On January 24 Ceithlinn and her friend, Elaina Robison, performed in Bonney Lake Elementary's Extravaganza! This was Ceithlinn second year participating. The girls sang "Somebody Come and Play" from Sesame Street, and were accompanied by Josh. At the tryouts when the girls were asked why the chose this song they both answered, "We thought it was age-appropriate." The girls did a great job! I will see if I can get the video to upload. If not, check on Facebook, hopefully I can get it there. I wasn't able to get photos and the video is too fuzzy to make good pictures.
As an incentive for the family to finish our chores each week we have a reward. To earn the reward chores are to be completed by Saturday afternoon. The first three Saturdays of the month our reward is something easily done at home such as a movie night with popcorn, playing board or card games, playing the Nintendo, making cookies, etc. If we earn the weekly reward three weeks in a row, then we earn the "Big Reward." This is something that we usually spend money on and get out of the house either as a family or with friends. Rewards have been bowling with friends, going to the $2 movie and buying concession, etc. Our "Big Reward" on January 28th was to go to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. It is absolutely AMAZING how much they packed into such a small space in the middle of the city. We asked the kids what animals they wanted to see. This was our second time every going to WPZ. Matthew said he wanted to see the Komodo dragons and Ceithlinn said she wanted to see the gorillas.
We arrived at the zoo at the South Entrance. The first thing that we saw was a replica of an African village. Seeing the huts made me even more grateful for how truly blessed we are here with our homes, indoor plumbing and electricity. The kids climbed in a little hut, we think it may have been like a chicken coup or something. Ceithlinn enjoyed playing the big drums and dancing. We then went on to see hippos, giraffes, lions and other Savanna animals.
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At lunch time we stopped the little picnic area and ate our sandwiches. When we go to the zoo the kids like to use our animal cookie cutters to make fun peanut butter and honey sandwiches. This was something I started when Ceithlinn was preschool aged. It became an unintentional, fun tradition. Those are some of the best traditions, don't you think? Anyway, this time we brought a flamingo, a sheep, a squirrel and a hippo. The other three had been pretty well devoured by the time I got my flamingo out.
After lunch we were on our way to the Komodo dragons when Matthew spontaneously put his arm around Ceithlinn. I missed the original shot, and he was gracious enough to do it again for the photo. I just love when they spontaneously hug, kiss or say I love you. It warms this mama heart of mine. I have said it before, I will say it again. We are truly blessed to have the kids we do.
On to the Komodos... one was sleeping with its back to us and the other was sitting up next to a window with lots of condensation. Those picture didn't turn out so well. You get to see Matthew by the sign, doesn't he look so happy, and the kids playing on the Komodo dragon statue. They tried sliding down the tongue. It didn't work so well, but they had fun trying anyway.
While at the zoo we had the fantastic opportunity to feed the penguins and the budgie birds. The penguins were fun because they would sort of jump to get the fish. This was a first for all of us. The angle of that I had to shoot from wasn't great so you get to see Matthew's leg, Ceithlinn picking up the little fish to feed the penguins... very proud of her for that. She doesn't usually like trying new things... and Josh feeding the penguins. The budgies had just been startled before we came in so it took patience to get them to eat the seed sticks. It helped that Josh is tall and could coax them down. This was a first for Ceithlinn and Josh, Matthew fed the budgies at his field trip last year to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. I forgot warn Ceithlinn that the budgie would land on the stick to eat. The first budgie that landed knocked the stick out of her hand and was a bit startled. Ceithlinn then held the stick with both hands and really enjoyed the experience.
Eventually we made it to the gorillas. The littlest one was quite the entertainer. He licked the glass and picked on his sibling. He would bang on his chest and dart after his sibling. They would wrestle and then move away from each other. It was interesting to watch the mother gorilla. She reminded me of myself when my kids are rough-housing. She pretty much ignored them until it got started to get to rough. At one point she shooed the bigger gorilla away. Of course, the younger one egged him on again. So, mom picked at her berries and would occasionally look up to make sure things didn't get out of hand. It was fun to watch and laugh. The kids still talk about that gorilla.
We definitely want to go back for another big reward, perhaps when it is a bit warmer. Below are pictures of us with the kids on a couple of statues they liked... see I really was there.
Those are the big highlights from the last couple of weeks. I continue to go to college. I am in my second to last quarter at Pierce College. We are all looking forward to graduation in June. Josh continues to build his private practice. The kids are doing well in school. Matthew goes to Occupational Therapy (OT) at Good Samaritan Children's Therapy Unit (CTU) on Friday and just start Speech Therapy. Both of these focus on behavior modification and social skills. He really enjoys going. Oh, on that note... Matthew earned therapy pool time.
In November or December Matthew had a couple weeks at OT that ended with a massive fit, meltdown. After the second one his therapist, Brandi, saw that he really like looking at the therapy pool through the big window. To get to the pool you have to go through a couple of access only doors. She came up with a fantastic reward. If Matthew could come to therapy and listen well, follow direction and not have a fit for three weeks he would get pool time on the fourth week. At the end of each week he could put a sticker on a chart so he could see his progress. It worked pretty well. The first two weeks went off without a hitch, week three... not so great, massive meltdown at the end, but he was great the fourth week and earned that third sticker. Well, we ended up waiting a few more weeks before we could get into the pool. The first Friday Brandi was out of town, the next Friday we had our ice storm and CTU was closed, the third Friday Matthew and Ceithlinn got in their suits and Brandi came in and said that something really stinky was coming through the vent system in the pool room and she was sick to her stomach and had a headache. I thought, are you kidding me?! We were able to explain to Matthew our safety concerns (health concerns), Brandi let him smell it for a moment and he was fine with waiting another week. So proud of him for making that adjustment. I thought there might be some sort of fit, but he pleasantly surprised us. Both Brandi and I thanked him and complimented him a few times on making the shift in plans. Anyway, Matthew was able to get into the pool and Friday, the 3rd, and had a ball! He is really cute when he goes under the water. He will plug his ears with thumbs and his nose with his fingers to prevent water from going in either. It makes me laugh. This is the resolute of having ear tubes until he was 4 I think.
One last thing... Matthew woke up on Friday and came in with a big smile and said, "Mom, I had a good dream last night." "You did? Wanna tell me about it?" Now with an even bigger grin, "I got to ride a nice T-Rex!" "Wow, were you way up high on this T-Rex?" "No, it was a little one. It brought me to meat!" Then he looked off with a dreamy smile. He must have been remembering what that dream was all about. Later I found out the T-Rex was orange. Man, I love this kid!
