Last Day of School

Yesterday was Owen's last day of playschool with Miss Sara and Miss Sue.

He looks so grown up and mature.  He's grown a lot this past school year and it has

been really fun for us to watch.  He's full of energy, but can take directions from his teachers

when he needs to.  Making sure he slows down and walks instead of runs everywhere 

is probably his biggest hurdle.  ;)

He is super social and loves being able to play with the other kids.  He is

fearless, independent, full of love and really smart.  We are so proud of him and can hardly

believe that in the fall he will officially be a preschooler.  Where did time go??

And just for fun comparative purposes, here is the picture of him on his first day.

How cute is he?

The Dreaded Nap Transition

 It seems Joe is ready to make the dreaded transition to one nap.  The one nap is not the

issue.  In fact, it's a great thing.  It frees up our morning to do other things outside of the

house.  The transition is the part I loathe.  I wish there was a magic switch when kids were

ready to drop their first nap.  You could flip it and "Poof", instantly adjusted.  

Unfortunately that's not how it works, at least not in my experiences. 

If someone knows the magic formula, please send it my way.

It all started about a week ago.  Joe had been sleeping great.  Two solid naps per day at

least an hour each, in bed around 7:00PM, awake at 6:00AM.  Then one afternoon, he

decided to scream in his bed during his second nap.  I tried to calm him a few times, left him

on his own, and when nothing else quieted him down went and got him so he wouldn't wake

 Owen.  I thought maybe it was an off day, but sure enough the next day the same thing.

The typical age when kids drop the second nap is 15-18 months.  Owen didn't drop his until he was almost two and Joe seemed to be following right in his footsteps.  

Clearly he has a different idea however.

What's so bad about the transition, you ask?  For starters, the 5:00AM or earlier wake up

calls.  His little body is all thrown off, over tired and is not quite sure what to do.  I try to keep

him awake until after lunch, but if we're out and about anywhere where he is sitting in the

car seat or stroller, he'll doze off.  The problem with that is then we run into the issue of

him not being tired when it's time to take an afternoon nap.  Or he's tired, but not tired

enough to resist fighting it.  This is what I frequently see on the monitor.  

Not willing to lay down, but too tired to keep his head up anymore. 

And the weirdest thing is when he does fall asleep in the afternoon, he'll sleep for a little less than an hour, wake up and scream, then fall back asleep on my lap as soon as I bring him downstairs.  I put on Frozen, snuggle under a blanket and he's out.  I could just let him cry and hopefully he would go back to sleep in his bed, but then I risk waking Owen.  And once both kids are up, break time is over.  Instead I savor my little snuggles with Joe.

You can never have too many of those anyway.

I'm not quite sure how long this craziness will last, but until he gets it figured out,

we're doing our best to enjoy the early morning bonding time.

Owen's First T-ball Practice

Owen had his very first T-Ball practice this past weekend.  

I don't know who was more excited, Owen or Ryan and I.  It's so much fun to see him participate in these sports.  Not only is it a reminder of how he is growing up, but it's rewarding to watch him follow directions, have fun, and be a kid.  He is SO social and loves
talking and playing with the other kids more than anything else.  

They started off by pairing up and playing catch.  Underhand grounder type throws first, followed by overhand.  Owen was paired with a little boy named Miles.  The two of them were having so much fun together.

 

I've always heard how funny t-ball is to watch, and it definitely didn't disappoint.  Owen was bending over to pick up one of Miles' throws, when he noticed a fuzzy dandelion.  He chose the dandelion over the ball, blew the fuzz off, laughed at himself, then continued fetching the ball.  Then he inadvertently knocked the cone over when he was rolling the ball to Miles.  They decided that was way more fun then actually playing catch 
so they took turns trying to bowl the cone over instead.  

Next they practiced running the bases,
 

hitting the ball,
(I think there was some confusion because Owen normally bats lefty, 
but the coach kept trying to get his hands lined up to bat righty.)  

and standing out in the field like they would for a real game.
 

It was so much fun watching him play. Owen woke up the very next morning and let us know that he wanted to go to t-ball.  I think it's safe to say we're all excited for the next practice.

The Mystery Selfie Master Strikes Again

It's become a funny habit I do at the end of the day now.  I check my phone to see if Owen got his hands on it and added to what is now becoming his quite extensive selfie gallery.

I normally get a good laugh out the treasures I find.  What started as simple selfies have

now involved into quite the artistic photographs.  He's discovered filters...

And he thinks it's so hilarious when we both stick our tongues out at the phone, 

so I've made a cameo in some of his masterpieces.

Can't wait to see what new works of art I might find tonight!!

The Future of OPRF

Occasionally the stars align and all of our schedules match up so we can have the play date of all play dates.  The inaugural visit to the Pero's awesome new backyard play set happened to be one of those special occasions.  10 kids in all.  All ages 5 and under.

Now there are a couple of things I've learned from this next progression of pictures

1) Cookies are the answer to getting multiple kids to sit still

2) Poop is not the best word to have the kids say when going for smiles.  

Best word I've found so far...undies!  Works on Owen every time.
Perfect smiles because the syllable he's holding is "ies" so his mouth is already in a smile. :)

I also think Mila is hilarious in these pictures.  Look at her just eying up Joe and his cookie.  

So funny.  Thanks for an awesome afternoon Peros.  I forsee a lot of summer days

spent in the clubhouse of Fort Pero. 

Owen's First Broken Bone

Well, it's official.  We have our first broken bone.  

All that trampoline jumping this past weekend caught up with us.

On Sunday Owen and Aiden were jumping on the trampoline together.  Owen landed wrong and immediately started crying and wouldn't put weight on his foot.  I took him inside, sat with him for a little bit and he slowly started to put weight on it.  I debated taking him in to the walk-in right then, but he seemed to be moving around ok so I decided to give it some time.

While we were driving back home on Monday, Ryan and I were talking and felt it would be best to take him in for peace of mind.  He seemed to be moving around on it ok, but he was still walking on his toes not wanting to put full pressure on it.  It was also pretty swollen and black and blue.  We wanted to be sure it was nothing more than a sprain.  And if it was a sprain, what were the best things we could do to help it heal properly.  He's such an active kid and we didn't want something like this to come back and affect him when he was older.

  They took x-rays at the doctor's office and she said they looked ok for the most part, but she was unsure of an area by the growth plate.  She told us because of his age, the position of the growth plates, and the fact that he was not wanting to put pressure on it, she wanted us to see the pediatric orthopedic specialist.  She put a splint on it (which is the equivalent of the back half of a cast wrapped with a sticky ace bandage) and made an appt for us to go back on Wednesday to see the specialist.  

I figured the splint was a good thing because if anything it would help him rest his ankle.  But then she let us know he would not be able to walk or put any pressure on that foot with
the splint on.  What?!?  Anyone who knows Owen knows that he has one speed..running.
How was I going to keep him off his feet until Wednesday morning??  The answer..lots of
movies and ipad games.  He actually did really well.  He didn't move off of the couch even
once.  I think it helped that he was so tired from the weekend.  It was the perfect day to veg
out.  We went and picked out his own special movie and he was happy to relax.

  
Wednesday morning came and we went to the doctor.  I was sure they had just been overly cautious on Monday and they were going to tell me it was only a sprain.  Unfortunately that was not the case.  They took the splint off, the doctor looked at his foot and then watched him walk on it.  Her diagnosis, a broken bone/fracture on the outside of his foot.  She explained that how adults and kids injure their bones/joints are completely different.  When an adult hurts their ankle, for example, it is the tendon or ligament that gets sprained first.  If it is bad enough, the bone breaks.  With kids Owen's age, it is the opposite.  Typically broken bones happen first.  I'm not sure if that is because their tendons and ligaments aren't strong enough yet, or what exactly causes that.  Truth be told I was trying to keep both Joe and Owen calm while she was explaining all of this so it's a little fuzzy.

To stabilize his foot and help the bone heal, Owen would be put in a walking (or in Owen's case, running) cast for 3 weeks.  There is a small shoe that he wears with it to not only protect the cast, but give him some traction as the cast itself can be quite slippery on certain surfaces.  I had never actually seen a cast put on before, so it was quite interesting.

They start with a thin sock, and then wrap it with cotton padding.
 

Next comes a layer or two of a neutral colored fiberglass.  It comes out of the package dry, they get it wet and wrap it around his leg.  After just a minute or two it dries and hardens.
 

They finish with a colored layer of fiberglass.  Owen chose light blue. 

The finished product, a perfectly light blue cast that any 3 year old would be proud of.

 And with Joe as your moral support, everything seems a little easier.
Hopefully these next 3 weeks fly by.

Wausau Weekend

Another fun filled weekend in Wausau...

 Lots of playing outside,

 

tons of jumping on the trampoline,

 

a little relaxation mixed in here and there,

 

 More gaming than as a responsible parent I'd like to admit,

 And to top it all off...

Owen's first convertible ride and my first time in the driver's seat of the C.O.W. Truck.  :)

I'd say it's pretty safe to say we had a fabulous weekend.