Surviving Halloween

I meant to post right after Halloween to show the kids in their costumes. But to be honest, I needed a few days to recover. My visit to Violet's school for her Halloween party was not quite as empowering as my fun outing with her class for their farm field trip. The truth is, no matter how hard I try to find the positives at her school (and to be sure, there are many), having to send your kid to a special-needs school just, well, sucks. And even though the staff there are just amazing and infinitely kind and patient with the kids, and there is much about the school that gives you warm feelings, sometimes, it is just sad to be there.

Like on Halloween. You have all these preconceived images of kids dressed in their costumes, flitting from one classroom to the next, happily trick-or-treating while gathering candy. And while that was true for some of the kids (especially in the higher functioning preschool classes), many of them don't walk, let alone flit. And it's really hard to come up with good costumes that work in a wheelchair or a walker. Many of the kids don't talk, so it's not unusual to see them with buttons or switches they press for an automated voice that says "Trick or Treat." Even when they get the candy, some of the kids can't eat it because they have difficulty chewing or are fed by tubes.

So it's kind of a tough scene on Halloween. At least it was for me. But I'm still a newbie to this. I'm hoping I can catch up with some of the staff, who do an incredible job of carrying on and creating a fun atmosphere, regardless the circumstances.

Violet had fun. She was adorable in her Minnie Mouse costume. And she was mostly smiles while we cruised the hallways:

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And she enjoyed some of the class games:

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She was pretty exhausted by story time:

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And this is how she looked after the party. (I should have dressed her in a Sleeping Beauty costume.)

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Later, I got to Calvin's school just in time to see this smiling police officer marching in the parade:

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Notice the box of Dunkin' Donuts in his hand? He wasn't allowed to bring anything "resembling a weapon" to school, which is pretty much all of the equipment that goes with a cop costume. So we needed another prop. His dad made the run for emergency munchkins, and they really made the costume. (Plus they were really yummy later.)

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But Halloween wasn't over yet. Later that weekend, we decorated pumpkins:

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And later, we did a little more family trick-or-treating. And the smiles from this duo made me love Halloween again:

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Fall Fun, Part 2

There are some years that seasons or holidays pass us by before we get a chance to revel in all of the traditions, or we do them last minute, like we drag out the decorations and the family recipes and the lists on that last weekend, trying to condense the fun into one big, fat festive day.

This year, however, I feel like I am getting the full fall experience. Last week, Violet and I took a second trip to the pumpkin patch, this time as part of a field trip with her new school. (I still need to get the photos up from her first day of school, and I will, but let me just summarize that post by saying this: Violet started school. Yay!)

It was my first time going on a field trip with special-needs kids, so I have to admit, I was a little anxious. For a lot of reasons, I guess. How do you maneuver a bunch of kids, many of whom don't walk (or don't walk well), through bumpy farmland and corn mazes and patches of pumpkins? Will people stare? Will I give them the evil eye right back? Will folks be nicer or meaner or just shocked by us in general?

In reality, these are all things I am learning to deal with on a daily basis anyway. At least this time, I had a sort of posse there to back me up.

I didn't have too much time to worry anyway. As soon as we got there, I was distracted by the fact that the place was a zoo. And I don't just mean the petting-zoo part. Seriously, this is the quaint, country road into Sharp's Farm in Brookeville:

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The great thing is that once we were in and I was reminded of how difficult it is to shepherd any group of preschoolers, whether they have special needs or not, I felt a little more relaxed. Like when I saw teachers trying to guide their students around piles of cow poop, or instructing them not to eat the corn off the ground. Or the dad trying to convince his young daughter not to throw her pumpkin at one very friendly goat. Field trips aren't easy for anyone, at least not the adults.

And then, my posse showed up:

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The other part of our group was delayed in the traffic, so we started right in, admiring the animals:

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The pigs had their own sort of alternative communication device that I hadn't seen before:

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Later, there was something I like to call the Hayride from Hell. Twenty minutes spent sitting on a hay bale with a few dozen kids, holding Violet, while we bumped along muddy roads and through a few feet of water. Actually, it was kinda fun, in a scary sort of way. If I hadn't been worried that we might lose a bag or a camera or (much worse) a kid over the side, I would have really enjoyed it. And most of the kids really did.

Like this little cutie, who also goes to Violet's school, and spent the ride laughing and smiling on her mom's lap:

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I was telling a friend that I should just start going everywhere with an entourage of special ed teachers and therapists, because they are endlessly patient and helpful and really know how to speak up when you need a little help lifting a kid or two onto a hayride, or a special place to park your stroller, or to just generally make way for some kids that need a little extra room or space. They know how to make things happen for some complicated little people.

So they were always offering to help hold Violet or push the stroller or carry my purse or take a picture. And they are so sweet with my V.

Here's Violet with her new teacher:

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And with one of her aides:

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Feeling corn in the corn maze:

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Violet picks her pumpkin:

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And this is what constitutes handicapped parking at a farm. Actually, this was a sweet spot, because most of the buses were sent to the back of field used as a parking lot. It's hard to tell from this picture, but we were right up front by the little shop that sold apples and jams and flavored honey. And check out the pastoral view behind! A little bit of peace, a little bit of proximity. What more can you ask for?

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Pumpkin Pickin'

We had planned to spend a leisurely sunny Sunday at some local fall festival this weekend. But Noah got called in to work (yuck), so we had to alter our plans a bit, moving it up to the morning and condensing the half-day-long outing to 90 minutes.

We went to Homestead Farm, mainly because it's the closest and fairly small, so we could get the full fall experience in less square footage. The parking lot was already filling up when we got there, so we headed straight to the booth to buy our tickets for the hayride. Needless to say, it's pretty difficult to rush when you're on a hayride, so we got to just sit back and enjoy the ride:



It was very sunny that morning:



Our driver remained plugged in to the modern world at all times though:



(Can you see the cell phone in this picture? I think he was phoning the barn to tell them about the giant pond we had to drive through to get to the pumpkin patch. We were one of the first hayrides out that morning, and the tractor almost got stuck in the mud. So I think the driver used his cell to call the other drivers and tell them to use a different route, just like they did in the old days.)

Searching for just the right one:



A pair of Converse meets a pair of pumpkins:



Time for a couple of poses on pumpkins, of course. Again, the sun made this tricky (and Violet hates the sun in her eyes), so we had to try a couple of different angles:





When I was a kid, we used to go this farm to get pumpkins and then trees at Christmas time, and they always had flavored sticks for the kids at the end. I don't know, maybe every pumpkin/tree farm has these. But the memories were too good, so I couldn't resist when I saw they had this for Calvin. So here he is with his "mystery"-flavored one:



On the way to checkout, our wagon got a flat:



But we carried on and headed back to the car. Notice the stream of people going in? So many that they were out of carts by the time we left, and some guy followed us out to get ours, even with the flat. We were glad we went when we did.

Swinging and Spooky Stuff

October has been a busy month for us, which I guess is why I haven't been on the blog much. We are having a more mellow weekend though, so maybe there is hope I will catch up?

In the meantime, we've had some down time for stuff like swinging! Violet got a new swing for her third birthday (more on that later) and she loves it. Here she is swinging with her big brother:



Calvin has recently learned to pump his legs while he swings and that he can get pretty high that way on his own, so he no longer begs us to constantly push him. Hooray! He also makes the funniest, super-intense faces while he swings. They are hard to capture on camera, but here is a sampling:







Also, there was no school on Friday, which I kind of look forward to now because it is so hectic to get two kids up and ready in the mornings and to two different schools that are in two very different directions (more on this later, too). But I was a little worried because I really had nothing planned for us to do. Luckily, Calvin had picked out this decorative Halloween kit for a spooky mansion a few days before. I thought it was a little expensive at the time, but I caved. On Friday, he spent at least half the day working on it, painstakingly punching out and then taping the ghosts and spiders and pumpkins all over. He even thought to use some twisty-ties to add a hanging witch and spider, and transformed some of the cotton packing material into cobwebs. He worked so hard. And in the end, I thought it was a fine scary masterpiece. And so worth the $22.

Back to School!

We were all pretty excited that school started this past week, after a long, hot summer. Calvin loves his new teacher and knows a few kids in his class, so he was feeling positive after the Open House the Friday before school started. He was a little anxious about the new routine when the first morning rolled around, like where he would sit on the bus and how he would find his line-up. But he was ready, nonetheless.

Here he is all geared for FIRST GRADE!

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Pushing his little sis to the bus stop:

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He was a little underwhelmed after school was done, though. He asked me when he got home: "Mommy, did you notice there aren't that many places to play in my classroom?" I didn't really admit it then, but he's kinda right. His kindergarten class had a play kitchen and a block-building area. But for fun, this class has a book nook and a listening station. Not exactly the same thing. Noah asked if I told him to get used to it, and that this is how it would be for the next 10+ years of schooling. Uh, nope, I didn't mention that. But I did feel a little sad for the guy, and even sadder that he noticed the shift.

Here he is, admiring his special afterschool snack: green (his favorite color) cookies with sprinkles! I think he may have been more excited about these than he was about school. Sigh.

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Violet was back in her routine, too. Here she is working with OT Lucinda:

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She's learning to match up photos of some of her favorite cartoon characters and hit a switch that says, "Yes, same" when they match. She's getting really good at it, too. And you can see she is having lots of fun:

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Violet's Big Day

So I am still catching up a bit from the summer. (And spring, I guess, because I still haven't posted any pictures from our trip to Hawaii in April. To be honest, I haven't even finished looking at them. Guess I'm saving them for a rainy day.) But I really wanted to post these great photos from one of Violet's big events this summer. I won't tell you exactly when her big day was because then you will know how slow I am with this blog (OK, it was in June), but let me just say the delay is only due to my disorganization and not a reflection of how proud we are of her. Which we really are.

Violet started taking therapeutic horseback-riding lessons this summer, and in June, she competed in her first horse show.

Here she is with Daddy, who is helping her get her number all set. Go #63:



Ready to ride, accompanied by her helpers for the day:



Riding past the judge:



Some of Violet's competition! Don't be fooled by that cute smile. Frida was a serious competitor:



Big brother Calvin, keeping cool and watching the show:



In the end, Violet placed fourth in the overall riding and second (!!) in pole bending. She must be a fast learner, because it was the first time she ever performed pole bending. (It was also the first time we ever heard the term pole bending, which is when a rider weaves in and out of a set of poles in a timed event. Yes, we are still very new to this equestrian world.)

We were all very proud, of course, especially Violet's big brother, who offered to carry around her ribbons and told everyone we encountered for the next few days about her big wins.

Here's the little rider, showing off her ribbons:

Calvin's Big Day

After a three-day power outage and a bout of pneumonia (poor Violet!), we are back in action around here. Check out these photos from Calvin's 6th birthday....

He started the day right with breakfast in bed, at his request. He made the very rational point that he has been involved in several breakfast-in-bed exchanges (i.e. for Mother's Day and Father's Day), but has never been in the role of beneficiary, so it was his due time. Smart kid.

So while everyone else was snoozing away, I got up a little early to try and surprise him, which was difficult to do. It was not a very elaborate breakfast (cereal, yogurt, blueberries, and chocolate milk--a special treat we agreed he could drink all day long on his birthday). But I had to work fast because he kept coming down the stairs to check on me, asking me what was taking so long with his breakfast in bed. So much for the surprise. But he seemed pleased, especially when he noticed the chocolate milk:



Digging in:



After breakfast, we started with Round 1 of present-opening (Round 2 and 3 followed later in the day). Here he is, posing with his loot:



Then it was party time, a little get-together with his friends (and some of ours) for cake and a magic show at Barry's Magic Shop.

Um, controlled chaos:



Boys admiring the tricks and trinkets in the magic shop:



The cake, which I am proud to say I made with some tips and a lot of moral support from a professional baker friend (thanks, Lauren!):



And cookies, which Noah and my mom stayed up late to help decorate. We had top hats and magic wands and the number 6 and some pretty intense white bunnies (thanks, Noah!):



Calvin and kids enjoying the show:



Barry at work:



Below, see a picture of Noah and Auntie Frankie as Barry's assistants. Yes, that is a pair of goofy glasses and a cap on Noah's head. And what is under the hat that was later revealed (but sadly not photographed--turns out keeping track of 15 boys in a magic shop keeps you too busy to fully document everything)? It was a mini plunger, like the kind you'd use on a really small toilet, I guess (??). Because what is a magic show without totally humiliating one of the parents?