"All of Me"

Isaac is playing "All of Me" by John Legend and Roman is acting all Ray Charles, but without the sunglasses.

 Yes, yes.  I am crying in this video.  Roman's therapist had changed his straw and cup (same formula) the day before.  He "could" drink out of it, but he was refusing it this particular evening.  We tried everything and he was just screaming and angry that he couldn't have his old straw cup.  When everyone had finished dinner and Isaac started playing the piano, I sat there next to him because Roman loves to "play" the piano with him.  Brian was videoing this because, of course, it is adorable and I was just thinking how exhausted I was from the struggle and how wonderful and very worth it Roman is.  They were tears of joy and struggle all mixed up.

He ended up drinking from the cup when he was calm and distracted by the piano.  We have since backed up and are working on that straw and cup in therapy and trying to push him, but not too much.  It's a very fine line.

Datsun 280zx

We are now the proud owners of a "project car" that will hopefully at least get Isaac to and from work here in about 6 months (unless we can find anyone around here that hires a 15 1/2 year old.)  Brian talked me into buying this car made in 1983 because he wanted to teach Isaac to work on cars and this aged car will be easier to fix since it isn't computer based.  Also the parts aren't too expensive.  So, first on the docket is to fix the seat belts so it is safe to drive, and there a couple other issues to make it more reliable.  If this all pans out, he will be buying this car from us at some point.

Isaac has been a rock star driving the van around for us during the day since he got his permit in September.  He's not ventured on the highway yet, but he is probably ready now.  I am proud to say it is a rare occurrence that he makes me nervous which is so different than when the girls were learning.  They also didn't learn on the big 12 passenger van.  This means he gets a lot more practice since that is primarily what we drive.

 

Throwback Post #1 (late November of 2022)

Judah is a cuddler and he loves that Roman is too!  Roman has taken to diving at him when he walks by to get some hugs and pats.

This was from before his chest wound issues.  He had only done it a couple of times and only on this low "block."

Roman absolutely loves music and when the boys play piano.  Before he was walking he would frequently crawl under the bench or hold onto the lag of the piano while they practiced.  This is during an actual lesson.  Our kind piano teacher doesn't mind a bit.

This is one of his long time favorite toys, his very own piano.

This is Isaac's traditional dish that he makes every Thanksgiving, Key Lime Pie.  I think he has perfected it.

 

The Fennec Fox Experience, A Very Late Birthday Gift

 I had the joy of taking Isaac and his buddy to the Animal World Snake Farm Zoo (I previously went with just the homeschooled boys in May) specifically to have an experience with his favorite animal, a fennec fox.  Genevieve babysat Roman for me.  It was a stress free day and we had a great time!

The moment we've all been waiting for!  Isaac got to hold the fennec fox, named Janet (my mom's name ironically.)  Janet was raised from birth to be tame and held throughout the day even though she is nocturnal and has to be woken up for these encounters.  Poor girl!  She has a buddy, named Jo, that she plays with all night long.

We all got a turn to pet Janet.

Janet was a timid little thing.  Look at those ears!

I fell in love with this cute little wart hog.  

Gibbons grooming each other.  They made they most insane noises when they swung across the top of the cage back and forth at top speed.  Apparently, they do it every day when the bison are getting fed.

These girls were fed with tongs on special blocks so they don't fight each other.

Hyena, we got to watch them be hand fed through the bars and hear them laugh.

Feisty goats, I told Isaac to show them who's boss.

Look at the micro mini cow!  She is a miniature cow with dwarfism.

A friendly Lemur

A very moody llama

Two Special Boys' Birthdays Back to Back

 Isaac's birthday fell on the day before school started and as our quarantine was ending from COVID.  I was not sick anymore, but I was still so run down.  I had no energy, and when I got out in the heat/sun I felt awful again.  Then I found out that Genevieve had a doctor's appointment that afternoon that we really needed to keep since it was so hard to get.  They made the appointment without even telling me which is strange.

Anyway, the point of all that is to say that Isaac's birthday plans all had to be postponed.  We were supposed to be going to the Snake Farm and Zoo to have a Fennec Fox Experience with a friend of his as his gift from us.  Isaac rarely asks for anything and when I saw this last spring I knew he would enjoy it.  Sadly it had to be postponed for several weeks.  As a whole the family didn't feel good enough even for his birthday dinner.  I felt really bad about the whole thing.  He is not a complainer and handled it like a champ.  I tried to squeeze in a few special things for him.  I got him a Smoothie King and the kids gave him his handmade cards.

I woke up and ran down stairs to get the first day photo, but I had to force them and they were worried about being late, so it's not a perfect picture.  It was Hannah's first day of her senior year though!

The next day was the first day of school and Roman's first birthday!  I had planned to make him a piano cake but i really couldn't muster the energy at all.  He, of course, hasn't eaten any kind of food other than purees at this point and there was no chance he would even put it in his mouth if given the chance.  So I told myself that we would have that cake as a celebration of his adoption being finalized instead since that day was coming sooner rather than later.  Alas, I still feel like a bad mom.  Mom guilt is real.

Both of my birthday boys are amazing, and I love them to pieces!

Another Birthday Boy

Isaac is the next in our series of birthdays.  He turned the big 13!  He was thrilled to have coffee and Dr. Pepper as is the privilege of 13 year olds in our household.  For his birthday he asked for a friend party at an escape room, a Card cake with homemade strawberry icing, and to go to Olive Garden for his dinner.  We told him the party would be his gift this year, but I did get him a very cool camping coffee mug (with a carabiner handle to hook to a backpack) in Red River that I saved for this occasion.

They escaped!

Brian took him and his friends to the escape room, and I had his cake and pizza ready when they got home.

He's as tall as me now, and way taller than his friends of whom he is the youngest.

The party was a few days before his actual birthday because this year it fell on the day of orientation for school.  When dad got home from work, we went to Olive Garden, then gave him his home-made cards, and his gifts that had arrived in the mail.

Bob drew that Captain America all by himself!

 I must have missed taking pictures of the girls' cards for him.   He got a wallet, some money, and a whittling set that he has been practicing with.  Happy birthday, Isaac!

April Baseball

Isaac had a true COVID-19 Season with only three games all against the same team and one scrimmage against their sister school.  I guess no other teams in their leagues had enough players.

 They definitely improved a lot from the first game to the last so that was promising.  Isaac played Center Field the whole season in the games.  And in the last game he got two big hits, a double and an RBI, which his dad and I both missed because we were out of town.  They had some strange rules about when anyone could attend the games, so I only was able to watch one of his games.