Play Time

Right after breakfast every morning that Spencer and I don't have to be out the door right away (most days), we go upstairs to "play train table" for awhile. We usually wind up playing with all of his different trains and his collection of matchbox cars, reading a book or two, and maybe playing a board game. Today we even played "balloon catch" with the Valentine's balloons still hanging around. Some days I'm anxious to get on to the tasks of the day, but I know I'm so lucky to have this special time with my little buddy. Our lives won't stay this simple and innocent forever. So for now, I'm focusing on enjoying the journey.

I did it!

After only three long months, I finally completed my first sewing project with the machine my Mom got me for Christmas! It feels great to be finished! I made a bed skirt to match the new comforter we bought for our bed last fall. I thought it would be an easy starter project since I didn't even have to follow a pattern, but I still spent more time correcting my mistakes than actually making it. I'm happy with how it turned out though and am hoping that I will eventually come to enjoy (or at least tolerate) sewing once I get a little better. Next up: finishing the Superman cape I paid for and cut out at Super Saturday in October (yikes!) and bean bags.



Also, I started a new job last week! I am now the Special Needs Assistance Program (SNAPS) instructor at our local YMCA. I lead a class of about 7 girls/ladies ages 14 to late 40's. I can pretty much do whatever I want with the class as long as it fulfills the YMCA's mission of "building healthy spirit, mind and body for all... ." I plan to continue mainly focusing on physical fitness as the previous instructor did because I know the participants don't get a lot of exercise. They have all different levels of disabilities, but are quite high-functioning for the most part. There is one lady who is much more severely disabled than the rest and working with her is going to be a challenge.

The class is only two hours a week and it works out well because Spencer can just go to the Child Watch center at the Y while I'm teaching. AND, they have a few Thomas trains at Child Watch, so Spencer is in heaven. I mainly decided to apply for the job because we get a free family membership to the Y, but I'm also excited to have something to do besides housework all the time. I've only taught twice so far, but it feels good to be teaching again.

The hardest part right now is just getting used to having something in my schedule. You can go ahead and laugh all of you busy moms, but I've had an almost completely wide open schedule for nearly three years now. It's an adjustment to have a commitment like this. Especially since the class is right before dinner time. I'm giving it a go though and hopefully it will be good for both Spencer and me.

February Project

Getting some shelving in our garage was our February home-improvement project. Now that March is almost over, we're almost finished! We have a two-car garage, but haven't been able to make use of all of the space without any shelves. We're proud to say that ALL of the original orange walls in our house are now gone. Good riddance! Orange can be done right, but not to the extent the previous owners of our house used it.

Before:







After:






It feels SO great to have all of our stuff organized and off of the ground. Now, I finally have a place to put food storage!

This is what Spencer did while Alan and I were working out there last Saturday. (I have a cute video that's supposed to go right here, but I can't get it to work for some reason. I'll try again later.) I bought this tricycle off Craig's list last fall just as the rainy weather started. Spencer has been just a teeny bit too short to extend the pedals all the way until now. This was the first time he figured out how the pedals work.





I can't wait for good park weather so he can ride all over the place!

"P" is for Preschool

Spencer and I have been having so much fun with preschool lately. I think it is both of our favorite time of the day (bedtime is a pretty close second though!). Here are a few of our activities during the last week.

This one was a "color match." We put squares of different colors of felt around his room, and Spencer had to find toys that matched each color. He has known his colors for a long time, so it was super easy but he still loved it.




Spencer has to get creative to have his own camera now that I don't let him touch mine anymore. This time his tool belt along with a "chk" sound effect took some great shots.




I pulled out my cheap water colors for the first time one day. I had tried to get him to paint once before, but we didn't wind up doing it because Spencer refused to change out of his nice, new shirt into an old one. For some reason, he was willing to change today and had a great time. We stayed home most of the day today because of a bad cough so we painted again. This time he discovered that the water changes color and thought it was pretty awesome. He kept asking to drink it.




This isn't preschool, but it's educational so I thought I'd include it. Spencer gets to have a short computer time after his "nap" time everyday. I used to sit and do it with him, but his mouse handling skills are as good as mine now, so I find some other project to do nearby while he plays. His current favorite is the Sesame Street site.




Spencer surprised me last weekend with how fast he caught on when I quickly showed him how to sound out a short word. I've only ever taught kids with disabilities to read so I'm kind of shocked at how easily it is coming for Spencer. It's pretty exciting for me! He loves sounding out the words on these flash cards (thanks Nicole - I promise that I will return this game to you!) and looking for words that he can sound out in books. I showed him this little video tonight and he was so proud of himself.






Sorry if this post sounds too braggy, but I am proud of him. Spencer has always been interested in stories and letters so this comes easily to him. There are plenty of other things that don't come easily - writing, catching a ball, and riding his tricycle to name a few.