Happy New Years, again!

Luke giddy with excitement to go to bed.....which isn't as weird as it seems! It's his first night in his new bunk bend and he's thrilled with his big guy status on the top bunk and the redecorating in his room. He helped pick out furniture and bedding and we agreed on pale green walls, white furniture, and lots of red accents. I'll post pictures when everything is done (hopefully Tuesday when the other matress and photo collage arrive).

A few favorites from 2009:
Luke's toy - anything Star Wars
Aaron's toy - anything dinosaur
Favorite game for boys to play together - dinosaur, with roaring, biting, and chasing
Luke's favorite food - ketchup
Aaron's favorite food - mac & cheese
Luke's biggest accomplishment - learning to read
Aaron's biggest accomplishment - incredible improvement in his speech

Home Sweet Home

After 12 hours of driving and many, many stops, we made it home from New Jersey after visiting Rich's family. Luke was easy - opting to take naps, watch DVDs, and play on his Leapster (new Star Wars reading game!). Aaron was better than on the trip out, which isn't saying very much. We resorted to some candy-flavored bribery and bought a couple of new movies, and he only had one accident in the car when we just couldn't get to an exit fast enough. Aaron refused to sleep in the car until we were in Shelbyville, KY, which is within 2o minutes of home. I love this picture because he has a death grip on his lollipop, even while sleeping!

Sweet boys

Silly pics

Sleeping like puppies at Aunt Linda's house

Chicago gymnastics meet

Tired & happy little boy after the meet

Talking with the judge after his rings routine

Coach Jim spotting Luke on rings

Luke's team watching each other on the floor routine

Parallel Bars

Luke's 2nd meet - meet was beautifully organized and run, with about twelve teams of little boys rotated through six events smoothly and pretty quickly. Rich and I agreed that overall Luke had a few more little bobbles but he was still very composed and was happy with his performance.

Vault 14.7

Floor 13.2

High Bars 12.4

Parallel Bars 12.9

Rings 12.4
Pommel 8.0

Aaron and Niko in their element

Christmas pageant

was wonderful! Rich was the music director, and Luke sang (mostly) rather than doing a dead fish impression like last year. Aaron sang along from the audience.

New Tactic

Tonight's sleep avoidance strategy a la Aaron: stripping.

Piano Recital

Luke's piano teacher had a very informal recital for her students tonight in her living room. About halfway through Luke looked up at me and said, "I'm scared." When it was his turn he burst into tears and refused to go to the front of the room. Later Rich talked him into going and they played a couple of duets, and Luke did just fine. His teacher Jamie said that isn't unusual for little kiddos.

First gymnastics meet

Luke had his first meet this morning and really enjoyed it. He said he was a little nervous, but he looked so composed. All of the little boys were so cute!

Here are his scores (no idea how they work exactly - will have to check online): floor 13.40, pommel 7.20, rinkgs 13.50, vault 13.90, parallel bars 10.00, and high bar 13.40.

Early morning with Aaron

It's a good thing he's cute, because.....

At 6 a.m. on the nose, he's crying. When I went in, he said, "It's time to get up. Get sum-tin to eat." I brought him back to bed with me, and he tried to stay still for a couple of minutes, then, "Get up now Mommy. I go potty first. It's time to get up. I play the cool train upstairs." Upstairs, sit on the potty, "I make bubbles!" In the living room, "Turn on the lights! I play the cool train. Watch movie Big Dinosaurs." Later, "Those not monkey, they're lemurs. See the big dinosuar allosaurus. There's trodon! There's the brachiasuarus. That's anklylasuarus - it's not a puppy." I remember going to bed last night and thinking that I might be able to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning.

A bit of this and that

My aunt Kristi sent a box of Christmas gifts early, and it's still sitting in the entry way. On the way down the stairs tonight Aaron stopped by it and said, "It's my birthday! It's mine, not for Luke!"

We went to Kansas City for Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. Long drive - 10 hours - but Aaron did pretty well, considering. Dad reminded me that a couple of years ago we drove to KC after Luke had potty trained, and both boys figured out pretty quickly that "I need to go potty!" is a good way to be released from the car seat for a few minutes. Both boys loved being with my cousin Dean's kids - cool older kids who were happy to play with them. Luke especially liked Dustin, who is 16 and can juggle, and was willing to rough house with him. I wish my extended family was nearer.

Big couple of weeks for Luke -- he won a price in a PTA art contest for his collage he made with Mama called "Transformers are beautiful AND cool!", he has his first gymnastics competition this Sunday, and his first (very informal) piano recital next Tuesday.

Aaron has stopped saying "Bob the Yo-Yo," now called him the more common "Bob the Builder." Rich and I are both disappointed. Fortunately, he still says, "Tricera-pops."

I have a statistics final on Monday, then a delightful 4 week break from classes. Tired, don't want to study. Oh well.

Gymnastics

Luke's a level 4 now - that means that he's on the competitive team. He's thrilled! He practices 9 hours a week, with a group of about ten boys who range from 7 to 13 years old. It's fun watching how supportive the boys are of each other and his primary coach, Jim, is fun to watch while he works. Tonight they had team photos (hm, wonder if some of you will see those at Christmas??), and he put on his official uniform for the first time - white pommel pants and a black step-in, which is basically a leotard worn under the pommel pants. He also has nice warm-ups and a tiny pair of white shorts. His first meet is in Louisville Dec. 6, then he's in Chicago Dec. 19, and St. Louis Jan. 9 - 10. He has a total of 7 meets. He's a funny kid - very relaxed at the idea of competing and performing.

Attention seeking

Aaron's two catch phrases for wanting to be held.....

"Snuggle me"
"I'm cold!"

Bathtime

A total change in routine tonight - Luke was first in the bath, and Aaron desperately wanted to be there. Luke said it was ok. They played for awhile and there was a happy bunch of giggling, until......"Dad! There's poop in the tub!" And no, not just one little poop.

Rich did the honors. The boys got showers after their bath.

A bit of comedy & misc

Luke told me tonight that his teacher's first name is "Mrs." I'm sure she's heard it before, but I can't wait to tell her!

Rich has H1N1.....not happy but not horrible either. He stayed home today and took Tamiflu, and I think is going to work tomorrow. Everyone else in the house has a cold, but nothing serious.

Aaron is staying dry at daycare, but pees himself everyday at naptime. At night he wakes up if he pees and begs for a new diaper. It's good in terms of potty training but it's driving me a little crazy when I just want to work.

Aaron......

is potty trained!!!!! 3 days of no accidents, including at daycare. He pitched a healthy tantrum screaming for a diaper last Saturday when we started but pretty quickly adapted. The process, in an odd way, was helped by an ear infection -- two days at home to practice without the distraction of other kids.

Luke's math assessment

A friend of mine from NKU did a diagnostic math assessment with Luke a couple of weeks ago - here are her notes:


Heather,

Hi, I finally got a chance to review the recording with Luke. Also, I converted it to a format that I hope you can play. Here are the links to download the video:

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/770929332/0577d26092f7985d8b6d2e6c869eefb9
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/770929390/ef2429d8ca59f0daae40a2d61c10ce48
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/770929460/8525321a3c340cc12fddca769bd63e2a


He is, as I’m sure you know, doing great and well above grade level.

I assessed his forward counting to 112. He was able to start anywhere and give the number word after in the entire range. There were only slight pauses or self corrections and he clearly knew forward counting in this range.

I assessed his backward counting in the range 1 to 100. He was confident to 30. Above 30, he had occasional pauses and skipped 30 when counting from 38 to 27. But he was able to count back from 72 and give the number before in the range to 100. He is very close to having facility in the range 1 to 100.

I assessed his numeral identification. He was amazing with this. For example, he could read 90,380 and 247,641. The only one he had trouble with was 700,090 – which is difficult because of all of the zeros. He read it as “seven thousand-ninety”. I suspect if I had pushed a bit he could have gotten that one as well. I was impressed!

I assessed his addition and subtraction strategies. For addition, he comfortably counts on and occasionally uses known or related facts. For subtraction, he tries to count down, but is often off by a count. For example, for 16-4, he counted back “16, 15, 14, 13” and got that the answer was 13. There were situation where he correctly used a known or related fact to solve subtraction. For example, he was able to solve 15+3 then use it to solve 18-3. So he has the idea of subtraction and can relate it to addition, but is off on the details.

I assessed his structuring (part-whole knowledge of whole numbers). He solidly knows how to combine and partition 5. He either knows or is very close to knowing how to combine and partition numbers up to 10. It was interesting to me what he did with the questions involving teens. He used the 10+ structure to solve some problems but not others. In one task, I said “I have 10, I wish I had 18, how many do I need”. He immediately said 8. A few tasks later, I asked “Tell me two numbers that make 17” and he said 5&7. My guess is that it’s not quite clear that teens are building from 10. In other words, I think he knows 18 is something important plus 8, but not necessarily knows that is a ten plus 8.

I enjoyed working with Luke. He has great number sense!

If you want full a copy of the written assessment I gave him with my notes, I can scan them and email them to you. Let me know.

Cindy

Best time of the day

Aaron gets a "ticket" every day from daycare with basic information about his day. Yesterday his favorite activity was identified as "potty time." Odd.

Out of date!

The last three weeks have been tough & full, hence the lack of any blog posts. A couple of quick things:

• Rahj placed with a new family this week, and no contact with us since the Monday he made threats against Rich & the boys. I've going between anger, guilt, etc. Not much fun.
• Luke discovered rock climbing, which is tons of fun to watch him do. Amazing there is gear his size. The gymnastics experience definitely helps.
• I started my PhD classes - Applied Statistics & a Doctoral Professional Seminar (basically writing literature reviews and how to plan and design my program).
• Aaron LOVES preschool.

Exhausted. Bed.

Aaron can't!

Aaron's favorite grammatical construction:

"I can't want Elmo!" "I can't want Goldfish!"

A work related project

This from a Jefferson County publication - one of my big projects through the school year is doing lots of family outreach:

Westport: Parent Math Nights
Westport Middle plans to host a yearlong series of Parent Math Nights at the school and at St. Stephen Church, 1018 South 15th Street. The school recently held the first event and will host upcoming Parent Math Nights on Wed., Aug. 26, at Westport and on Tues., Sept. 1, at St. Stephen Church. These events allow parents/guardians to view the district’s college preparatory math program, and refreshments will be served. Research indicates that parents’ attitudes toward and involvement in their child’s education have a significant effect on their child’s school success. To print a flier about the upcoming events, click here. For more information, send an e-mail to Heather Sargent at heather.sargent@jefferson.kyschools.us.

Police camp

Raha did a 2 week camp with the Louisville Metro Police - thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and was very proud of his learning.

Luke's first day of school

Luke is still loving kindergarten! His teacher communicates daily, and is mostly just getting them used to being in school right now.

Aaron's OT at daycare

Jane's email from Tuesday: "We had a good session yesterday. staff reports he is doing well. he is getting to sleep at nap with pats on the back. He was yawning when I came in at 11:15. We did some scooterboard play in the gym and threw basketballs at the goal along side other children. Prior to lunch I let him suck and chew on the z-vibe. He ate the chicken patty and I encouraged play with the peas and canned pear pieces. He smashed the peas with a spoon and dipped the z-vibe (not vibrating) into pear juice and sucked it off the probe. He would not eat any tiny tiny piece of pear on the vibe. Megan prompted him to take a bite but he refused. He did go back to sucking up the juice. I encourged the staff to continue to allow food play. He picked up some peas and pears and placed them on the clean-up napkin. Sometimes it takes ten to twenty one days of seeing a food on the plate before a picky eater will try a new food. the nice thing about daycare is he will see the same foods over and over.Dana put the z-vibe in his backpack. I suggest you keep it at home and offer it as soon as he gets home and prior to eating dinner. You can also ask if he wants it before going to bed. He can keep it until he turns three or is no longer interested in using it.How are things at home? eating, sleeping, crashing toys?"

Kindergarten!!

After practicing getting up on time on Monday & Tuesday, today was finally the big day! Luke, Rich, and I went to MacKenna's house to meet the bus in the morning together. He looked tiny and a little nervous getting on the bus, but there were no tears and no hesitation.

I picked him up after school at the Cougar Den, which is the after school care program in the elementary school. He said that kindergarten was "Great! I never want to leave!" He liked everything - the other kids, coloring, lunch, recess, gym class...... he seemed confident and excited to go back.

His teacher, Mrs. Hickman, is a veteran teacher who had two of our friends' children last year. Both of those families have told us that she is a wonderful reading teacher and that she is very thoughtful in the way she structures her class.

Off on an adventure

We're heading to the Red River Gorge & Natural Bridge in the morning..... a first try at camping with 3 kids. If 2 days is fun, we may try another trip later this fall. I have Raha sufficiently terrified about behaving correctly after last week's headache at Mamoth Cave so hopefully it will be a good trip.

OT with Jane

Our last session at home for a few weeks - Jane is going to go to Aaron at daycare. Today's theme is "sticky" ..... trying to get him to experiment with that texture & sensation.

• This may be one of the more entertaining things I've seen.....hammering golf tees into a styrofoam cooler. Luke was very happy to help. Big goal is the joint compression from hammering or pushing, but also eye-hand coordination & the low frequency sound.
• Jane talked about setting up a ritual for dropping Aaron off at daycare in the morning. (Maybe also get a vibrating toothbrush for daycare)
• Cutting practice - spring loaded scissors from Dollar Tree, and cutting strips of construction paper - strips are good for the satisfaction of watching the pieces fall off - then use a glue stick to attach them to paper. Also adding foam stickers.
• Syrup on a plate - dragging the z-vibe through it, and to our surprise he rubbed the z-vibe on his arm and chin as well as tasting it. He had a wet washcloth available for clean-up as he needed it. He dipped poptart pieces into the syrup, and eventually drew cirles with his fingers and sucked on his fingers.
• Jane will do his next appointment at daycare on Tuesday during their gym time and lunch.

Dinosaurs & Train Dreams

Luke woke up this morning and the first words he said were, "I need to go draw." He's making amazing dino drawings, mostly of a T'rex & anklysaraus in battle. I'll scan one in later today. Lots of armor detail, scary teeth, and even bloody bites.

Aaron is having lots of dreams, which are obvious to me because he wakes me up by talking in his sleep. Sometimes they are nightmeres, "Aaron falling down, down, down!" but he's also dreaming about his favorite Thomas the Tank Engine movie, "Diesel scare Thomas! Diesel bad guy. Percy, Thomas....."

Sunday's Adventure

Today we took a trip to Mamoth Cave at Becky's suggestion. It was wonderful trip and the caves are beautiful. The boys were hard work sometimes (Aaron high maintenence, Raha obnoxious) but did really well walking through the caves. Aaron insisted on walking down 300 steps by himself, with me walking backwards to protect him from himself. After a few minutes when I carried him, he fell deeply asleep and I ended up lugging a heavy, sweet, sleeping toddler for the next half hour walking back out of the cave.

The next stop was Dinosaur World, an expensive tourist trap with a few easy activities for the boys. The boys dug for bones and fossils, and saw some cool life-size dinosaur replicas.

Misc, out of date!

I've taken lots of photos in the last couple of weeks that I've been really slow to post! Here are a few new photos and quick captions.....bed is calling.

Aaron kicked out of an interactive Egypt exhibit at the Indianapolis Science Center, but he's happy to drip cars on a pharoh face.
Luke excavating a dino bone at the Indy Science Center.

Luke ready to dive in at the Louisville Finals for swimming. His group of 6 and under boys took 6th in the 100 meter relay.

Aaron making music with eggplants at the Louisville Center's Wild Music exhibit.

Luke as "Industrial Man," his invented character from a Super Hero camp at the Oldham County Arts Center.

Luke's bad summer camp

Luke is at the Louisville Science Center for a dinosaur camp this week. I am deeply disappointed - It's a really expensive coloring book camp. I've talked to the summer camp director twice. Unfortunately, I wasn't joking about the coloring pages - printed off the Internet, today with a bonus word search. The dinosaur info is very basic so he hasn't learned anything new in the last 3 days. I expected interactive activities and more sophistication, but it's been dull arts & crafts with a dino theme. He learned a lot more in Indianapolis with the ca omputer simulation of dino body construction and their wonderful exhibits.

What a mess. I'll keep monitoring, but I will write a formal complaint to the Executive Director and Education Director of the museum. A friend of mine suggested that we could put together a fantastic dinosaur camp, but I don't think my schedule has a good T-Rex-size gap.

Potty Guy

At the Indianapolis Science Center (amazing!!!), they have family restrooms with toddler size toilets. When I took Aaron in to change his diaper he seemed curious about the toilet so I asked him if he wanted to try it out. His immediate response was, "I can't do it. I too little."

Last night at dinner he announced, "Big potty I fall in."

Fortunately his daycare potty trains but he may be 6 before the deed is done.

Music Night at the Science Center

Tonight the Science Center had a Wild Music Night...our kids were happy to participate. They're playing with Tracey and her kiddos Sammy and Fifi. The musician Greg had an amazing variety of instruments made from things you can find at Home Depot, and by chance he'd taught Raha in a camp a couple of weeks ago. Very nice man, and the kids loved working with him to make LOTS of noise!

Qualifier Swim Meet

Luke's relay is slooooooow, but they qualified for the championship meet on Saturday.

Managing Luke

Yesterday Luke had 3 big, nasty tantrums. In all of them, he wanted to play on the Wii rather than go to his activities (swimming & gymnastics). His gymnastics coach was wonderful - talked to me about prepping Luke for transitions and really building his confidence. He's been going to an extra class each week that is with older boys at higher levels, and he didn't understand why he was there, and kept saying, "But it's not my team?!" We talked to him about it being a big compliment to be invited to a higher level class. Tonight at practice he was amazing - on the rings he supported himself with his hands in a pull-up position with his legs parallel to the floor for nearly a minute.

Today he had his first piano lesson. He told us that he wouldn't like it. I used Coach Doug's suggestions for gymnastics, and had a long conversation with him that started with, "Guys who are good with numbers are usually really good with music...." He loved the teacher, loves the idea of getting stickers for practice, and said that he wants to take lessons. Yippee! Rich was very enthusiastic about the teacher as well.

Luke has been my easy kid for the last couple of years, but it seems like now as he's getting more independent we also have to communicate more deliberately. He's such a remarkable kid.

• If you do backbends over a stability ball, you can pick up puzzle pieces AND get great tummy work!
• Forward somersault over the stability ball
• 3 foot horizontal figure 8 on a big piece of craft paper - drive a car over it with left hand 3 times, with right hand 3 times, then two cars to use both hands 3 times
• Criss-cross knee tap sitting on the stability ball - crossing hands diagonally over the body to connect the two sides of the brain. Sitting on adult lap (brought book to borrow "Brain Gym" by Dennison)
• Long strokes on arms & legs, U-shape on back - tactile defensiveness & deep pressure with this amazing plastic brush
• Lots of swinging & crashing into Jane, or stability ball, or fly onto chair
• Party favors - blow outs - sustained or fast breathes
• z-vibe - looks like a hard rubber toothbrush with a high frequency vibration - push on tounge or bite on it - he REALLY likes this - Jane says to get a vibrating toothbrush
• Crayola Sudsy-Mudsy - foaming mud soap, plus shaving cream, plus paint brush
• Ate with Jane (missed morning snack - very hungry!) mac & cheese, watermelon, & apple sauce - trying to convince him to try to switch hand position on the silverware. She noted that he's craving lots of sucking on z-vibe and on spoon with applesauce. Recommended lots of straw drinks that are thicker like smoothies. Freezer stick popsicles. She also brought silverware with a molded handles and a shape at top to help transition to a more mature hand position. She also recommended begining to more heavily spicing food for him (like adding cinnamon to applesauce, try dipping in ranch dressing, salsa, hummus, drizzle vinager or pickle juice on meats, dried fruits and chewy breads for resistance in chewing)

Luke & more science fun

Today we flew paper airplanes & measured how far they went, then found the median distance. A couple of days ago he decided that we needed to see what would dissolve in water. He is SOOOO much fun!

Super Hero

It's Industrial Man!!!

Luke went to a Super Hero Camp at the Oldham County Arts Center - He had a wonderful time and designed his own hero with all his gear.

Plant vs. Toddler

Quiet Box

I'm getting ready to go to a 2 day PD (Cognitive Coaching), so I put together a box of quiet, settling activities for Aaron:

*pipe cleaners & pony beads
*play dough & tools
*dinosaur lacing cards
*pom-poms with straws and tongs
*feathers & straws
*piggy bank and coins
*texture plates, paper, and special pencils

I also put in a stretchy headband and exercise bands for more active play with resistance. He's really on a puzzle kick right now - of course the puzzle he loves is an alphabet train missing 2 pieces which frustrates him. This morning we did some swinging and train in the stretchy fabric, but he wasn't in the mood for the peanut stability ball and I couldn't talk him into letting me turn him into a yoga matt burrito.

All of the OT work has been wonderful for giving me more ideas of how to play with him, and he's a much more pleasant child now.

Swim meet at Copperfield on Monday

Great location, playground attached to pool so kids very happy.

Luke's relay - his goggles fell off, therefore his brain fell out
Luke 25m. freestyle - 1:05.99 PR! swam with good form half way then fell off the wagon
Raha 50 m. freestyle - 54.13 PR! form so improved
Raha 50 m. backstroke - bad comedy with the goggles - tried to hold them in his mouth then in his hand - the secret to not bobbing up and down is good shoulder rotation, says Coach Cy
Raha 50 m. breaststroke - DQ
Raha 50 m. butterfly - 1:14.48

Football

again. There's a new coach who seems much more attentive & organized, so the kids are constantly working. A friend from swimming is helping coach so I have an easy way to check up on Raha, and the report from today is that he's working really well & getting good feedback from the coach.

New ?

"Doin' Dad?" or whoever else.... Rich answered & asked Aaron what he was doing, and Aaron said, "Aaron eating!" He refers to himself by name all the time.

OT with Jane

Will add photos when I'm on the other computer!

• Moon Sand (SpinMaster is the manufacturer) - weird stuff - looks like sand, but feels damp and can clump together. Dig and drive trucks in it for a more resistant surface, or squish it
• Swinging in the stretchy with 2 people, then spinning in circles with one person - helicopter
• Oval stability ball - have him lay on his back and roll it up and down his body - vary pressure, and also do the same thing laying on his tummy. This looks like an amazing massage
• Stretchy fabric with an Aaron train- head against the knot, facing his engine person. He's covering and uncovering his face and saying "Cocoon, Butterfly." He really likes this today, and it wasn't something he wanted before
• Heavy ball - bowling, including backwards through his legs
• Rolling and pushing - push Aaron's knees to his chest, then he pushes his feet back against her chest
• Texture plates for coloring, plus a new way to pick up a pencil to help him move away from the fist grip

Greenhill Therapy Center for after 3 , when he is too old for First Steps services - he'll continue with Jane, including using therapy horses! Jane says that this is wonderful for core strength & proprioceptive awareness.

Bat adventure

This odd picture is a bird's eye view of a bat in Aaron's little blue wagon, snuggled under a heated towel. We came home from picking up Raha from football practice and he noticed a little critter in the wagon. On first glance we thought it was dead, but then realized it was a tiny baby bat. After LOTS of phone calls and a panic over how to keep the little guy warm (happy and wiggly with hot lentils wrapped in a towel) I found a wildlife rescue organization who, 1. answered the phone after business hours and 2. immediately offered to come pick up the baby if we could meet them at the Shively Animal Clinic where they had another animal waiting. After looking at pictures of bats in KY, I think it is a common brown bat, especially because they have babies in mid-June and this one didn't look old enough to fly. We'll call tomorrow and keep our fingers crossed that baby bat makes it.

Occupational therapy today with Jane

Today's ideas & activities:

• On an oblong shaped stability ball - lay across it on his tummy and do a puzzle that's on the floor, or straddle sit and do a puzzle on a low chair (reach down to floor to pick up pieces) - both give more deep muscle stimulation, balance, and squeezing with his legs. Jane also held piece to either side so that Aaron had to reach & balance to get them. When he finds a piece correctly or isn't sure about a position he says, "A dis goes!" or "A dis goes?"



• 2 person swinging in the big stretchy fabric, with occasional crashes into the stability ball plus singing songs. Tight wrapping "like a hot dog." Hold the fabic tight on all four corners on the floor and Aaron crawls around underneath - tickle, identify body parts, do with both boys - leads to very crazy hair! More whole-body pressure plus pretend play.
  
  
• Blowing with straws - put feathers in the end of a straw and blow out - maybe aim feathers at a target like a bowl. Very challenging with crazy straws.


• Stringing beads and cardboard lacing shapes (also suggested putting pennies in a piggy bank) - coordinative bilateral hand movements, plus soothing & repetitive movements for calming during transitions or to redirect from chaotic play
  
• Chew tube for calming or as an alternative to chewing on non-food items. It's a hollow T shape with texture.



• 6 inch diameter weighted ball (3 or 4 pounds) for general play that required more effort

Luke's gymnastics practice

• run & chasse around mat
• stretch
• lots of handstand work - Luke struggling to get legs high enough to stay balanced
• straddle press into a headstand, then into a front roll. These looked great!
• stations on parallel bars with Coach Brandon: swings and dismount over side; supporting body weight with legs perpendicular to torso; creeping up incline bars; knee hangs with pull up on uneven bars & drop into foam blocks. Luke's upper body strength compared to his peers very apparent here.
• high bar stations with Coach Jason: big swing with hitch on high bar; pullover mount with spot from Jason; sideways creep across high bar; upside down vertical hangs from low bar into body position work on dismount
• calisthenics with exercises chosen by tossing the cube - V sit-ups, jumps with 360 spin, bridges, push ups with clap (he can almost do these - right foot hops when he claps!)
• finish with some playful jumping on the trampoline and a flip into the foam blocks

Monday tends to be skill focused, Wednesday afternoons are a mix that includes some gymnastics-based games, and Thursdays are primarily conditioning. He has serious hand calluses. In the next level, they start using grips for bar work. I think he's going to miss the extra practice when school starts. Last week I asked him if practice was good, and he said, "No Mom, it was GREAT."

The church picnic

was quite a production! There was a live band, a magician, and an ice cream truck from Bruster's. Luke participated in a bunch of relays with the big kids - water races were a priority. I tied for 3rd place in the pie baking contest, with leftover berry pie that dripped all over the oven.