12.26.12

Hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas - we're just in the middle of our celebrations over here.  We did Christmas with the 4 of us on Christmas Day, Christmas with my family today (mmmm...Christmas brunch!) and will celebrate with Josh's family on Sunday.  And although Wyatt was asking, "Is there anything else for me to open?", he admitted before bedtime, "I think I got too many presents to play with."  I guess this must be about the age where it can seem a bit overwhelming - all the presents are awesome and they probably feel like they have to play with them all. Right now.  We told him that some can go downstairs and he can play with them later on - that seemed like a good solution to him.
Tomorrow is Josh's 30th birthday!  His parents and I went in together on his birthday/Christmas present (he is probably one of the few Christmas-birthday people who doesn't mind getting joint gifts), and got him an iPad!  He's been talking about one for quite some time, and although he doesn't need one (who needs an iPad?), I figured what better occasion to give him something he just "wants".  He had no clue either, so it was nice to actually surprise him for once. :)

12.21.12

Singing at his first Christmas Concert.

More cuteness. :)

Some of the awesome lights in Morden.

Another house all dressed up for Christmas.

 Today was a really great way to end the week.  Wyatt had his preschool Christmas concert, and he did amazing!  I was a little concerned that he might freak out at all the people in the gym, but he did great.  The whole thing was just adorable.
After supper we went for a drive to look at lights again - I think I mentioned earlier this month that we tried, but didn't find anything spectacular.  Tonight we sure did!  Maybe next year we'll decorate our house like one of these. ;)  Or at least do one string of Christmas lights...

12.16.12

What? You don't do your painting while precariously balancing on a chair?

All dressed up and ready to go to one of our only gatherings this year!

Busy weekend.  My nephew's birthday party was on Saturday, then a Christmas gathering on Sunday. Both kids were exhausted, cranky and out of control by supper time today.  Wyatt seems to be more tired than usual in the afternoons, but still refuses to nap.  Not sure what's up with that - not that he refuses to nap, but why he's more tired than usual.
We're gearing up for Christmas - I think I have one small gift to pick up yet, and then it's done.  Wyatt's been pretty patient, considering the pile of gifts under the tree. :)

12.12.12

Today Wyatt had his last occupational therapy appointment until next month. We had wanted to try some weighted items - vest, lap strips, blanket - to see if they will help him calm down after a distressing experience. Which meant we had to put him through some of those experiences first. We did some work on a stability ball (which he dislikes because of the lack of balance), some writing and drawing (he has trouble holding a pencil or piece of chalk properly, and exerts so much pressure that he has ripped paper) and playing on a scooter board. He did very well, but really didn't like any of the weighted items. The blanket they had just had one strip where all the weight was (15 lbs). The ones I saw online evenly distributed the weight, so he might like that better.
The appointment was longer than usual and kind of discouraging. The therapist also noted that Wyatt has a tremor in his right hand when he does things that require fine motor skills. I thought maybe it was just because of the amount of pressure he applies when writing, but she noticed it when he was lacing beads as well.
It's just hard not to feel overwhelmed. How is this going to affect him in school? What if he gets picked on because of it? What if some monster of a child deliberately makes loud noises to scare him? What if his teachers get frustrated and give up on him? Arg!
He did draw a picture of himself BY himself today though. That was awesome. :)

12.09.12

 We started off Sunday with a little Christmas craft that I thought would be simple enough for both kids.  Ah ha ah hahhhaaaa. Wyatt very tidily painted his tree, while Paige tried to suck the paint off her paintbrush (thankfully I used non-toxic finger paint for hers...it's as though I saw this coming).  Then she tried to eat the pompoms and the glitter.  Okay.  Crafts are not for 18 month olds.

Here are the finished products.

 Then I got it into my pointy little head that we needed to try decorating a gingerbread house.  Josh and I tried several years ago, and it almost ended up in divorce.  It was not something we'll ever do together again (same with canoeing, in case you are keeping track). Wyatt was all for it, so we toddled down to Giant Tiger and picked up a kit.  The royal icing did &#$% all for keeping the house together, the whole damn thing fell apart and two pieces broke right in half.  Josh went back to Giant Tiger and bought another kit, and I put the stupid thing together with hot glue.  Worked like a charm.  I decorated it while Wyatt and Paige ate the candy.  Well, Wyatt tried to eat the candy.  He didn't actually like most of it. And I think Paige put a gumdrop in her ear.

 After supper we headed out to go look at the Christmas lights in Morden.  What a bust!  There wasn't much to look at.  And Wyatt fell asleep (probably out of boredom).
It was a fun Sunday regardless.  Josh and Wyatt had a "sleepover" last night (Josh slept on Wyatt's floor), but Wyatt wanted to be up for the day at 4:27.  They both eventually got back to sleep, but Josh headed back to bed after I got up.  The kids and I snuck out to Tim Horton's and got some Christmas-y donuts. ;)
Tomorrow is another OT appointment for Wyatt.  We're going to be trying weighted blankets (pretty much exactly what it sounds like) - sometimes they work to sort of flip that switch when SPD kids get overloaded.  They are NOT cheap though - even handmade ones start at $120US (plus shipping).  It is possible that once we get a diagnosis, we may qualify for a disability tax credit, which would help us to purchase something like this (if it does help him).

12.03.12

Sensory Overload (Interacting with Autism Project) from Miguel Jiron on Vimeo.
Yup, another SPD post. I found this video online, which shows what it might be like for a child (or adult) with auditory defensiveness. I know the video description mentions autism, because SPD and autism are often linked. Wyatt does not have autism, however he certainly experiences sensory overload. I found this video highly irritating to watch. After initially reading up on SPD, I suspected that I likely experience SPD, in a much more mild way than Wyatt. Certain sounds annoy and distract me - people breathing, for example (which I realize sounds ridiculous), and chewing! I have had to cut my lunch short on more than one occasion to keep from snapping at a co-worker. While discussing SPD and my son at work the other day, a co-worker (who happens to be a doctor) got quite upset with me. "Leave him alone!" she said, "Not everything needs to be fixed!" There was a lot of tongue biting. Because so few people know about, and understand SPD, I get that it seems like I am making a mountain out of a molehill. I get it. But until you have lived with it, you cannot understand how debilitating it can be for a child. It affects his gross and fine motor skills. He only crawled at 12 months old. He only mastered the stairs at 3. He still refuses to ride a bike. He hates writing, drawing, etc. We had to teach him how to take his socks off at 3 1/2 years old. He still struggles to dress himself - and NO, it's not because we coddle or spoil him. He just cannot figure out how to do certain things. He learned how to put his boots on this year, which was awesome. We're working on teaching him how to put his own socks on. We're struggling how to teach him how to put a jacket on (nevermind working a zipper!). Imagine a day where you feel like you have been totally overwhelmed with normal activities - I know we all have days like that - where everything feels like a chore. Or a day where you have learned something new...at the end of the day, you are mentally exhausted. Now imagine being a toddler and experiencing that every single day. Not only are you having to work through the normal demands of being a toddler, but struggling with how to react when a well-meaning adult blows a whistle in an effort to engage you, or feeling the pokepokepoke of a tag in your shirt ALL DAY LONG. It's taxing and Wyatt handles it quite well for the most part - but I think a lot of his tantrums are from sheer mental exhaustion. I notice on days where he has had a lot of sensory overload, those are the days where we have to give a lot of time outs. My new goal is to find an outlet for Wyatt. Something he can do that will release that stress and tension of fighting with himself all day long. There are certain songs that he loves listening to, and I think maybe if I can find a really soft pair of headphones I may be able to convince him to put them on. The long and rambling point to this post is hopefully to explain to people that a)yes, SPD is a real disorder and something that can serious affect the day to day life of a child, and b)I am trying my best. Telling me to "let him be" is NOT helpful - to me or to him.

12.2.12

Elf on the Shelf Night #3 (sorry for the redundancy, FB friends).  

Last week Wyatt was invited to his first (non-family) birthday party, for a boy that he went to daycare with in the summer.  He was thrilled, and I was apprehensive to say the least.  I spoke to the boy's mom, she said it was just their family and one other boy invited.  I figured Wyatt could handle that size of group, but I was still fairly uncertain about the whole idea.  I don't know this family at all (other than knowing who they are from daycare), and Wyatt's never been to a party on his own before.  But, I thought, it's a small party, and a short time, it should be alright.  I told Wyatt if he got upset at all, he could ask the boy's mom to call us and we would come get him.  Josh dropped him off, but stayed with Wyatt for a while because it turned out that there were actually quite a few people there.  Wyatt told Josh he could leave, but we got a call about an hour later saying Wyatt was ready to go home.  Turns out that the kids had whistles in the treat bags and had been playing with them.  That set Wyatt off, not surprisingly.  I feel badly that he didn't have fun.  

We've started his occupational therapy appointments, and those have been going alright.  The last 2 weeks have just been a series of exercises to see what he is capable of, and how he reacts to certain things.  This week we'll start working on sensory integration therapy.  As part of the process, Wyatt's preschool teacher had to fill out a questionnaire about how he acts in school, and some of it was hard to read.  He almost always needs encouragement to play with the other kids, and often keeps to himself.  I know there is one boy that he plays with there, so it's good that he's got one little buddy.  Just kind of sad that he's too overwhelmed with everything else that's going on that he doesn't want to interact with anyone else.  Sometimes, the more information about SPD I get, the more depressing it is.

11.30.12

 When my kids sleep, they sleep HARD.  No wonder the poor guy keeps having nightmares that he's falling!

Tomorrow we start up the whole Elf on the Shelf thing again, so I set everything up for tomorrow.  I saw this great idea for a North Pole Breakfast on Pinterest - the elf brings breakfast with him the first day he arrives.  I made up some little felt sleeves for their sippy cups, we have powdered donuts, mini cinnamon sugar muffins and we may make pancakes or cinnamon buns tomorrow morning.  Oh!  And chocolate milk, of course.  I thought hot chocolate would be great, but I don't think Wyatt could be convinced to drink it.

11.26.12

This is why you don't see many pictures of Paige lately.  She has NO TIME to be looking at the camera.  Way too much going on.  So, no matter how much, "Paige!  Sweetie!  Cheeeeese!  Look!  Hi!  Paige!  Paaaaaige!  PAIGE." I do, I still mostly get pictures of the back or side of her head.

 

Found this sweet picture when cleaning up my memory card.

And sometimes, that's okay. :)

11.19.12

A.K.A. My Monday night iPhone photo dump:

At the tree lighting ceremony on Friday night - they had a bonfire and Wyatt loved it!

I made gingerbread scented play dough on Saturday.  It smells SO good - Wyatt liked pretending that he was making cookies.

Out for a walk on Sunday afternoon.  It was a beautiful day!

Hanging out, watching a new Veggie Tales DVD. Paige LOVES the theme song.

Colouring her picture for the "About Me" page to go in her Operation Christmas shoebox.  She's surprisingly dextrous, she loves to colour.

Just being goofballs.

11.15.12

Last night Wyatt and I went to Dollarama to pick items for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  He seemed to enjoy choosing specific things for "the boy".  Most of the conversation was, "I think the boy will like...." but there was a lot of, "And I will like...."  He did a good job though, no fussing when I only let him pick one thing to take home (a Kinder Egg).  We just need to add some info about Wyatt and Paige to the boxes and drop them off at the tree lighting ceremony in town tomorrow.
We are going to attempt Photos With Santa.  Wish me luck.

11.12.12

 

I've been lousy at posting since I went back to work at May, but it's been even worse lately.  I do apologize (especially to my mother!).

These last few weeks have been hectic.  Every morning it's a rush to get us all out of the door on time (never happens), then I get to work and am swamped allll day.  I know that it's all part and parcel in training for a new position, but the inability to just sit back for 2 seconds to gather my thoughts is wearing on me.

We've been getting ready for Christmas - I think shopping is pretty well over and done with.  I found a used artificial tree for $20, and it was the best $20 I've spent lately, ha ha.  We have the worst luck keeping real trees alive, I feel like we've tried all the tricks out there.  Last year we couldn't even turn the lights on the week of  Christmas because the tree was totally dead and I was concerned it would burst into flame.

I decorated a few cakes this weekend for the salon that my hairdresser works at.  It was their annual open house, and they were celebrating 10 years.  She's actually been doing my hair for 13 years (since I ran in the Corn and Apple Queen Pageant), so when they approached me, I agreed for that reason alone. ;)

We started a Biggest Loser competition at work - I actually somehow got roped into leading it - I'm hoping this will be the push I need to make a change.  I did good this week, tracked every single thing and worked out every other day...and drinking a LOT of tea instead of snacking in the evenings.

I am really looking forward to the Christmas season - I'd love suggestions for explaining the real Christmas story to Wyatt.  We're not church goers (not because we're not believers), and it seems like anything to do with praying/church seems to weird him out a bit (I get the praying thing - the monotone chanting of people with their eyes closed might seem a bit unsettling if it's not done every day in your house).  We have a Baby Bible that has the Christmas story, but it's only one page.

11.7.12

I had this great idea tonight, to set up the small Christmas tree in the basement with the kids.
Me: "It'll make the cutest pictures of the kids decorating the tree!"
Kids: "No."
Paige was totally freaked out by the tree for some reason.  Hopefully this means she won't destroy the real  one (and by real, I mean not mini, thinking of doing a fake tree this year because we routinely kill our Christmas trees the  week before Christmas).
Wyatt put most of the ornaments on the same spot, and then cried until I took a picture of the huge Tigger toy with the tree.
Not exactly as I had pictured it...

11.3.12

Last night Wyatt had a sleepover with his cousins at Josh's parents'. Paige did not know what to do with herself, so she decided to wreak havoc. This is how the past 24 hours went:
Me: "Paige, stop. No! Stop it. Put that down! Get off the chair. Put that back. Get down. Stop it! No. No!! Paige!!!!!"
Don't be surprised if they name a hurricane after her.

10.31.12

Happy Halloween!

10.27.12

Today the fossil museum was offering a few Halloween festivities. My sister in law wanted to take her kids, and invited us along. Since it fell during Paige's nap time, my mother in law took Wyatt (Josh had already been at 2 firecalls since 4am, a third came during supper). He didn't really enjoy it, he told me there was "scary stuff" there that he didn't like. My sister in law snapped a quick picture before he left though.

After Paige woke up, I tried on a Snow White dress that was handed down to Paige. She was not impressed.

10.23.12

Just over 2 months until Christmas!!

I've been trying to finish up my Christmas shopping this week.  I get a LOT of flack, every single year, from people who think I am annoyingly early with my shopping.  I get it.  I love Christmas shopping though.  I love picking out that perfect gift for someone, even if it does stress me out at times.  On my side of the family, we make lists.  I love lists.  You can't go wrong with a list.  I often stray from the list, but at least that gives me a very good idea of the type of things someone is looking for.
My in laws, on the other hand, never do lists.  And my in laws are VERY hard to shop for.  Josh is hopeless when it comes to helping me choose gifts, so this is a point of contention every single year.  This year, he came up with a great idea for his dad with no prompting.  It was wonderful.
Anyway, besides my love of Christmas shopping, I start early to ease the financial burden.  If I start in October and buy one gift a week, as long as we stick to our budget, by the time Christmas has come, we haven't had to go into debt over presents. 
And with Christmas shopping comes my Christmas Budget Spreadsheet!  Probably the most exciting part of it all. ;)  I should find a way to make a bar graph when I am done shopping too.
This year, for the kids, we are trying to stick to this guideline:

Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. Wyatt was pretty clear on what he wants (a red combine, which I have already purchased).  Paige answered me by blowing me a kiss and shaking her head no.  I took that to mean she wanted a mixer to go with her toy kitchen.
I'm having trouble with this, as my instinct is to buy anything I think the kids might like.  But thankfully, the logical part of me knows that a)I don't really want to go broke and b)they already have an excess of "things".  Hopefully by limiting the gifts, it will make the ones they get that much more special.
Next week's post: Planning Paige's 2nd birthday (KIDDING. Settle down).

10.17.12

COME ON!  Look at my tiny little hipster!  He's so funny - he loooooves wearing his "skinny pants" and it drives Josh batty.  To be fair, they have a nice roomy waist, and they are made from the softest fabric ever.
I've been training for a new position at work.  The training itself is going fine, I feel like I have a pretty good grip on what's going on.  The issue is that I'm still needed in my current position pretty much 8 hours a day, so I am getting a little overwhelmed trying to make sure I cover all the bases and don't leave anyone hanging.
Our anniversary is coming up next week (9 years!), so we're heading to Grand Forks for a little cross-border shopping to celebrate (totally Josh's idea).  We'll spend our actual anniversary at an appreciation dinner at the fire hall (totally my idea).

10.14.12

So, in my quest to have perfect photos of my children, I thought I'd attempt some of my own because the kids didn't really co-operate the first time.  Although the one I posted earlier was cute, neither of them was smiling.
Well.
See this photo up here?  Where they are both kind of smiling?  It was the first AND ONLY smiling photo I got out of...oh, I'm not even going to admit how many I tried.  Wyatt was cranky, but would entertain me and give me a few smiles.  After this photo, Paige screamed the whole time.  We tried up by the old boat launch at the beach, on the boardwalk, at Maple Leaf School and the Land Titles Office (why so many places?  Clearly I am a sucker for punishment).  She just did not want to stay still.  I guess we'll just try again next May and hope that when she's 2, she'll be easily bribed to stay in one spot.

10.12.12

Our 2012 family pics.  Not too bad for trying to get a 1 year old and 4 year old to look at the camera at the same time. :)

10.10.12

Helping Josh finish the basement bathroom.

10.09.12

I have been a terrible blogger.  Time seems to be slipping away so quickly these days.  I don't suspect it will slow down any time soon.
The kids are sick again.  Wyatt's got bronchitis, Paige likely has it too.  Did you know that bronchitis is a viral infection, and therefore not really affected by antibiotics?  Fun times.
Wyatt's been doing really well at preschool - although the one week they had a fire drill and he was pretty terrified by that.  He comes home with cute little crafts or drawings each week.  He has made a new friend, "Aiden", whom I have yet to actually meet.  He's actually also taken to imaginary friends lately too.  That's quite interesting.
Paige has been doing a LOT of mimicking lately.  She will "meow" like a cat and "woof" like a dog.  She likes to copy Wyatt which sometimes drives him nuts.  She also loves dancing along to just about any kind of music - theme songs, ringtones, Song Pop - she'll bob up and down and shake her head.
Josh has a firefighter conference coming up this weekend in Brandon.  The kids and I will join him this time!  Not sure exactly what we'll do - they have a splash pool which Paige will love, we'll see if Wyatt might be okay with it if it's not deep.  Josh will become certified in Ground Search and Rescue, which is very exciting for him.

9.30.12

We picked up a Chutes and Ladders game last Christmas, and finally got around to opening it.  Wyatt did a pretty good job of following the rules, but he constantly wanted to go down the slides. :P
Josh left (very) early Saturday morning for a fishing trip.  Wyatt told me this morning that he missed him a lot, but he would pretend daddy was here so he didn't miss him so much. :)
I had to take Wyatt to Winnipeg for a dental consultation, we were told by his dentist out here that he had three cavities.  When we got there, they didn't seem to know why we were there, which was frustrating.  The dentist that checked Wyatt was very patient, made him a balloon animal (!) and he told us Wyatt had NO cavities.  We were there for maybe half an hour.  Seemed like a waste of time, and I'm not sure who to believe.  Neither dentist would have had a good look, because he wasn't co-operating well for either of them.  So, we'll continue to brush and floss for now.