COOL THING #1 | This photo. Katie snapped it during the craziness of the birthday party, after the kids had finished the treasure hunt (the glasses were some of the prizes). I’m thankful that this was my prize.

COOL THING #2 | Simon getting an email from my parents first thing in the morning with an interactive card and fun Spongebob game. I’m thankful for all the ways my parents have connected with Simon.

COOL THING #3 | For his party Simon really wanted to have “marshmallow lasagna.” The idea for this dessert came about from a show called Wubbzy and he’s talked about it from time to time in the past. I googled “marshmallow lasagna” and found a few different recipes. We ended up doing a modified version of this one – it’s basically a smores casserole and it is super, super sweet. For some reason (most likely it’s part of the Wubbzy episode that Simon has memorized) he asked for grated cheese on top of his. I’m thankful that he wanted to try something new.

COOL THING #4 | The kids really played together. There was chasing (Simon’s favorite), and laughing, and running around upstairs and downstairs, and light sabers and swords. More than half (actually most) of the kids at Simon’s party are somewhere on the autism spectrum. They’ve been in the same program with each other since kindergarten and we’ve watched each of them grow and develop over the last few years. Most of the same kids were here last year and this year there was really a difference in the way they interacted with one another. I’m so thankful to those kids and their parents for showing up.

COOL THING #5 | I got some photos that I really like of all the kids together eating at the table. I’m not going to be sharing them here but I’m really happy that I took them. Those photos especially remind me just how old he is getting. I’m thankful for the chance to share these photos of friendship with Simon.

COOL THING #6 | My sister sent a bouquet of birthday balloons for Simon. I’m thankful for my sister who is always so thoughtful when it comes to celebrations.

COOL THING #7 | Chris organized a fun treasure hunt (you can see the flier he made up in my Project Life post here) that included five different pirate treasures. I’m thankful for the relationship that Chris has built with Simon and for the one they are building now.

COOL THING #8 | Lots of Ninjago. I’m thankful that Simon’s current favorite lego theme has books available.

COOL THING #9 | The nap time after the party. An early in the day party meant time left in the day for a nap on the couch for me. I’m thankful that Anna took a nap (she was exhausted from the excitement) and that Simon was ready and willing to play in peace and quiet with his new toys.

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Last year I did a Nine Years of Simon post featuring a layout from each year of his life. That was such a fun process of looking back that I decided to do it again this year with ten different layouts.

I’ll have a birthday party weekend recap to share tomorrow.

This was Simon’s writing homework prompt last week. Love.

Dear Simon,

Last night you had your Fourth Grade Open House. Here’s what I learned:

1. The technology in your classroom is so cool. You showed me how you use/play with Garage Band. I thought it was cool just watching you walk over to the computer cabinet and carefully pull one out and bring it back to your desk, hugging it to your chest the whole way. I also liked seeing the  “clicker” that each kid uses to “log-in” to the main computer when they arrive in the classroom.

2. The garden right outside the window of your classroom is so beautiful. Right now there are rows and rows of sunflowers. I got to see a great photo that your teacher took of you standing out in the sunflowers on a day that your class spent some time outside sketching (and learning about Vincent Van Gogh and his sunflower paintings). I also noticed at least two very giant pumpkins growing out in the garden. The garden is one of your teachers passions and I really like that about her. She brought in this bowl of little tomatoes and your sister ate about ten of them.

3. Daddy and I got to ask your teacher about spelling homework and tests. You’ve brought home spelling homework the last couple of weeks and have been really frustrated at not immediately knowing how to spell all the words. We’ve been talking about how that’s part of the process of learning – but sometimes that’s hard to understand. She gave us some good tips, suggestions, and perspective and let me know that it was more important for you to just say the words out loud, spell them out loud and then write the words on the line vs. me just saying the word out loud and you guessing the first time. We’ll try that next week.

4. It was so awesome to see the math papers on your desk! We saw that you are learning about the Distributive Property (“The Distributive Property lets you multiply a sum by multiplying each addend separately and then add the products”). Here’s an example that I found online:

4 x 53
(4 x 50) + (4 x 3)
200 + 12
212

I love that you are learning this skill – I think it’s going to come in handy as you get into bigger numbers. I don’t think I learned to do arithmetic that way when I was in fourth grade so I might need to do a little practicing with you to get the hang of it.

5. We got to visit all your past teachers again. It’s always fun to see you want to see them, say hi, give them a hug as you make your way through the building.

Fourth grade seems to be off to a great start. We are so proud of you Simon! Keep up the great work.

Mama

We’ve been taking the slow route in helping Simon learn to ride his bike.

Slow and deliberate with lots and lots of confidence-building praise and support.

While visiting my brother and his family we took him to a track to get in some more practice.

He was doing so awesome…better than ever with his balance.

I had the video camera rolling so he could see that he really was doing it. He loved seeing those videos and it was such a good reminder to me that he’s a visual kid and seeing himself in action is a great teaching tool. My favorite parts of the video (which are much to shaky to share) are hearing my brother and sister-in-law cheering in the background as Chris takes his hand off the bike or Simon’s back. There’s so much love in their voices.

And then he got going a bit too fast around a corner.

There was a crash.

And lots of tears.

And lots of comfort.

And maybe even a bit of chocolate cake with the sentiment “way to go Simon” written in blue icing on top after dinner to celebrate all the awesome riding he’d been doing before the crash and maybe, just maybe encourage him to get on his bike again.

We were a bit worried he’d resist getting back on his bike after the crash but he was totally ready to try again.

Even a rainbow and a bunch of crows showed up to give him some support.

That willingness to try again after falling off…it’s so huge.

He got right back on and was totally excited all over again.

Keep practicing buddy – we know you can do it!

THIRD GRADE FIELD TRIP = 80 KIDS + 20 ADULTS + 2-HOUR BUS RIDE EACH WAY + OREGON COAST AQUARIUM + LUNCH AND EXPLORATION AT THE BEACH

I have things I want to say about this adventure but the words seem hard to come by tonight.

Some stories simply aren’t easy to document because the layers run deep.

There’s my story, his story, and our story (the intersection of the two).

I’m wavering between facts and feelings and the parts that were fun for Simon and others that were a bit tough for my heart to witness. He’s getting older and the kids are getting more socially sophisticated and that gap is getting bigger.

And yet, he is happy. He loved having a field trip, loved going to the beach, loved seeing the fish, loved having Doritos in his sack lunch, and he loved having me come along. And more than likely that’s really all that matters.

Reason #5003 why Katie is an awesome nanny.

A couple weeks back I saw a white version of this Lego storage idea via Pinterest and knew it was only a matter of time before I did the same thing for Simon. I loved how the other one was painted white and I thought about doing that for this one and then decided that the wood went just fine in his room.

In Simon’s case he probably needs a few more of these to hold all the guys.

I’ve had this type drawer waiting for something special for awhile (found most likely at an antique/second hand store). I bought it a few years ago thinking I’d do another photo type case like this one:

This specific one was great for photos because it had all the same sized square spaces. I haven’t seen another one like this since – I’m not actively looking but I do keep my eyes open.

I continue to be a fan of finding things to put things in.

REAL LIFE MONDAY STORY

This post wouldn’t be complete without a real-life-Monday-story thrown in for good measure.

While I was photographing the Lego-type-case, Simon was having a melt-down.

Actually it was more along the lines of experiencing withdrawal. Withdrawal from the Wii to be more specific.

This past weekend he got a new Lego Wii game (Pirates of the Caribbean) and he definitely wants to play it non-stop. The problem is that when he plays for longer spans of time his eyes turn bloodshot (I’m not sure that he’s blinking normally while playing) and he has a really hard time transitioning away from the game when it’s time to stop. Really hard.

He was able to play for a very limited amount of time this afternoon after some pretty yucky behavior last night but that wasn’t enough. There were grumpy faces, loud exasperated sighs, growls, and quite a few whines. And some stomping too. Can’t forget the stomping.

SIDENOTE NO. 1 | I had one of those Mom moments this past weekend where I told the kids if they didn’t stop asking about/whining about watching TV we were going to get rid of the TV. The first thing Anna said was “watch the singing show?”

Up in his bedroom he laid on the floor for awhile and said things like “what am I supposed to do now?” while Anna rummaged in his closet and came out with the Playmobile pirate ship that hasn’t seen the light of day for quite some time.

SIDENOTE NO. 2 | I love that I’ve kept some of these toys that Simon’s not into any more because she totally loves the Playmobile people. She had these pirates doing all kinds of fun stuff – especially jumping from the tallest heights.

After saying “no” and “how about playing with all these Legos you have in here” and “want to help me put some of your guys in here” and “we’re not watching TV any more tonight” what felt like at least a hundred more times he laid on the floor a little while longer and then noticed Dr. Seuss’ Ten Apples Up On Top book on his bookshelf. He pulled it down, sat up and started reading to Anna and me.

YES! Forward progress. Something to celebrate.

And then it was time to go downstairs for dinner. To a non-preferred foods dinner (chicken and rice) which he ate over the course of an hour or so. He ate almost all of it while telling me and Anna a variety of different facts about Scooby Doo episodes and asking me questions I couldn’t answer because I don’t know all the ins and outs of the episode about The Creeper. (He’s going to love that link to the Scooby files.)

Dessert was chocolate ice cream. Definitely deserved after only one loud complaint when we first sat down at the table.

Later in the evening, after I tucked him in bed, he read me a chapter in Fantastic Mr. Fox. He’s definitely enjoying it – it’s a movie we both enjoy quite a bit. He’s especially loving the book because it included the words to the song that the town kids sing about Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.

After I kissed him goodnight I could hear him singing it to himself and giggling away.

And really, that’s the way I’d like to remember the day.

The other day I was folding Simon’s PJ’s and I was thinking about how much he loves them.

One pair of stripes. Two pairs. Three pairs. Four pairs. Oh yes, there’s more.

They’ve seen holidays and everydays and vacations and airplanes and so many movies and breakfasts and maybe even a few dinners.

Some pairs are just about ready to be retired and a couple new ones have been added to the rotation.

He loves to put them on in the evening and will wear them as long as possible on the weekends.

Only the long sleeve and long pants sets – no short sleeves and shorts for him.

Sometimes I wonder if he’ll want to keep wearing these into adulthood – lucky for him they actually make them in adult sizes.

Here’s to loving something in your own life as much as Simon loves his PJ’s.

Here’s to celebrating all the little stuff that makes up the bulk of our lives.

GO SIMON GO.

What’s a simple something in your own life, or that of someone you love, that you encounter just about everyday that you could document today?

This is Simon’s weekly Reading Record from last week.

Most weeks it’s missing a few days. Most weeks the minutes read is somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes with a bunch of stopping to look at the clock and ask how much more time? Most weeks it’s a challenge to get him to do his daily reading. Most weeks I have to decide if it’s the battle I want to fight that night.

I want him to want to do it and I don’t want it to be a battle. I want him to love it in that “this can change your world buddy” kind of way.

Last week the Edwards’ household did some major celebrating as Simon finally found a book he wanted to devour.

It came in his Easter basket and it was very unassuming at first.

He actually got a bunch of books in his basket (including The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, The Boxcar Children, and The Wizard of Oz). This particular one happened to come in a bucket via a special Easter scavenger hunt set up by our Katie (babysitter/nanny/caregiver – I never know what to call her but man do we love her so maybe I’ll just call her “our Katie”).

It’s a chapter book based on a movie he likes and already knows the story called How To Train Your Dragon: The Chapter Book. Familiar things are a “happy place” for Simon – stories, foods, places, events, etc. He started reading and he didn’t want to stop. He was excited. The looks on his face as the words connected with the movie in his head were so awesome. Glee. Joy. Excitement. Happiness.

One night he read for two hours straight and another night for an entire hour.

Tonight we’re currently searching high and low for this book. It’s gotten misplaced in the upstairs/downstairs shuffle of clothes, books, toys, etc. He’s almost done – maybe just a couple pages left.

Here’s to hoping he’ll connect with another book he wants to devour very soon.

Go Simon go.

UPDATE | He found the book (it was on the bench near the front door). He finished it tonight and came in and told me “I finished the book. And the last word was sunshine.”