Treats, not Tricks

Today was Grant's first Halloween. He wore the same costume as his big brother did - a leopard outfit. However, since Liam was dressed as Diego: Animal Rescuer, we pretended that Grant was Diego's sidekick, Baby Jaguar.

We started our evening at my friend, Alissa's house. The older kiddo's played while the adults had a quick dinner. Then we went out trick or treating in that neighborhood. Just for fun I dressed up like a butterfly. Liam was moving to fast for Ashtyn, who got frustrated that Liam wasn't waiting for her. Grant and Jonas were just along for the ride: Jonas in his stroller and Grant in the sling.

Then we went home so that we could pass out candy at our house and also make a pass through our neighborhood and see out neighbors. This time Sean also dressed up - he re-purposed part of my old Princess Leah costume - it was quite amusing! We were sad that not many kids came to our house, but we had fun walking through our neighborhood.

Earlier in the week I was able to attend the Halloween party at Liam's public preschool. Here is his class all dressed up! The boy dressed as Buzz Lighyear next to Liam is his best friend, Joshua. The kids got to go on parade through the school in their costumes, then they had a bunch of yummy treats and a movie to watch - lucky kids!

We also took both the boys to the Halloween event in downtown. It was very busy, but there were a few activities that Liam enjoyed, such as a hay maze and petting some animals from the zoo. There were also cool street performers, a rarity in this town. We ran into our friends, Dan and Annie and their boy Aidan while we were there.

Roller-coaster

The past couple days have been quite a roller-coaster in terms of emotions. On Wednesday, I met with the public school district to discuss the results of their evaluation of Liam for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Their findings: Liam is borderline Autistic. The good news is that this means that Liam qualifies for assistance and/or therapy. We don't yet know what this will entail, specifically, but at least we know that the school district is on our side and will provide resources for Liam.

I was contacted to teach a third class for Spring semester this week. I thought about it for a night and then decided that it was a good idea. Hopefully, I won't kick myself for it next semester!

Liam had TWO Halloween parties on Thursday. I got to go to the morning party at the public preschool. Liam and his class went on parade through the school. They also had a bunch of food and got to watch a video. I got to meet some of the other mom's, which was nice. Liam was already acting a little unregulated by 10am, so it's no surprised that he was super hyped up by the end of the day. But it was fun to see him with his classmates. He has a friend, named Joshua. They paled around together and Joshua even gave him a hug when it was time for Liam to go.

Friday I finally got my car back, but in the excitement we missing Liam's therapy appointment! Friday was also Sean's birthday. We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate, other than eat breakfast out as a family.

We had planned to celebrate on Saturday, by taking him to the Airzoo. We got the family all set and headed to K-zoo for the day. My mom was going to meet us there. Unfortunately, Liam had a potty accident shortly after we arrived and was also extremely obstinate, so we had to go home. :( It was a really bummer, especially after we had driven all that way!

Then to top it all off, I received a call for an interview for a job that I applied for a month ago. I'm quite excited about the job, but I have to travel to New Orleans for the interview next month! Just what I needed, more stress!

I terms of Grant's growth. Well, he's trying hard to sit up. He's still very wobbly, but he likes to practice sitting. He also likes to stand and squat, exercising his legs. He's gotten quite good and grabbing for things. He even grabbed my napkin at dinner one night! He's a very happy guy most of the time and it's a stitch to get him laughing - not hard to do because he's sooo very ticklish. ;-)

Daddy's Birthday Starts with a Bang!

Grant rolled out of bed this morning at 5:30am. Not the best parenting moment ever and definitely not the best way for Sean to start his birthday! Luckily, Grant was fine and only got a small bruise. He was in good spirits the rest of the day, in spite of the incident. Sean took the day off work (for his birthday) and the rest of the day was quite pleasant.

Liam, Animal Rescuer

Well, Liam totally wowed me this Thursday (20th)! He was quite the hero. While waiting in line to go back into class after playing on the playground, he discovered that there was a dog curled up in the trash can. The teacher was surprised to see the poor animal in there and hurried the class inside so that she could call animal control. Liam was so proud that he had discovered the trapped animal, that he had to show it to me when I arrived a few minutes later. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't have believed it!

I was so proud of him that we called daddy and he told daddy all about it. Later that day, we called his teacher to see what happened to the doggy. She told us that it was a girl doggy and that she was unharmed, just malnourished a bit. Apparently, the dog was wagging her tail when the animal control put her in the van.

So that's Liam's true story of being an animal rescuer, just like Diego!

Today, Liam is visiting with his Grandma's and Grandpa, while Daddy, Grant, and I are in Bloomington for a conference. I had a very sucessful paper presentation and have been enjoying myself a lot at this conference. It has been interesting traveling with Grant. I think it's really good that he and Daddy have been getting some quality time together. They don't usually get to spend so much time together. The weather has been unseasonably warm and the three of us have been taking advantage of it by walking around the IU campus and enjoying the fall colors.

Holding Pattern

Well, this past week things seem to have really smoothed out. If may just be because it's midterm and I know that the semester is half over and I've made it this far! But I'd like to think it's because I've finally figured out how to balance everything - at least for now. I've been sick all week and feeling terrible. But I've still managed to keep on top of my lecture and grading, as well as writing a conference paper, keeping the house minimally clean, and making sure the boys are fed and clothed. ;-)

It helps that Liam has been behaving fairly well. Grant has been cranky - he's also sick - but not overly so. He seems to be nursing a bit less now and actually slept fairly good the past two nights. He's been super cute lately. He's started grabbing his toys and holding them. He gets really excited about some of them - such as the mirror toy for the crib. I actually keep it where I change his diapers and he likes to reach up and spin the ball on it while I change him.

Today, the boys and I went for a lovely walk in the Scott Woods. It was just picture perfect. Liam had fun collecting leaves with me. Grant chilled out and enjoyed the lovely fall colors from his stroller. After our walk, Liam played on the playgroud for a bit. Grant and I swung on the swings next to Liam. We were all tuckered out by the time we headed home.

10.10.10

What a fun couple weekends we've had. Last weekend, October 3rd, was the Dino Dash for the MSU Museum. The morning was cool, but not bad. Liam did pretty good considering all of the excitement and anticipation - he didn't get too out of control. We bumped into a lot of friends and their kiddos this year. We all went out to lunch with Dan, Annie, and Aidan after the race and visit to the museum. The boys played and played in the gym at Burger King while the adults got to chat and relax.


Today we decided to trek to Grand Rapids to visit the John Ball Zoo - our favorite zoo in Michigan. It's not super big, but it has a lot of really nice exhibits. The weather was just perfect for us. Liam and Grant both cooperated well and we had a nice trip - except for the last few minutes, when everyone got tired and hungry....ooops.