What A LONG Day

Bobby is dealing with some congestion right now, which is much worse while he is sleeping.  He won't let me prop him up while he sleeps, he prefers the pillows on top of his body, not under his head.  He is generally a pretty good sleeper, but our sleep has really suffered this week.  Yesterday morning, he woke up at 3:00 am for the day.  Once he is up moving around his congestion is much better and he can actually breathe.  I would probably prefer to stay awake too.

I still make him go to school when he wakes up so early.  Otherwise, he would miss many unnecessary school days.  When I picked him up from school yesterday his teacher said that he had a great day.  The lack of sleep doesn't affect him like it would most. 

One thing that is different on these extremely long mornings, he gets bored and wants to go outside and play, he really doesn't care that it is dark outside.  So as soon as the sun came up yesterday, he wanted OUT!!!!  To try and keep him in a good mood and not ruin his school day, I let him go outside.  He has to go in our fence area and I stand at the window and watch him.  He also could care less that the temp was only 58 degrees, he was not keeping shoes and a shirt on!  Oh well, too tired to fight this battle today!!

Between Zoi and Bobby, this little section of the yard tends to always look like a bit of a mess.

He's trying to figure out how to get out!!

After school Bobby wanted to go swimming, but since the pool is down, he had to settle for the next best thing, playing with the water hose.

Love the way that he intently watches the water.

We might have to put him into Drinking From The Hose Anonymous!!

Look, the water changes!!

Isn't that sweet...Daddy is watch Bobby play.

Well, who didn't see that coming!!  HaHaHa

Bobby didn't play outside too long, he came right in and took a bath.  Time for Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune!!

For the first time...he didn't make it through Jeopardy!!  Good night Bobby.

 

Houston, We Have A Problem!!

The pool is leaking.  Thank God for Bob!  He is on top of things and checks around the pool regularly to check for such problems.  There is a hole in the liner somewhere...nothing else to do but drain the pool and put in a new liner.  I'm so thankful it is the end of the summer and that Bob is a maintenance oriented man!  Bob started draining the pool and ordered a new liner.  Bobby, however, enjoyed the lower water level.  A fun change in the pool!

Bob took out the water intake thing (I'm sure it has an actual name, but I have no idea what it is really called), which left a perfect small circle in the pool for my camera lens.  Bobby noticed the camera!!

Guess its time to wash all of the beach towels for the season and put them away.  Swimming season for the Smith's is officially over!!  Looks like we will have to go get a sprinkler to finish out the summer.

While Bobby Slept

When the school year started 2 years ago I went to work redecorating the main floor of our home.  It all began because I wanted a new window added in our living room.  Bob and my brother Tommy went to work cutting a hole into the side of our house and putting in a new window.  I had to repaint the room, which lead to repainting the entire main floor, which lead to new carpeting in the living room and dining room, which lead to the largest project by far...repainting all of the kitchen cabinets and getting new counter tops.  When school started last year, I said heck with it, I am not getting into any projects.

This school year has just begun and I think that I may have another project year ahead.  What to tackle this year??  The upstairs.  I want to paint the master bedroom, which in leading to...  You get the picture.  You can't really just do ONE thing.  Somehow it snowballs into more projects and more projects and more....  I guess you just get bored looking at the same things year after year.

A couple of days ago I said to Bob, "I want to switch Bobby's room and the spare bedroom."  And you also know, what Mommy wants, Mommy (sometimes) gets!!  Bob and I went to Lowe's while Bobby was in school on Friday and picked out some paint swatches, so I guess this is really going to happen.  What was I thinking???!!!  LOL!!

After Bobby fell asleep last night, I went in and started looking at the rooms.  Bob came upstairs and asked what I was doing.  Poor Bob wishes he would have just laid on the couch and watched tv.

Side note:  I guess that this probably a good time to tell you that Bobby's twin bed is next to our queen bed in the master bedroom with enough room to walk between the two beds.  Why??  Because Bobby is a wanderer and he also sometimes wakes up at 2-4 am for the rest of the day.  He could easily wake up and come downstairs (or outside) with out our even knowing.  We have MANY safety systems put in place to make sure that this never happens and the major one for night time is that Bobby is locked into the master bedroom with us.

When Bobby woke up this morning he walked into the spare bedroom and stopped in his tracks.  He looked at his shelves, turned and looked at his toy box, turned and looked at his dresser, then back to the shelves.  It was very comical!

The change did not bother him in the least, he immediately got to work playing hard!!  Bonus that I did not even think of, the hard floor is much better for Bobby's playing style of lining things up than the carpet in his old bedroom.

Now that we know for sure that everything fits well into the opposite rooms and that we all like the change, time to finalize paint colors and get to work.

Getting Into School Mode

Bobby's adjusting to the 2nd grade very well...so far.  He gets ready with no problem, goes to the car with no problem, gets out of the car at school with no problem, walks into the school with no problem and goes off with Ms. Kim with no problem.   I am so incredible beyond grateful that this is the case.  He even went to therapy today after school with no problem!!  I was elated when we turned onto the road towards therapy and he didn't fuss, whine, kick, grunt!!  When I pulled into the parking space, he unbuckled his seat belt, put on his shoes (Crocs), got out, took my hand and walked right on into the office.  This was not the case just a couple of months ago.  I pray, pray, and pray some more that this routine continues.  Not much else going on while we get back into the groove of our school routine.  

Bobby (wearing Daddy's work hat):  "I want to be a judge for the mine rescue team competition.  Daddy gets to have all of the fun!!  Plus, I really know how to rock this hat!!"  

Bobby hasn't spent much time in our pool in the past few weeks, but he made up for it this weekend.  Played in the water for 4 hours Saturday alone.

Zoi watching out the window:  "That boy gets to have all of the fun!!  Woof Woof."

I made some spicy Asian noodles and Bobby sat down, picked up a fork and...

Two things that you should know about Bobby:  1) He doesn't use utensils, he eats only finger foods.  2)  He doesn't eat pasta or any other soft foods.  So imagine my surprise when he sat down, twirled noodles on a fork and put it up to his mouth.

My excitement ended soon after he started letting the noodles fall in front of his eyes and using the noodles as a sensory play thing rather than food.  He did get one noodle in his mouth, but he pulled it out onto the plate.  Maybe next time he will actually take a bite.

Time for our school night routine:  Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, bath, brush teeth and wind down for bed.  Hopefully it will be an uneventful evening!!!

Bobby Starts Second Grade

I really could not have asked for a better back to school morning for Bobby.  He got right back into his routine last night and went to bed easily.  This morning he woke up happy, came downstairs ate his breakfast, played on his iPad, watch TV and got ready for school with no problem.

The only reason he looks sad in this picture is because he wanted to go get into the car, not wait around while Mommy took more pictures.

He just sat down and looked at me and said "cheese."  He knows me well!!  We aren't leaving until Mommy gets her picture!!!

Sitting in the car watching the other kids walk into the school building.  We wait until the bell rings because his teacher, Ms. Kim comes out to the doorway to get him.

Since Pre-K and Kindergarten didn't also start today, the benches were empty, so Bobby sat down and waited for Ms. Kim.

He did an awesome job waiting, which is generally NOT the case.

Here comes Ms. Kim.  ("Maybe if I look the other way, she won't notice me!!").

Bobby got right up and walked right off with her to his classroom.

Yeah!!!!  What a relief!!  We just never know how this is going to go.  Perfect morning!!

"Hi Bobby!!"

When I came to pick Bobby up, I looked through the door window and he was sitting there working well.  But, as soon as he saw Mommy....cries like he is being tortured!!!!

"Sit down and finish, Mommy wants to take your picture!!"

Sonny, on the other hand, looked right and me and posed for pictures.  However, if Sonny's mom had been the one who walked in, the boys would have the opposite expressions on their faces.

Ms. Kim reported that Bobby had a great first day.  He also had a major accomplishment...he went to music class and stayed for the entire time.  Ms. Kim couldn't wait to tell me.  When Bobby and I were walking down the hall to leave, one of the aides chased me down to tell me all about music class.  Then the music teacher, along with the art teacher, came after us to tell us all about music class.  The music teacher said she is extremely impressed with Bobby's rhythm, he kept a perfect beat.  She said that he may have problems on the days that she has to lecture, but they will cross that bridge when they get there.  I told her how Bobby likes to stand in front of our mirror and sing, so she is going to get him a mirror for music class.  Tomorrow Bobby is going to art class and they are also going to try to get him to take gym class with his peers!!  I just pray that tomorrow (and the next day, and the next....) go as well!!!

On Thursdays, Bobby goes to Playworks for occupational therapy after school.  Boy, we turned onto the road and he knew where we were going and he was not happy.  It was like "Mom, really!!  Haven't I done enough today!!!" Sorry Bobby, but this year is going to be alot different for you.  He leaves school everyday at 1:55, goes to Playworks on Thursday and will go to ABA therapy every other weekday.  Even though he is leaving school early, his work day is definitely not over!!

I came back early to pick up Bobby from OT since he had a long day.  Bobby was jumping on the trampoline in between his work.

Bobby wouldn't climb through the squeeze machine for me, he just wanted to go home!!!

As soon as we walked through the door, Bobby ran upstairs, tore the covers off of Mommy's bed, piled up the pillows and climbed on in.  "Ahhh, finally, I'm home."

"Maybe if I close my eyes, she will leave me alone."  So, I did. He laid in bed for about half an hour and then came downstairs for a snack.  Great first day of 2nd grade!!  

Baby It's Cold Outside!!

62 degree mornings are perfect for me.  I love the crispness in the air and not sweating when I walk outside.  There is, however, an exception to this perfect temperature.  This morning was the last Saturday special needs swim time at Krepps Pool, a time that Bobby absolutely loves.  We pretty much had no other choice but to put on our bathing suits, get in the car and go to the pool.  Hopefully Bobby will just want to play in the water play area and not get into the big pool!!  Yeah, Right!!

Bobby circled around the water play area for a while trying to decide whether or not he could get into the water because it was soooo cold!!

Sonny was doing the same thing!!

Joey was ready to dive right on in.  A little cold weather wasn't going to stand in his way!!!

Bob bundled up in a beach towel and Bobby finally decided that he couldn't stand it anymore, he had to get wet...

Sonny got into the water too.  Shelly also wrapped up in her towel to keep warm and Coach kept her sweats on while they watched Sonny swim.

Joey had fun in the water play area.

This boy doesn't take a bad picture!!!

Bobby made his way over to the big pool.  He finally got to run up and down the handicapped pool entrance...

I had to put my camera away and get into the pool with Bobby.  He wanted to jump into the deep end and we let him.  He spent a lot of time in the 5 ft. area, which is just above his head.  He practiced swimming and made it to the ladder over and over.  He kept getting braver and braver and wanted to walk on the diving board.  He never did jump off of the board, he just walked up and down the board.  He did finally jump off of the side into the 8 ft. water (I was already in the pool waiting for him).  Bob said that the expression on his face was priceless when he came back to the surface after being completely submerged!  He got himself right over to ladder and got out without any help from Mommy!  He also jumped into the 12 ft. water and then went back over to the 5 ft. water to play.

This coming Tuesday is the last week day special needs swim time at Krepps and I'm not sure that I will be able to bring Bobby by myself since we spent so much time in the deep water.  I was in the pool with him and Bob was outside of the pool to direct him away from the deep end while I wasn't in place.  We will have to wait and see.