Grandparent's Tea at School

The school has an event called "Grandparent's Tea", where the grandparents (or substitute friend) comes after school, has cookies and tea with the kids, tours the classrooms/school, and then can take them to the Scholastic Book Fair.  (gotta think this is a brilliant idea to sell more at the book fair).

Since Zora is in half-day kindergarten, I had to bring her back to school to participate, and had them waiting in the building so it eliminated the possibility of them running across the road to greet my folks and not paying attention to traffic.

So, here they wait.

Once I saw Mom and Dad crossing the street, I let them go outside for greeting hugs.  Everybody was excited.  I was concerned about Zane handling the event because it was really crowded, loud, and chaotic.  (it was the first time they had run this event and I don't think they anticipated the level of crowd).  I actually trailed them for a bit to make sure Zane looked OK before heading home and waiting for them.  

As it turns out Zane did fabulous.  Both did.  They each got books from Grandma and Grandpa, and had a lot of fun showing them around.  We met up with them after the event at the Subway restaurant, which Zane had been asking for the last few weeks/months (he loves the meatball subs there), and we had a nice conclusion to the afternoon's events.

It was a Wednesday, and not long after returning home it was time to leave for Wednesday Night Church, and Zora, as usual, popped right up ready go, but Zane got agitated.  When we told him it was time to go he desperately yelled "NO MORE PEOPLE!"  He was DONE with crowds and people.  He did such a great job at the event, and after seeing the crowd that amazed me (he would not have been able to handle that even a short time ago), so when he said he was done, we told him that was fine. We also told him that we were happy he used his words to explain why he was upset instead of just losing it.  That, in itself, deserved to be respected.  So, Zora went to church, Zane stayed home and unwound away from the people.

Bigger

We bought a refurbished bike from a neighbor and went to test drive it.  Zane was upset with the situation at first.  He tried the new bike in our driveway, but the uneven surface mixed with more obstacles (like the street) and a bike that balanced very differently and was much heavier, was very discouraging for him.  We packed the bikes up to go back to the smooth, large, mostly empty parking lot for him to get used to the bike.  The entire way there he loudly voiced his complaints and wanted his old bike back.  He wanted us to take off the pedals again, but we couldn't get them off (screw started to strip), so he had to be content with Dad pushing him for a bit while he found his balance.

After a few minutes, once he was resigned to the fact we weren't going to let him back on his old bike again until he tried this one, he calmed down and got to work.  It took a bit of coasting and Dad pushing him for him to start pedaling again, and soon after, he was up and going.  And this time, with a bigger bike, he could go considerably faster.  He was THRILLED.  Mom and Dad....not so much.  Luckily the two spills he took were not when he was at full speed, or we would have spent the evening in the hospital.

Bigger Fears. : /

Dad helping as he tries to find his balance on the much heavier, much bigger, differently balanced bike.

Bigger Bike! : )

Checking out the braking/pedal system.  This has the adult style brakes rather than the pedal brakes.

Bigger Wait Time for my Big Girl

She got tired of riding and took a break to mess with the tools.

Bigger Distance

I sat in the middle of the parking lot and watched as they both rode all the way to the edges.

Bigger Speed!  :O

He was LOVING the speed.   Way too much.

Bigger Smiles! :D

Bigger Bruise.  :(

His cheek hit a fencepost. OUCH!  He was making stimmy noises and enjoying hearing them echo against the buildings and wasn't paying attention to where he was going.  The cheek looked pretty horrible the next day.

So, the day was a success.  Next:  Sidewalks.  

Do they make full body bubble wrap?

Oh, and if anybody knows of some super cheap/free adult bikes, we would be interested.  He now officially goes faster than we can run.  Well, especially me, but he could almost do that on the little bike, so that isn't saying much. lol.

And, as a side note, I am thinking it is such a bad idea to have "fall picture day" at school four days after the class bike tour of town.  I am hoping we don't end up with a "memorable" photo.

Church kick-off party

Every fall, at the beginning of the "new year", the church has a kick off party after services.

Zane decided his chair wasn't close enough to the Bluegrass musicians and he wanted a better view.

After setting up, Zora thought it was a good idea too, then others started following his lead

Zora HAD to go on the pony ride.  She was pleased.

I didn't realize the kids liked Bluegrass enough to sit for more than 10 seconds to listen to it,  Awesome.  We will have to make a trip to Winfield this year to the big Bluegrass Festival.   

I also noted a phenomena I see over and over.  Sometimes not caring so much about "being weird" has it's advantages.  He wanted to see the musicians, and instead of just sitting back like the crowd, he did something about it.  He moved chairs so that he could get a better look.  Once he started the trend, others followed.

On a different note, a part of me thinks we should find a church more local, but then I sit in fellowship with my friends there, and I can't imagine another church being such a good fit for all of us, even if it means a drive.  There is something so liberating about mostly agreeing with those around you, and enjoying discussions, both personal and theological, without it turning into a predictable debate.  I know of at least one church that is closer to us that might be a good fit too, but I am just not quite ready to leave this one right now, even though it would seem logical to move. lol.

New Eyes

Both kids now wear glasses.

Looking at the world with new eyes.

Zane first.  He is nearsighted with high astigmatism.  About 20/30, so not terrible.  On an amusing note, the day we had the appointment we were sent an article by Temple Grandin.  I was familiar with the article already (Genius may be Abnormality), but there was something in the article I never really noted before and it made me laugh out loud.  "A study of mathematical giftedness, conducted at Iowa State University by Camilla Persson, found that mathematical giftedness was correlated with being near-sighted and having an increased incidence of allergies."   Considering we had just gotten glasses *that day* and had realized his seasonal allergies had kicked in and refilled his prescription two days before, it was an amusing coincidence.

Happy with new glasses

The eye doctor we go to specializes in kids with special needs, and was impressed with his ability to cooperate this time around.  No eye drops this time.  The biggest problem we had was getting him to sit still to try on glasses.  Any time I turned to look at a different pair, he gravitated away from the optical area and back down the hallway to a big poster that described a variety of eye conditions.  (the same photo repeated, each distorted differently to illustrate the different eye conditions).  He kept asking "What is wrong with my eyes?", slightly distressed that something was wrong.  After telling him, he had problems pronouncing "astigmatism" and I had to stop him and clap out the syllables and have him look at my mouth a few times.  He was determined to get it, but was upset enough he wasn't processing what he was hearing.  I finally had to make a deal with him that I would let him look at the poster for a while AFTER picking out the glasses.

End result:  Glasses he picked out and seems to be fine with wearing.  All reports from school say they don't have a problem getting him to wear them, and he isn't ripping them off his face as he walks away from the school like he did the first few days.

And, now Zora.

The same day we picked up Zane's glasses, Zora had an eye exam.  Although she is borderline for needing glasses, hearing that they would probably not be optional in 6 months prompted me to go ahead and relent to the begging.  She wanted glasses SO BAD.  Pink ones, and ONLY pink ones.  And none of mom's suggestions of "just try these" was met with anything resembling enthusiasm.  My own mom found this funny.  Can't imagine why.  Going home without the glasses really ticked her off.  She did not "get" why she had to leave her glasses at the office.

A few days later, her glasses finally came in.  I got the call the morning of a planned "Oma Day", so instead of just Oma and Zora, I came along too and we picked up the new glasses.  She was SO excited.  She even got a pink lens cleaning cloth from them, which she has made ample use of.

Pink glasses are awesome!

Adjustments.

Want to know who had the hardest time adjusting to the glasses?  

Come on, Guess.

It wasn't Zora.  

It wasn't even Zane.  

It was the Dad.  

I come from a family where glasses are practically a rite of passage, so I always assumed that the kids would be wearing them.  Zach, owner of freakishly good vision, did not have this expectation.  Not even a little bit.  His tongue probably still hurts a little from biting it those first days, making sure not to say anything that wasn't completely positive within earshot of the kids.  Being the awesome dad he is, he came around pretty quickly, but it was an adjustment for him.