Determined and Fearless

This kid is fearless.  Seriously. 

 

Nora saw Elijah grab a skateboard and helmet so she headed to the garage to do the same thing.  I have included the second picture of her wiping out not because I'm mean or in any way enjoy seeing my children get hurt.  I put it there to let you know that the following picture was taken about two seconds later. 

 

She climbs on, over and around anything that she can.  She climbs up our play structure and fearlessly goes down the bumpy fast slide.  Sister's tricycle?  Perfect.  Should probably try climbing on that too. 

 

If you try to call us and we don't answer, it's likely that we're at the hospital with her.  I'm calling it now.  That kid is going to break something soon.  At least I've been warned.

 

 

Sleepover

The kids went to my parents for a sleepover last night.  I have no doubt that they did all kinds of fun and exciting things.  It was nice to just spend the evening with Trevor. I was running errands this morning (without one kid begging to come along) and the silence from the back seat kind of made me miss them.  I'm guessing it's about time to go pick them up...

Easter week

She's finally walking.  You get so used to seeing a little one crawl that it's still a little shocking to see her upright.

We did an Easter egg hunt in our house because our yard is filled with snow.  Nora didn't actually have any to find but she did discover how to open the plastic eggs.  And take out the chocolate.  And hide back-up chocolate in her hand for when we took the chocolate out of her mouth.  (Oh, and I totally recycled their Easter chocolate.  We still had chocolate in the cupboard from Valentine's or Christmas or maybe even Easter last year.)

We went to Auntie Anne's place at the lake for a few days around Easter.  Daddy went ice fishing and brought back a fish.  He's just about to clean it here.

Going sledding off the deck

Never too young to develop a love for Apple

And now he talks

We were at the Book Fair at Elijah's school this week and the librarian related a story from that week.  She said that Elijah had raised his hand to ask a question.  A few minutes later he raised his hand again and told her "I used to not talk.  But now I do."

And we are grateful for that.

We realized when he was in preschool last year that he really didn't talk at all in class.  Ever.  It was with this knowledge that he entered Kindergarten this year.  And unsurprisingly did not talk.  We did what we could to help him engage in school and worked to help him feel comfortable with talking.  It was interesting because I could literally see him shutting down sometimes when we walked into school. 

We met with the school Student Services and Child Psychologist and as is typical in our society today, walked out with a label.  Selective Mutism.  Google it and it will tell give you a description of a lot of what Elijah was doing.  (It also mentioned that the Virginia Tech shooter had Selectism Mutism that had not been dealt with.  Thank you kind internet for helping to increase my already healthy mother guilt.)

And then a few weeks ago his teacher emailed me to tell me that he started talking in PE and didn't stop.  And then his music teacher stopped us in church on Sunday to tell use that he had started talking there. 

We were at school this past week for what used to be called Parent/Teacher Conferences but now it's Student Progress Conference where you get to see your child doing things in their class.  And he talked.  He talked about his journal entries.  And he talked about his numbers.

And it felt like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders.  Now he can get on with the business of learning and having people see what a terrific kid he is.  There is so much great stuff in his head that was getting lost because he wouldn't, or couldn't, get it out. 

And thank you God for answering the prayers of a little boy that last Christmas asked me to pray that he would talk in school.

An after noon with Grandma

I'm not complaining but...

I really woudn't mind at all if my girls got better.

I went back to work a month ago and in that month both have been on all kinds of drugs.  Nora is on her second round of drugs for an ear infection that seems to like her a lot.  And Lillian, poor Lillian, just started her third round of drugs for a UTI.  This all started the day before I went back to work.

So you will understand when I tell you what amazing daycare I have.  My girls go to a home daycare that currently only has the two of them (with one other boy coming on Fridays).  There has not been a day when she has told me that I should probably stay home with them.  When Lillian was SCREAMING when she peed, Tante Rose was there to cuddle her.  When Nora was tugging at her ears, Tante Rose was there to give her Tylenol.

And this week she went above and beyond what any daycare would do. 

The doctor's office had called to say that we needed to bring in another sample for Lillian because they thought she probably still had something.  So the plan was to take a sample in the morning when she woke up and bring it to the lab on my way to work.  Great plan except she wet her bed that day.  For the first time ever.  Hard to collect a sample from wet sheets.  So Tante Rose collected the sample and her husband took it to the lab for me.

It's not fun to have sick kids.  Never is.  No matter whether you're at home with them or not.  I just want them to be better. 

But I also know that I am blessed.  I am blessed to have kids whose health issues are really relatively minor.  I am blessed that we have benefits that cover the cost of all these drugs.  I am blessed that my work (and more specifically my boss) is so understanding that it's not a big deal at all to be late because I've got to get my kid to the doctor again.  I am blessed that I don't do this on my own.

So, I'm not complaining, but it sure would be nice not to know my kid's doctor's phone number by heart.