Potato Therapy

Some of you who've been reading the blog for a while 

might remember my previous posts about

hair therapy, cookie therapy, and thank-you note therapy.

Well, last week we tried out something I call potato therapy.

We were playing at Pop and Nana's house 

and Pop decided it would be a good time for the kids to harvest his potatoes.

Ethan did a wonderful job holding the gardening tools with one hand

and holding onto his walker with the other.

It was great way for him to work on balance and motor planning.

Obviously, none of these things are actually therapy.

And I don't talk about them to Ethan as if they are therapy.

I just think it's amazing to see how much better Ethan does 

with specific skills when we're "working" on them in a fun, new way.

the harvest

And this one I call "Splash Park Therapy"

I was SO PROUD of Ethan the other day at the splash park

for so many reasons --

FIRST, after running around in the water for a few minutes

he noticed many of the other kids playing with cups in the water.

They were filling them up and throwing the water at each other.

In the past, Ethan would have watched them intently,

probably wanting a cup of his own but never saying so.

But this day Ethan came over to me and said,

"Mommy, I want a cup too!"

I was so excited to hear those 6 words - 

not only because he had a desire to play like the other kids,

but because he verbalized that desire to me.

NOW, after I gave him the cup, he walked straight over to the water...

and since the cup was in one hand, he walked throughout the entire 

splash park while only holding onto his walker with one hand!  

He then held the cup under the water (which was coming down hard)

and filled it up a number of times without dropping it!

What a huge improvement in his hand and finger

strength and fine motor coordination!

THEN, when he did drop the cup (this happened 4-5 times),

he balanced himself in his walker with only one hand

and bent down to pick up the cup all by himself.

I think all of these things independently would have been wonderful,

but the fact that he did all of this in the matter of a few minutes 

opened my eyes to how far he's come in the past few months.

I think it's easy for me to overlook these (what seem to be little) 

improvements because I see him every day and it happens so slowly.

But thankfully I allowed myself to be more aware 

of his amazingness on this day.

And, of course, we had some fun in the midst of all that "hard work"

getting some sustenance after all that "work"

Schoooool's Out for Summer!

Schoooool's Out for Summer!

That's the song we've been singing 

since I picked Ethan up from school on Thursday.

And in the mornings when he wakes up

Ethan's first words are, "it's summer!"

Last Sunday, before school was actually over,

we took the boys fishing for the first time and they both loved it!

They had both gotten fishing poles from Pop and Nana for Christmas

and loved reeling in the line all by themselves.

Didn't catch any fish, but Ethan caught a leaf.

And afterwards, Owen kept saying, "I really wish I could catch a leaf."

looking at the worms

Watching Daddy put the worm on the hook

Ethan fishing and Owen picking his nose

concentrating on reeling in their lines

Ethan doing the "3 legged race" with his friends from school

Ethan got 2 awards on Awards Day

"Outstanding New Reader" and the

"Junior 'Mint' for Greatness"

Ice Cream Party at school

The girls came over for a sleepover 

on the night before Ethan's last day of school.

Cara "read" a bedtime story to the boys 

in English AND in Spanish!

They did this all by themselves --

I love how much they love each other.

Here's a picture of Ethan on his first day of Kindergarten

And here is Ethan when I picked him up 

on his last day of Kindergarten

We celebrated the last day of school

by eating fudgsicles on the front porch

Then we headed to the farm for hippotherapy.

The kids had fun watching the neighbor's donkey.

Owen is usually nervous about getting too close to most animals,

so he was proud of himself for getting close enough to pet this little dog.

picking flowers for Yaya

We filled up the pool for the first day of summer break

Jason came over with Ms. Donna and Owen followed him everywhere...

even under the futon.

We had planned to bring the boys to a Charlotte Knights 

baseball game on Friday night with Ms. Ellen and Hudson.

But even though we got there an hour early,

they had already sold out for the night.

So we took the kids to a really fun park across the street.

They LOVED the waterfall - can you tell?

Ethan's first glimpse of the waterfall

It took Owen and Hudson a few minutes

to decide if they wanted to go in or not.

But Ethan was in the water within seconds.

The park also has an interactive musical play area.

Here, the boys are jumping on these blocks that make sounds

when you jump on them.

Looking forward to many more days of summer fun.