Finally asleep

Graesen wouldn't nap at school today, which meant he was not on his best behavior this afternoon :(  Then he just could not settle down tonight.  I finally got him to fall asleep after a whole lot of cuddling on the couch.

Playing outside and going to church dinner last night:

An impromptu trip to my parents' house Tuesday night to play with Phoebe, and some borrowed pajamas to wear home:

Little surprises

I had a few little surprises for Graesen when he came home today.  First of all, I went to the library and picked up Easter books (holiday books get all picked out if you don't get them early), Clifford books, and Berenstain Bear books.  He was so excited to start reading tonight :)

I also got Graesen a new rain coat.  His winter coat totally broke.  I was seriously bummed, because it was a fairly expensive coat (although I did get it on sale), so I thought it would be higher quality.  The zipper completely came apart, hence the duct taped coat when we went tubing.  My mom found a coat on sale for $10 so she picked that up for me and I returned his original coat.  I used the money to buy Graesen a super cute raincoat that just so happened to be on sale for about 70% off :)  Made my day yesterday!

The other surprise was little birthday "horns" I found on clearance at Walmart.  Graesen likes to watch a Caillou video from the library that talks about celebrations.  He has asked me so many times if we can have a  celebration with horns.  The pack I found doesn't make noise, but Graesen was still so excited :)

Spring fever

I have a serious case of spring fever right now.  Yesterday was so pretty out, so Graesen and I took advantage of it.  For the first time in almost 4 months we were able to take the running stroller out for a run.  We ran to the park and then Graesen got to play.  He was so happy :)

Being a silly boy while having his post-church doughnut today:

Outside time, a big mess, and physical therapy

Wednesday I was able to get my students outside for a little while.  We are all anxious for warmer weather!

Playing with shaving cream after coming inside:

Last night I set Graesen up with a show so I could take my shower.  I had the door open so I could hear him, and he said he was getting toys out.  It was like a tornado went through the living room!  I told him that since he was the one to make the mess then he would have to clean it up all by himself.  It took forever!  It was hard not to just step in and get it done faster, but I knew that it would be better for him to do it on him own.  Hopefully he doesn't dump all his toys next time :)

Graesen headed back to physical therapy today to talk about the way he is walking.  When we went to pick up the shoes his insurance covers back in December, the therapist noticed how pigeon-toed he was walking.  She told me that if he didn't improve in a month then I would need to call her.  We finally got an appointment for today.  She watched him and tested him on a few things.  She found that he is actually a bit pigeon toed without his shoes and AFOs too.  She thinks that it is a combination of his hips turning in a bit, his lower muscle tone, and his feet collapsing/pronating that is causing his feet to turn in.  It's not severe enough that we want to do anything, but there is a good chance that he will always be a bit pigeon-toed.  She also said that Graesen is a bit clumsy, but it is a combination of the low muscle tone and the fact that he doesn't slow down.  The therapist suggested that I do whatever I can to keep Graesen active to help him build up his strength.  She really wants him climbing things as much as possible, and walking barefoot on uneven surfaces (like a bumpy lawn or a beach) to help his tendons and muscles to develop.  At this point it sounds like Graesen will probably be in AFOs until he is at least 5.  She said that his ankles and feet just roll in too much for regular orthotics at this point, but hopefully as he gets stronger we can shorten the braces.  I'm happy we won't have to try to figure out how to fit regular physical therapy into our schedule!  I am thinking about the possibility of putting Graesen in a sport for some added exercise, but it is expensive!  I have to decide if I can afford it.  I've also thought about maybe just getting him a punch card for a gym around here.  There is a gymnastics gym that has a large climbing/play structure.  They are open every night and Saturdays for kids to come and play.  It's $20 for 12 half hour sessions, so that isn't bad at all.  We'll see.  I'm thinking about taking Graesen there in the morning to see what it's like.

Our nightly routine lately, reading Berenstain Bears:

Cookies and more

Graesen and I made some gluten free chocolate chip cookies tonight.  They are so good :)

I had an early morning dentist check up today, so we stayed the night last night at my parents' house.  The plan was to let Graesen sleep in while I went to my appointment.  Instead he woke up before I left (almost 2 hours earlier than he normally does-after a horrible night's sleep), and sobbed.  He kept begging me not to leave him and just to go cuddle with him :(  He LOVES his grandparents, but sometimes all he really wants is his mommy.  He recovered after I left.  I think it was just a combination of being super tired and having just come back from his visit with his dad, so he just missed me.
He did have fun last night playing with my dad's old matchbox cars from when he was a kid.

It makes me so sad to drop Graesen off with his dad each Sunday after church.  It makes our weekends feel so short.  It really is not fair to any child to have their life end up like this.  I pray that I can make his life rich enough that he never feels like he missed out just because his parents are separated.

Tubing and Skiing

My sister is in town with her kids this weekend, so today we took Graesen and Addison up tubing on the mountain while Aidan skied with his dad.  The tubing was a lot of fun and the kids were crazy for it.  Unfortunately, when we got there I realized that the zipper on Graesen's coat was totally broken.  I was worried about him getting too cold if it was unzipped, so we did the next best thing: duct tape.  He looked so ridiculous! :)  The sad thing is that later that night I found out that if I just zipped the inner lining together instead of to the coat, I was able to zip the coat together using a different zipper.  So he walked around with duct tape all over, when there was a much easier (and less embarrassing solution). :)

We went to the lodge for a little snack after tubing, and we met up with Aidan and Jeff.  Jeff suggested we get Addison out on some skis to practice at the bottom of the bunny hill (he already had skis for her with him).  Addison loved it, but Graesen was jealous.  He and Addison have almost the same size feet, so he got to try too.  He loved it sooo much and would have kept going a long time if we had let him.

And since I didn't post it yesterday, here is Graesen out at recess yesterday:

Loving the warmer weather we are having in town.

Valentine's Day Concert

Graesen had his very first concert today.  Our school put on a valentine's concert for the families.  It was wild and crazy, but very cute.  Graesen kept waving and yelling, "Hi, Grandma!" to my mom, and even blew a kiss :)  Afterward everyone went to the classrooms for treats.

Getting his presents from my mom once the families had mostly left:

Getting his present from me (airplane, 2 berenstain bear books, cars suckers, and sweethearts):

*Yes, that is a little owie under his eye.  Of course, the day before the concert he had to hurt his eye :(  He was in meltdown mode last night as we were leaving gym time at school.  He wanted to hold my basket, but it was another child's turn to, so I told him he could hold my clipboard instead.  He didn't want to, so I started to give it to another kid.  Of course, then he wanted it, so he grabbed it super hard and fast and pulled it right into his eye.  One of those lessons learned the hard way :(

Spring fever

It was so nice and sunny out today, and most of the snow has melted.  I took my class outside for a little bit, and they were soooo happy :)