Just us - there’s a little of the before, but mostly it’s the after...: October 2012

It's No Fun Being the Bad Guy

I am going to make this into a short story and try not to be annoyingly cryptic... although leaving out details is my full intention - for now anyway.

My sweet, off the hook, Little Monkey went to see our favorite pediatrician yesterday.

I will temporarily leave out a lovely story about embarrassing moments and skip ahead to today.

Our doctor's appointment yesterday - with our favorite pediatrician - led to a visit this morning at Children's South.

The poor Little Monkey was such a brave girl this morning and tried her best to follow directions through her uncontrollable tears.

By the time we took the Little Monkey to school and we got to work, we were beyond exhausted and absolutely emotionally drained.

~~~

My sweet Little Monkey was nervous, but happy while waiting for us to be called back.

E.R. Baby never left her side!

Addie sends me on a roller coaster of emotions each and every day - yet, I am always aware that no matter how stressful and frustrating it is for me, that it is ever more frustrating for her.

It is hard when I don't know if there is something that I should be doing differently each day to help Addie or if I am missing something that may be causing her pain.

I look into her sweet blue eyes and I always ask her to "tell me" what she needs, what she wants, what I can do to make any moment of every day better for her.

...and it is always so difficult to stand by her and wipe away her tears and reassure her that she is alright when I don't know if she truly understands me, although she nods her head and responds, "Yes Ma'am" through her sobbing tears.

I hate being the bad guy sometimes although I know it's for the best.

The Little Monkey makes me so proud - even when we are confronted with ignorance, even when we are confronted with brutal honesty - I look at her and remember that I wouldn't trade the heartache and pain that comes with being Monkey's Mommy - for anything in the world.

Facing Pumpkin Patch Fears

Addie was uneasy as we approached each new activity.

It certainly didn't help that the activity below involved approaching an extremely creepy clown in order to get a lady bug balloon.

My niece offered words of encouragement

and despite Addie's worry, she stood her ground until IT

handed over the balloon.

We moved on to the games and we were quite impressed with Addie's pitching arm

and her ability to problem solve.

My Mother called it "Cheating".

I would like to think of it as "Rule Modification".

Getting her face painted was one of the most anxiety ridden activities of the day.

After an hour or two, Addie finally built up the nerve to get her face painted, but only if Gabi would hold her.

After Addie had her turn, she watched - from a distance - while Gabi had her turn.

Addie still wasn't convinced it wasn't all a trick.

When the Little Monkey spotted the inflatables, she was thrilled!

Thank Goodness, Gabi came along with us!

Had it not been for her, Addie wouldn't have been able to enjoy the inflatables.

Since Addie still can't climb up to the slides and there were crazy children running amuck, they resorted to the slide workaround method.

It worked out fabulously!

After 372 turns through the inflatable,

the girls were content to call it a day.

Thank you Gabi for making this fun afternoon possible - we couldn't have done it without you!

~~~

October 20, 2012

Picture of the Day!

October 20, 2012

Shadow Lake Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch visit number two took place on an absolutely beautiful Alabama day!

Addie was so very nervous when we arrived, but was momentarily subdued on the little "train" ride.

Although a little uneasy, she seemed to somewhat enjoy the ride until it came to an end.

After I wiped away the massive stream of tears, pity was taken upon her and she was able to stay on for one more turn.

Rotten Little Monkey.

We brought along my niece and my mom.
My mom came along as purely a spectator, while my niece took part in all the activities!
...and it was such a nice treat to have my mom there!...

After the "train" ride, we took a break for lunch, which really seemed to lighten the Monkey's mood.
The hay ride produced zero tears and a lot of smiles!

Baby also came along for each activity.

The Little Monkey is a very good Mommy!

~~~

October 20, 2012

Rudy

Rudy is all set for his first Halloween in crazy town.

He actually seems to like his new pajamas.

Having his ears examined by a crazed Monkey was not topping his list, but yet he still sat ever so still in an effort to minimize the trauma.

We have a very busy week ahead of us - full of lots of activities - and FALL is definitely in the air!

We are looking forward to a fabulous week!

Fall Soccer and Rotten Monkey's

Goodness gracious, this Little Monkey has permanently altered the game of soccer.

It is no longer about the skill involved with getting a ball past a human shield and into a goal.

Oh no....

It's all about creative play

Refusing to follow any rules

and mass collaboration.

By the end of the game, the Little Monkey had created her very own set of rules.

When she decided it was time to sit down and reflect on her lack of participation and mastery of manipulation, she did just that...until it was time to call it a night!

The great thing about special needs soccer is that the Little Monkey is allowed to do all those things and still remain part of the team

because the biggest part of special needs soccer

is just being a part of a team and forming relationships that never would have happened.

Pumpkin Picking

We watched the setting sun

and then boarded the hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

Julien and friend immediately took off in search of the perfect pumpkins.

Addie quickly realized that she couldn't catch up to Julien, so she had to settle on looking for her pumpkin in the clearings.

She still managed to get the little thorns all on her shoes and poking through her socks!

While Chris and I helped Addie find her perfect pumpkin, Julien was busy...

just being Julien.

I really can't take him anywhere!

He makes me so proud.

~~~

October 13, 2013

Pumpkin Patch Season 2012

Our first visit to a Pumpkin Patch for this Fall Season was rather entertaining.

One of Julien's friends was over for the weekend, and Addie was so very pleased to be spending the afternoon with them.

She tried her best to keep up with Julien.

When she started to lag behind, all she had to do was call out to Julien

and he immediately came to her rescue!

His reward was a big bear hug!

The pumpkin patch was not crowded at all, so the boys were able to help Addie in the inflatables.

The walk back and forth was really wearing on Addie, but she toughed it out for as long as possible.

Although Addie wasn't able to walk everywhere, she tried her best and we were really proud of her effort!

~~~

October 13, 2012

Non...Cooperative Subjects

You would think by now that I would just give up on trying to get those "picture perfect" memories.

Yet, I'm not a quitter...

Fungus Monkus was way more interested in watching the zip line than posing for a picture.

Adding Julien in absolutely made the difference!

She went from being interested in the zip line to accessing the current status of the hay bale.

At least Addie tried to look at the camera, Julien was just trying his best to see how many crazy faces he could make before I called the whole thing off!

~~~

October 13, 2013

Tis The Season!!!!!

Fall has been in the air in the humidity ridden region of the world that I live in and we have been making our annual visits to the local pumpkin patches!

I love this time of year!

J-Rod and The Little Monkey love it too...

~~~

October 13, 2012

Who Knew...

That Monkey's were territorial over resting quarters!

Last week, Chris was out of town for four days.

While he managed to miss a few happenings in our little lives, he had a great time, and also managed to create confusion for our Little Primate.

I would like to think that I am somewhat accustomed to a lack of sleep, and when I do get sleep, it seems to make me feel just miserable.

While Chris was away, I allowed the Little Monkey to sleep with me.

She slept through the night each and every night, which completely put my body and mind in a state of complete confusion.

I am still trying to recover.

Monkey was happy and content to take over her Daddy's side of the bed and now that he has returned, Monkey is restless and waking throughout the night.

If the Little Primate knew how to book a flight, my husband would already be back flying high above the clouds

all in an effort

for Monkey

to reclaim her sleeping quarters.