School Days

School has officially begun in the Chewning household! I can hardly believe it, but the kids are entering their third week of school (and I use the term "week" loosely, b/c they have not had more than 2 days of school in a row yet). The verdict: they love it! Mac more than Oli, but I think they both enjoy their time out in the world. There was a lot of misinformation leading up to the first day of school, especially concerning Oli's programs, but once the first day came, it all worked beautifully.

Here is Mac showing off her back to school style. She was so happy with her Hello Kitty outfit and backpack. As a side note, I also would have enjoyed that outfit circa first or second grade. Everything old is new again!



Here are my two little ones getting ready for the bus. After much debate, we ultimately decided to let both of them take the bus. Unfortunately, they are on separate buses, but each seems to be enjoying his or her own ride. Right now, Oli is the only one on his bus. Hopefully, he will have other kids with him in the future.



Here is Mac getting on the bus. Even though I had prepared for the first day of school, I couldn't believe that I was actually expected to let them get on the bus on their own and then trust that they would get to school okay. It seemed unfathomable to me. Luckily, b/c of the bus/school wanted us to teach them about Oli's braces, we were actually told to follow the bus on the first day and get him on/off. When we pulled up to the school, there were buses everywhere! Once I found his bus, I also found the school social worker and Oli's teacher there waiting for him, too. Oli had a long way to walk, and almost got run over by the hordes of kids entering school. Luckily, they now are willing to drop Oli off in the back, where he has a shorter walk both outside and inside. So I was spared the agony of just putting them on the bus and letting them go until day 2.



Finally, here is Oli fresh home from his first day of school. Although he was not too verbally expressive about his day, he had a sort of confidence about him that told me he enjoyed himself. He asked for chocolate milk, and downed it like it was a shot. Then he slammed his cup down. It was pretty funny. He's just that kind of guy!



I'm very proud of my kids as they take this large step forward in their development. Although I am sad that this marks the end of their "baby era," it feels very right and natural that they should be going to school. I am so excited to see what this year brings, and the kids that they will become as a result.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Yesterday, we reached one of the mommy moments that I have been waiting for -- back to school shopping. To me, there is very little that is more exciting and satisfying than fresh notebooks, backpacks, and new pens. Since I came to terms with my inner nerd (and its not buried too deeply) about 30 years ago, I fully embrace back to school time and all that comes with it. As an aside, I am a little less enthusiastic now that it is my job, but I still enjoy the freshness of it all.

With both Mac and Oli starting school in a week and a half, Aunt Beth (one of the only other people in the world who gets as excited as I do about school -- not surprisingly, she is also a teacher) and I decided it was time to take the kids school shopping. I have been saving my 10% off coupon from Target, along with some coupons. Armed with the coupons and giddy excitement, we headed shopping...

We started out at Chipotle. Tim came along for that part. Delicious and successful. We were coming off of a horrible doctors appointment in which Oli got his dreaded MMR shot and Mac had to be restrained for her shot. So, lunch was a much needed break. Since we were at the mall, I decided to look for pants for work. Big mistake! Mac was so excited to go school shopping that she could not make it through my pants browsing. Into the car and over to Target.

Our first round of school shopping was not all I had hoped it would be. Mac way hyper, Beth and I were exasperated, and Oli just wanted to look in the "robot aisle." We loaded up our cart with the designated supplies (and then some), but the trip didn't quite feel right. We decided a trip to another, better Target, was in line.

It actually worked! Mac calmed down, Oli took a nap, and the next Target was much better. We finished up with a cinnamon pretzel and coffee. Mac played "kindergartner" while Beth and I enjoyed our coffee. Oli had a little trouble with his pretzel, but it was all okay in the end.

And here is a picture of just some of the spoils..

Happy Birthday Oliver!

Oliver is three! For all of our work and worry, he is progressing very nicely. He can walk and talk. He has an amazing sense of humor and a sweet little personality that melts my heart every time. He is a true blessing, and I am so proud to be his mommy!

We decided to do his birthday a little differently this year. Usually, we have a traditional big birthday party. However, it is increasingly difficult to get everyone together, and our house increasingly needs work. Between extreme hot weather and extreme business, our backyard has gone from "overgrown" to "jungle."

So instead, we had an Oli day. First, we went to Toys R Us, and Oli was given free reign to pick whatever he wanted. A dangerous concept, I know, but he was really good about it. After some fun browsing and debate, Oli wound up going with some Super Hero Squad figurines and their helicopter headquarters. In the last few weeks, Oli has gone from a Cars guy to a Super Hero guy. I have to say, I think the SuperHeros are more fun.

Then, we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Since a very fun trip with Aunt Beth a few weeks ago, the kids have been begging to go back. So we decided to go for dinner. Once there, Mac got her "unbirthday" gift -- a stuffed monkey she has been thinking about since our last trip.

The next morning, Oliver's real birthday, he woke up early and immediately asked for his new toy. We spent the rest of the day visiting some of his grandparents. Here is a video of Oli hauling in the Iron Man loot at Nanny and PopPops:

Then we went to grandma and grandpa's for dinner, and we still have a fun day of celebraton at the shore on Sunday. When all is said and done, we will have celebrated with  three cakes, fun gifts, and lots of love!

Last Week in Pictures

Greetings from the Jersey Shore

It has definitely been a week of both relaxation and running around. But I think that is always the way. My Aunt has very generously offered to let us use her house at Point Pleasant while she is away this week, so Tim, the kids, and I have been going back and forth between the shore and home. We came down Sunday night, and spent all day Monday on the beach. Mac LOVES the ocean, so she and Tim spent hours in there on Monday. Oli is less enthralled with the water, more enthralled with the sand, so he and I spent our time going between dry sand (blanket) and wet sand (waterline). There is a cool cafe/restaurant near the house/beach, so we had lunch there. Lesson 1 of the week: mid-day beer at home = drinking problem, mid-day beer at beach = relaxing (at least that is my interpretation. Who knows, maybe mid-day beer at beach also = drinking problem?)

Tuesday, Oli had a neurology appointment at CHOP. He has been episodes where he tenses up and looks around, or sometimes gets tense and waves his arms around for quite a while now. I have gone back and forth between thinking they are problematic and thinking they were just "baby excitement." So, finally, I made an appointment and took him in. I hate adding yet another doctor to our repertoire (this was neurology, not neurosurgery), but I felt it had to be done.

Oli had an EEG in the morning and an neurology appointment in the afternoon. We had about 3 1/2 hours in between. However, we are very good at passing time at CHOP. We spread out lunch (ice cream for Oli, thank you very much) and then went to the lobby. The lobby is pretty cool and has some large mechanisms in which balls are shuttled and -- a fish tank! Oli loves fish -- they have a cool tank at Children's Specialized, where he gets his PT. We spent over a half hour just at the fish tank -- Oli played peek and really talked to the fish.

In his appointment, we learned that he is not having seizures, but rather, self-stimulating behaviors. I have always heard this terminology paired with autism-related behaviors, but the  dr. said this isn't necessarily the case. He might be expressing the extra energy that other kids bounce out or run out, but he can only really use his upper body. They said that if he is still doing these behaviors at 4 or older, it could be more of a problem b/c he should be better able to articulate what is making him do it by then. They also mentioned, almost as a throw-away, that his eeg was "slow" but that should be expected b/c of his diagnosis. Um, huh? As always, they said this may or may not mean anything. At that point, I was just so happy that nothing was wrong that I let it go at that.

Wednesday: a tour of the kids' new school (can't wait for september), color belt testing, and dinner with aunt beth at the Rainforest Cafe. Even our down days are fun!!

Thursday: Back to the shore! Our friends Dana and Matt met us there with their girls, Emily, Sarah, Megan, and Chloe. What was suppose to be a full day on the beach was sidelined by some bad weather, but we had a great time! We spend the whole day on the boardwalk -- the rain held off just long enough for us to ride some rides, play some games, eat some snacks, and finally go on the beach. Just as Dana and Matt were packing up to go home, it started to pour. So we ran the few blocks back to their car. Funny how we will spend a whole afternoon in the pool or ocean, but the run from the rain.

The sun came back out just 2 hours later, and we went back to the boardwalk for dinner. A great day and night! Today is beautiful, so we are off to the aquarium and then the beach. Although the locked-up fish make me kind of sad, Mac has been begging to go all summer. And it is an educational experience, so it is hard to say no.

I may not be getting much work done this summer, but I shore am having a good time :)