Life with the Pedersens: Spring Break

How does 10 days off fly by by a five day work week seem to crawl by?!? It seems like we just started spring break and I have to go back to work in just two days:( We didn't go anywhere as a family since Jon had started a new job and, well, after our Thanksgiving travels to Gibson Island, I swore I would not travel with the kids again until I took them to college. But we still had lots of fun and were so lucky to have amazing weather so we were outside a lot!

Spring Break started with Aunt Barb coming in town for a visit. Elaina warmed up very quickly and was calling her BoBo almost as soon as she was here. Mom, Aunt Barb, and I went to the Ozarks to go outlet shopping for the weekend. The weekend started with us driving and talking nonstop and then about an hour into the trip I decided to take a nap. I told them the exit to look for and fell asleep only to wake up in Columbia...which is about 3o minutes PAST our exit! You see there are really only three roads to get on but the O'Leary girls were too busy talking that they missed it!! We pulled over, I got directions and took over driving. When we finally got to the outlets, we hit the ground running. Lots of shopping for the kids! We checked into our hotel and then headed out for Mexican food and of course margaritas (which were the weakest ones I think I have ever had, but that is probably a good thing since they give me hangovers!). We all crashed early. The next day we finished up shopping and then headed home. When we got home, Elaina was happy to see me and of course MoMo and BoBo. But Skylar...well, all he cared about was his MoMo. It was like I wasn't even there!

On Monday we took Skylar, Elaina, and Olivia to the zoo. The highlight was definitely the children's zoo where you can pet the goats.

The rest of the week was just a lot of time spent outside. We went to Suson Park for the first time with friends and it was GREAT! Spent time at our favorite park, Longview. Played in the yard and got the outdoor toys out. Went to the early childhood center playground and burnt off lots of energy.

We also had several appointments for Skylar over break. He received his first visit from the Developmental Therapist who I really liked. She is working with us on some of the behaviors like eating, tantrums, but also incorporates sign language and some of the sensory tactics. He also had his first visit from the speech therapist and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But after talking to a few people their experiences are similar. It is play based for now and she is also working on boundary setting so he learns who is in charge and can follow directions. It was at times a struggle for him to not be able to do what he wants. Whereas we would probably just let him have his tantrum and not give in, the therapist does that PLUS makes him do what she has asked. Often it is hand over hand so he learns what to do but with time he should be able to do it more independently. Our last appointment was for a sensory evaluation. Sensory Processing Disorder is something we are just learning about and my experience has always been with autistic children. In my reading, frequently children who are diagnosed with autism have sensory issues but the reverse is not always true. Everyone we have talked to does not think Skylar has autism which is such a relief. We will get the report from the evaluation soon and find out what we need to do next. In the meantime, our little guy is signing "more" like crazy (usually when he wants more milk, chips, or pushes on the swing). He is babbling new sounds and "talking" to himself when he goes to bed at night. He is so expressive with his face and his sounds, we are just anxious for the words.

It is funny that all our pictures from break are inside since we spent so much time outside but oh well. Enjoy!

Elaina decided to sticker herself and her bunny. She was so proud of her work!

Watching tv together

Skylar realized Elaina didn't have her sippy cup so he was trying to give it to her. They might fight but they do take care of each other like this all the time!