Sailing, sailing

We got the boys a new book shelf/toy box. We took the old one out. We set it off to the side. We put it with the shelves facing away from the boys. Tracy used it to block the bottom of the armoir, which the boys like to climb in to.

You can see how successful our sly ruse turned out to be. The boys have nothing but time. Mischief is their chief pass time. They found a new, and hitherto unimagined, use for the book shelves.

I should go take them to the basement right now. I have no idea why they took their shorts off.

Oink, Oink

Rhys has swine flue. Yeah us.

He did not have any symptoms. We got a call from school that he was lethargic and complaining that his belly hurt. I picked him up and took him to the Dr. They did a nasal swipe and within fifteen minutes we had the magical news.

He has a prescription for meds to treat it, but the pharmacy was out. They should get some in today. Rhys and I are home today. Tracy will stay home with him tomorrow. Owyn goes to the Dr this afternoon.

At least there are only two more days this week, so we should be free and clear by next week. I hope whoever he got it from is out of school and that Rhys did not spread it around to his little friends.

Rhys and Amya, sitting in a tree

Rhys has a girlfriend. They are in day care together. We are happy about this for several reasons.

She speaks more clearly than the boys do, thus hopefully being a good influence on his speech. He needs all the help he can get there, though his speech therapy is going well.

She is very understanding of his potty training difficulties and is very supportive of his efforts. Last Friday he did not have an accident all day. She was so excited that she gave him her peaches and popsicle (they are studying P's).

She does not get him all wound up the way the boys do. As he gets more excited, and there are more inputs, his little brain gets overwhelmed and he goes feral on us. He starts biting and hitting. He needs to get away and do something quiet, like wash his hands for half an hour or so. Amya is less likely to push him over the edge than the boys.

Today, when Tracy was dropping Rhys and Owyn off, she overheard part of a conversation already underway. "We can't take him, we don't have a car seat for him." This was followed by an very patient four year old, obviously concerned that she has to do all the thinking around here. "Well go buy another car seat Mama, then we can take Rhys with us".

Amya is going camping in South Dakota. She wanted to take Rhys with her. Ahhh. Young love.

Ham popsicles

We got a big package of ham for sandwiches at Costco. It is thin cut and each piece is folded up. They are very east to get out of the package and to roll up.

Owyn, it turns out, loves ham. We call them ham popsicles. We were snacking over the weekend and Owyn kept coming into the kitchen, saying "Am Opsil" and smiling up at us with his crooked toothed grin. As soon as we handed him one he would march back to the living room with his roll of greasy, fatty goodness, happily munching away.

I'm sure we are scarring these boys for life.

Goodbye

Last night we had some friends over for dinner before they moved out of town today. Kris and Barb have been a very important part of our lives for almost five years. It is a sad day to see them leave.

We met them in a baby class that we took through the base. Barb had just had Gianna and Tracy was still preggers with Rhys. Barb was starting up her baby sitting business and we signed our little bean up.

Rhys and Gianna grew up together, and when Owyn came along he went to Barb too. They had another daughter, Charlize and the four of them were together all the time. Rhys loves his "Yanna" more than any other child, other than Owyn.

Kris is in the Air Force, and just got his commission after finishing his degree through the, very competitive, Air Force commissioning program. Barb also just finished her degree. We are very proud of both of them and we will miss them.

Good luck guys.

Dirt

Owyn had never been camping before. He loved it. The woods were irresistible to him. He kept heading off on great explorations, all alone. We spent the whole weekend trying to keep track of him.

He also loved the dirt and the junk food. That is not a black eye, it is dirt. We went through two full packages of wipes just cleaning up kids over the three days.

The fire was pretty neat too.

Night Night Swing

Rhys has a swing in OT that is used to calm him down. It is, basically, a hammock hanging from a single hook. He calls it the night night swing, and it is one of his favorites.

When we went camping in Wyoming there was an actual hammock set up. A very dangerous vortex into a black hole of napping it was too.

The boys loved the night night swing and could not get enough time in it, though they, apparently, have super ninja skills which let them avoid the naps that afflicted the rest of us.

The weasel hound, Deuce, is in the background of one of the pictures. She is our little dog.

Horses

Last weekend we went camping in Casper. My aunt has horses and both boys got to ride. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. We hope to get Rhys doing some hippotherapy soon. I don't know where they are going to get hippos in the mountains though. (Not really, I know what it is, I swear, really).

Rhys' Speech

When I got home I noticed that Rhys was more understandable. One benefit of being away from him for five weeks, I noticed his progress. He still has a long way to go for other people to be able to understand most of what he says, but any progress is welcome.

Last week he finally got to start speech therapy. It is at the same place as his Occupational Therapy and his physical therapy. He has become very well known there. His various therapists (three of them) compare notes on how to deal with him, what works and what doesn't.

He has speech and OT every week and PT once a month. This week was all three. He was in there Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Each time he went in he saw one of his other therapists.

Each of the therapists pushes him way past what he wants to do. He, inevitably, ends up getting angry at them at least once. It is the nature of the beast. He tends to quit when things get hard. We have to remind ourselves not to be too quick to help him, to push him, but I think that he is capable of more than we require of him. His therapists push him to that higher level.

Today at speech he saw his OT therapist, who usually ends up pissing him off the most. He ran up and gave her a big hug, then came back to speech.

He is a very sweet boy, even after all that we put him through.

Strep Again?

Tracy and Owyn and Rhys and I all have strep now. This is actually not all bad. Silver lining time here. We are all on antibiotics at the same time. This means we can all kill it off and not keep giving it to each other round robin.

We have thrown away all of our tooth brushes and started over with new. Tracy soaked all of Owyn's gee's in Listerine. This has the benefit of killing off germs and of making them less desirable for him.

Not silver lining time. I was jet lagged all last week. The lack of sleep in Korea finally caught up with me and all I did was work, spend time with boys, go to sleep, wake up and back to work. We went camping last weekend. Great time, but not restful. I got strep on Monday. Early to bed every night because I felt like crap.

I have been home two weeks and all I have done is work and sleep, and spend some time with the boys. Tracy and I are looking forward to each getting a day to sleep in this weekend. After six weeks we both need one day to catch up.

Homecoming

I had been dreaming of my homecoming. I could not wait to see the boys, to see the looks on their faces, and to hug the little monsters.

When I finally got home, it was all I had dreamed and more. Tracy and the boys met me at baggage claim. I got there first. I saw them walk in, Tracy holding Owyn and Rhys like a hunting dog on a scent.

Rhys saw me. He stopped. His face lit up. His smile stretched from ear to ear. He yelled "DADDY, daddy, daddy!!!!" and ran towards me with his arms out. He flew into my arms and glued himself to me.

I heard Owyn, "Daddeee!" He ran up and threw himself at me too. I had not expected this. I did not know if he would miss me. I stood up with both boys in my arms, hugging me as tightly as they could. Glued to me.

At some point I got to hug Tracy too. It took awhile. Both boys have been attached to me ever since I got back. Owyn has become much more of a daddy's boy now.

It's good to be home.