All of this fun got me thinking that with all the interventions that Lewis gets, a lot of people get to spend more time with him than I do. So the last few weeks, I have scheduled in some time with Lewis to go do some fun things. It has been great!
Due to his current Elmo addiction, Lewis has developed an interest in pets, mail, and a few random other things. It seemed like a trip to the pet store would be fun. Lewis did really like looking at real fish, and a few other animals. He did not like the dogs people brought to the store with them, but he survived.
This little white mouse was running like crazy on his wheel. Lewis got very excited about it.
We also went to the toy store one day. I was really surprised that Lewis latched hold of these Buzz Lightyear and Woody toys. He put them down eventually, but was not happy about it.
He got to sit on a bike with training wheels too. His feet wouldn't reach the pedals.
Finally, we went to ride the carousel at the mall. We had to wait a while for the attendant to come off his break (which was difficult to explain!) but we survived and Lewis had a blast. The ride ended way too fast.
Justin and I took Lewis out for a special post pre-school awards night dinner at Chick-fil-A, where he was able to eat a whole kids meal (didn't like the lemonade) and then played in the play area before heading home.
Lewis mostly loved the funny mirrors and spinners, but he did agree to go down the slide a couple of times.
We took our first trip over to the fountain at Circus Square a few weeks ago. It took the boys a few minutes to warm up to the idea of being wet. And actually, it was super hot that day, but when we got there the sun was going down and it was rather cool, so they did really well under the circumstances. They are awfully cute in their swim trunks. Though these pictures don't show it, they were both drenched by the time we left. You'll just have to trust me.
This one couldn't wait. We went to Lewis' preschool for awards night and graduation this evening. Lewis isn't graduating, but he did receive a participation certificate for attending this year.
Lewis managed to sit well during the ceremony with occasional pointing at Justin and I and some waving or clapping enthusiastically. The funniest part of the evening, by far, was the following performance with his class. They sang a couple of songs with hand movements. At the beginning, Lewis was staring at the lights and not really participating. If you can hang in there until the 1:30 mark, it gets very interesting! He's quite the performer. Anyway, hope it brightens your day!
Happy Mother's Day, everyone! I always miss my mom on Mother's Day, but feel especially blessed to be a mommy to two cute boys who love each other so much.
Our friend, Mandy shared this video and it absolutely made me laugh and cry, maybe because it is Mother's Day and my child on the spectrum has been so emotional lately. Anyway, this is a conversation between a mom and her son with Asperger's (high functioning autism). We hope that Lewis has this kind of understanding someday, but it gives insight into the way many of these kids feel (and how their parents feel in response) when they become more aware of being different. If you have a few minutes it is worth a watch (listen).
It has been nice having my sister, Beth, living in Bowling Green. One of the carrots we dangled before she decided to come was that we could grow a garden when she arrived and live off the land. We don't have much land in downtown Bowling Green, but we managed to get a good 7.5' by 10.5' square carved out to plant stuff in the sunniest corner of our yard. It has been quite therapeutic to plant seeds and watch the sprouts come. It is tiny bits of life that are uniquely hopeful, and surprisingly so. If I'm having a bad day and walk by our planters, I am immediately encouraged if there has been some change. Anyway, here are some photos of the process.Out front we planted some daisies next to our roses that seemed to dead, but are producing new branches.We bought 4 tomato plants at the farmer's market from the nice Amish man with a long beard. He is so kind and always has great tomatoes. We also planted yellow squash, zucchini, green peppers and mixed bell peppers from seeds in these planters.
The spot we picked for the garden. BEFORE:
After a couple of weeks, our squash started to sprout.
We started to shovel the sod off our garden spot. Owen helped. Actually, Beth did almost all of it by herself. She took out some frustration there doing the tough physical labor of shoveling the hard ground. I helped a bit, but would never have finished by myself! Beth was determined, thankfully.
The spot after it the sod was gone.
We rented a tiller and Justin tilled the ground up.
We added fertilizer rich soil and Justin tilled some more.
Priscilla, our good friend, came and helped us plant seeds in the garden. We planted cucumbers, snow peas, pole beans, green onions, pumpkins and Asian cabbage. We have started to see sprouts of the peas and cabbage so far. We have yet to transplant the rest of the the sprouting plants we have been keeping mostly indoors. I'm finding myself to be an overprotective parent, afraid to put them out there in the elements. After the current round of storms have gone through, we will have to transplant them because our squash are running out of room in their little planters, and some are dying.The good news is that after nothing for weeks, our peppers have started to sprout too! Priscilla encouraged us to keep them inside and they needed that warmer environment to sprout. They are doing great now!
Once we have transplanted we will have a little fence out there to keep out rabbits, squirrels and the little Shepherds from tearing up the garden. We are excited and hope to reap a large harvest this summer!
This is our zuchinni, squash and pepper plants....still inside due to the weird weather.
Here's a close up of the pepper sprouts.
We bought a cilantro plant at the Farmer's Market. It is delicious!
This little white mouse was running like crazy on his wheel. Lewis got very excited about it.
We also went to the toy store one day. I was really surprised that Lewis latched hold of these Buzz Lightyear and Woody toys. He put them down eventually, but was not happy about it.
He got to sit on a bike with training wheels too. His feet wouldn't reach the pedals.
Finally, we went to ride the carousel at the mall. We had to wait a while for the attendant to come off his break (which was difficult to explain!) but we survived and Lewis had a blast. The ride ended way too fast.
