Spring Break

Well hello there again. I trust everyone is having a great week. We are on Spring Break this week! I prefer it to begin following Easter rather than end with Easter. It just feels so wrong to go back on Easter Monday, but the powers that be in the School System didn't ask my oppinion on the subject, so off this week and back on Easter Monday. We started the weeks with a trip to the beach. It was Bear, my mom and dad and me. It was so nice to disconnect from the world for a couple of days. The funny thing is Bear wants to go back, but not because of all the cool things there or the ocean or anything. He just likes the hotel room. He didn't care if we went out or stayed in while we were there. We didn't really go out to the ocean as it was cool and he had a cold, I think. It may have been allergies, but considering the fact that I now have a raging bad cold, I think it was a cold. Anyways, his nose ran nonstop all the time, even with allergy meds. He said at one point when it had stopped running for a few minutes, that it was finally relaxing for a little while. LOL
God bless that little boy's imagination. He can take any toy and make it whatever he wants it to be. I had to inflate an air mattress for him with a pump. Last time we did it, he hid. This time, he said if he could help, turn the pump on, he would be okay. I let him and he did great. The funny part was that then his extra electric toothbrush that has been a weed eater, mixer, etc, then became an air pump. He would put it up to the mattress and turn it on and then mimic everything I did and said while the mattress was inflating. Too funny!!
The whole ride home, he and my mom read the book "Llaama Llaama Mad at Mama". Once we got home, that night, he said to me. "I am Little Llaama and I am mad at you,Momma." I said, "You are, why?" He said, "Because I went to an egg hunt and only got one egg." I said ," I wasn't even there. Why are you mad at me about that?" He said he wouldn't be mad forever and sure enough later, he said "I'm not mad at you anymore mommy. I am nice now." I said I thought that was great. After that, he played "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig" I kept thinking someone was at the door, because he would knock on the door and then a few mins later say "Little Wolf, Little Wolf, let me in."
He is truly fun sometimes, but boy does he talk. Someone asked me once if he woke up talking. I said, "No. He talks in his sleep too." And that is so true. Last year, there was concern at his IEP meeting that he wasn't asking enough questions. This year's IEP partially focused on "why does he ask questions all the time." I had to laugh at the irony. It is good that he asks questons, but trying to get him to understand that questions are for eliciting information that isn't known, is hard. He wants to ask about things he already knows or things that are totally irrelevant to what is going on at the time. So, I have started giving him 3 questions a day that he can ask that are questions he already knows the answer to or that are irrelevant and after that, I don't answer. He is getting better about it, but whenthis protocol isn't followed by others who are with him, it makes it tough to get much headway.I also don't want him to lose curiosity. He needs to have a curiosity about what is around him so he will be encouraged to explore the world around him, but I just have to help learn to use questioning right.
One things that starts to concern me this time of year are the wasps. They like to hang around my front door. I am vigilant about watching for nests and trying to get rid of them, but still random wasps appear and sometimes get in the house. I don't want to breed a sense of fear in him about them, but at the same time, how do I help him to not get stung? I know all kids will be stung, but I would still llike to prevent it if possible. He has to touch sometimes to find his way, so how do I make sure he isn't going to be stung by a wasp. We also get Cowkillers sometimes.They are in the wasp family, but they crawl rather than fly- more likely he could touch a crawling one. I would appreciate any insight other parents could provide regarding this dilemma.
Well, at holiday time, I start thinking about how the holiday can be incorporated into something he can appreciate and enjoy with his other senses. Easter, or Resurection Sunday, is no different. I was looking for ways to incorporate the resurection in a way that kids can easily understand, and I found a really cool cookie recipe posted on a site I subscribe to called Angie's Gluten Free. This is the URL. Hopefully, it will work http://www.glutenfreeclub.com/Recipe.aspx?nid=522&utm_nooverride=1.
It should take you there. If I get the chance to, I want to do them with Bear.I also was looking for a way to do decorating eggs. His VI wanted us to boil some eggs and this is the perfect time, but what would be the point in dying them for Easter? He wouldn't see the difference. So, I started looking for tactile decorating ideas and came across a fabulous website for tactile decorating. Here that URL is http://www.wonderbaby.org/articles/tactile-easter-crafts.html I am not sure if it is a BLOG or a website, but it is definitely something I am going to look at better. Hope you will be able to enjoy it too. *(You will need to copy and paste these URLs into your browser. I did not link them.)I am thinking about decorating the eggs with the cookie sprinkles and such. I think Bear would like that.
Well, good luck with whatever you do this weekend, whether it is church, time with family or just some special time for yourself. Be blessed.

Blessings,
BEARZ Mom

Well, Hello there friends,
Wow! It's been quite a couple of weeks. I'm in the process of divorcing and it was supposed to happen last Thursday, but due to the attorney's paperwork glitch, it didn't happen. Was supposed to happen this Thursday, and haven't heard whether it did or not. Guess I'll find out soon.
Been pretty sick the last couple of weeks. Started out with strep throat last week. Then,Bear caught it from me last weekend. Then, Monday, I started getting sick again. Finally went to the Dr on Wed when my temp reached 102 and they couldn't tell me what was wrong- just some secondary infection likely- that didn't repond the the antibiotic I was already on. So, now, I am FINALLY feeling better.
Last night, Bear stayed overnight with his poppa and his grandparents. I am glad that he got time with his poppy. He doesn't get to see him often, so that was good. Picked him, and my folks up and headed to the mall today. It is that time, no not Christmas, not Prom, not Easter even... time..... for my first bifocals. A major stage in midlife. So, headed there to pick them up. Decided to get some that were very different from my previous glasses and I am loving them. Bear, however, sees the mall as an opportunity to ride the mechanical rides. He puts up with the walking and shopping, just to ride those rides. He loooooves those and has for years. I don't know what we will do when he gets too big for them. It's coming soon though!!!He is so tall already. He has certain ones that he likes to ride more than once and others that once is enough, but before all was said and done, he rode a total of 10 times today and would have ridden 10 more if we let him.
We were also looking for some Spring and summer clothes for my little long legged boy. Found him some shorts and shirts, but could not find any light weight long pants. What do the designers think? Do they think that kids want to wear heavy pants or shorts and nothing in between?? Because that is all I could find. Oh well, I'll keep looking.
Another thing he loves is conveyor belts and our loccal grocey store will let him feel the convyor belt when it moves and will sometimes let him go beind the counter and work the conveyor belt. He loves to do that!! He always asks when we are buying something in a store if there is a conveyor belt? I say, "No. This store just has a counter." He heard the cash register in one place today, though and asked me the what it was. I told him and as we were leaving, he asked me the oddest question. He said, "When can I come and sit on the cash register?" I said, "Never, because cash registers are not for sitting" I'm not sure what he was thinking about that.
As I've said before, some days I don't know what kind of vehicle I am driving around. Bear is always pretending it's a bus , plane, truck, etc. Well today at one point, it was a train. The funny part is he kept wanting me to blow my train's whistle and quite conveniently, we happened to pass a train and it blew it's whistle. Couldn't have been better timing. Then, on the way home,I was driving a race-car. What an imagination that boy has!!! I think he will surely be a writer as well as a musician one day.
Well, I should go for now. Church is in the morning. Hope all of you are doing great!

Blessings,

BEARZ Mom