Sunny with a good chance of fun

Can someone please bottle up this weather and sprinkle it around come January???  Temperatures in the 70's and low 80's, clouds white and fluffy, and the sun bright and, well, sunny.  Perfect for spending days outside.  Unfortunately, too cool for the pool, but perfect for heading to the park, squiring squirt guns, setting up obstacle courses and going to the zoo. 

Sunday, Tom's parents (a.k.a. Grandma and Grandpa) came for the day via Grandpa's little red convertible to sit outside and visit.  It was a nice, relaxing day catching up with them and the girls love seeing their grandparents. 

Helping Grandma



Grandpa's lap

Casey dressed up Emily

Music was provided for me at the tea party

After I went through the girls' dressers to weed out clothes that are too small for each of them, we headed to the park to play.  There are no 2 ways about it - Emily on playground equipment just stresses me out.  Her lack of balance and body awareness makes her vulnerable to another kid bumping into her and, as a result, her falling down off the playset's openings.  She just doesn't know how to brace herself in those situations or to grab on to a bar to prevent falling off.  So I spend the entire time following her around (ever hear the term helicopter parent??) holding my breath.  She and Casey love the parks and playgrounds around here, so I suck it up and take them.  And breathe a sigh of relief when we pack ourselves into the car afterwards with all limbs accounted for.  I am pleased to report Monday we left the playground with all 4 arms and 4 legs attached to the girls.  We finished the day with a little dress-up and tea party in the evening.

Tuesday morning our neighbor and her 3 girls came over for coffee and playtime.  The girls played kickball and, thanks to Pinterest, did a nature scavenger hunt.  I set up a backyard obstacle course for the girls in the afternoon.  Pretty relaxing, low-key.  Pretty nice summer stuff.


The Zoo Crew

Today Mandy invited us to come along to the Cincinnati Zoo with her and her 3 kids.  Again, the perfect weather to enjoy the zoo - not too hot and not too cold.  This visit marked the first time Emily ever requested to see a certain animal (zebras) and not see a certain animal (elephants).  She's always just gone along and taken in the sights; never really all that excited about the animals.  But today, I was fist pumping a big "Yeah, Sister" as my little girl so got the zoo experience.  I think she even touched the snake that the zoo staff was walking around with.  I can say 'I think' because my intolerable, paralyzing fear of snakes leaves me not even being able to look at them.  Mandy told me she and the 4 other kids did and I'll take her word for it.  Along those same lines, my kids got the rare treat of going into the Reptile House today as well.  Again, my huge, scream-inducing fear of snakes,  doesn't leave me beaming for the Reptile House, so (poor, poor) Mandy was left stuck corralling 5 kids through the glassed-in snake exhibits while I protected our packed lunches left in the stroller from the evils that lurked.  We safely made it out of the Reptile House and onto the train, carousel, lions, bears and monkeys.  And the highlight of the day was when all 7 of us had our noses almost to the netting of the eagle exhibit when out of nowhere a giant eagle came swooping down and landed within 2 feet of us.  5 kids screaming and running probably scarred this beautiful bird but it was the all time best zoo encounter.  Ever. 

Emily actually told me which animal she
wanted to ride on the carousel for
the first time

Casey's interpretation of a snapping turtle

Goals and Wishes and Washes Bootcamp

Dressed to go to
HomeGoods

Casey informed me Friday that she was really good at 3 things.  They are:
1.  Being a fashion designer
2.  Being a samurai
3.  Being a pop star
What's a mom to do with that information except say, "Absolutely!  I totally agree!" 

Oh, how I wish my girls would stay young.  Last month we saw a double rainbow after a rain storm.  Both girls had their noses plastered to the window in our bedroom staring in awe.  It is those times I really wish I had an excellent camera to capture the moments of the back of their little heads with a double rainbow in the distance.  Emily, looking at maybe the first real rainbow in the sky she recognizes, and Casey, staring and wishing.  Because as she put it - a double rainbow must be a lucky sign and therefore you should make a wish.  She told me she wished to become a princess one day.  Sigh....  So I wish that she becomes the best fashionista/samurai/pop star/princess ever!!  We'll make it happen for now.  We have enough dress-up clothes, butts to kick, songs on the ipod and tiaras for an army.  And I will hate the day her wish becomes something boring like a doctor or a teacher. 

Ugh.  Getting a little sappy in here.

2010, Learning to walk

Now that we got the first day of summer vacation under our belts Friday, with Emily finishing swim lessons and then eating pizza and hanging out with friends all afternoon, we need to think about some goals.  Goals beyond being lazy at the pool and scheduling more quality time with friends, that is.  Most of our family time here is pretty typical in spite having a child with special needs.  That's just the way we like it.  We've been blessed with 2 daughters who get up, eat breakfast and begin to bicker and fight and play just like other siblings, taking time out to eat lunch, dinner and beg for snacks all day long.  Except when we have to do, you know, those special-needs things.  We have therapy once a week and our fair share of doctor appointments at Children's Hospital, but the majority of those special-needs things are working towards achieving goals.  I'm a list maker and as much as I'd like to say I like to fly by the seat of my pants, I really prefer a routine.  This translates into written goals for Emily in our house.  I take speech therapy, OT and PT pretty seriously and have a close relationship with each of her therapists.  They give us homework and we go home and tackle it a little each day.  Take for instance, when Emily was 2, we decided she needed to get busy walking, but having just gotten out of a pretty large brace following spine surgery, first she needed to learn to stand up on her own.  So I implemented what became known in our house as squatting boot camp.  Every day, 5 to 6 times a day for 15 minutes, I had Emily doing squats next to the ottoman.  And after 2 weeks of 'bootcamp', sister got up and walked.  Done.  Check it off the list.  What's next?  So we need to make some goals for this summer and get busy.  Our goals will be: (see that? -Here comes another list...)

2010,Showing off some mad squatting skills (so silly)

1.  Safely walking up and down stairs.  This is one we've been working on for a while.  Given Emily's height (she's very tall for her age) and lack of body awareness, she looses her balance and can, and does, fall on stairs VERY easily.  We'll be doing kiddo yoga each day as well as... well, walking up and down the stairs.  Stair boot camp?  Yep.
2.  Potty training.  I'd really like this one completed by the end of summer as well, but Emily has shown some lack of interest and some protesting.  Okay, quite a bit protesting.  I'm not going to push her if she truly isn't ready, but at almost 4- 1/2, we're going to try.  A lot.  But even as I type this, Tom is sitting her on the potty and she is in the bathroom crying and saying, "no!"  I'm not sure I'll make it through potty boot camp....
3.  Writing some letters.  She's starting to write the letter 'E' and some other lines have started to emerge of other letters.  She seems to really respond to some apps on the new iPad and I think her interest in that will help this goal.  She loves to imitate Casey and Casey loves to boss her around teach her, so this one may work out really well as a family activity.  I'd love to see her write her name by the end of summer.
4.  Articulate the "F" sound.  Emily's vocabulary has grown so much over the last few months.  Not only in being able to make new sounds, but also express new thoughts, ideas and engage in conversation.  We are thrilled with this progress!  She has not been able to make the "ffff" sound at all yet, so when saying fruit, friend, fish, five, fly ect.,  she uses the "B" sound instead.  I'd be tickled if we were able to check off goal #four instead of goal #boar.

And so we will continue to do all of the things typical families do as well as the special things that make us special.  That's what you do when God gives you a child with special needs - Treat them just like your other kids but embrace the fact that there are special goals that need to be met and check them off the list.  One by one.  Kickin' ass and takin' names.  Forward progress.  Because I'm certain further down on that list for Emily is something like fashionista/samurai/pop star/princess.  What ever she wants to be.  Wish or goal.  It's achievable.  I'm sure we can come up with a boot camp for anything here.















Saturday we spent the day outside enjoying the 75 degree weather and sunshine.  After golfing, Tom cleaned out the garage and found an unexpected guest, scared and hiding there.  A little baby bunny had hopped into our garage that day and Tom was able to pick him up and let the girls pet him (or her) for a bit before he tucked it under a hosta near the treeline in our backyard.  The girls and I cleaned the little play house we've had outside for the girls to play in. They really don't play with it anymore so we're getting rid of it. I found it at a garage sale when Casey was 2-1/2 and because I'm a bit sentimental about anything that is a tell-tale reminder that my girls are getting older, I am a bit sad about it's departure, but it's a big hunk of plastic that no longer gets played with and we want that space on the deck back.  Afterwards, I decided I was going to wash my car in the driveway like my sisters and I used to do for our parents when we were kids.  I don't think I've washed a car with a hose and bucket since I was in high school, maybe college.  When I moved to Cincinnati, I found drive-thru car washes to be plentiful and too convenient and neighbors' houses here are MUCH closer in proximity than where I grew up - no room to park the car in the yard under a tree!  But yesterday I was feeling a bit nostalgic and 'old school' and I decided that my kids needed to at least learn there was a do-it-yourself option and it is certainly a (fun) chore that they can participate in.  So I charged Casey with filling up the bucket with soap and water (she actually considered this a treat) and gave her a sponge to wash my SUV from about 4 feet high and down.  We had fun and she told me she wanted to do it again.  Wait until I get out the wax like my dad did for us... bet she'll be singing a different tune then.  But I'm going to make sure that any fashionista-ninja-princess-star knows how to wash her own car. 

2006, Casey with her new playhouse