Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Treats from School


Thane's SLP-A made treat bags for all the children in his class. Thane didn't really understand it at school, so I took pictures of him checking it out and made her a card. He was so cute about it. He was very excited to find a smooshed grape fruit leather and asked me to open it immediately so he could eat it. He drank his organic apple juice right afterward. She very clearly went for healthy treats that were safe for his allergies and intolerances, which I thought was extra nice. There was also a homemade book in it which he's already gone through several times.

I'll post more on our Halloween tomorrow. I'm tired! You can click on the picture to make it larger.

Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Nap and Silly



I hate that there are so many “that was cute, I have to write that down moments” in a day that I am left scratching my head and wondering what it was that had me laughing so hard during OT. I guess it will come to me at some point and hopefully I can write it down then.

There are two cute things I can remember from yesterday, other than this photo of Thane napping in what I consider my chair . . . he was singing a lot yesterday, including:

“Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily . . . merrily, merrily
life is but a dream”

Then Dave didn’t something and Thane said:

“Don’t worry, Daddy, I’ll help you.
I’ll help you fix it. We’ll make it better!”

Thane drags his potty chair over to in front of Dave, climbs up onto it, lifts Dave's shirt up and rubs Dave's stomach with his hands.

“There! All better, Daddy.”

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Colorful Backyard

Some photos from around our backyard showing some autumn foliage.







Back to Battie


This picture of Braeden makes me see how those teenage years are coming!


Thane's on top of the world! (OK, it is a short mountain, but he is pretty happy!)



Portrait of Mommy


It's not often that I post a pictures of myself, but this one is rather charming to me. My little artist was working with his occupational therapist to create this picture of Mommy. The sweetest part of it was when he was trying to draw to the mouth. He didn't care what the hair looked like, and he only drew dots for eyes, but the mouth had to be smiling. He tried to draw it and was frustrated, so he asked for hand-over-hand support to make a big smile . . . it had to be a big smile. I guess I just think it is sweet that if he is drawing my picture he thinks it should have an ear-to-ear grin on my face.

Not to mention that I do rather look like a big round ball with arms and legs sticking out . . .

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Me & My Shadow

Thane went on a walk at Beech Hill yesterday. He loves shadows, as you can tell from all the photos he took (I left all of them in, unedited in any way).

Happy Thaney

We got Thane a twist trike that can be used as a regular tricycle or a Big Wheel-type vehicle. He was thrilled and had a blast. You can also see some of how he has been playing with his mouth lately. He's pretty excited to be gaining more muscle control!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Mount Battie

Tuesday was a gorgeous day here (unlike today!) and we decided to go to the top of Mount Battie in Camden before picking Braeden up after sailing. I figure this also gives me a good opportunity to show Thane's new haircut and his overalls, complete with bats on the back.


I know this isn't a wonderful picture of Thane and Dave, but I rather like other aspects of the picture (the sky, the light and shadows) . . . and we have a very similar picture of Braeden at about the same age.


Thane has so much hair we decided it was time to layer it so it didn't wedge so much in the back. We've gotten a lot of comments that it makes him look older. If you ask me, he does look like he is going to be turning four in a couple of months . . . ACK!


I hate when I get this little hexagon invades my images, but in this case the placement is sort of amusing and makes Thane look like he is casting a spell in front of a castle.


If I hadn't already done my Halloween cards, I might have used this photo. Of course, when I had him in costume and tried to get him to pose, he kept running away. He was actually moving when I took this too, but he's looking up at least!


Here's Thane flying over Camden Harbor. I was expecting the fall color to look more impressive from above than it did on Tuesday. My drive home was beautiful, but it is a little more inland and a lot of red maples. If the bad weather today doesn't knock all the leaves off the trees, perhaps we'll go back next week.


I have to include the back of the overalls because there are bats on his back on top of Mount Battie.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Fabulous Day

I’m so excited! Braeden had plans to visit a new friend at school today, which always seems like a good thing. Then last night we got a call from one of the families we are carpooling with. The mom had to go somewhere today and her babysitter needed to leave early. She asked if we could cover the time in between. Her boys are both six months older than my two.. I said yes because she has been helping me out by making sure Braeden’s ride gets him in the afternoon, she’s been taking him to sailing, and because she also agreed to have her four-year-old come over and do developmental therapy at home with Thane as his peer role model.

The big problem that we were seeing is that the boys hadn’t connected yet. After a month of a riding next to each other in the car, they still weren’t talking to each other. The last time I watched the boys, the four-year-old asked as they left why Thane wouldn’t play with him.

It only took about 15 minutes to break the ice today. The older boy sat down in our swing chair in the living room. His brother climbed in on top of him, then invited Thane. Thane accepted and got in too. Then they sat together in a chair chatting while the older boy played computer games.

We got into a discussion of Halloween and we pulled out some of Braeden’s old dress up clothes. Braeden loved to be “Hero Boy” and stuff like that. The four-year-old settled on Superman and asked Thane to put on a Spiderman outfit . . . and he did! Who would have thought Thane would agree to that! The two super heroes bounded on the trampoline outside, ran around on the old play sets, raced around the yard, etc.

“Thane, would you like to do something else now?” the new friend asked.

“Yes!” Thane answered, and off they went on another adventure. The fact that Thaney is answering questions is rather recent and it is so nice to see. This whole thing was amazing and so worthwhile. I am so happy with how it worked. The boys’ mom came after only about an hour, but then stayed another hour or more because the little ones were just so cute together.

Another big thing is the size difference – Thane has caught up so much. He was such a teeny little thing and looked so small in comparison to this boy who is almost exactly 6 months older. But Thane has grown so much in the past year that there is much more typical two inches or so in height. It makes the catch up seem all the more dramatic.

Braeden had a blast with his friend too, so all around a good day.




Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Rockland Waterfront


I went with Dave to pick up Braeden at sailing this afternoon. I took a picture of Braeden on the Atlantic Challenge dock with my cell phone. I guess he has one more week to go before it is done. Then he might start ice skating.

I have lots of things I could type about Thane's IEP and first dentist appointment, but I am going to bed instead.