Easter Tradition?

Anybody remember last year's ignoring of the Easter basket? Well this year, Jack actually met the Easter Bunny! Mr. E. Bunny himself went to Jack's school and shook Jack's hand. Ms. Sunny reported that Jack thought the Easter Bunny was one funny guy.

We were thrilled! Since Jack enjoyed meeting Mr. Bunny, we thought it would be a little more concrete for him this year. I talked to Jack about how the Easter Bunny was going to bring him a basket with some surprises. And with a few ideas from some friends, there were great items in the basket. They were sure to please. I just *knew* that this year was going to be different.

To help build the anticipation, I really hyped up the Easter Bunny and the basket on Saturday. Then Saturday evening, I got Jack to help me decorate a very tactile high contrast Easter egg.

It's a foam "egg" on black construction paper. Jack added the bright foam shapes stickers.

I told Jack that we were decorating the egg and leaving it in the basket to let the Easter Bunny know that we celebrate Easter and he was welcome to stop by our house. I even got Jack to help me put the basket in place. My plan was going great!

Sunday morning we woke up to find the egg moved to the art wall and the basket filled.

Dancing, singing, light up rabbit, Spinner rabbit, water balloons, bubble spinner, spinning tops, chocolate Easter bunny, miscellaneous candy, cheese puffs, and popcorn.

And here is a transcript of our conversation:

Marie: Let's see what the Easter Bunny brought you!

Jack: Take a bath!

M: You want to take a bath now?

J: Yes. Irish!

M: Okay, let's go find Irish.

J: Searching. Irish.

M: Searching. (Spots Irish). In the bag.

J: (vision not so good this AM--fluctuates due to cortical visual impairment) Irish?

M: In the bag.

J: Irish?

M: (thumps Irish to make noise) Here's Irish!

J: Irish! (Grabs Irish)

M: (squeezes singing, dancing, light up bunny's hand hoping to generate Easter basket interest) Look!

J: Turn it off.

M: Turn it off?

J: Yes.

M: (turns bunny off)

J: Take a bath (heads to bathroom)

*sigh* Jack was not this conversational last year. He speaks so much more and so much more clearly this year. We have much to be grateful for. But I have to be honest....I really really really wanted him to get excited about that basket this year!

To see other's Magic Marker Monday posts and to link up yourself, click here.

Where is All Access Pass to Jack?

PEEK A BOO!

Sorry I've been scarce around these parts. We have had some very busy days in our household. I hope to get back to more regular posting soon but I wanted to reassure all of you that Jack is not sick or having surgery or anything. He is busy growing and being a little boy and amazing us with how mature he is becoming.

Haircuts have always been a big chore for Jack. Back when he is around one and a half, David and I decided that haircuts were a Jack and Daddy activity. Jack would flail his extremities and his head so that he looked like he was caught up in a tornado while getting his hair cut.

David has been taking Jack to Ms. Barbara, the barber, since that time. Ms. Barbara has always been patient and understanding. In fact, she and her cohorts at the barber shop kept telling us that they have seen much worse.

Then there was yesterday. Jack walked into the barber shop without fuss. He walked up to Ms. Barbara and said "Hey!" After she said, "Hey Jack", he said "Sit in the chair." Ms. Barbara set up the chair for Jack to sit alone and to everyone's amazement, Jack climbed up, sat down and sat still for his haircut. Ms. Barbara said, "Who is this? Where did Jack go?"

Praises During this Small Storm

Jack threw up again sometime last night/early this morning. It's all a blur sometimes. The scary thing is that we did not wake up immediately when it happened. It seems like God usually jolts me awake for these things. But no worries God had his eye on Jack as usual and Jack was laying facedown when I woke up. ***Stop reading here and skip down to the last few sentences of this paragraph if you have a weak stomach.*** I know this is a little graphic but I just want you to know how much God takes care of our little guy. Jack was lying facedown and that caused all the vomit to exit the mask into the Bipap tubing so he did not breathe it in and cause lung damage. Our God is an amazing glorious God who deserves oh so much more praise than I will ever give!!! Anyway I don't know how long he laid like that before I woke up and turned on the light to check on him because I realized something was odd (yet another praise because I was really very sleepy and was just going to turn him over but something (shout out to God!) made me turn on the light first). Anyhow, I turned on the light and was getting him cleaned up when he began vomiting again and much more that time. He refused to eat all day and David said he was pretty lethargic until I finally dragged back home. He perked up a little when his biggest playmate and snuggly comfort item (ME!) arrived. He did eat a little dinner (some cereal and fruit bars--his choice). He's been asleep for a couple of hours and he has not thrown up yet. Pray pray!


Dave is feeling okay. He says he's feeling better since he's at home where he has his medications (Mucinex and Sudafed) and remembers to take them.

I had to work today while my brain tried to knock its way out of my skull little by little. I went to the doctor this afternoon. He says that my neck and shoulder pain were most likely the precursor to me getting sick. He says it's yet another viral sinus infection to be blamed on the ever changing barometric pressure. He gave me a shot to decrease the inflammation, particularly my throat and gave me some other meds and praise the good Lord, meds for my head to quit pounding. They are working.

More Christmas

Another bonus to being home Christmas Day! Jack's big brother, Patrick, his sister-in-law, Holly, and his niece, Elise, came by for a visit.

Apparently Jack was fascinated by Elise's hair.

I was fascinated by the very girly and cute cotton dress that, as we found out later, was also very stain and water resistant.

We had already done some of our present exchanging at the whole family get together the week before but we saved a few items for opening on Christmas Day. As you can see, Jack just loves this part of Christmas gatherings.

Elise and Holly went to see Princess and the Frog for their first just Mommy-Daughter movie so Elise loved her new Tiana doll

and her new Princess Tiana book.

Patrick was thrilled to be the first to give his little brother a remote control vehicle. Jack loved the squishy new car with the big wheels.

Then, Elise proved that it's not just Jack. The newly renovated play area is just too attractive for any kiddo (even a kiddo with brand new toys) to resist.

In fact, Elise's favorite thing was the bucket of miscellaneous freebie toys.

She dug right through it to see what treasures she could find

and prompted her mother to ask if she planned to put her mouth on everything in the bin.

Of course not, Mommy!

But, wait! Where was Jack while all this playing was going down?

Cookies*!!!!

*Keep your eyes peeled for the new t-shirt Jack got from his cousin. I'll have to get a picture of him wearing it soon. It's too cute!

Don't forget to check out the latest installment of Life is Therapy.

Christmas Morning

Santa came to our house and look at all the loot he left!!!

What do you think got Jack's attention first?

The nice tall plush giraffe?

The big wheel?

Um....hamster in a wheel?

Mmmm...'kay....so it was Elmo hanging out of the stocking, right?

Nope, none of the above. Jack walked in the living room, kind of nodded toward what Santa brought, and headed over to his newly renovated play area to delight us with his Schroeder from Charlie Brown impression.

We decided to take it easy and drink a little coffee and let Jack just take his time checking out all his new surprises. After what seemed an eternity, I could take it no longer and started the hamster spinning in the wheel. BINGO! Immediate attraction!

Oh boy! It's a hamster!

Let me look at it from the left.

Got to check the view from the top

and the right

and upside down!

Daddy, did you see my hamster?

After much, much hamster love, Jack turned his attention to his other things.

He went for a spin on his new big wheel,

he subtly cozied up to the giraffe,

and he and Elmo and Irish took a bath.

It really was nice not to have to rush through present opening and out the door.

Check out this week's latest Life is Therapy.

Tackle It Thursday--Play Area!!!

Yeah, I know the button says Tuesday and I am posting on Thursday. I'm just taking a few liberalities with the posting schedule. I read other people's tackle posts and I am in absolute awe of all they get done. Anyway, I awed myself this time so I thought I'd share.

I actually tackled this area over several days little by little the last few weeks. This is what we started with:

an area of the living room overtaken by utter chaos

and a way overcrowded play area.

With Christmas coming and people asking what they should get Jack, I began to panic! No, no, no, no! No more. This space is not even playable and we don't even have a place to put our tree!!! What's a mama to do?

I made some very hard choices. I had to contain the chaos so I broke my own heart and put many, many, many books and puzzles away. I found solace in the idea that putting the books and puzzles away and leaving only a few out would give Jack more room and he would actually be able to get to the books left out.

I also weeded through a lot of the toys and set aside many things that his younger cousins and friends will be able to enjoy now that he no longer plays with them.

This is how the space looked after the inital improvements.....

and Jack was immediately drawn to the space now that it was very playable and roomy!

There is even a designated parking spot for his trike!

And then I was Christmas shopping when I saw something that made my heart go pitter pat! Do you see it?

Shelves--little bookshelves that fit right under the window with a little room left on the top to fit the baskets. {Squeal!} After David quickly assembled our new shelves, I brought all the books back out and put them in our new little "library" shelves. I brought all the puzzles back out too and put them in the baskets.

Now we have lots of great books, puzzles, and toys out and still room to play.

And.....room for our Christmas tree.......

and best of all, the books are very easy access for snuggly reading time with Mama!

To see more Tackle it Tuesday posts, click here.

Don't forget to check out this week's installment of Life is Therapy.

Life is Therapy--Videos

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

This week, let's talk about videos. Last week, Mommytoalot shared a video of her son Joey dancing to a video on YouTube. Back in October, Rachel posted a couple of cute videos of Ali and AJ playing together. Go check those out if you have not already. It's fun. Most kids like to watch and/or listen to videos of themselves. They find themselves fascinating. Jack is no exception. He loves to see himself playing and having fun. Some of his favorites right now include swinging at the park, banging on pots, saying "Happy Birthday", and splashing in the tub.

Making and watching videos of your child playing can be therapeutic in so many different ways. Watching videos over a span of time can show you how your child has grown physically and developmentally. Sometimes watching videos of your new talker can help you to recognize some of the words that he or she has been trying to say. Watching a video of your child can put into context some of the silly things that you've wondered about.

If you are in the video with your child, you can use the video as a check up on your interaction skills. Do you wait long enough to give your child a chance to do things on his/her own or do you take over play? Are you directive or playful? Do you respond to his/her attempts at interaction? Do you say and do things that are possible for him/her? Are you having fun?

An unexpected benefit that we have discovered from watching videos together is that Jack uses the videos to refine his speech and other skills. When we watch these short clips of our interactions, Jack will often take over my "speaking role" in the video. He'll imitate me giving directions or laughing or whatever. He also repeats himself but often more clearly than he says the words in the original video. He watches himself playing intently as if he is studying himself like a golfer trying to perfect his swing.

Give it a try. Grab your camera or camera phone and make some videos. Watch them together and have fun!

Recent Life is Therapy Posts:

Relfecting on Where You've Been
What's in Your Child's World
Setting Goals
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

How to Get the Perfect Group Shot

Getting the perfect group shot is just a matter of following a few easy steps.

Step 1. Have all your subjects look at the camera.

*ahem* That's everybody look at the camera.....

um, guys, the camera?

he-lloooooooooo......over here, kids!

JACK! ANJA! BROOKE! JEANIE!

um, yeah, so if everybody looks in the same direction or nearly the same direction or they look like they are thinking about looking in the same direction at some unspecified future interval, go ahead and snap your pic and call it a day.

Don't forget to check out the latest installment of Life is Therapy.

Wordless/Full and Special Exposure Wednesday--Family Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving, we get together with as many of David's five brothers and sisters as possible. The celebration size waxes and wanes depending on how many of the nieces and nephews are able to make it too. It's always a large gathering and as you can see, everybody breaks out the cameras and the hugs.

We always take over David's youngest brother Rob's house. He has a great floor plan to squeeze in lots of people. I love our family and I love seeing them all together. It's a good thing because there are people everywhere!

This year, Jeanie and Grandma sported matching casts.

It was thrilling to see Jack right in the thick of everything this year. He did not stand to the side and watch. He jumped right in with all the other kids.

There was tooty tot singing and dancing.......

and we all piled on the trampoline. I'm pretty sure we had to have reached maximum capacity and we did not even have all the kids on there.

Jeanie couldn't jump on the trampoline but she was a great sport and took her baby cousin for a ride.

So many cute little girls in one family!!! (and those are just the ones that made it to Thanksgiving)

There was little time for contemplative reflection

but lots of time for silly happiness

and playing

and sisterly love.

I think Jack's face pretty well sums it up!

Click for more Wordless Wednesday, Wordful Wednesday, and Special Exposure Wednesday posts.

Don't forget to check out this week's installment of Life is Therapy.