4/15 - Easter

So I need to catch up with the blog. I guess that's nothing new. OK. To make this easier, I'm going to do a few posts. Let's start with Easter. I missed church on Easter morning. I was so tired and just couldn't function. I was sad but we had been running hard on our vacation and I just needed the rest. The picture to the right is Eli enjoying a few pieces of some candy. Man that smile is awesome.







Here is Aiden putting together the Easter puzzle. The pieces were hidden in eggs around the house and then it fit together by re-creating/tell the story of Jesus and His death. I had a little guide that the Easter Bunny left to go along with it. It was fun and a great way to put the focus on God rather than candy :)

The afternoon was beautiful so we went outside to play with their new toy the Easter Bunny left: A Stomp Rocket. You step on this little red/pink air bladder. It's connected to a stand which holds the rocket. The harder you jump, the further the rocket goes. Sounds like fun huh? It is. It's a great way to be outside and get some exercise and have fun.

Eli running away from his rocket

Here is Aiden using the stomp rocket. He got it right away and loves it. They did a great job taking turns. You can see Brad sitting in the hammock and the boys moved their chairs over by him. They would run over and sit down for the 10 seconds that it took for the other one to put their rocket on and launch it. These things go pretty high. Even Brad and I were having fun. Eli had a little bit of a rough time at the beginning. He wouldn't step on it hard enough so the rocket would just barely pop off the base and then fall and hit him. Because of this, he got in the habit of stepping on the air bladder and then turning and running (so he wouldn't get hit) and then turn around but by then, the rocket already landed so he didn't get to see it. It was pretty comical to watch actually.

I finally realized you can actually tilt the rocket in a direction and then stomp on it so once Aiden saw that, he was all over the place. He is aiming straight at the house right now. It was good for him to experiment with it and I think its a great way to teach kids about angles and trajectory. Eli liked doing is this way better because he knew it wouldn't hit him.

It is well documented that Eli loves to be naked (naked = with underwear in our house). He also loves to either take naps naked or changes into his jammies. I think Eli probably got naked for naps and then never put clothes on after that. After some fun of playing in the yard, it started to sprinkle. It was weird because it didn't even really look cloudy. We watched the rain for a bit and then we got the great idea to go out and play in the rain. 

 
Eli was on board for that right away. He ran out there and was dancing away. Brad and I were out there as well with no shoes on just dancing. Aiden got ready by putting his jacket on so his arms wouldn't get wet and rain boots, and then came out to join us. They were having so much fun dancing around. You could tell Aiden didn't really want to come out but that we were all having such a good time that he wanted to be able to come out and have a good time.

Eli even tried catching rain in his mouth to drink. Aiden tried it but got water in his eyes and got a little upset. He handled it well though and stayed out there and still danced with us for a while. 

This is one of my favorite pictures to the right. It really demonstrates how life is experienced (and enjoyed) through the life of someone with a sensory processing disorder and one without. It significantly alters the way Aiden experiences life and how much and/or if he is able to enjoy things. 

 

This is a video and it will only work if you are viewing the blog through Blogger (not as a Facebook note). It's the boys dancing in the rain.

And after all that dancing, God created a wonderful (and brief) rainbow for us to enjoy. He is so amazing and great to us. It was a great Easter.

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.

4/14 - Easter and the past week

Last Saturday (the day before Easter), I took the boys out to the beach in the afternoon. Eli slept long so we left late and didn't even get their until about 4:15/4:30pm. We went down to the beach for about 45 min and just let the boys play in the sand. Of course Eli got a little wet, but I didn't even have his swim suit on him. We went back to Sue's beach house and I fed my boys dinner and we just played for a bit. We left pretty late and didn't get home until 8:15pm which is way past their bedtime.

Better late than never ... so here is my post about Easter. The boys woke up to little easter baskets in the living room with their name on them. Here is Eli inspecting his new flashlight that dispenses candy.

As many of you know, I'm not a huge fan of giving my kids candy/sweets. The boys got matching bubble blowing hand machines in their easter baskets and here is Aiden giving it a try.

After they took the 3 presents out of their baskets, I told them there were eggs hidden throughout the house. They had a blast going around and finding them. We play scavenger hunt all the time and we always put 2 tokens in each space so each child can get one. I did the same thing for the eggs because I was fearful Aiden would just run and get them all or find all the easy ones and then all the hard ones would be left for Eli. The strategy worked out great.

After they found all the eggs, I let them open Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave's presents. They enjoyed doing that!

While I made breakfast, Aiden counted and then sorted his eggs. Then he organized them. And then continued to organize them in different ways (robot type, color, etc.).

We would have normally headed out the door for church at this time but Eli was still sick (he got sent home from daycare the Friday before) and had a nasty cough still. He said he was "sick" and just laying around and was just feeling yucky still. Aiden didn't mind laying around for a bit but then he was getting a little restless and wanted to go outside to find eggs. We got some and I hid them and then they went to go search for them.

There were hard ones and easy ones to find and I told Aiden to be considerate and leave some for his brother. Aiden did a great job and would even call Eli over to eggs he would find but knew he should give some to Eli. Aiden is such a sweetie.

Aiden wanted to hide the eggs for Eli and did a pretty good job but he got tired and asked me to do the rest. Aiden then wanted Eli to hide them but Eli is 1) not feeling well and 2) pretty little so this was Eli's version of hiding them. He dumps then all out and looks at me and says "done." It was too funny. Aiden says to him, "why did you put them all in the same place? You are supposed to spread them out."

Eli had a really long nap (about 3 hrs) and then when he finally woke up, Aiden wanted to go back outside to hide eggs with our neighbors. Eli went with us of course but he fell while in their yard and his eggs went everywhere. He almost started crying but then make a pretty quick recovery.

It helped that Ms. Jen also came over to assist Eli in his egg recovery process.

Eli wasn't feeling well so getting the picture with Mr. Ryan and Ms. Jen didn't work out as well as I was hoping.

They really just wanted to play with their bubbles and eat massive amounts of jelly beans.

That is the one thing that did make Eli smile, candy and chocolate. 

 

Eli actually wouldn't even take a picture with me. He was just feeling really yucky that day

I'm not sure when I took this picture. Eli had a few rough days because he was feeling so yucky. My patience for dealing with this at night was very limited over the past week.

Aiden had his last OT appointment this week which was sad for him. Here is is working on drawing/writing. I had to use this picture because he insisted on fixing his socks and unfolding them and pulling them all the way. It was an awesome look!

Here he is with Ms. Lisa, his Occupational Therapist. He has become quite fond of her and said in a prayer that night the he can see Ms. Lisa again. I remember starting OT a few months ago thinking it would be totally awesome if we could actually achieve the "long-term" goals that were listed for him. I also thought that would be impossible. I'm so glad I was wrong. He is dressing himself, touching more things, using his fine motor skills in general more, mostly brushing his teeth by himself, and sometimes using a pen/pencil/marker correctly. My next arts and crafts project is to make him a sleeve that goes on his forearm.

Here is a random picture of Eli using his cash register. He loves that thing and was carrying money around the house for a few hours.

On Thursday, Aiden had a hearing appointment. We waited forever!!!! Here are the boys enjoying their snack. Eli has been in a mood to wear sunglasses on his head. It's so cute. I have no idea where he even gets that from.

We waited so long that the boys were going into the bathroom and getting wet paper towels so they could clean all the chairs in the waiting room.

When it was finally time for Aiden's test, he wanted to be a big boy and do it by himself. Eli and I waited right outside and Eli played on the iPad. I'm not sure why he has 2 fingers on the screen since it won't work that way!

Yes, I know my kid is naked and playing with the iPad. It was actually a really cute moment because Aiden was doing such a good job teaching Eli how to use this letter app game. I got a video of it too that I will eventually post.

I've been beyond exhausted and haven't taken many pictures over the past week. Here is one of just me and the boys. The little boys are quite amazing and are growing up so fast.

These final two pictures are from this morning. They both wanted to wear hats today to go grocery shopping.

Aiden wanted to wear a hat but didn't want me to take a picture (hence his face).

This last picture is the boys flying the helicopter at the playground on base.

I need to go to bed. I also still need to post about Aiden's IQ and anxiety testing. Maybe in the next couple days I can do that if I have the energy.