Monday, July 15, 2013

Zealand rode a horse today. I think I have to sing about it!

Ok, I don't actually know any songs about horse therapy. This is huge, HUGE. He tried something new and scary that he didn't want to do. And loved it. He rode the horse for about half an hour.


Saturday, July 6, 2013

What I love about our new place

Surprisingly, The Bud Light ad:
Most days, as we drive home/away from home, we pass by a mini-mart that advertises heavily for beer. We have a lot of conversations with our 5-year old about what that is and why he can't have any. Also, he has taken note that I don't want any beer either. Now, whenever we are in the store and we see someone with beer in their shopping cart, he says, "I hate beer!!". He says it with gusto. He sounds a little like Bobby Hill, as he growls the word 'hate'. If you know anything about autism, you may remember that there is a component of repeating patterns, repeating speech, obsessing over ideas or objects. Hating beer is one of his obsessions.

Lake
Every couple of weeks we go to the lake and spend most of Saturday on the beach. On Mother's Day saturday Jeff took me to a fancy restaurant on the lake and I got crusted halibut with mango chutney. I'm such a foodie. Thanks hon!

Things to do
We stay super busy with gymnastics, playgroup, OT & speech, and every week we get to go see the coolest music lady ever. We can never get enough of the children's museum here and there is another big one down the road 30 minutes. Z really loved school this year and tells me at night, how much he misses it.

Neighbors
I got to feed our neighbor's dogs for a couple of days while they were at a motorcycle rally. 2 austrailian shepards...the sweetest boys in the whole world...now I want another dog. This time I want one that fetches. Speaking of animals, we have a kangaroo mouse in our backyard. (I'm thinking CAT). There is a birds nest in our gutter. We have a squirrel, quail and once I saw an owl.

My new can-do attitude
I needed a hobby when we came here. I have begun building my own furniture. First I built 2 bookshelves from one sheet of plywood and some trim. Now I am working on building a desk. Jeff is a great resource when I mess it up or need to improvise. Thanks Diane, for telling me about this website that got me started.

House
When we first walked through our house, there was a family renting it, including two little girls. It was the girls that sold me the house. They were riding their scooters up and down the longest hallway I've ever seen in a house. Scooter riding and other shenanigans are encouraged here.

Here is Z dancing in the long hall. Don't ask him to dance for you, he won't, he is not a trick pony. PS. Jeff didn't know I was filming; secrecy is really the only way to catch these things on tape though.


The house has all of my big requirements. The kitchen is amazingly functional, I don't want to change a thing. Since it has a country theme, I decided to go with it and do the cutest country kitchen ever. Color is important to us and we are painting very slowly through the rooms. Z's room is green and cream. When we put the green on CC helped (she had paint in her hair for days). Now she loves to touch the green wall and rub her cheek on it. I think it's time to put some color in her room too.