A family picture

It has been a while. Right now I am sitting at the pool ignoring Patience while she is at swimming lessons. I think it is the only way we are both going to survive this occasion. I can't watch. She is an opinionated five year old. I am fairly certain that we will be doing this level again because to pass you would have to do any of the skills that they ask you to show. So far not a problem with that. 

Xavier finished grade 6 and will be starting grade 7 in the fall. He grows weary of school so I am hoping that in the higher grades he finds something that interests him and keeps school tolerable. If not it will be a long five years. 

Niles has finished grade 4 and is eagerly looking towards next year when he can be in band. Trombone. (Although we were out of town on instrument testing day so the teacher says baritone. I think he can do it). He wants trombone because he can be annoying. Isn't that great? 

This is our family picture from the Taylor family reunion. Everyone is looking. Mostly. That is all I can ask for. 

Right now Patience is sitting on the edge of the pool not doing what the teacher is asking. I am still ignoring her. Yep this is going to be a redo. We might take another long break. 

Almost back to school

With it almost back to school the boys were driving me crazy but they were running out of ideas for things to do. I thought a scavenger hunt would be fun so I wrote out a list and sent them out. Originally I had thought that all the kids could do it together but Xavier and Niles inform me that Patience is too slow and I could hear the crying from down the block. She came home and the boys continued on. It looks like they had fun.

An exercise in frustration

 When I am home I try to be resourceful and get things finished, while including the children and not staying in the same place all the time. Now that Patience is back walking (so very nice), we try to do things that are therapy but sneakily so she doesn't notice and refuse. (There is a lot of stair climbing and tricycling going on in the house right now). Right now we are working on her symmetry and a good way to do that is to peddle. She learned to ride her tricycle last month (I know she is slow) and now for a different angle we (but we I mean me doing what phyiso suggests) are going to try a bike, a bike that she can't just stop by herself, a pull behind bike. I will call it the buddy bike. 

The buddy bike.

Now to begin the exercise one must get the bike out of the shed. To open the shed you need a key. Find the key. No key. That is right some child has lost all the keys. Oldest child has taken key to a sleepover. Why? Don't know. 

 Me: "Rob do you have a key" (5 minutes after he leaves house).

Rob: "I am all the way across town. I will open it when I come for lunch"

So I wait 2 hours for Rob to come home, then I get the children engaged in an activity (painting) and start getting ready.

1. Get bike out of shed:

Bike shed, arranged by a man. Buddy bike was in the back corner.

Don't worry I came out mostly intact

2. Blow up flat tire: This should not be a problem because we have a very large air compressor in the garage and Rob has recently replaced the broken hose (he told me because I tried to inflate Niles's very flat tire last week and couldn't). To get to the air compressor I have to go into the garage and get to the back corner

I call this the garage of death

Not to bad even. Took some fancy footwork but I can almost park in the garage again so it is not too bad. 

I think I have been a little stressed...

Ah my normally busy house. Many things happen during the week. There is band on Monday and Xavier has track practice in the morning; Tuesday workout, Village Time, Xavier's Tae Kwon Do, and Financial Peace in the evening; Wednesday Xavier has track before school and debate club after so don't forget to drop him off and pick him up, church night (and sometimes a work day); Thursday early dismissal, Tae Kwon Do and piano lessons; Friday nothing (yet). Seems busy enough. So let's add a normally independent four year old. Now make her completely dependent. Arrrgh. It is an adjustment and we have been handling it but I went back to work this week.

Yes I went back to work. I had a good day. I was picking up a few shifts to get a few more hours in when the clerk said, "Diane you can't pick up that shift you are already working it".

WHAT!!!

(I really wasn't working it. I checked my schedule)

So we started looking at my schedule and in the middle of March is changed completely from what I was working. Now our clerk did some looking and found a note that said change Diane to ___________ line on March 18. (Background: I have taking a new part-time position but it is the same number of shifts as the temporary position that I was already working) Ah mystery solved and I had no recourse. New position can = new line. It is kosher. Yuck. So what did I do? I cried; at work. Yep. That pushed me over the edge. Maybe I am coping but just. (It is all fixed now. I pleaded my case and at least my schedule is the same as I had planned for March. We will see ongoing.)

So maybe I have been a little stressed.

New Legs for Patience

Ah Patience. Normally a happy, smiling, independent child. Observe.

Taking care of the tomatoes. It was her job. She would get so angry if I would do it.

She climbed up the slide first with all the toys.

A party with Abby.

Working it at Tae Kwon Do.

Well Thursday certainly put a put a crick in her style.

So now, after her open left hip reduction, Patience is not so active. A body cast will do that to you. She is happy today. We left the hospital with our new and modified car seat that we borrowed, a borrowed wagon in the back and a bunch of sitting gifts and headed home. (There are pictures of her smiling I just don't have them right now). At home she watched a bunch of TV, played with her leapster, talked to her brothers, painted pictures and went to bed. A busy day for someone who can't move herself. We will see what tomorrow will bring.