Close up

 
Here is the close up evidence!

Too Quiet

 
Here is the rest of the mess.

Too Quiet

 
I realized that Zander was not making any sound. That is not good unless the TV is on and it wasn't. I called him several times and he did not answer, also not good. I went to see what he was doing and took the camera because I knew it was not good. When I found him in the bathroom, the water was running, there were smashed paper cups in the sink. His new moldable soap was all over the sink, counter, face, hands and favorite shirt. If you look closely you will also see that he used my eyeliner pencil to apply eye liner all over his eyelids. It was kindof funny, because this was the first time he has ever done anything like this. I wish that I could have captured the expressions on his face better.

Kinex

 

Thanks Aunt Jennifer, I love my new Kinex. I built this for you.

Fishing

 

Papa gave Zander fishing tackle and I bought him a new fishing rod. This is his idea of fishing. He didn't want to do anything but play with the worms.

Fireman present

 

Everyone knows that Zander loves firemen. I have looked every where for an air tank for his back. I finally found it and gave it to him for his birthday. He also got a fireman coat and a firehouse with little firemen and all of the furniture. We also visited a real fire station.

Super Hero Day

 

Our local science museum had super heros day. They invited the local fire department and several other special guests. We saw lots of batmen, spidermen etc. Can you guess who Zander's super hero is?

Theatrical Debue

 

Zander was in a play at school last week. It was a production of the 3 little pigs. Zander was Peter pig and built a straw house. He kept reminding everyone of what they were supposed to be doing- imagine that! It was really cute.

Memorial Day

 

We had a great Memorial day weekend. The Brady bunch invited us over and the kids played outside in the pool all day. The water was really cold but the kids didn't care. After dark, Ms. Alana got out the glow sticks and everyone ran around and had alot of fun glowing in the dark. Thanks Brady Bunch, we had a great time.

Fire Station Visit

 

All Zander wanted for his birthday was to visit a real fire station. We went to our local station and luckily the fire fighters were all very nice and did not mind us visiting. They let him sit in all of the trucks and the chief let him wear his hat. It was very hard for Zander to say good bye but the chief said he could come back and visit any time.

Birthday Lunch Cici PaPa

 

Zander is 4 today. We went to the Mexican restaurant and the waiters sang to Zander. They also brought him a yummy dessert.

Zander is 4 years old

I can't believe it? Where did the time go? We had a big weekend. On Saturday, we went to breakfast and then to Zander's soccer game. He did kick the ball 1 time when he was playing goalie. Then we picked up the cake and went home to take a quick nap. Next we went to the local gymnastics place for his party. It was so much fun. I was a little disappointed that no one from his school showed up. Including Zander there were only 5 kids. It turned out to be the perfect size group. They had so much fun and got some exercise at the same time. After the party we went to Zander's favorite Japanese restaurant. The Brady bunch and Zachary joined us. It was really good and Zander ate like he had a tape worm. It is worth the money to see him eat a good meal. We all went home and crashed.
Sunday was Zander's actual birthday. He chose cherry turnovers for breakfast. Then we gave him his other present. We had already given him a new fireman hat, coat and airtank complete with a firehose that sprays water. Today he received a firehouse and all of the furniture and little firepeople that go with it. He really enjoyed playing with it. Then it was time to go to the local firestation. I wasn't really sure if the firemen would like us just showing up, but they were all very nice. They treated Zander like a celebrity. He got to sit in the firetrucks, turn on the lights and wear the fire chief's hat. Of course when it was time to go he was very upset. Then it was time to meet CiCi and PaPa for lunch at the mexican restaurant. He ate all of his shrimp and then CiCi pulled out a bag of strawberries. He ate everyone of them and then they sang to him and brought him a mexican dessert. He ate every bit of it as well.
Next we went to Granny's and CiCi and PaPa brought his present. It was just what he wanted, Fire House Dog DVD. Of course as soon as we got home, he had to watch it. It will not be the last time. All in all, it was a great birthday. Happy birthday Zander B. Momma loves you.

Soccer

With Zander's sensory issues, basketball was quite a struggle for us all and not very enjoyable. However, outside soccer is a different story. He still hears and gets distracted by everything, but it is not frightening to him. I think we may have found our sport, if he will stop eating grass, leave the other children alone so that they can pay attention and keep his head out of the holes in the goal. He does seem to enjoy it although he doesn't quite understand what he is supposed to do. Well, I shouldn't say that he doesn't understand, he just can't quite put it all together at the same time. So he puts on a very serious face and just runs. He has managed to kick the ball by accident once each game.

Zoo

Zander's class went to the zoo last week and all of the parents went along. We had a great day and alot of fun. It was really hot that day. We did get to see alot of animals. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.

Science Museum

I was able to attend the Zander's field trip to the science museum. It was alot of fun. We went to a program about insects. The children learned all about different kinds of creepy crawlies. At the end of the program they got to see some of them up close. Zander's favorite thing was the meal worms. He picked them up with plastic tweezers and put them in a bowl and looked at them with a magnifying glass. He did that for a long time. He also played bug dress up. Next we went out to a music area. They had a life size piano that the children could play with their feet and a harp with invisible strings.
Zander and I went to the health section. He loved the dentist exhibit. He was able to play dentist and use the drill and water suction. I didn't think I would ever get him out of there. We also went outside to visit the animals at the barn and the river otter. It was a great day.

Deal or No Deal

I don't know what I was thinking, but I thought that it would be fun to camp out at our local mall all night to audition for the TV show Deal or No Deal. I didn't think it was a big deal, after all I have camped out all night many times for concert tickets and had a great time. However, that was at least 15 years ago. My friend Amy and I, met at the mall at 10 PM. The line officially opened at noon that day. When we arrived, we were told that we were numbers 998 and 999. We set up our chairs and snacks and proceeded to sit and wait. Did I mention that it was very cold and extremely windy as a cold front was moving through. The weather caster said that there might be a passing shower until midnight but them we would be in the clearing. As the night approached, we thought we were in the clear as it had not rained at all.

I decided to get in my car and drive across the street to purchase a drink and use the restroom since we couldn't go into the mall. I thought this was a good idea, but the caffeine kept me up all night while everyone else slept. When I returned it had gotten much colder and so windy I had to cover my head with a blanket and wrap myself in a comforter. It was still freezing. We were just very happy that it was not raining.

I am a rules person and the rules were, you get in line and stay in line until it is your turn. Some people started going to their cars and sleeping. I couldn't believe it. This would have never been allowed when camping for sports or concert tickets. Some people even left and went home to sleep for a while. By this time, we had been told that the line was over a mile long and people were still coming. I found out later that there were 4000 people in line. I was quite perturbed by this point. Around 6 am Amy went and got us a biscuit and something to drink. Then it started raining. It was slow at first but then it soon turned into a downpour. There was standing water everywhere and it was about 42 degrees and windy. Even with an umbrella, there wasn't a dry spot on us.

The auditions were supposed to start at 10am. At 7:00 someone from Deal or No Deal came by with a bull horn and said, "Go, Run!" I couldn't believe it. Where we were at in line was almost all the way around the mall. People picked up what they could carry and ran! I had a chair, a queen size comforter, a bag with 3 20 oz. drinks and dominoes, a folder with our applications, my purse and a large umbrella. Some how I picked all of that stuff up and ran. The water was standing everywhere and each time you stepped you got more wet. Amy and I were separated. When we reached where the line stopped, we got back together. It was then that I realized our cars were still on the other side of the mall and we couldn't take any of this stuff into the mall with us. I left Amy in line and ran, still carrying all of my stuff all the way back around the mall. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I had to hurry because up in front of where Amy was standing there were baricades and I knew if I didn't get back in line quick, I wouldn't be able to get back into line. I dumped all of my soaking wet stuff into the car and drove around to where she was. Then I went to get her stuff and put it in the car and got back in line. Little did I know that we would continue to stand there from 8 to 11:30. By this time it was so cold and I was so wet that I couldn't use my fingers to hold the umbrella. They did not work anymore. My feet were so cold that they went back and forth from killing me to being numb.

Finally, it was our turn. We were herded into the mall and placed into lines. Another line! This one moved quickly however. Then we were taken to tables in groups of 10. There were 10 tables set up. It was very loud in there and you could barely hear what the directions were. Basically, this young maybe 20 year old with a stop watch said, "You have 20 seconds to tell me about yourself, Go". We had been told by others that did not make it, not to say anything about the show, just talk about yourself. I thought that I did great, but a man that said,"My name is Ken and I am a broker. I want to kick the bankers butt" got throught to the next level. I couldn't believe it. I was funny and made them laugh which is what they wanted, but I didn't make it. Did I really stand in line in the rain and cold for 14 hours for this? I must have.

Note to self. This was not fun. Do not do again. Buy a lottery ticket on the way home. I would like to go and take a nap, but Carolina plays at 8 pm to get into the final 4 and we are going to Paige's house to watch. Wish me luck, maybe I will be warm by then.



For some reason the videos will not link to this page, so go to http://youtube.com/user/friendsmiling66 to view the 3 videos. Enjoy.

Kids Show

On Saturday, Zander and I had a date. We went to the 3rd annual Kids Show. It was alot of fun. For those of you that know Zander, you know that he has not taken off this fireman hat since October, I think. When I heard that Sparky the Firedog was going to be at the kids show, I knew that we had to go. When we arrived a local law firm had a dog and Zander had his picture made with him, but then he saw Sparky. Sparky was with Elmo. He was very excited but when it was his turn, he didn't know what to do and seemed a little scared. I took his picture with both of them. The lady firefighters gave him new stickers for his fire hat. He was very excited about that.
Next we went to kids alley and he played with the animals. There were bunnies, a hedgehog, turtle and snakes! I think that he is going to like snakes just like his mom. He held a ball python and a corn snake.
Then we went over to the tumble bus and some kind of jumping thing. He had a blastg and then it was time to go home. It was a great day even though we got soaking wet going in.

Cultural Arts Festival

On Friday, I went to Zander's school for a Cultural Arts Festival. It was alot of fun. He had his first snow cone, played carnival games for prizes, jumped in a jumper and watched the special guests. The schools drumline and steppers made a special appearance and the kids loved it. I also had the chance to purchase some of Zander's art work from this year. It was very special and I will save it all. However, could someone other than me please tell the students that his name is not Alexzander? That is what they write on almost everything that comes home and this time it was on the handprint in clay. I will keep it anyway and tell him about all of the times that I stood up for the correct spelling of his name.

Grandma

The other day we went out to eat with Mom. Zander had on his fireman hat as he has since October. When he got in Mom's car, she said "Is that a fireman getting in my car?" At first he said yes, but as we started down the road, he said, "CiCi, that wasn't a fireman getting in your car, it was your sweety heart." How precious.

Kite Day

I have been so busy that I haven't had time to write down what has been going on. Friday, the 28th of March was kite day at Zander's school. All of the parents came and we all went out on the practice football field and all 32 children tried to fly a kite. When you think of a football field that sounds like a lot of room, but when there are that many children running, looking at the sky instead of where they were at, it got very interesting. We had alot of fun and I got some exercise.