Summer so far

I am tired. This pregnancy plus this busy summer is kicking my butt. So here's a recap.

First, Nate graduated from Kindergarten, and I totally didn't expect to cry through the whole thing! It all started when the teacher leading the thing started talking about "your babies are first graders now." Not cool, Miss Stone! They all got to walk across the stage and get their certificates, and then they sang a couple of songs, and it was all very cute. Nate had the option of coming home early but he wanted to stay at school and finish his work. :)

The next week began the kids' very busy summer schedule. My goal for the summer was to give the kids opportunities to get out of the house and get interested in activities, and also to give them time to just hang out at home playing and doing a bunch of nothing. I don't know that I hit the right balance, but so far so good.

On Mondays, Georgia has dance class. It's a class of 2 year olds, and she's probably the oldest 2 year old in the class. Georgia loves everything about it--the outfits she gets to wear, Miss Audra the ballerina, prancing around doing new dances, etc. While most of the other little girls are just running around like toddlers do or throwing tantrums, Georgia is paying very close attention to Miss Audra and trying to do exactly what she does. When we signed up, I didn't realize I had to be in class with her every week. But I usually just stand back and watch her because she does so well. I think we'll move her on to 3 year old dance after this class is over.

On Tuesday mornings, Nate has swim class. Nate LOVES swim class. He loves swimming period. I took him to a trial class to make sure it was a good fit for him, and he smiled from ear to ear the entire time. Afterwards, the instructor told me that Nate could stay in that class because even though he wasn't quite as strong as the other kids at that level, he doesn't have any fear and is totally comfortable in the water. He thought he might need to do this level class a couple of times before moving on. He's not swimming independently yet, but he's pretty close. I've been swimming with him a few times this summer, and he does a lot on his own. Nicole laughs because when he's in the water, he's constantly dunking his head to look under water. This was from his first class of the summer.

Then on Tuesday afternoons, Nate is taking piano lessons. Oh my. Nate loves the piano, but he mostly just bangs on it and calls it a concert. He tries to make up little songs, and sometimes it even sounds decent. He really wanted to take piano lessons to learn to play real songs. But I don't think he realized piano lessons are nothing like his jam sessions at home. The first day, the teacher kept the piano closed most of the time and talked mostly about how to sit at the piano, the numbers of each of his fingers, etc. He kept saying, "Why aren't we playing the piano?" So far she is only working with him on the black keys, and he's very frustrated by this. I have a hard time even watching these piano lessons because he is so distracted and doesn't listen well and just tries to do his own thing. I can tell she gets frustrated with him, but she keeps plodding along. I'm not sure we will continue piano lessons after this summer. :)

On Wednesday mornings, Nate has handwriting tutoring. I found a tutor who does a program called Handwriting Without Tears, which comes highly recommended by everyone. This woman is an OT in a nearby school district during the year, but agreed to tutor Nate this summer. I really like the program, but of course this isn't Nate's favorite activity. She makes it fun for him and he doesn't mind the tutoring sessions so much, But he's supposed to do 5 minutes of homework every night, and we usually end up doing all of it in one or two sessions (bad mama), and it takes a really long time. So he doesn't like the homework. But I think his handwriting is improving some. I'm also thinking about putting him in a handwriting camp at the end of this month. That's really our biggest concern with first grade, so we're trying to do all we can to get him caught up a little.

On Wednesday afternoons, Georgia has swim class, and this one is a mommy and me class. Only for my kids would I be getting my pregnant butt in a swimsuit on a weekly basis. But unlike Nate, Georgia is afraid of the water and really needs exposure to it. When we go each week, she is usually clinging to me for dear life for the first part of the class, but she gets braver. She's doing great actually with the swimming and is warming up to getting her face wet. She still hates going underwater, but we're working on it. This is a picture of her ready to get in the sprinkler at Memaw's house. She really likes wearing cute swimsuits better than swimming.

On Thursdays Nate still has OT and PT, and Fridays are usually free unless we have to reschedule handwriting for that day. Add in doctor appointments, hair cuts, and all the other stuff that creeps up, and it's a really busy schedule to keep up with. But the kids are having fun and learning some new things.

There have been a few other noteworthy events of the summer so far ...

We went to the zoo with Granna and Pop.

We went to a wheelchair racing clinic at SBAK.

In another step toward becoming a big girl, Georgia gave up the paci. Not without a fight! But she did it, and the paci fairy brought her a new baby in exchange for the pacis. After the first couple of days of asking for it every now and then, she's done great, and I'm glad it's gone!

I have gotten bigger.

We went on a little weekend trip to a water park and to see trains.

Nate turned 6! This is the first year we haven't had a big party with a house full of people. It was very different, but it was nice. We tried to make it very special for him. It seems impossible that Nate is 6 years old!

And for the last part of June, I went to the Spina Bifida Association National Conference, held in Indianapolis this year. This was my 3rd year going to conference, and as usual I loved every minute. It was so much fun getting to meet people I have only known through message boards or Facebook for a long time, but we already knew each other so well. One of the highlights of the conference for me was getting to present a project to other SBA chapter leaders on my "Delivering the Diagnosis" project, which was originally my thesis project and informs doctors and expectant parents about Spina Bifida. It's now a national program!!! I am so proud! I also learned a lot from the sessions and other people I met there. I think the major thing I took away from conference this year was to really work on independence skills with Nate. Those sometimes come harder for kids with Spina Bifida, but they make a huge difference in their lives. It's also important for parents to back off at some point. For example, I saw a man about 25-30 years old using a wheelchair and going through the breakfast line. His mother was behind him and pointed out the strawberries. He says, "I'm not really a strawberry guy. I'm more of a watermelong guy," as he put some watermelon on his plate. His mother said, "I am encouraging you to eat at least one strawberry." Oh lord, I thought. Note to self--back off on the overbearing parenting when your kid is old enough to grow a beard.

So there's June in a nutshell. At the end of this month we'll be traveling for a week-long appointment for Nate at Cincinnati Children's Hospital's Colorectal Clinic. And in August we'll be having a baby! Whoever called summer a "break" obviously didn't live at the Payne house.