Life and Times of The Johnston family: The Annual Wiches hunt! And So Much More!!

To continue on from the previous post, in getting this here blog updated, let me tell you about the week of October 7-12. Monday Devin had OT and did pretty well! But on the way to pick up Elizabeth he threw up his pediasure breakfast, so at Mary's house I borrowed their bath tub, and got him cleaned up and in clean clothes(good thing I keep and extra set in the backpack!) Then I cleaned up his car seat the best I could and borrowed a towel for Devin to sit on, then headed home. He drank some apple juice then promptly threw it up as well. By the afternoon he had stopped throwing up but then had diarrhea....ugh! It was NOT a fun day for me or Devin. Tuesday I didn't think Devin was up to music group, but he seemed totally back to normal by the afternoon so I let him go to tumbling(and he was actually the only one in class, so he got a little private lesson!), and of course Elizabeth went to piano. Wednesday afternoon I met Tony at the 39th south Trax station then we took the kids for their check-ups, Elizabeth for her 5 year and Devin for his 6 month follow up. Elizabeth was 43 inches tall(75th percentile) and 39 pounds(30th percentile). Devin was 37 1/2 inches tall and 33 pounds, she didn't do percentages for him as it doesn't get put onto his chart it's just a follow up and see how he's doing kind of a visit. We got Devin done first and Dr. Sandvig was VERY impressed with mister Devin, and very happy with the help and therapy he's receiving. Then she looked Elizabeth over and said she looked very healthy, other than being a bit under weight, but that has been the story of her life! She told me as long as we feel like she's eating enough and getting nutrition that we wouldn't worry too much about it. She was very impressed with her writing/spelling and her drawing skills, she asked her if she still liked to read and Elizabeth launched into an explanation about the book "Nate the Great and The Halloween Hunt". Dr. Sandvig knows the Nate the Great books because she told me her 8 year old little boy reads them. She told me she couldn't believe Elizabeth could read chapter books, and I told her I couldn't believe it either! She is just as bright as ever and Dr. Sandvig is glad she sees a child psychologist to track her giftedness, and give us good advice for dealing with her. She did recommend another good book for us to look into, to help deal with Elizabeth's behavior issues. Elizabeth was a hoot during the 5 year old evaluation, all the questions were things she's been doing for quite a while...in some cases for years! Even the large motor stuff she aced like a pro...but looked at us like, why do you want me to do something so ridiculously easy? Like I said she was a hoot, but a pretty good sport with it too. We ended the visit with Elizabeth getting her last set of immunizations(until she's like 11) and flu shot for both of them. That meant Elizabeth had to get 4 shots and she was utterly terrified! She was full on pleading with Dr. Sandvig not to give her shots, and Dr. Sandvig being the wonderfully witty doctor that she is, assured Elizabeth that SHE was not going to give her any shots but Stacey(the nurse) needed to. Oh how we tried to explain and reason with her, we even bribed her with the promise of a Happy Meal. But as we laid her on the table she was still freaking out, then she got the first shot, and these were her exact words..."That was IT?!" After she was done she admitted that it wasn't bad at all! Devin then stated quite firmly "My turn!!" Never has Stacey seen anyone so eager to get a shot! She gave it to him and he actually laughed a little! Oh to have a pain tolerance! So they both left happy as clams, picked their stickers, and were quite contented with eating their Happy Meals on the way home. Thursday Devin had home OT and she's decided to try some feeding techniques, we'll see if they help. That evening was Elizabeth's tumbling class and because I really am loosing my mind, I got there at 5 o'clock and her class doesn't start til 6....epic fail! But I made good use of our time, by having Elizabeth get some good piano practice time in on one of their general use pianos. Then we went down to the daycare part of Bravo and I talked to them about a program they have called "drop and go". You pay $5 per child per hour(with a 3 hour min) and they just integrate into their respective age's daycare class for the allotted amount of time! The more I heard about it, the more I liked it! It was a perfect social "out" for my kiddos! I also talked to them about their two year old preschool which is booked solid and has an absurdly long waiting list. After all that it was finally time for Elizabeth's tumbling class. Then we came home and Tony and I had scouts. Friday was a low key day. Saturday Tony took Elizabeth to a Lowe's Build and Grow and they built a fun Halloween toss candy to the lovable monster game!(or at least that's how Elizabeth plays it) ;) Then my parents watched the kids for us while we went to Desert Star's Hungry Games. IT WAS SOOOOOOO FUNNY!!!!! Oh man we were laughing pretty much the entire time, it was such a great show! We got there a little early so we decided to get our Christmas present to each other....season tickets to next year's shows. After the show, we stopped by RC Willey to pick up a movie we're putting away as a Christmas gift for Elizabeth and to look at bean bag chairs for Devin's sensory room(he likes to fall/throw himself into them, he also likes to be squished by them!) Tony picked up the movie while I looked at a kid friendly tablet, then we checked out their electric heater fireplaces, none of which were even remotely close to what we'd pay for one. But lucky for us the bean bag chairs we on clearance....big time! So we got a cute jungle themed one for about $17! As we'd been wandering about Tony had spotted an I Pad at a seriously discounted price because it had been the floor model....long story short we now have an I Pad that I hope to be able to do Elizabeth's homeshcool curriculum on it next year. For now I've already found a goldmine of educational apps to supplement Elizabeth's math and English lessons, which gives her something productive to do while I have to attend to Devin and such. I'm really liking it! Then we went home and finished watching the BYU game.
And we're finally to this past week! Monday was a typical day. Tuesday Devin had music group in the morning, and the kids had their Bravo classes in the evening. Wednesday was a big day though...you see last Friday we went over to Bravo to look around the daycare(for the drop and go) and signed them up to do it on Wednesday from 8-12....and I don't know who was more excited about it, me or the kids! So come Wednesday I dropped them off, told Devin's teacher all about his special self, and gave Elizabeth's teacher a heads up, that she can read and write and all that jazz(as she was in a 4/5 year old class) then went to the lobby and watched them(via the camera feed posted on a big screen tv)in their classes for a bit then came home and did some serious cleaning and organizing...I didn't quite get everything I had hoped to done, but I'll admit the 4 hour break was so nice! That afternoon, after Elizabeth's school and having to run up and down our stairs from car to house for forgotten things 3 or 4 times, we got on the road to meet Tony at Gardner Village for their fun witches scavenger hunt, I was running a bit late though so we ended up going around getting some pictures before dinner as I knew it would be too dark and cold after. Then we met up with some Taylorsville friends of ours for dinner at Archibald's and the witches hunt! It was lots of fun and Elizabeth was thrilled to see her friend Liza again! They held hands all night long! Thursday afternoon Devin had play therapy again for the first time in a few months as his therapist was out on maternity leave, that night I got Elizabeth to tumbling at the correct time, then we had scouts. Friday evening we did our grocery shopping and that's where I'll stop!

Pictures of the kids in their Halloween shirts at Gardner Village!