Catching Up, Dahlings!

Things have been nutsy here lately, being it's summer and all. I figure that since I have a slow evening, that I ought to quick and get you caught up or you won't come back 'round here!! I promise that I will make at least SOMEthing of a post every week, even if it turns out to be a quick picture or something!! Okay? Forgive me, please?

We got out of school and ran like crazy up to Ohio for my cousin's graduation. Then we ran back down to Atlanta for a meeting for Ethan's work. And then we turned around and ran to Myrtle Beach for a mini vacation with Ethan's parents and brother and his family at a condo. We wrangled an extra night after they left at a rat hole hotel on the beach...and discovered that even though we can fit in a hotel room, it's not a comfy fit. At all. But it still turned out some good memories, which is all that matters anyway.

I am not really a beach person. Neither is Ethan. But our kids all love it. I mean LOOVE it. Gabriel loves the waves. Him and a boogie board, and he is content for DAYS. Amelia loves the sand. She will get a bucket of sand and a bucket of water and mix and mix and mix... Charlotte loves to run...she likes to let the wind rush over her back and tummy... Elise will stand stock still in the surf and let it rush up against her legs for hours. Then she will join Charlotte in aimless running, and then she will happily stand in the surf for the rest of forever.



Elise at the beach... She is totally mellow. She is calm and peaceful and happy. I really don't know that I would ever have to address medication, I certainly don't have to fight with her over whether or not she is hungry... As a matter of fact, we discovered at the beach that "I'm hungry" does not necessarily mean that she is hungry. She informed us that she was "Hungry for the beach." And over the course of the days, she was also hungry for sleep and her Leapster and the pool. So, "I'm hungry" simply means "I want". Good to know.

In related news, Elise decided that this summer, that there would be no warm up time with the pool. Which is utterly unheard of. (Every year previously, she has panicked at the gate of the pool and there has been sadness and wailing constantly. Until the very end of last year...she found a certain measure of fun in the last couple of pool trips.) She is too big for her swimming jacket with attached swimmies. So she graduated to a life jacket. Which may account for her calmness at the pool in general. We have to snook the belly straps pretty tightly to keep in place, so it may calm her by pressure...like a weighted vest. The first time we went to a friend's pool this summer, she took all of 10 minutes to get in...and spent the entire afternoon swimming around like a fish. I have not gone to the pool and returned without a migraine since Elise was a year old. I'm dead serious. There has been screaming, hanging on me, and general distress every single trip. Between Elise's independence and Charlotte's age/independence, this is the first time in 7 years where I can sit at the pool and enjoy watching my kids having fun at the pool. I cannot tell you how much joy this gives me. Elise has, since that trip, swam so much at various junctures that the life jacket has rubbed her armpits raw...which is a whole new issue, but it is only discovered once we get home, of course....we'll figure that one out eventually...but the pool is fun again. Yay!!

While we are on the note of Elise growing up? More good news. I got some intake results on Elise from her hippotherapy (horse-partnered physical and occupational therapy) assessment! We actually broke out of the 3 year old levels, which I swear she's been stuck in for forever!!!! I got a quickie phone call from her hippotherapist who said she was assessed at 4 AND 5 years old in a couple of areas! Wahooooo!!!!!!!

What's that you say? Elise is 8.5? And I am excited that she is at an 4 or 5 year old level? You betcha. Progress is progress. Independence is independence. Right? And so we celebrate!!! To the POOL!!!!