rain, rain, go away!

Is it just me or does this weather suck the energy right out of you?  Like everyone we know who owns a home, we have one of those really long to do lists (that I’m not going to get into now).  Unfortunately today, it was like the rain just washed away any and all motivation.   It’s miserable.  It makes me grumpy. 

You can imagine what that meant for September!  I’ve been told we didn’t break any records for rainfall in September but I was also told that it rained 23 out of 30 days.  Not good, not good at all.  There are excuses for September though… ok, well maybe only one really good one and that’s getting back into the school routine.  I milked it for the whole month!  It’s an adjustment for the whole family.  Back to regular bathing (or at least arguing about it) and brushing hair (ditto), making lunches, packing snacks, morning alarms, aiming for decent bedtimes, and the dreaded homework.  Basically it just opens up the house to a bunch of things to complain and argue about… and yet, it’s the most wonderful time of the year?!?!! 

The girls also started some after school activities; Ryland’s in a hip hop dance class and Darcy is taking gymnastics.   Weeknights are always busy with the girls not getting home from school until 4:30, which I realize is the same time they used to get home when I was going to work!  Damian doesn’t get home from work until 6pm.  We try (or I try and they fight) to get homework done before dinner, so we can have some quality family time, baths and get into bed at a reasonable time… maybe all the fighting has more to do with the fact that once we put them to bed neither of them go to sleep!  Ryland reads.  Definitely a good thing however her clock recently died so she’ll just read until you realize she’s still up and get her to put it away.  I think Darcy is just determined to stay up as late as her sister.  Anyway, mornings are no fun, nights are no fun.  Maybe it’s just Mommy who needs more sleep!

With rainy days like today I just want to stay in my jammies, snuggle up with a good book (hmmm wonder where Ry gets it from?) maybe a hot chocolate… 

Instead we were off to occupational therapy (OT) first thing this morning, where Caelan was able to show off all his new transitions.  Julie (OT) had a fun new experience for Caelan – fish in water.  The fish were gummy candy sharks and the water was blue jello.  Caelan wouldn’t touch it, he was disgusted!  Made quite the faces too!  A few sessions ago we decided that maybe we should stop with the oral feeding sessions as Caelan was becoming less tolerant.  I’m not sure this didn’t have more to do with his 2 year old molars coming through, but regardless we’ve stopped.  We want to separate the possible issues and ensure that Caelan will tolerate dental care, if not food.  So Mom and Caelan have been playing silly “look-I-can-hold-it-in-my-mouth-with-no-hands” games.  This tells me that the object (block, Tupperware, sock …) is at least a somewhat in Caelan’s mouth and hopefully, eventually, we’ll get him to be more acceptant of a toothbrush or spoon.  Julie still wants him to experience different foods through touch, hence the fun fish and water.

As soon as we got home from OT it was time for our ASL (American Sign Language) lesson.  These lessons are always fun and exhausting.   More fun for me now since Damian’s home to share the learning, although I think he finds them more exhausting! 

Finally, I was off to pick up Darcy at school to take her to gymnastics.  I did groceries while she was in her class.  Home for dinner, baths and bed.  Come to think of it, when did I expect to get to that blasted to do list today anyway???

Check that one off the list!

Things are rolling right along here, or more accurately Caelan is rolling all over the place and so proud of it!  ok.  "all over the place" may be a bit of an exaggeration.  It's not like he's rolling up and down the halls and touring the house.  He still pauses in between rolls. He's just come so far in such a short time.  I'm so proud of our boy and that's not all... We've got TRANSITIONS!!! Caelan can now transition from being on his back to a sitting position all on his own and he can also go from a sitting position to being on his tummy.  This is HUGE and so exciting. 
We had a meeting with Caelan’s entire OCTC (Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre) Team just before we left for Florida at the end of August.  The purpose of this meeting was to make sure that everyone knew what was being worked on and what we, his parents, felt were priorities. When asked what we wanted Caelan to accomplish, our answer of course was “everything”.  As we got down to the nitty gritty I knew that walking was definitely a priority because, frankly, lugging around a 26 pounder all the time is tiresome!  I also knew that this was too much of the big picture variety goal and needed to be broken down.  I understood that the first step to achieving this goal would be for Caelan to be able to get himself into a sitting position on his own.  Today he was able to do that over and over again and I cheered him on each and every time!

Blue Skies

Caelan and I tried our best to enjoy that beautiful sunshine today.  The air was fresh and crisp; it was the perfect fall day.  I love days like this.  We could have spent all day outside, but I'm determined to get back into some sort of routine with all his exercises.  I'm proud to say that today we managed to get through Caelan's "list" and still had lots of time for a walk, a swing in the park and a horse ride in the backyard.  Caelan is big into pointing right now which makes our walks (and every other minute of the day) interesting.  Not only am I trying to determine what he's pointing at but I'm hoping that I'll know a sign for it!  If not, well, I resort to some sort of description since at least I know my colours pretty well!


crazy hair, eh?




  

Caelan in his Prone Board Stander

 

Sleepy Sunday

We're a sleepy family today!  Both girls had sleepovers last night.  I probably don't need to say more, but I will.  :)
Ry slept over at her girlfriend's house and tells me that they were in bed by ten o'clock... asleep not long after that... sure...  She was pretty grumpy tonight.  In fact, we had an amusing evening as Ry tried hard to stay mad over something silly that had us all poking fun at her.  In all her grump she couldn't keep a straight face and the giggles kept sneaking up on her.  She'd try to cover them up with a good howl or wail, never quite pulling it off though.  I know this isn't behaviour we want to encourage but it was good to see her laugh at herself too.  I couldn't help but get the camera to let her see how her eyes showed her laughter.  Nice try Ry!




"I'm a natural grump!"

 

uh huh



Darcy had her BFF, Ellie, over here for a sleepover. Darcy and Ellie were in bed by nine, and informed me through giggles at 10:30 that they planned on staying up until midnight... they almost made it but I was back in my bed (after a series of shhh girls) by 11:45.  They were both up before seven this morning!  Despite not having much sleep they both had much more energy than I did today and spent lots of it enjoying the beautiful fall day!

Leaps and Bounds

Over the past 48 hours I can't believe all that my son has accomplished!
First it was pulling himself up to kneeling, which he followed up nicely with some great strong standing at physiotherapy.  All be it assisted, he stood for a long time without his legs buckling out from underneath him.  Last night he decided he wouldn't mind tummy time and rolled himself over onto his stomach!!  Then he pushed himself up on his arms to take a look around, all smiles!!!  That has NEVER happened before.  He repeated this several times, even pushing himself backwards with those strong arms.  He then started pulling his knees up, not into a crawling position, but more frog like.  I didn't think he had the strength to pull his knees right underneath him, not in his hips or in his arms, but was impressed that he kinda had the idea.    Tonight he proved me wrong!  He pulled his knees up right underneath him, so those hips are strong enough... not the arms so much though because there was a bit of a face plant going on.  Can't even imagine what he's going to show us tomorrow!!??