Today in School

Today in school we took a prolonged nature walk to "gather" items for one of our projects.

Various leaves, lego pieces, feathers, acorns, sticks, and other odds and ends were treasures quickly bagged by the boys.

One of the best things about this walk, Merritt didn't take off running.  He stayed with us the entire time and was fully immersed in the task at hand.  We had so much fun!

It was fun to sort their loot at the end and marvel at the various sizes of acorns that were collected.  (or that Evy collected.  Merritt would hold the acorns tightly in his hands and toss them to the squirrels when he saw them saying in Merritt-speech "catch your snack!"--he was so proud to help those rodents.)

Robot Man Wins Again!

We received the results from Everett's latest EEG. 

No seizure activity.  And, his liver levels are looking good!

This means that the seizures are being controlled as best as we can and that we will not need to add any more medication to what he is taking.

It means that we will do another EEG in December, and if that goes well, another 3-4 day Video EEG in March with the goal to ween him off the meds.

The goal in all of this was to have Evy seizure free for one year to allow the 'gene' to go inactive or the pesky part of the brain causing this to heal (by controlling the seizures we allow the brain a chance to heal instead of seizing throughout the day).

I feel blessed.  The doctor and his office are a blessed pain to deal with each and every time.  At the same time, despite the irritations and the anxiety about what procedures will not be paid for by the insurance, I know that he is getting the appropriate care and the doctor has Evy's best interests at heart.  I know that since I am doing all that I can to care for Evy that my Heavenly Father will provide the resources, at some point, to take care of the medical bills. 

Robot Man is taking all of this in stride.  He takes his awful medicine twice a day without batting an eye.  He views each EEG as an adventure with a healthy dose of chocolate at the end, and he even is a champ at all the blood draws we have to take to check his liver.

I am blessed to be at home to provide for him.  I am blessed to be able to find activities that he needs now with the abilities needed to make sure that pre and post medication changes result in positive changes for him.  I am blessed with a husband who reroutes his schedule to help Evy at the appointments whenever Evy needs additional support.  And, I am blessed to have the constant care and inquiry of those who love Evy.  He is lucky to have such loving and staunch supporters!

To Be Knackered

by Dominik Broniek

Wonder what knackered is?  Well, it is us right now.

We are tired, beat, knackered.

Erik is working like a madman. 

I feel like I am working like a madwoman.  I've also some kind of allergy or cold.

Sleep would be really nice about now.

Erik can't 'cause he is working.  Seriously.  I don't think he has slept more than 4 hours any one night over the past three weeks.  Too many deadlines all packed together.

I can't sleep because I am overtired from a nasty cross section of Erik's schedule and the boys' sleeping patterns, and, well, a stuffy nose.

The plus side . . . the weather is cooler, overall, and our computer is fixed (thanks, Erik and Everett).

Ageism

I tried to make a really nice dinner tonight.  The dinner, itself, was amazing.  Balsamic roasted pork loin, steamed honey carrots, quinoa, and a great spinach salad . . . with cheesecake for dessert.

Well, Erik was late (he didn't know about the special dinner that I planned to thank him for working so hard).

And, the boys didn't eat it.  Merritt sat at the table for 5 minutes and took off.  Could not be convinced to return and eat.  Instead, he busied himself arranging cars in very straight rows.

Everett sat at the table for 30 minutes and did choke down the carrots and a couple spoonfuls of the quinoa.

Then, Erik came home.

And, as I sat with Erik and Everett at the table while Erik ate his dinner, I looked at the boys' plates full of good food, uneaten, and said,"Why do I cook?"

And, Evy immediately said,"'cause I'm not old enough yet."

So, there you have it. 

PS Chills and Thrills

I forgot to mention that the boys are insane cats all the time now.  It has been going on for a couple of weeks.  Meowing, cat screaming, eating like a cat, purring like a cat, running on all fours like a cat.

Right now I can hear them bounding around upstairs like they are frantically chasing some bug like cats chase bugs.

They love it.

Chills and Thrills

Pretty quiet on this blog, we've been having some computer issues.  It will get resolved but it includes replacing parts and that requires money, and, uh, some knowledge about computers.

In the meantime, we are blazing through the days.  This Monday brought COOLER weather to our area and continued to be very hard with the wildfires across Texas.  I just cannot believe the devastation.  so quick and so deep.

Erik is on working overload.  He is in town, but we rarely see him.  We are trying to be creative to take advantage of any "break" he has  . . . I'll skedaddle over to his work with the boys and see him for a half hour or so (yesterday, we saw him on a "break" and also used the vending machines . . . my boys love those machines, so many great buttons).  It will be like this for awhile.  Vapid pace while in town and then out of town.  I should be lining up my sanity checks right now.  (right now, he is getting the boys ready for bed, providing me with a much needed separation from my cute hoodlums.  I love them so!)

I'm busy.  swimming.  callings.  the boys.  the house.  stuff keeps breaking.  you know how all that goes.

Evy met his teacher yesterday at his museum preschool class that he will attend once a week.  He loves it!  And, I love his teacher.  She is perfect for those kids and it will be a small class.  Evy is going to be in heaven!

We had a busy Labor Day weekend.  We labored all day Saturday getting things cleaned and then enjoyed the outdoors on Monday.  We are so acclimated to the high temps that all of us were "chilled" by the temps in the 80s.  We did go to the pool, hardly anyone was there because it was so cold.  But, the Sjolseths were there and in the water!

Evy has started waxing sage with his "that's life" series of sayings.  Here are a few (BTW, Erik explained that I am the one that he gets it from, poor Evy):

Some things you like and some things you don't like, that's life.

Sometimes, you have to eat things you don't like, that's life.

Sometimes, you don't get what you want, that's life.

Sometimes, you get owies, that's life.

Sometimes, the carseats are really hot, that's life.

Sometimes, things break, that's life.

Sometimes, you have to clean, that's life.

He still comes up with the most interesting conversation topics.  Today:  "I would WEALLY WIKE to be invisible, Mom."  He is clearly a thinker.  (sorry, too tired to write out the whole conversation.  take my word for it.)

Merritt said his first four word sentence last week:  "My shoe is gone!"   (I was so excited because 1) he was talking and 2) he was keeping up with his stuff.)  This evening he said,"Is this water mine?"

If we are *anywhere* near one of the streets that leads us to a pool that we have been to, I hear Merritt scream from the backseat, "POOOL!"  He certainly is paying attention.

"Back to the Water" Progress

My muscles are super aching today!

I've been adding core workouts and pilates workouts along with my walk on my dryland days.  I keep my swim days to long workouts in the water, with a bike workout if there is time.

Yesterday, as I finished up my last lap, which usually takes me around 56 minutes to get to in my work out . . . I looked over at the pace clock and realized that I was *20* minutes early.  TWENTY MINTUES  EARLY!  (I had to double check my lap count and workout list to make sure I didn't skip anything.)  I must have really shaved off a ton of time with working on my flipturns and pacing my breathing as well as making my stroke as efficient as possible.  YAYAYAYAYAY!!!

I celebrated by swimming another 35 minutes (and then I did my regular long interval bike ride for an hour).

I finally feel like I am making the progress needed to be able to swim a continuous mile in freestyle.  (I can swim breaststroke for hours and backstroke for almost just as long, but freestyle kicks my butt.)  I am working towards better pacing in my stroke and my breathing capacity is MUCH improved. 

I've had to change what I eat, of course, since I started swimming.  I am ravenously hungry on my long swim days and have altered the frequency of my meals and the amount of protein to better meet what my body wants. 

I have had three swim lessons since I started back in the water on the last week in July, and I have one more lesson next week.  The lessons, the structured workouts, and just the effort to keep going even on difficult days have really resulted in progress.  I am so excited!  (and, my ankle doesn't hurt when I do all this.  It does when I walk fast or run, but swimming is pain free!)

A big thanks to Erik for supporting me in all of this and for never giving up on his idea that I return to the water.  (He talked to me about doing this for a whole year before I committed.)

Today in School: Peanut Butter Playdough

We are on a roll with the dough!

Today we went with the peanut butter option.  There are lots of recipes.  I chose this one and added some oatmeal to it.  The boys loved working with it and eating it!  We refrigerated the dough we didn't touch and will use it tomorrow at snack time.

Today in School: Salt Dough continued

When the boys had enough with the dough, we chose some shapes to paint, dried the shaped dough in the oven and painted them the next day.

The boys had so much fun with this.  We'll be doing it again soon!

And, this picture has nothing to do with school or salt dough . . . I LOVE that Evy can blow bubbles for Merritt.  Go Big Brothers!

Superheroes

Well, they've been playing superheroes for months now and it was a "dream come twue" when they each were able to pick out a costume to buy.

Evy--Spiderman
Merritt--Ironman

But, they switch out with each other and then throw a Batman and a Superman (Thanks, Aunt Elise!) into the set.

And, sometimes, they wear several different Superhero costumes at once.

The following videos show how the boys have combined their diving lessons with their love for all things jumping . . . and how I'm not afraid to put of ton of laundry on hold to play (like that is a real hardship, for sure). BTW, youtube is being a pain, don't think I recommended the videos that come up when our video is complete.

Today in School: Evy's Triumph

Our first goal is for Everett to write his name with ease.  Last week, he took a huge step in that direction and today he mastered "Evy."  We have quite a bit of fun together in school (while Merritt is sleeping).  We work on number sense, phonemic awareness, science experiments, and writing skills.  He just amazes me with the connections that he makes .  .  . and he is just a hard worker, always eager for the next thing that we are doing, asking if we can have 'school' after quiet time, and taking pride in the work that he does.

I'm trying to soak in every moment we have.

Currently, we have 'school time' with Merritt before lunch (circle time, reading, an art project, and music time) and then when Merritt goes down for a nap, Evy and I hit the markers and crayons once more to work on readiness skills.  I'm still working on the structure of it, but the boys are having fun and that is really what matters.  

Today in School: Salt Dough

Now, this activity isn't anything super special, but it was one that I wanted to do with Everett to keep working on developing this dexterity and strength in his hands.

Today in School: More with Colored Glue

The boys wanted to paint more with glue . . . so, we made suncatchers, an idea I found at Time for Play.

I knew that both boys would enjoy it, but I was surprised to see how much it was an activity to help Everett develop the muscles needed for writing.  He is pretty low-muscle toned which accounts for some of the hardship he has with writing, and this activity was great for him.

We picked out some cookie cutters, had a great time with "free paint," and then filled in the cookie cutters (on wax paper) with the color of glue that we wanted.  It was great for Merritt because we were able to continue our conversation about color.

It did take several days for these to dry . . . and in the end the boys like to play with them rather than hang them in the window.

Go Chersh

Merritt was up all night and it is Stake Conference.  That means Merritt stays home with Mom.

He watched his dad and brother get ready for church, putting on pants and donning their ties.  He was very upset when they left without him.

An hour later, he brought to his mom a long sleeve church shirt and a tie.  They were both hanging in the closet; so, it took effort for him to get them.

He motioned that he wanted them on right now.  After donning the churchy dudes, he smiled brightly and said,"READDYY."

When his mom explained that he can't go, he was sad and repeated over and over,"go chersh," with his chin lowered to his chest.

He really was ready to go to church.

ps, there are like several errors in this post, and instead of correcting them, I leave them in a testament to how exhausted I was for being up with him.   And, once he got over the not going to church, he walked around the house saying,"Miss Evy." 

Last, last week:  We had oodles of fun week.  Lunch date with Dad, swimming lessons, Pizza and Movie night as a family, Evy started school with me, and we even started 'school' with Merritt as well.

This past week:  played with friends, hours swimming in the pool and sliding on the waterslide, Dad was at work a lahahaht (poor guys, it just gets worse from here on out).  Evy finished learning how to write his name!  (boy is writing hard for him, but he didn't give up)  Evy's EEG is today.  Played superheros while others had to start school.  Delivered chocolate chip cookies.  Made suncatchers.

This coming week we are hoping to finish several projects (one of which is updating the blog with some overdue posts), spend more time with Dad before he goes out of town, and revel in the fact that we can play ALL DAY LONG!

Today in School: Colored Glue

Today, with our school time that we had with Merritt, we painted with colored glue.  I remember doing this when I was younger and couldn't wait to do it with the boys.  We made the glue today and our first rorschach art pieces.  Great activity to continue to talk about color, take turns, discuss what the splotches look like (beautiful butterfly, long-armed turtle), talk about what colors combine to make new colors; and the boys had a blast shaking the glue to make the "paint."

Here is the website that reminded me of it in the first place:

No Time for Flashcards:  Art with Colored Glue

And, this is just a bonus picture of the boys lazing around while Mom and Dad got ready for the day.

Wanted: New Swim Cap

(This petaled beauty is from AquaPro)

I've kept that swimming thing up.  It is exhausting and usually some muscle group is screaming at me.

Last night was the hardest work-out by far.  My first swim, a couple of weeks ago, I made it through 8 laps.  Last night it was 44.  So, I am getting better.

I'm in the water so much my cheapo swim cap is wearing out.  I need a new one.  Also need a new swim suit.  They can wear out so quickly in the water.

My flipturns . . . well, they are beautiful.

I do have a ways to go in technique and endurance to get where I want to be.  I have a couple more swimming lessons scheduled.

Evy really likes to watch me do my "swimming" research and quoted Michael Phelp's swimming coach (Bob Bowman) to his swimming teacher last time (keeping goggles half in the water when taking a breath during the freestyle) and he is into perfecting the 4 year old push-ups after watching me start my own routine of them.

I am doing good. Not any kind of competitive material, but it is better than sitting on my butt pouting cause I can't run or even walk fast.

Today in School

We've started back to school here in the house.  Here are a couple of pictures during the school time we shared with Merritt this morning.

We called these Color Jungles.

And, Merritt is a puzzle fiend; he blew through most of the ones I had in the house (no small number).  I've got to find some harder ones for him.

A Mention

So, when Erik drove the boys to Waco to meet up with me and the Moores, there were a couple of hiccups.

In an effort to occupy Everett, Erik deemed Everett the photographer and he took 200 pictures in the car that looked like this:

Chills and Thrills

swimming lessons

snow cones

going to the gym

cleaning house

staying cool

saying goodbye to beloved family

helping others

visit to Waco

lunches with Dad

lots of packing, unpacking, and laundry

We made the most awesome goodbye present.  Here are some pictures we posed for it:

I hope that they call me . . .

From Erik's Mission Reunion trip this summer to the series of lessons in his primary class on missionaries and the fact that we have like 9 young men on missions from our ward right now, Evy is very versed on what a missionary does.  And, when we had the missionaries over for dinner, he was prepared to put his knowledge to work.

He dressed the way he knew missionaries should dress.

He had his scriptures.  (did you know there is a section on Spiderman, Superman, and Batman squeezed in all that ancient verse?)

He had a great time with the missionaries at dinner.

I *heart* him so

Merritt took all his clothes off during  "play time" at the gym's childcare center yesterday.  Thankfully, I had duct-taped on his diaper.  As I dropped him off this morning . . . found out about the "streaking" . . . I realized I didn't tape his diaper this morning.

But, all was well.  He was too busy and comfy in today's clothes to bother stripping them off and running.

Merritt is my active, cuddly kid.  As we were walking down the stairs yesterday, I was carrying him.  He turned to me, pointed at me, and said,"Friend!"

So sweet and the first time he has even used the word.

He keeps me on my toes but is worth every little bit of effort.

I love you, Merritt!

Chills and Thrills

Last week was very busy and productive.  We even took some down time and visited the grandparents, went on a date, and had a dinner party!  YAY!

It is so freaking hot.  Like H!O!T! hot.  Like 109 yesterday, feeling like 116. And I am scared to check out today.  It barely got below 100 last night.

Evy and I are getting ready for Sunday.  He has his first talk in Primary and I am teaching RS. 

We are still doing the swimming lessons and trying to keep up with all the summer laundry.

And, my swimming is going well.  I am worn out but good.