Crash

Kyle and Matt's bus was rear-ended this morning...again! This happened about a year ago, although at that time, it was only Kyle on because Matt was in middle school.

I had backed my van out of the garage so that it could warm up. When I got out, I heard sirens, and, me, being the paranoid person that I am, did think that it could possibly be their bus--really, I did.

A few minutes after I came inside, I got a call from the secretary at the school where I work. She told me about the situation and said that they would cover my class while I went to the hospital. It's the rule here: if the special ed. bus gets into an accident, the children must be checked out at the hospital.

I arrived at the hospital before they did, and was relieved to see that they brought the students (5, I think) on a bus. In the last accident, they had Kyle strapped into an ambulance when I arrived at the scene.

The boys strolled in, nervous, but okay. The people working with them did an outstanding job of keeping them calm. We went to a room, along with 2 other students and their two teachers. There, they took vitals. Well, first, they asked if the boys would put on the wrist bans...somebody gave them a little background about the boys...maybe the school's police liaison, he knows about them. As I was saying Matt would not want that on, he spoke up and made it quite clear that he was not going to wear that! So I got to hold his, and they put Kyle's on him. He was concerned about it interfering with his watch, but other than that he was good with it. :)

They took Kyle's vitals first...blood pressure: 120 over 60. Kyle is so much like John. I don't know how often the words Fragile X and "laid back" are used together, but that describes Kyle. It's interesting, because yes, he still gets quite anxious when confronted with uncomfortable situations, but since he has gotten older, he does everything he can to "deal with it." When John was in an accident about 5 years ago (the other driver passed away...accident wasn't John's fault), they asked me in the hospital if he was always that calm. I think they thought he might be in shock, but I assured them that that was just him! Then there's Matt. When they went to put the cuff on his arm, he pulled his hat over his face and was extremely frustrated. His blood pressure: 182 over 112!! I don't think I could make mine go that high if I tried. They then moved us to another room so he could relax. The doctor came in to do a quick check. He was very friendly and interacted really well with the boys. They check Matt's blood pressure again, and she said it was better, although she didn't say what the numbers were.

The teachers and the superintendent asked if the boys were going to go to school or stay home. It was already a 2 hour delay, and the teacher assured me that they wouldn't be missing much. I asked the boys, and they thought that staying home was a mighty fine idea. Well, actually, they stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Although this is bus accident number 2, I'm very thankful that both were so minor.

Snow Day

Another snow day

Going for a walk seemed like such a good idea-- we have all this snow, the sun is shining, and it's not windy out. Should I have taken into consideration the fact that it was so close to his nap time, and he was already a bit cranky? Maybe.

So, I took the sled out so that I could pull him; he wanted nothing to do with that. Plan B: I let him walk. All was going well. We walked up our street with the intention of stopping near the top, and then turning around to walk back down, stopping at my parents to pick up some yummy, homemade soup, and return home to eat it! At least, those were my intentions--not Evan's. When we got to the "turn around point," he made it quite clear that turning around was not a good idea. As a matter of fact, he believed it to be a very bad idea.

I should have known; he never wants to turn around when we walk in nice weather, so why did I think today would be any different? So, I carried/dragged him down the street, briefly stopping at my parents' house to pick up the soup (definitely not happy about stopping), and returned home. I gave him the opportunity to "play" outside at home, but he only wanted to go for a walk...which wasn't going to happen.
Soon after this shot, I put him down for his nap. He thought that was a good idea... and so did I.

This and That

Not knowing about the boys' diagnosis until Kyle was almost three had its benefits...I didn't analyze every little thing that they did.

With Evan, I frequently try to compare him to the older two, but it's kind of tricky, because I really didn't keep track of their development--I know the major milestones, but it's all the "other things" that I wonder about.

Here's one thing that I don't remember the boys doing: While humming, Evan will turn his head quickly side to side as if he were watching a fly going back and forth in front of him. This is definitely a "zoned out" time. Kyle used to hum and very infrequently still does, but we didn't get the rapid head turning to go along with it.

Hand-flapping--right now, I think the only time he does it is while watching TV, and he gets some air under those feet while doing it. I wonder if, or should I say, when, he will flap about other things? I wonder what would happen if we never watched anymore TV? Kyle still flaps occasionally; Matt has always been a wrist-twister, but once again, it's just about always when they are watching TV, although Kyle used to do it for anything that made him nervous or excited.

And crib jumping? I don't know what happened, but for the past 3 weeks, there has been, like, none. We went from 45 minutes before bed, 45 minutes during the night (at least), to suddenly none. We'll see if that last. I really think the fact that I was home for 2 weeks contributed to the sudden halt--he stopped on day 3 of vacation--but we'll see.

Oh yes, it's a cloudy, cold, dreary day. My mind is wandering. Speaking of the weather--the title of my blog: Sunny Day. Where did that come from? What is the deep meaning behind it? Drum roll-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.----The sun was shining the day I started my blog, and while racking my brain trying to come up with a title, the fact that the sun was hitting the floor by the computer caught my eye. I didn't start the whole blog thing with the intention of "meeting" other people. I started because I have a teen-aged daughter who was always on the computer! At the time, she frequently blogged (now Facebook is more "her thing"--so I'm there now, too!), and I wanted to join her world--or just bug her a little--I really didn't intend on doing much with it (hence, the 6 months between my first post and the second). It was when I was doing an FX search and stumbled upon Fragilemom's blog that I thought, "Wow, cool, there are people out there that I can relate to!"

Sunny Day--sometimes I think I'll change the title, but really, I do like sunny days, and yes, my kids are my "little sunshines"--for years, I sang "You Are My Sunshine" to Kyle at bedtime-- so I don't know. Maybe on another day when my mind is wandering again I'll change it.

(Yes, the other kids had their songs, too. Matt's was the "I Love You" song from Barney, Chelsey's was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and Evan, well, I have a song that I made up, but it's not a nightly thing...how sad).

Okay, just a little more. Back to "You Are My Sunshine." I sang that song to Kyle for YEARS. I remember when he got older, and he got some creativity going, he would change the words. I would stop during the song so that he would say the word that went next. To spice things up, he would put a completely different word in (I think because he knew it would make me laugh). My favorite was when I would sing "When skies are..." and he would say quite dramatically, "Vanished!" or "Vanished, Out of Here!" Oh, how I wish I had blogged back then (or at least kept a journal).

Going Out To Eat

Recently, we haven't been doing much eating out as a family--I can't remember the last time, probably a month or two ago. Before Evan was born, it was a frequent event, usually to the same two places.

Early yesterday evening, we went out to kind of put a closing on the end of our vacation ): We went to Texas Roadhouse--the boys had never been there before. When we got there, it was packed! We waited at least 20 minutes in an area where there were probably 20 other people, and the place was L-O-U-D. As I sat there keeping Evan entertained, I couldn't help but feel so proud of the boys. They were just hanging out, like everyone else, not a single complaint, and nothing that made them stand out from anyone else. It truly was a beautiful moment. It's not that it matters when they do stand out from others, it's just nice to have those moments sometimes when we fit in with the crowd.

It just got better as the evening went on. Evan sometimes gets impatient when sitting in a restaurant, although, like I said, it's been a while. Last night, though, he was "perfect."

Ah, what a great night.

A New Football Fan

Last night, the Colts lost. Usually, in this situation, I would have been a bit down. But last night, I was laughing so hard, I had tears in my eyes!

Rewind:

Last week, Kyle was announcing for a couple of days that the Chargers were playing against the Broncos. Funny thing is, he doesn't even watch football; he just likes to look ahead on the TV schedule to see what's on, and this caught his eye. All day before the game, he was declaring that the Broncos were going to win. Matt, being Mr. Opposite, announced that it was the Chargers who were going to win. Again, he wasn't a football watcher either, but like Kyle, he said he was going to watch the game--a night game. Watching this game would require that they stay up beyond their usually 9:00.

Like expected, around 9:00, Kyle said, "Well, good-night." Matt, though, made it clear that he would be watching the game. Kyle wasn't too pleased with his decision, but he went to bed anyway.

The game was pretty much a blow-out with the Chargers winning, and Matt watched the whole game. It wasn't over until around 11:30. He was very happy, and when he went to bed, he made sure he woke up Kyle to tell him the "good news."

Part Two:

Last night, it was the Chargers against the Colts. Staying true to form, Matt was rooting for the Chargers all week, even though we live in Colts land. Yesterday, every other sentence was about how the Chargers were going to beat the Colts. Midway through the day, he brought down this small wooden box from his bedroom ("he" made it at school), and in this box was his 20 dollar bill from Christmas. He went around to family members and asked them how much they wanted to bet!! Now, this sort of thing isn't something that we've promoted--I don't know where that came from, but it was kind of humorous. We played along. I threw in some quarters, I gave Kyle a one to throw in, and John added his money. Chelsey, on principle, didn't participate. Good girl, Chelsey.

Game time:

He was so excited for most of the game. Granted, he didn't understand much of it, because I don't think he's ever watch an entire game on TV--he did go to a high school game once. But I made sure I made it clear when I was disappointed with events--such as when a call was against the Colts, that way, he knew that he could be excited! He of course understood obvious things like a good run, a good pass, being tackled, field goals, and touch-downs.

In overtime, the Colts lost (or should I say, they gave the game to the Chargers). What a heart breaker. But there was Matt, arms raised in the air, shouting his words of victory, and just as quickly, scooping up his box and heading upstairs. Poor Kyle, Matt just had to fill him in. He went on, and on, and on (it was quite humorous; John and I were cracking up), until we finally went in to tell him to get to sleep.

He's already picked a team for today's game--go Eagles!

And boy, I sure hope those Chargers win it all!