Tomorrow’s Another Day

Life’s been stressful and hectic, to say the least.

It’s getting hot which means time for swimming, which is great, but swimming with a 5 year old and twin 20 month-olds is not an easy feat.  We’re working on mastering that one.  Yesterday, I took them with their little baby boats to ride in, but Nate hated his.  He kept signing “done” and when I finally took him out, Ace decided he needed out, too (even though he’d been having a grand old time until that point).  Then I was stuck trying to hold both of them and of course Nate ended up going under…

Then they decided they had enough (or maybe I decided I’d had enough, I can’t recall who got there first) so I took them out and dried them, changed them, and strapped them into their stroller for a snack while Calista continued to play in the kiddie pool.  Except snack time turned into throw the grapes and smack each other time and then it turned into scream time and soon after it was Mommy has had enough of this crap! time so we headed home.

Tonight we all went (Skip included) and it wasn’t as bad, but I need to figure out a way to take them all by myself.  Tonight we tried little floaty suits on the boys — Ace’s was the kind with the built-in inner tube and he did well with it, and Nate’s was the kind with the sewn in flotation stuff and he HATED it.  It’s funny that Ace despises being splashed but overall LOVES swimming and Nate is a splashing, jumping fool, but only if he can cling to you for dear life while he’s doing it.

We also need to get Calista swimming.  I’m embarrassed to say she can’t swim yet, and maybe almost 6 is still ok for not being able to swim, but it feels too old to me and I need her to be more self-sufficient in the water as well.  She practiced tonight in Nate’s floaty suit and did pretty well, but I need to get her real lessons, and not the fun ones that the pool offers…  I need the real, serious, learn to swim classes for her this summer.  Let me add that to my list…

Ace’s therapy has been going well, and now our insurance changed so his sessions will be covered at 90% in another month and another $450.  $450 will be July’s sessions, and then starting in August, they will drop from $100 per visit to $10 per visit — HALLELUJAH!!!  That will be a big help.

When we got there, he went right into the ball pit, which is suspended from the ceiling and full of plastic and other texture balls.  He’s been so scared of it until last week, I had to take Nate with me, and once Nate dove in, Ace wanted to try.  This week, Ace got right in there, so that was great!  The suspension of the pit helps with his vestibular senses and the balls helps his tactile senses.  He hung out in the pits for a good 10-15 minutes today, and here are some cute picture of him in there:

After the ball pit, he ventured into shaving cream, which up until this point, he has not been a fan of.  He doesn’t want to touch it, and when he does, he wants it wiped off right away.  I guess he was feeling brave after the time in the ball pit because he was all about the shaving cream today!  He still wasn’t keen on having it on his hands, but once he got it on his legs, he covered himself!  It was very cute.  The shaving cream is another tactile experience for him.  Here he is with L, before he got all covered in it:

Then he wanted to see “Meh Meh” (Misty, one of the horses) so badly.  He gets so excited about her, asks for her, waves to her…  and the second she looks at him, he turns his head, whines and clings to me (or whoever is holding him) for dear life!  Poor little guy.  He WANTS to be near the horse, he’s just so scared of her when it comes down to it.

Today, he saw Meh Meh and then L, his OT, took him over to see the other horse, Willy, when he asked.  He did pretty well at first, and then got a bit scared.  Here he is with L and giving Willy a sideways “don’t you dare come near me” glance:

Next week, Nate is coming to OT with us, and Nate LOVES animals, so we are hoping Nate will ride the horse and Ace will follow his lead.  :)  The horse riding is good for vestibular and tactile senses, and is a great confidence booster.  I do hope he gets to start riding…  I think he will learn to love it!

After the horses, we went to check out the other animals, including goats, chickens, doves, ducks and fish.  Ace was afraid of the goats at first.  Then L started to feed them peanuts.  She gave Ace a peanut and he held it, then he let me give his peanut to the goats.  After a few times of that, he actually fed the goats three peanuts!  Then he got scared again so we stopped.  Here he is with L and the goats.  This was after he was done feeding them and holding on to his last peanut.  He kept that last peanut until he dropped it and accidentally stepped on it:

I really enjoy his therapy sessions.  I learn a lot and he really seems to enjoy the things he’s not afraid to try.  If he learns to be less afraid and gains confidence, then it’s well worth the money.  He’s already made so much progress by getting into the ball pit (and having fun!) because he was terrified of it the first three visits.

And finally, here he is after we got home.  He likes to be under things like blankets and pillows.  He crashed under the pillows watching Sesame Street:

Wow, this has turned into a LONG post.  I have more to write about, but I better wait until another night.  Don’t want to bore the socks off of whoever is reading.

Tomorrow is Calista’s Kindergarten graduation.  I am very excited to see her graduate!  Should be fun.  I’ll post about it when I have time (ha ha!!).  And then I’ll also post about the cloth diaper making venture I am starting as well as the search for a new nanny, which has been so difficult for so many reasons.

P.S. ~ The title is “Tomorrow’s Another Day” because I wanted to post about some stuff that’s really got me down, and it makes me think of a song called “Tomorrow’s Another Day” and she says, “… and I’m thirsty anyway, so bring on the rain.”  Now that I didn’t get to that part of my post, the title makes little sense, but it’s too late and I’m too tired to change it.