A Few Summer Wanderings

This summer we've been visiting parks, hanging out with friends, going to the zoo, visiting the sharks and rays, and just being creative at home. as much as I'm missing my babies and am going to miss my home visiting job, I'm really enjoying the time I get to spend with Autumn. And she's been having lots of fun being silly with mommy all day long (hate to say it but my caffeine intake has increased since school finished) :)

looking at the chrysalises for all the butterflies, and some newly hatched butterflies as well

Autumn has the wingspan of a peregrine falcon

riding a wolf is lots of fun when you do it with friends

At church we've been having family bible night on Wednesdays. So far we've learned about David and Goliath (round and round and fall down!) We slung water balloons at our Goliath and the kids had a blast. We've also learned about the 10 plagues of Egypt and Pharaoh was being stubborn about letting God's people go. We acted out all the plagues and Autumn had a grand time being a frog and a dying cow. She had much fun saying "feeoh oh feeoh" to call the Pharaoh into a meeting with Moses.

Autumn and her friend went to the Children's Museum together one evening for a special member's only preview of a new exhibit. It was great because hardly anyone was there, they could do lots of things that the bigger kids tend to monopolize. This stage is one of them. There are monitors all over the room where kids can see themselves singing and dancing on TV. They had a blast and played here for at least 30 min!

Adventures of the EpiPen

Well, Autumn has a food allergy, most probably eggs. What I've been reading is that many kids can have a food allergy but have different reactions. For instance, Autumn eats bread and cookies and cakes that have egg in them but has no reaction, but if she eats straight eggs, or eats the cookie or cake batter with raw eggs in them she will have an anaphylactic reaction! HOLY COW!!!! So now I carry 2 epipens around with me, one for my bee sting allergy and one for her egg allergy! ARUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well, it's good to know about it and have a remedy to hand in case of emergencies. I hope and pray I never have to use it as it is not a pleasant thing to experience, either the shot or the medicine racing through your system. Then there's the ER trip. YeeHaw

I left a trainer pen with her day care provider so he could practice with it and learn how to use it, and also told him not to give her eggs or cookie dough. :P

Autumn's new doctor (whom she really really likes) told us about the food allergy network website http://www.foodallerby.org/ and http://www.foodallergyinitiative.org/ so I've been reading up on this. I had no idea that some kids could have a food allergy and be able to have a little bit of it each day and not react but if they eat more than allowed they have reactions. Then there are the kids who if they even smell it will have bad reactions! I know that with my Garlic allergy I've learned that different potencies affect me differently, the unfortunate thing is that Garlic isn't always listed, sometimes it's lumped in with "spices" or "natural flavorings" and then I have no idea how much or how little there is. Egg is another food that is in just about EVERYTHING. At least she can eat it cooked in noodles and breads and things. we'll just have to pray that it stays that way and that she grows out of this.

The other two good sites I've found in case you want more information or need it for your own family: http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/ and http://www.allergymoms.com/ Not sure if we are going to enroll her in MedicAlert at this time. I am a member, it would certainly be a good idea, but it isn't free by any means. Well, we'll have to see......

On another note, if you've ever taught kids or watched kids who just seemed off, or you thought may have ADD/ADHD, or have other behavior problems, you chould check out this site, about half a day of my workshop on the brain was devoted to food allergies and behavior and learning problems, I was astounded. http://www.drrapp.com/ and www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRDpcWZUEiU

Fire Works

We had a great time in SD playing with cousins and aunts and uncles as well as Grama and Papa. We ate smores, cooked over a fire, played lots of games, and watched the fireworks. Autumn got to play with some sparklers and used up a whole box. She thought they were very cool and squealed "pwee" (pretty) over and over. She wasn't afraid of them at all. She also played with a telephone that Kurt made out of a couple of cups and some string. The look on her face when she heard his voice in the cup was priceless!

Read to the Dinosaurs

Autumn got a new book in the mail yesterday, a non-fiction book all about dinosaurs (she also has one about sharks, and one about whales, she really likes these). She wanted to read it to Rexy, very cute!

Random Thoughts and Pictures

Someone told me that if we blow into these little holes we'll get balloons...

It's been a while so I'll just try to catch everyone up. We've been rather busy lately what with it being so nice outside and light so late. We've had friends over to play, friends over to swim in our pool, started exploring some local parks and playgrounds, picked strawberries, and are currently visiting family in South Dakota. I have been moved to a different position in my school district. For the past 3 years I've been doing homevisits with families of children from birth-age 3, working with families of preemies, children with diagnosed syndromes and some undaignosed, and just plain old developmental delays. I am going to miss my families very very very much. These people allowed me to be a part of their lives for a short time and I feel like they are more than just students and parents but family and friends. I have rejoiced with them through each tiny success and grieved with them through the many trials and setbacks. These are my family and I will miss them. So I am no longer working this summer, it is the first in 3 years that I've had off and Autumn and I will make the most of our full days together and explore Lakeville. Next year I will be working in a classroom for 3 and 4 yr olds who have multiple-severe/profound impairments. It will be a challenge but I am beginning to look foward to it and creating new family connections. We drove down to SD on the 1st of July to celebrate my Daddy's birthday and my brother's birthday (now to get the rest in, Happy Birthday to: Grandma Crosby, Wally, Uncle Ric, Karl, David, Aunt Josie, And Happy Anniversary to Tom and Jen. If I missed anyone I apologize, e-mail me so I get you on my calendar!) We've been really busy down here, playing ladder golf, swinging in the swings, playing in the pool and on the slide, playing with cousin Isaac, watching the fireworks, making s'mores, playing with sparklers, and I'm sure there's more but I'm pooped!

Autumn and Isaac eating dirt covered cheetos and building in the sand, fun fun summer evenings!

Uncle Tom's birthday cake sure was tasty!



Papa is a great helper for dressing baby dolls and Grama lets me help make cookies (even though the dough apparently makes me swell up like a balloon, oops! now we know)

Yes this is a bucket on Autumn's foot! Have you watched Imagination Movers on Playhouse Disney (or on DVD)? Well in one of the episodes the drummer gets a bucket stuck on his foot, and we were pretending that. It was lots of fun!

This is the shirt Autumn got when we went to GS daycamp one day in June. I taught some folk dances to about 200 girls and Autumn had a blast playing with Bugs and Cotton Candy (those would be campnames for those who are confused). She saw a "roo" and a "chinwiwa" (wallaby and a chinchilla) also a snake and turtle and baby ringtailed lemur. There was a traveling animal exhibit there that day.

Autumn's friend likes to come and play, this time they were painting the sidewalk and anything else they could reach with their "paint" (water).