Holiday Concert

Friday morning Guy and I went to Nico's Holiday Concert performance at the school. 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. I honestly wasn't planning to record any of it, and make it just an "enjoy" moment, but as Nico was walking out onto the risers with his class, he found us, waved really big, and then made a rectangle with his hands and pointed at me, then did the sign for "video", rotating his index fingers around each other. He wanted me to video it. So, I did! We had the perfect shot of him from where we were sitting and I was able to video him and watch him at the same time (not through the video). I turned off the video while they were standing up there waiting for the concert to start, and Nico looked at me again and made the same symbols with his hands, so I pulled it out again. Guy and I couldn't stop laughing.

 This hand signal means "Come closer to take the picture, MOM"

Watch the video at the end of the blog to catch a peek at Nico singing with his class. At one point he looks at me and makes a rectangle with his hands again to make sure I had my phone out and was recording. I caught that part on video so go watch it and have a chuckle. The video just includes about 10-second snippets from each of the songs they did. Also in the video are snippets of Nico dancing: the moonwalk, and at the church Christmas Party.

Saturday was the Church Christmas Party for the kiddos. Every year our church buys gifts for kids on behalf of their parent or parents in prison. We invite them to a party at the church and hand out gifts. It's called the Angel Tree Ministry. All the kids at our church are invited, too, so Nico went and had a blast.

They dressed him up as Olaf from Frozen.

Saturday night was a chess tournament at Smokey Mountain Pizza. Guy and I watched Perry Mason and ate our pizza.

Sunday Nico wasn't feeling well at church so I took him home early. He had a fever of 100.4, looks like he caught whatever it was that I had, except he threw up once on Sunday evening. He stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday, and I sent him back on Wednesday. He still has a slight sore throat and a cough, but his tummy seems to be better.

Today we went to his doctor and had the gluten test done. I am happy and surprised to say that he is not as sensitive to gluten as he was the last time we were there! She said it had improved. Woah baby! And thank you God! But she did point out a few things to watch out for, because he may have a gluten limit. Bumps on the back of his arms was one of them (which he has some already), and she encouraged us to not let him eat it every day. Sometimes a reaction can be delayed and she was concerned about it building up in his system with continued exposure. We will take it easy. I hope.

Enjoy the video!

Board games, apples, stories!

Got in a little late last night so I wasn't able to update!

The last Grandma Camp of the summer has wrapped up, here are some pictures! This was the Board Game camp.

Grandma Salisbury is writing out stories from the Grandma Camp experience about each of the grandkids. She wrote out two stories about Nico and here they are:

Story#1

This past week at “Camp” we found ourselves talking about the saving grace of God.  As we sat around the picnic table, our 7 grandchildren (ages 5-13) asked questions.  In the midst of a rather deep conversation about Christ our youngest grandchild came to me and whispered he had something to say to me.  For a slight moment I was worried that his insistence on talking to me would disrupt the movement of the dialogue that had found its way to our table.  I bent down and he whispered in my ear that he wanted to say something to the group.  I saw the look in his eyes and knew it was important to him that he address his cousins.    So I quieted the group and announced that Nico wanted to speak.  The kids all stopped in great respect and Nico began his speech which went something like this:  “They made a crown with stickers coming out and put it on his head and it hurt him, then they nailed his hands to the cross right here (he pointed to his wrists), and then he died.  Do you know why he died?”  Nico gave a pause and looked around the table.  Then he proceeded to say, “He died for our sins!”   Wow… there was silence around the table for a moment.  This was followed by discussion on Christ’s death and how he saved us all.  It was a blessed moment indeed to watch this child deliver a powerful message in a very matter of fact, influential way. 

Story#2 - Private Talk

With so many different personalities you can expect some difference of opinions circulating playtime and conversations.  Most of the time the kids were able to use their social skills and compromise.  The younger ones though needed some help and guidance at times and so they would come to me and ask, "Grandma, can I have a private talk with you?"  I would always respond with "Of, course!"  So we would head into my bedroom where at the foot of our bed sat my cedar chest.  We would take a seat on the chest and I would ask them what they had on their mind.  It mostly consisted of their feelings being hurt or something they did they wished they hadn't or wanting to do something I had previously said no to and them wanting to practice their negotiating skills to convince me otherwise.  (They are good negotiators and made a good argument and many times I gave in!!)  The "Private Talks" mostly were the two younger girls who were between the "life revolves around me" stage and the "you mean theirs more than me on this earth" stage.  It became a popular theme during camp and the youngest camper, our grandson Nico, was observing these girls going in and out of my room for these talks.  With his curiosity rising, he wanted to find out what the hype was in these talks so he pulled me aside, whispered in my ear and said, "Grandma can I have a private talk?"  I was a bit surprised and probably just as curious why he wanted this talk with me as he was.  So in we went to the room.  He looked a little confused because he wasn't sure of the routine.  I motioned for us to take a seat at the cedar chest and we sat down.  I paused a moment and then asked him what was on his mind.  He looked a bit puzzled for a moment and then realized he had my full attention and he could talk about anything.  He took a deep breath and began.  "Grandma, I think you should go in the kitchen and take the sprayer and spray Kai and Bruce with water!"  I looked at him and said, "Okay, let's do it!"  Nico jumps up with great excitement and runs into the kitchen where Bruce and Kai were sitting.  He took a position away from the line of fire.  I went to the sink, turned on the water, lifted the sprayer and gave a quick squirt in the direction of the boys which caused a leaping action as they sprinted out of the room.  Nico was laughing hysterically and very proud of himself.  Later that afternoon, unbeknownst to me, Nico had a "private talk" with Kai.  The outcome of that talk was a thorough drenching from Kai to me.  I think I need to have a private talk with Nico!!!

.......

Monday we had another playdate with the whole crew, we went to Quarry View Park. Behind the tennis courts there are a few apple trees that we took some apples from. We figured they weren't sprayed because most of them had worms! Chomp chomp

The rest of the week has been outdoor play time with Evelyn and Aadam & Sam. School starts in two short weeks! Are we all ready??

Yesterday was Grandpa Russell's birthday - Happy Birthday Grandpa Russell!

Now some videos... still working on the birthday video!! But here are two from Grandma Camp!

Nico showing his dance moves as part of a board game

 

Papa came home late Friday night, so while Guy hung out with the older kids at the cabin playing Minecraft, Grandma Salisbury took the younger kids with her to welcome Papa off the plane. Here's the video!

Library, Lexie, GG

Saturday was Sensory Friendly Movie day, they showed the same movie they showed last time, Kung Fu Panda 3. Nico got bored after an hour into it so we left. We went straight to the library to pick up a free comic book for Free Comic Book day. Nico then picked out a board game to play while we were there.

This is the game we played, but this picture was taken on Wednesday, not Saturday! We went back to the library on Wednesday :)

Sunday was an extraordinarily fun day. The message at church was fabulous! After lunch we all went on a bike ride on the greenbelt until Nico said "My legs hurt." That was our cue to turn around. There was a part of the greenbelt that Guy had wanted to investigate, with the question "Where does that path go?" And now we know where that path goes. It dwindles into nothing as it reaches Park Blvd downtown.

After the bike ride, we relaxed for a bit before heading over to Jonny and Alanna's house for dinner! We are going to be house and dog sitting for them while they are on vacation, so this was a good opportunity for them to show us their house. We had BBQ and kabobs and then after dinner Nico and Lexie had a dance party, and then they did a workout along with a workout video, Nico worked out during the whole thing! That workout was pretty intense and was 20 or 30 minutes long, can't remember exactly. We just sat back and watched Nico and Lexie exercise. Check out the video at the end of the entry to see part of it.

Happy Mother's Day to both of my moms!!!

On Tuesday we visited GG!! Evelyn came with us. Nico and Evelyn have been getting along lately, though I had to jump in right away when we all got into the car, to stop the name calling which was just about to start. I told them that if they were good and could follow the rules, that when we came home they could watch an episode of Curious George. Rule #1 - No name calling, Rule #2 - Keep your hands to yourself. They pulled it off! They got a tad rambunctious at GG's house but we were able to stop that. GG was a very gracious host! :)

After going over the rules.

Wednesday evening, we had a "house dinner", which I think we are going to try to do more often. Allicia and Jeff had leftover Spring Rolls from their dinner on Sunday, so we had those.

Tomorrow we are starting something called a screenfast with Nico, where we take away all screen time for 3 weeks at least. I told him that we were going to do this just today, and explained to him why (I told him it would be good for his brain, which is the truth!) So tonight before bed, Guy and Nico took the iPad downstairs and put it into Guy's desk drawer. We won't be seeing it for a while!

We went over to see a friend, and Nico showed her son (Paul) his pokemon card that Lexie gave him, and Paul got excited and said "I've got something for you!" and ran upstairs and brought down a large collection of Pokemon cards to give to Nico. Paul is older and isn't interested in them. Guy was so excited about this, when he got home from work Nico and him sorted through all of them and made new playing decks. for each of them. Nico has also been taking his cards to school to show his friends.

Wednesday his class went to the Botanical Garden!

I think that's it for this week.. this next week is very busy, so next week's blog should have some fun stuff in it!

Grandma Sleepover, Mega Sports Camp

Last Friday was a very special day because Grandma Salisbury came to visit and she stayed the night in the suite upstairs! I had a henna booth to attend to that night and I was going to be home late, so Grandma took Nico up to the suite and played. Then he went to bed in one of the beds up there. He also got to play with Evelyn and some with Avery, too! Evelyn came upstairs and Nico and her put legos together for a while. I got home just before midnight and carried Nico downstairs to his own bed. Soon after I brought him downstairs, he woke up, crying and asking where Grandma was. I told him that she was sleeping but that he could snuggle with me on the couch (where I was sleeping). So, that's what we did.

The next morning, huzzah! We made apple muffins and brought one up to Grandma. We set the timer to go off when the mall opened, then we headed over there to do some shopping. Grandma took Nico to the toy store and came back with a spiderman toy.

It was a lot of fun, thank you Grandma!!!

"It's Mega Sports Camp Time!" This is what Nico says every morning when it's time to leave for VBS. Him and Evelyn have been having a great ol' time. They sing and dance and run around. I am volunteering there this week, I am the "Snack Coach" (everyone is a coach of something).. I bring the cookies and set up the snack table and hand out cookies, then clean everything up. I volunteered for this job because it would give me an opportunity to give the same snack to everyone because I could bring gluten free cookies! As the week progressed, people brought other snacks to share so now it is a mixture of gluten free and glutenous, but it is still pretty cool to say YES to Nico for most things.

I also chose Snack Coach because it doesn't require handling kids. Hey, if I can choose, I might as well not do something that will wear me out even more.... riiiight? ;)

They give out lots of candy. I told Allicia how much candy Evelyn ate the first day and she was worried how the afternoon would turn out. Well the next morning we saw. Evelyn had cut chunks of her bangs off the previous afternoon as part of her art. She was taping her hair to the pictures she was drawing. Very innovative! From then on out Evelyn was instructed to bring home all of her candy.

For Nico, I cut up some Nico-safe candies into smaller pieces and re-wrapped them in parchment paper. It totally worked.

I will have a video of VBS probably next week. This week has been so busy I have had barely any extra time. I actually caught on tape when Nico was called on to answer a question during one of the "rallies" they had in the main sanctuary. He loves talking into a microphone. He always raises his hand though he has never known the answer to the question they asked. And here are some of his responses to the questions:

"I'm going to tell you a story first. I had an ant, and a leaf, and the next morning, the ant had died!"

"Uhmm....Jesus died on the cross" (this is the one I caught on video)

"I went to the cabin, and there was an elk, and we saw the elk, and then the elk ran away!"

"The storm rains down on the ground" (this was on topic! The question was about storms in our life)

Everyone is so encouraging of him and they clap or say "Right On!"

Then with the dancing, oh the dancing!! He is enjoying that part of VBS so much.

The dance class with Evelyn, I thought started this week but is actually next week, next Monday. There is actually another dance class I came across, Hip Hop, for Nico's age, that is also on Mondays, right before the one with Evelyn. I am seriously considering signing him up for that one too, since I'm pretty sure that's his favorite kind of music to dance to. But, it would be a long afternoon, with 1 1/2 hours of dancing. Maybe I'll hold off on that for now.

I heard back from Nico's doc. The blood tests came back ALL clear... nothing was amiss. His food allergy tests were all negative. I think we'll sit on this info for a while before we pursue anything else.  Haven't heard from the ultrasound place yet to set up his ultrasound.

Not sure much else has happened this week.

OH WAIT!!! Something very important happened this week!! Look at the picture and guess:

We paid off our first debt!!! A total of $11,000 since last September! I can't believe it happened so quickly! We are celebrating by going to Red Robin on Sunday. We already made a new thermometer for our next debt. We're on our way :)

Ok now that HAS to be it... I'm pretty sure there's nothing else.

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.

G.G., Toddler Open Gym, Frozen

On Friday we went to see G.G. I am lovin' the firetruck quilt she is working on! It was great to see her and catch up. Didn't get many photos but here's one!

Then that afternoon I watched Evie and Avery for a while. We listened to the soundtrack from Frozen, both Evie and Nico know all the songs, and they danced and danced and danced. I caught a picture of one of Nico's signature dance moves:

They had a fun time playing togethers. Pretty sure we listened to the whole soundtrack twice.

Did you know, that Nico watches Frozen almost every single day? This evening he even asked me to take a picture of him eating his orange while watching Frozen. I obliged, of course.

Nico has been asking to go back to the Toddler Open Gym. Remember that place? We pass by it whenever we go to the Co-op. He asks to go there and I tell him "It's not open" and then he tells me to go find the key and then we can open it. hehe.. so we put Toddler Open Gym on our calendar so we could be sure to go to it when they're open. That was this morning! We showed up right when they opened, paid our dollar, and off we went to the gym. They have new climbing toys since last we were there!

He met a nice friend named Piper whom he played with very nicely.

When we were leaving, we found some statues outside the entrance that weren't there last time we had been there. In fact, these particular statues used to be located in downtown Boise on the Grove. They have demolished the spot where they used to be, so apparently now they have a new home at Fort Boise Community Center. Lots of memories with these statues when they used to be downtown.

Until next time!

G.G., Cabin, and Dentist

We had quite a full week!

On Friday, Nico and I drove to Nampa to see G.G.

She had all her toy cars out and ready for him when we walked in. She also gave him a stuffed dalmation dog that he loves and we have tentatively named Spot. (Thanks G.G.!) We had a great time and will be back again next month!

For our drive home, I had prepared a snack for Nico of (no kidding) cut up piece of beef liver along with cut up pieces of cheese. He (no kidding) loved this. The way that I've been cooking the liver has been very tasty, and it is even better COLD. So he munched on his liver and cheese while I just munched on a big slab of cold liver. He has been eating liver and cheese for a snack after nap time this whole week. It appears to be one of his favorite snacks.

After Nico's nap on Friday, we drove up to the cabin to see Papa and Grandma and stay the night! We took the opportunity to spend some time up there while Guy was out of town. We had a lot of fun. Good food and good company! Nico slept on a cot in a sleeping bag for the first time, and seemed to enjoy it. He slept pretty well!

Grandma caught this rare video of Papa and Nico dancing to a song on the iPad:

We left Saturday morning and all of us came back to our place. I went and did some shopping while the Grandparents played with Nico. It was a fun day, Nico got to eat Jimmy John's TWICE (and then again on Sunday!)

On Sunday, about halfway through the church service, someone came to tell me that Nico looked very troubled and looked about to cry in the nursery/toddler room, so I went in there. He RAN to me and hugged me really big. I took him into the service with me after that. I'm not sure why he's starting to have trouble in the nursery again, but I think next week I will stay in there with him like I used to do.

Monday morning we picked up Guy from the airport. It was great to see him again after 4 days away, we missed him! He had a great time in Portland. The comedy show was great, and he got to spend time with his brother Tom and Tom's girlfriend Emily.

Tuesday morning was Nico's very first dentist appointment. It was a "Happy Visit" and they didn't do much more than have him sit on the chair, recline, and poke around his teeth for a few minutes. They attempted to polish one of his teeth briefly, too. Nico didn't like that, but over all he did very well. 

The hygienist made things fun for him and let him hold and touch and play with everything. He enjoyed holding the mirror in his mouth. He also kissed the suction tool when she asked him to, and enjoyed watching it suck up an entire cup of water.

We'll go back in 6 months to get reacquainted and maybe try a bit more of the tooth polishing. His teeth looked good, though, no signs of cavities anywhere, just a normal amount of plaque. The hygienist said she could tell that he uses a binky, but that his front teeth will come back down pretty quickly after he stops using the binky and that it's nothing to worry about right now. Her son apparently used a binky for quite a long while and his teeth had no trouble returning to their normal position.

Family trip to the library on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday we had a play date with Tricia and her 15 month old daughter Brynnlynn. When we were leaving he asked to give Brynnlynn a hug. First time ever asking for a hug from one of his friends! It was too cute.

Then there was the random walk and park visits this week, as it's getting warmer I find that being outside is a great way to spend time! :)