Alex and School

I just remembered that I completely forgot to blog about this! Around the middle of March, Alex started getting bitten at the Montessori preschool the kids go to. After the first time or two I wasn't really concerned about it - it happens. Then it turned into every single day! At the same time, a friend of mine who's kid was in the same class contacted me and said that his son was getting bitten every day too. After the fifth time that Alex was bitten, I had a meeting with the assistant director. She basically brushed me off, telling me it was normal for that age and there were only two kids in the class who *don't* bite and they were doing their best but there wasn't much they could do about it. I decided to wait and see what would happen after our talk. Alex continued to come home with bites, and he started biting his sister at home! We also started having some other issues, like the teacher not wiping him well, being rude to me, and not showing up for a parent teacher conference (or calling me to let me know).

Around the same time, Grandma K had been asking me if she could watch Alex in her home. I had been hesitant about it because he was doing so well in school. Well after two weeks of biting I couldn't take it anymore and I pulled him out! No way was I sending my baby to school every day knowing he was going to be bitten!! I wrote a letter to the school explaining that I was pulling him out immediately and my reasons. Aurora continues to attend because she has been there for three years and is on the preschool side and doing great. Besides, she graduates on May 29th! She'll remain there until she graduates and then stay with Grandma all summer.

After I pulled Alex, I received a call from the main director telling me that she was unaware of the severity of the situation and telling me what they were going to do to remedy it (pull the teacher and put a more experienced one in, have conferences with the biters' parents and remove them from the school if needed, etc). I decided to keep Alex and Grandma's for awhile to see how he does. I can always put him back in when he is three and will be on the preschool side and hopefully beyond the biting stage.

Anyway, as you can see, Alex has been having a great time with Grandma! He even befriended her 12 year old cat that doesn't like anyone!!

My 30th Birthday

Yesterday was my 30th birthday!! Unfortunately I was very sick! I had a girls' weekend in Colorado Friday - Sunday and woke up Monday morning with a stomach bug! The kids and hubby had a cake and everything all ready for me. Even though I would barely sit up, I still made an effort to sit at the table so they could sing Happy Birthday! It was SO funny - neither one of them sang the same phrases at the same time, but the spirit was there! They helped me blow out the candles and ate my cake and ice cream for me. They also got me Wii Play for my birthday, I can't wait to check it out!

Blog Award

Aurora and Alex received a blog award! Thanks to Living, Learning, Laughing, and Loving with Autism! We're supposed to pass it on to five other blogs that we love, so here they are:

Hangin' With the Girls
Who Says 8 is Enough?
Such the Spot
Spicy Magolia
Big Blueberry Eyes

Kindergarten Registration

I registered Aurora for kindergarten today!! I can't believe she is starting this fall! It seems like just yesterday she was a chubby little baby. I picked her up early from preschool and we headed over to her new school. The first thing she noticed was the playground. She said, "Mom, look at the cool kindergarten playground!"

We went inside the main area and headed to the cafeteria. While I filled out paperwork she ran around and made some friends! Then we met the nurse and the principal. Aurora told the nurse straight up that she was "allergic to dust and penicillin."

After we were finished they gave us a tour of the school. She checked out the gym, the library, and two of the kindergarten classrooms. She seemed a bit overwhelmed in the classrooms, but she wanted to stay and play with everything!

As we were leaving I asked her how she liked it and she said, "I want to start tomorrow!" I wanted to tell her, "I get three more months of you being my little girl!"

Here is Aurora singing one of the songs she is learning for preschool graduation:

Aquarium and Botanical Gardens

Today was a beautiful day so we decided to go to the Rio Grande Aquarium and Botanical Gardens. I love this place! The aquarium has a ray tank, huge shark tank, and jellyfish section among others. They even have an outdoor area with pelicans! Recently they added a section where the kids can actually "pet" the rays - Aurora thought that was great! Alex isn't very brave so he gave me a firm "no way" - but he is obsessed with sharks right now and LOVED the shark tank! The botanical garden side has electric trains, ducks/geese, and a children's garden with a dragon, giant vegetables (including the pumpkin in the picture), and tons of other fun. They also have a butterfly house but it is only open during the summer. Here are some pictures/video from the day.

Kitchen Helpers

Last weekend the kids helped me make dinner. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls. They helped make the coating for the chicken, get the green beans ready, and clean and mash the potatoes! Both of them really like to help with things, and it was a great dinner!

Easter 2009

The kids had a great Easter! They woke up Sunday morning and had goodies in their basket from the Easter Bunny and then they got to find all of the eggs he hid around the house. We had Great-Grandma K's Honey Pancakes for breakfast and then we met Grandma and Grandpa K at church. After church we went to their house and hid the eggs again (and again and again) and had Easter dinner. It was a lovely day.

(Alex singing 'Little Bunny Foo Foo')

Easter Extravaganza

The kids had a big Easter Extravaganza at Grandma and Grandpa S' last night!! We went over there for dinner and they colored Easter eggs (Alex calls them 'Bunny Eggs'), decorated Easter Bunny Cookies, and got a special treat from Grandma and Grandpa. They had so much fun and came home on a sugar high! Hope you don't mind all of the pictures, I couldn't decide which ones to leave out!

Getting started
Alex preferred the 'dump them all in' approach


Alex finished with stickers
Aurora got to paint them
TADA!
I love this picture of Aurora and Grandpa
Decorating bunny cookies!

The finished cookiesMomma had to do one



Grandma and Grandpa gave them chocolate bunnies! Alex talked to his as he ate the ears off
Aurora decided to eat the eyes first and then call it "Creepy Bunny"

Easter Egg Hunt 2009

It has been terribly windy here and it makes the kids cough like crazy, so we held our own indoor egg hunt with friends this weekend! Plus, last year we went to the Balloon Fiesta Park for their egg hunt and it was terrible. They made us sit there for an hour past when it was supposed to start to let more people come in, and all of the eggs were filled with age inappropriate candy, despite our section being labeled for kids 3 and under. Someone definitely wasn't thinking when they filled them with gum, jaw breakers, and peppermints!

Anyway the kids had a blast looking for the eggs at our homemade hunt and seeing what was inside. Afterwards they watched the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Easter special and had pizza and cupcakes!

Good Hygiene...

Is important...even for cats!




(And yes - that was Ninja's very own electric toothbrush!)

Aurora's Birthday List

Aurora turns 5 in May - I can't believe it!! She's been working on her birthday list (yes, she's a planner just like her Mom!) It has taken a bit because I let her sound everything out, spell it, and type it out herself. She would get tired after figuring out two or three of them. But now she says it is complete!

I'm posting her list here because it will be fun to look back at it years down the road! The stuff in parenthesis are my comments on what she is talking about.

MOSTRTRUCK
TENT
WATRSLIDE (Like a Slip n Slide)
SCOOBY DOO KONG FU MOVE (Scooby Doo and the Samurai Sword - DVD)
MUSIK CDS
TAG BOOKS
WAKAMOLE GAME
NUMBR BUSTRS (Little Tikes Number Busters)
SHARKBAY CARS (Hot Wheels Sharkbite Bay Race Track)
TATOOS (Temporary ones!)
WATER TABLE
BENDAROOS
SCOOBY DOO STUF
MONSTRS N ALEENS (Action figures from the Monsters Vs. Aliens movie)

Aurora's Family Portrait

So Aurora had to draw a family portrait for school. Here is the finished product:


Note that she made sure to include all four cats, the rat is on there in her cage (in pink at the top), and the two lizards (left hand side in pink). A great family, don'tcha think?!

And now for your musical enjoyment....