Wow. It’s been, what, two months since I’ve blogged? We have been SO busy around here.
Jackson started speech therapy a while back. He’s doing pretty well! He uses some sign language now. He can sign for “eat”, “drink”, “more”, “help”, and “play”. He’s SO cute when he does it too, because he’ll sign, and then he gets this giant grin on his face, like he’s so proud that we know what he wants! He has started waving and pointing, too! He still only says “doggie” and “da-da”. But we are pointing and signing, and he is now following short directions. “Go throw this away, put this in the sink” etc etc.
Save Our Strays had our big annual vendor sale in June! We did pretty well this year and raised about $5,000!! It didn’t last very long, though! We have more fosters now than ever, and our vet bills have been horrendous! We’re planning another large scale fundraiser, something that we’ve never attempted to do before. We’re going to try to hold a Charity “Fur”Ball! How cute is that?!? With food, drinks, a live band, and dancing. I hope we can pull it off!
A week after that, Grandma and Grandpa Bane and Uncle Dan and Aunt Rebekah came to visit for ten days! We did so much…went to Silver Dollar City, the Gentry Safari, swimming at the condo, it never ended!! (I am posting from the laptop because I’m too lazy to boot up the desktop, so I will have to post those pics later-)
A lot of changes are coming up…Dalton starts kindergarten on Monday! Oh my!! We had our open house yesterday and he got to meet his teacher, and we dropped off all his school supplies. It didn’t start until 9:00. At 6:50, I was getting in the shower, and he was already dressed, with shoes on and tied in knots (obviously our shoe-tying lesson the night before hasn’t stuck yet!!), and he wanted to leave. I told him we had to wait for Daddy to come get Jackson and take him to therapy before we could go. His response was “Just leave him sleeping in his cage!” (Which is his crib, we don’t REALLY make Jackson sleep in a cage!)
When we went to his classroom, the kids were to stay there, and the parents were to go to the cafeteria for our little orientation and information session. Of course I cried. I am the biggest baby!! The whole hour we were in there, I didn’t catch much of what they told us because it took all the energy I had not to bawl my eyes out! This is going to be SO much harder on me than it is on him. So then I went back to get him, and he had colored a picture and it was already hanging on the wall outside of his classroom!!
I don’t think his smile could get any bigger!!
So Dalton starts school on Monday (if you’re wondering why he starts so early, it is because he is going to year round school). He will be attending an after school program at a church close to us. The church van will come and pick him up after school, and you can bet for the first week, I will be stalking the school parking lot to make sure all goes well!!
Also on Monday, Jackson will start daycare! (Don’t cry, don’t cry, you can handle this, Mom!!) He will be attending the same church that Dalton will be at after school. So pick up will be easy with them in the same place.
And then <insert scary music here>, the week after…I will be returning to work. <Dramatic crescendo and cymbal crash.> We never really intended for me to stay home, and especially not for two years. We can’t pay for the therapy that Jackson needs unless we have a big increase in income, so there you have it. I will be going to back to the same job I left two years ago. The nice thing is that my boss has a son with special needs, and he understands and is going to be flexible with my need to take time off to take Jackson to and from therapy. Plus, Dalton’s school is just two blocks from my office, so I’ll be able to run over and eat lunch with him, attend his school programs during the day, etc.
Whew. I’m getting nervous just thinking about all the changes coming! I’m pretty sure I’m going to need a sedative the first day of school. I’ll probably need IV fluids from dehydration due to all the crying. I’m ridiculous, I know!
And now, the pictures that I know the grandparents have been dying for…
Dalton excitedly showing off his new unders for school!!
Jackson riding Dalton’s scooter, and oh so proud of himself!!
And of course, it wouldn’t be complete without Dalton showing off, too!
Dalton showing off our zucchini from our garden. Oh, that’s right, I grew this with my own hands!! Most of our plants died (we think it was a combination of things…we used super cheap potting soil, we didn’t till it before planting, we started too late and started from seed, and of course, I always forget about having to water the pesky stuff!!). However, we have awesome zucchini, several big green bean plants, a few carrots, and some lettuce. I’d say it’s a success for our very first garden. Also, either this zucchini just got missed, or our garden has a very severe steroid problem!!
And then…Dalton and I showing off our matching wounds. Dalton had to have his glucose checked at the doctor’s office recently. He asked if it would hurt, and I didn’t want to lie to him, so I said it would hurt a little. He started freaking out about it, so I asked him if it would help if I did it first. (Well, duh, of course it WOULDN’T!) What a horrible idea that was. They pricked that teeny tiny needle in my finger, and it bled. And it bled…and it bled some more. I got blood all over Dalton’s shirt, my pants, my shoes, the floor. That tiny little hole in my finger would. not. stop. bleeding! So of course that freaked Dalton out more!! But he finally did it, it wasn’t so bad, and we got matching Band-Aids!!
So there you have it! The last couple months in a very small, compact nut-shell!!
