Tuesday, August 25, 2009

It's so quiet here...

Little Man started preschool today. Oh he was SO SO SO excited!!!

We first started off the day back at his old therapy place. He's officially back in OT for the feeding.

We are so excited about Little Man's preschool experience. It's at the public school but it's a new program. They have put 2 children with disabilities in a classroom with 8 'regular' kids. Don't quote me on that, it could be 3 & 7 but you get the idea. They are not only doing regular 4yo preschool curriculum but have built a gross motor lab (room) and a sensory lab. AWESOME STUFF.

A large chunk of the kiddos in his class attend a daycare down the street from the school so they all arrive together. When they walked in Little Man exclaimed, "MY FRIENDS!!!" and that was all she wrote. I tried to tell him bye but he really didn't care. He didn't even notice we left, lol.

As it should be. He's happy & we just know he's going to thrive there. I have to be there in an hour to pick him up & I just can't wait to hear all he's going to tell me about his day. Although I also imagine it could be difficult to remove him from the classroom. Oh boy.

A couple of pictures. Not great quality as he just flat out REFUSED to cooperate for me. Actually, he was acting like such a little stinker this morning that 12:30 wasn't coming quick enough, lol. I think he felt the same way.



One more from the cell phone:

Monday, August 17, 2009

Playing Catch Up

It seems like the past couple of weeks I've either been busy, sleeping or just trying to stay awake.

Last weekend (8-9th) I finally got around to making laundry detergent. I have to say I'm impressed. It was really quick & easy and the clothes are so clean!! I'm also just using vinegar instead of fabric softener. The hardest part about all of this is the psychological battle. We've all been conditioned to think our clothes are supposed to smell "clean" when they come out of the dryer but the reality is that they only smell "clean" because of the extra CRAP they add to detergent or softener!! It's really strange to have your clothes coming out of the dryer smelling like absolutely nothing. We're going to give a try to the essential oils idea to add smell since we already have lots of them from soap making. :)

That weekend also saw a shuffle of furniture in our house. Let me try to explain this. Little Man is having LOTS of tantrums. LOTS of meltdowns and the majority of them are coming from his lack of communication. He cannot simply tell me, "but mommy it's not fair" or "but I had it first" or "but I just want him/her to play with me." Nope, he's not there yet. We're trying. He's trying. But this is his life and we must figure out the best way to help him cope as we try to cope ourselves.

The boys like to play together but since they have separate rooms it means Peanut ends up playing with Little Man's toys and Little Man is none too appreciative of this. So we went ahead and put the bunk beds together and put them in the front room (bigger & where Peanut has been). Little Man now has his top bunk, which is his special space that he KNOWS his little brother cannot get to. He knows he can take a book up there & Peanut can't try to take it or attack it, lol. Things like that.

For now, ALL of their toys are in that room. We moved the crib & dressers into the smaller room and the only thing that happens in there is me getting clothes for the boys & Peanut sleeping in his crib in there. Once Peanut is big enough to be moved into a bed (in a couple of months) he will go on the bottom bunk. Then once the new baby is big enough to share, he & Peanut will share a room.

I can't believe how well this is working though. It's really helped to cut down on the tantrums and the toy stealing, lol.

Little Man's new favorite past time is playing Mario Kart on Wii. Yes, my 3yo is addicted and has major meltdowns about 80% of the time when it's time to turn it off, lol. Needless to say he's quite restricted. At least it's a Wii though and good for his gross motor.

When little man tells you he loves you he says, "Uh Boo." So yesterday I was trying to get him to say 3 separate words, "I Love You." Instead he decided it was much better to say, "I love wii." HAHAHAHAH!!! We laughed SOOOOO hard!!

Of course on Saturday was our fantastic Kroger Super Doubles down here in Texas. I bought 151 items & paid $168 OOP. My total saved was $258 & I have $13 in MIRs coming back to me. Not too shabby. Especially since that included diapers, paper towels, TP & Hygiene items that are normally so much more expensive.

Man I hope they do that again!!!

And the best update of all!!! I went to the doc on Friday and my blood pressure was DOWN! I hope this dosage of medicine works indefinitely! The bad side: The diabetes is here!! But at least I know what to do about that!