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.

Goodbye school year!

On Friday Nico had his end of year party for Beautiful Savior Lutheran Preschool. This was at a park at 10 AM, we ate lunch there. He played in the sand. He told me he wanted to wear his suspenders that day, so we pulled them out and put them on him. This makes spotting him in pictures easy. That and his red hat. It was held at what Nico at one time dubbed "Picka Park". The proper name for this park is Baggley Park. (For a treat, click here to watch Nico dub this park Picka Park. We told him to pick a park, and he said he wanted to go to Picka Park)

Then we came home for an hour and then headed back out to go to his preschool graduation from White Pine Elementary. Grandma Salisbury was also there. You can go see a video clip from this at the bottom of this post.

So, Nico is out of school now! He has this week off and then next Monday he starts the literacy program. On Tuesday Nico and I rode the trailer bike to Municipal park, but on a whim we PASSED it, crossed the Parkcenter bridge, and rode all the way to Sage International school, which is where the literacy program is happening. So I decided that we will ride our bikes to the school every morning so I can drop him off. When we got home (we stopped by the park on the way home, don't worry), I looked up a map of the greenbelt and found that there was an even shorter way to get to Parkcenter. We tested it out on Wednesday and it took us 10 minutes to get to Parkcenter. I added another 5 to that to come up with 15 minutes, because we also have to cross Parkcenter to get to the school. 

I should have shown where we cross Parkcenter. 

Other things we did... park! Nico and Evie were picking "poison cherries" from the trees and Evelyn was stuffing some in her pocket.

Today we went up to the cabin! Lexie was up there so Nico had someone to play with. They did legos and played with squirt guns, and watched movies. He had a lot of fun. I did too! Thanks Pa and Ma!! Then tonight after dinner and after Guy went to work, Nico wanted to get all wet so we put his swim suit on and he told me to squirt him with the squirt gun. So, I did! Then shower and then bed.

Now I am sitting outside on our "porch", enjoying the pleasant evening, and writing the blog. I have dreamt about having a place to sit outside in the evenings, and now I have it! I am soaking it in.

The teacher who is speaking is Miss Erica, Nico's teacher. 

Milestone

Last week of school, just one more day tomorrow of playing in the park with "new preschool" friends, and then a graduation ceremony with "old preschool" friends. Busy day. Last day. Sad day. Happy day! He will then be ready for a New Day. Ok that's enough of that.

Guy has worked like 15 days straight, and has 3 more to go before he has a day off. Wow! Even though he's working overtime, he still took Nico out on Saturday, to the Aquarium! They had a lot of fun and Nico apparently touched a fish! He asked to go back to the Aquarium the next day.

Sunday was Ivy's baptism, so Nico and I went to Jeff & Allicia's church to join them. They go to Beautiful Savior Lutheran church, the same one where Nico has his preschool, so Nico was familiar with it. He asked where Teacher Chris was. He looked for her. He found her! There was no Bible Study that night, so we had time to hang out as a family. To the park we went! Tried to fly a kite, we were successful for a little while, I think the wind kept changing directions so we couldn't keep it up for long.

And so on to the milestone. Nico has learned to ride a bike! I think it was Monday night, Nico was hanging out outside in the backyard like he is oft to do in the evenings lately. Apparently Jeff was in the garage working on some stuff and Nico was showing interest in riding his (Nico's) bike, so Jeff helped him with it and took him out to the alley. And a few minutes later they had gone around the block and showed up at our front door. Jeff knocked. I answered. "Do you want to show your Mommy what you can do?" Huzzah! We went back around the block to the alley and it was incredible! He still couldn't steer very well but he was riding a bike! The next morning we booked it to the park, with Evie, to practice riding his bike in the big basketball court there. A LOT of room to learn how to correct steering and balance issues. He was PRO after only a few minutes on the court. I felt myself bursting with pride that he learned a new skill. I just couldn't believe it. I often forget that he is a child and is still learning things, I expect him most times to just stay the same. SO when he learns something new, when he improves in speech, when he is kind and thoughtful out of the blue, I am taken aback and I just marvel. He has been so much easier to talk to these days about feelings and how to treat people, he is responsive and I have actually been seeing fruit from it.

Anyway, Evelyn didn't bring her bike and so Nico gave her a turn on his. You can see all this in the video below.

We went to the park the next morning. And then this morning as well. Early morning park visits are awesome. I am feeling a tad bummed that the Literacy Academy will take up Nico's mornings for a whole month this summer. It will be harder to play outside in the afternoons when it is sunny and hot, and when bedtime is 7 PM that doesn't leave a lot of time for the air outside to cool down before having to hop into bed.

We have started watching Bill Nye the Science Guy with Nico, and he is very interested in it. There are a few that he is watching over and over again. One about volcanoes and one about digestion. He knows the word "chyme" now. hehe. There is a scene from the volcano one that he rewinds and watches over and over again, laughing every time. He quotes it, too. You can see him do this in the video.

We put a Bill Nye book on hold at the library, as well as a few books about volcanoes. Nico asked this morning "I want a volcano Bill Nye activity book" haha.. well, there is no such thing. Oh well.

Picture below is of Nico doing one of his "challenges". I would never have thought of this if it wasn't for my mom doing this same sort of thing for us when we were little. "Nico, I have a challenge for you. Ride circle-eights in the basketball court 3 times." "Nico, you're next challenge, is to ride your bike over to the park, go down a slide, and then come back, and do that 3 times." I did this for both Evie and Nico when they got tired of just riding in circles on the basketball court. I had to give each of them different challenges because Nico didn't want Evie to have the same ones as him.

Bill Nye the Science Guy

Waiting for the bus. No more bus for this little dude.

May 2015 Snippets

High Fives while Biking

Preschool Program, Cabin

On Friday was Nico's preschool program. Grandma Salisbury and I were there. You can see a video of clips from it at the bottom of this entry!

Then over the weekend we were able to go to the cabin TWICE. Nico and I went up on Saturday to hang out and eat lunch. We saw Grandma on her walk once we got to their subdivision, so we picked her up. The first thing Nico said to her: "Do you have a lego for me at the cabin?" hehe.. turns out, she did! We had a great time there. Nico and Papa spent some time chopping wood, of course! Then I think he helped Papa build a fire. Here's some of the prizes Nico came home with. A glow-stick flag mask, and a hat with a big red spider printed on it. He wanted me to take a picture of him like this.

Then on Sunday we went to the cabin again! Papa picked up Nico after church to take him out there, and then once Guy woke up, him and I headed out there too for a family BBQ. Lots and lots of fun.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, don't remember much of those days. Nico had school I guess! Not much more of that left.

Oh, right, on Monday Guy took him to his Summer Literacy Academy testing, to see where he's at with his letters and sounds before the Academy starts in June. Nico was apparently quite uncooperative and didn't respond to any questions after reciting the ABCs.

We've been having what I like to call "limp Nico syndrome" where he takes a big sigh and then just goes limp. That's kind of what happened on Monday.

Now I'm remembering more! On Wednesday I had his parent-teacher conference with Teacher Chris from Beautiful Savior Preschool. She told me that he was right on course for everything, except a little behind emotionally.

The fort Nico built today.

Videos... First one is him playing with a huge puddle outside with a big stick while waiting for the bus. The second one is clips from his preschool program.

Legos, Mother's Day

I felt like we needed to go out and do something last Friday so I asked Nico what he wanted to do and he said Fred Meyer. To get legos. He had saved up about 15 dollars. When we got to Fred Meyer he was very quick about his decision. I wasn't used to this. When picking out a toy car it takes him forever plus changing his mind. Legos I guess are different. He bought an Ice Crawler. We came home and put it together. He is amazing! He opened up the lego booklet and saw all the related pieces for the Ice Crawler set and asked me to buy him all of those sets too. I think for his birthday we will get him a huge lego. Hmm, but then I talked to Guy about that idea and he reminded me that with big lego sets, he loses interest before getting to the end. So I think we'll do lots of small ones for his birthday. Including a lego block separator, since taking pieces apart is hard work if you don't have fingernails.

Saturday we went to the market for 3 pounds of ground beef. Nico decided to spend his 2 coins from the market's Sprouts Club to buy some asparagus. You have to buy fresh fruit or veggies with it, and no fresh fruit was available. (apparently fruit is for boys and vegetables are for girls?) When I made him the asparagus later he was not happy. ha ha. He didn't even want to try it. 

About a month back he started saying "EWWW YUCKY!!!" to every dinner I put in front of him, so we told him about a nicer thing to say: "This is not my favorite." Sorry if I have already posted about that, I forget what I have already written sometimes :)

We got this cute poem and handprints from his preschool. Oh man, the poem made me imagine what it will be like someday when Nico no longer crawls into bed with me at night and no longer enjoys snuggling and no longer asks me to play cars with him or rough house. I was definitely feeling grateful this past week that for right now I do have a little buddy that is snuggly and wants to spend all of his time with me.

This next one was a nice Mother's Day Gift, except I don't think Nico understood about it. He showed it to me and I asked him what it was and he said it was a flower. I asked him who it was for and he told me it was for himself. Oh well! I did get quite a treasure of things from Guy - a whole stack of coupons he wrote himself!!! It was fabulous. I am already making a mental list of things for him to do when I cash in his "One weekend of complaint free and instant 'honey-doing'"

And here's the envelope that the first one with the double handprints came in. Nico thanked us for his chocolate yogurts from Trader Joe's.

I saw my Mommy on Mother's Day and Guy called his Mommy on Mother's Day, it was a pretty complete day. No Bible Study that night but we did go out as a family to the Co-op and WinCo. Running errands is fun together, we don't do that very often.

Guy started a long stretch of work days on Wednesday. He is working for about 15 days, though some nights he will be going in at 9 PM instead of 5 PM, which gives us more time with him.

Nico brought home the flower on the left today from school. The flowers on the right are ones that Nico has found growing wild on his adventures outside with Evelyn. He comes running to the front door yelling "JOANNA! JOANNA!" I open the door and he says "I have a flower for you!" The stem on the yellow one was about 2 feet long so I trimmed that one before putting in this jar.

Here is Nico's recipe for lemonade. You can see he numbered the steps 1-3. 

1 - 8 lemons

2 - 1 cup of sugar

3 - 4 cups of water

He was watching Leap Frog this morning on his iPad, and a character in there called Burfder really likes lemons and wanted to make lemonade. Nico was inspired and asked me to pour him some lemon juice in his cup so he could drink it. I explained that it was going to be sour and he said "I want sour lemon juice!" So I poured him about 2 tablespoons and he drank it all. 

He's been drinking from his "baby cup" lately, which is actually a shot glass. He likes having a tall glass full of water next to his baby cup so that when the baby cup runs out, he can refill it.

He is in bed right now singing songs. He stopped for a minute and whined and said "Mommmmmmy, I need some tea."

Me: You need some tea?

Nico: Yes

Me: Why do you need tea?

Nico: Because I want to go to the cabin and have tea

Me: When we go to the cabin on Saturday we can have some tea

Nico: Ok

I think that's it for now. Nico has had no more tummy aches, thank you for the prayers!

Park, Movie, Dentist

Fun times this week. Took Nico and Evelyn for a trip to the Co-op. Allicia provided some money to buy them treats, so I got them each a fruit leather, and then they were enamored by those single serving containers of cream cheese, so I bought them each one. Then we stopped at home to pick up some bread, and we went to the park and they ate cream cheese sandwiches and then played for a little while.  Evelyn picked off all the cream cheese from her sandwich with her finger and left the bread behind. She is a cream cheese lover, just like myself.

On Saturday we went to another sensory friendly movie, this time they played SpongeBob Squarepants. I had never seen the cartoon before, and it really wasn't a very good movie, but Nico really enjoyed it! There was a rap battle at the end of the movie that made me smile though.

We had a few hot days there. We went to the park with Evelyn again one night and came home and Nico was so hot, so we did something we used to do at our old house. I took his socks off and washed his feet in cold water and then let him sit with the water running over his feet.

On Monday Nico had a dentist appointment. He let the hygienist polish all of his teeth this time! I think once he discovered that it tasted good, he was fine with it. His teeth look great, they complimented the wide gaps between his teeth.

One day last week when I took Nico to preschool, we showed up at the same time as someone else so we walked in with them. This has been happening a lot, actually! And Nico is always so excited to see her, her name is Sydney. While we were walking with them he asked her "What did you do last night?" heehee. She told him and then asked him the same question. Sydney's mom commented and said that Nico is the happiest kid she's ever seen.

I've been trying to make more Nico-friendly dinners. For some reason he has lost his taste for chicken!! All he wants now are cheese sandwiches. I am trying to branch out our breakfast, too. I am going to try some breakfast cookies tomorrow instead of making him a chocolate chip pancake. The cookies are made with almond flour, with pecans and dried fruit in them, and maple syrup to sweeten. They are in the freezer right now and tomorrow morning I'll cut them into rounds and bake them. I hope they turn out!

Please pray for: Nico's summer literacy program, that he's able to adapt to the large classroom easily. And for his tummy aches.

That's it! I leave you with a picture of a ladybug that Nico found on the tree out front while we were waiting for the bus on Tuesday. 

Illness, Garbage Disposals and Baby Ivy

We've been getting our place a little more organized, we bought a new table that Papa picked up for us from Nampa on Sunday (thanks Pa!), and a new cube shelf a few weeks ago that holds fabric cubes that has become our dresser. They are also the perfect size to hold a three-drawer organizer from Fred Meyer. Here you can see Nico showing Evelyn all his coloring books and stickers and paper that we are storing in that three-drawer organizer.

Guy caught a cold, I think the same one Nico has had coming upon him for the last few weeks. He went to work Friday night even though he didn't feel great, and spent a few days of his weekend feeling kind of crummy. 

On Monday Nico didn't eat much of his lunch and asked me to hold him as we got out of the car to walk into his preschool. Red flag! I asked him if he was feeling okay and he asked me to hold him. I asked him if he had a tummy ache and he said "Yes". To which I explained that we probably shouldn't take him into preschool. I explained that if he needed to throw up it would be better to do it at home, but he insisted that he no longer had a tummy ache and that he was ready to go to preschool. I decided to believe him with my actions by taking him to preschool. I told the teacher that he may or may not have a tummy ache. He did not throw up that day, but I did turn around to pick him up from school as soon as I got home. The teacher called me saying that Nico was crying and holding his tummy and wanted me to come get him :( I felt so bad. I raced back to the car praying that he wouldn't throw up at school to save him the embarrassment, I could have just been projecting my own fears onto him, though. I brought "the bucket" with me. He was outside waiting for me with his teacher when I pulled up. He was fine a few hours later after I rubbed his feet with oils several times and we snuggled on the couch. It's funny how quickly his demeanor changes when his tummy ache is gone. He perks up and asks for food and then eats like he's starving. I wrote to the teacher telling her he was fine, and Teacher Melissa wrote back and said "I was a little alarmed at how much pain he seemed to be in for a few minutes, there, but am very glad he's alright."

He went to school on Tuesday, and as he was getting off the bus, the bus driver told Guy that Nico was coughing a lot and asking the bus attendant to hold him :( He had a full blown cold at this point, and his fever spiked that night with an intense ear ache. Oils to the rescue. Then the next morning his fever was down to 99.6. He stayed home from school, and had to miss his snack day... that's the day that he brings snack and also gets to bring something to show the class. He was going to bring his bubbles in and tell them that Grandma Salisbury got them for him from Shopko.

Not all is lost! He had a great day today. He woke up with no fever and had a fun time at school and got to eat ASTRONAUT ICE CREAM. As soon as he walked in the door he told me about it and he told me it tasted sweet. And I am thankful that it didn't give him a tummy ache! Then tonight while we were reading bedtime stories, Jeff came in to fix our garbage disposal (accidental teaspoon clog, whoops), and Nico had a chance to hold baby Ivy. He talked to me about her tiny feet and her tiny legs and asked about the socks on her hands. He was very sweet with her.

I got a turn too, of course.

I think that's it for this week. I wish I had taken more pictures!

G.G., Grandma's Birthday Party, Park

On Friday we went to see G.G. and helped her baste the firetruck quilt, I wish I would have thought to get a picture! I can't wait to see the finished quilt!

Saturday was my mom's birthday (Grandma Salisbury!) And we went out to Smoky Mountain Pizza with family to celebrate. I forgot the camera, and then forgot to take pictures with my phone, so we are picture-less. But, it was a nice setting, a large private room with a door right next to the arcade game room which is where the kids played when we weren't eating. We ate some food and then cake.

My mom has been working on writing a book of stories for quite a many months. She wanted it ready for her 60th birthday, and it was! She had some copies printed and gave each of the families one of the books. The book is stories from her life, you can really see the completeness of how God has brought her through from beginning to 60. I love it. You can even purchase them on Amazon!! I cherish the fact that all of these stories of hers are written down now, and I am so proud of her for doing it! Way to go Mom!

Sunday Nico was in the big kids room again at church. He didn't like the loud music and was found in the back, lying on the floor and crying. So sad! He told them that he didn't like the music so they put him in the nursery while they sang music, and then brought him back out when the music was over. Then on Sunday nights, we are going to be transferring him to big kids Bible Study. We'll be dropping him off at a different house before Guy and I go to our Bible Study.

Monday was sunny and warm,
Tuesday Nico woke up sick. I was pretty sure it was the virus his teacher had emailed all the parents about last Friday, but after a few hours it became apparent that his tummy issues were not related to illness, but related to whatever it is he inherited from me :) This means that he was fine a few hours later. I had already cancelled school for him that day so we just hung out at home.

Wednesday evening I took Nico and Evelyn (she insisted on being called Evelyn from now on instead of Evie) to the park. Check out the video at the end of the post.

Evie was taking "naps" at the park, Nico would come up to her and say "Evie get up! We don't have time for this!"

We found a fun place for Nico to sit while he eats his snack. Yay for spring days!

I am thinking and thinking and can't think of anything else we did this past week. He is still reading the words "it" and "was" in all the books I read him. He is spelling out words and trying to figure out spelling. He is still wanting to play with cars during You and Me Time, except now we are starting to use the cars to do other things. Like, playing with cars that want to color, or play with cars that want to put legos together.

I make him a red pancake every morning because I have a bunch of leftover red beet root powder from something else. I also put chocolate chips on his pancake in the shape of something. Sometimes he tells me what to make the shape, sometimes I decide. Yesterday it was "Carwash. Make a carwash on my pancake." Okie dokie, carwash it is. 

He tried chocolate yogurt on Wednesday and loved it. That might be a regular. Only a few ingredients, from Trader Joe's. He was so excited sitting in the car eating it with a plastic spoon, saying in a loud voice every so often: "This won't make me sick!" Or "What's in yogurt, mommy?", I tell him and he says, "Oh, I can eat it, it won't make me sick!" awww. We all need more food in our lives that won't make us sick :)

Kindergarten, Discovery Center, VIDEO Dinosaur Poem

On Saturday, since Guy didn't work, he took Nico to the Discovery Center in the afternoon. They have their rocket display going on. They spent two hours there, then they went and got coffee, and maybe went to a few other places.

On Monday was our meeting at Adams Elementary so we could meet his new teacher and SLP and the Resource Teacher. All very nice! They asked me if I would be willing to switch Nico to the afternoon class because there is another kid in the afternoons that needs speech therapy, and it would make it easier if they could be pulled out together to do speech at the same time. They usually do speech in groups, but if there is not anyone from a matching grade then Nico would be matched with an older kid, and they like to avoid that if at all possible.

I had actually been thinking about the afternoon class, because Nico's friend from Beautiful Savior Preschool, Michael, is going to be in the afternoon class. So when they brought it up, I said, Yes! I am open to it! So he's officially going to be in afternoon preschool. 12:30-3:15 PM every day.

We also decided to sign him up for the BSU Literacy Academy this summer. (Here's a link to the .pdf brochure) I think he will enjoy it. It goes through the month of June, 4 weeks total I think.

Tonight at the park, a 6 year old boy became quick friends with Nico. The 6 year old ran up to his dad and said "Dad! Dad! Want to know something awesome?? I made a new friend!" "Great! What's his name?" "I don't know, he didn't tell me." 

Then when Nico ran up to him the 6 year old said "Dad! Dad! That's my friend, that's my new friend!!"

Nico makes friends, and says Hi to everyone. I really like that!

The one time we went to the park this month and there were NO kids to play with, we stayed for a measly 5 minutes before Nico asked to go home. In the past he wouldn't have cared, but now it's pretty imperative that there are other kids at the park. On our way to the park tonight he had told me "Mommy, I'm going to go play with my friends at the park!" not knowing yet who his friends were going to be. 

This week Nico also got to put some legos together with Evie for the first time. He helped her learn how to do it. Guy was telling me that Evie approached legos in a different way than Nico did. Nico: rules. Evie: general idea. She knew the roof of the car went on the top of the wheels somehow, so she just did that. Then after the legos were put together they played with them.

Video at the very end!

At the Train Depot checking out the huge steam engine

Evie asked if she could paint Nico's toenails red. Nico got her a red marker and let her do it.

Heave ho!

Watching construction out the front window

Easter, IEP Meeting

Nico got to do 2 Easter egg hunts on Easter! The first one was at church. Every egg he picked up he had to open first. I think he was remembering preschool egg hunt where all the eggs were empty! (Empty tomb, you see).

The second one was at the cabin that afternoon. We ate a yummy dinner and then Grandma brought the kids upstairs while all the parents hid the eggs. Grandma had Bruce read a story to the kids. When I went up to listen, Nico was sitting in the same armchair as Bruce, squished in next to him.

Then the kids were released! We told Nico that all the eggs had something in them so that he didn't have to open any of them first. When all the eggs were found, we counted them and then traded until each kid had 46 eggs. There were just 4 kids, a smaller gathering than usual. Bruce, Rory, Lexie, and Nico.

There were toys and candies in the eggs. The candies that Nico couldn't eat, he tried to give away. There were also notes in the eggs that you could redeem for $5 cash. Each time you redeemed a note you had to do whatever the banker asked you to do. We all took turns being the banker. Nico got 4 such notes so he made $20. He was asked once to jump on the trampoline as high as he could go in order to receive his $5. He really enjoyed that one.

Snuggled up outside while the grown ups finished eating

Guy talking to my brother David

Trying to find the last few eggs

Then we said our goodbyes, loaded with leftovers (Thanks Pa & Ma!).

On Monday we went to the bank and opened Nico a ShareBear savings account. We want to start giving him a small allowance so that he can save up for all the toys that he asks for. He was able to buy a lego he's been eyeing with his $20 from Easter. We had fun tonight because we finally finished putting it together. The age range for this one started at 7 years old, I think because it was one of those technics legos that requires a bit more strength and spatial orientation than a 4 year old would have. So I helped him with it, and it took us a few days of 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, before it was finished. It's a RACE CAR WITH A TOWING HOOK!

Monday was also our IEP meeting. We went over how Nico is doing and we went over the IEP goals for next year. There is one goal in relation to him being defiant, saying "No!" and sitting down in the middle of class during transition periods when they're moving from one activity to the next. Could be just exerting his independence, we've certainly been seeing that at home, too. Anyway, the goal for next year is to help him transition better between activities. A lot of times the goals just state common sense type stuff but it's good to have it in writing. To help him meet this goal, there will be someone who comes into his Kindergarten class every day for 15 minutes to help him however he needs it. If there is a certain time of day that he has the most trouble, she will come in during that time. Since the class will have more kids than he's used to, they thought this would be good, to get his some one on one time.

No goals next year for academics, he is right on target. Miss Erica says that Nico is very precise, and she points to the wall where there is art hanging and says "I could probably pick out which one is Nico's, it's the one where everything is right in its place."

The only other goals are speech related. His biggest issue right now is articulation. He will get there. He has come so far in every other area!

I talked to the SLP about the Calico Learning Center possibility this summer, and she said she wasn't too sure about the place. When someone else joined us a few minutes later, she said the same thing. Something about how most of the kids enrolled there are not native English speakers, and Nico would benefit more from being around typical peers. Miss Erica mentioned that BSU has a summer language program that enrolls Nico's age, and that might be something better to look into. So, we're looking into.

Next Monday I have the transition meeting at Adam's Elementary school so I can meet his teacher and SLP for next year.

Nico has had tummy aches two nights in a row. There was a time about a month ago that he was telling me every night that he had a tummy ache, but I was pretty sure it was just a ploy to get out of bed. This is different. He LOOKS sick. He goes to bed, asks for water, then a few minutes later will get out of bed and say "Mommy, there's something wrong with me." I ask him what's wrong and he eventually will tell me it's his tummy. I rub oils on his feet and often times that just puts him to sleep. I asked him if the foot massage felt good and he sleepily nods yes, and then ZONK, he's out. Then he sleeps the whole night and wakes up happy in the morning. I feel so bad for him. I know what those tummy aches feel like. I have a guess as to the food culprit, so I'm hoping that tomorrow is better.

Last night he felt so terrible, he was rolling around on my bed saying he had a tummy ache, then he'd whimper, and then he'd roll some more, and then "Mommy, mommy, there's something wrong with me." Then he'd whimper and roll over again :(

Also this past week, we received a package from the Grandparents Russell! Nico just happened to be with me when we went to the PO Box to check the mail, and he was so psyched to find a package in there with his name on it. Waiting until we came home to open it was hard, because we had a few more stops before home: The library, and the zoo. In the package he got some books, including his favorite Pigeon book that we have checked out twice from the library, and now we won't have to do that any more! Also a game and a deck of cards, from Grandma Dee's stash, plus some stickers. All good things. Thank you Gma and Gpa! 

Saturday Market!!! Last Saturday was the first one of the season. Nico got a dragon balloon and a cucumber. Then we headed over to the movie theater for a sensory-friendly movie (lights stay on, volume is down, doors stay open, and you can bring your own food). Paddington Bear. Nico sat through the whole thing and it was a lot of fun. They do these movies every month. I'm looking forward to the next one!

One night this past week, Nico and Evie and I went to the park before bed, and they didn't even play on the equipment, they spent the whole time riding in circles on their bikes on the basketball court. It was pretty cute.