Cuter Than a Bug's Ear

On Solid Ground

Micah turned 6 months old yesterday, and that means (among other things) that it's time to start solids. And by solids I mean super runny rice cereal. This morning I mixed some sweet potatoes in and warmed it up just a bit. That seemed to make it a bit more appealing since he actually swallowed 2 t. or so. There was a little bit of choking and gagging, but much more smiling and spitting. And of course a teensy bit of swallowing. I'm thinking that he'll be a pro in no time.

I have no stats to report because Micah's 6 month appointment was cancelled since he's been sick. Last Monday he was fussy which is not like him at all, and it got progressively worse during the week. On Tuesday evening he started running a temperature. I thought that maybe he was just teething, but I couldn't see any white spots on his gums. On Wed. morning I made a doctor appointment feeling sure that they would tell me he was just catching a cold or something that would make me feel stupid. But it turned out that he had an ear infection in both ears. Okay. No wonder he was grumpy.

It took a few more days to get him feeling better though because I couldn't get him to swallow his medicine. It didn't help that it was such a large dose. On Thursday morning, after practically throwing away a third dose of his medicine, I called the doctor again in tears and asked if it came as a suppository. It didn't, but Micah could get it as a shot. I was warned that the shot was a pretty brutal one, but since I couldn't get him to swallow I took him in to get stuck. It was a brutal shot, but at least it was over in a few minutes and Micah is back to his happy-go-lucky self.

This Big Day Came Sooner Than Expected

Yesterday Luke started school! It happened much sooner than we expected. After Luke's 3 year check-up, where we addressed our concerns, we started the evaluation process for Bright Beginnings. That's a pre-school program run through the public school system that serves children with special needs starting at age 2.

After a lot of testing through the school district, we had the eligibility meeting for Luke on March 7. He was found eligible. We were told the next step would be drafting an IEP (individualized education plan) which would take an additional month. So we thought that Luke would start school in April or May. But just a few days later, I received a phone call from the pre-school director who explained that those involved in his IEP planning wanted Luke to start sooner so that they could observe him in the classroom and get a better understanding of his needs before drafting the plan. And so Luke started sooner than we planned.

Luke will receive additional speech and occupational therapy through the school as well as get some much needed structure and socialization.

But while I know it will be good for him, it is so hard for me to let him go!

Luke on his very first day!

Looking in his new classroom

When we arrived all the teachers were outside meeting the busses, but the speech teacher, whom Luke had met before took us to his room and helped him hang up his backpack. Luke was upset about having to stop and put everything on his hook. He just wanted to get to the stereo at the front of the room! He remembered that stereo from last week when we went to the school to meet his teacher and see the room. Ms. Tobias figured out really quickly that she needed to hide the stereo, so she put a box over it. When I left Luke was trying to get the box off so he could see the stereo. When I came back 2 hours later to pick him up he was trying to get the box off the stereo. His teacher told me that he didn't do that for the entire 2 hours, but I'm not so sure...

Luke had a half day yesterday because he had to leave school early to go to occupational therapy.

Luke and his OT, Ms. Cronin

Luke had a half day today as well because he has speech therapy in the morning. But he rode the bus home for the first time today and was NOT a fan. He's needed a lot of cuddle time ever since he got home. This is going to be a BIG adjustment!

Sometimes I wish...

that I was a size 4

that I had money to burn

that I could use the CD rom on the computer.

But ...

I am still hanging on to some baby weight

I am living on a strict budget

and Luke shoved half a pack of post-it notes into the CD rom.

Half-Pint

We love our easy-going Micah. He sure is a joy in our life with his gorgeous smile and adorable laugh. Micah loves attention, but he's also got an independent side. When he's in the mood to be on his own he'll fuss until we lay him down and just let him kick. He is doing much better with tummy time and is now putting pressure on his elbows and forearms. He doesn't push up on his hands yet, but I think he'll do that soon. He has rolled over from tummy to back a few times, but he's not consistent at rolling yet. He is great at reaching and grabbing. He loves to chew on his fists and we've caught his thumb in his mouth a couple of times. Micah likes to bounce in his jumperoo, and he's pretty proficient at spinning himself around. He can manipulate several of the toys on his jumperoo. I'm impressed by that.

Some of his nicknames (most of them created by Jared) are:

Half-pint

Mike and Ike

Miqueas (mee-kay-us)-- Micah in Spanish

Micah Monkey

Boo

Not nearly as many nicknames as Luke has but we love him just as much!

The Williamsburg Fire Station

A few weeks ago I made an appointment for our mom group to visit the Williamsburg fire station. This past Friday was the day of our tour. We had a smaller group that I had anticipated because I arranged for the tour over William and Mary's spring break thinking that it would be fun for the dads to join us. I didn't realize how many people would be out of town. (Hope everyone who went on a trip had a blast.) Jared was pretty sure he'd be the only guy who showed up, but there were 4 dads who came. And who spent a big chunk of the time gabbing about March Madness.

This is Luke waiting for everyone to arrive. The kitchen, where we met and watched the presentation, was adjacent to a mini showroom with an old fashioned fire truck. Luke tried every way he could think of to break in and get to the "siren."

We had a pretty good turnout, and I was glad some of our friends that we haven't hung out with much before were able to come.

Our tour started with a short presentation on house safety. Firefighter Nicole talked about toys vs. tools. We can play with toys, but we don't play with tools.

This was the funniest one. Firefighter Nicole was explaining that scissors are a tool and are only for Mommy and Daddy. My friend Stacy was sitting next to me and sheepishly whispered to me that she had let her son Tucker play with scissors just that morning.

Then the firefighters talked very briefly about fire safety. They showed a smoke alarm and explained that it beeps if there is smoke in the house. They said that we get down and crawl on the floor if we see smoke or hear the smoke alarm. The kids practiced crawling under the smoke. (The blanket was the smoke.)

Luke was too scared to crawl under it.

One of the firefighters dressed up in all of his gear to show the kids. He said they could come touch the gloves and give him a high five. Ila wanted a hug.

And then we got to go into the garage to see the fire trucks, ambulance, and EMT trucks.

You might be wondering, "Where did all the kids go? Why is Luke alone?"

Well, the point of going to the fire station was to see the FIRE TRUCK. So that's where all the other kids are.

Luke had different plans. I need to provide a little background for it all to make sense. You all know about his obsessions with garbage cans, fans, air conditioners, and stereos. His newest addition to the list is Fords. When we drive down the road he always asks, "Where's the oval SUV?" (Ford Explorers and Expeditions are his FAVORITE vehicles, especially if they are blue.) If he sees a Ford in a parking lot he will try to run over to it which is NOT a good thing. He wants to get right up to it and stare at the Ford logo and then look at every single wheel.

Well, it turns out that the EMT trucks are Fords. So that was the ONLY thing Luke was interested in. He really, REALLY wanted to get inside one of those trucks.

Luckily for him one of the Firefighters let him climb in and "drive." He was in heaven!

Even though I should have expected Luke would do his own thing, I was a little bit annoyed that he wouldn't go in the fire truck. The whole reason I put the day together was so Luke could see inside a "siren!" So I made Jared wrestle him into the truck.

He really didn't want to go!

But once Jared got him inside Luke decided it was pretty cool, and he climbed in and out a few times.

But then

back to the Ford!

Micah slept the entire time we were at the station, so he never even made it out of his car seat to make an appearance. It wasn't surprising that he slept the whole morning because he didn't sleep at all Thursday night. I don't know what was wrong, but about 7 pm Thurs. night he got very fussy, and it escalated to screaming if he wasn't being held and rocked. Jared and I took turns staying up with him. By 6 am I was ready to take Micah to the ER, but then around 7:30 he just stopped screaming, started smiling, and became his normal joyful self. He slept a lot Friday, but other than that you'd never know anything had been wrong. We still don't know what caused it. We're sure glad he's feeling better!

It was a great little outing, and all the firefighters did a good job with the kids. They let us take our time looking at all the trucks and were so caring with the kids. When we were leaving each kid got a plastic firefighter hat and a fire safety coloring book with crayons.

I'm so glad we went!

Outer Banks

We love KOAs! We have stayed in 3: Natural Bridge, DC, and now Outer Banks. The Outer Banks KOA is AWESOME!!! This is how we ended up going there:

We wanted to plan a trip for a last hoorah with the Sorrells before they move to Florida in May.

(TANGENT: We sure are going to miss them! It will be weird--and also terrible!-- to come back to Williamsburg next year to have some of our best friends gone. But over our fabulous weekend together we decided that we should have a yearly tradition of a Wilkerson/Sorrell vacation. We hope that it pans out.)

We had all decided to go "camping" and Jared and I explained the wonderful benefits of cabin camping and convinced Justin that cabins are the way to go, so Justin and Jared got onto the KOA website and picked out Outer Banks as the location. The added benefits of going there in March is that a) you basically have the whole place to one's family and b) It's way cheaper.

It was sooo much fun: the camp was fun, the Sorrells were (of course!) fabulous and the ocean was beautiful. And one of the best things about vacationing with another family is that the couples could snag a few minutes alone. It was perfect to be able to hand off your kid for a minute. The other great thing about vacationing with another family is double the pics, so look for another post to follow with the Sorrell's pictures.

We got to the campground Friday night after 8 pm, so we just ate dinner, played in the cabin a bit and put kiddos to bed. Saturday morning the kids woke bright and early which made for a full day of fun.

We went to Big Bounce which was tons of fun. It was like a giant open bounce house. Luke kept wanting us to lay down on it.

Case in point. See how great Nancy was to hold Micah so the rest of us could play?

Then we walked over to the sound side of the beach. Which was the quiet side, so I found out that sound was not referring to noise.

It was a very chilly wading experience!

While we were in the water Luke stole Jared's shoes.

Later we walked over to the waves side. I don't know the technical name. It was beautiful and the sound was very relaxing. I wished I had an hour to myself just to sit by the ocean and read a good book.

We took naps that afternoon, then went to play mini golf and jump on the Big Bouncer again. Or maybe we played golf first. Anyway, I forgot my camera, so those pictures will show up on the Sorrell pic post.

Saturday night we roasted hot dogs. And [Luke] ate lots of chips.

These pictures are the only shots where the lodge even slightly appears. But it was awesome! It had a bedroom with a queen bed, a mini-bedroom with bunk beds, a full bathroom, mini-kitchen, and living area with big screen TV and cable. I love camping in the off season when the lodge is half price!

Luke very patiently cooked his skewer.

Until he started waving it around and got it confiscated. I gave him a new one when it was time for s'mores. Made with Symphony chocolate. Best. Decision. Ever.

And then we headed over to the rec room for game night. I've never hadso much fun throwing away $5 in quarters.

This is how bad I am at video games. I got so dizzy doing the car race that I almost blacked out, and Jared had to finish it for me. I didn't know that was even possible. Maybe it's only possible for me.

Justin played with Micah so that Jared could kick my sorry self at air hockey. I blame the big loss on the fact that Luke was on my team. For about 30 seconds.

Perfect trip. The ONLY thing I would change would have been to stay longer!

Progress

Luke has been making a lot of progress with his therapy which makes all the stress worth it. The things I'm the most excited about are:

1. Luke will now tell people his name (some of the time)

2. He answers his age.

3. He is starting to answer yes/no questions. It's really funny because conversations go as follows

Me: Luke, do you want the stereo?

Luke: Saaaayyyy YES!

Luke has also learned how to take his shoes, socks, jacket, and jammies off. He can cut playdough with scissors. He will kiss several foods that he doesn't like, and he will touch many foods that he wouldn't touch before. He's also started biting some food (and then spitting it into the garbage, but getting it into his mouth is a big step towards eating it.) He is also using more verbs and responding to pronouns like mine and yours. We are very proud of Luke. He is handling all these changes like a pro and learning a lot very quickly.