Tuesday, March 1, 2011

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.

11 comments:

Beth said...

Beautiful day! Great bike riding too! The girl's got skillz!

I never pushed drinking from a cup. I chose to pursue the therapeutic advantage of straws lip closure, tongue retraction. I don't think Hannah could drink well from an open glass until she was eight!

(BTW, Somehow I thought Sammi was a year older than she is--wow! She's doing great! Also, at that age, there's no way Hannah would have tolerated parties/theaters. She wasn't up for the challenge until she was 6 at least.)

tekeal said...

what a cute popeye! and great rollin...

kecia said...

way to go sammi! That is awesome! I LOVE the second picture!

Melissa said...

Growing up my dad's house backed up to an elementary school too, and we loved it! There is nothing better than having a huge play ground in your backyard. I love Sammi on the bike!

Carrie said...

That pic of Sammi on the bike is adorable!!

Poor Miss B will probably not learn how to drink out of an open-top cup anytime soon either...(this is a bad mommy confession) but she is proficient at a straw and it's WAAAAAY less messy so I just haven't put forth the effort to teach her how to drink out of a regular cup.

Nathan'smama said...

Hah! I do exclusively straw cup with a lid at home, and school does -- you guessed it -- open cup. I know he CAN, but... the mess. And in Nathan's case, it's often a V8 juice mess! Ugh.

Rob Monroe said...

I absolutely adore her silly face picture. Just perfect!

Annie said...

What a doll! I feel you on the drinking out of a cup. Aubrie is 5 and I still only allow her an open cup in the kitchen. She's a mess otherwise :)

Cathleen said...

Love the bike riding and the silly face and the drinking out of an open cup. :) Lilly drinks out of a sippy around the house lots of times because I don't want a mess also, so you're not alone! But she prefers a regular cup, and that's what she gets at school. Ironically she only likes milk from a sippy cup; she prefers water from a straw or regular cup, so I've started keeping a strap cup with a lid around the house so she'll sip on that. Oh - and we learned this past week on vacation - Lilly only likes "cold water" not "warm water" - so the water bottles we had in our bag were not worthy of her drinking, apparently. So we had to run around and find her a cup with ice to cool down her water!

Just 4 months til we move closer! Can't wait for the girls to get together this summer!

Amy Flege said...

oh love that picture of her winking!!
yeah on the open cup.. mayson will only when she WANTS too...sigh......

alicia said...

aw she is beautiful! i think i will never get tired of looking at her amazing eyes! :)
and love the pics even if they werent taken with the correct lens :)

i dont like mess either, so when we began with open cup glasses, I also began teaching him how to clean the mess ;) lol