Don't Ask the Dog...

...to hold still for the picture






...and still no picture of her ringing the bell to go outside and she laid there and looked out the window until I put the camera away and then promptly sat up pretty and rang the bell. Dang dog!

Glimpse in a Little Boy's Head

We've been talking about going to Toy Story 3 at the Big Movie, as John calls it, since we went to see How To Train Your Dragon. He's excited and anything he sees that has any Toy Story stuff on it has him telling us that we are going to see it. A few days ago he came to get me signing 'mail', it was much too early in the day for the mail to have run so it dawned on me to ask if he needed to make some mail and sure enough that's exactly what he needed. I handed him an envelope, he handed it back and signed 'write please, friend C' friend C is his sign for our friends in Nebraska's little girl. Then he needed 'paper' and on it had me write 'Friend C, Toy Story 3, big movie, go with, friend John'. After it was all folded and in the envelope he licked it and needed a 'stamp' and then some 'stickers' and finally after much work and making sure it was just right he was ready for it to go out to the mail.

I don't know that we will be able to arrange this movie outing with a friend, release dates and distance make it difficult, but mostly in all this I am just so impressed, both with a little boy who wants to share with his long distance friend and a little girl who has been such a sweet friend. What is in John's head is very much shut off from us because of his apraxia, but on days like this when I get a glimpse inside there I find myself always in awe of this amazing little boy who despite all the doctors, hospitals, illness and limitations is just a little boy.

Dog Biscuit Dispenser

A few nights ago long after John was in bed and the house was quiet and mostly dark, the pantry door caught my eye as it swung open, seemingly on it's own, when I looked it wasn't a ghost, it was a silly dog who figured out how to nose the door open quietly and retrieve her own dog treats. Independence is a good thing, but really it is the boys independence that we are after and the dog needs to remain with a certain amount of dependence not to mention that she doesn't need to be square because she's snacking every night. So we put the dog snacks on the counter and waited until the next morning when the dog snack dispensing boy was ready to help. He had a great time doing this and the last picture of him telling me that he put in 2 at once, he always makes me smile.

Something To Play With

John has systematically given Mellon every stuffed animal he owns, the more beloved ones went first, and has now progressed onto every toy in the house. He guards the iPod and all remotes jealously but toys are fair game. I did finally get him to go through toys with me and sort out what he wanted, what could be given away and what needed to go in the closet to hang on to but he didn't want it out. All in all he has been more thrilled to see the dog play with his toys than he has ever been to actually play with most of them himself and was more excited about having bins so that he could put his own clothes away and get them out himself than having bins of toys he could access. He has really enjoyed going in his room and playing with his cars now that the other toys are mostly removed, and that dad put a sword holder on the wall for his swords has just been awesome!

Driving Style

I remember as a teenage driver and even young adult that we tried lots of stuff, one hand, no hands - just knees, shifting without using the clutch, and on to the limits of young driver imagination, in our house this has started already and John is but 6 1/2, today's new driving style - cup between the knees, lol, I'm so glad he's just drinking water!

1 ice + 1 ice = 2 ice

The dog loves ice cubes, the boy loves to dispense them. It took us a while to convince him to only dispense 1 or 2 and not all that the ice maker had. This day he told me 'feed dog 1 ice', then while she was eating it he told me 'feed dog 1 ice, 2 ice' and gave her a second ice cube. I have it on good authority that yes indeed 1 ice plus 1 ice is 2 ice, hooray math!

Girl Time

It's hard to believe that it's only been a bit over a week since visiting with my friends at Melanie's house. Years ago when I first met Mark's mom and she was telling me about her and her best girlfriends leaving husbands and kids and going for a week of just girl time at the beach I thought it was odd - this is certainly nothing my own mother would have considered doing and so nothing that I had seen before. Last year Mark convinced me to try it, so I traveled with Charity to Suzanne's house and wow what a good time! Once more I realized that my mother-in-law was one smart cookie, that girl time made everything better and it made me a better wife and mommy too. This year I met with Charity and Michelle and rode up to Melanie's for a weekend filled with girl talk, from giggling so hard that some landed in the floor (yes adult girls do that too, it's really funnier than little girls doing it even) to talking about all aspects of life it was a refreshing weekend that has made my life that I love to live even better.
I didn't bring my camera along but Glenda has linked up most of the pics in one post here and if you are on Facebook Suzanne put up a huge album of pics here
In my day to day life I am often at home (right where I love to be most) with John and Mark (my favorite guys in the world), Mark comes and goes for Church business and other than the monthly Senior Services Meeting, running errands (a few times a month, once a week at most) or going to church I am rarely in the company of others. Even when I am around others I'm usually the only stay at home mommy, or the only homeschool mommy, or the only mommy that cooks the crazy food that we cook, or a ton of other things that make me stick out in a crowd around here, but in the company of my girlfriends I find that I'm pretty normal and that really feels good. I don't have everything in common with everyone of them, besides being impossible that would just be boring if we were all cookie cutters of each other, but I have lots in common with each of them and that just feels good. We talked about raising kids, homeschool stuff, music stuff, food stuff, cooking stuff, knitting stuff, computer stuff, and of course guns and bacon because what would life be without either, but for that weekend I just felt like one of the crowd and that is a good feeling.
I'm looking forward to next year already, but I've come home with great ideas and inspiration about lots of stuff from learning to like different kinds of wine, getting out my Julia Child cookbooks and using them, a cool math program that fits John's kind of learning and a piano program that sounds like it's right up John's alley and mine too and just an intangible sense of 'I'm ok' that helps me be more so just by being there. During the year there will be new opportunities to meet up with these mommies and their families for various reasons here and there, and maybe meet some new friends off the homeschool list that I find most of my social life on, but for now there is my wonderful family, my favorite job that I've ever had, and of course thoughts and plans of next year (bet you thought I was going to say bacon ;)

Almost 15 Weeks...

...of lovable little puppy...



...and yes I'm still in my pajamas ;)

Reading to Dad

If I could make one wish that would change John's life instantly for the better, short of fixing all health problems of course, it would be that he would wake up in the morning and be able to read.



Here you see him reading to dad. John's hands are saying 'tall' and day by day by some orthodox and unorthodox means we are getting there, dreams do come true.

Let Us See What Squirt Will Do

This has been our favorite saying for a while, it's from Nemo in regards to what one of the little turtles will do when it gets outside the EAC, I try really hard not to preface it with, "Whoa Jellyman" as Mark doesn't enjoy being called Jellyman, but still in our house lately it's been like one long daily show of seeing what squirt will do next. What you see is the result of a thirsty boy who can open the refrigerator, get out his own bottle of water, take the cap off by himself and drink from it so long as it's not over half full, put the lid on when done and put it back in the fridge and nope the shoe print on the fridge door from where he closes it doesn't faze me one bit!

Willing Accomplice

I am not the worlds best housekeeper, not even close, but it does make cleaning more fun with such a willing accomplice ;)

Knitting Fun Stuff

When I cut the last string on the hat that I was knitting for our nephew John came over and wanted to try it on and needed his picture taken in it. He's so silly, he thinks he might like the same kinda hat, guess I need to find a smaller pattern for his though.

Finger Pacifier?

Mark wanted me to take a picture of Mellon because she is getting so much better, unlike John who is a willing ham for the camera, Mellon needed a finger pacifer. She's definitely growing and growing fast and thankfully is getting better behaved each and every day!

Andy's Toy - No Daddy & Mommy's Boy

Since being at the theater for How to Train Your Dragon, John has been eagerly awaiting his next time to go to the movies. We figured Toy Story 3 looked like a good one to go to and so thought we'd start by watching Toy Story and Toy Story 2 before 3 comes out. John loves them, and needed to have his feet labeled too!

Ipotty

I know, I know, but really you have to see this as it's John's fav place to do this, he's certainly his father's boy :) So he has an Icom that connects his hearing aids via bluetooth to the Ipod, surely that makes this the Ipotty!

New Fridge - New Toy

The new fridge came home and voila the boy can open all the doors and get ice for the dog and ice and water for himself - independence is awesome! Oh and the other really cool thing about a bottom freezer fridge, I don't have to wake the dog up to open the fridge doors :)

Big Eggs, Small Eggs

Our walk the other day finished with an important lesson on not putting Robin's eggs in pockets, and then on how small a Robin and it's egg are compared to a chicken and it's egg.

Mutts a growing

Mellon is growing by the day. The first pic was Mark bringing her home from the vet the first time, the second pic was about 3 weeks later in the afternoon of her next vet visit when she was enjoying giving dad a lick on the head :)





She is now 28 pounds big and yet is still small compared to where she will be and where she should be at this point according to the growth charts for both of her breeds. We are changing dogfoods for her as the current one she just doesn't like and so won't eat enough and the new one, which has actually been tested on giant breeds to make sure it doesn't cause joint issues, she loves and licked the floor where it landed and then carried the bag around looking for more.

She took her first trip into Walmart as a Service Dog in Training the other day and did rather well, we are looking forward to her going more places and learning more and eventually being just the right dog to help John. Even today he just loves her and likes to get ice for her to chomp on, and is adamant that she needs to go with us and ride by him wherever we go. It cracks me up when he is watching a movie in the truck and it's a good part and he is waking her up so that she can see too.

HS PT Dad Style

Homeschool Physical Therapy Dad Style! John loves it and just looking at the pictures was excited and ready to go do more. We have been so impressed with his increasing stamina and ability.

Cousins and Dragons

On our recent trip to visit with our family just south of us in Arkansas, John got to go see his very first movie at the theater and he and Paul and Cam's boys, Isaac and David, had a great time together!