Back to school - 6th grade

Michael starts back to school in a couple of days. I think he's getting excited about it…as far as we can tell anyway. A few days ago, I saw one of the buses pass by our house timing the new routes. Michael saw it too and scooted so fast to the front door just as the bus turned down another street. He was so upset that the bus left without him. He started banging on the window and throwing a fit…like, "hey, you forgot me!" Poor kiddo. I hope he's that happy to see the bus when it's here to really pick him up (he wasn't).

I am so fortunate that Grandma Carole does the school clothes shopping for Michael, because you all know that I am NOT a shopper (thank you, thank you Carole). She usually buys a few outfits for each grandkid starting back to school, but this year we told her Michael only needed 1-2 pairs of jeans and a pair of athletic pants…he was good with everything else.

And this is what ended up in her shopping bag (because she's magic and finds the most amazing deals):

Michael is so lucky she doesn't listen to me (hahaha)!!!  :) Because of her, Michael is going to be sporting some serious style this school year. Gma has great skills in putting together adorable outfits. 

Would the outfits still be called "adorable" if they're for a 12 year old boy? Wait…would I even use the word "outfit"? Gary said girls have "outfits"…I guess boys have "a set of clothes that happen to match". Either way, Michael's definitely gonna be one hip little dude.

Michael's Zoo Birthday

We have a wonderful aunt, well, we have LOTS of wonderful aunts…AND uncles, but we have one aunt that works for the Columbus Zoo (Hi Suzi!!). She has always been gracious enough to invite us to her office occasionally so we can do Behind the Scenes stuff with their promotional animals…you know the ones - the animals that tour with Jack Hannah and make the rounds on the various TV shows like GMA and David Letterman.

She even hosted my bridal shower, and a few years, later my baby shower, at the zoo with adorable animals for everyone to see and hold…yeah, she rocks like that. Anyway, I asked her if we could do something with the animals for Michael's birthday at his school. I chose to have it at his school for a few reasons, with the main one being so I don't have to clean the house (hahaha!!). But also because most of his classmates are all special needs and our house (even with Michael having special needs) is not handicapped accessible. Plus, I don't think we'd have enough room for 20+ kids and their parents and the animals.

Shannon with a baby kangaroo and Whitney with a fennec fox (M just wanted to hug Whitney!)

Michael's BFF (Keith) was able to attend as a special guest…he got to hold the baby kangaroo!

Shannon with an armadillo and baby lynx

What I didn't realize was all the extra steps it took to have it at the school (asking permission from the administration, the superintendent, and signed permission slips from all the parents), but it all worked out great in the end.

Aunt Suzi ended up not being able to attend, but she sent two of the most wonderful and caring gals to do the presentations. Shannon and Whitney were fabulous! They were amazing with the kids and there were lots of smiles on their faces. The girls were so good and patient with how they interacted with the kids and answered all of their questions. If you ever get an opportunity or chance to book the zoo's program, I highly recommend it!

After the party at school, we celebrated at home with Grandma Kita. We had cake with a Buzz Lightyear candle (from Gma Carole) and lots of hugs and kisses.  :)

Me, Michael & Michael squeezing Gary's neck (hahaha); Michael and Grandma Kita

birthday boy

Eleven years ago today, the most beautiful little boy came into our lives and is bringing us complete joy and laughter, along with the biggest, sweetest hugs ever!

Because he still enjoys Toy Story, we went with TS for his birthday theme: plates, napkins, games to play and goodies for the kids. 

I even went so far as to make little alien cupcakes....which turned out laughably pathetic (not surprising since I have a 50% success rate on homemade birthday treats).  Not exactly what I was going for, but at least the kids seemed to like them.  Except Michael.  He liked the Buzz & Woody plates better.  :)  

My homemade alien cupcakes vs. disney family.go alien cupcakes...can you tell which is which??  hahaha!!

At his school party, we played Toy Story bingo and Michael won (legitimately too)!

Then Michael hung out with his dear friend Rebekah ("hey Michael's mom, take my picture").  At the end of the day, she helped him get his coat on, hood on and zipped up.  She even made sure he was buckled in his chair.  These two are so cute together....lots of hugging and we even caught them trying to kiss (Michael kisses with his forehead, so we figure it's all good, right?).

This was his last birthday party at school.  He is scheduled to move on to intermediate school (5th/6th grade school) next year.  I'm thinking they don't have a lot of moms and dads doing the school birthday thing at that age.  As if.  {insert preteen eye roll here}

Michael's summer "school"

What we wanted Michael to learn over the summer:

• toilet training
• self-feeding
• more walking
• learning numbers through 100 (or even 150)
• time (like 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, etc.)

What Michael has actually learned:

• how to be a diaper houdini (he can take his diaper off, but still leave his shorts on)
• how to be "naked boy" (he can take off his diapers AND shorts AND shirt AND socks...and he can almost get his shoes and AFOs off)
• how to open up his bedroom door (to escape a 'time out' or when he doesn't want to go to sleep)
• how to open up the door to the garage and escape to outside (I was mowing the backyard, came down the side yard to the front and found M in the front yard about 15-20 scoots away from the street-yikes!!  He was quite proud and very happy with himself.)
• how to open the fridge and get his sippy cup
• how to open up the basement door, turn on the light, turn on the tv, and watch whatever HE wants to watch
• how to find the computer keyboards, no matter where we hide them, and run off with them (usually to the stairs)
• he knows his numbers 1-36 and the number 100 (because I sometimes tell him that he can be all done on the toilet when I finish counting to 100...so as soon as I start counting, he immediately points to 100 and signs "all done")
• he also knows the numbers 26 and 62 because one number is the weather channel and the other number is the golf channel
• he knows how to stay up late and loves to sleep in late (he's never been a morning person)
• he knows how to feed himself - but only the foods he likes (applesauce and any green veggie, but is expanding on this)
• he is getting better at feeding himself and is not as messy
• he is learning how to wipe his face with a napkin after eating
• he can drink from a 2-handled open cup (with gentle reminders to not let go until the cup is back on the table)
• he knows how to turn and direct his non-swivel wheeled walker on smooth surfaces when there are objects in the way (he pushes my hand off his walker and tells ME to go-hahaha!!)

• he knows how to put his socks on, if we get them started over his toes
• he took 10-15 independent steps over the summer (down from more than 50 steps over the last couple of years, but better than the 5 or so he has been doing---but we learned from a recent MRI why his walking has decreased--he has a tethered spinal cord which will probably be surgically "released" or untethered later this fall)
• he knows when he's doing a task that he doesn't want to do, that if he signals he has to go potty, he'll probably get out of the task (for a little while) to go "play" in the bathroom, because as soon as I sit him on the toilet, he tells me he's all done.....and when I don't take him to the bathroom he usually really has to go (we can't win here)
• he knows how to ask for a movie like Shrek or Toy Story and as soon as we turn our backs, he changes the tv to the golf channel or world series of poker....and when we come back into the room, he changes it back to the movie (pretty slick boy, but we're on to you)

So, he's really acquired a whole bunch of skills over the summer!  Not necessarily the ones we envisioned, but progress none the less.  Here's to a great school year! 

(waiting on the bus....and the only one excited to be up early is the dog)

I might get stuff accomplished during the day now!!  Off to attack my To Do list - go me!

flat stanley

Michael's 3rd grade class just finished up a unit in Social Studies about communities and they topped it off by sending a Flat Stanley out for an adventure in a different community than ours.

A couple of weeks ago, Michael sent his Flat Stanley to visit Uncle Josh, Aunt Keni and cousin Gabby in Washington.  Flat Stanley arrived back at school on Friday with a wonderful letter and pictures of his adventures.

Here is Stanley's story (using pictures of Keni's pictures):

"Hi Michael!

I had fun in Washington visiting your Uncle Josh, Aunt Keni, and cousin Gabby.  They live in Gig Harbor, a little fishing village near Seattle.

The first thing we did was visit Starbucks, because that is where everyone in the Pacific Northwest goes.

The next thing I did was visit the marina in Gig Harbor (with Gabby).  There were many boats.

I was especially excited to see a great blue heron! (just above Stanley's head)

I was hoping to see Mt. Rainier during my visit, but it was too cloudy and rainy every day.  It rains a lot there.

I can't wait to go back and visit again.  Hopefully you will come with me!

Sincerely,
Flat Stanley"

What a great adventure!  Thanks for playing along Keni, Josh and Gabby....we definitely can't wait to see you again!  :)

it's that time again

I can't believe school starts in less than 2 weeks! Summer break seems to have come and gone in just a blink of an eye.

We have most of Michael's school supplies purchased. I gave him a haircut, which was quite a joy for both of us - NOT (remember this post??). And as soon as he'll hold still and cooperate, I'll go through his clothes to see what still fits him, what doesn't and what he needs. By the way, Emily, I think we'll have some more clothes for Jared coming your way!

So I think we're pretty much set for the start of school...just waiting for the onslaught of paperwork that'll be coming soon! Hey, does anyone have a good filing system for keeping track of school stuff? How do you handle all of the kids' work and art projects - if you save their stuff, what do you save (everything, some things) and how/where do you save it?

Anyway, we're just trying to eek out the last little bit of summer break by chillin'...nothing scheduled on the calendar, just trying to relax and enjoy. And if Michael wants me to walk him from his pool on the deck to his rockpit out in the yard and back to his little pool for the 7th time in one day, then that's exactly what we're gonna do!