Is he going to CoOk Me???!!

Gabriel used to run from everything. Something would trigger him to run and there was no way to stop him. Gabriel was a fast five year old who would dash without any warning. We had two other children, a baby and a 3 year old making it even more challenging to know when he would take off.
Once he could open doors, we had locks at the top of every door. Anyone who entered our home was warned about the necessity of the locks at the top of door. Every exit had extra locks in order to keep Gabriel safe in our home.
We were able to add a tracking device to his ankle when he was in kindergarden. Somehow he was able to get outside of the school twice, one time it was winter and freezing. He didn't have a jacket on and he was found the playground. Once he ran away from me at my parent's house. He ran full force toward my parent's horses and grabbed their electric fence. I am grateful that my parents had it set on a low setting. I still called Gabriel's cardiologit to make sure that his little zap wouldn't make his heart condition worse.
The plastic anklet was free through a grant given to the Sioux City police department. I checked the battery every evening and a police officer went to the school to change the battery once a month. If Gabriel was missing more than five minutes, all the adults in Gabriel's life knew to call 911 if he was missing more than five minutes. Once the police departmen was alerted, they guaranteed that he would be found in 30 minutes or less. They used volunteers who were trained in search and rescue as well as a helicopter.
When we went on trips to Omaha or Sioux Falls, out of state, I had a lump in my throat. The program wasn't necessarily available in those locations and the risk of losing him seemed even higher.
We had locks on all of the doors in Celebration last year but Gabriel has outgrown his need for running. He no longer leaves the premises without letting us know. We can even allow him the freedom to walk outside without hovering over him. Gabriel takes the trash to the unattached garage and comes back in the house without a problem. This really is an incredible development for him. I keep an eye on him and remind him about busy roads but I no longer feel like I'm going to puke every time we are near those busy streets. I am comfortable about him being at the school and no longer fear any escape route.
A year ago, I visited many private and public schools. At each school, I surveyed the escape route risk factor. Where were the fences? Were they on busy road? Was the school a closed in building or one with classroom doors facing the outside?
While I am ecstatic that things have changed in regards to Gabriel's running, he now has new fears. Strangers make him fearful. His reaction to strangers is extreme.

At the library one day, Gabriel was nervous about the older librarian I was talking to. He started asking if she was going to cook him. I told him no she wouldn't but it wasn't enough. He shoved his head in the back of my shirt, rearranging my clothing completely. She asked how old Gabriel is and seemed surprised that he is 8 years old.
It seems to be happening in any situation where he is nervous. Gabriel makes a little screeching sound and then yells, "Is he/she going to COOK ME?!!" I think this idea came from Hansel and Gretel but I'm not entirely positive. It's an odd thing to yell in public, no matter where the idea originated.
I explain that Gabriel is nervous and introduce the person to Gabriel and he seems to be better at that point. So far it has been working but this new anxiety has created some awkard moments.

Scary movies

Lane gets scared easily by the mean characters in movies.  Rather than listen to her complain and whine, I told her that she needs to find a way to watch her movies in the car or we can't turn them on any more. The problem is that most, if not all, princess movies have an evil character. She, of course, loved the princess and Barbie movies.  When I looked in my rear view mirror, this is what I saw: 

She found a way to handle the scary part! 

Planted carrots

I wrote about planting with Lane and Gabriel. I found an idea on Pinterest about planting carrot seeds in a plastic soda container.  

We rarely have soda in the house but due to a bout of illness, we had am empty container.  Lane had a friend over for a play date so I pulled the container, dirt, and carrot seeds out.   The girls had fun filling the container with dirt and seeds.  

Unfortunately, the experiment was an epic fail.  We didn't see anything grow despite taking good care of the seeds. 

Oh well, it was fun and spurred more sand play for the kids in our little sand box.   

Splash pad in Harmony

I think one of the most underutilized things in our community is the splash pad. I don't know why but I rarely see kids playing in it.  Andrew thinks it should be placed closer to the town center but I think it's a great spot, near the large park and away from the pools. In any case, we were more than happy to take advantage of the splash pad down the street from us on a hot weekend day 

I think my children were fine getting the splash pad to themselves too.  They ran around like crazy and even played hide and seek.  Lane is still so short that she can hide behind a bush and none is could see her. Thankfully that was a short lived moment of panic.  

Dramamine coma?

I think Alex gets car sickness.  This is a relatively new thing to me.  However, the last few long car rides have resulted in vomiting sessions in the back of the van.  

Alex seems perfectly fine and the next thing I know, he is ill.  I think it's motion sickness because he doesn't seem very sick after the episode.  It comes and goes pretty rapidly, especially if I pull the car over and stop driving somewhere. 

I pulled into Target and got Dramamine for him. It's the only medication I've heard that works for motion sickness. 

The medication definitely worked.  He was zonked out at 5:30 pm.  For a child who is loves staying awake at night, this was quite a change   

Full family day

I blogged about Lane's adorable art show. Our day continued with dance class. The kids are in the opening act for the recital in a few weeks. 

After our busy morning, we attended a beautiful baby shower. Some good  friends from the dance studio are having a baby boy and included us in their celebration. We are so excited for them 

The shower was held in a community clubhouse.  It was the kids first baby shower and they got antsy after eating some yummy food.  There was a cute playground next to the clubhouse which was perfect for us.  

Later we helped a friend move furniture.  The kids were wonderful - they played on their scooters and helped move small items. I was very proud of their good attitudes, especially after a long day.  

Andrew and I learned that Alex has a strong opinion about smoking.  When our friends neighbor lit a cigarette outside, Alex asked the man if he wanted to die.  The man looked confused and Alex told him that he would die if he continued to smoke.   Ahhh - we are doing something right after all! 

We bought ice cream cones on the way home. 

It was a well deserved treat!

It's now 11:50 pm and Alex is awake reading books. I wonder how long he will sleep in tomorrow after our full day. 

Lane's art gallery show

I can't say enough great things about Lane's Montessori and her teachers.  They are phenomenal educators.  Yesterday she came home with a painted map of the world and knew a song to tell me the continents. Amazing to watch the things my three year old is learning at preschool! 

Today Lane had an art gallery show at her school. The teachers turned the room into an art gallery. Her art work from the year hung together from the ceiling.  There were other areas with art work done by Lane and of course the other students.  

The teachers even had a program made to give us describing the types of art the children learned about during the year. Lane was extremely proud to show us all of her art work.  It's neat to see a budding artist in our home.