap and most were already asleep. I said, "you got them down here a little early today" and was told, "no we didn't. This is normal." I got even more frustrated. I brushed Aiden to help him calm down and he said he wanted to go home with me. I'm a sucker so I let him. He had to go to a neurologist appointment with me and Brad but was very good. It was the first time at the neurologist and he wants me to have a sleep study done. I go in at 7:30pm on a Monday and then will get to leave mid/later afternoon on the following day. I drop Aiden off at 2:20pm (normally I get there at 2:00 or 2:15pm and they are still sleeping and the lights are off and Aiden gets so upset because he thinks he is going to have to nap). Even though his teacher will tell him he can sit by her because everyone is about to get up, he won't. He goes to his cot, lays down, and cries. So, I was SHOCKED when we got there at 2:20pm and everyone was upstairs. That was awesome and has NEVER happened before. This made going back to daycare much easier for Aiden thankfully. Brad picked up the boys at 4:30pm and Aiden tells him he has had 3 lollipops (in just 2 hours). I was not happy to hear that! I understand a treat now and then put 3 lollipops in 2 hours - seriously. If you have having to bribe kids to behave that much in that short amount of time, you have some serious issues. 

I made some fake snow on Sunday night and brought it with me to therapy. Mrs. Rusty actually got Aiden to touch it which I was shocked about it. He didn't like it all but he eventually made a snow ball for Nana. :)

I got Eli a little interested in the snow that I made. I added some more shaving cream to it because it was a little too powdery. Eli did not like the texture of it at first but he didn't mind playing in it as long as he had something to wipe his hands on. Aiden came over and poked at things a very times. I then gave Eli a syringe with vinegar in it and he added it so some snow and we watched it erupt and bubble. He thought that was pretty cool. 

Tuesday was another frustrating day at daycare. I go to pick up the boys in the afternoon to see that Aiden didn't eat his lunch (almond milk and yogurt). He had a different teacher for lunch and she didn't know that he was supposed to get his lunch box. He said he told his teacher that he has a lunch bag but I'm sure he was shy about it and/or only said something once rather than insisting he get his lunch bag. That teacher apologized but it was just the wrong day for that to happen after such a frustrating day at daycare the day before. Needless to say, I'm praying what to do about daycare. Switch to a mother's day out program? Pull them out of daycare? Just get Aiden during nap time? That would be fine if it was just 2 hours or so but as I have found out, nap time is more like 2.75 hours, not 2. I'm praying for guidance on this one. He is learning and the social interaction is good for him. Eli is doing pretty well at daycare but the other kids are a pretty bad influence. Many of them are non-verbal and like to hit and throw and most of them LOVE picking their nose and eating it. GROSS. Those are things I prefer Eli not pick up but when you are surrounded by them all the time, you will pick them up.

Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave sent a box for the boys for Easter. They opened it on Tuesday evening and had fun doing that. They both got bath soap/shampoo and Aiden hands his to me and says, "here mom, you can have it." I started laughing. I asked why he didn't want it and he said, "it's a present for you." After some more probing he says, "I don't like to use soap." He cracks me up. They both got giant stuffed animals too.

Oh yeah. And they also got some peeps. Last year neither of them would eat peeps but this year they both ate it.

Now on to the posts about our vacation to TN.