Exam, Movie, and some Good News!

We have some great news to share this week! Guy was offered the engineering position!! We finally heard back from them last week and he accepted the offer shortly after. He will soon be moving to the day shift but "soon" is a relative word ;) They're talking some time in November the switch will take place. Guy has been on nights for 5 years, I can't believe the switch is finally going to happen! I am more than ready.

On Saturday I had some henna to do, so a friend from church watched Nico. She took Nico and her 3 kids to the Sensory Friendly Movie, they were playing Shaun the Sheep!! Nico had a lot of fun.

On Monday I had my huge aromatherapy exam. It will be 6 weeks before I hear anything about it, but I'm pretty sure I passed! Nico got to spend the morning with Papa while I was at the exam. They did legos and then walked to the park for a bit. I finished the test sooner than I thought I would, so I was back shortly after they ate lunch. Thanks for watching Nico, Papa! :)

Nico officially asked to switch to creamy peanut butter. So Guy bought some creamy peanut butter for the first time since we were married. Guy is wondering if Nico will ever want to switch back to crunchy, like Guy did when he was younger. We will see! I offered to buy them each their own kind of peanut butter but Guy said he preferred not to. He will just endure! ;)

Guy putting creamy peanut butter on his pancake. 

Nico spinning on his bottom. (break dancing) "Take a picture! Cheeeeeeeese!"

Nico had a lockdown drill at school yesterday. He told me about it as soon as I picked him up. Mommy! he said. When a guy comes in, you turn off the lights and close the door and you get in a line and you are really quiet and then you go outside (they have a door to the outside from their room).

Last night while he was in bed not going to sleep, he said "Mommy I don't want to go to school!" I asked him how come and he said "I don't want a lock down!" it turns out he doesn't like the loud noise of a possible fire drill. He doesn't like those. He asked me over and over if there was going to be a loud noise at school and I kept telling him I didn't know, but that the loud noise was good because it tells you there's an emergency. The conversation was getting nowhere and around in circles we went, so I told him we'd talk about it in the morning.

On the way to school today he asked me if they were going to do a fire drill and I said I didn't know, and that was that.

Hearing about lock down drills reminds me to pray for his school and for his safety. What a good reminder! The principal also sent an email out that day to tell all the parents they did lock down drills.

I forgot to post some pictures from last week when we climbed the Camel's Back Hill! We did it on a whim and it was so much fun.

At the TOP

Looking down the way we came

VIDEO!

Family Visit

The Grandparents Russell came into town on Saturday morning. Nico was so excited to see them that he spent the first hour or so pulling out the stuff from the top drawer of our desk in the living room, because he wanted to show them everything. We took a trip to Camel's Back park that afternoon.

Saturday evening Guy made everyone Pad Thai, which was excellent! Grandparents brought Nico some new books and a new sticker book, too! And a really cool Curious George activity book.

Sunday to church. G.G. joined us on this day, and surprised Nico with a new watch for an early Easter gift. Nico loves it! It is color coded to help in learning how to tell time.  For dessert on Sunday, Guy made strawberry ice cream made with coconut milk. Nico's first time trying ice cream, and he really liked it. He also really liked going on adventures with Grandma Russell outside. Using his magnifying glass to look at moss on rocks, exploring tiny rock caves, and throwing rocks into a "river" (puddle).

Relaxing after dinner.

G.G. and Nico playing.

The wind up...

The grab!

Monday was a short trip to Allicia's house so the Grandparents could meet Allicia and crew. In the afternoon we went to the Fish Park. It was a beautiful day! We walked over to Municipal Park afterward.

We will see them again soon!

Other things this week:

Nico's class picture. He can name all of his teachers, and most of the kids! (sorry for picture quality!)

Fun with Youtube. Pirate Nico!

On Tuesday his school was celebrating " The Week of the Young Child", emphasis on healthy living. They invited parents to participate in a little event in the gym, so I went to Nico's school that morning. There were stations set up, each one with a different theme. Teeth brushing, reading, exercise (yoga), gardening, art, building. Then outside was an obstacle course. I got to go to all of these stations with Nico. It is always great to be there at the school with him because Miss Candace his teacher always tells me little tidbits about what/how Nico is doing at school. I love those little tidbits. She asked if Guy was an engineer, because Nico is very precise, loves to build and work on things and has excellent fine motor skills. She said she is having a hard time coming up with academic goals for him for next year because he is doing so well! Most of the goals for Nico next year will likely be social and speech related. But academically he appears to be doing great. We will find out more about all of this at the IEP meeting next Tuesday.

Back at It

Before I start in on this week, here is a picture from last week that I didn't post.

I took Nico to Fred Meyer so he could spend his last two dollars, and I gave him the wallet that G.G. made for Guy when he was little. We bought 2 Hot Wheels with the money.

Now on to the update!

Nico was looking forward very much to going back to school. He asked about school at least a few times a day as we were nearing the end of spring break. We counted down the days.

Saturday was Nico's cousin Lily's birthday party. And I just remembered that I took pictures with my Mom's iPhone. I just called her to have her send the pictures to me. Thanks Mom!! The party was up at the cabin and it was so much fun! Lily chose first to have an owl sound contest, so everyone made owl sounds. Nico said "Who who whoo" when it was his turn. Then we played hide and seek. Me and Nico were on the same team. We hid behind the bed, in a closet, and under a blanket. Then when it was his turn to count, we counted to thirty together and then went and found his hiding cousins. We ate cupcakes after this! Lily is trialing a gluten free diet, so we had gluten free cupcakes that Nico was able to eat, and he ate TWO of them. And by two I mean that he ate just the tops. The frosting is the most exciting part, you see.

Then there was a piñata! It was one where you pull the strings from it and one of them opens the piñata. Unfortunately NONE of the strings opened the piñata, so Papa came to the rescue and opened it for us. It was filled with small toys, stamps, some cars, and a bit of candy. Any candy that Nico got we traded with his cousins for more toys. Nico was so happy to have his own little gift basket full of squishy owls and bendy bunnies and owl stamps and cars. After he filled up his bag with the goodies, he turned to walk down the stairs, looked back at me and said "Go-a home, Mommy!" heehee! That made us all laugh.

Sunday we went to church. I just happened to have my camera with me without even planning for it (when does that ever happen?) and got a very cute picture of Nico with Papa. Papa takes Nico to the Sunday School room and always picks him up, too.

Nico went back to school on Tuesday. He came home with the 3rd quarter progress report. They send home a progress report every quarter to update us on how he's doing as far as reaching his IEP goals is concerned. As time passes I'm becoming more familiar with this whole IEP deal (Individualized Education Program). We are having our IEP meeting for the 2014 school year in a few weeks. At that time we will write out the goals for next year. He has come so incredibly far since starting preschool last fall, but I know we still have a ways to go before he is prepared for kindergarten.

But, progress report, he has met two of his five goals already! Woohoo!!

One of my favorite notes on the report says:

"Nico's attention span is increasing which is making it possible for him to engage in more cooperative play with his peers. He has really enjoyed the building, computer and dollhouse centers this quarter. He still needs adult help to take turns and share toys. He has played really nice with a particular peer on the computer taking turns using the mouse and laughing and singing together."

I love to hear stuff like that! Seeing him interact and laugh with other kids just makes me so happy. 

Regarding speech:

"Nico has made such good progress on saying the final consonants of words. We have worked on saying the last sound in two syllable words and in two word phrases. He continues to need reminders to not add a vowel after the final "t" or "k" sounds. He is also doing well with saying the "t" in the middle of words (ex: water - he used to say wa-er). It's great to hear him correctly pronounce his name!"

On Tuesday Nico and Guy hung out at home while I went out with my friend Jennifer to a dōTERRA event called Healthy From the Inside Out. It was so much fun, great information, then we went to Solid Bar & Grill afterward. It was great to see her and get caught up.

Today we went to Camel's Back Park. It had been rainy for a few days, so being in the sun was so nice!

Family adventure on Monday.

Nico: Pick-a take-a Mommy

Me: You want me to take a picture of you?

Nico: Um Yes

Me: Okay, here we go. 1, 2, 3!

Nico: See, Mommy!

Me: You want to see the picture?

Nico: Yes.

Grandpa and Grandma Russell are coming for a visit on Saturday!! Nico grabbed a picture of Grandpa off the fridge and said "Grandma and Grandpa come to Nico's house!" Nico has been waiting for this day since the day they left to go back home at Christmas.

Garden

I forgot it was blog day until just a few hours ago! I have been busy preparing for our trip. We leave on Saturday for Washington! I've been prepping meals and making lists and shopping and planning and thinking. But I will take a break right now and recall our past week.

Last Friday we went to Nampa to visit G.G. Loved seeing her again, she sent Nico home with a little wooden box that he plays with every day now. It's a different one than is shown in the picture. He especially loves to put his micro machines in the box, since they fit perfectly.

Playing at G.G.'s house.

On Sunday my Dad (aka Papa) dropped off a garden box that he built for me (us). 4' x 4', with posts that go into the ground. He also brought us some plants and some organic dirt!! So Monday afternoon we all went outside and finished digging the post holes (well, Guy did that). It was too hot for much else. Nico and I went back out there Monday night (when the box was shaded) and filled the box with dirt after laying down weed cloth. Then on Tuesday we planted. Tomatoes, cauliflower and broccoli. I picked up some more seeds from the Co-op and we'll be planting those soon.

Nico striking a pose, wearing my gloves.

Watering the plants.

We are so excited to be growing vegetables! Thank you so much Papa!!

On Sunday night we headed over to Bible Study but when we got there, no one else was there. Nico was so incredibly sad about this and kept saying "Bubby" (Bible) over and over again and pointing to the house, whining and carrying on. We apologized to Nico and told him he could choose where we would go instead. He chose Camel's Back Park. So, we went! We stopped off at Red Robin beforehand and spent the rest of a gift certificate there to get Guy a milkshake. Then at Camel's Back, instead of going for the park, Nico chose to walk over to the foothill that is right next to the park. He intended to climb it, and climb he did! Guy was right behind him the whole way while I stayed behind. They made it all the way to the top and then came back down. As soon as they came back down, Nico turned right around and said he wanted to climb it again. Wow, the energy! But it was time for home and bath and snack and bed, so we trucked home.

Cell phone picture of the boys almost back at the bottom.

Wednesday was a busy day for us. Nico had another speech therapy appointment. New words this week: icky, potato (day-doh), coffee (kah-pee), and apple (ah-buh). Icky, potato and coffee were totally random and not prompted, he just said them out of the blue. Guy and I were just flabbergasted when we both heard him say Coffee for the first time. Apple was prompted by the speech therapist. He said icky in reference to his wet underwear, without being prompted. Oh - one I forgot about was knife "ffff", which he said unprompted because I didn't understand what he wanted when he was pointing to the silverware drawer. He wanted his knife so he could "cut" his steak like I always do. 

Shortly after speech therapy on Wednesady, my Mom arrived to watch Nico while I went to my appointment with the school district regarding Nico's preschool this fall. I was so incredibly impressed with everyone there. I was blown away by how nice and joyful everyone was. Nico's teacher was the sweetest lady. She has a daughter with a lot of the same food allergies that Nico has, and so I felt a little more at ease knowing that she is tuned in to that kind of thing. I'll just be providing Nico's snack instead of the school providing it. Nico will be going to school in the mornings, bussed to and from school only after the first few weeks of me driving him. I am very excited for him!

Today (Thursday), we had the vent cleaners come back out to clean the vents, after having our ductwork fixed on Tuesday. He said that the vents were incredibly dirty. I'm glad we got them cleaned!

Our car had trouble starting today. It tried and tried but wouldn't turn over.  When I pumped the gas it finally started. We made an appointment with the car fixer tomorrow. We don't want anything going wrong on our trip, so we're getting the problem diagnosed and fixed if needed.

Me and my buddy, before going on a long walk, followed by a Strider ride.

That's it for this week! Stay tuned next week for pictures from our trip!

Camels

Another trip to Camel's back park. He asks to go all the time.

Another thing he asks for all the time: cupcakes. When he woke up from his nap today it sounded like he was crying and whining. I tiptoed over to his door and listened in: he was saying cupcake over and over and over again, in a very whining voice. He has woken up in the mornings twice this past week and the first word out of his mouth: cupcake. CUPCAKE!

Camel, Crane, Bistro

Right after Nico woke up from his nap I put on his socks and shoes and asked him which park he wanted to go to. He signed for Memorial Park but on the way to the car, he shook his head and resisted, telling me that he changed his mind. I asked him again and he signed for Camel's Back Park, so off we went.

This evening we went downtown to meet some of my high school friends at the Brick Oven Bistro since they are closing soon. We got to see the crane that is in the middle of downtown. We see it every time we're at the Saturday market, but this time it was in much clearer view.

Nico ate all of his turkey and most of my chicken. He was hungry. After he was done he signed "All done" and then "Home" over and over again until we left.

Parks

Went to Old Park and a new park today - Camel's Back. We went there briefly yesterday, too, but couldn't stay long so I told Nico we'd come back.

Picture is of Nico at Old Park, climbing his favorite ladder.