Discovering New Roads: Sweetwater Springs Road

We live in a beautiful art of the world, where there are also many roads to explore. James and I are having fun expanding our looking for deer (the moms and new fauns are out now - it's adorable!) to discovering where that side road goes that we are usually too busy to explore.

This week, James wrapped up a good week's work and wanted to drive along Westside Road. It's a pretty Sonoma County country road, full of curves, dips, farmyards, vineyards, and old country homes. Scenic and relaxing.

Part of the way there, I caught side of a side turning we'd noticed before. "Want to see where that road goes?" I asked. James said "Sure!", and off we turned, onto Sweetwater Road. 

It curled away from the main road, between the folds of rolling hills, lichen-decorated boulders growing out the ground, shaded by shaggy California Oak trees and wandered past cows grazing impossibly on steep hillsides, ridiculously close (for us city slickers) to the road. 

The car tires thrummed as we crossed one cattle crossing grate after the other. California quail scuttled and fluttered in front of us, crossing the road in the late afternoon sun. I drove slowly and carefully, as the road was narrow and winding, and much patched in places. 

The road crested a hill and dropped us down in a valley, where just like that, we were surrounded with ferns, dense redwoods, shadow, and  running next to a creek, fed by deeply grooved channels in the earth, running down to meet it. It felt like entering Mirkwood, and I told James so.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough daylight to follow the road to its end. We plan to try again this weekend. 

Monster Play

Feeling better throughout the house this morning, thank goodness.

Instead of moans and sickness, there is rest and recovery. James continues to heal and gain energy. The cat is delighted to have someone else frisking about the place.

So far this morning, James has danced and sang for us. He's walked on the monster feet his O/T brought to the house to encourage movement five years ago. It's taken that long to catch on with him. I think everyone else in the family's had their fun, so it's good to see James confident and playful enough to take his turn on them.

I have a feeling that having seen Monsters University also piqued his interest in the monster feet.

We have Kitty Rodeo on hardwood floors, which is hilarious to watch. The cat loves to chase his toy mice, ribbon, pipe cleaners, and parts of plastic Easter eggs across the room. As he's 9 month old, he's quite the acrobat. I still enjoy watching his front end take off while his back end is still trying to gain traction from the previous maneuver.

On the alert and ready to pounce; there might be dragons!

It's interesting to be an audience for the complex positive/negative magnetic ballet that James and the cat perform. They can't ignore each other, but each freaks the other out. There is a lot of sneaking and run-away break points, with ears flat to the head and loud tattling of things like "Bueller's on the coooooooooouch!"

Then they'l both lie down, curl up, and rest. Before too long they're back up and ready to play, imagination and senses on the alert.

It's good to be inside with the air conditioning. We hit over 100 here today, which is a good 20 above normal. Safer too -- we have monster plum bombs dropping unexpectedly from the tree out back onto the hapless lawn below.

NYE Countdown: 8PM

So many things about this year that I've forgotten, like all the things you and your sister started to play together -- like puppet shows in the tent clubhouse:

I totally forgot taking this one. You were "reading" the books,
playing with the dollhouse, and making that car go places!

You got over generator noises enough to enjoy a classmate's part at Pump It Up.
You even went inside one of the jumpies -- huge for you!

Oh my yes - how could I forget how much you liked t-ball and baseball this year?

The swing! And you are having fun by sitting on it, not hanging on your stomach!

I was dreaming of this -- and the day came this year!

You still love your bubbles and balloons.

My big helper! You also try to help sweep up inside.

You like writing your name and some of the messages in the cards you like to make and send.

By Easter, you could handle me in the classroom. You loved your class.

Eggsactly! I can see why you loved them!

You love this sign at a neighbourhood market, and you still love their films.

You still have that mouth fixation thing too!

Special Exp./ Wordless Wednesday: Swinging the Other Way

James used to scream if we tried to get him on or near anything that swung.

When he was a baby, I used to be able to swing him in the bucket seats no problem.

Somewhere around age 18-24 months, swinging became an act of torture for James. He was terrified of losing control and contact with solid ground, I think. The OTs, his Dad, and I tried everything we could think of to coax him onto something, anything that moved. Sometimes we had a little luck with him sitting on a lap while the lap was on a beam. Oddly enough, he loved sneaking into my home office and so he could sit on my chair and twirl himself around.



I think James has swung back to enjoying the ride. Vestibular issues are a mystery to me!

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

and ... Wordless Wednesday

Night Swimming

Not only do I like the song, I like to do it too. Which makes it a great posting title, but I digress ...

It's been unusually hot around here all week. Roast, roast, crisp, and schizzle! James does not do well in heat. He melts and gets cranky. The school buses and summer school do not have a/c. Thank goodness he's back home before 12:30pm!

So on Friday, I took he and his sister to the gym's pool after dinner, right about sundown. It was still like 90° and nice without the sun beating down on us. Big sister has been having swimming lessons, so she put on her inflatable ring/tube and hopped right in.

James was not so sure. He wanted his legs in the water and he wanted to keep his shirt on. After a bit, I coaxed him into going shirtless (this is tough for James). We went slowly down the steps, with James grabbing me as much as I was holding him. He got to watch the kids playing and his sister having fun. The gym is right by the airport, so he got to see a low-flying plane coming in for a landing -- he lit up as he waved to it and yelled "Hi, plane"

After a while, I started getting him a little more wet. James got nervous, and started to talk in babble-speak -- but he liked it too. Then I started singing and moving him. His sister's teacher from last year taught us to slowly tip them side to side, singing "Tick-tock, tick-tock, I'm a little cuckoo clock," so I did that too. He loved that. He even tried leaning over further to drink the water.

We went all around the pool. After about 45 minutes, I got James to float on his tummy, with me just holding him under his arms, and kick with his feet -- yay!!! He even let me float him on his back for a little bit. We all had to leave when they closed the pool.

We all really enjoyed doing this, especially at the end of a long, hot day! It was so hot getting back into the car (in the 80° range) that we stopped off for ice cream on the way home. We were going to get snow cones, but the gym's snack bar had closed.

I am so proud of how much more comfortable James is in the water. I never thought he'd let me float him and start kicking his legs on his own. This is partly because he's been uneasy even in the tub -- he has trouble balancing in the water and doesn't like it splashing on his face. The other part is that I know James has trouble "knowing" where his body is in space, and floating in water would seem to make that worse. Activities that involve the vestibular areas of his brain have been a real challenge for him.

I guess you can never underestimate the power of doing something for fun, and being surrounded by other kids doing the same thing and enjoying themselves.