January

I don't really like January.  It's cold.  The excitement of the holidays is over.  It's cold.  School/work routines start again.  Did I mention it's cold?  Too cold to play outside.  Bummer.

The first week of January we spent getting back into the weekday routines.  It was tiring, but everyone finally adjusted.

By the second week of January, Ethan and I needed a few more outlets for our time and energy.  One afternoon he and I had a Mommy-Ethan date at the children's museum downtown.  He had been asking to go back ever since we had gone in December.  Of course his favorite part is building with the city set-up.

Friday morning we met up with some friends at the local trampoline park.  Ethan and company had some good energy-filled fun while my friend and I had a chance to catch up on life.  Kate had heard of Rockin' Jump from classmates at school, but we hadn't tried it out yet.  It was easier for me to scope out the facilities with only Ethan in tow.  We may try it out now with Kate and perhaps Anna if we can work it out with the facility supervisors to allow Anna to participate in the under age 7 time slot.  It would probably be safer for everyone that way.

Monday the girls didn't have school so we decided to do a Mommy-kids field trip to Milwaukee to visit Discovery World.  We tend to plan these kinds of trips when it is bitterly cold out, packing along plenty of warm emergency clothes "just in case".

The kids and I had a great day.  On the most basic level, it worked.  No one melted down, had a tantrum, or otherwise showed signs of it being too much in one day.  The drive to and from Milwaukee was uneventful.  Our bathroom visits went smoothly, with Anna and I in one stall and Kate helping Ethan in the stall next to us.  Everyone ate an appropriate amount at lunch.

On a different level, the kids learned a lot and had the opportunity to have some fun kid experiences: exploring a Lake Michigan ship from the 1800s, petting some rays, watching divers clean a large fish tank, investigating different gear set-ups and testing out model construction equipment.  They were bubbling with stories to tell Matt during dinner.  It's taken us awhile, but we seem to be at a point again in life where these kinds of field trips work.  Hip, hip, hooray!

We will continue to sprinkle mini-trips or field trips into our lives in the coming months.  Winter is here to stay so we might as well find things to enjoy.

During the last month Anna has hit a few significant milestones, at least from our perspective we consider them pretty awesome.  First, during my last laundry day, I washed ZERO of her handkerchiefs!  Over the last month or so we noticed that she was using fewer than she had previously and made note of how she didn't need them when she was doing something particularly active for her.  Anna shared with us that one of her New Year's resolutions was to swallow her spit more.  Turns out she made that resolution at just the right time; her body was ready for it and she was motivated.  So ... after almost two years this kid can now "handle her secretions."  No more spitting out her spit.  Hip, hip, hooray!

Along those lines, Anna has started taking and swallowing small bites of food.  During therapy last week, she swallowed about 1/2 tsp. of pearsauce in one try.  Then yesterday during lunch, she had a cracker, half a peanut, and a cranberry.  I realize that these amounts seem very, very small for most people.  But for Anna, this is huge.  Again, seeing her improvements gives us hope for her future.  Way to go, Anna!

We've got another cold week here in Wisconsin and a few more ideas for how to release some of that pent-up energy!