Grandma

Grandma is here and spoiling is well under way.

We drove almost three hours to the airport yesterday morning to get Grandma at 9:30am. E has always been a Grandma's girl, so she's been excited. When Grandma walked out of the airport both kids squealed in delight. I was a bit surprised by Mr N's reaction, I didn't think he'd be so excited, he's never been quite as taken with Grandma as E. His interaction and response to Grandma certainly indicates he's in Grandma's fan club.

We arrived back home from the airport around 12:30pm and hurriedly unloaded the car and prepared for Mr N's therapist to arrive, for the first time in a week and a half. Mr N greeted her at the door then seemed to shy away, but offered a "hi" as she entered the living room.

During therapy he diligently put together a new alphabet puzzle, it has more pieces than any of his other puzzles, but he figured it right out. He did some balloon play with his therapist and enjoyed trying to see how high he could hit the balloon. Having Grandma here and Daddy out of town seemed to really effect how he's doing in therapy. He needed more than the usual sensory input, too.

This morning we took in the recycling, then headed to town to get an evaporative cooler. The kids were excited to go to Lowe's, it just might be their favorite store of all time, even though nothing we get there is all that much fun for them. Next we headed to Ross so Grandma could buy the kids some toys, which of course they loved. She also bought me a dress, she even let me pick it out! ;) As soon as we walked into Ross there were two other young children with their mother and Mr N went right up to the kids and said "hi". I was so proud of him, he's so much better at initiating play with others, making eye contact and really coming to life. Next we headed to Walmart for various other necessities like balloons, dinosaurs, a mini trampoline, and muffins.

Mr N fell asleep on the way home and slept through the first hour of therapy while Mommy and Grandma determinedly assembled the evaporative cooler and got it going. He was off his game today, not really engaging in a lot of one on one time with his therapist, but he did do some excellent painting. Mr N is learning to use the mini trampoline and hopefully that will help him get some of the sensory input that he's been seeking. Grandma bought the kids a slip and slide that we set up after therapy, Mr N would copy everything that E did. E would have Mommy pull her to the end, then Mr N wanted it done. E would walk to the end and splash in the pool, Mr N would walk to the end and splash in the pool. He is learning so much and doing so good at imitation.

Grandma got the kids a block puzzle that has a different puzzle on each of the six sides of the block, it's a pretty advanced puzzle, but we figured E would figure it out. Mr N stacked all of the blocks up and then knocked down the tower a few times with his therapist today, it's one of his favorite things to do. Block towers bring out his "destroyer" personality. Mr N did a lot of sensory seeking things again today, I noticed that yesterday they increased after Daddy called and talked Mommy and Sissy but didn't get a chance to talk to Mr N. Hopefully, Daddy is up before Mr N goes to bed tonight so that Daddy can call and talk to him, or better yet video Skype.

The kids are both very much enjoying Grandma, Mr N runs up to Grandma for hugs, holds her hand, and is far more comfortable with her than he's been in the past. This makes my heart very happy, probably not quite as happy as Grandma, but we are both quite thrilled that he has progressed so much since her last visit.

The bad news.....the evaporative cooler pretty much sucks. Maybe it's my intense negative feelings towards humidity, but it's terrible. It's also kind of loud. We will most likely (read definitely) be returning it in the very near future. While we had it running and "cooling" off the house, I kept going outside to avoid the humidity. I'd rather be in the sun when it's 100 degrees than have humidity. It's not for me.

Due to the excessive heat, I enjoyed ice cream for dinner, I may follow it up with a healthy snack of popsicles and ice water. My garden, on the other hand, is loving the heat and is growing exponentially by the day. My watermelon plants have taken over the entire garden, the watermelons are growing inches every day, it's quite amazing. I think I should have planted a dozen more cucumber plants because I keep eating all the cucumbers as soon as they become ripe and I didn't get one today because they aren't growing fast enough.

While I'm in here over heating working diligently on my blog, the kiddos and Grandma are outside enjoying a cool breeze while playing in the water. I will be joining them in 3, 2, 1....