The beginnings of a band

At the time of posting, the video had not yet processed, but I am sure it will soon.

Acer's Drum kit

We've set up all a lot of Acer's drum toys into one area, as a drum kit for him.  He pushes the button on his toy piano to get the tune and then he's off a drumming!

Busy Day coming up.

Acer's fourth birthday is coming up in just over a week, on a Sunday.  For some reason I got an idea in my brain and ran with it; I decided to have him baptized on the same day.  Despite the thought that we'd celebrate Acer's birthday's quietly and his family days as a larger celebration, here I am, planning a large celebration for only four days before Christmas.

Alarms and Alarm Clocks

Did you know, that when you turn off the alarm clock, it does not go off, even if you REALLY wanted it to? No, really, test it if you want!

We found that out this morning, as I woke up @ 7:18, realizing that Acer's bus comes at 7:30. Apparently, in order to let the then sick LM sleep in, I turned off the alarm after the "first radio" as he calls it, so that the 2nd and 3rd didn't wake him. Well, I dutifully set the alarm back to weekday times, and promptly forgot to turn it on.

We did, however, pass our first schoolday panic test. He was ready(I had just cut his hair last night, so no bed head) and out the door with his breakfest (granola bars) at 7:30.

However, the favorite New This Drum did not make it out the door, I found it on the floor a few minutes later. Oh boy, we shall see what happens when he gets home.

B

Is he growing up?

Yes, Acer seems to be growing up in new and unexpected ways.  We must be doing something right because he's growing in more than just height.

He has started to go and look for things on his own, even going from the top level to the bottom level of our tri-level to find a toy.  Before this, even if we told him where it was, he would ask for help with a plaintive "Mama find it?'

He has started doing the whole potty process by himself, instead of asking us to do the 'finishing' bits.  

He has left the toilet paper roll on the holder for about a week now.  Yes, I've actually been able to find it when I needed it instead of having to hunt for it or re-roll it first.

He actually asked for gloves this morning while waiting for the bus (who is this child?) and then asked to have them come off right away (oh yes, that's Acer not a changeling)

The Best Wife

We have an on going mystery in our house; where do the nail clippers go?
Do they go to where socks go, combine and metamorphose into hangers?
This mystery bothers Bill for more than it does me because I keep a set in the car and I always know where it is. So, when I saw brand new nail clippers at the local thrift store for a whopping $.25 each, in 6 different colors, I had to buy one of each color. Later that night, I slipped all six clippers into Bill's pocket and told him 'I am the best wife you've ever had'.

Acer's Family day celebration

Okay, so I'm continuing in my quest for world photo domination.

I think I'm slowly getting better at this, and by the time Acer graduates from College,
The world will be mine..... Bwa Ha Ha Ha ha!!!!!!!

These are a couple pictures from my brother's phone that never got posted.
These are from back in May, when we celebrated Acer's Family Day.
We plan to always celebrate this as a bigger holiday than his December birthday (for a lot of reasons).
So.. here are a couple pictures of my favorite Little Man in one of the coolest t-shirt/hat combos ever!

The front Flower garden

Here's Acer next to my Hardy Hibiscus, Fireball. It's hardy throughout Michigan and can take it wet, even boggy wet.

Acer and my double daylilies

Acer and Plume Poppy leaves, Maclaya, smaller and more cut, and my Sea Kale leaves, Crambe, almost as large as his body.

Acer, Plume Poppy, and Herbstonne Rudbeckia

All my perennial plants in the front garden have to reach at least 4' tall. The Plume Poppy and Herbstonne reach at least 8'. On the other hand, my japanese maples and my evergreens are all dwarf ones, growing only an inch or so a year. I do like the unusual!

More Day one

Pictures!

Hurray!
I actually loaded these pictures myself.
Look out world, there's no stopping me now!
except, hmm, they aren't all there. I'll have to put my plans for world photo domination on hold for now. Sigh. Well, some are better than none. Enjoy.

A day of firsts, first day of school by himself, first bus ride

Today we all rolled out of bed extra early to make sure Acer was ready for school in time.  Yes, this night owl set of parents were up at 6 AM to get Acer fed, cleaned and dressed by 7:30.  Acer's morning routine is a mix of the both of us, I get up and do what I need to do and leave, Bill gets up and putters around for a while and then gets ready.  Acer gets up and gets down to business, it's just that he does it so slowly that it takes at least half an hour to eat half a cup of cereal.

So we were ready extremely early, 7:30 was no problem; the down side was that the bus which we'd originally been told was to arrive at 7:30 and then been told 7:45, didn't actually arrive until just after 8:00.  He's supposed to start school at 8:30 and it takes me 35 minutes in non rush hour traffic to get there.  Add in the fact that there were three middle school kids on the bus, all being dropped off at a different school along the way, means he arrived VERY late.  Oh well, it'll get straightened out soon enough.  The bus driver actually asked if he talked.  I sort of laughed and replied 'Lord yes, '  because the little man is not known for his silence!

Acer wanted Bill to hold him while we waited and then agreed that he was 'worried' about school, which translated into needing more holding time to reassure him.  We told him he was going to have a good day (we know how many toys are in that room, and playing is how little ones learn)

When the bus pulled up to drop him off, it was a different number than the bus number I'd been given.  I'm not sure what happened to that original bus, but he came home alright on the other, sleeping while belted into place.  Yes, the excitement of the day, plus playing on the 'curly' slide at school wore the little guy right out and he slept.  Interestingly enough he said HE took the teacher to the slide.  Not sure how his brain worked that out.  The teacher wrote a note and said he'd had a good day and that they'd worked on a calendar and he'd enjoyed feeling the dots.

Now, he's down for a nap, stomach filled with lovely grilled cheese bagel, happy with the thought of going outside to play after nap.  In the world of the Little Man, life is Good!

Bill will add pictures later

Busing blues

As we approach the start of Acer's first year of pre-school, I came to the realization that none of the empty buses practicing their routes I saw were going down our street.  This was very concerning because he needs to take the bus to school.  I also received a letter saying that he was enrolled in SECOND GRADE (lol) so I called his school and talked with the principal.  

Thus started my 12 phone call, five day saga to make sure he had a bus to ride in.  I made phone calls to the district he's attending, the district we live in and the county wide special needs district.  Then I asked if he needed a booster, this gave the head of our district, who will be busing him, pause.  After telling her that he was just a little guy, 38" and 34 pounds, she agreed he needed a booster and agreed to get him one even though 'It isn't on his IEP'  Errgh, I just told her it wasn't surprising because there was no one there from the district, just from the other two districts!

Today we're going to an ice cream social - meet the teacher event at his school.  I'm hoping the excitement of going to school will help him be a little less grumpy in the morning as we get up early to practice our before school routine.  He naturally wakes up about 8 AM and he'll have to be clean, fed, clothed and in front of the house by 7:30!

We're swinging now!

Tonight we added a large new feature to our back yard, a wooden swing set from our wonderful next door neighbor Linda.  This was their swing set, very sturdy, but her daughter's now 11 and too old for it.  She didn't wanted to give it up 'til now because she had memories of her father pushing her on it (before his sudden death.)  

This is a good thing, Acer and Little Miss will have swings and a larger slide to play on and Linda's daughter will still be able to see it, remember, and see more happy memories being made on it.

We didn't get it set up until way past his bedtime, but let him stay up and do some sliding.  He was so excited.  Big thanks to Linda and Daughter, Uncle James, Cousin Brandon, and BaBa's friend Will for helping to make this happen.  

It was too dark to take pictures, so we'll post some when we can take some.

Good News and catch up part 3

Hurrah, Hooray, Yeah!
Our Dossier went to the agency today!
Yes, Six months after we started this process, our dossier has been sent to CHI, for them to send on to Holt.

Now, on to the update. We made it to two concerts this summer, both free concerts of the Detroit symphony sponsored by Target. We arrived very early for the first concert, at Stoney Creek Metropark, with the idea that Acer would enjoy playing in the lake until the concert started. That would have worked really well except it was cold and sporadically rainy. Mum went too, with her good friend Mrs Poirier. They sat in lawn chairs and donned their rain ponchos as needed. We visited them several times and Acer amused people nearby by singing 'Animal crackers in my Suit!'.

 

Acer was slightly disappointed that his first concert was not going to include Tony Royster Junior, his favorite youtube drummer. I guess since he always hears Tony playing in concerts, he thought all concerts were Tony concerts. Acer also scored his first concert Tee, as there was a packing error and he needed a dry shirt!

We went to the concert again the next weekend, this time at MetroBeach MetroPark, The weather was better and we went with good friends Beq from my work and Mark, Kristen and Kiera, our local friends in adoption. it was really nice to be there with others and the weather made it especially nice. The funny thing was, when we called to tell Mark and Kristen where we were, it turned out they were just a couple cars behind us. We were able to arrive and park right next to each other even though we started at different points at different times. 

One of the best parts of these concerts, aside from the free except for admission, is that Target gives out good free stuff each year. this year - Lovely Lunch bags! I'm set for years as every one in our family got one and I'm the only one who use it. Okay maybe Little Miss will use it too, I'll share gladly.

Part two update

Our friends Allen, DeeDee and their three children were in town and we were able to spend a really long day with them. Allen and I have been friends so long we don't remember meeting, but it was at church in Sunday school. We've added spouses and children through the years, still remained friends, and it was good to be able to get almost everyone in the same place at the same time. Unfortunately, Bill was working and wasn't able to be there. 

Their kids have grown so much from the first days when they, the twins, finally came home from the hospital. Their older boy Josiah has sprouted up so much too. It's hard to picture them being as small as we remembered. In my front yard I have three dwarf cypress planted for them, the Phoebe, Thomas and Josiah plants. 

We started out the day by filling up the HiHo Van with their family of five and Acer and Myself. we stopped at KFC for some instant picnic food and then headed to the local park for some tire the kids out fun. Jeni, Betty and Becky met us at the park and we had a good time catching up with everyone.

Afterwards, we headed to our house for some fun in the pool. Four kids and three adults, our pool usually only has Acer and a parent. It felt good to have it full of activity and sounds (and splashing). 

They left that evening to attend a concert we'd attended the weekend before, Target sponsors the Detroit Symphony to play in our local Metroparks (larger than county parks and smaller than state parks, I think Metroparks are in about 5 counties here). It was so great to see them and to spend such a busy and fun day with them. Wish they were in town more frequently than every four years or so. Sigh.

Fundraising and one part update

Howdy!

Thanks to Tammy and her Avon fundraiser and Monica's basket fundraiser, we've added another $70 to bring our total up over the one third mark. Hurrah!

Visit the sites on the sidebar to see what we're talking about.

On to news have to catch up on,

My best friend Jen was in town to visit before heading on to a two week event. Jen was here alone this trip, Dh and DD are back in NM. It was great to see her, she hadn't met Acer before and got some great one on one time with him. She also bought him a new marching drum and cymbal set, he loves it and plays with it constantly. We spent one day with her alone and then one day she, her mom Betty, and sister Becky joined with us for picnic KFC at a park with our other good friends Allen & DeeDee who, with their three kids, were in from Spain.

Drumming

As an intermission until we can fill in the rest of the story, we bring you....

Acer Drumming 1



Acer Drumming 2

Laundry, Beautiful Laundry!

Yes, Indeed I am celebrating laundry today because I can DRY it in the dryer! Our dryer coils went out and I have been tumble / air drying stuff for about a week. I've only been doing necessities because it takes so long to tumble one load. I was almost going to string a line in the backyard, but I don't have anything to attach it to.
Bill's brother David has been working at a job out here, so he's been spending nights here on the spare bed. He had the skills to fix it and so off I went to buy the coils. Last night he fixed it and today - fresh laundry for everyone!

Hurrah!
Hurrah!
Hurrah!

I'd keep going but there was just another buzz and I have to put in another load!

Acer grows!

Yes, despite our thinking he would be the same height forever he has actually grown since he's been home. He's still basically in the same size, although some pants are getting short in the leg, yes, he still fits 2T's in most things. He wears a lot of different sizes in shirts, but he needs the smaller pants for his tiny butte self. Think if he grows any more though, he won't be able to fit the 2T's and will have to start living life wearing a belt. We don't let him sag, or plumber as we call it, if we can help it.
Here are our measurements over the last year.
5/25/07 35"
1/27/08 36.5"
7/15/08 38"

What's Up? Acer is!

Not exactly sure why, but Acer hasn't been falling asleep much before 10:30 many nights lately. I think it may have something to do with his gradual switch to me as his preferred parent instead of Bill.
Every since I bought a micro plush robe, Acer snuggles with me more. He'll even request that I put on the robe just to snuggle. I purchased it just before I went back to work this spring and I'm not sure if he just likes it that much, or misses me because I'm gone more, but I spend hours a day, on my days off, even in the heat, wearing the robe with a small child on my lap. I think this may be why I am now Acer's preferred parent.
Now, what does this have to do with Acer not sleeping? I think he doesn't want to go to sleep until I come home from work. I work the closing shift most days and don't leave work until some time between 9:30 and 10:30 and I get home a half hour later. So he is still awake when I get home, and he gets to make sure I'm home, I think.
The only upside to this is that he now sleeps about an hour or so later each morning and I get to sleep in a smidge, but it's throwing off his whole schedule, nap time, everything.
Oh well some bad, some good and it won't last long. After we get back from camping the end of the month, we're going to start getting him up early and practicing getting ready for school on time. He's going to be catching the bus between 7:30 and 7:45 to be to school at 8:30 so we need to practice our whole morning routine so we're not all stressed.

Speaking, okay writing, about sleep, Avon has Melatonin strips to help you sleep better. Many PVI (parents of Visually impaired) swear by Melatonin to help their kids fall asleep on a regular schedule. We've not had that problem with Acer, so why am I writing about it? See the July 9 What an Offer post.