It's Elementary, My Dear Sammi

I really love living directly behind an elementary school.  A long row of evergreen trees separates our two property lines, offering privacy.  Not like we need it.  Early mornings, afternoons, evenings, and weekends are so quiet there, no people, no noise, nothing.  And we get the grounds almost all to ourselves.  Blacktop and basketball hoops, jungle gyms and other climbing equipment, a running track and lots and lots of open grassy areas (if you're not concerned about dodging the goose poop, of course).  This will be Samantha's home school, eventually.  If not next fall, then most likely the year after (I'll save that for another post, after our IEP meeting in April).  How convenient is that? 

Sunday we finally had one of those beautiful, sunny, warm days we've been craving this whole miserable, cold, mostly snow-less winter.  A day that would put any mother into the Bad Mommy's Book of Shameful Acts if they did not get outside with their children.  A few e-mails to a friend, and a tricycle playdate ensued.  Nevermind that neither Sammi nor her friend were actually riding bikes at the same time, or that Sammi rode his bike, rather than her own, but we were outside.  And we were having fun. 

And Sammi rode the bike.  I haven't really seen her doing this at all, as they've been working on it diligently in PT privately and at school, and the weather hasn't been conducive to me taking her bike out yet.  But pedal she did, and she even watched where she was going.  For the most part. 

I think she's channelling Popeye.  But I did ask for a silly face...

Incidentally, I learned the real limitations of my new camera lens, now that I've had the opportunity to use it outside.  First of all, it's great in low light, so works beautifully indoors.  However, because it doesn't auto-focus, capturing moving targets while trying to see and focus through the glare of blazing sunshine and sunglass-covered eyes (oops) was a real challenge, and most of the shots were blurry.  These were about all I could salvage.  Note to self:  must remember to change the lens before venturing outdoors in the future...

Here she's drinking from a stolen glass of water once we came back inside.  I love this...again, they've been working on drinking out of open cups at school for some time now, but I am too opposed to mess to really try it at home.  Not to mention, drinking out of an open cup makes her drink slower and less, which is not a good thing when we are always pushing to keep her hydrated to counter any constipation issues.  But in the last few weeks I've discovered that she's really good at it!  I probably have the only 4 1/2 year old that doesn't drink out of an open cup solely because we don't let her.   

Note to self:  let her try stuff!!!  She wants to, and she can. 



All in all, a wonderful weekend.