MM's 2009 Birthday

All the photos that we took from the now newly named MM

No more Little Man

As Acer is now 5, he has decided he is BIG now, and there have been a few changes he feels necessary. Yes, Little Man or Little Mr Man, has gone away. He is now to be known simply as Mr Man.
Also, he has decided that he needs to eat more with utensils, and work on his table manners. Yes, he decided this, over the last few months, that this would happen when he was 5.

Sunday, Acer had a great Birthday party. At his request, we served ice cream floats and chocolate pie. We had only a few people over, Acer's closest of our adult friend, Vicki and Will, and then relatives, Cousin Brandon, Uncle James, Uncle David, his girl friend Autumn, and YeYe and NaiNai (Bill's Parents). He actually only got three gifts, but the last one he opened was the doozy, yes it was a real full sized drum set from YeYe and NaiNai as a Christmas and Birthday gift combined. It's an electronic set, the ION professional set, and it has several wonderful features, including headphones. Uncle David assembled the set and set it up for Acer. He's also the one who'd done the research to make sure it was worth buying.

Acer has been on the set for hours every day since. He had a half day of school on Monday, a Santa breakfast. I'm sure that Santa was surprised when Acer sat on his lap and told him what he'd already gotten for Christmas. Aside from that time off the drums, Acer was on them for most of the day. Brandon and I estimate 6 hours to be on the low side.

Yesterday was a full day of school, and Acer brought cookies to each school. Uncle James' cookies are an old family recipe, and he made us up 4 dozen for the party at home, and both schools. They are very big cookies, with oatmeal, walnuts and chocolate chips, almost a meal in themselves.

Acer has had a great year, we've watched him develop so much. He's much more independent, yet has better playing with others skills. He's going to two different half day programs, and doing well. He transitioned off naps and into an early bedtime. He's daytime dry about 99.5% of the time, and when he's not, it's because the bus couldn't stop to take him to the bathroom, even tho' he told them. He's stopped speaking in the second and third person, he's started playing the piano, not just playing on, but playing. He sounds out songs and can play quite a bit of Fur Elise. He's gotten a sister, and has had a great relationship with her, very little sibling rivalry on his part. He is learning the braille letters, and is showing a real interest in learning how to read. He's grown in height too, up to 39.5" He seems to grow about a half an inch about every three months. He is a lot of fun, and a joy to have as a son. We are so blessed.

Yes, I'll post pictures, jut not right now, we have to get ready for a funeral of a dear woman from church. :(

2009 Christmas Pagent

We knew that she was talented, but the church asked her to play along with the Violin player in the Praise Band at the pagent. Acer decided that he needed to make the occasional comment (ala MST3k) but it is beautifully done.

Blanky Monster Claims another victim

As you can see, we have a hungry blanky monster.

LM got honor roll honors today! she got the trifecta - academic, citizenship, principal. Go Calli!

Interesting Article on parenting

Read this today, liked it decided to post it here

Blech and Hurrah!

So, I've been down sick. My entire adult life, I've always gotten sick faster from sick children around me than from other adults around me. Maybe it's the introduction of new germs, I'm not sure. anyway, I've been down and have only moved about 2 steps up towards being normal again. Sigh.

I have been proud to tears this week as Calli is going to get an honor at the Honor Roll ceremony at her school. She has come so far so quickly, I could not be more proud of her accomplishments and her willingness to learn.

A Little Early but....

still cute.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hands that Heal

Moving Mountains Hubley Style's Rebekka Hubley is a mom I've met in yahoo groups and then in person. Answering a question from her about a girl in Calliandra's foster home, led to her interest in and starting the adoption paperwork for her. We went camping together, as part of the White Cane Campers in August. She was able to connect to every family there, and she and her daughter Hannah made a great addition to our group.

Rebekka also started an excellent mission two years ago, called Hands That Heal. She was interviewed about it here
Please check it, and their blog out. Perhaps this is a ministry that would call to you, to foster one of these little ones in your home someday!

Leavings

Maybe that should be leafings; today's post is all about Leaves.
Okay, mostly about leaves.
Last Wed., Acer was home form school sick and napping, and I was downstairs reading. I started hearing a blower, but assumed that it was at a neighbor's house. I mean, we don't blow our leaves we simply mow them back into the soil as both a soil amendment and as a weed preventer for next year. It was a persistent noise, and seemed to close, so after a bit, I went up to see. Yup, there was a blower going on our property, run by a guy I'd never seen before. It seems he'd gotten our house, tri-level, red brick, green shutters, silver mini van, mixed with the neighbor's two doors down, tri-level red brick, green shutters, GREEN mini van. He finished up a little, by blowing the leaves off the driveway and sidewalks, and then went down to the other house. Nice enough guy, let Acer check out what the noise was, but still....odd.
This weekend, knowing Calli was disappointed by our not raking up the leaves so she could have a leaf pile, I sent Calli over to Mum's to help Uncle James with the leaves. Mum has two HUGE sycamore trees, and it's not unusual for her to have 60 bags of leaves over the season. On Saturday, Calli helped by bagging all the leaves Uncle James raked - 20 bags. On Sunday she ASKED to go back and they bagged another 7 bags. She also helped take stuff to the recycle place where she had fun throwing things into the appropriate bins.
Acer is mostly over being sick, and we did find his glasses so Hurrah there. He also has a new you tube love - Instructional piano playing videos and piano videos in general. He prefers jazz, boogie woogie and blues piano to classical, but still has his favorites in classical, Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise have top ranking.
I seem to have some down with an ENT infection and am fighting it, but it's leaving me pretty drained.
We invited a girl from Calli's school to go to church with us. B. is also blind, but a couple years older than Calli. B. and Calli have played together on the playground, and even eaten lunch together the first month or so Calli's been in school. I made sure to print out another Braille copy of the Sunday School Lesson and service bulletin so she could follow just as Calli does. I stayed home and slept and restd, but by all accounts, B/ wants to come back. Hurrah!

Off to school for the Little Man

Acer seems to have his energy back, and his voice so off he went. Of course we couldn't find his glasses so there were some moments of angst this morning but at least he was off. THe glasses are for protection, not sight, so we don't HAVE to have him wear them, around the house, he tends to take them off. Obviously he did, somewhere, probably 4 or 5 days ago and we just haven't noticed. Calli was even checking out underneath Acer's bed, but they weren't there. Acer's not home from morning school yet, we'll see if he's okay for afternoon school too.

Still down for the count

Acer is sicker today than yesterday. Yesterday I would have said he was headed back to school, this morning, the cough was back and the voice was back to being hoarse. He didn't even argue when I told him he was going to take a morning and an afternoon nap.
Calli feels okay, she just has a slight dry cough, so yesterday she napped and went to bed early. She was sick two weeks ago, but has not shaken this cough yet.

Some Halloween Pix

But before we get into that, Just a note that Acer's sleeping the days away seems to have helped. He no longer sounds so incredibly hoarse. He has a raspy voice to begin with, so when he gets sick well..... it sounds like he's an 80 year old smoker.

Here's The Princess Calliandra pulling her coach. Can't imagine where her horses have gone that she's pulling it herself ;) She was going FAST! Bill and I were walking faster than normal to keep up with her. We put Acer in the wagon to start, he finished up in Bill's arms but at least he didn't spend the whole night there as he has in past years. I'm sad that the monkey costume will be going away next year, I love that costume.



Here's the Princess with her hair down, but you can still see the long dangly earrings she loves and some of the makeup we used to make her more glamourous for the evening. I think this is what she'll look like as an adult. So beautiful. Sorry the pictures are so goofy, I was snapping pictures with my phone while she was scarfing pizza.

Poor Little Man

Acer's down sick, and when I say down, I mean it. He sleeps. For hours and hours. He doesn't complain, he just sleeps. Currently, he's been napping for more than 4 hours, and he'll wake up, eat and go back to bed. He was awake for a whopping 8 hours yesterday, and not much more the day before. :(

Halloween week

This is my absolute favorite picture of the week. Acer was trying on his costume Th afternoon when he decided he wanted a snuggle on our bed. They went up, I followed and Calli snuggled Acer to sleep.


One of the ladies at the Library for the Blind has this tool set she lets Acer play with while I emboss the church bulletin for Calli.


The best picture I have of the two of them on Friday Morning.


Acer in his China outfit waiting for the afternoon bus on Th.


Acer first wore the China Outfit to church on Sun.. Here he's letting loose on the keyboard, think he's more a jazz pianist than a classical one, but he is very fluid, not choppy at all in his playing.


One of my favorites of Mum and Acer. He fell asleep on her during church and didn't wake up for a LONG time afterwards. Good thing Mum is patient.

Walking together through life

Here are the kids in one of my favorite pix of them lately, not my ultimate favorite, that would be the sleeping monkey, but a better everyday life one.

Halloween Joy

What a stretch of Halloween Celebration we've had this week, from a surprise Trunk or Treat at our wonderful next door neighbor's church last Sunday afternoon through last night.

I really liked the Trunk or Treat as a way for Calli to get her feet wet so to speak. She wore her ballerina costume, and Acer wore the China Outfit he'd worn to church that day. They have a really active church with a lot of good diversity, they even have an outreach for the deaf, with interpretation of the service. Our church is nowhere near as diverse, if we weren't sure we were where God wanted us, probably to help shake things up, we'd go to this church. There were trunks to treat out of and then crafts and games .

Acer wore his China costume to school on Th. His afternoon school was having their Halloween Party so he wore the outfit all day. The parade through the classrooms was a little too hectic for him, he likes to take his time and explore not just march through areas. His one on one aide ended up carrying him through much of the school. He was a little disappointed to find out, when they went to third grade, that Calli was NOT there. Yes, I think Acer thinks, that if he's at a school, Calli should be at the same school.

Just a note on the afternoon program, Acer is loving it. He's learning their rules, learning their songs, and the teacher has not just accepted having him in her classroom, she has gone above and beyond and is learning more than she'd need to to just have him survive in her class. She is always asking the visiting VI teacher about things, and the VI teacher is always coming up with ideas too. It's really been a great experience to have these two collaborating so well to get the best for Acer.

Acer wore his monkey costume to morning school on Friday, I love this costume, I got it the first Halloween he was home, and I got it in a size 4 so it would last. Well, it has, it is just so cute and soft and squishy I'll hate to see it go. He didn't have PM school, so we ran a few errands. The ladies at the Library for the Blind were all over him in his squishy fuzzy cuteness. Calli was a ballerina. I'd figured out that she had a dress she could wear right over her costume, so we didn't have to worry about changing. She was slightly disappointed in not being able to wear her favorite long dangly earrings with it, but survived. She really enjoyed the school party and games and being part of the parade. All new eperiences and she soaked them up.

Saturday Calli went to a Bowling Birthday party that Acer had to miss because he's fighting a cold. From Friday at 4 until Saturday at 5:30 Acer was only awake for a total of 8 hours. He just slept and slept and slept, it was incredible. I'm sure it has helped but, he's still sick. Calli came home from the party after she and Bill went grocery shopping, and then was just aquiver with anticipation until she could dress up. We'd been given two outfits, the ballerina one and a princess one. The Princess one had long sleeves, so with a downturn of the temperature, she switched from Ballerina to Princess. We put her hair up in a bun on top of her head, and then used a tiara she'd brought with her from Bethel. A tiny bit of make up, and Voila! Princess Calliandra made her debut.

We started out after Uncle James arrived to pass out candy; the kids had passed it out before then. Calli started out pulling Acer in the wagon, faster than we were walking, she was psyched up! Acer went longer than he ever had, but he still conked out pretty early. Bill and he headed back while Calli forged ahead. She was out until the sirens signaled the end of trick-or treating, I think she could have kept going for a lot longer if not for that. She did really well with navigating her way to doors. I'd simply tell her where the sidewalk to the house was from the driveway and where she needed to go and off she went, while I stood on the sidewalk. She came home triumphant with a very heavy bag!

Interesting article for all parents of impaired children, new viewpoint.

The Impact of Childhood Disability: The Parent's Struggle

by Ken Moses, Ph.D.

I was taught that the way to deal with adversity or pain was to "tough it out." If you could avoid showing the pain, then you had "beaten the rap," and dealt with the problem competently. I am a psychologist who works with people who are grieving over profound losses. Few would argue that facing the devastating and continuing loss of having an impaired child is among the most painful experiences that a person can confront. After working with parents of the impaired for many years, I have come to believe that I was given bad advice. I have come to believe that pain is the solution, not the problem.

Read the rest of the article here

I welcome your comments

The Little Piano Man

(I'll add pictures as soon as I get them off my phone, maybe I can get a video)

We've had a piano in the house for about a year and a half now, and Acer has always liked to just wander by plunk out a few notes and then wander away. In August, while we were driving to MIlwaukee, Acer started to actually PLAY on the toy piano we'd brought in the car. It was like a switch turned on and hasn't turned off yet. Month by month I can see him improving. I love to watch him play, with his tiny hands and fingers it's just too cute for words.
Calli has been playing for years, she's been picking up new songs as she goes, but Acer... there are times I don't know which one is playing unless I'm in the room. She pushed/inspired him as he could hear her sounding out songs on the piano, now, he's pushing her to keep ahead of him. They will even play duets together. It is so adorable to see, I want to just hug on them, except of course, that would stop their playing.

Courtesy Rules for Blindness

From the National federation of the Blind.


THE COURTESY RULES OF BLINDNESS
Ten simple, straightforward pointers which encourage sighted persons to feel comfortable and at ease with blind persons, is also helpful to know.

When you meet me don't be ill at ease. It will help both of us if you remember these simple points of courtesy:

I'm an ordinary person, just blind. You don't need to raise your voice or address me as if I were a child. Don't ask my spouse what I want—"Cream in the coffee?"—ask me.
I may use a long white cane or a guide dog to walk independently; or I may ask to take your arm. Let me decide, and please don't grab my arm; let me take yours. I'll keep a half-step behind to anticipate curbs and steps.
I want to know who's in the room with me. Speak when you enter. Introduce me to the others. Include children, and tell me if there's a cat or dog.
The door to a room or cabinet or to a car left partially open is a hazard to me.
At dinner I will not have trouble with ordinary table skills.
Don't avoid words like "see." I use them, too. I'm always glad to see you.
I don't want pity. But don't talk about the "wonderful compensations" of blindness. My sense of smell, touch, or hearing did not improve when I became blind. I rely on them more and, therefore, may get more information through those senses than you do—that's all.
If I'm your houseguest, show me the bathroom, closet, dresser, window—the light switch, too. I like to know whether the lights are on.
I'll discuss blindness with you if you're curious, but it's an old story to me. I have as many other interests as you do.
Don't think of me as just a blind person. I'm just a person who happens to be blind.
In all 50 states, the law requires drivers to yield the right of way when they see my extended white cane. Only the blind may carry white canes. You see more blind persons today walking alone, not because there are more of us, but because we have learned to make our own way.

For more information about gifts, bequests, programs for the blind, or other matters concerning blindness or the blind, contact the local chapter in your area or contact:

The National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street
at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Phone: 410-659-9314
E-mail: nfb@nfb.org