5/19 - Aiden's Preschool Graduation

Aiden had his preschool graduation on Tuesday night. That still cracks me up. There was no graduation from preschool or even elementary school when I was little. You got a pat on the back (maybe) and life went on. His school worked really hard on having the kids sing a couple songs and have hand motions. The preschool (Journey) did a great job with making it such a special event for these kids.

We got there early to make sure we got a good seat. It didn't start until 7:00pm so we pretty much let Eli run around the sanctuary from 6:20-7:00pm. He must have run about a mile if you add up all the laps he did. He played on the iPad during most of the service but that was fine because at least he was still and quite. He did a great job. 

They brought all the kids up on the stage and had them sing a few songs. I was wondering why Aiden was asking me such random questions through the week. He was making a heart with his hands and asking me where his heart was at on his body. I saw him play the air guitar a few times when we were playing music and wondered where he saw that at. He would also practice clapping and then spinning his hands around and telling me "that's how it's done." He had a blast singing the songs. Mrs. Jennifer, his teacher, sat in the front row and did all the hand signals with them in case they forgot. Aiden did not forget a thing. Not only that, he was so intensely looking at her to make sure he was on cue with the signals and the music. I've never seen him that focused before. He only did minimal nervous activities (wiping of the ears and eyes) compared to a few days at church when he performed with the children's choir. 

They took the kids out of the sanctuary and helped them all get their caps and gowns on and then they all came in. I didn't get any good pictures with my camera of Aiden walking down the isle. I'm hopefully to pull one off the video that Brad took and get a still shot though. Anyway, he walked out with his classmates and they all sat down. He was the third or fourth one to go up in his class. They called his name and said he was honored with the award of "Most Likely to be a Pilot" and put up a picture of him in his flight suit. It was too cute. Mrs. Jennifer gave him his diploma and then he walked over to his spot. He waited while everyone else got their diplomas. At the very end, the teachers told them they could throw their hats (all the hats had names in them) but Aiden was the only one that I saw out of about 22 kids that did not throw his hat. You can see in the second row of pictures, the picture to the right, only has his hat on. It was too funny. Mrs. Jennifer even tried to tell him it was okay. I asked him later why he didn't throw his hat and he said he thought he might hurt someone by doing that. Such a sweet heart. We tried to get a family picture but it was late and Aiden didn't have any nap that day. I asked Eli if he could tell Aiden "congratulations" and give him a huge. You can see the outcome of that in the picture to the right of the text in the middle. Aiden was so upset and annoyed that Eli gave him a hug.

After the ceremony was over and I quickly realized there would be no cute family pictures of our little preschool graduate, they had some cake and punch set out. We all had a small piece of cake. As you can see in the bottom row, Aiden really liked the cake. I was slightly mortified when I looked up and saw Aiden his plate but then also thought it was slightly funny. He LOVED the punch. Eli, of course, loved the cake. He actually didn't like the punch though. Eli doesn't actually care for the taste of lemonade, tea, soda, etc. It's good but it's so funny considering how much he likes different kinds of food. Eli is a water kind of kid (or juice if it's offered to him). Overall, we are very happy for Aiden.

I've been in contact with the placement specialist for the school he will be attending in Jacksonville to figure out what to do with him. Our very smart, yet quirky and pretty fearful & safe kid, will need to be put in the right environment (that's what his therapists and various teachers have told us) in order for him to thrive. I just have to have faith that God will make that all happen. It's so hard when we move all the time and have to re-start testing/evaluation processes all the time. Aiden's class was spending quite a bit of time preparing for the graduation and did not do seat work for a few days. That included a few days leading up to the event and few days afterwards. He was complaining to me that he didn't "get" to do seat work and he was sad about that and wanted to do some at home. He says, "I don't understand why we don't do seat work anymore." I try to explain to him that his class has been busy getting ready for graduation but he doesn't want to accept that as an excuse. The kid just loves to learn. He was doing some serious math this morning as I was making a treat: cinnamon rolls. He looks at the package and sees that there are 8 and then says, "hey mom, there is enough for all our family to have two. "Two and two and two and two make 8" as he points around to each of us and continues to add two fingers counting on his hands as he points at us. He then starts doing math during lunch today and says "did you know that 2 and 3 make 5?" Brad says, "yes I did. Great job. Who taught you that?" Aiden responds with, "my mouth." We were a bit confused and upon a few more questions to Aiden, he said his mouth is what tells the answer out loud but his head it what counts. What a fun kid.

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. 

5/10 - Our new house

OK Mom. This post is mainly for you. Here is our beautiful new place:

Isn't it amazing? Mom, you deserve to live in such a beautiful place like this :)  You have done such a great job raising me and somehow making ends meet to keep us housed, fed, and even the ability for me to keep training and doing gymnastics. I am so glad that the Lord has blessed all of us right now. It will be an adjustment for all of us but our goal in finding a house was to make sure you have your own space and the Lord provided it perfectly in this house.

A view of the kitchen. The one on the left is standing at the other end of the kitchen. The one on the right is standing down where the table is at in the picture on the left.

 Looking at the living room from the rear of the house by the sliding glass doors/patio:

This is my part of the bathroom. How cool is that. This is where I will be sewing my crazy projects! It's the perfect height.

These are the steps up to my mom's room. There are about 4-5 steps that go up to the left before you actually go into the huge room. It's 15 feet wide by 30 ft long. Mom will even have her own full bath. My mom really loves nature and she hasn't lived on a non-major, noisy street in at least 20 years. She loved visiting us in Maryland and here in Alabama because our locations have been great for quietness and sitting outside and enjoying the birds and the peace. She will get to experience some more of that now.

This is the back of the house. You see that little porch up there? Yep. Mom, you may feel like you are in heaven. There is much more action than you are used to compared to visiting us but thankfully golfers don't make much noise. We will of course be bringing our little bird feeder with us. 

And we needed anything else to be excited about, as I am filling out the lease the school bus comes and it's just 2 houses down. How fun. Aiden is super excited he gets to go on a bus!!! OK. Back to grading papers for me. I'll post some of the outdoor fun we've been having before I left. Our grass mazes in the backyard are a huge hit!!