Sean has officially graduated from Early Intervention. Last week he has his final group session and today was his last session with the speech therapist.
Six month. That’s all he needed. He is probably going to miss his sessions and all his “friends” he got to play with every Wednesday. But, if you spend 5 minutes with him it’s pretty obvious that he has no trouble talking anymore. I thought Meghan talked a lot. He’s giving her a run for her money. Sean now has the words to yell when Meghan takes one of her toys or to tattle on her when she pushes him (I’m sure she loves that). It’s just constant chatter around here. Enough that it makes it difficult to hear yourself think.
I sort of wish he was still in the program. If only because it gave him something to do every week with other kids his age. We now need to find something else he can do. Meghan will be back in preschool and dance soon but poor Sean has nothing as of yet. We probably going to join the local Y. I’ve wanted to get both of them in swimming lessons for awhile now. I am not looking forward to shuttling from one place to another but it’s got to be better than what I have now (kids literally bouncing off walls and furniture).
Meghan doesn’t start her first full week of school until September 14th so my plan is to figure out what we are doing for the fall while trying to squeeze as much as possible out of what summer we have left.
We always have music on when we are in the car. I think most people do. For short trips I take daily I generally tune the radio to a local music station and then my brain sort of tunes out. Most of the time the music becomes almost a type of soundtrack in the background. I often am not really paying much attention to the song (as long as the song is not irritating).
Wednesday’s we take Sean to school. It is a relatively short trip so the radio is on. Meghan is always yapping about something (always with the chattering) but I noticed she was asking me something.
“Why are the diamonds on the ground? Why did he say they are melting? It must be hot.”
Huh? What? Oh, Matchbox 20 is on the radio. Huh. She really listens to the lyrics.
I mentioned to Ryan that night that we will need to be more careful about what we listen to because she is picking up everything.
Fast-forward to the next day. We are (always) in the car running errands. And, once again, I hear questions coming from the back seat.
Meghan: “It must be some kind of ride. Like a merry-go-round!”
Me: “Um, sure, it must be.”
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So now I am creating a “preschool friendly” playlist. At least with mp3s this task is much easier than it would have been in the past. I can remember wanting to watch Flashdance sooooo bad when I was younger. My parents, obviously, had other ideas. But, they tried to censor the movie themselves so I could watch it. One night they sat there while the movie was playing on cable, recording it on the VCR, and hitting the pause button whenever they thought something objectionable was about to happen. Sure, this may not have been to difficult for skipping a scene. However, they also tried to remove the profanity. Yea, not so easy. Also? Makes the conversation a bit choppy and jokes are missing punch lines.
As I go through my road trip playlist there are some obvious songs that should be probably be removed. Examples*:
And what about songs sprinkled here and there with un-kiddy-like language? Sure, anything marked “Explicit” in iTunes is easy enough to find. But, I also have many, many, many songs that came from our CD collection. Most I don’t even remember having a curse word in it until I hear it again. I can’t even remember what is wrong with some songs marked explicit. Why is Raspberry Beret marked that way? I can’t remember anything in there.
Clearly this is going to take some time. But it is worth it to not have to listen to five hours worth of Backyardigans songs.
And, just because I have this song stuck in my head, here is something for your viewing pleasure.
* I’m realizing that some people may cringe when reading the list of songs up there. All I can say is that the songs listed here in no way represent our entire mp3 collection. No really. I promise.
But, that was not the original shot. I cropped out some of the frame. Why? Well here is the original:
At first glance, not so bad. But take a closer look. See that guy? The one on the left? Here, let me show you.
That guy did not need to be in my picture. And that is why I fix my photos.
But, it is fun to look in the background of your shots. You never know what you will find.
I tend to do this when Ryan is watching sports. I never pay attention to the action. I’m always looking at the people in the stands. It’s just more interesting to me.
There can be so much going on in just one picture.
Ahh, the rides. Last year we went after Labor Day so the only ride that was open for the kids was the carousel. This year, we made a point to take them to one of the piers and let them go on a bunch of rides.
We spent $50 (yikes) for 100 ride tickets and away we went. Both Meghan and Sean were just shy of 2 of the height requirements. Sean was not quite 36 inches so he had to miss some of the rides. And Meghan was just shy of 42 inches so she also missed a few. But, there were still plenty and we managed to go through those tickets without a problem. In fact, Meghan cried when we ran out because she didn’t go on a few of them.
I already posted my absolute favorite picture but here are some more.
There was the carousel again (of course).
The Ferris wheel.
The log flume.
I am not so sure Meghan enjoyed this one.
The fun house.
Lots of cars and buses and bugs.
And, what appeared to be a favorite, the big slide.
See where Sean is sitting? Right there on the top step? That is where he wanted to stay. He was just find right there thankyouverymuch. He could do everything he wanted to from that step.
He could play with the ball.
He could play with the noodle.
He could even play with Meghan. He was happy. When we tried to bring him into the pool this is what we got.
Not happy.
Meghan, however, was a little fish.
Once she realized the swimmies were keeping her afloat there was no stopping her. You would turn your head for a second only to turn around and find she made her way to the deep end.
She decided that the swim mask was an essential part of her pool ensemble.*
Which was okay with me because it was very adorable.
-------------------------------------------
*That picture was taken underwater with our new camera. It felt very, very wrong taking the camera into the pool let alone sticking it underwater. But, it passed the test.
We hit the beach a few times this year. Definitely not everyday. The rain and not feeling so great kept us away some days.
Meghan? Loved the beach. She was not too crazy about the ocean. She would put her toes in but did not want to go any further. And there was some running from waves. But she had a blast searching for shells and playing in the sand.
Some things to note:
Meghan will always walk across the blanket with her sandy feet. Even 2 seconds after you tell her not to.
Meghan throws sand EVERYWHERE. I got a bunch in my head one day. I didn’t realize it until I took the rubber band out of my hair in the bathroom and heard a shower of sand hit the floor. Also? I found a shell in my hair while showering. No lie.
Sean? Not so fond of the beach. He tried his best to keep his feet out of the sand. But, on the days he warmed up to the idea of playing in the sand he had no problem dumping it on other parts of his body. Just not his feet.
He HATED the water. I think I still have marks on my body where he clung to me if we even started to approach the water. It sounded like we were torturing him. Things to note about Sean:
He will fight a nap on the beach like nobody's business. And when/if he finally does fall asleep, any stray voice will wake him up. This is not good on a crowded beach.
If you attempt to carry Sean to the water be mindful of where your swimsuit top is positioned. He grabs onto whatever he can and hangs on for dear life.
Our vacation started just like it has every other year. Most of the car was packed the night before. We got up, fed the kids, packed last minutes things and headed off (after a quick stop and Dunkin’ Donuts of course). In the past we made it all the way to Tom River before stopping for lunch at McDonalds. This year, I guess we left a bit later than usually because we did not hit the Garden State Parkway until around 11:30AM. After a quick discussion we decided to stop at a rest stop and feed the kids their lunch a bit early. And boy, am I glad we did.
Four hours! It took us about for more hours to get to Seaside Heights. Apparently there were accidents. We did not see any. All we saw was bumper to bumper traffic all. the. way. That sucked.
My original plan was to recap day by day but, honestly, it’s all a big blur. I remember Saturday. Because of the hellish drive down. I remember Sunday, a little. It was Ryan’s birthday. I’m pretty sure it rained. I think we ate spaghetti and meatballs and I know there was angel food cake and candles. But the rest is mush. I only have the date stamps on the photos to guide me along. So, instead, I’ll recap in a totally random fashion over the next few posts. Basically how I live my life.
I did buy a new camera for this trip. I was afraid to bring my other camera on the beach because, well, sand + kids = bad for camera. I found this one:
It’s waterproof and everything. And yes, I did try that out. All the picture I took on this trip were with this camera. Here was my test shot.
I’m now going through the rest of the pictures and getting more posts together. I know, pins and needles, right?
We returned from a week at the Jersey shore late Saturday night. It is now Monday morning and I am still doing laundry. Actually, there are still unpacked bags scattered around the house.
I’ll give a recap of the week as soon as I can find my camera. It’s in a bag still. Somewhere.
