A day of Fun!

So every month our local Down Syndrome Support Group has a meeting on a Monday night.  This month we did not have a meeting due to Winter Break.  Instead we had a bowling party.  The support group covered the cost of the child with Down Syndrome and their siblings.  Pizza lunch was included!  And we were allowed to invite whoever we wanted seems how it was a public bowling alley.

At first I was excited when I received the letter in the mail and yes wanted to take our family.  Then I stopped and thought about it and thought ~ Would Jonathon do okay?  ~ Bowling Alleys are loud and he does not do well with loud noises ~ He is only 2.5, would he even enjoy himself ~ And the worst thought of all ~ GERMS, H1N1, sickness, colds..... ~ Then I thought about it longer and decided NO I would not let Jonathon miss this.  Yes there is germs, but he is good about washing his hands, this is something I want to do as a family so we will go and hopefully the noise won't be terrible.

So I called my sister and invited her, her husband and son.  They said sure that they would go.

So we went yesterday afternoon and we had a riot!  OMG!  I am so glad that I talked myself into letting Jonathon do this.  He had soooo much fun.  He did great with all the people and the noise of the balls and the alleys.

The worst time he had was waiting for his turn to throw the ball!  Too funny.  But he did manage to settle down and wait his turn. 

Kenny loved it.  Andrew on the other hand was not happy and did not want to be there!  Of course this is my child that I had to put into preschool years ago for socialization.  He gets so nervous being out in public.  After awhile he calmed down and did great bowling too.

Awesome day and lots of fun all around.  We have decided that we are going to do this again as a family with us and my sister's family too.  We are starting a tradition and who knows maybe Andrew and Kenny will learn to like bowling and someday Jonathon can join a league!!!!

Jonathon's new stroller!

Uncle Dave(holding ball), Adam(cousin) and Andrew

Andrew bowling

Kenny bowling

Jonathon! and Daddy!

Getting a ball

getting ready

and my crappy camera missed it!

Very excited about going again!

taking a break to call Rylee(his girlfriend)

Top row: Uncle Dave(godfather), Aunt Carol-Ann, Adam(my sis's family)

Bottom: Gilbert, Jonathon, me, Kenny(behind me) and Andrew(behind Kenny)

And this is what happens after a day of bowling!

PreSchooler in the House.......

Jonathon had his first day of preschool on Monday!  I cannot believe my 3rd child ~ my angel ~ my baby is already in preschool.  Where the heck did the time go?????

He definitely did great!  He definitely does not need mommy to stand in the background and keep watch! (but for now mommy is staying and lurking in the background anyway).  On Mondays he will attend class from 8:30a.m. til 9:45a.m.  I am not too sure if it's the same routine from week to week or things will be different.

Monday Jonathon walked into class, took off his coat and then Mrs. Rhodes(teacher) introduced him to his new friends(classmates).  There are 5 other boys in the class ranging from 2 3/4(really close to 3) up to 4yr. olds almost turning 5.  The two older boys are great, you can really see that they are ready for kindergarten next year.  And the other 3 boys were quiet.

Solitary play (playing alone with materials and ideas) was going on when we arrived.  So Jonathon went and got a toy truck and joined in the fun of driving around the class room with the other boys.

Parallel Play (playing side by side, sometimes mirroring each other, sometimes doing very different activities with the same materials).  The two older boys were playing with a container filled with trucks and cars etc. and they were putting them in a garage and playing.  Jonathon walked over to the container and picked out a truck...~ then he stood there watching the 2 older boys ~ Mrs. Rhodes asked the one older boy to invite Jonathon over to play ~ Jonathon walked a little closer, but chose not to join. ~ I explained to Mrs. Rhodes that one particular boy is loud ~ when voices get loud at home it's Jonathon's 2 older brothers getting yelled at by their father ~ Jonathon does not like loud noises ~ I think when he realizes that this one particular classmate is louder than the rest it will be o.k.

Then Jonathon went over to the shelf and seen some markers ~ he got the markers off of the shelf so Mrs. Rhodes asked him if he wanted to draw a picture ~ he said yes ~ he sat at the table and drew a great picture.  Then it was clean up time and ready for snack time.

All the boys went over to the shelf to get their snack out.  Mrs. Rhodes helped Jonathon with his. He had a juice box and some fruit snacks.(I cut the fruit snacks up for now).  He sat right there with all the other boys and ate his snack and drank his juice box all gone and I just stood in the background amazed.......My baby has grown up overnight it seems like.  He really did a good job on his first day listening to the teacher and having a great time at school.

Jonathon has always had a playmate on occasion and that is Miss America(Rylee) his bestest friend!  And they have always done great together and I hope they always remain close.  But this is the first time Jonathon has been with a group of children to play ~ I really did not know how he was going to react ~ I should have known better ~ Jonathon is alot like Kenny!  Loves to meet new people and always willing to make friends!!!!

Looking forward to Wednesday to see how it goes.....He will be leaving the classroom to go to speech with the 2 3/4 yr. old and mommy is NOT going!

So when I feel that I am o.k. to walk away from the classroom I will. Til then I will remain in the shadows!

WAY TO GO PEANUT BUTTER!!!!! MOMMY IS SO SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!  I LOVE YOU!

Someone Does not Like......

Public Bathrooms still!  We left the house yesterday morning at 8:30a.m. to go to an Eye Appt.  The eye appt. went great.  He is doing good.  His eyes are straight.  We picked up his new lenses.  We got an adjustment on his glasses.  We go back in 6 months.  After the eye appt. I had a few errands to run.  We attempted to use the restroom at the Dr.'s office on the way out......~ NOPE not gonna happen.  So we left ~ so far it has been 3 hours since last potty break at home ~ We had about a 30 minute drive to the next stop ~ when we arrived at store I immediately took Jonathon to the restroom ~ NOPE not gonna happen again!!!! ~ Finished shopping and continued on to the next stop ~ now it has been 4 hours since last potty break ~ got to next store ~ which is local Kroger we ALWAYS shop at and go potty at! ~ well NOT today ~ I still had 2 more stops to make before we went home ~ before we were supposed to go home ~ since my little boy refused to use any restrooms we skipped the last 2 stops and went DIRECTLY home.  In house straight to potty and of course he went!!!! 5 hours he held it!


I guess I could probably put him undies all day, but I'm not. Not just yet.  I really think he gets mad about having to sit to pee, when he knows at home he stands.  And he doesn't want me to hold him up.  Too bad public bathrooms couldn't just add 1 little toilet for the little ones and 1 shorter urinal.  Sure would be nice.


So I have decided that from now on we will be packing up "our" urinal and just taking it with us AND maybe from now on he will pee.


Don't have any plans to be out and about for a long time ~ so will update when we venture out again.

Detroit Cardiology Appt.

was scheduled for Sept 2, 2009 at 10a.m. but I guess in "MY" mind it was scheduled for TODAY!!!!

Luckily we were still able to get in and see the cardiologist and we were not sent home until tomorrow. (think I am losing my flippin mind).

Dr. Cardiologist says everything looks great ~ Jonathon is healing well and showing no signs of any problems. No leaks. Good report all around. We got a CD with pictures of Jonathon's heart today too.(Very cool).

We do not have to have antibiotics for Jonathon before any dental procedures being done. Dr. Cardiologist said that they no longer need that. (Good)

We go back next August and then we will start going back every 2 - 3 years. (AWESOME)

Here are some pictures from today:

Two year Check up

Jonathon had his 2 yr. check up appt./shots today. Everything went very well. He now weighs 25lbs and is 33 inches tall. He got 2 shots and did great(no crying).

We have to go Monday and get his thyroid checked~nothing to worry about, just checking to make sure all is still o.k.

Appointment is being made to go back and get eyes rechecked also. Nothing to worry about, just a regular check up.

Dr. Pediatrician was very happy!

And Mommy is very happy too!

Update on what's new with us.....

I guess I have lost days again on blogging. I get so busy with all 3 boys that I just don't find the time to even turn on my computer and we have been very busy these last few days.

On Sunday August 23rd we traveled out to the Detroit Zoo. We figured out half way through that next year we will do some things differently. At the beginning of the zoo there is mostly inside animals(reptiles, butterflies, birds)etc.

We love to feed the giraffe(which are at the other end)and feeding time is 1p.m. Last year AND this year we literally had to run to get to the feeding on time.....plus eat OUR lunch. When we noticed that if we take the train when we first arrive and ride to the back of the park we can take our time seeing ALL the big outside animals(tiger,lion,zebra)etc. and be there for the morning feeding of the giraffe AND Jonathon won't be sleeping and miss some of the big animals(yes he took a nap on schedule and missed lots).

It started to mist(rain)around 1:30p.m. and continued off and on for the remainder of our visit. I was pretty bummed out~the animals went in AND it wasn't supposed to rain at all. I am very glad that I took the stroller this year instead of the wagon. Jonathon was able to nap comfortably AND I was able to cover him from the rain.

Kenny got to go in the dinosaur simulator with Randy, Andrew and Gilbert.(Jonathon and I stayed out). Kenny said it was very cool and really enjoyed the ride. I was told that I would never make it......(ok, no dinosaur simulator for me...). Further through the zoo Kenny did some one on one time with Dad(Gilbert). They walked thru Dinotopia(dinosaur exhibit). Was told that it was interesting too. Maybe next year we will take Jonathon through that one.(noise issue this year).

Monday evening Jonathon had an ENT appt.(check up). Alot of wax build up in his ears~we do peroxide drops once per month~no, not anymore, Dr. ENT thinks it is making his ears worse and drying them out really bad~we need to pick up sweet oil, 1-2 drops per ear once per week until our next visit. Tympanogram was taken~Right ear:Type A -Normal(Hooray!!) Left ear: Type B -Flat(Bummer!) Difficulty obtaining a hermetic seal bilaterally (L-R). SOOO Dr. ENT thinks that there could be some fluid. We go back in 6 weeks for a recheck. He is not too concerned just yet. I also asked him about Jonathon's noise issue~it was terrrible at the zoo. He informed me that it's not b/c of him having Down Syndrome, it's not an ear problem, some children just have noise issues.....Ok. Still makes me wonder. Just certain noises really bother him. I helped him out though(different post to come).

And I took my boys out to eat dinner at Olive Garden. Expensive? Yes. Did I NEED to go to Olive Garden? No. Did I WANT to go to Olive Garden? Yes. It was my dinner to my son who will be starting highschool in 2 weeks. It was my I love you for all you do and want you to have a great first year in highschool. It was my I am very proud of you and know you will do just fine. DINNER! (and of course Jonathon loves spaghetti too)

Tuesday - Took the boys school shopping. Left at 9:30a.m. and got back home at 4p.m. Terrible terrible shopping day. Kenny is ridiculous this year(no, don't like that)ALL DAY Long! I bought him one pair of jeans on sale for 16.99 and one tshirt on sale for 7.99. 1 pair of gym shorts for 6.00. Done ~ that's it ALL DAY LONG!!!!! I practically went to every store in the mall. And on this trip Jonathon threw his shoe out of the stroller, I did not notice til it was too late.....We backed tracked,we checked lost and found, we asked passers by......SANDAL is gone!!!!! Good thing summer is almost over. I guess I did get my $15.00 worth out of them.

Wednesday - seen Jc Penny was having a huge sale and it was on the $16.99 jeans I just bought Kenny, plus I had a 15% off discount for filling out survery. Decided I would go back and get" picky" Kenny more jeans that he does like.

First we had to run to Richmond ~ I sold my high chair on Craigslist and needed to meet up with lady who was buying it.(Hooray!!!) Then we ran to Krogers really quick to get a few items. Then I went to Kmart real quick ~ I have officially started Christmas shopping! I cannot believe I just said that, but it's true. I put some stuff in layaway. Then off to the mall AGAIN(crazzzzzy....)Go to JC Penny, get the jeans for Kenny and Andrew also got 2 pair. Soooo for 4 pairs of jeans I paid 64.00. Now these jeans were normally 36.00 per pair so I say thats a deal and my 2 oldest boys are done. I just have to get them gym bags for their clothes. Jonathon has been done since June. He was easy. one garage sale ~27 items for $27.00. All like brand new and name brand too.

OOOOHHHH , by the way, I was sooo stressed about going back to the mall that after JC Penny I walked down to younkers and Sears really quick to see if they had rain coats for Jonathon or winter coats. Of course nothing. So we get ready to leave the mall and Andrew says" WHERE ARE THE JEANS"!!!!!!!?????? OMG! I left them at JC Penny........ Thank Goodness I had my receipt and they remembered me AND I didn't drive all the way home first.

Which brings me to today! Cleaning, laundry washing and drying. Playing with Jonathon, movie watching with Jonathon, catching up on my computer, paperwork and RELAXING!!!!

Giveaway

I was on Facebook this morning and seen an ad off to the side about Blogs by Mandy~blogs for a cause and seen the words "Ronald McDonald House. So I went to check it out. Blogs by Mandy looks interesting and I was looking at some of her work and ran across Sweet as Punkin Pie.

Sweet as Punkin Pie is having a great toy giveaway sponsored byAllChildrensFurniture.com, who carries everything from kids furniture to toys. Giveaway ends August 28th! Go check it out. I did and I thought it was pretty darn cool. Maybe I will get lucky and win something for Jonathon. I really like the Little Tikes Handiworker Workhorse Workshop.

Our garage sale days

I packed up all of Jonathon's clothes and toys that he is done with and we decided to have a garage sale. This started yesterday AND needless to say we did not do well at all.

We had one customer all day AND that was my neighbor who bought a huge coffee cup for $1.

This is our weekend for the 4 day Memphis Days. (which is garage/yard sales everywhere) Now last year I was able to be right in the middle of the event uptown at Gilbert's grandmas house. But this year she is recovering from major surgery and just wasn't up to us taking over her front yard.....So I decided to hang signs up around town and down a few roads out here in the country. It's not going very well. We are about 1/4 mile out of town, down a dirt road about 1/2 mile.

Hoping that today will be a better day since it's friday. We are trying to make money to take Jonathon to the zoo before summer is over.

Countdown Time

I have 4 days! 4 days until my baby turns 2! Where in the heck did the last 2 years go?

And I have lots to do to get ready for his big birthday party on Saturday afternoon. We have been doing some remodeling since the 4th of July. I did not post anything and still will not say what we are working on(it's a secret). We want to surprise everyone that comes out to Jonathon's birthday party. And no, its not an addition with new bedrooms(I can still wish on that one).

Yesterday we had 3 graduation parties to go too. Has anyone ever hauled a toddler around to 3 parties all in the same day? I do have to say I am very proud of Jonathon. He did extremely well for leaving here at 12:45p.m. and not getting home until 7:50p.m. last night. The worst part of the whole day was travel time. We had to travel 35 minutes one way for the first party in Croswell for my nephew Kody. We went early to his party because we couldn't stay all day. Jonathon slept through most of our visit there which was a good thing. We did not get any food at the first party.

We packed back up in the van at 4p.m. to go to the second party which was an hour drive back toward our house and actually 15 minutes past our house. Arrived at the second party at 5:04p.m. By now Andrew and Kenny were starving, and me too. Dinner was supposed to be at 5p.m. Nope we did not get dinner until after 6p.m. Which I felt bad, because we literally ate and left.

Back in the van, head toward home. Run in and use restroom, load Jonathon back in the wagon and walk across the street to our neighbors. Yes our last party was our neighbors grandson graduating and it was right across the road.(thank goodness) But we did not get there until after 7p.m. So Kenny and Jonathon had cake. We sat and talked with a few of our neighbors and then Jonathon had enough. By 7:30p.m.(which is bedtime)he asked me for BLANKIE. So I took Jonathon and Kenny home while Gilbert and Andrew stayed and visited.

So to all those "PEOPLE" that always complain how I raise Jonathon(and you know who you are) I tried to keep him out for awhile to see what he would do seems how we were close to home AND he still wanted to go to bed at 7:30p.m. SOOOOO NAH NAH NAH NAH! Keep your comments to yourself from now on. I think I know what I am doing!

Gilbert and Andrew came home around 10p.m. They helped the neighbor pick up some things and got paid in food! (food is good) They came home with chicken and rolls. YUMMY! So Gilbert, Andrew and Kenny all had a chicken, roll snack last night. We all agreed that the best party was our last party at our neighbors!!!!!

Glad that day is done!

New Bed

Jonathon loves his big boy bed and has been doing great with the transition. I still rock him to sleep for his morning and afternoon nap. But every night for bedtime he rocks with me and drinks his bottle for about 20 minutes....then he wants to go to his bed....wide awake. It only takes him about 10-15 minutes to fall asleep on his own.

He is becoming such a big boy.

F.Y.I. I didn't rush Jonathon out of the crib. I would have been content with him being in there until he was 3. He wanted out of the crib. He kept waking up at night and would fall right back to sleep in our bed. That's how I knew, because we never let him sleep in our bed before. And I was correct, because he loves his big boy bed.

Wordless Wednesday