Monday, June 22, 2009

Odds and Ends

Man, what a weekend! Indy is one of the calmest, most well behaved puppies I have had the pleasure to know, but he is a puppy, and I am exhausted mentally from always wondering what he could be getting into. To his credit, he hasn't actually gotten into anything yet, but I keep thinking he will, so I am stressed all the time. He's a really good little boy, though, and has really puzzled into our family in a great way. It's been a long time since we've had a puppy, and it is surprising to me how very much like babies they really are. Our other dog, Ally, tolerates Indy okay but mostly just ignores him, pretty much like she does every one of us. She kind of likes doing her own thing.

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Ava is attending a dance camp this week. They're doing tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop, and lyrical. I thought it would be a fun, cool thing for her to do. She came home today with blisters all over her feet! She's loving it, especially that she's the youngest and gets to hang out with big kids all day, but they're putting those kids to work! She had some very interesting moves to show us when she got home today, including one that looks like she's a DJ rocking out on the turn tables. We'll see how she survives 4 more of these six hour days! She's really getting so big, and as she tells everyone she can get to listen, she's heading off to Kindergarten this year! I thought I'd have a harder time with it, but since her Pre-K year was full day, and she finished up her year doing a great job of reading at a beginner level and is doing other "kindergarten" type things already, I've yet to freak out. Although I do freak out when she tells me to just let her out at the sidewalk and let her go into a house on her own. She's not even FIVE yet! How quickly they want to shake you off...here she is in her first ballet class at the ripe old age of two.

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Speaking of growing up (wait, were we? Well, anyway...) Seth is doing just that. Remember just a few months back when I was lamenting the fact that all he would eat were Ritz Crackers? Well, my latest nickname for him is Garbage Disposal, if that tells you anything! The kid eats anything and everything he can get into his mouth! He'll also eat off a spoon, a skill that Seth refused to learn for a very long time. He eats more food, consisitently, than his siblings. Now if we could just get him to drink from a cup or sippy...he still most definitely prefers his milk straight from the source.

The 4 days we just spent in California with Advanced Bionics, the company that manufactured Seth's implants, was simply amazing. I can't even put into words the way it felt to see how the implants and processors are made (in America, by the way! Yeah!), and how many real people's real hands touch each one, performing a very specific task, on it's way to the eventual recipient. Being able to see the people who quite literally helped give Seth the gift of hearing, who welded, soddered, and literally and built his implants from the ground up, was amazing. In fact, it's way too amazing to describe in a paragraph, and needs its own post.

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Finally, I have been terribly remiss in posting about a lovely lady I was able to meet in Indiana. Unfortunately, due to Seth's insistence on visiting Fort Wayne's finest PICU when we were in town, we didn't get to meet up with some friends we wanted to meet. But one person I just couldn't leave Indiana without finally meeting in person was my friend Mandy. All three kids and I buckled up and headed to a halfway point between our place and hers, (the sweet girl offered to drive all the way to see us, but there was no way I wanted her 7 month pregnant self stuck in a car that long!) and while my kids were a little stir crazy, and at one point I told her that their behavior probably made her want to send her own baby on the way right back...we had a great time, from the minute she walked in and told me that my van doors were wide open (oops!) to the bitter end when we resorted to letting Ava take our picture.
It was so great to be able to sit and talk about the boys, about what it's like to have a baby after you've lost the innocence of thinking everything will always be ok, and what exactly you need for a newborn (my advice? Not much!). The whole, hours long lunch was completely effortless. That day was yet another thing that has convinced me that in the midst of this whole internet thing...where anyone can be anyone they want, whether it's true or not, and the way we all get burned sometimes...there are still real, genuine, caring people out there who are real blessings to know.
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6 comments:

Sonya said...

Ava did a great job taking your picture!
Man I can't belive how grown up she is acting. All the things I have to look forward to!!
You should take video of her dancing. I bet it is too cute.

Kara said...

Jace's face in that last picture is awesome. He looks so skeptical of his sister's photography skills.

I remember looking at those pictures of Ava in her tutu the first time around and thinking "she looks so big!" Now I look and think "look how little she was!" She'll be in HSM4 before you know it!

Emily said...

Ok, how stinkin' cute is Ava in her tutu! I can't wait until my little girl can do that! And your friend Mandy is 7 mo pg!? Wow! She looks fantastic!

Mandy & Jeremy Hall said...

I wish we could have more lunches :) Glad to hear your trip to Cali was great! And the new puppy is to die for!!!
I've got Mia's bag packed--the birthday bear is popping out the top :)

Mommy3 said...

Incredible! And Ava has some good photo taking skills for being a little girl! :)

Audrey said...

Love the dance pic. Sooo cute!

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