Summer Sun...Something's Begun

Hello! Long time, no see! (Where you been, anyhow??) 

So it is summer.  My LEAST favorite time of year.  It is too dang hot around here. 

However, this summer is special, because it is the LAST summer that my boy will NOT be in school.

That's right.  At the END of this summer, Dakin will go into PreK. 

Yikes.

So while I am collecting the pieces of my heart from the floor (and trying to breathe), I am trying desperately to have the BEST SUMMER EVER.  Which around here means to do something amazingly awesome EVERY DAY.


Fortunately, I have been cyber-hoarding ideas on Pinterest for just such a situation.

So, we have been making bird feeders for the fat cardinal who lives in the backyard with his girlfriend..

And we have been painting on the driveway...

And using monster trucks to paint...

 And applying tattoo after tattoo.  This is the first year Dakin has actually been into them...and of course they are of his beloved monster trucks. 

We have also randomly been making Halloween stuff.  Well, ok, only one Halloween stuff, but you know how we are around here (only four and a half months to go!!!!).  Dakin saw me looking through my Pinterest page and saw this skeleton--he declared he wanted to make it.  So we did.

He named the skeleton Witch.

So this is the first of much awesomeness to come.  Brace yourself. Hold on to your hats.  It's getting crazy up in here.

(Also, the latest Dakinisms:

Daddy was pretending to bite me and Dakin says, "NO! She's my best friend!!" ((AW, heart melted!))

We were putting him to bed and he was asking what everything was saying (he is at a stage where he thinks things talk...).

Dakin: "What is the sun saying?"
Me: "The sun is saying it's time to go to bed."
Dakin:"What is the sky saying?"
Me: "The sky is saying it's time for bed."
Dakin: "What is the [ceiling] fan saying?"
Me: "The fan is saying it's time for bed."
Dakin: "No, the fan is saying WHEEEEE!"

haha)

Big Boy...Sometimes

I was attempting--in vain-- today to snuggle with my little man. He refused. When I asked him why, he said' "I'm a big boy." However, that didn't stop him from snuggling later and asking me to sing our secret song while burying his head in my neck. It was an absolutely glorious moment.

I win.

Other little gems from Dakin lately include: Him getting annoyed with me about not getting to play Angry Birds, and saying, "Devon. I have a question. Angry Birds. That's it." (Devon? When did we get on a first name basis??)

Following that conversation, when I asked him what Daddy's first name was, he informed me it is Superman. (which is true, incidentally, though he would never admit it.)

Dakin wanted me to buy him Angry Birds Rio two days ago, and I kept refusing. He said, "It's Mothers' Day. You HAVE to get Rio."

We were watching ABC World News the other night when they did a story on sleep apnea. He asked what it was about and I told him it was about people who couldn't breathe when they slept and that they needed to do something about it. He said, "Get a trach!" HA.

His new thing is saying that he is trying to make me laugh, which he does a good job of...he is hilarious right now.

Lastly, his nurse had just gotten done suctioning him and evidently the vent wasn't making him happy. He fussed about it to his nurse and he finally said, "Va, (that's his nurse Jane.) I'm supposed to BREATHE."

The Zoo (Revisited)

Earlier this month we took advantage of the nice weather to visit the zoo once before it gets devilishly hot around here.  It was just Daddy, Dakin and Mommy this time.  Dakin had a great time.

This little otter had so much fun going back and forth with Dakin.  It so so fun to see Dakin enjoying these experiences...it is a blessing and a joy.

After, we visited a store and had some lunch.  Unfortunately, the zoo air plus a lot of suctioning that weekend led to a lousy breathing weekend for Dakin...but he is better now, thankfully. 

Lately

It has been so gorgeous here lately...broken foot notwithstanding, we have tried to get out as much as we can and enjoy it before it turns devilishly hot.  We have been enjoying walking and letting Dakin drive around in his powerchair.  I do have one thing to chat about, but other than that there really isn't a tremendous amount to report, other than just the joy of living our normal.  Just to record a few things, though...and here is where I do it. 

Firstly, however, we had our first meeting with the school.  They seemed great, very open to accomodating Dakin and his needs as much as possible.  He seemed to enjoy the experience, and said he wants to go back.  The jury is still out, though...I want so much to keep him here with me, but I don't know if that is what is best for him.  I need to do more research.

Dakin in a 'tent'.  :)

Anyway, now to the other stuff:

We were outside letting Dakin drive around, and I wanted to hold his hand (I am just cheesy like that).  At one point I let go, and he asked to hold mine again.  :)  I love that he is little enough that I still get to enjoy things like that.

Dakin, talking about the English Bulldog across the street whom he absolutely loves: "He talks crazy in Spanish!"  (huh?  haha!)

Dakin naming dwarves: "Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Badger."

For Super Why viewers: I laid Dakin down on my bed so we could work on Spring Cleaning in there, and he insisted he be put on the floor. I asked him why not the bed, and he said "Because it's my story. Dakin needs to lie down."

Dakin, irritated at me for whatever it was I wasn't doing fast enough for him...
Me: "You are being--"(he cuts me off)
Dakin: "Patient!"
Me: "No, you are being IMpatient!"
Dakin: "No, I am OUTpatient!"

Whew, ok.  Glad all that is recorded!

Easter!

We once more have a USB that works!!  Just in time for Easter...hooray!  We had a fantastic Easter weekend--probably the biggest highlight of it was that Dakin was actually excited about it this year.  He was pumped for the egg hunt, excited for the Easter Bunny--it was really cute to see him so excited.  So, without further ado: Our weekend.

First up, we had the egg hunt at the church.  Dakin loved it, and the friend in charge made him a little patch to hunt in all by himself so he wouldn't be competing with two-legged, quicker small beings.  Look at his face!  So happy.

And Easter morning.  Mommy's foot is still broken, so no church for us today, but we had fun at home.  He was happy with his basket, which was comprised of monster trucks, a semi and a bulldog toy.  Ignore the respiratory equipment in the background. 

 He wavered between naming the dog 'Dog' and 'Spanky', but finally settled on the latter--Spanky is, of course, the English bulldog who lives across the street from us and who is Dakin's best bud.


We made some nest treats (almond bark, chow mein noodles and cadbury mini eggs).  Dakin had fun helping stir and put the eggs on.

Then we dyed eggs.  I thought we would try three different methods this year:  plain old dyeing, volcano dyeing, and swirl dyeing.  Hence the sheer amount of STUFF needed.  Too bad I didn't buy the big bag of baking soda...and yes, that is a computer monitor in the back.  We have a new one and I haven't gotten around to recycling that old one because my foot is kind of broken.  So it is living on the table.  Hush.

 Dakin loved the volcano dyeing...he loves anything involving vinegar and baking soda.

 And then we headed outside for our egg hunt.

The Easter Bunny hid 5.00 in quarters for Dakin to find.  He was pretty happy about that. 

All in all, an excellent Easter.  Hope yours was excellent as well!

Magic Moments

So, it has been a month. And I apologize profusely for that. I had been delaying posting because I was lacking a USB cord for my camera. Now I have a newer, even more excuse-y excuse in that I have broken my foot. Sooooooo....yeah. No posts.

But I do want to jot down a few things...another one of those more-for-me posts. Just stuff I don't want to forget. And once both foot and technical issues are resolved, I PROMISE, nay, SWEAR that I will get back to posting as I should.

1. Dakin is obsessed with letters at the moment. Since he figured out he can read, he has been asking to spell and sound out words all the time, and telling me what words begin with. He just loves all things letters!

2. The other day he was lying on the floor-we were doing something, don't remember what-when all of a sudden he says, "He talks crazy in Spanish." I asked him who he meant and he said, "Spanky."-the English bulldogacross the street that is just one of his favorite beings ever. I have no idea where he got the idea that Spanky talks crazy in Spanish, but whatever. It was quite a funny moment.

3. As a reward for using the potty the other day I got him some new apps for his iPad. One of them I got as a freebie, not really thinking he would like it. It is a game where it asks you a question about a state and you have to choose the correct one out of four. You can then drop the state and have to make a stack that goes up over the line. ANYWAY, he LOVES it. He played it for five hours the first day he had it. And has played a lot more since then. As a result, he can now identify a good portion of the US states by shape alone. He is amazing. They also have a country game he has fallen in love with.

4. Today was a lovely day. It was gorgeous out and we took Dakin outside in the sunshine. It was sheer joy watching him 'walk around,' as he says. He even got to chase a little bird around and he loved that. He has also seemingly gotten over his fear of birds...I told him a little fairy story about the birds being sad that he didn't want to be friends and now every bird he sees he says hi to. He is still a little wary of the LARGE flocks of grackles we get around here, but they are admittedly scary. But yay for progress on the bird phobia!

5. He has also started to get over his fear of noise. We have been out a lot lately, and the lawnmowers are running. That would have sent him into a panic last year, but now he is ok with it.

6. Lastly, he has been very lovey lately. A lot of "I love you, Mommy.".


OK, talk to you all SOON.

Genius

Do you know Natalie Merchant's song "Wonder"?  I love it...it is one of those songs that just rings of Dakin to me when I hear it.  Especially this week.  Here is the chorus:

'O, I believe
Fate smiled and destiny
Laughed as she came to my cradle:
"Know this child will be able"
Laughed as my body she lifted
"Know this child will be gifted"
With love, with patience and with faith
[He]'ll make h[is] way.'

I am now proud to say that I am the mother of a not-quite-four-and-a-half-year-old who can READ.

Yep.  Read.  He has known his letters and sounds for a while now, and on Wednesday we put it all together.  He read.  He sounded out words like 'fat' and 'box' and 'mom', and the more he did it, the less he had to sound out: he was sight reading them. 

So someone just needs to call up Harvard and tell them that Dakin is coming.  In 14 years: get ready.

(Still no USB cord...sorry for no pics!!)