Joan with Mike's grandma at the beach in geraldton this summer.
There's John, too, in the blue trunks. He had a great time! It was a few days of relaxation on our holiday - a holiday within a holiday. John still remembers this day, and talks about it a lot - he remembers the mom who brought an ice cream maker and shared with him, and he remembers the playground. He spent months referring to this day as " the bestest day ever!" Sadly, it ended in a nasty burn - and he remembers that part too - but the good far outweighed the bad.
First, is a move. I know, we just renewed our lease until July. But we've been looking into what is out there, and for a few hundred extra a month, we can get a full three bedroom brand new house, with a dishwasher, main floor laundry, fenced yard, near tons of other kids. It means a move to the 'burbs. Mike prefers that, because he works where he lives, and it's easier to work on new homes. The only downfall is we'd be about a half hour drive to the hospital - instead of 10 minutes - but that's not so bad, as long as I don't schedule any appts to conflict with rush hour. We spent an evening doing drive-bys of places we'd seen listed, and they're pretty great. Most hover around the 1600 sqaure foot range, so it's definitely more space. Mike's itchig to go on the sooner side, but I'm not sure about breaking our lease. Technically, we're supposed to find our own replacements if we want to leave our lease, but I can't see the management company doing that in real life - I imagine they'd want to choose their own people. We'll see. Our little nest seemed so cozy at first, but somehow, just one extra little body makes everything feel so cramped.
Second, is Mike's schooling. The official plan has always been to finish the contract, then go back to st catharines, where Mike would finish his schooling. His idea was to move back here for the summers to work. However, we do have a university here, and in the back of our minds has been in inkling that maybe, we should just stay here for the contract AND school. It became a more serious option this week, when Mike actually checked out the physics department online. They have, of all things, an observatory. It has always been Mike's dream to study astrophysics. It isn't ofered at Brock - they only do condensed matter (aka, solid stuff). That would mean doing his thesis on crystal structure, which he wasn't too excited about. Here, he can live out his childhood fantasies. Then he's free to do his teacher's certificate wherever - including Lakehead, which would put us close enough to home for frequent visits. The plan would also allow him to work in Calgary for the summers, without splitting up the family. Again, we'll see. Still thinking, thinking, thinking. He liked the atmoshere at Brock - the profs knew him personally, so it was easy to get extensions when he was too busy with his job. And they made time to listen to him if they didn't understand his answers. He liked the teachers and his classmates. At Mac, the classses were huge, and they tried to weed everyone out, so he'd lose massive marks on minor mistakes, like writing elements as abreviations, instead of spelling them out. He'd like to see where on the "weeding spectrum" U of C physics falls. He's thinking he may give the school a trial run by taking a course or two, then deciding from there. He's even thinking he may go as early as this coming fall. But that depends on finances and many other things.
Anyway, I had better go. Sory for the short update. All the kids are healthy and happy. Joan has a few new words - help. Again. Therapy is on hold until after the holidays. My goal is to have her walk into the appt, but it probably won't happen. We've been out and about with her little walker, but it's scary how fast she goes when she has more space! But it's helped her in ways I'd never anticipated. Normally, she's so painfully shy. But we had taken her walker to Mike's hockey game, because there's a huge observation room upstairs. I figured I'd just let her wander about. So I set it up, and in he walked, and what did my little walflower do? She walked straight up to a group of four kids, gave them a huge smile, and waved hello!!! Then she motored to the opposite end of the room, where there was a little boy about her age, and gave HIM a big smile and wave too! John spent the whole time playing tag with the four older kids, and for the first time, she was able to join in! She wasn't as fast, and they weren't actually playing with her, but they were all running around, and she was running around too, and you could see by the look on her face, she really felt like one of the gang. It was aewsome. She needs more days like that. Unfortunately, she's not very good at running full throttle, or stopping when she's running, so she had a couple of spectacular spills. But she was a trooper - she just got back up and kept on going! At the end, I got a little taste of the hell I'd be facing if she were able bodied. It was time to pack up, so I was heading over to put her back in her stroller...and she ran away from me! I had a crying newbown, a crazed preschooler, who was wired from a long game of tag, and a cheeky toddler, runnng away from me, giggling the whole way! In many ways, I've been spolied by her disability.
The other kids are doing great, too. Dave is a chunk. He's big. He's fat. But he's STRONG. He can already wriggle himself right out of his car seat, if he's not strapped in! He's trying hard to roll over, too. He's so close! He can get from bck to side, but just can't get the rest of the way. But it won't be long. Very scary. He can holf his head up for long perods, and when he's on his tummy, his head is right up, looking about. We're not sure about his hair colour yet. So far, it looks kind of strawberry blonde. But it's too early to tell.
John's doing awesome, too. I'll share with you his favourite knock knock joke de jour:
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Bananarana.
Bananarana who?
Bananarana pooped on you! Then peed on you! Then he ate an orange! (followed by crazy, wild laughter.)
Or, here's one, from his Dadaist series:
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Flashlight.
Flashlight who?
Quack! (followed by insane laughter.)
2 comments:
Well I hope that we can live closer to each other now that we know 100% that we are moving there next month.
Now all we have to do is find an apartment and a job for me. *lol*
don't worry - the city is big, but it's all freeways, so it doesn't take much time to get from one end to the other. The places he's looking ar still inside the city. We had thought aout moving tot he outlying communities, but that would be too far from the hospital for me. Some of the places he was looking at are in the NE, though mostly SE. We'll see how it all goes!
Megan
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