Randomness (not sure that is even a word)

I have some random pictures that were taken over the last few days...I decided to just lump it all together into one blog post.

Caleb is still taking swim lessons every Saturday morning.  This past Saturday Grandpa Joel went with Caleb to his class, Glenn and Benjamin went too...leaving me all by myself for about 5 hours.  Awesome.  Anyway, Glenn took several pictures..

Caleb and Grandpa Joel swimming.  We bought these floaties called "Puddle Jumpers" and they are awesome.  Love them!

This is the face you get when you tell Benjamin, "Smile!"

After swim class the boys went to Cabela's (a HUGE hunting, fishing, camping store) to look around.

  The boys had so much fun at Cabela's.  They have all kinds of things to look at, I'm sorry I missed it because Caleb and Benjamin loved it.  Although I did enjoy having the morning all to myself.  That was a nice treat.

A friend of ours is having a baby girl in just a couple of weeks and I made this keepsake can and photo book for her.  I can be crafty on occasion!

Grandpa Al gave Caleb a magazine all about the F 111 (Grandpa Al knows a lot about airplanes, especially military ones).  Caleb has looked at the magazine every night before bed.  I just love the things that he is interested in.  He absolutely loves cars and can name almost every car on the road and he will ask "Is that car fast mom?" and then he'll ask "But is it faster than a Corvette."  He compares every car to a Corvette, cracks me up.  Now I see him being interested in Airplanes and I know NOTHING about that, so Grandpa Al will have to be the one to educate Caleb when it comes to planes.

I took this picture of Caleb before school this morning. All I could get was a silly face out of the boy!  His first week of Kindergarten went well last week.  I so wish I could be a little fly on the wall at his school so that I can watch him throughout the day.  It is almost impossible to get details about school from this kid!  I get little bits and pieces from him about his day but that is about it.  He has mentioned some kids by name that are in his class, and I know that he sang "I'm proud to be an American" in music class yesterday, and that he had a relay race in the gym last week.  That's about all I know!  It's absolute torture not knowing more about his day.  I wonder if he is making friends, is he having fun, is he feeling included or left out, is he participating????  It's maddening!

He did tell me that a girl at school asked him if his legs were broken.  My heart hurt a little when he told me that (although he didn't seem upset at all).  So I talked to him about how his legs are not broken and that his legs are SO strong.  I told him that it is ok to tell kids that his legs are strong, he just needs the braces, the walker, and the wheelchair to help him go faster.  I tried to give him the words to say that would express something very positive.  I don't want him to feel like there is something wrong with him or that his legs are broken in some way.  He's perfect, and his legs are perfect.  I just want him to feel comfortable in his body and feel confident in his abilities.  I know he is going to have bad days and will one day question why God made him this way.  I just pray that Glenn and I have the right words to encourage him.  It's tough.

Caleb seems to be adjusting well to Kindergarten.  He is in a good mood when I pick him up and has been going into the building all by himself in the mornings.  He is definitely tired though, going to bed around 7:45 at night!  Kindergarten must be hard work :)

Benjamin takes over the park

Texas had a lovely cool front move through, bringing the temperature from 107 degrees to around 78 degrees.  So, it seemed like a good time to take Benjamin to the park yesterday while Caleb was at school.  

He immediately went to the slides.  The last time we came to this park Benjamin wasn't really walking very well so this was his first time as a "walker".  He was all over the place.

Poor kid, he's a little too short to really reach the toys.

He got bored with the playground and decided to go exploring.  He walked all around that park...

...picking up sticks...

...and acorns...

...and playing "peek-a-boo" through the bike rack.

It is so weird not having Caleb around during the day but I think Benjamin is really enjoying having mommy all to himself.  I've noticed a lot less tantrums from Benjamin this week with Caleb being in school.  :)

He's come a long way

A picture of Caleb before school this morning.  He has had a great week of Kindergarten so far.  This morning I didn't walk him to his classroom, I just pointed him in the right direction and then let him go on his own (sigh).  He's so grown up.

I read the following on another blog that I follow and it totally summed up my emotions today so I thought I would share it.

When you have a little kid with special needs 

time passes by agonizingly slowly.

You are always waiting...
watching...
wondering when your child will do things.
You can't even imagine
that day when your child
will be walking or saying words
because you are mired in the delays
and the expert appointments
and your own distress.
When, you want to know.
When?
You walk through life
not quite believing this is your life,
trying so hard to be a cheerleader
and to cherish this child who needs
you so much
even as you cry in the shower
or in the car
or wherever.
As your child grows older,
moving at his pace, not yours or anyone else's,
you grow more patient
and less anxious.
Your child makes progress.
Real progress.
The sadness is less sharp.
And if things don't happen,
you are not crushed
because you know now that
someday they could.
There is no timeline.
Or maybe they never will
but you have a healthy amount of
acceptance in your heart,
and it keeps you strong.
And most of all, you have
an incredible child, and you know it.

But then one day you realize
that maybe you haven't been celebrating
as much as you should. You see a photo
and realize just how grown up
your child is getting, that the years
are flying by and wow, he sure
has come a long, long way.

First Day of KINDERGARTEN!!!

Well, it's official, Caleb is in Kindergarten.  And to my surprise he didn't cry and neither did I (I didn't throw up either).  He did seem a little anxious but he did amazing and was happily sitting at his table when we left.  Here are a few pics...

My big boy before school this morning.

Sitting at his table getting ready to color.  I didn't get to take many pictures inside the classroom because I didn't want to linger and possibly make him more anxious.  He is such a big boy and I'm am so excited for him. I really think he is going to have so much fun and learn so much this year.  I can't believe he is going to be gone ALL DAY, he doesn't get out of school until 3:15.  That kinda makes me want to cry.  I'm really going to miss him.  Ok, I'm getting all teary-eyed now...that's enough of that.  I'm glad I have Benjamin to keep me plenty occupied  And I'm certain Benjamin is going to love having me all to himself.

I am going to get on my soapbox real quick...if you do not have a handicapped parking permit then DON'T park in a handicap spot!  I know this seems like common sense but apparently there are people who think it's ok to park in a spot they have no business being in.  We were forced to park in a regular spot because THREE cars decided they would park in the handicapped spots this morning at Caleb's school.  I am going to let it slide today since it's the first day of school and everyone is frazzled but I'm telling you that I'm losing my patience with this and will likely say something if I see it happen again.  I have a child that uses a wheelchair, we NEED that handicapped spot with the ramp people!  You don't have the right to park there just because you are in a hurry.  Period.  I know I am preaching to the choir right now but man that rubs me the wrong way. 

Anywho...I just needed to get that off my chest :)

Afternoon at the Museum

We decided to take the boys to the museum today, our goal was to get there by noon so we could see Sesame Street at the Planetarium.  However, we hit some serious traffic on the way...the kind of traffic where you don't move, at all, period.  So, we decided to follow some other cars and go the wrong way up the entrance ramp so that we could get on the access road and away from the traffic.  Well, the police officer that stopped us didn't like the fact that we had gone the wrong way on the entrance ramp.  When he asked us why we chose to do that, our answer was: "Because that other car did it."  Good answer right?  Luckily he was in a good mood and didn't give us a ticket!  We didn't make the Sesame Street show but we had fun at the museum anyway.

Checking out the fountain outside the museum.

This was in the "Lights and Shadows" room.  It was a dark room with all these different activities involving lights.  It was really neat.

Benjamin could have played with this train set all day.  He had so much fun pushing his train up and down the track.  He was saying "Choo-Choo" the entire time.  Of course, the only thing I can think about is how a million dirty, snotty, germy hands have touched these toys.  I just took a deep breath and tried not to think about the gazillion disease-spreading germs everywhere.

Caleb checking out an exhibit about energy.

This exhibit cracked me up.  It was about drilling and it just seemed so appropriate for Texas.  They had this game where you could "race" the person next to you to see who could drill into the ground the fastest.  Too funny.  

Meet the Teacher

Tonight was "Meet the Teacher" at Caleb's school.  I am a huge dork so I took pictures!

Caleb's name on the table where he will be sitting with 3 other kiddos.  I believe there are 20 kids in Caleb's kindergarten class (I noticed that there seemed to be more girls than boys- Caleb is going to like that).

His teacher had some snack out for the kids to munch on and Caleb didn't waste any time.  

Caleb's locker :)

Caleb by his locker...(yes, I know I'm a dork for taking a picture of him by his locker)

 

This is the walker that the school bought him so that we wouldn't have to bring one up to the school.  The plan is for Caleb to use his wheelchair to get to the classroom and then he will "park" it outside in the hallway and use his walker in the classroom.  I don't think this will be a problem for him at all, he is doing amazing in his walker.

He seems really excited about starting Kindergarten on Monday, he actually got upset tonight when it was time to leave.  I'm feeling excited for him too, I think he is really going to enjoy himself.  It will be an adjustment but I think it will be great for him.  I don't feel quite as much anxiety about it as I did a couple of weeks ago.  I've met with the nurse and she will be cathing him twice a day and giving him his meds at lunch time.  Everything seems to be planned out so that his day will go smoothly.  

My baby is starting Kindergarten in just a few days!!

Hanging out with Bryce

Caleb had a long overdue play date with his buddy Bryce this morning.  Bryce had surgery on his spine this summer and spent 4 long weeks in the hospital.  We went to visit Bryce in the hospital a couple of times but it is much more fun getting to hang out with him at his house.  The boys had a good time playing with playdough.

Caleb is in love with Bryce's dog, "Girl".  He got to feed her some treats and he thought that was the coolest thing ever!

Benjamin had a great time getting into EVERYTHING!  I could barely have a conversation with Angela because I was constantly having to keep Benjamin from killing himself on something or choking on some small object he decided to put into his mouth.  And I don't want to tell you about all the sand he poured all over Angela's carpet (sorry about that).

Oh well, the boys had fun.

I took this picture several weeks ago when we took Caleb to see Bryce in the hospital.

For your viewing pleasure...

Some of you may have already seen this video on Facebook but I thought I would post it on the blog as well.  We recently got a fold down seat that attaches to Caleb's walker, hoping that this would make him feel more comfortable using his walker out in public.  Well we decided to give it a try yesterday.  Caleb loves going to Petsmart, he loves seeing all the different animals there.  So, we decided that would be a good place to let Caleb practice using his walker out and about.  Here is a short video of Caleb walking around Petsmart:

He did absolutely amazing.  He was walking (and running) all over the place!  And when he got tired, he would just have a seat.  He wouldn't sit for long though, maybe 5 seconds and then he was up and running again.  I was super proud of him.  It was good practice for him and even for me.  I think it showed us both that he is very capable in his walker and it boosted his confidence as well.

This video is of Benjamin pushing Caleb around in his plasma car. I just thought it was super cute, so I had to share.

Cousin Jace's Birthday Party

We went to Cousin Jace's birthday party yesterday.  It was at the Main Event which has bowling, laser tag, and a ton of arcade games.  Can you say over stimulation?!  :)

Caleb was a little unsure at first because it was quite noisy in there and thanks to Hydrocephalus he is not a fan of noisy places.  But once he looked around and got used to it, he was ready to have fun!

Benjamin isn't quite ready for bowling, but he had fun rolling the bowling balls back and forth.

Caleb holding cousin Marshall's hand.  So cute.  I'm not sure that Marshall wanted to hold hands but Caleb wasn't letting go!

Caleb had so much fun in the arcade section.  He rode this motorcycle first but he could barely reach the handles!  Glenn had to hold onto his britches while I helped him turn. 

He loved all the car games and he is a surprisingly good driver.  He had so much fun and threw an absolute fit when it was time to leave.

Thank You Notes, the Dentist, and Glenn turns 30!

This is a somewhat random post, covering a few different things.

I usually just write Caleb's thank you notes for him but I figure that he is old enough now that he can at least sign his name on each card.  I think it is important that Caleb know who gave him a gift and what they gave him.  At the party he opened gifts so fast that he had no idea who had given him what.  So I filled out the Thank You cards, told him what each person gave him, and then had him sign his name at the bottom.

He actually did pretty well.  Some of them are neater than others but he really tried and I was proud of him for taking his time to write his name carefully.  Plus, I figure this is good practice for when he starts Kindergarten in about 10 days!!!  I can't even talk about that right now, my baby starting Kindergarten.  I have many a worry and would ask that all of you pray for Caleb (and me).  I know that he is going to do amazing and he will have so much fun.  He's not worried, so I guess I shouldn't be either.

Caleb had a dentist appointment earlier this week.  Can I just say how amazing he is at the dentist?  I am certain that there are kids that scream the entire time (I think Benjamin will likely be that kid) but Caleb does perfect.  He just lets them do what they need to do without complaint.  We got a good report from the dentist, no cavities!

And finally, Glenn turns 30 years old today!  I sort of invented a new cake: "Mocha Tiramisu Tri-Layer Cake".  Here is a picture:

Doesn't that look so pretty?!  It came out quite tasty.  I was a little worried about it because I modified another recipe quite a bit so I wasn't sure how the end result would be.  The original recipe called for Coffee flavored liqueur.  Well I didn't really want to load the boys into the minivan and take them with me to the liquor store.  Something about that image didn't feel right to me :).  And we don't drink so I just don't have anything like that in the house.  So, I came up with my own idea and bought a bottle of the Starbucks Mocha Frapp drink and used that in the recipe.  It actually came out very good.  Glenn said it was yummy and since it's for his birthday that's all that matters.  Happy 30th Birthday to the best husband and daddy on the planet!