Red Robin, Bike Trailer

Well, last week I forgot to mention two things that happened, both were Birthday parties. You can see a video at the end of this post of the highlights of each. Nico's friend Vincent turned 3, and then Nico's cousin Rory turned 6!

Now on to this week...
Sunday was Father's Day. It was also the summer solstice, which we completely forgot about. Whoops. We considered celebrating last minute, but we are going to try to instead, celebrate this coming weekend, so we can have some time to plan ahead. I think we are going to attempt a picnic. Someone at church gave us a $25 Red Robin gift card, so Guy had a pretty good Father's Day. Nico even ate the tomato they put on his cheeseburger. Surrprise!

Then we did other things that Guy loves - we bought coffee and went to the Co-op. Happy Father's Day Guy! 

Then started another week of school. One thing I like about our bike rides every morning is that Nico has adopted the habit of saying "On your left!" whenever we pass someone. So the person hears it twice, first from me, then Nico echo. It is pretty cute and most people laugh and say Hi as we pass them.

On Monday we bought Guy a bike, which we've been saving up for for a while. On Tuesday we bought Nico a new helmet. This is part of his birthday present. The rest of his birthday present is going to be a skateboard and knee/elbow pads. He knows this and we are likely going to be purchasing this for him sooner than his birthday.

Today we went to the PO Box and picked up a box that Grandpa Russell sent to Nico. He got a frisbee that lights up and Nico was so excited about it he went to bed with it, telling me that it was great because it would be a nightlight for him, and he put it right by his head. Then he got up several times, "What color is that?" (the color on the frisbee changes, and he was curious what the non-color was, the normal flashlight color. White!) "Can I get Daddy's flashlight?", "Can I put together some legos?" then he got out of bed silently and walked across the room holding the frisbee in front of him. I asked him what he was doing out of bed, as he had walked right in front of me without looking at me while I was sitting on the couch. "I am looking over here with the frisbee." then he turned more lights off. hehe. I had showed him briefly how to throw it like a frisbee, so we will make it to a park soon to try it out. 

Tonight I told him it was time for a shower and he said no. So I told him that we'd have to skip reading books tonight if he didn't take a shower. He said no. Then he looked very concerned and asked me: "Am I going to turn into a potato?" I explained to him that even if he didn't take a shower, he would not turn into a potato. Then he asked me if he would turn into a potato while he was sleeping. I told him that he would never in his whole life turn into a potato. 4 months ago Guy had told him a story about a little boy that didn't take showers, and how this little boy turned into a potato.  I didn't think that Nico had taken it so seriously, but he had!

When he asks to play with legos at night in bed I say "Try to sleep for 10 minutes, then if you're still awake you can do legos." Every time, he falls asleep. Then in the morning, DING! Lego time. One morning last week when this had happened the night before, Nico woke up at 5 AM and said to me from his bed "Where's my legos? It's too dark in here. Mommy! I can't even see my BED! It's too dark in here, I can't see anything." Then he got up, got his legos, took the lamp with him, and went into his bed and put his lego together. When he was done, it was then time to get up.

Hmm... I am pretty sure nothing else happened this week. I hope I'm not forgetting something.

Enjoy a few more pictures from last week's Parktacular...

Video time!

I found out that for some reason, YouTube is really sensitive to GoPro camera settings and I obviously haven't researched it enough to get good results. All the biking videos I upload there are translated into bad quality, though they look pristine before the upload. :( I will try to fix this, but in the meantime, here's the bike trailer video of us going to school (I enjoyed picking out the circus music, it's kind of silly). And just a warning, there is fast forward movement in this video in case you need to prepare yourself (for those who may get dizzy:))

I keep editing this entry, because I keep forgetting things. The part where the video slows down (where it's not in fast motion) is the part where Nico and I go downhill really fast. You may be able to perceive the really big bump we go over.

Also, if you switch the settings to HD in the lower right corner of the video - click on the gear symbol and select HD, then the quality will improve a bit.

Birthday Party Video

Parktacular, comic book, and bike bumps

On Sunday Nico came with me to Settler's Park where we were meeting Pa and Ma, to set up the henna booth for the Parktacular event. After setting it up, we had about an hour before the event started, so we sat down to eat some lunch. It was a lovely day that didn't get too hot and there was a nice breeze. While Ma and I manned the booth, Papa took Nico to play on the splash pad, on the park equipment, and on the bouncy house.

It was a long day but so much fun. Jonny and Alanna stopped by as well as our friends Cassi and Cory, and a bunch of ladies from our church. David and Jill were going to stop by but they couldn't find a parking spot, it was that packed!! Thanks to Pa and Ma for helping make everything work. It was a blast and I hope to do it again soon. Papa took Nico home at about 4 PM so Guy could watch him for the remainder of the evening.

Literacy Program started up again on Monday. Nico was having a very hard time being dropped off on the "playground", which, if you remember, is just a field with a concrete slab and a couple basketball hoops and tether ball poles. I'm thinking if there had been a playground it would have been different for Nico. So we concocted a plan (divine intervention here, I was clueless what to do with Nico not wanting to be at school and wanting to go home and clinging to me. I prayed and got an answer pretty much 30 seconds later, just like last time), I asked Nico if he'd like to go hang out with me at the front of the school, and when his class walks by he can just join them there. He said YES! So now he has no issue going. We pull our bike up to the front of the school and sit down in the shade. The resource director, Lisa, usually joins us and we have a pleasant conversation. When Nico's class passes by he says "There's my class!" we put his backpack on and he joins the line. No prob Bob! 

Nico has not had speech therapy for a while and has been losing his S sound. I noticed a few days ago  that his lisp was back so I started asking him to say the correct S sound whenever he says a word with an S in it. It is hard for me to remember sometimes, but I really don't want him to have to relearn how to integrate the correct S sound back into his speech when he starts school in the fall. I wasn't expecting him to lose ground this summer, so I think we'll just have to work harder and maybe even do some of the fun activities the speech therapist sent home with him from preschool.

Nico asked for a comic book so we checked one out from the library at random. Looked good, but there are a few words in it that I don't want him to use... "jerk, brat, murder"... so we skip over those :) It's about a boy who can be invisible, and his sister. He memorized one of the lines from the comic, well, more than one, but this one is special because on our way to school a few days ago, riding our bikes in our quiet neighborhood at 8 AM, Nico is crying out almost at the top of his lungs "KEEP THAT CHALK MOVING, LEOPOLD! KEEP THAT CHALK MOVING, LEOPOLD!" I told him to try to use a quieter voice in the neighborhood and he obliged. 

There is one part of our bike ride where we rocket down a hill and at one point Nico says "WATCH OUT!" to remind me to duck so the tree doesn't hit me. After which I say "Hold on tight, here comes some bumps!" to remind him that they're coming. The bumps are huge, caused by tree roots, and afterward Nico says "My feet left the pedals!" 

I keep forgetting to attach the camera to my bike so I can video it. I will set the camera out tonight so I will remember tomorrow.

I think that about wraps it up for me! Enjoy the video of Nico dancing to his favorite song: Ready Set Go by Royal Tailor.

Literacy Academy, G.G., BBQs!

On Friday we went to see G.G. She brought out the chalk and Nico was excited to use the chalk on her back porch, but he only drew a few things before wanting to go back inside. One of the things he drew was G.G., with an owie on her hand. He had noticed her bandaid and had asked her about it and how it happened.

Saturday was a full day! We had a birthday party to go to for one of Nico's church friends, Lazarus. He was turning three years old. We went over to their house for a BBQ. Then in the afternoon we came home and woke Guy up and Guy took Nico to Roaring Springs, which is the major water park in the area. They met Lazarus and his family there. They stayed for 3 hours!! Nico apparently really loved the wave pool. Guy was so sore after getting home, from needing to carry Nico and keep him safe/holding him in the water. Guy zonked out for a solid 5 hour nap that night, and still went to bed at normal time in the morning.

Sunday was church. Nico successfully stayed in the big kids' room for the whole service! He had been staying with me in the big service off and on the past few weeks. Sunday night was the last night of Bible Study, but it wasn't really Bible Study, it was another BBQ! Guy has been counting calories but he gave himself a cheat day for this. Totally worth it, there were hamburgers and hot dogs and sausages and ice cream!! He didn't eat anything after this for the rest of his night, he was stuffed. We unfortunately didn't leave until close to 9 PM, and Nico wasn't in bed until 10 PM :( He had an early start the next morning for his first day of the literacy academy. He slept in until 7:30, a few minutes before I would have woken him. We had to leave at 8:05, so he ate his pancake and off we went.

I brought him to the Literacy Academy, met his teacher, he got a name tag and a connect-the-dots to start working on, and I left. He had a good first day but he has been a little resistant in going back there each morning. On Tuesday I got him excited about it because it was the first day we were going to ride the bike there. (We drove there on his first day)... Yay! You're supposed to bring them to the "playground" which is just a big field with some tether balls and a few basketball hoops. There are adults there to watch the kids. Nico was a little unsure and so held my hand. I prayed that someone would come and include him and 30 seconds later a little boy came up and asked him to play ball. He connected with one of the male teachers who was also playing ball and ever since then, that is who he goes to when I drop him off in the field. He had a hard time today and didn't want me to leave, and I ended up walking him to his classroom when it was time. His smart teacher said "let's take your backpack off, Nico," and took him, turned him away from me, smiled a mischievous smile and closed the door behind them. If I knew how to just walk away when Nico was clingy, it would be a lot easier. But something like concrete holds me in place when he says "don't leave please".

It is very unlike preschool, because I have little communication with the teacher, and no weekly typed updates about what they're working on, and no little notes from his speech therapist, etc...

They are talking about bugs this week, I know that, because Nico always tells me a story about bugs after getting in the car, and he comes home with a card every day with a picture of a bug on it. The first story he told me was about an ant and his travels through the classroom. The second day he told me that honey bees sting spiders and ladybugs and praying mantises and cars. ?

I pick him up in the car, not on the bike. Too hot in the afternoon for bike riding.

I am preparing this week for my booth at Parktacular. This event happens this coming Sunday, June 14th, from 1-7 PM at Settler's Park in Meridian. I am going to have a henna booth and will be applying henna tattoos to people that illustrate stories or verses from the Bible. My mom is going to be manning the booth while I do the tattoos. It should be pretty fun. Lots of stuff to prepare this week. I have a list of stuff to finish tonight, maybe I should get started.

My birthday is today! I told Nico this and he asked me if he could eat some of my cake. Hehe.. I didn't make a cake this year. He told me for his birthday he wants a chocolate cake in the shape of a star, with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips on top. Did I already mention that? He may change his mind before his birthday comes.

Speaking of Nico's birthday, we are having the party HERE, outside, on Saturday August 1st (Happy Anniversary to Jonny and Alanna that day!:)) at 5 PM most likely. There will be a covered porch with misters and a small kiddie pool and a canopy set up, to try to keep us cool.

I feel like I'm forgetting something,,,, hopefully not!
Pictures?

Putting legos together in bed because he couldn't sleep

Hot day, but he wore this vest all day, with the hood on. Here he is playing with water, using Bill Nye as inspiration.