John's b-day!

OK - this one requires some explanation. This is John's 'party", which was a few days after his birthday. He HAD wanted to do an Earth pinata, but changed his mind (though I still think we need to do that next earth day). Then, he wanted to "fish" for his presents, by us tying them to a rope he'd hang down the stairs, then pull up. IAn the end, he abandonded all that for a strangely intricate plan, involving events with corresponding snacks.

First, was dinner. Then after dinner, was to be an art show, with a corresponding snack of nuts, shown above, artfully arranged on a plate. (all his work was destroyed by Dave, who spread them all over the table.) The art show was a display in the backyard of a rock in a crater, to represent the meteorite that illed the dinosaurs. Nearby was a small pile of dried mud that he had fashioned into a dinosoar skull. It was quite a nice little show.

Next up was presents. This is a cool little camera sent by Auntie Pam and Uncle Ben! (Dave really likes it, too)

And a card from Grandma and Grandpa Walchuk with his first real money in it! He has a piggy ban, but it was scrounged from us. There's a few bucks from the tooth fairy, but he had to lose teeth to get that. This is his first real money all his own!

And of course, his corresponding snack, of artfully arranged m&m's, left over from his birthday sundaes. If you look at it sideways, it's a house, with two trees and the sun. After this was games - they played tag and ate gummy worms - but they were just dumped on a plate. I don't know why, but I actually didn't even get a picture of his cake! He actually chose it himself - a black forest cake. He always chooses that for himself, if given the choice. I think he likes us telling him the story about his first birthday, when we got him a black forest cake, and he ate all the cherries. And then Dad popped a balloon with cake smeared on it, splattering chocolate cake all over the walls and ceiling. He chose his present from us this year, too. I don't know why we've been so out of it lately, but I just couldn't get time to go out and shop - a project requiring Mike to stay at home, while I go out alone. It just never happened, so we decided to tae him shopping instead. He's a very crafty little guy, so we were going to get him craft supplies. We thought it would be better to let him come anyway, because he can get inspired in the store, and now that there's so many of us, he never gets to go shopping anymore. So Mike stayed with the three little kids, and I took John to Michael's, where he was allowed to buy anything he wanted. He picked out some transluscent blue playdough, some ruby stickers, a toy egg that hatches in water to reveal a growing baby dinosaur, and a science kit with little pellets that also expand in water, to become "slimy fish eggs". He didn't choose a single thing I would have chosen for him, and he had lots of fun!

John's had a bad dose of the summer blues. He's been kinda mopey and bored. I guess watching me clean isn't very much fun. But he's perked up in the last few days, because he knows his annual trek to Dryden is getting close! It's at least a week away, but he's already started packing. He has a box that plays Let it Snow when you open it - it held a pair of PJs his Autie pam sent for Christmas. Well, it's now his snack box for the drive. Not sure how long it's going to last before Mike throws it out the window. It's already driving me a little batty. But it's stuffed with nuts and raisins and chocolate chips and other stuff he found in the pantry, all separated into ziplock bags and neatly packed away in this thing.

The kids did have a little shot of excitement yesterday - Joan's OT came for a session at the house. She was suposed to work on teaching her ways of dressing herself with one hand. But she got lost and was late, so we worked on some school readiness stuff instead - playdough, pre-writing, etc. It was a testement to what an amazing job Renfrew did, because we could tell exactly what she'd been taught, and what they hadn't gotten to yet. Before she started there, she had throuble copying lines and other shapes. But yesterday, lines and circles were no problem at all, but she got stuck on crosses. She tried so hard, but got frustrated and made sqiggles instead. The OT said it's common for kids with visual perception troubles to get cought on them, but she has to get through it before she can learn to write. She noted that she's a very tactile learner, so suggested we get her to trace shapes with her fingers in different textures, like sand or mud, or form them with playdough strips. She's going to get some formal testing done to see where she's at cognitively and with her visual perception. Joan had trouble following a series of simple directions, which has always been a sticking point with her. She's eager to please, but just seems to forget what she's supposed to do unless it's broken down very finely for her, step by step. Her old school said it's a matter that she can't figure out a path from A to B when it comes to completing a task. This OT suggested we use pictures - which is something they did at Renfrew - to break down a task for her. The pictures are a visual cue, which can be easier to follow than words - especially with kids who have a language delay. And we're supposed to keep her siblings from helping her - especially John. She's all too happy to let him help her with everything, and he's always eager to do it, which doesn't help her at all in the long run. We try to keep him out of her face, but it's tough. He thins he's helping, and doesn't understand that letting her struggle, even if she gets frustrated, is actually helping her more. I'm really worried about putting her into regular preschool. She needs to move slowly and have lots of attention. It will depend so heavily on the teacher she gets. It has the potential to get ugly. And if we can't get her potty trained, we won't even be able to do preschool - she'll only be able to do daycare, where they may not teach her much of anything academic - but it will still help her language and social skills, so it's still worthwhile.

Better go - I have to go tae a peek in at Dave, who's been sleeping an awefully long time. We had to get groceries last night, but we were running late, so I went with Tom, and Mike stayed behind to get the rest of the kids to bed. We've done this a few times, and it usually works pretty well. Mike is generally better at getting kids to sleep than me. But last night was a bit of an exception. I got home at 11 p.m., to Joan sitting in the middle of the bathroom, covered in poop from hips to toes. It was just way too gross, so it was left for me...and Mike told me that while the boys were roughhousing, Dave got knocked down, smashed his head on a wooden part of the couch hard enough to leave him  dazed, and with an instant swollen bruise. He woke up fine this morning, but he's never terribly careful with his head, and wound up bumping his welt a few times. I gave him some painkillers, and I guess it felt better enough to have a nap - he's been asleep for three hours already, which is a lot for him. But I'm just going to chalk it up to catch-up sleep. Mike did a few tests to make sure he didn't have a concussion, then sent him to bed without anything for the pain. He probably had a rough night, but he's never been one to complain about anything. Actually, I can hear him waking up now - he sounds much happier than before, so hopefully that's all it was. Poor guy. We need to get him a helmet.