Back To Work, Day 2

I know its early days, but things seem to be going well, both on the home front and at the new job. I miss the kids, but am so relieved to be earning some money and working with skills that I enjoy using. The coworkers are good people and the close-to-home location is a big plus too. It looks like I'll be able to attend back-to-school day with James and pick him up from summer camp next week.

After several years of trying other peoples' day cares, it is very nice to have found someone to watch the kids in our own home. We have a yard and a park nearby (to say nothing of tons of toys) so we are certainly equipped. I think this will also keep anxiety levels way down for James and his sister.

I must confess, it is also nice being able to concentrate on something for longer than 2 minutes without having to intervene in a fight or to correct some bad habits.

And when I come home, the kids are excited to share things with me - like the fact that the cat takes naps in the garage during the day and the low-down on all the names of the Angry Birds Star Wars characters. Bed time routines are extra sweet.

Special Exposure / Wordless Weds: Belonging

Both kids were invited to the birthday party of a friend's daughter. The birthday crowd was younger, but everyone had a good time together. Yes, including James. One of those times that seems ordinary, but means so much:

As James was still out of school during this time, it was a great chance for social interaction. He surprised me more by going in the jumpy house and being the last one to come out. He helped make sure the little guests stayed safe too.

For more images from the heart and to share some of yours,
visit Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.






               and ... Wordless Wednesday

Special Exposure / Wordless Weds: Wacky

Today is Wacky Wednesday at summer camp. Just about everyone took it seriously:

For more images from the heart and to share some of yours,
visit Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.






               and ... Wordless Wednesday

Magic Marker Monday: Art Outdoors

I know it's the weekend (shhh!), but I wanted to share what my kids and I actually did this past Monday, out in our back yard.

Tools: paper, acrylic paints, paintbrushes, and love of colour.

Unplugged creativity:

There is something exciting about mixing up colours outside. Sorry cat, we commandeered you water bowl.

James had fun, mixing up colours. He talked his way through the whole process.

Definitely more fun outside!

My daughter's masterpiece: our cherry tree, the birds who love the cherries, and a human cherry picker.
We have a very active cherry tree in our back yard!

Lavender from our garden. I felt good to do a little paint sketch again.

For more great masterpieces or to share some of your own, visit
 5 Minutes for Special Needs for more Magic Marker Monday.

                            
 

Golden Hour

James has less than two weeks left of First Grade. His sister's last day of Third Grade is this Friday. I am sad to see another school year / grade level / established set of routines come to an end ...

... but there is also freedom from homework. Oh. Yeah.

After cooling down in the house with ice water, yogurt squeeze-ups, and a movie, I moved us all to our back yard. Oh the moaning and "I don't wanna"s -- they lasted all of five minutes. There was so much to explore and distract. James mixed up colours from the basic red, yellow, and blue acrylics. His sister painted rather dainty masterpieces. I actually did a little lavender sketch in paints.

The golden afternoon sun filtered through the leaves of the cherry tree that is squarely in the middle of the yard. Some of the cherries are actually turning red. Yes! Soon we shall have cherries in the morning, fresh off the tree ... but I digress.

James gave the swing set a workout. His sister started raking leaves and watering, in between petting the cat. I actually got quite a bit of gardening done. Man, we have like a zillion little root saplings sprouting up in what used to be the lawn! The blackberries are already plotting to take over the back fence perimeter, and the rose trees need a whole lotta dead-heading. It's nice to be needed.

I enjoyed that time outside together. It was very satisfying.

Magic Marker Monday: For Me

Both kids have been busy at school. On Mothers' Day I got to see some of what they'd worked on:

From my daughter:

Present inside the bag: Notepad with daughter's photo in it.
Top sheet has a very sweet note.

Picture of me. I love my nails & fancy top!

From James:

Me again. Okay, this one actually weirded me out. I look like Mrs. Jim-Jim: the dog-faced Mom. With bread.
I do like my nice green & gold jewels, hovering over my head.

James also wrote me a card, but I could not take a good picture of it. Very basic, with straggling crayon letters: "Happy Mothers Day. James" I can tell by the writing he was not into the assignment, but heck, he wrote it! Last year, I was thrilled he could write his name.

Then there was that year that I cried because he looked at me and gave me a hug and said "I love you." Because he was *able* to finally do that.

This is a nice progression - I'll take it!

For more great masterpieces or to share some of your own, visit
 5 Minutes for Special Needs for more Magic Marker Monday.

                              

Heh, Heh, Heh ...

I am out in the back yard, hiding taking a break. Due to a hard week, both my husband and I are *really* tired, and tag-teaming who's "in charge."

Dad's come up with a winner: "Lets Test the Box o' Electronic Junk Gadgets I Just Bought at a Sale."

I am sitting here, laughing, because the screen door is open, and I can hear James testing a walkie-talkie with his Dad. "Hello? Daddy? .... Knock-knock .... Brain .... Eeeg-SACTly!"

Remember Snowball's stunning logic/knock-knock joke?

I concede him the crown. Heh.

SOOC Saturday: Roundup

Well, another busy, crazy week. Both kids enjoyed grabbing my camera and taking a few pics. Here's our Weekly Roundup, Straight Out Of Camera:

More early mornings at Bad Ass Coffee. Photo by James.

Love this serendipitous self portrait!

After school, we hit the library, where Big Sister got to read to a dog. Very well too, I might add.
She also got him to do a trick for a doggie treat.

Speaking of Big Sister, she made me some dynamite lemonade with honey and garden lavender.
She got a little creative with the rinds. Meet Lemon Man!

I cracked up with I saw this - I am sure she made t
he obligatory screaming noises when she took this photo.

Mustard in the vineyards, shot during our visit to the Chocolate Hill Road.

Attended the North Bay's first Autism Speaks Walkathon kickoff meeting.
We'll be walking again this year!

Back to the tropical fish store, to get the tank water tested.
Proof the store employees have a sense of humour.
Now it this Nemo and Dory, or Marlin and Dory?

"Who you callin' Nemo? Do you see any lucky fins here?!"

Cute little puffer fish.

Sunset on the way home last night. Love the Round Barn.

Nice to be a part of the SOOC hoe-down at Marvelous Mommy's blog.
Come on over to see more or join in!

Revelling in Roald Dahl

James' big sister is on a Roald Dahl streak. She discovered the animated version of "James and the Giant Peach" and loved it. I was looking for a new book to tempt her to a reading level higher than Junie B. Jones and brought out my copy of "Mathilda." She loved it. We spent several happy nights reading that together at bedtime. Then I found the movie in VHS format for $1, so both kids watched it many times, howling with laughter.

Knowing her interest in magic, witches, and irreverent humour, I next brought home "The Witches" from our local library. I didn't know if it might be too scary -- but no, she loved that one too, each and every night. Then she found my Tim Burton version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and had to watch it. She likes that plenty too.

James has been quietly absorbing this. There are nights when he's in bed but still awake when I start reading bedtime stories to his sister. He rarely lets me read to him, but he loves listening one room away to us reading together - go figure. He has enjoyed the movies and insisted on watching them.

By far his favourite is the Tim Burton movie, and allllll the Special Features. He's started to quote from the movie, hums the Agustus Gloop song, and dance around with the Oompa-Loompas. He introduces himself as Willie Wonka (and now wants to be him for Halloween) and will watch that film 5 times a day, if we didn't stop him. Today he got hold of my phone camera and took a picture while the movie was playing:

You should have seen the glee on his face!

Mr Burton, how young do you accept interns and apprentices? You have a huge fan boy here on the west coast. And thank you, Roald Dahl, for knowing and sharing.

P.S.: I can hardly wait to see how they like "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" somewhere down the road. Those vermicious knids are awesome. And they can spell, too.

Movie Review: Toy Story 3

Screened this one with my husband, as I'd heard a few things from people who'd seen it that made me think we needed to preview it before going with the kids.

Oh so heck yeah. Kids are not going to see it any time soon.


*** Warning: Semi-Spoilers Ahead ***
==========================

My daughter would not do well with the issues of toys being made prisoners and being beat to heck in school. She would ask me uncomfortable questions, such as do parents replace lost toys and pretend they are the old ones ... and have I ever done that? She would not be happy with my attempts to plead the 5th. Especially because the answer would be "yes" to the special kitty from a loved relative and her Woody Doll.

I think the hulking mafia Baby doll would freak her out. She'd be seeing it in her dreams and telling her second grade teacher about her doll hallucinations (I know this because last year we went through this with the imaginary rat friend she had).

She'd be worried about Bo Peep being gone, and wonder if the same thing would not, some day, happen to her, or a special toy that she loves.

Also: She does not really get Barbie and Ken. Do we really need to give her more proof that Mommy finds really odd things to be funny? And: I am trying to get her to clean her room. The girl has inherited my clinging genes. This movie would make her lock her door and go into hoarding overdrive.

The noise level for James would be tough, especially the preschool. OMG, the school. He's starting a brand-new one, complete with new teachers and aides next year. Last thing I need him to watch is noisy, violent kids terrorizing the nice, brave, friendly toys. Watching them try to ... escape the school by running away. Dudes! Do *not* put this idea in his head!

The furnace scenario at the end would completely terrorize them. I don't know if James would get the fact that, without a rescue, the toys would all go up in screaming flares of flame and die, as his big sister would. But the noise and very visual distress on the faces of all the toys would get to him, and not in a good way.

Heck, it gave me nasty flashbacks to being in the Oakland Hills Fire in '91, where parents and I had to run for our lives, knowing that our house, photos, and other life things (including my long-loved toys) were incinerated behind us in that roaring, whirling 2,000°+ inferno.


 That said: I loved the movie. The Spanish Buzz and Ken? The poker game at the top of the vending machine? OMG, hilarious. Mrs Potato Head's mystic eye was an excellent and intriguing plot/story device. The little girl who really loves and plays with her toys was so touching, and neatly avoided being maudlin. The final play scene with Andy? Was real and satisfying.

Overall, I thought this movie was excellent. But I don't think I ever want to see it again. I also think that there will be children that will not have problems seeing TS3. Mine just don't happen to be in that crowd. I think when they are both older (say around age 9 or 10) they would enjoy many, many parts of this movie and not be overly bothered about the dramatic, semi-traumatic scenes with toys facing separation, imprisonment, or almost certain flaming death.

SOOC Saturday: Gold Coins

How was your St. Patrick's Day? Ours was Very Green. We wore green, had a little green food (apples), and we hunted for gold on the Town Green.




James' sister's class was invited to participate in the town's first ever Gold Coin Hunt on the Windsor Town Green. As a sibling, James was able to attend. He mostly had fun running around the lawns with the other kids and testing his balance by walking on the low curbs around their edges. He was all about fun in the sun, being able to run about and yell freely, and not spending another day in the house sick with a cold.


His sister, however, struck gold ... in more ways than one:





We love the Town Green. We have had many picnics here on the lawns, played at the playground, and been fascinated with the fountains. We've enjoyed some of their Summer Music concerts (the kids love dancing to live music). We've wrapped up in blankets and watched movies there for free, under the stars.

The City of Windsor's Parks and Rec Dept. has many great programs that use the Green as well. James has enjoyed 2 summers of their preschool summer camp sessions. At first, I had to have an initial interview with the program and Park directors to make sure the programs and James would be a good fit.

They listened to me talk about James as a person and were happy to try having him, even though for the first year he could barely speak words and was still in pull ups. James quickly won over staff and co-campers, and he loved being able to go to camp and have fun new things to do with such fun and supportive people. After each session, his language and communication skills would take huge jumps forward. This is what inspired us to try having James try being in a mainstream program outside of his Special Day class.

So I guess that James too has struck gold on the Town Green!


The Slurping Life is ready for Spring. Visit Melody and check out SOOC Saturday/Sunday entries past & present. No cropping or fixing -- it's life, straight out of the camera.



  

Special Exp./Wordless Wednesday: Exploring

Exploring a tree at the Discovery Museum. Who lives here?


Many things to look at and touch!


"I think I'll stay a while ..."

For more great images or to join in the fun, Visit Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

and ... Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Special: Daddy's Birthday

This photo is actually from last year, but we loved doing it so much that we did it again this year (but no photos of decoration). Daddy loved his birthday cake that his children made and decorated. We used a Lazy Daisy recipe and white frosting. It made the rainbow sprinkles really stand out.



Last year, however, there was a fashion show afterward: