trucking along

We're trucking along here, at about a hundred miles an hour! Josh's football season is now over and it came just in time... I worked 12 hour days every day last week so it was nice to have Josh home because I'm not sure what we would have done with Brecken!

Monday was Halloween. I raced home from school and we took Brecken trick-or-treating downtown. Then we went home to scarf down some grilled cheese sandwhiches before heading to my school's Halloween Carnival. Brecken had a great time playing all the games! He did a great job. He didn't want to wear his costume, but he managed to do 40 minutes of the carnival without his headphones! He started to get hyper at the end of his time there, which for him, shows sensory stuff (that's how his body handles sensory overload), but he did a great job otherwise! He came home with lots of prizes, including a goldfish. He named him Goldie, but unfortunately, Goldie only lived until Thursday. I'm very glad I explained beforehand to Brecken that goldfish don't live a very long time, because it wasn't nearly as sad this time as when his beta died.

Josh and Brecken left the carnival early to come home and trick-or-treat. Brecken had written out a list of houses he wanted to go to, so of course, we had to fulfill the list!

Tuesday I had to take my kids to audition for all-state and didn't get home until 7:00, in the middle of a blizzard.

Wednesday and Thursday nights were parent-teacher conferences.

Friday, thankfully, was an early out for me! Hip, hip, hooray! We loaded up the car and went to see our new niece. She had turned a month old and we had yet to meet her. So we went to see them for the weekend. She's a beauty, that's for sure! Brecken had a great time playing with his cousin Bryell and holding baby Brenna. He's very proud of himself that he got Brenna to go to sleep. :)

Today I'm home with a sick little boy. We've been up with his sick since 6:00 and it's hard to believe it's only 8:00 now... seems we've been awake for many more hours!

love and marriage

"Mom, Sophie wants to marry me. So does Madison, though. And I have no idea which one to choose!" *big huge sigh*

tornado in my house

That's right, my house looks like a tornado went through it.

It's been worth it though... we've had some very fun and busy weekends lately!

A couple weekends ago we went to Lingle to bring my B-man to the pumpkin patch. We went through the corn maze, lauched tomatoes, played on the toy tractors, and came home with 95 pounds worth of pumpkin. Josh's mom and dad came with us and we had a great, great day! The weather was perfect and we had a fantastic time.

This past weekend, we went up North. Josh's last game of the regular season was a 6 hour drive (one way!) from here, but I didn't have school so B and I packed up and drove up there. On the way, we stopped and picked up my grandma and brought her with us. It was a big game... if we won, we'd make it to the playoffs for the first time in 4 years! And... WE WON! Brecken was so excited and was sure it sure it was because he wore his purple and gold sweatshirt and gold hat. :) We now have a playoff game this Friday. I will take a half day off and go too.

After the game, Josh got off the bus and we stayed the weekend with my grandma. It had been a long time since we've been there; it was long overdue! We had a great weekend there. We got our Christmas gift-giving list started at the Holiday Show there, we went to the museum to see the dinosaurs, walked to the park, and relaxed. It was fantastic!

With as busy as we've been, my house is a disaster..... I'm kind of looking forward to a weekend off to clean. How sick is that?!

noodles and butter

We had noodles and butter for dinner last night. Brecken got to choose. Here's why:

We had his annual IEP meeting after school yesterday. His teachers are so proud of him! He has gained a ton of confidence, he's not afraid to answer a question, give ideas, or play with kids. He's not not-finishing his work now, he's now getting it all done and does it quickly (but correctly), too. He's at his age level or ahead for academic skills. They said the only times he really prefers to play with the adults is at recess when he's wanting to play sports, and they are sure it's because the other kids don't have near the sport skills he does, so he doesn't want to play with them... they don't give him a challenge the teachers do. :) He is now one of the class leaders instead of a non-participant. SO glad to hear this.

He would test out of the speech part of his IEP because his goals have been met, but he can't receive OT services as a stand-alone Dx, so she's keeping him on speech with a little teeny goal. OT is going to keep working with him on fine motor skills like snapping and buttoning and holding his pencil right and hand strength, because it's kinda puny. His sensory goals have pretty much been met in the academic setting... they said he is doing EXCELLENT at being able to use the strategies the OT taught him to be able to better handle all the sensory stimuli. Home and other settings are another story but he's getting SO much better at learning how to handle them. (and really, I'd rather have him be able to hold it together at school than at home!) The things we are doing at home are just what we need to be doing and we'll continue to see improvement!

The OT told us something that we already knew but other people have trouble understanding. She said his SPD is something he will always have, it's not something you grow out of, you just learn how to handle it. Which he does... 9 times out of 10 now, he'll ask for his headphones instead of having a meltdown. So that's good! He will not "grow out of" this... he will always have it. It may come to where it isn't an issue anymore, because he has learned to deal with it completely, but he will still have it.

They are aware of his clothing issues and will work more on that... and they know about his bedtime stuff (and not sleeping in his room) and they said what we are doing is spot on and he'll get there eventually. It has to be done on his own time otherwise it won't happen because pushing him will make him regress. So that was nice to hear that we are doing things right. :) His OT did say that she uses him (without his name) in examples of what brushing can do for kids with SPD. I'm glad it works. :) He is NOT being brushed at school anymore and he's been fine. Yay! (Though she suggested we keep doing it at night and before new things, like we have been.) They assured me that we are right in being able to tell the difference between being naughty and having a sensory meltdown. There IS a difference and we are getting to be pros at knowing the difference. :) I kind of feel bad for others who don't see him all the time, because I'm sure it looks like he's the biggest brat. He's not, I promise. You can ask our OT if you don't believe me.

He will be re-tested in the spring to see what we need to do for the transition to Kindergarten.

So we told him we were very proud of him and let him pick dinner. So we had noodles and butter and sprinkle cheese. :)

(and just for comparison on how he was last year at this meeting... click here. It's quite a change!)

a sneak peek

Here is a sneak peek of our family photo shoot we did last weekend. Man, am I glad we went last weekend instead of this weekend... last weekend it was a beautiful 82 degrees. One week later, it was snowing. Hard. We lucked out on this one. :)

http://www.juststaceyj.com/2011/10/09/they-need-another/

Thank you, Stacey. They are beautiful. If your blog counter says a computer from here got on your blog 1000 times, its because I did. I can't stop staring at these. :)

snow

We had our first snow the other night.  *sigh*  The only one excited about it in our house is the B-man.  It is snowing huge fat flakes again today so he got out his snow pants, his new winter coat, his gloves, his hat and his snow boots (with thankfully fit still!) and he went out to play in it.  I think he ate more of it than he did play with it, though.  He can't wait until there is a bunch of dry snow (this snow is super wet!) so he can scoop it up in a bowl and eat it, which he has loved ever since when Amy babysat him and she introduced him to that snack.  :)

... and my heart swells

Last year at B's IEP meeting, they told us one of the big Sensory Disorder "aha" moments was when the kids tried different tastes and Brecken wouldn't even let them put anything on his plate.

Today, he told us that they tried a bunch of food at school today to see if it was sour or sweet or salty, AND they had to taste it with their eyes closed.

He tried them ALL. (and with his eyes closed, mind you!)

I sent his teacher a message on facebook, just to make sure, (because you know, kids have been known to remember things differently from time to time... haha!) and she replied with, "He absolutely did and we were all so excited - it was GREAT!" And then said they had so much fun today and he's having such a great year and is now one of the leaders in the class.

I'm SO PROUD OF HIM!!!! (and I won't lie, I got some happy tears in my eyes.)

He did NOT like:
Hot Tamales

Pickles

Lemons

Bitter Chocolate

But he LOVED:
salt

salty chips

pepper (this one surprised me!)

Way to go, my B-man!!!

five

We have a five year old.

I'm not sure how that happened.

I blinked, and he was no longer a baby, but a big boy.

And as he told me today, "See Mom? You didn't even cry about it."

We had a great weekend. We had a party for him yesterday. No family was available for a party this year, which was really odd. So we invited friends from school for the first time! We had a few kids running around, and his new babysitter, and a couple of our friends, and fun was had. This year, instead of a football cake, B-man wanted a basketball cake. Woo-hoo! I got to buy a new cake pan! :) (he had a football cake for his 1st, 3rd, and 4th birthdays!) He got a giant box of crayons, a coloring book, and a toy Lightning McQueen camera from his friend Sophie, a Lightning McQueen bowling set from some new friends (the dad is a new teacher at my school), a Play-Doh Cars set from his babysitter, and $10 from our friend and fellow coach and his wife. We had a football pinata filled with toys like green army men, plastic dinosaurs, plastic airplanes, etc. They all thought that was fun.

Today was about perfect. We woke up and B discovered his gift from Josh and I in the living room... a new Lightning McQueen bike! His 12" bike was getting too small, so he's now the proud owner of a new 16" one. He also got to open his cards he got in the mail... $5 from my mom and dad and $5 from Grandma Lou... put that together with what he got yesterday and the $5 he got from Josh's parents, the kid raked in $25 for his birthday! And said he's not spending it... he's saving it. For Disney World in 2014!)

After going out for breakfast, he got on his new bike and we headed to the park to play for a while. After he picked pizza for his birthday lunch, he and I played a couple games of Disney World Candy Land (from Aunt Kristen and Uncle David, which he also opened this morning!) while Daddy went to his football meeting. After the meeting though, we all got to go golfing! B was in total heaven. We played more Candy Land this evening before bed.

And a big day today in another sense... he wore jeans and a new t-shirt for exactly one minute AND let me take a picture! They came off after that one minute, but one minute is one minute longer than I have seen him wear denim since he was a baby, so I'm thrilled with that! :)

(I should note, we did get to celebrate with BOTH sets of his grandparents last weekend... we went out to dinner to Pizza Hut with them, where he received the spy plane from the new Cars 2 movie from my mom and dad, and a Cars 2 stunt set, a Cars 2 book, and a couple water guns from Josh's mom and dad. He loves them all! And can you tell he's a Cars fanatic??)

My baby said I didn't cry about him turning five, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to. He's come a long way in those five years and I couldn't be more in love.

the shoes

Brecken got some new shoes this weekend. We looked at three stores in Scottsbluff for just the right ones. He really wanted yellow and black ones, like his old shoes were. We looked and looked, and we found the perfect ones! He loved them from the start and I was really excited when he tried them on and he loved how they felt on him. I made him walk all over the store, try running, etc., just to make sure they were going to work for his senses. *phew* - he wanted them!

The shoe on the left is the one he had on in the picture I took on his 4th birthday. The shoe on the right is the new one. The one on the left is a size 9. The shoe on the left is a size 12. 3 shoe sizes in one year. Holy moly. I about fell over! (He has been wearing Crocs all summer, of course, so we didn't have a "real" shoe size for him!)

(These shoes are lined up at the back.... you can't tell, but they are.)

the first day

Today was the first day of school for all of us. (Josh and I went back last week, but kids didn't start until today. Same with B's preschool.) The day FLEW by!! I'm exhausted and can't believe how fast the day went. It was a good day though!

B had a great day at his first day too. Kacey said she cried when she dropped him off... I'm flattered that she loves my kid enough to cry!! He came home with all sorts of stories. It's in the afternoons this year, 12:00-3:15. They did fingerprints and looked at them under the magnifying glass, drew rainbows, read a story about a dog that went to school, played at recess, had snack... He was the only kid at Kacey's today though, I feel bad. :( The kid he played with last week started kindergarten today. B said he played with the dog a lot and they got to go see Kacey's horses, which he liked a LOT.

Hard to believe my baby started his last year of preschool. Even harder to think that he COULD have started kindergarten today instead, but we kept him back a year. I can't send a 4 year old to kindergarten, even if he does meet the cut off. But just looking at him, thinking he COULD HAVE started today, makes my heart beat a little faster. I'm glad we have one more year. ;)

the new lady

We started Brecken at a new daycare this year. The change between last year and this year has been total night and day. He has beat us out the door to get to Kacey's house in the mornings... I'm not going to lie, I totally love that! I'm so glad he feels comfortable at this house and has a good day. In fact, one day last week he got mad at me for picking him up too early! That hasn't happened since our beloved Amy lived here!

Kacey is an EMT with Josh and I secretly (or no so secretly) LOVE that. Not that anything would happen to my B-man while he was there, but gosh, you never know!!!

There aren't many kids at Kacey's... one little guy that B plays with that won't be there now because of kindergarten. He has a little sister, so hopefully the little sister will continue to go.

the day i cried in the middle of walmart

Today was the big day... we had to go to Riverton to pick up the half a beef we ordered, so we went to Walmart, too. We went back to the little boy's section, felt all the jeans, picked a few pairs B deemed "soft enough", and found the dressing room. Josh took him in and I waited outside, but I couldn't stand it anymore, so I knocked on the door to go in, too. And there he was... my baby... in jeans. I haven't seen him in jeans since he was 2 years old. I was so proud of him for even trying them on, and I figured he'd say they didn't feel good and we'd leave without any. Which would have been FINE. My amazement was fulfilled with him even trying them on. But, he liked a pair. I asked if he would wear them to school, and he said no. He said he would only wear them for his 5-year-old pictures. GREAT! I'm ecstatic with that; it's such a huge start! He did say the waist kinda bugged him (which, coming from elastic waist sweats and basketball shorts, it's gotta feel funny!) but he felt better when I assured him that if he wanted to, he could wear his shorts underneath the jeans. He nodded, said he liked them, and we bought two pairs of the kind he liked best.

That's when I cried.

This is such a big deal! I can't even tell you how proud of him I am. Like I said, I was excited that he just wanted to try them on, but for him to buy a pair.... it's like I was in a dream.

Whether or not he will actually wear them, I'm not sure. We're not going to make a big deal out of it, as he hates that kind of attention and he will backpedal. If he ends up freaking out and not wearing them, I'm ok with that. Like I said. He tried. And my heart is so full from that.

jeans

Brecken asked tonight if he could try on some jeans. I had to ask him to repeat the question, just so I could see if I heard correctly. And then I about fell out of my chair.

Of course, we don't own any jeans bigger than a 2T. So he'll have to wait until we go to a store. (which just happens to be tomorrow, we lucked out there!) I hope he still feels like it tomorrow! Even if they still hurt him, I'm TOTALLY stoked that he asked!!!

the last week

This is our last week of summer. It's always a really sad time. Once I get thrown into work, I'm fine... it's just that jump that I totally hate. I wish Josh and I both could be on permanent summer... I love the freedom of jumping in the car and going somewhere when we want to, sleeping in, staying up late, just hanging out all the time. I love the time with my family. But, since I don't want to live in a cardboard box down by the river.... we must work.

We've been working hard this week on last minute summer projects. We are rebuilding our deck; taking out the wood and putting in composite. Brecken has willingly been helping, and it's pretty fun to watch. :)

hair

B is about 6 weeks away from turning 5 years old, and last Thursday, we had a new breakthrough. He finally, finally decided it was OK to have his hair washed.

He's never liked it. Ever. It's always the most miserable part of the bath. Yes, we've tried a hundred different ways: Laying back on his own, laying back on our hand, tipping his head back while sitting up, using only a wash cloth, the special bucket that sits on your forehead while pouring back on your head... you get the picture. It's always a huge scream fest and it's the very last thing we do because he immediately stands up, while crying so hard I'm always sure he's going to fall down, and the bath is over.

However, this past Thursday, for some reason, he decided he would try once again, laying back on my hand. He didn't get any water on his face or in his eyes, and washing his hair was a success. It was so much of a success that we had to call Daddy back to witness it for a second time. And since then, he has asked for his hair to be washed every single day (and I am most happy to oblige!).

SPD is a funny thing. Most people reading this are probably thinking, "Why is washing hair such a big deal? My kid hasn't cried about water in his eyes since he was 10 months old. Just dump the water and be done with it." With an SPD kid, that's not always possible. And imagine our frustration before we knew WHY we couldn't do that!

Now, let's hope this new thing lasts :)

hot, hot, hot

It's been super hot here for the past week or so. I know, it's been nothing like what the midwest and back East have had, but our house does not have air conditioning. So when it gets to 94 degrees outside, it gets to 94 degrees inside. So we've been laying low the past few days, not doing anything too exciting, trying not to sweat to death.

Brecken and Josh have gotten their golfing in, though... B would never let that pass by without happening!

It was a lot cooler today which was a nice change. We woke up to overcast skies and 67 degrees... it felt wonderful! I shot some senior pictures for B's favorite high school babysitter, then we played at the park. I even turned on the oven for dinner tonight since I knew it wouldn't raise the inside temp to 100. :)

July is almost over, which means August is coming up... back to school stuff will be starting. :(

and some more

Last ones, I think... Some stick horse racing in the Whispering Canyon Cafe (where B got all his ketchup!) and B's favorite act in the Festival of the Lion King show... he LOVED the acrobats!

more videos

Here are a couple more... one from Typhoon Lagoon, where he rode this ride about 75 times (and I'm not exaggerating...). The other is from England in Epcot, where they had just made this hopscotch and beings how my B-man LOVES hopscotch, he had to be the first to try it out!

disney videos

I think I might have been successful in uploading a couple videos... If they work, I'll upload more! One of them is from the race track ride at Disney World, where Brecken was driving. I'm glad it was on a rail and we couldn't get too far off, because as you will see, he's a bit distracted in his driving. :) The other is when he wanted some ketchup, and he got plenty!

disney!

I've been absent again! This time with good reason though. We just got back from a WONDERFUL vacation to Disney World. We had a fantastic time and wish it wasn't going to be 3 years before we got to go again!

The first two nights were a bit rough. We stayed at All Star Sports for two nights before my parents came, when we could move to the Beach Club Resort. All Star Sports just happened to be hosting a whole slew of baseball players for a baseball tournament at the Disney sports complex, and they were QUITE loud. The resort was very busy, very loud (in both noise and colors!) and my B-man could not settle down. His SPD kicked in full force, and combine that with the normal kid-excitement, it was not much fun. The first night was full of head banging, rocking back and forth, hitting himself, and me just about in tears and thinking it was mean of us to bring him there. Second night, he had spent 6 hours that day swimming, so he was exhausted, so it was a little bit better.

After we moved to the Beach Club, he settled into a routine and we had a great time! He used his headphones when things got crazy, we used his Guest Assistance Card as needed, we took breaks in the cool restaurants, and we had a TON of fun!

Some things I was surprised about:

*He LOVES characters! He had absolutely NO reservations about running right up to them and giving them huge hugs!



*He is a thrill ride lover! One of his favorite rides was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a roller coaster, and by the 3rd time he rode it, he was putting his hands up in the air! :)



Some things that didn't surprise me:
*He didn't eat very well - it was new food, and new atmosphere with lots going on. He didn't starve, but he surely didn't pig out, either. :)

*He doesn't like scary things. Haunted Mansion was not a favorite ride of his. :)