I'm so thankful to be leaving for vacation today! I'm really excited to spend a long weekend at the lake with all of my dad's side of the family- there are 39 of us! Look forward to some fun pictures and stories. :)
I'm thankful for Kylee's continued enthusiasm about painting her nails. My neighbor overheard me talking to Kylee about needing to take off her chipped polish and she asked me, "Are you going to paint them red, white and blue for the holiday?" Why no, I wasn't planning on it and no, I did not have any blue or white polish on hand. Bummer because I love that festive idea! So Kylee and I decided to make do with red polish covered with a layer of glitter polish. I kept calling her Firecracker and she thought it was the funniest thing ever. They don't show up that well in the picture but it looks like she has mini fireworks on her fingers and toes!
I'm really thankful my grandma was feeling up to having visitors on Tuesday. She declares that watching the kids swim in her pool as well as being on the receiving end of their many hugs and kisses is the best medicine anyone could ask for. We might have to visit once a week!
I'm thankful for friends with good common sense. At the pool today my friend asked to borrow some sunscreen then she asked, "Do you need any?" I knew I had only brought SPF 50 and I usually use more like 20 or 25 so I quickly replied, "Nah, I'm fine I hardly ever burn." Well, joke's on me because I am now a lovely shade of red. Duh, Laura.
I'm thankful that I coincidentally ran into a family I used to babysit for at the park a few nights ago. I have seen them from time to time but hadn't had a chance to really catch up with the mom for far too long. Her middle child has some developmental/speech issues with a diagnosis similar to Kael's. It's so theraputic to share our experiences of navigating the special needs world and reconnecting with a friend is a guaranteed way to boost happiness.
I'm thankful my neighbors didn't call Child Protection Services on me last week. Let me tell you why.
1. Kylee fell out of the treehouse. Save the "I told you so's" because I know. I know that building a treehouse in your backyard carries the assumption that someone will eventually get hurt. If you know us, you know that "someone" probably means Kylee.
Truthfully, I have been a little overprotective and a lot strict about the treehouse. For example, when my babysitting kids or any neighbor kids are over, I have a rule that no one goes up the treehouse unless an adult is in the backyard with them. Well, I've relaxed a little bit as the summer goes on, so Kael and Kylee were playing in the backyard while I watched them from the kitchen as I started dinner. All of the sudden Kael comes in and says, "Mom, Kylee fell out of the treehouse."
I knew that Kylee would be too upset to answer, so I ask Kael (who conveniently for me, cannot tell a lie- one major benefit of his diagnosis), "What do you mean she fell from the treehouse? Like, where did she fall from? How did she fall?"
Kael didn't miss a beat, "She fell from the top."
Oh my. My heart raced and Kylee's cries got louder. She seemed to be making appropriate eye contact and had no scrapes or bruises. Was it possible that my Kylee had fallen from the treehouse and come away from that fall completely unscathed? I wasn't sold.
"What do you mean 'the top'?" I interrogated Kael. Was he talking about the actual "top" that's way up in the tree or the top of the ladder, or maybe he was talking about something else? He was done with my questions. "Uggh. Mom. I already told you- the top!"
After everyone calmed down I all but forced Kael to reenact the scene and from what I can gather, Kylee was going down the ladder, missed a step and fell the rest of the way down. So technically, her hands were at the "top" of the treehouse, but thankfully, her body was actually about halfway down before she fell.
2. Kael somehow crashed into Kylee while playing tag and totally bashed up his knee. Yes, you read that right. I'm talking about Kael Who Never Gets Hurt bumped into Kylee and HE was the one who came away injured. He has a pretty solid bruise on his knee and wasn't able to put much weight on it for a couple days. When he went to visit Grandpa Keith (who had knee surgery last week) Kael said, "I've got a bum knee like you, Grandpa."
3. I had been anxious to cross Backyard Camping off our Summer Bucket List so when it finally happened last Friday we went all out. Neighbors with lawn chairs, fire pit with s'mores, sparklers with Kylee....does one of those pairs seem like it shouldn't go together? You guessed it. After much warning about being careful with sparklers, sure enough, Kylee dropped her sparkler on the ground and before I could stop her, she reached down and picked it up. On the hot end. The blisters were immediate.
Before you pull my Mother of the Year nomination let me share some pictures of the fun we had in between injuries!
Kylee and s'mores- a much better match than Kylee and sparklers
The kids both caught fireflies- another item off the Bucket List!
Lastly, I'm really really really really really thankful for this last item on my list. On our way to the pool yesterday we decided to make a quick stop at Fountain Park. (As an aside, we call none of the parks in Ankeny by their actual name but rather call them whatever seems an appropriate name: Fountain Park has a fountain to play in, Yellow Park is obviously yellow, Froggy Park has a big frog at the top of the slide and so on....)
Well, the first kid lost interest so that left Kael and another kid to play. What I witnessed next was among one of the most selfless acts of kindness I've ever seen. Kael couldn't seem to follow the idea of playing 1-on-1 basketball. He kept asking this kid to pass it to him and every time this kid would explain to him, "No man, we're playing against each other so I'm going to try to shoot but if I miss, then you try to get it, ok?" Kael must have asked this kid to pass it to him ten times and this kid NEVER lost patience with Kael or shot him a weird look or anything.
I felt like this was too good to be true. Was I dreaming? Are there really kids this day in age who are just so honestly....nice? Every time I wanted to intervene and try to help Kael understand what was going on and every time this kid did it for me. I bit my tongue and kept watching.
After a few successful minutes of play, I could tell Kael was losing interest. It was like this other kid had a sixth sense because as soon as I realized it, this kid did too. "Hey bud, you wanna play PIG instead? I'll show ya." I saw this kid take a shot then pass the ball to Kael. Kael started to move but the kid guided Kael back to where he had stood. "You have to shoot from where I shot, OK? Then once I miss you'll get a chance to pick where to shoot from." This kid shot again, made it, then passed the ball to Kael. Again, Kael tried to move to a new spot. I saw the kid walk away and my heart started to sink a tiny bit. Had my dream finally ended? Had this kid given up on Kael? Then he walked back to the court carrying a small stick and he placed it on the ground right where he had shot from. "You stand here, on the stick, OK?" he said to Kael. "Then we'll just move it around the court so you can remember where to shoot from each time."
I wanted to cry. I wanted to follow this kid home and thank his parents for raising such an amazing, patient, caring, accepting kid. I wanted to ask for his phone number so he could come hang out with Kael in the future. I did none of those things but I left the park this with a sense of hope and was inspired to find that there are kids out there who Kael will connect with.
Have a safe and happy Fourth!
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