GG, Treasure Hunt, First Day of School!

Last Friday we visited GG and Aunt Pat. A great visit as always. They told us about the trip they're going on soon, they are excited!

We also went to Walmart on Friday to buy Nico's school supplies, and also a rug and reading pillow for under his bed.

He chose black. I wanted to buy him a first-day-of-school outfit but Walmart doesn't have a great selection so we skipped it. We also got him a hair cut! Friday for lunch we visited Grandma and stayed for a few hours. It was a fun day!

On Saturday we woke up super early so we could be at a garage sale right when it opened at 7:30. They were selling Nintendo 64 games for $1 each. By the time we got there (at 7:25) they were already gone! doh! Nico had brought some of his money to buy games with. Instead, he bought some lizard goggles. Totally worth the trip. You can see behind yourself! He wore them the whole way home.

Saturday night we watched the animated movie Coco while eating pizza.

Sunday was the last day before school started which means we did our yearly TREASURE HUNT!!

Allicia came up with the bulk of the clues, I wanted to make sure that each kiddo had clues that they would be able to figure out themselves, that were specific to them. It turned out really well. While the grown ups hid the clues we put the kiddos downstairs in front of some cartoons. Then, it began!  Watch the video at the end of the blog to see clips from it.

The boys hanging out while the kids ran around

After they found the treasure, eating their candy and hanging out.

Putting together legos side by side

 Then of course the next day was school! Nico woke up early and was dressed and ready to go by 6:30AM. He put his backpack on and laid down on the couch: "I'm just going to lay here until school starts."

Other things he told me that morning: He wants to live in Japan because they don't have summer vacation. And also "I feel like I'm going to throw up." hehe... I asked him if he wanted to stay home from school and he said "NO!"

Here are Evelyn and Nico on their first day of school. 2nd grade for Evelyn, 3rd grade for Nico. I walked with them to school this first day.

Nico in his classroom with his desk behind him.

As soon as he got home from school he opened his backpack and took his homework out. He had to read through the classroom morning and afternoon procedures three times. He has had to do that every day this week. Tonight his homework was to wash his feet. He he.

He has had a good week at school so far. Last night he told us that he was feeling something in his heart (I like the way he put that), about how there are kids on the playground that are mean and that he's afraid they're going to start bullying him. Everything else he's told us about school has been great. His library day is Thursday. We've been praying with him about the possible bullies.

Today he had a dentist appointment. No cavities! A few months ago he did chip one of his front bottom teeth. Guy and him were rough housing and I think Guy's elbow somehow ended up on Nico's mouth and his tooth got chipped. The dentist recommended waiting to see how the teeth grow in before they try to patch it up. There is no pain or sensitivity, otherwise they'd do it now. The dentist said that boys tend to get banged up a bit in their youth.

Evelyn came over for dinner tonight. They put together legos at the table before dinner.

Other photos from this week...

Playing The Cure

Eating cheese and reading DogMan before bed.

Now it's time for the video!! Enjoy!

Winter Garden Aglow, Christmas Tree

On Saturday Nico and I went to the Sensory Friendly Movie in the morning, they were playing Inside Out. Nico had already seen most of it at church, but we both enjoyed seeing it in the theater. It is a very cute movie!

Sunday we got our Christmas tree after church. We went to a tree lot we had never been to before. The trees were very fresh. Nico said he wanted to get one that was as tall as him, and then next year get one that was as tall as him, etc. But we couldn't find one short enough this time. The tree we picked out had a nice flat side which was perfect for our use, since we stuck it right up next to the fridge.

That evening we went to Winter Garden Aglow. 50 degree weather! It was perfect. They switched photographers this year, so instead of getting the traditional picture we got several others in several different spots around the garden. 

Then we watched the trains for as long as Nico wanted to, which was about 20 minutes. 

Then we went and saw Santa! Nico has never visited a Santa before, so when he asked Nico what he wanted for Christmas he was shocked and said "What do I want for Christmas? Umm.. ummm.. ummm... ummm.." So I stepped in and mentioned Legos and Nico said "Yeah, Legos!!" We didn't pay for a Santa picture, but we were able to take our own pictures. Then we saw a reindeer and got to pet her.

Two Christmas activities in one day! It was a great day.

The rest of the week has been normal. We did "the loop" with Allicia and kids. It seems Nico and Evelyn are getting tired of it, so we might need to think of another thing to do every week. Neither of them wanted to go this time. This is the second time we've gone and it's been raining hard, so perhaps that's it :) Although Nico doesn't mind walking/riding in the rain. We have walked to school several times this week with a downpour. He has his BAT umbrella that makes it all worth it.

Evelyn and Nico played really nicely on Wednesday. That was a hit.

Nico is getting very creative in the stories he is telling Guy before bed. Guy started out telling Nico stories while they snuggled in bed, but then Guy started asking "and then what?" or asking Nico to come up with a name or come up with details. Nico started taking over, though, which I think was Guy's goal. He told a very thorough story last night (I wasn't here, but Guy relayed it to me) about aliens going to different planets. He went to Uranus and got dizzy because Uranus rotates on its side, and then went to Pluto and bumped into something! It was.... a bump! Because Pluto has bumps everywhere.

Here is Nico after doing homework on Monday, he wanted to continue writing, while watching iPad.

Thursday I taught an essential oil class and got home really late, hence the late update! So there you go, that was our week, we should have another good one coming up :)

G.G., The Loop

On Saturday Guy thought he was going to have to work but they gave him the day off because he was going to start the M-F schedule the next week. It was fun to spend the morning with him! Then Nico and I left to go to the Sensory Friendly movie, we met some of Nico's friends there (and my friend, the mom) from church. Lazarus, Leona (Nico calls her Lenoa) and Matthias, the mom is Elizabeth. The movie was Minions. Very cute! Afterward we came home and spent a pleasant afternoon/evening together. Guy had organized some of the clubhouse and it was great to see it looking a little less cluttered.

On Monday we took "the loop", which is our name for a loop on the greenbelt that takes us about 45 minutes. In the summer this loop is not practical because it is exposed and way too hot in the afternoons. But it is perfect in the fall and winter. If the sun is out it warms us up.

Avery

Allicia, Ivy, and Evelyn behind

Nico and Evelyn watching kids play on the Adam's school playground. When asked if it looked like fun to Evelyn (looking ahead to her kindergarten days next year) she said "No!" She seemed a little intimidated by all the noise.

Nico and Evelyn spend a lot of time arguing over who gets to be in the front. We're trying to work on all their conflict, they are like siblings sometimes. In fact, Nico calls Evelyn his sister sometimes, but also mentions on occasion that he is going to marry her.

They got so far ahead of us that they got to the crosswalk with the button you push that turns the light red and then you can cross. Evelyn pushed the button, and Nico went into auto pilot when the light turned red and the "walk" symbol showed up. So, they crossed a busy road far ahead of us. I ran after them and told them not to do that without us again. Then I got to thinking... how old does Nico have to be before he can walk to and from school by himself? he he. 

Tuesday was a full day. We needed the car so we dropped Guy off at work. Fred Meyer, then a visit to G.G. Nico wanted to bring his Creationary game where you draw a card from the pile and then put legos together to make it look like the picture on the card. So we each took turns. G.G. made a pretty impressive sheep! Nico also got to feed Scamper a dog biscuit, he loves doing that! Then he watched a bit of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. 

After we left there, we went to a chiropractor appointment. We didn't know that Grandma Salisbury had an appointment there right before us, but we were pleasantly surprised to see her there! She was needing a ride back to Big-O Tires so it was serendipitous that we were there, and we were able to drive her back.

We went home for maybe 10 minutes, then it was time for school. I came into Nico's classroom that day to volunteer. I enjoy making copies and cutting out shapes, I did a lot of that, I also helped some kids with their classwork, and became more familiar with Ms. Lung's style of teaching and personality, which was really great. I plan to volunteer there once a month. 

After the school day was over, Nico and I both drove home. We had about an hour at home before leaving to go pick Guy up from work. We parked in the parking lot and waited for him and admired the really cool looking clouds hanging out on top of the mountains. 

We had home days on Wednesday and Thursday. 

At night Guy has been snuggling with Nico in his bed after reading books and all that, and Nico has been asking Guy questions about when Guy was little. Guy tells him a story, and then Nico tells a story sometimes about himself, but then asks again for Guy to tell him a story about when Guy was young or a baby. Last night Nico asked Guy to tell him about when Nico was a baby and used to poop in his diaper. 

At 6 PM every night we do homework. This includes reading sentences and words, and also saying words that the speech therapist gave us at the parent teacher conference. We are working on combination L sounds, like "flash" which is super hard for him because not only is there an L in the word (he just learned how to do these), the L is the 2nd letter in the word, which requires some tricks. And not only that, it has an SH at the end, which is also something he just learned how to do and doesn't always do it consistently. All those things he has to remember in this one word.

Homework takes us literally like 2-3 minutes. It's just a quick thing every day, to keep his skills up.

I think that's it for this week. Enjoy the Halloween video! There's a theme to the music, tell me if you can figure it out... Guy didn't figure it out, but then I didn't tell him there was a theme to it before he watched it. 

Short and Sweet

We haven't had many pictures lately, I think because we haven't ventured out as much as we used to. We did go to the State Capitol again this past week. He had been asking to go back there, so I took him on Monday (his day off). 

We've had lots of rain, a few storms, and often I've wanted to share some hot cocoa with Nico. I will have to find ingredients to make some so that we can do this!

This week in school they are talking about shapes and are learning how to draw people. Homework is pointing out shapes in our environment. There are so many circles everywhere! Especially when you own 50+ hot wheels, each with 4 perfectly round wheels.

Nico has also started trying to count to twenty. He gets practice every day when Guy makes coffee, they count to twenty together when grinding the beans.

Hmm hmmm.. what else? Seems like this week has been shorter than others. 

Oh, there are two things I wanted to document. Two things that Nico has been saying for quite some time but I don't know what they mean. One, after he goes #2 in his potty, he sometimes points to it and says "Min-uh mee pee". The other one is whenever I ask him to turn around, he says "I dee". These aren't recent developments, but I wanted to write them down so I have a record.

Sometimes the papers that come home with Nico from school have notes on them from the speech therapist. Looks like they're working on ending sounds, like buS, mouSE, froG. When he does say the last part of a word, he makes it into another syllable, so he says froguh for frog.

I think that's it for this week. Short and sweet! Next week may be more exciting, we are going to Nampa to see G.G. on Monday, and Nico has next Thursday and Friday off from school.

Nico found a new way to watch his iPad.

Routine

We're getting our routine down surrounding preschool. Nico and I read books while we wait for the bus every morning, and when it gets reeeal close, we put his backpack on and hang out by the window.

 Waiting for the bus.

On the bus, getting strapped in. I wave at him from our front step until the bus drives off.

Coming home.

When he gets off the bus in the afternoon, I have lunch ready for him. I eat earlier, so while he eats I read him books. Then after that I give him 5 minutes with his beloved iPad, and then it's time for nap. Maybe. Twice he hasn't taken a nap. He fell asleep on the bus ride home on one of those days, but then today I'm not sure if he fell asleep on his way home, but he skipped his nap anyway. He's a tired buddy in the evening without a nap!

This week he has started counting things regularly. The steps across the bridge at Memorial park: "One, two, three, five, four, five, four, nine, ten!" He says it with his own sounds, but some of them are very close to sounding correct, like FOUR. My favorite is how he says "Siggy" for seven.

He also says the word "Down", and also signs it. They told me that they teach signs along with words, because his need to communicate is larger than his need to say words correctly. He used it (the word and the sign, at the same time) correctly at the park when he told me he wanted to get down from the equipment. They must have also taught him how to be a monkey, because he's been attempting to climb poles, like he has been taught how. Grabbing it with his legs correctly and everything.

Homework this week was a book called the "My Can-Do Book" with pictures to color of kids doing things that we should reinforce to them that they can do too: Brush their teeth, pick out their own clothes, ride a tricycle. They must be teaching him how to write his name, too, because when I wrote his name on the front of the book, he pulled out his crayon and wrote an N, and kept saying his name! But sometimes he would say "Tico" and he drew a bunch of Ts. He drew lots of Is, too, and one O.

I know I said this already, but I am looking forward to being able to ask him what he did in school! It is strange not being able to know exactly what they did. Except twice this week he did bring home projects that he had done at school - a finger painting picture of his hand prints, and a bracelet (which I am currently wearing on my wrist).

Guy said that this is the first of two times in Nico's life that we won't be hearing about his day at school. Now and when he is a teenager. :)

Doing homework

Also, notice his hair in the previous picture! We got a new hair cutting apparatus, so we tested it out.

It buzzes, so Nico cringed a bit.

Last but not least, I finally finished Nico's quilt for his new bed. Grandma Russell and I both worked on this quilt for Nico. He slept with it for the first time last night.