Friday was Ivy's birthday party! She turned 1 year old. Allicia kind of combined it with Easter, so each child at the party had a different color of egg to find, each had 8 eggs. After Nico opened his eggs, he went up to Camden (one of Ivy's cousins)...
"Can I help you open your eggs?"
She was happy to let him help. There was also egg coloring at the party. And a cute one year old that smooshed a bunch of cake into her face.
We colored eggs ourselves on Saturday. Allicia had given us an egg coloring kit and so we used it. It came with props to decorate the eggs as animals. So, we did!
I decorated one with a henna flower and then Nico followed suit and decorated one of his that way too. I think he did a pretty good job!!
Here was mine
Then Sunday was Eeeeeeeaster! We invited Nico's neighbor friends and their mom to go to church with us for the egg hunt there and the breakfast they serve before the service. Nico was totally psyched that they got to go with him. All of them had a lot of fun and they all came home with prizes. Because Nico can't have corn syrup, they made special eggs for him and put an N on them for him to find.
After church we headed straight up to the cabin!! Yay!! I helped Mom get everything ready for the Easter meal at 4 PM, we had a wide selection of sandwich fixins plus a microgreen salad. Yummy food. And then the Easter Egg Hunt! I forgot to snap many pictures, but did get one.
Thanks so much Ma & Pa for the great time, all the goodies for the kids, and the yummy food! Happy Easter!!
On Monday I had a dental cleaning and then Nico just had a follow up with x-rays from the cavities he had before. His cavities are the same and have not gotten ANY worse! Woohoo! The dentist said we could just leave it (as long as I understand the increased risk of needing to get something done quickly to his mouth if they do start to go downhill), and we don't have to do x-rays every 3 months, he will just check cosmetically at Nico's 6 month appointments and will be able to see if any of them are degrading. He said it would be different if these weren't baby teeth, and I understood that. What we had started doing to arrest the cavity development is consistent flossing plus using an essential oil tooth blend that I put on his toothbrush instead of toothpaste.
RIGHT next to the dentist is a LEGO store buy/sell/trade (called Bricks and MiniFigs), that just opened last week. So, after we were finished at the dentist we walked over there and looked around. They have a room to have birthday parties and so I got information about that. I figured after we were done, we had time, so we drove to the OTHER lego place (called Bricknowlogy) located in Eagle to look around there, so Nico could make a good decision about which one he wanted to have his party at. He decided he wanted his party at Bricknowlogy because each of his friends would get their own lego set to put together at the party. I reminded him that if he chose that option, that he would only get to invite 5 friends, as opposed to 12 for the other place. He was okay with that. So we plan to have 2 birthday parties for him (Phew!), one for his friends at Bricknowlogy and one for family the next day.
That afternoon after school we met Allicia and Evelyn and crew at the Discovery Center. They had a BUBBLE maker!
We left from there to pick Daddy up from work. It was a full day!
Tuesday was a nothing day. Who even remembers what we did? Not me!
Today Nico's friends next door came over for about an hour. They colored and played with cars.
Friday we started our trip to Arlington! Well, Yakima. We decided to split the trip up into two days. We didn't give Nico his headphones with music right away, decided to wait until Baker City (2 hour drive) where we stopped to have lunch. We were barely passing Nampa when Nico said his first "Are we there yet?" It was hilarious. I know he doesn't really have any context for how long the trip takes, he was a few years younger the last time we made the trip. He asked a lot of questions on the trip, mainly, stuff like "What time is it?" and "Are we in Yakima yet?" Guy kept track of how many times Nico asked "Are we there yet?" (14 times) and how many times he asked a question that wasn't exactly that, but was in the spirit of it, like "When are going to be in Yakima?" (26 times)
When we gave him his headphones with music, he was very very excited, and bip bopped along with the music he was listening to.
When we got to Yakima, we checked in, and then drove to Miner Burger. Guy always breaks his gluten rule for Miner Burger.
Then we went to Jimmy John’s to pick up some grub for Nico. 30 minutes after eating, we went to the pool! Watching Nico walk down the stairs with flippers on was funny. The two people behind the front desk got a real kick out of his getup.
He started shivering and turning blue after about 30 minutes. We stayed for a little bit longer and then trucked it upstairs so he could take a warm shower.
Saturday morning it was time to drive to Arlington!
We arrived around 10 AM. Lots of hugs all around! When Nico "met" Uncle Tom again, he said to him "You used to hold me up when I was baby". He was referring to a picture we have on our fridge where Tom is holding up Nico.
We hung out for a few hours until it was time to eat Pizza! A puzzle, cars, and some toys from when Guy was little.
Mom showed me her Microgreens!
Then we went to the beach cottage on Camano Island. Wow!! It was quite a retreat. It was so peaceful. Don't worry, there is a video below showing you guys the walkthrough. It was beautifully decorated and had everything we needed. It had two rooms, one for the bed and one for the tv. After Nico went to bed every night, Guy and I would watch a movie. And the beach you could see out the front door. It was a short walk away....
We taught Nico how to throw rocks over his head into the ocean or at things on the beach. He practiced a lot, it was sometimes scary to be near him while he did it. Sometimes the rocks went straight up into the sky.
DUCK, GUY!
Then they started a band. It was pretty good. Mom did the shuffle on the gravel for some added sound.
(Mom provided some of these pictures. Thank you!!!)
That night we went to the Chatterbox for dinner, which is a restaurant in Stanwood that serves Thai, Indian, American food (and more maybe?). They were happy to make Nico fried rice with no eggs and no onions, so it was basically rice and beef. If you didn't know already, one of Nico's favorite dishes is rice and ground beef. So this was perfect.
Sunday we went to church at Marysville Church of the Nazarene, which is where we used to go when we lived there. We saw a lot of people we hadn't seen in a while, it was really great. Nico even remembered to tell his Sunday School teacher that he was gluten free and he said No to a cookie!
After church we drove by our old house. They had painted it yellow and it didn't look the same.
Sunday we ate roast chicken and a bunch of yummy sides for lunch. That afternoon we went to the Kangaroo farm and fed kangaroos and other animals.
I asked Guy if he wanted to own a kangaroo farm and he said No. Good to know. It was really cool to see all the animals they had there.
Some other Sunday moments.
Nico and Tom raced to put their nesting dolls together. Nico spent several occasions playing with these nesting dolls on this trip.
Guy took a short trip to the beach that night
On Monday we took a trip to the beach right before heading over to the Grandparents Russell.
Other pictures from that day...
At the river
Looking for birds through his new binoculars (thanks Grandma & Grandpa!!)
Coloring eggs
Helping Grandpa barbecue our lunch
We left Guy there that night and we took Grandma with us to the beach cottage! Nico read Grandma two comic books before bed, and then me and her watched a girl movie!! 27 Dresses, it was very cute.
Tuesday morning we snuggled him up with blankets in front of the tv to watch a movie while eating his breakfast muffin. Nico definitely took advantage of their wide range of movie titles on our trip. We usually had time for an entire movie in the mornings before we would leave to head to Arlington.
Tuesday was a slow picture day. I took a trip to Safeway to walk around while the crew went to the creek for a walk. Thanks Mom for taking pictures! I love that he got a piggy back ride from both Guy and Uncle Tom!
Tuesday afternoon Guy and I and Nico went to visit Rusty and Ellen. They were our mentors when we were living in Arlington, so we really like to stay connected with them. They had a Thomas the Train set that Nico played with while we were there.
Tuesday evening was a yummy pot roast with potatoes and parsnips and carrots. It was very tasty. Then we said our goodbyes and drove out to the beach house for one last night before heading home.
Our trip home on Wednesday took 10 1/2 hours! I think we agree that next time we will break up our trip in both directions, and perhaps stay over in Pendleton on our way back to Boise. The traffic in Seattle area was very bad, we hopped over to the express toll lane thinking we could do that with 3 people in the car, but I think we'll be getting a bill for that, I think you need to have a flex-pass to be able to do that. Totally worth it, though! It would have added at least another 45 minutes to our trip if we would have been stuck in that traffic. We listened to my phone and even took a short cut through Alderwood Mall Parkway to get on 405. It saved us 7 minutes. :)
We were very tired when we got home that night. Nico's friends were outside when we pulled up, and he jumped right on his scooter and started playing. Nico needed that outdoor running around time. Then dinner, showers, a quick trip to Flying M, and then bed time! While we were gone, Jeff cleaned our shower tiles, it looked like a completely new shower. It was an awesome thing to come home to!!
Today we did some reorganizing in here and ran some errands. I can't believe it's already past Nico's bed time and it feels like the day has just started. Wow! Time is just fleeing!
We had so much fun in Arlington and are looking forward to doing it again next year! Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Russell for all the food and all the gifts and the hospitality and fun and adventure. We had a blast and can't wait to see you guys again in July for Nico's birthday!
This will be a quick update, since we are getting ready for our trip tomorrow! We are going to ARLINGTON!!! With a night stay-over in Yakima first. Tomorrow we leave at 9 AM.
Tuesday we went to see G.G.!
Nico brought the Creationary game, plus two of his favorite comic books. He can read them! Most of the books he has memorized, but if he says it wrong he can look at the words and correct himself. I was excited while at the doctor's office last week he started reading Hop on Pop and was able to read the first few pages all by himself without help from me.
Anyway, video below shows Nico reading these books to her. We were sorry to hear that G.G.'s beloved dog, Scamper, passed away last week. :( He was dealing with some health issues that just kept going downhill. He will be very much missed. We love you G.G.!
The rest of the week has been us getting ready for our trip. I purchased some stuff from the dollar store for Nico's swim night tomorrow at the hotel. Goggles, a foam sitting board, a foam noodle, and an inflatable "tire". He has been talking about this trip non stop, and is looking very much forward to seeing the Grandparents Russell!! We will see them on Saturday!
The beach cottage we're renting on Camano Island had a run in with the ocean due to a tremendous storm, but all is better now, though they told me it smells musty. They asked what kind of treat we want waiting for us at the cottage and I told them some local raw honey might be a nice treat. They enthusiastically told me that it would be there waiting for us. They said the beach was in a bit of disrepair but I'm thinking there might be some interesting things washed up that might make our beach adventures more exciting. We'll see! I bought a bucket and shovel from the dollar store too. AND a pair of sunglasses.
The other thing we did for Nico for this trip was to setup my iPhone for him to use. I downloaded all his favorite songs. I also downloaded 7 audio books from the library and loaded all his VBS songs onto the iPhone as well. Plus Tom T. Hall. We bought him a pair of Spiderman earphones for him to use. We don't want him playing on his iPad on the trip because it makes him sick, so we thought listening to stuff would be the answer. Tomorrow morning when he gets in the car he will see his new pair of sunglasses and all the swimming stuff I bought him. Then when we stop for lunch in Baker City, we will give him the headphones and the iPhone.
Nico came home from school last Friday with his backpack full of art projects and things he had done at school. Every Friday is like this. They had several different people from the community come in to talk about their jobs, community helpers, like nurses and cops and firemen. Then they got to write out what they want to be when they grow up and as expected, Nico said he wants to be a cop. He drew himself with a frowny face because he's angry, because there's a bad guy.
Saturday we went to the Sensory Friendly Movie, they were playing Norm of the North, a cute entertaining animated movie with no real involved plot. Nico enjoyed it, even though he kept asking "When is it going to be over?" hehe.
We ended Monday night with a slight fever (99.8). He had been sick with a cold for a few days and I didn't really take heed like normal, he played outside a lot that day in addition to going to school. In the evening after dinner he wanted to go back out and I said yes, then he came back in 5 minutes later and said he was done. He kind of curled up on the couch and I took his temperature. He wasn't hungry and his cough was picking up. There's nothing like a sick child to get you kicked into Mom Gear. I went to the Co-op that night after bedtime to pick up some supplies for his cough. His fever was gone the next morning and his cough is almost gone completely. And he loves his "medicine"...
We got a call from his doc on Tuesday morning letting me know results of most of his blood work except the food allergies. Vitamin D was low so we are putting him on Vitamin D drops. His white blood count was low but that may be due to his cold, or his food sensitivities wearing down his immune system. We will recheck in 3 months. Thyroid was fine, and everything else looked good. Then I got a call this morning saying that his food allergy results were in and asked if we could come in. We weren't expecting results until the end of March, so this was awesome! Went in and found out he has a lot less sensitivities than we thought. Eggs, whey, and peanuts are the only ones he has to avoid completely until we heal his gut. Then there were almonds, potatoes, and red grapes that he shouldn't eat more than every 4 days. Because he does not consume gluten or corn, those results were not accurate, but the doc said that because of mine and Guy's sensitivity, it is safe to assume that Nico should also avoid gluten almost assuredly. No problem there.
I went shopping tonight for supplies. Nico eats pancakes with peanut butter and syrup for breakfast every morning. I have been making them in the shape of numbers. Can you believe we had gotten up to 85??!?! That was this morning's pancake. It will be his last pancake for a while. I bought some cottage cheese, fruit, sausage, and supplies to make apple muffins. I also found a gluten free bread that is free of potato and egg. It was hard to find that! Potato starch is a common gluten free starch found in bread. He has been loving sandwiches spread with cream cheese instead of mayo (oh no! No more mayo! Just thought of that!) and then with deli chicken meat on top, with mustard.
Nico had a little bit of a hard time accepting the no peanut butter thing. The doc says that after a year we can start reintroducing foods. Apparently kids bounce back from leaky gut a lot easier than adults do. We are supplementing him with L-Glutamine to help heal his gut.
Ok enough doctor talk. Are there any more pictures? Ah yes! Today we took care of Avery while Allicia and Evelyn went to Adams Elementary for Kindergarten registration! Evelyn will be in Kindergarten next year. Miss Lung (the kindergarten teacher) went up to Allicia and asked "Is this the Evelyn that Nico is always talking about?" Miss Lung told Allicia that she hears about Evelyn at least 4 times a week from Nico, telling everyone what he does with her and when her birthday is.
So here's a picture of Nico and Avery watching the washing machine. Avery can spend literally hours watching the washing machine. Sometimes I'll walk into the bathroom and see him sitting on top of the dryer, naked, looking through the top of the washer. He's even fallen asleep while leaning on the washer. Anyway, Nico joined him for a bit, and pulled up his own stool.
Other than that, we have just been planning and looking forward to our trip to Arlington in 1 week!!!!!!!! Nico knows the exact day we are leaving and tells us almost every day about tit. He is very excited to travel and see Grandpa and Grandma.
Nico has made friends with the neighbor boys! There's a duplex a few doors down. One side of the duplex has brothers Sam and Adam, 2nd grade, and 4 years old. The other side of the duplex has Aiden, 2nd grade. They ride scooters back and forth on the sidewalk and they play hide and seek. He is able to "go out to play" and I just tell him not to cross the street and to stay close to the house. I go out and check on him every so often, or I see them riding back and forth on their scooters from our window.
Nico practicing henna
Wednesday morning was Nico's IEP meeting and re-evaluation. Every 3 years they re-evaluate the need for services. It's been 3 years already for Nico! They changed his classification from having a Language impairment to having a Speech impairment. This is big improvement. They also think he is much improved socially, so he will no longer need the resource teacher to check up on him every week. So basically, all Nico needs now is speech therapy. Big steps forward! Guy was able to be at the meeting too. The principal has a brother named Guy, so they bonded.
On Thursday Nico had a doctor's appointment with his new doctor. The waiting list for this doctor for new patients was supposedly out to May & June, but we got a late March appointment, and then a cancellation happened and we got to slip in to see her yesterday. They are running food allergy tests and a few others. We will find out the results when we go back in late March. These allergy tests are different than the ones that his previous doctor ran, they will check for sensitivities instead of just allergies. Nico did GREAT getting his blood drawn, the nurse said that she has done a lot of blood draws but that Nico is definitely one of the best child patients she has ever had. Nico watched the whole process and didn't even flinch with the needle poke. I took him to get a smoothie afterward. Strawberry, banana, orange. He wanted to sit in the cafe for a while drinking his smoothie, so we did.
