Don't like the fire drill.

Long few weeks! Spent some time in the Dells, had J's parent/teacher conference, lots of doctor's appointments and just general driving around craziness!

Parent/teacher conferences went really well. His special ed teacher and K teacher are very happy with all that J is doing. He's starting to read/match sight words, put numbers in order and match rhyming words. I never thought I'd see the days when he would do any of that! He's also doing a great job interacting with peers, but needs some help to stay with the group and not wander off.

The only issue is the fire drill. One happened while J was in PT and since then, he hasn't wanted to go back into the PT room and now it's starting to effect him wanting to go to school at all. His team and I have come up with some strategies for him, so we'll see if any of them work. Poor guy cries and clings to me when I drop him off, all because he's terrified there might be a fire drill.

Jackson has met with the special needs clinic (officially discharged!) and had a feeding session with Behavioral Psych and speech. We're trying to get him to try a wider variety of foods. He's not happy about it, but he's now eating toast with Sunbutter on a regular basis.

Special needs clinic referred us to the Developmental Clinic, although I can't get a straight answer from them about what exactly J will be going there for. So, now I'm waiting for a call back next week.

Monday, J has his endoscopy. ENT said they don't need a repeat bronch, and dental didn't return GI's calls (go figure), so we'll be seeing them separately in Dec. Think good thoughts; I'm always worried about the aftermath.

J's adaptive Phy Ed teacher called last night and wants to start taking J with a small group to the Y for swimming on Wednesday ams. Yay! J loves Mr. S so much, he talks about his non-stop. This guy must be a miracle worker if he can get J to kick a ball in order to get a reward of running up the hill behind the school. My child kicked a ball and wants to run? Up a hill no less? Go for it!

Object du Jour: J is currently running around the house with a clear plastic bucket over his head, giggling like a fool.

Open the garage door!

I think we're finally over illnesses! Jameson had a bloody ear and I took him in with an ear infection, he still coughs at night, but seems better.

Trick or Treating last Saturday night. Jackson told me he wanted to be an iPod, so I made a cool green iPod outfit. At the last minute, he decided he wanted to be Thomas the Train for the 3rd year in a row, so I wore the ipod suit (an older lady thought I was a remote). Jameson was Handy Manny, but he took off the hat and tool belt about 6 blocks in. People would ask what he was supposed to be and I said, "Guy in green shirt." They didn't think I was funny.

Jackson is finally back in feeding therapy after waiting several weeks for authorization of payment from the state and working a schedule with the therapist because the old time was when J was in school. He did really well and ate Sunbutter and a few chunks of fruit. Very reluctant with the fruit. Toast is still going strong.

We have GI/feeding team this week to talk more about feeding and our yearly following up with the Special Needs Clinic.

I'm off Children's on Thursday to talk to interns about what parents expect from their child's doctors. Should be interesting. Busy week!

Jackson has been obsessed with the garage door across the street. He cries when it's closed. I'm sure the people who have only lived there a few months would love to see me knocking on their door telling them that, "My child is sobbing because your garage door is closed, would you mind leaving it open? Kthxbye."

Object du Jour: The garage door.

Is it Thursday?

Poor J got sent home from school on Tuesday with a 100 degree fever. I can always tell when he has a temp; his cheeks become bright red circles. He ended up staying home Wed and Thurs too with a cough and a faucet for a nose. "Go to the hopstible, they fix you right up!"

On Wed afternoon, he came to me and said, "Is is Thursday?" I asked him if something important was going on Thursday and he said, "Jackson do calendar Thursday." I felt bad that he was too sick to go to school and he missed calendar. I talked to his Sped teacher and she said J loves calendar, but didn't know of anything special on Thursday, so she was going ask the Kindergarten teacher if there was something going on in there.

Today J is much better and got to go on the field trip to Green Meadows farm with his class. All morning long I heard, "Go on a hay ride!!" Daddy has been posting pictures on Facebook, so I get to see all the action!

Object du Jour: Calculators!

Haaaaaay!

J lost another tooth. It was one of the bottom center two. It was turned totally sideways. Don't know when he lost it, I just noticed the hole over the weekend. I talked with the new dentist today and he's going to try to get in on the endoscopy action and do a full cleaning and x-ray while J is out.

Over the weekend we went to Harvest Fest with Uncle Mike and Cousin Maddie while Daddy was out of town. The boys, especially Jameson, love Maddie and follow her around like puppy dogs. When Jameson woke up the next morning, he asked where Maddie was. I told him she went home and he said, "But I just wanted to give her a hug." Awwww.

At the fest, there's a giant area covered in hay. I think it's partly for the kids to play in and partly for people to use the hay to make a scarecrow to take home. J was unsure of the festival until we got to the hay area. He absolutely loved it! He kept yelling, "Haaaaaay!!!" at the top of his lungs. He rolled in it, filled our wagon with it, jumped off the hay bales, and tried to chew a piece or two. Talk about a sensory experience! He was sad to leave. I'm pretty sure he would've played in it all day.

I'm so thrilled with my decision to keep J at his current school. The staff is wonderful, they seem to genuinely enjoy working with him. He's made such great progress since the beginning of the school year. I talked with his OT and one of his aides today and they had such glowing reports for me.

J woke up coughing quite a bit last night. I rubbed some Vicks on his chest which did the trick, but before that, J kept telling me, "Go to the hobstible, they fix you right up." Then this morning he told me, "I got the chest medicine." I'm amazed at his memory and understanding of things.

Object du Jour: Back to the Cleesus.

You Should Be Dancin', Yeah!

So it's been almost a month since I've written, whoa! So much has happened, I don't know where to start!

J has been to the ER twice with croup/stridor. He got the racemic epi and steroids and we waited the required 4 hours and then they sent us home. At our GI visit last week, the dr. decided that we should schedule an endoscopy to see what's going on in there. She's going to try to schedule with ENT to see if he needs to do anything in there while J is out. I want to try to get dental in there to do a thorough cleaning and x-ray too. Might as well kill three birds with one stone, huh?

J's now up to 3'2" and weighs between 28-30 lbs, depending on whose scale we're using. He's gained, so I'll take either one. Now that he's maintained a level of 90% ideal body weight, we're going to start working with the speech therapist and behavioral psych at the hospital on a more regular basis to expand his food horizons. Man cannot live on sweet potatoes and cracker snackers alone.

J started Kindergarten this year. He's split between K and the special ed classroom depending on what's going on in K. J is adoring school so far. He asks to go every day, even on weekends and bank holidays. I'm so relieved he's loving it. This is his first experience with all day, so he's exhausted when he gets home. Some nights, he's slept 12 hours! His teacher says J is doing really well and trying everything.

This is his first year eating lunch at school and so far, so good. He eats with his aide from last year and then they go read a book in the cafeteria to get J used to the noise level.

Above is his K5 pic. He's got a bit of a Barry Gibb vibe going on. Add a polyester suit and some gold chains and hello 1974! (He did get a haircut this week finally!)

J2 and I were having a bit of a chat one day and I asked him what he wants to be when he grows up. He told me a doctor because he wants to help J talk better. Aww, this kid can be so compassionate when he's not wanting to knock his brother over to get a toy.

We went to a friend's housewarming party a few weeks ago. They live on a farm with a huge well-stocked fish pond. Jameson was raring to fish with his Godfather's help. J wasn't so sure. He watched Jameson catch two fish and said, "I want a fish. I want to give it a shot!" On his first cast, he caught a little fish. He was so excited. I'm always happy to see J trying new things!''

This week I got to finally meet another trisomy 4p mom in person! We met through J's blog and she happened to be near where I live for work. We met for dinner and had amazing conversation. It's wonderful to meet someone who knows exactly how I'm feeling and what I'm going through with J. I never thought I'd get the opportunity to meet another mom with a t4p kid and I got very lucky to meet the one I did! Hope we get to do it again soon!

This weekend we went to the county fair by Grandma and Grandpa's house. The boys loved it! Jameson went on some rides and won a huge stuffed monkey in a fishing game. Jackson won a cool water game at Pick-a-duck. We picked up a yard sign for our chosen Gubernatorial candidate. His name is Scott Walker and Jackson thinks we're saying Skywalker. We sampled the fried cheese curds and lefse and headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Object du Jour: A pair of 2.00 calculators kept the fellas busy on the car ride!

Night at the Chateau, v.398954987.2

Monday night at dinner, things were totally fine. Jackson started talking in this funny deep voice and then laughing at himself. I thought he was just being silly. Less than a minute later, he said he wanted to throw up in the garbage. I got him out of his chair and he threw up. Literally, seconds later, he couldn't breathe.

The poor guy would try to take a breath in and when he couldn't, he'd panic and run to the other side of the house yelling, "Gotta go to the hopstible." I called a neighbor (thanks, Lisa!) to take Jameson and J and I ran to Children's. He really freaked me out in the car because he was glassy-eyed and staring. He wouldn't (couldn't) talk to me.

We get to Children's, no spots in the ER lot. Dinnertime on a Monday must be primetime. I literally pulled up to the door, scooped him out and left the car right where it was. (Thankfully, the nurse gave my keys to a valet who moved it for me.) That same nurse heard how hard J was working to breathe and took us right back to a room.

The doctor came in and said that J must be having an allergic reaction or choking and she wanted to do an x-ray. I knew that it looked and sounded like all of our previous visits, although it came on faster than any other time I can remember. I don't think he had actually eaten anything yet, anyway. I asked her to do the epi and steroids first and then if he still needed it, we could do the x-ray.

J didn't fight the mask at all this time. I think he knew how much he needed it. About an hour after the mask and 'roids, he was almost back to normal, with a bit of croupy-type cough and a tiny bit of wheezing. They made us stay a full four hours after the treatment to make sure he didn't need another one. My fingers were crossed that he didn't need another one because Daddy is in Lamptop (Atlanta) for the week and Jameson would've had to stay at the neighbor's with J's admission.

We watched Elmo and Madagascar while waiting to go home. J kept asking for Cars, but they didn't have it.

Thankfully, the rest of the week (so far) has been much quieter. Except for this exact moment where Pete and Repeat are fighting over serving dish lids. Really.

Object du Jour: Microwavable serving dish lids. Whatever works, I guess.

Gah, it won't let me comment under the Giant Slide video below. Look at how fast these people come down! I'm scared to try it myself, but my boys (all 3 of them) love it! While waiting for my guys to come down, I saw so many kids get to the bottom in tears. It looks like quite a ride! Note J's plugged ears.

The Giant Slide at the Wisconsin State Fair 2010

State Fair Pics

1. Jameson enjoying some "Irish Nachos" at Slim's.

2. Jackson chatting with his duck friend.

3 & 4. The crazy giant slide. Note J's plugged ears.

5. J2 wearing Daddy's "Rock of Love" hat.

Steak Fair!

Took the boys to the State Fair yesterday. I knew Jameson would love it. I wasn't so sure about Jackson. He did surprisingly well and only wore the ear phones for a very short time.

The fair has a giant slide (I'll post pictures once they are off the camera) and Jameson saw it on TV and said, "I want to go there!" When he saw it in person, he was in awe. Daddy took him up the slide and Jackson watched them go up the steps and come flying down. Jameson was giggling his fool head off, so cute! While Jackson watched all this, he jumped up and down yelling, "Wanna go wheee, wanna go wheee!" I didn't think he would want anything to do with it. So, when Daddy came back with J2, I told him J wanted to give it a go. Jackson had his fingers in his ears the whole way down, but he really seemed to enjoy himself!

The other big hit of the fair, was the "gucks" aka ducks. Both boys were very excited to see the ducks. No clue why they were more exciting than the other animals. J had some sort of connection with a big white duck, who looked to be wearing a poofy wig. They chattered back and forth to each other and the duck would cock it's head every time J said something to him.

We saw lots of friends we haven't seen in awhile and tried lots of horribly unhealthy food. The Reuben Rolls were fabulous!

Object du Jour: "Cracker Snackers" J has always been a big fan of Club crackers. They now make little mini ones, that for some reason J has taken to calling Cracker Snackers. We brought a bag to State Fair and he happily munched away, he probably ate the healthiest of all of us.

Life is dream (and a highway). Sh-boom Sh-boom

J turned 6 last Friday! We gave him his gifts when he woke up in the morning and I honestly think he had no clue what was going on. Jameson got it and wanted to open all the presents. Once Jackson got into opening up his goodies, he was very happy. He got a Chick Hicks hauler, a Cars case for all his cars, a Toy Story alien game and a lunchbox for school. Jameson picked out the lunchbox (Toy Story of course).

Jackson didn't have a birthday cake this year for two reasons. The first is that I couldn't find anywhere to make him a dairy-free cake without the fear of cross-contamination and the second is our stove went Kaplooey (awesome word) and I couldn't bake him one myself. The new one is coming tomorrow. Sooo, I went to Whole Foods and got J his first dairy-free/nut-free chocolate bar. He liked the fact that it broke into rectangles and was willing to hold it and lick it. That's as far as we got, but I'll take it! As for the chocoholic's (me) verdict on the bar: it wasn't half bad. It's the Enjoy Life brand and they make all sorts of things that are free of eggs, dairy, nuts, and gluten.

We've been listening to the Cars soundtrack over and over and over. J tells me daily that, "Life is a dream, sweetheart." So cute! Sh-boom, Sh-boom!

I can't believe how fast this summer has gone! It's August, wow! State Fair aka "Steak Fair" starts Thursday and both boys are very excited to go.

We got his school info for the fall last week. J will spend part time in the special ed class and part time in the regular Kindergarten class. The Kindergarten teacher is male. This will be the first male teacher/therapist he's ever had in his 6 years. He's had male doctors, but doesn't see them weekly, let alone daily. I'm really interested to see how this works for him.

Object du Jour: Anything Chick Hicks or Cars. Toys, movies, music, stickers, whatever he can find.

Just call me Slacky McSlackerson

Sorry! I've been neglecting my blogging duties lately!

Jackson has two weeks left of summer school. He's still dodgy about going, but it's not as much of a fight when we get there. I'm sure once he's done, he'll ask to go 20 times a day! He hasn't had any appointments lately, which has been really nice. I just made his 6 year (!) check-up appointment. Whoa, back up the bus! When did my sweet, teeny, tiny little baby get that big?

I took Jameson to see Toy Story 3, his very first movie! He loved the popcorn and the springy chairs. He loved the movie until about halfway through when he stood up and yelled, "I want to go home!" at the top of his lungs. I convinced him to stay and he spent the rest of the film on my lap. I think the scene at the dump was a little intense for him.

I really wanted to take J to see the movie, but I was afraid it would be too overwhelming for him. Jameson was even telling me that it was too loud. The theater occasionally presents "Sensory Friendly" shows. The lights are left on and the sound is turned down. I'm hoping to take J to one of those showings and see how he does. At least he won't stand out there. He is a HUGE fan of the movie Cars. He loves Chick Hicks! Cachigga Cachigga! I downloaded "Life is a Highway" and "Get Real Gone" from iTunes and if it were possible to wear out songs on an iPod, we would've done so by now!

It's official: the boys are now wearing the same size clothes. I knew this day would come. J is still one shoe size bigger, but Jameson is closing in fast. Hand-me-ups aren't that far down the road, I'm afraid.

I gave away some baby "stuff" yesterday to a friend who's having a sale to raise money for cancer. It was mostly the bigger things, bouncy seat, car seat, swing...I thought it would be harder. I thought I would feel a sense of sadness, but I didn't. Maybe it's because those aren't the items that hold the fondest memories for me. I did keep two buckets of clothing that I can't bear part with. I have sweet memories of what was going on while they were wearing them. Each kiddo has a small keepsake box of little things that hold memories for me. Someday when they are older, I'll give them the box and tell them why each item is there.

Object du Jour: The "dark" iPod. J had me draw an iPod on a dark green piece of paper with a white pencil. He even slept with it last night.

I'm a slacker!

Geeze, we've been so busy, I haven't been posting very regularly!

Let's see...the birdies grew up and flew away last week. They ambushed me when I was getting the fellas in the car one day last week. I'm amazed at how quickly they went from eggs to flying away. *sniff*

Jackson is still iffy about summer school. He asks to go, but when we get there, he doesn't want to stay. I haven't heard about any issues while he's there though.

We spent two days this week at Summerfest. It's a large music festival with food and lots of stuff to do. Monday was Kid's Day and there was several kid friendly activities. Jameson's favorite part was the milk carton shaped key chain he was given when we bought him some milk. Easy to please, he is. I was worried that Jackson wouldn't be comfortable with the sound level there. I brought the headphones and he asked to wear them within a few minutes of being in the park. About halfway through the day, he took them off and handed them to me. No crying or upset. He's asks to go back daily. Hopefully, the 4th of July festivities will go just as well.

The fellas are in love the the talking Buzz Lightyear at Target. We have to go check him out every time we make a Target run.

The next two pics are from Summerfest. J wearing is earphones enjoying contraband pretzels and J2 sampling some chocolate/strawberry Dippin' Dots.

Object du Jour: Chip Clips. J's been carrying them around today. He's very happy with the blue "rectangle clip."

Go to the up!

It's been awhile since I've posted. Busy few weeks!

Jackson finished 4K/EC. It was sad because he'll be moving on from the people he's been with for the last 3 years. He'll be at the same school next year and move between the special ed room and 5K. I really think we made the right decision keeping him where he's at.

We spent the last week at Grandma and Grandpa's house as Grandpa had surgery last Tuesday. We helped Grandma around the house and got her back and forth to the "hopstible" to see Grandpa. Hopefully, he'll be home in the next few days.

Today is the start of summer school for J. He'll be going half days, M-R, for six weeks. J cried when we left and didn't want to stay. When Daddy brought him home, J said, "Go back to school!" all the way home. He's with one little guy from his regular class and when J saw him come in, J visibly relaxed a bit.

J had dental clinic and things look good. There's some concern with the size of his lower jaw and how that is going to affect the big teeth when they come in. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess. His dentist is moving out of state, so we'll have to see someone new at our next appointment.

When J wants to be picked up or put down, he says, "Go the the up!" Don't know how that started!

Mama Robin decided to build her nest in the bush right outside our back door. This is her second year with us. There were two eggs when we left for Grandma and Grandpa's house and now there are two sweet babies.

Object du Jour: We love cruising the sale aisle at the Walmart by Grandma and Grandpa's house. On this visit we found a big Handy Manny doll with his tools and toolbox for 5.00! The fellas love it! He fits into the HM pickup truck J got last year for his birthday. Score!

Jameson decided on a small Woody from Toy Story. When we got home, J flipped Woody over and looked at the bottom of his feet. He handed Woody to me and said, "No name." I was absolutely shocked that he noticed that the doll didn't say, "Andy" on the bottom of it's boot. When TS is on, I didn't think Jackson was paying that much attention. Wow!

May I see your license and registration, please.

We went walking around our neighborhood today for the annual neighborhood association rummage sale. We didn't see anything we could live without until we came upon the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Police Car! Both fellas jumped out of the stroller, Jameson jumped in it and Jackson made a beeline for the light up talking radio. There was no way they were leaving without it. The sellers were asking 25, we asked if they would take 20, they said, "Sure!" Wow, that was easy! It's in excellent shape and the boys are in love with it. It goes nicely with the firetruck we already owned.

Tonight was the very first meal I served (in the history of ever, it seems) that Jackson was able to try a bit of everything the rest of us were having. I gave him a plate with homemade sloppy joe meat, snap peas, and french fries. He actually tasted a bit of all three, but mainly stayed with the fries (naturally), but I'm so proud of him for trying everything. It was wonderful for the whole family to be eating the same thing! After a bit of coaxing, he also ate a bowl of Jello for dessert.

Object du Jour: The police car.

Potty Training, I DO IT (Hold me!)

We've begun potty training in earnest with both fellas. Jameson gets it. I bought him a pack of Pull-ups yesterday (Toy Story - score!) He understands to pull them up/down on his own and he tells me (for the most part) when he needs to go.

I'm pretty sure that Jackson just likes being naked. He'll ask to go potty and then just want to run around with his tushy hanging out. He's gone on the potty twice, but I don't think it was purposeful. We'll keep trying.

Jameson has entered into the, "I DO IT" phase. Oh, joy! I'm happy he wants to do things for himself, but it takes him a half hour to put his slippers on. LOL

Jackson only has a week left of school. This year went so fast! He's not going to understand why he doesn't go anymore. J loves school so much! We'll start summer school two weeks later, so that will help.

Object du Jour: The Phyllis Root library of books. Seriously, the fellas love her books! We've gotten from the library: What Baby Wants, Rattletrap Car, Kiss the Cow and we own One Duck Stuck. I bought Rattletrap Car from Amazon; it's become such a favorite. Her books are full of funny made up words and they often rhyme. Jackson loves this! And what I find even more wonderful, is he is starting to predict lines in the books and says them along with me. I will do whatever it takes to make sure I raise readers that love books as much as I do! So far, so good!

On The Air!

Jackson's radio debut! He we all are at the WKLH Miracle Marathon for Children's Hospital. We shared J's story and hopefully it inspired people to donate big! Honestly, it was such a blur, I don't really remember what I said.

Jackson was fascinated with the "On the Air" light. One of the DJ's told J he could ask for it to go on or off. J did and the DJ turned it on/off for him, but then J didn't stop and was yelling, "Turn the square light off!" during the interview. Randy took the boys out so I could finish talking.

They gave each of the boys a toy, Jameson got Buzz Lightyear and Jackson got a shape puzzle. The whole family got admission to the art museum. When the interview was over, we were sent upstairs to get a family picture taken. The photographer said that our picture might show up on a billboard someday. Yikes!

It was wonderful to see the other members of the Family Advisory Committee that came down to support us. Thank you!!

Some of the stories from other families I've listened to over the past few days have been heartbreaking. I'm amazed and inspired by the strength of families who have lost a child. Injuries, multiple surgeries, heart defects, cancer - I continue to remind myself no matter how hard some days get, how lucky Jackson truly is. He is defying every odd we were initially given. And much of that is due to the care and support we've gotten from the hospital staff.

Object du Jour: The shapes from the puzzle.

iPad and Miracle Marathon

When I dropped J off at school today, his teacher told me they'll be trying out an iPad in the classroom for the day. I know what we're going to be talking about for the next 3 months (at least).

On Friday morning, we'll be telling J's story on the WKLH Miracle Marathon for Children's Hospital. You can listen live at http://www.wklh.com/ Please donate if you can!

Object du Jour: The ABC book and a picture of a woman listening to a very old school radio. J has named it, "Listening to the iPod."

ETA: I picked J up at school and the whole way home he yelled from the backseat, "Go back to school!! See the iPad!!" So, I guess the practice run with iPad went well to say the least. I looked into them and they are about 500.00. A little bit pricey for us right now, but maybe they'll go down in price like the iPhone and iPods.

Ducks make fire drills

Eye clinic today. The booger is now 20/30 in the right eye and 20/40 in the left. I really think his scores (aside from the wandering eye) are mainly based on interest in the items on the screen. The orthoptist started with the apple. Nope, he's not gonna do it. He's gone so many times that he's now shouting out requests. "Square! Rectangle! Microwave! Freebird!"

He saw a laminated card with letters on it and she asked if J knows letters. I said yes, so she brought letters up on the screen. No problem. Got them all correct, but kept asking her to show him the X. So, now I don't need to worry if the date of the visit is a "feel like talkin' about apples day," we can go straight to letters.

When we were finished, the orthoptist said J could get a sticker and a Beanie Baby. She put a few on the counter for him to pick from, a duck, moose, elephant, lobster and bear. No interest, but he did ask if there was a microwave in the bucket of animals. I chose a duck because he's been very into hearing stories about ducks lately (One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root, check it out - compelling reading). We get out into the lobby and I show him the duck. J tells me, "Ducks make fire drills." Just in case you were wondering where fire drills come from. He happily carried the duck to the car, until I strapped him in the seat and he says, "Want the elephant." *sigh*

The end result: get him to wear the glasses as much as possible. J has been better about wearing them at home and will put them on by himself. Often times, upside down, but progress is progress!

Today is "Hippie Day" at school. J is clad in jeans and a Summerfest tie-dyed shirt. It's the same shirt that causes people to think Jameson is a girl.

Object du Jour: A Yo Gabba Gabba toy video screen.

Syttende Mai, Earphones, First Naughty Note and My Soapbox.

Let's start with the fun stuff!

This past weekend we went to the Syttende Mai festival in Daddy's hometown. There's a parade, rides, craft fair, food and music. The parade part always concerns me for Jackson. He spent last year huddled under a blanket sobbing. This year, he watched every single second, commented on what he saw and talked about going back ASAP. The difference? The sound blocking earphones I bought a few months ago. They've been practicing wearing them at school, so when I first busted them out at the parade, J said, "Fire drill?"

New foods this past week include: Kettle Corn and bacon. J has been really rockin' the toast lately. Yay!

J came home from school yesterday with his first "naughty note." I guess at the band/chorus concert (which he thoroughly enjoyed while wearing the earphones, btw), he pulled a girl's hair. When the teacher told him not to do it, he did it again. Stinker! I read the note and had a little chat with him about being nice to our friends. He took it all in and turned to me and said, "Dot Com!" Glad he was listening and thinking about his behavior. The teacher said the girl wasn't upset, but hopefully, it won't happen again.

And now for the Soapbox portion of the program...Nothing bothers me more than to hear people refer to people with special needs as a special needs child or a Downs child or an autistic child. These kids are kids, first and foremost. You wouldn't say a cancer child or a heart defect child or chromosomal disordered child. Jackson is an adorable little boy who happens to have a diagnosis. The diagnosis does not define who he is as a person. I know I've posted something to this effect before, but it's worth repeating.

Object du Jour: The Yo Gabba Gabba pieces and parts.

Can I get a do-over?

This has been a really long week...

My car died at J's school and the custodian had to come out and give me a jump. He really was not happy to do so. I'm pretty sure I need a new battery.

Then, we finally go out and get a new gas grill. Menard's had an awesome one on sale. We pick it up, take it home, Randy starts putting it together and we realize, it's the wrong grill. Gah! He talks to the manager who said they can only take it back if it's fully assembled. So, poor Randy had to spend the evening fighting with a grill we weren't even going to keep. We have the right one now (which is still sitting in the box!)

Then, the water heater died. I'm never, ever going to take hot water for granted again. I had to boil water to wash dishes and we ended up giving the boys baths in the sink with boiled water. But, the new one is now in and working. I just had the best bath of my life!

Then, last night I notice that the cat bite on Jameson's calf from earlier in the week has a lovely 3" red ring around it. I called the ped last night who told me to bring him in today. Yep, infection city. Now he's got a 10 day course of augmentin. His first prescription ever. If it doesn't work or gets worse, we go back in. Word of warning: If you ever visit my house, do not make eye contact or even think about the cat. She's just kind enough to let us live here.

Then, I show up for my haircut this morning and my stylist tells me that I wasn't on the schedule for today. She was in the middle of another haircut when I got there. Seriously? It's on my Google calendar, which I live and breathe by. She said she saw me on a few days ago, but then it was gone and thought I had canceled. Nope, not me. She's so darn wonderful that the squeezed me in anyway. I adore her. If you live near me and need a stylist, drop me a note. She thinks what happened is someone with a similar name canceled and they took me off by mistake.
On a happy note: We'll be telling Jackson's story on the radio on the Children's Miracle Marathon for Children's Hospital at the end of the month. Very exciting!

Object du Jour: A plastic letter X, occasionally known as the "criss cross" and the Dr. Seuss ABC book. He's sleeping with both now.

If you go to Carget for Elmo soap, don't forget your legs.

We've been trying to give J a variety of sensory experiences to help him integrate his environment better. An OT suggested we let him play with funny foam in the tub. He absolutely hates it. If it floats near him, he starts to panic. J2 (naturally) loves it. They take baths together, so it's a bit of a challenge.

J2 asked for some "Elmo foam" yesterday in the tub (Elmo is on the can). I squirted the can and it was empty. J2 said, "Go Carget, get Elmo foam. Take Jackson and legs with." I'm happy he remembered his legs and his brother!

J has just been pouring over picture books lately. It's interesting to see what he zeros in on in pics. He sees things I didn't even notice were there. His favorite picture (lately) is on of me sitting on the couch holding a very newborn J2. He has titled this great work of photogeraphic ('member Bozo?) art, "Watch the news." I must watch a lot of news. LOL

I think I posted a few weeks ago (and frankly I'm too lazy to look) about J's teacher using a paper iPod with changeable pics on the screen of what J should be doing next. When she comes to get him from me when I drop him off, the iPod has a pic of the classroom on it. She told me yesterday that he responds so much more readily to the pics on the iPod than to verbal directions. She can repeat a directive several times and he won't move, but she shows him the iPod and he's on his way. I've always thought that J was much more visual than auditory. I guess this proves it!

J has started calling the Banker's lamp on my computer desk, "Elvis." Hmmm.

Object du Jour: The photo books and the letter X.

Gorman no more and hooray for toast!

J finally got a haircut on Friday. We had to see someone other than Mr. Tim because he was out of town. This is the first time in the history of ever that J got a haircut from someone other than Mr. Tim. I think it was harder on me than on him!

Daddy got J in the chair and the stylist thought J was 3. No biggie, happens all the time, he gets into more events for free that way. Ha! She asked him what he wanted her to put on the TV and he said, "Watch the news." That's my guy, always staying up on current events! The cut looks nice, we've been keeping it a bit longer because they don't have to use the clippers that way, which freak J out.

I was talking to another SN parent at a SN parent meeting and she (Hi Jennifer!) asked if I noticed J's nails growing a lot faster on the formula. I hadn't thought of it before, but I do need to clip J's nails twice as often as I do Jameson's and he's now gotten two haircuts to Jameson's one. I think there is something to this theory!

I was making toast for everyone yesterday morning and J asked for a slice. I made one for him and cut it into rectangles. He ate almost the whole thing! Yeah toast! Now I'll gradually move to adding things to the toast like jelly or Sunbutter and see how it goes.

J came home from school on Friday with the mother of all iPods! It was huge! And, it had AAA written on it. He calls it the "giant iPod!" But even better, he came home with an Ellen mask. Someone at school made him a paper plate mask with a tongue depressor handle with Ellen's face on it. I laughed so hard when I pulled it out of his bag! I'll get a pic of J with it and post it.

Object du Jour: The Thomas ABC book from his Scholastic Book order. We're also very into Chica Chica Boom Boom and Dr. Seuss's ABC book. Noticing a trend here? LOL

See? (Missing the 'stache though)

Forget the Beatles, we've now entered Gorman Thomas territory

Yeah, so they both need haircuts. Mr. Tim, here we come!

We went to Kid's Fest yesterday with my brother and niece. Jackson cried at the noise for the first 15 minutes or so and then he was fine. He looked at many of the exhibits and commented on what he saw. That was great to see!

We got all sorts of goodies and Jameson won a cool purple soccer ball. J2 and his cousin had a great time together. They waited in line to get a balloon animal and shared their treats. It was fun to see!

Object du Jour: A piece of paper with T A X written on it. Why that's fun, no clue.

PS Look, it's a creepy Gnome! Just in time for Syttende Mai!

The Chateau v. 2890232098.2

Off to the Hopstible last night with a little boy who was dancing on the kitchen floor in socks and wiped out right on his forehead. I don't know how we're going to teach this guy to get his arms out when he falls. The bump on his noggin was instantly huge, but he didn't throw up or lose consciousness.

I called the ped on call and he felt because Jackson couldn't tell us how he was feeling or if his vision was blurry, we should go into the ER and have a neuro exam done. The doctor at the ER felt J was doing OK and that we should bring him back if anything changes. Just give him ibuprofen every 6 hours.

He's fine this morning, but there's a nasty bruise right above his right eye. Poor guy. After it happened, he kept holding the big bump and yelling, "Get the medicine!"

Object du Jour: The Thomas blankey and an iPod.

A new fashion trend!

Aaaand, this is what happens when I bring the laundry up from the dryer and leave the basket unattended. He was having a full-on phone conversation on a roll of parchment paper at the grocery store yesterday. It went like this: "Hello? Yes, yes. Packers!! Bye!" Oh, this child cracks me up!

Jackson is having a whiny day today. He keeps telling me he needs medicine. I hope and pray he isn't getting sick. He wants to go to school so badly. Poor fella asks every day if we are going. The weather wasn't so hot for his Spring Break. Snowing yesterday, but at least it's sunny today.

Object du Jour: The letter game. J keeps asking me to make it do rectangles and then gets very upset with me when I tell him it doesn't make rectangles. Good thing he's back to school Monday. He's getting a bit of cabin fever, I think.

Look at this face!

How can someone this adorable cause so much trouble? I can't believe how big he's gotten so quickly! He amazes me daily with all the things he knows.

Object du Jour: A giant iPod on a huge piece of paper!

Stand in awe of the cuteness!

Look at this face! Missing tooth, rectangle glasses and hair like a Beatle (or a Jonas Brother, you can pick your own reference!) He's so stinkin' cute!

Object du Jour: The rectangle game and all the rediscovered outdoor toys. It's finally warm enough to play outside!

Eyes, Milk and Peanuts, Oh my!

Eye clinic today. J's eyes are still 20/50, which the orthoptist is happy about because he hasn't gotten worse. So, we'll decrease his patching to two days (4 hours total) a week and check again in 2 months to make sure the level is still consistent. Then we'll go down to 2 hours a week and if he's still doing the same, we'll stop the patching and he'll only wear the glasses.

Got the written results of the allergy labs in the mail today. Haven't gotten these before, so it's interesting to see the actual levels. The items tested are rated 0-6 (absent to very high) depending on the blood levels. He's "moderate" in milk and whey and "high" in peanut. He's very close to "very high" for peanut.

Got to break out the sidewalk chalk, bikes and lawnmowers for the fellas this afternoon while I did some yard work. I roped J2 into picking up pinecones for me for a bit until the novelty wore off.

J is "Star of the Week" this week at school. We made a poster with pictures of J and his family, his favorite song and color and things he likes. So we glued on pictures of iPods, Ellen, the Elmo microwave, toy catalogs and Yo Gabba Gabba. He did a great job coloring it and helping me write his name and mark his age by drawing candles on a cake.

Object du Jour: We did take an iPod to eye clinic today, but he's been really loving that new Leap Frog letter toy.

Doesn't everyone wear a Sombrero while checking their e-mail on the world's oldest laptop? Ole!

The missing tooth!

What do you mean I can only find 6?

Yeah toast!!

Guitar Hero! Note the backwards Pj's. If I don't zip 'em up backwards, I find a nakey baby in the morning.

Waitin' on the Tooth Fairy!

J lost his first tooth this morning! I was pulling off his turtleneck and saw a bit of blood on his lip. I looked in his mouth and saw the gaping hole. It's the tooth that he hit on the shopping cart and the dentist told us it would probably fall out earlier than normal. J doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all. The hole unfortunately allows more food to fall out of his mouth, but hopefully he'll get the hang of it quick.

The Tooth Fairy is bringing J a Leap Frog letter game. He doesn't understand the concept of money, so at least this is something educational.

We went on an Easter Egg Hunt this morning. There were a lot of people there! J didn't seem to have a clue what was happening, but he didn't cry or panic. Jameson had to hold onto both buckets. He liked petting the real bunny and gathering up the eggs. Neither kid was a fan of the Easter Bunny himself. They both loved opening up the eggs they found and seeing what was inside. There were some really cool treats like an ice cream cone from Culver's, a kid's meal from Rocky Rococo's and a 5.00 gift card to Stonefire Pizza plus game tokens from Stonefire, candy, and little Easter trinkets. I'll post pics after we get them off the camera.

Object du Jour: J had to carry an iPod all through the egg hunt.

Don't snoozie or you'll miss the newsie!

J started saying that yesterday. He thinks it's hysterical!

The doctor from the allergy clinic called today. No change in milk or peanut, so he's still allergic. She did say that the data on milk is older and there's a slim chance he could outgrow it by age 12. Peanut is probably lifelong. Peanuts are pretty easy to avoid for the most part. I would love to see him outgrow milk, as that would open up so many more foods to him. I guess we just wait and see.

J is "Star of the Week" next week in JK. He also has to bring snack, so "French Fries" for everyone!

J's new food: toast. He's fascinated by it. I made him a slice yesterday and he told me he needed "jelly" aka Sunbutter on it because that's what I was having. I put a thin layer on the toast and he nibbled a bit on it and didn't seemed bothered by the Sunbutter. Yay!

Going to bed has been really rough for J the last few weeks. He asks nightly to sleep in our bed. He starts out in his bed and one night we found him asleep on our floor and another night asleep in our bed. I'm not sure what the issue is; I wish he could tell us more. Nights when he's on the pump aren't a problem; he knows he can't get out of bed.

At school, J now has an "iPod." His teacher made a iPod that has changeable pictures from the PECS program that show J where he's supposed to go. When I drop him off at school, she hands him the iPod with a picture of the classroom and he goes straight there. She said so far it's been helpful at keeping him focused on where he's supposed to going or what he's supposed to be doing with minimal distractions. Hopefully, it continues! Clever idea!

Tomorrow we're going to attempt an Easter Egg Hunt with the fellas. I know J2 will love it, we'll see how it goes with J.

Object du Jour: "Mommy's Book" J's speech therapist made him a book last year of different rooms in a house with objects labelled. Jackson has really been obsessing over this lately. He calls it Mommy's book, but I have no clue why.

It's all fun and games until Elvis gets lost at the Hopstible

GI today. 29 lbs, 1 oz. 38 inches. We saw beh psych, speech, nurse and nutrition. They are happy with his small weight gain considering the pound he lost when he was sick. We talked about food ideas, ABA therapy and how Jackson is doing in general. They thought that Beyonce as a motivator to try new foods was pretty funny. Surprisingly, they don't have any other Beyonce addicts on their patient lists.

Overall, they were pleased with how he is doing and were impressed with how well he ate the crackers he stole out of my bag.

After we met with the team, we headed downstairs to the lab for allergy and GI panel blood work. Poor J cried so hard and kept yelling, "Take it out, take it out!" She took 8 vials of blood! And to add insult to injury, she put a circular band-aid on the wound.

J had to bring a fistful of iPods along to the Hopstible and unfortunately, Elvis didn't make it home. We lost him somewhere between GI Clinic and the Lab. The woman at the lab looked at us like we were nuts with J yelling, "Finda Elvis!" over and over. I really wonder what the person who finds him will think.

On the way down the skywalk to the parking ramp, J kept collapsing and between sobs would yell, "Finda Elvis", "Rectangle Bamdaid", and "Make a new Elvis!" I made him a new Elvis and packed him up and sent him to school. Hopefully, all was right with the world at school.

Object du Jour: The iPods.

Happy St. Paddy's!!

I have both boys dressed in green to celebrate their 1/4 Irishness! He was yelling "Uff Da" this morning in his green shirt; I guess to celebrate his 1/2 Norwegianness! Green is totally J's color. I didn't realize it at the time, but I dressed in him green for all 3 of his school portraits.

Jackson has just been amazing me with his language lately! He was sitting at dinner last night and he said, "Mommy, come over here." I know, it doesn't sound like much, but a whole appropriate sentence with perfect eye contact!

Eating has been going well! He tried a Beech Nut puree last night of sweet corn and rice. I mixed in some sweet potatoes to make it a little more familiar to J and he ate two jars! As I'm typing this he's standing here munching on "french fries" aka Veggie Stix. He still prefers dry and crunchy over everything else, but we're going to keep working on it!

Stopped at the health food store last night after hearing that there's such a thing as "dairy-free" mac and cheese in the frozen section. They didn't have any, but I did find a boxed dairy-free
mac and cheese to try. Hopefully, J will like it. I'm on a mission to find foods that J can eat for lunches next year that will not look too odd to the kids around him.

Just rambling today, I'm sure I'll more to say tomorrow after the GI visit.

Object du Jour: The Ellen and Elvis iPods. Good thing they're easily replaceable, J loves to chew on them. Sorry about the lack of pictures lately, the camera charger is MIA.

Apple seriously needs to look into making an Ellen iPod.

We had J's 3 year update IEP meeting yesterday. I was very pleased with what everyone had to say about him (man, they all know him backward and forward!) The plan will be to have him go to summer school for education and speech and then stay at his current school next year for 5K and Spec Ed plus therapies. I really wanted to keep him where he is now and luckily everyone (all 12 of them, nope not intimidating at all!) agreed. He will be in school all day, which means lunch and recess and he will also get adaptive PE.

Sadly, his speech therapist is retiring and he'll have someone new next year. That's really a bummer because he talks about her a lot and she celebrates J's achievements just as much as I do. We'll really miss her.

I found out at the meeting that J actually has a few little friends in the JK class. It makes me so happy to hear that! There's Catherine, who was the peer in his class last year and I think J is crushing on her a little, Aidan, who he's known his whole time in EC, Victoria, who greeted J today when we got to school and Christian, who thinks coconuts are just as funny as J does. His teacher told me that the kids are all very careful and protective with J and slow down on the stairs when he's on them. I hope it stays this way and no one ends up being mean to him because he's different.

Allergy clinic visit today. Saw the new dr., she seems nice, but was in/out very quickly. Our old allergist moved back to Israel. We really liked him and I was sad to see him go. The plan is do another RAST for milk and peanuts and if, by chance, the peanut comes back negative, we'll do the skin test just to make sure. I'm going to hold onto the script and have the blood draw done when they do his GI panel; I want to minimize the sticks as much as possible.

GI/Feeding Team next week. According to the scale at Allergy, J is 29 lbs, 2 oz, so he's gained back what he lost when he was sick and then some. Hopefully he break 30 lbs soon!

J has been much more interested in food lately. He absolutely loves these Veggie Stick things that are a baked crunchy snack made out of vegetables. Between J and J2 (and maybe I helped a little) the bag is almost gone already!

Object du Jour: The Ellen "iPod." The resident asked J was he was holding and he said, "Ellen, Ellen, Ellen." I told her it was an Ellen DeGeneres iPod and she just gave me an odd look and went back to asking milk related questions.

The Magic Kingdom

We just booked our hotel for DisneyWorld in October! I'm so excited! Jameson is going to love it! I'm worried about Jackson's reaction.

I ordered him a set of sounding blocking ear muffs, which came Friday and he wants no part of. Jameson has been wearing them on his forehead since I took them out of the box. My plan is to get J used to them over the summer at festivals and State Fair, places he normally says are "too loud." Visually, I know he'll love Disney, auditorily, not so much.

The boys played in the noodle bucket most of the morning. Jameson loves to scoop, dump and "cook." Jackson popped the dried noodles in his mouth the second I opened the container. He'll eat that, but not regular food. Now we're off to find something to do outside because it's supposed to be in the 40's today. Heat wave!!

Object du Jour: The Ellen iPod with a side of noodles.

In the interest of equal time...

March is also:

Save Your Vision Month
National Kidney Month
Workplace Eye Wellness Month

and contains:

School Breakfast Week
National Problem Gambling Awareness Week (I need to have a talk with Jackson about this)
National Poison Prevention Week
and for the love of everything holy: National Root Canal Awareness Week *shudder*

Last night we went to watch a friend show his Great Dane, Lucy. Holy cow, that's a big dog and she's just a puppy! She stood a head taller than the boys, but is very sweet.

Jackson was afraid at first, and kept telling me the "Arf Arf too loud" whenever a dog would bark. (There were shows of different breeds all over the auditorium) I told him the doggies were talking to each other. He seemed to accept that and was pretty much OK the rest of our time there.

Poor Lucy got second place because she had a bit of a swollen foot and couldn't trot they way the judge wanted. She didn't seem to mind though and was happy to lay on the floor and let the boys pet her.

This morning both boys have asked to go back to "Lucy's house."

Object du Jour: Still the Ellen iPod.

Faces of Trisomy video

Here is the Faces of Trisomy video from the 2009 SOFT Conference in VA. Pictures taken by Jude Wolpert. Unfortunately, we didn't make it last year, but I hope to make it to the meeting in South Dakota in July.

Object du Jour: Nothing cooler than an Ellen iPod.

TRIS

http://web.coehs.siu.edu/Grants/TRIS/kidsofTRISDateOrder.html

Here's another great organization you may want to learn more about:

TRIS - Tracking Rare Incidence Syndromes

TRIS has been collecting data on kids with different types of trisomy and they make this data available to parents, doctors and other professionals working with kids with trisomies to increase the global knowledge base. This helps determine courses of treatment and therapies, but also helps show that a trisomy dx is not always, "incompatible with life" as some doctors like to say.

Jackson is on his 3rd year of participation in this project. He was also one of their featured kids in 2007. You can see his little two year old face in the link above. Wow, that seems like forever ago!

Object du Jour: I can now draw iPods in my sleep.

FYI

http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1209.asp


For more information on chromosomal abnormalities, here's a link to the March of Dimes website. It's written in parent-friendly language, which many of the pages I find are not.

March is Trisomy Awareness Month!

Please keep all these amazing babies, kids and adults in your thoughts and prayers. Not all trisomy children are as healthy as Jackson. We are very, very lucky and I remind myself of that daily.

Please consider a donation to SOFT:

Trisomy Awareness Month
Support Organization for Trisomy 18, 13 & Related Disorders
2982 South Union Street
Rochester, NY 14624-1926
(800) 716-SOFT (7638)
(585) 594-4621

www.trisomy.org

Same stuff, different day.

We're wrapping up our last morning in the Dells. We ended up staying at the Great Wolf Lodge instead of the Kalahari because the Kalahari only had one night for us instead of two and they were sold out the other night. We haven't stayed here before, but it's pretty nice. I love the areas in the waterpark they have for the smaller kids. Jameson loved it, especially the play jet skis with the squirting handlebars. J wasn't a huge fan of anything. See the picture in a previous post with J with his fingers in his ears? Imagine that same pose only with a soaking wet child in a bathing suit.

He eventually came around on our second night and was OK if I held him in the larger pool. I had to sing parts of the Vampire Weekend song to make it more bearable. After a bit, he was smiling and laughing. He thought the giant water-dumping bucket was hysterical, if only a little bit too loud.

J didn't like the arcade much either. He stood with his fingers in his ears with tears leaking out of his eyes while Jameson played a game. J2 won a rubber snake out of a machine on the first try. I had to spend another 6 tokens to get a sobbing J one too. Maybe I shouldn't just let Jameson try again, he was much better at the game then I was!

This has been a nice little vakay! Back to reality this afternoon!

Object du Jour: I wasn't thinking and only brought one "iPod." It ripped in half after J sucked on it all weekend. He was not a happy camper after that. The snake has helped him feel a little better.

A snake says, "FFFFFFFF"

Jackson has been playing a letter fishing game at school. He came home and talked about it non-stop. I asked his teacher about the game and she told me where it came from. When I looked into buying it, it turns out the game would be over 50.00 with shipping. Yikes! So I went to the local teacher store and improvised my own game. I bought a bucket of giant magnetic letters and we made our own fishing poles and it came out to less than 20.00.

But, the whole point of this is to say that I'm amazed/shocked/thrilled at how many letters he knows! And, not only that, but he knows about half of the letter sounds! For the first time, I actually feel like J could learn to read! I've been showing him how to sound out words (like Black Pepper on the infamous pepper box). He seems to somewhat understand it!

I showed him the letter F and asked him what it says. He said, "FFFFFF, like a snake." He just brought me a D and said, "D for Daddy." Holy cow! Who is this kid? We've got post its everywhere with words on them that he's asked me to write. We've got a long way to go, but I'm optimistic we'll get there!

Off to Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday and Sunday and then to the Kalahari Sun-Tues. Can't wait!

Object du Jour: Letters, post its and words!

Check It Out Now, Funk Soul Brotha...

I've now discovered that Fatboy Slim is a great motivator to get a certain someone eat scrambled eggs. "Eat" being a bit of a broad term, but he allowed three separate pieces of egg in his mouth briefly and then promptly spit them out. No gagging or tantrums, so I'd consider it a success! At first, he would blow the egg off the spoon and quickly stick the spoon in his mouth like he'd eaten it. Stinker. Hopefully with continued exposure, eggs can be a new food to add to the list.

I've been amazed lately with the continued expansion of J's conversational skills and the questions he's been asking. I've heard that he's talking more at school as well.


The boys are currently having a blast with a Handy Manny paint with water book. Who knew two small people could make such a mess with less than a 1/4" of water?

I got to head out on my girl's weekend this past weekend and no one cracked their head open or ended up at The Chateau. Success!

Object du Jour: Still the iPod pictures, but with a twist. I have to write out the whole alphabet on one side of a piece of paper, and on the other I have a draw an iPod with AAA or XXX on it. The AAA is for Vampire Weekend's A-punk song and the XXXs, I'm not sure. He calls them "criss crosses" though.

For everything bad I said about Walgreens...

I just want to give a shout-out to Florence! She rocks!

Object du Jour: A picture of iPods from this week's Target ad.

If you like then you shoulda took a bite of it...

I've have now found the best motivator for J to try new/textured foods...Beyonce. He adores the song "Single Ladies." Tonight I told him if he took a bite of his spaghetti (it's Gerber, but it's chunky with noodles in it), I would put on the song for him. He tried a couple fake out bites and I would play a second or two of the song. It went this way for a few minutes and finally he took a bite and got to listen to more of the song. Finally it got to the point where he was chowing on the spaghetti and boppin' along to the music. I'm just happy he's eating and trying new things. And if it takes 5 rounds of "Single Ladies" to get there, I'm all for it. I'll never get the song out of my head, but hey, it's worth it! (Lame post title I know. That's all I got.)

We went to a birthday party for J's cousin yesterday at an indoor playground. I got there a little early to let J acclimate to the new environment. He did ok until more people started to arrive. Then he walked around with his fingers in his ears. He eventually started to cry and kept running out of the main room. Thank goodness the boys' cousin was there, he took Jameson around and helped him on the climbing structures while I held J.

The first pic is J closing out the noise at the party, the second pic is J imitating the cat stretching in the sunshine, and the 3rd pic is J with his boatload of Valentines and treats from his school party.

The last pic requires a little more explanation. J loves the way light shines through things. On the bottom is a light up aquarium from Aunt Donna. J placed the Elmo microwave on top to see the light shine through and tossed in the kitchen timer for added measure. He put different things in/out of the microwave for a long time. Interesting to see how his mind works.

Object du Jour: J is loving his Handy Manny phone.

Best Buy's House

For a 5 1/2 year old boy, you'd think Toys R Us would be the place he begs to go. Nope, Best Buy. Heaven on Earth! They have microwaves, Wiis, phones, and iPods all in one place! Amazing, right? He runs from thing to thing giggling the whole time.

We went to BB tonight to look for maracas for the Wii. When I met the teacher that J may have next year we started chatting about the Wii and how she uses the Wii Fit board in the classroom. (J doesn't weigh to activate the board) I told her that using the Wiimote has been hard for Jackson because there's too many things to push. She showed me the maracas and told me about the games they go with. The Wiimote fits inside the maraca and all he has to do is shake it. Sounds cool! They didn't have any at BB, so I'll have to order them online.

Then we went to TRU to find a b-day present for the boys' cousin. I also got them a little Valentine treat. Jackson will be getting a cool Handy Manny phone and Jameson will be getting his very own broom/dustpan combo and some candy. Exciting huh? I know J2 will flip over the broom, then maybe he'll leave my mop alone.

Object du Jour: Still the paper iPods. I tried to find a toy iPod at TRU with no luck.

Are you seeing this???

Jameson has figured out to make a "fort" in the living room with the fold out Little People village. He blocks off the entryway by the front door and wants us to sit in there with him while he makes "foffee" in his kitchen set. When Daddy and I are busy, Jameson settles for strong arming Jackson into sitting in his fort. He'll grab J by the shirt and drag him to the living room. Needless to say, J is not a fan of this at all. After being manhandled several times by his brother, Jackson looks at Daddy mid-pull and yells, "Randy are you seeing this!??" We laughed so hard. Poor Jackson!

Things are in motion for next school year. Jackson will get rechecked at school in all areas and then we meet with the team March 10th to discuss the results and decide what the plan is for next year.

Up to 15" snow today. Ugh! So far, school is still on. Maybe we'll have to go for a sled ride later.

Object du Jour: Still the bucket of magnet letters.

*Ahem*

ORTHOPTIST. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Object du Jour: A rediscovered bucket of magnet letters. J knows more letters than I thought he did.

P.S. Daddy took the boys to the children's museum today for 4 hours. Absolute Heaven! Got lots of stuff done and then just sat and enjoyed the silence for awhile!

We don't need no stinkin' apples!

Wowza, this has been a long week. We somehow survived without too much damage to anything or anyone! Daddy came back last night, so we took the boys to the domes to see the trains and feel a bit of spring. They were having a Chinese New Year festival as well, so the boys got some chocolate coins for good luck.

J had a follow-up eye clinic appt this week. The opthortist feels that J's vision is 20/50 in both eyes; last time one eye was 20/50 and the other was 20/80. I think the test results are very dependent on how cooperative J is feeling that day. She asks him to label black and white block images of a circle, apple, house and square on a computer screen across the room. J doesn't feel any love for the apple picture and refuses to label it. I know that child knows what an apple is! He (naturally) loves the square and the house and will begrudingly label the circle. It didn't help (or maybe it did) that the peanut gallery, aka, J2, sat munching on a bag of veggie sticks and shouting out the correct answers. We now patch him MWF and he wears glasses only on RF. We'll go back in two months and see how it goes.

J's been getting a touch more adventurous in the eating department. He will actively chew and swallow peas and green beans without issue! He's OK with baby food meats, but had a fit when I mixed some ground beef into a puree. We're getting there!

J2 is talking so much lately! He's able to ID the sound of any animal. When he's asked what Daddy says, Jameson says, "Duuuude." When asked what Mommy says, he says, "No, no, no, no" while waggling a little finger in the air. Yep, I guess that sounds about right.

Object du Jour: An orange DVD case. Why that's fun, I'll never know.

Carns in my pockick.

I think we're finally coming to the end of illness round 187.3 for the '09-10 winter season. Jackson has major green nose and Jameson has had a few croupy sounding coughs, but it hasn't become full blown. *fiercely knocking wood*

We tried Jameson out of the crib for a week. After a week of him running around the room, emptying drawers and jumping on J's bed in the middle of the night, he's now back in the crib. He climbs out of the crib, but at least I can catch him before he's totally out. We'll try again when he's say, 16 or so.

So, with both boys sick, the freezing cold weather and daddy gone for week, I've had to get creative to keep the boys occupied. J2 and spent a good hour coloring with half of that spent on him putting, "Carns in my pockick." I have a pocket on the front of my shirt that I now know can hold a lot of carns.

I've also made a boatload of iPods out of scrapbooking paper. I even got fancy and made green ones (just like mommy's) with pictures the the boys in the center. J is thrilled with these. He took his to school and I had to explain to his teacher what it was.

C'mon spring! Seriously, that groundhog better not see his shadow or we're going to have a problem.

Object du Jour: The pink suitcase. But apparently, I didn't find the right pink suitcase. I had no clue we had more than one. This is going to be a long week.