Here Comes Summer!

Well, I guess I'm just going to have to stop apologizing for the infrequency of my posts, because this train shows no signs of slowing down!  We are hopping around here, between all the school things, spending time in the sun and all the other fun stuff that keeps us busy.  And we don't even have dance class slowing us down any more....

...Yes, you read that right, Cygni told me she doesn't want to go to dance class any more!  Not only did she tell me this, she refused to even set foot in class on two sessions.  So, I took it that she meant business!  Without a doubt, I am disappointed, and while part of that is because she just looked so darn cute doing it, the other part is that I know she really enjoyed it!  I don't think it is the actual dancing that she isn't hip to any more, but it's the fact that she can't see me.  She has been extremely glommy the last few months.  She has always been a Mommy's girl, but since the spring she has taken this to a whole new level: crying, kicking and screaming when I have to go to work; being mean to her Dad or sitter if someone other than myself puts her to bed; climbing into our bed nearly every night and even following me once on her bicycle when I didn't take her to the grocery store with me.  I think this is the real reason she has begged off dancing.  She has expressed an interest in soccer however, and we are looking into that for her later this summer/fall.  We know this is a phase, because some of those behaviours I mentioned have already improved, she is much better at bedtime the last month or so and with a little help from an episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighbourhood (Did you know there was a spin-off of Mr. Roger's Neighbourhood?  There is!) we have a routine when I leave of singing "Grown-Ups Come Back" and telling each other we will miss each other and that we love each other lots before I go away and it seems to help her regulate some of those anxieties. We also think that talking to her about the fast approaching pre-school year has her a little fearful too and she is resisting all efforts at separation from Momma.

It's too bad that she has decided to dig her heels in this way, really because she absolutely shines in class settings.  We went on a couple of field trips with Jordan's class and she did a great job participating each time.  My gut tells me that despite her qualms she will enjoy school and perform well, though she will likely get into some scrapes spending too much time talking to her friends (she really does go ON at times.)

Jordan has been doing well in his class too!  Some days are hard for him, but he can sit still long enough to participate in "Sit-Spot" and the articulation in his drawings are getting much better!  It wasn't long ago Jordan refused to draw anything other than letters.  But now he is sketching more and more and the subjects are becoming more recognizable to us all the time.

This was one of the hard days.  It was a day off school so we got together with another school mum and her kids and visited Maplewood Farm.  We were running a bit late that day and couldn't stop to play at the playground just outside the entrance as long as Jordan would have liked because the other family had already been there for some time waiting for us.  I cut the visit short to go into the farm and Jordan made me pay for it the duration of our stay.  Well, that's the way it feels, anyhow.  It's hard to remember sometimes that his lashing out and being frustrated and disruptive isn't personal.  If I had been able to step back and assess the situation I might have worked out that giving him ten or fifteen more minutes at the playground would have been a small price to pay for everyone's enjoyment of the farm.  But alas, hindsight is 20/20 and I got caught up and doing what "normal people" would do, worrying about what other people might think of me, and honestly planning poorly in not giving myself more time, and so here we are looking at photos of what look like happy memories, but were not quite.  Most kids would have let the playground go after being in the farm and around the animals for about 30 seconds, but Jordan is loathe to let go his idea of the order of things.  Oops, a Spectrum-Mom Ramble!  Still valuable insight into things though, so I won't delete it, even though I hadn't planned on going there.

Cygni loved the goats as long as she was going to them, 

she was not really down with them coming toward her.

On May 20th, CHSC hosted their annual Open House and cut the ribbon on a brand new playground paid for by Canadian Tire and Jump Start.  What a fun day and balmy outside!  It was the first really hot day of the year.

 The kiddos had a lot of fun

Look at these guys!  

I don't have any photos of the bike riding that has been going on this year, but every single day that is dry the kids are outside riding around and they are always playing hard!  And they have even made friends with some of the kids in the neighbourhood.

They sure did work up a sweat that day, and earned their refreshments!

Of course, you already know that Jordan turned 6 on May 24th!  

Thanks for the cards and money, everyone!
He got some great outdoor toys from Mom, Dad & Cygni 
(A foam plane, some stomp rockets and a R/C car!) 
Plus a new Playhouse (yet to be installed) from Nanny,  it's going to be a fun summer!

We hosted an Octonauts themed birthday party at the 

Poco Bowling Centre and the kids had a great time!

I had fun decorating an Octonauts cake.  Explore! Rescue! Protect!

Between the party guests and our generous family and friends 

we raised over $400 for Jordan's school!  If you'd like to make a donation you can do so here.

Thanks everyone who donated in honour of Jordan's birthday!

And of course, we had some cupcakes at school on Monday!

On the Tuesday after Jordan's party the kids had dentist appointments and they did great!  Cygni was very brave and let them take x-rays and clean her teeth.  Turns out she has a spot where her teeth are really tight in the front, which may develop into a cavity, so they asked to shave a little off that tooth so that it won't catch and hold sugary stuff so much.  She reluctantly agreed and was a trooper!

Didn't get any other pictures of Jordan because he was with Daddy who doesn't bust his camera out at the drop of a hat like I do, but here he is watching intently as Dr. Scheideman finishes up with his sister.

As a reward I treated her to some Shopkins, and I could only find these two with this grocery cart. She loved it, but it was hard to come by!  I didn't realize Shopkins were such a huge craze.  Anyhow, if any grandparents see any here and there whilst out shopping, please grab one and save it to send for her birthday or Christmas because these things are all the rage and apparently like hens teeth: tough to find.

Finally, after nearly 6 years Jordan received a new pair of hearing aids today!  The old ones have been through a lot:

• Left in a McDonald's rainy parking lot
• Left in the driveway over night
• Thrown into a ceiling lamp
• Chewed on and subsequently refurbished
• "Lost" countless times
• Sent for repairs three times

But they were NEVER permanently lost.  But as with anything, the sweat and dirt and daily attachments of the FM-boot at school has worn them out, and while they still work, Phonak says they can't repair them any more.  Jordan's new hearing aids have many cool features:

• Automatically focus on the speaker in a noisy environment
• Use BlueTooth technology to beam the signal straight from his iPod (or a phone or TV) straight to his hearing aids.
• Better discrimination of voice sounds in windy environments
• When on the phone, one hearing aid sends the signal to the other hearing aid so he can hear the conversation in both ears.
•  This awesome blue-and-yellow "Caribbean Pirate" colour scheme (with some monster stickers for added impact):

Happy Hearing, Jordan!