Last day of Nico's Literacy Program was last Friday. Nico was excited for his last day. I don't think he enjoyed the program as much as he enjoyed any of his preschools. After we left, we went straight to Pojo's! We met one of his friends Lazarus there.
Then the 4th of July! We chose sparklers and Pop-its. Nico thought it was "puppets", so when we got home he kept saying that soon he was going to open up the puppets, but I had no idea he was saying it wrong until he said to me "I wonder what animal is in there? A little puppet." He bent his index finger up and down like there was a puppet on it. So then I explained it to him.
Guy ducking while Nico throws Pop-its
We did a "random act of kindness" on Monday. While Jeff and Allicia were out of town, we cleaned some of their house. Nico helped me pick up stuff off the floor and helped me with the vacuum cleaner. Also on Monday we set up the swimming pool. Slathered sun screen on (forgot his nose, whoops! It's scabbed over now), and jumped in! I even went in with Nico. I retreated after a while underneath the canopy. It was very pleasant, having a place to sit in the shade and study while Nico jumped around in the pool. We played in the pool twice that day.
From this picture you can also see our cantaloupe plant growing on the left in a pot.
Tuesday we went to see G.G.! It was great to catch up. The next time we see her will be for Nico's birthday party on August 1st! I need to sit down and plan it. Nico has ideas all the time for what he wants at his birthday party. I can't remember them all.
After we left G.G.'s house, we went to a doctor's appointment for Nico. We are on the road to figuring out what is going on with his tummy. They took some blood to get the normal bloodwork, plus a panel of 22 foods to see if he is allergic to any of them. The doc said that this test, if done on young children, has a tendency to have some false negatives, because sometimes a child's body isn't producing the antibodies to the food (yet?) So, the test won't be complete, BUT, if anything shows up positive then hey, it was worth it. We'll also do an abdominal ultrasound to check for anything abnormal. We're covering our bases. The doc said that getting these tests done helps to give us confidence when we tell Nico "It's going to be okay" whenever he has a tummy ache. I liked that way of looking at it. Rule out all the bad stuff, so we can know better what we're dealing with. The doc said we may want to go see an allergist eventually too.
Nico was brave getting his blood drawn. Earlier that day Nico had asked me to clarify how mosquitoes suck blood from our body (he is very knowledgeable about insects after his literacy program, that was the theme!) So I told him what I knew. I told him a blood draw would be similar, except it would hurt for a little bit but then it would be over. And he'd get to watch the blood come out of his body. The nurse had to poke two arms (Nico insisted she do his right arm, so she tried that one first even though she wanted to do the left one. The right one didn't work, left a bruise, so she moved to the left one) Nico's face wrinkled up when she poked him, but otherwise he was so brave! Unlike Mommy, who had to drop down to the floor to keep from fainting. The nurse asked "Does Mommy need a glass of water?" Hehe...
After we left, I told him that he was SO BRAVE! And Nico said "I was not brave, I was MAD!" hahaha!!! I asked him to expound on his feelings and he said he was mad because the nurse poked him with a needle. :) We went straight to Freddies afterward to buy him a toy :) (not just because he was mad, but because we had planned to get him a new toy after the blood draw)
Wednesday, what a day! Nico and I sat down to do some legos after Guy had gone to work and after the dishes were done. But then I remembered! Nico doesn't have a tooth brush! So I said "Come on! Let's go to the Market to get you a tooth brush!" Nico was all for it, so we got our shoes on and walked over to M & W Market. As we were walking there the wind started, slowly. After we bought his toothbrush and left, it was a whirlwind outside. There was so much sand and dust blowing everywhere that I could barely see through my squinting, so we went back in to the M & W to wait it out a bit. After sitting for a few minutes Nico said: "I like wind! Let's go!" so we left. And thank goodness we did! It started raining on the way home and a few minutes after making it through our door, the torrents started. SO MUCH RAIN! Nico insisted that we finish putting the lego together with the lights off, and just the desk lamp on. So we did. Every time we heard the thunder, we jumped and yelled from surprise.
I looked outside and saw that the pool was being blown away, so I ran outside, flipped it over the right way and put a heavy pot inside it. When I got back inside I was very soaked. The canopy had waterfalls coming off it which I had to walk through.
Then we went outside in the front to play in the rain with Evelyn. They played in the water in the street, I have fond memories of doing this when I was younger too, when our street would flood. It wasn't very deep for them, and Nico didn't really get IN the water, but he played around it while Evelyn was in it.
They were playing very nicely, and I was chatting with Jeff on the porch, when we heard a CRUNCH, CLANG! coming from the side of the house near the clubhouse. I thought Avery may have hurt himself but I looked around and saw him just fine. We peeked around the corner and there in front of the clubhouse was our canopy, collapsed in on itself. The water must have pooled on top until it couldn't hold anymore. It was a mess! This picture is after I took off the canopy material.
Papa mentioned that there might be replacement parts that we could buy. And indeed there are! Nico and I took some of the canopy apart today and will work on getting the rest taken apart soon, so we can find out which parts are salvageable.
Nico has been making forts and for two nights he has slept in them. Such fun.
Nothing else to report at this time. Until next week!
