Beginning of January

One day we surprised the boys with a visit to Chuck E Cheese after we picked up James from school. James had a blast! They had a bunch of new rides to check out. Rett wasn't a fan of all the noise, so he stayed put in a booth most of the time.

We got to go to a friend's birthday part at the pirate ship park and Rett was loving their snack options! It was torture for him to see the cupcakes and wait for them, but finally he got one! During the party he kept escaping to the playground to play on the swings, so after awhile I gave up and stayed up there with him. James found us with another one of his friends, so I was pushing all three of them. Rett got mad that I wasn't pushing only him, so he started having a tantrum and let go of the swing right as I pushed him! He fell backwards off the swing and onto the ground (luckily it was that cushioned material) and bit his lip. There was blood everywhere! I felt like the worst mom in the world :( James was mad at me because I stopped pushing him, and Rett was screaming his head off with blood dripping everywhere. As I took him to the bathrooms, he started crying at me and pointing back and saying "Swings! Swings!" That stubborn boy wanted to get right back on.

Whenever we get into the car, the toy cars have to come along for the ride too. Usually Rett only has one in each hand, but this day he just couldn't decide :)

James decided that he wanted to carry around a backpack full of toys and snacks everywhere we go. He insists that it isn't too heavy for him and we even weighed it at the scale at the grocery store and it is over 6 pounds! Carrying or pushing heavy things is one of the great sensory activities that is recommended for his occupational therapy, so I was excited that he thought this up all by himself.

I've always wanted to learn to play the piano and recently James has been more interested in taking "piano lessons". He has his own definition of what a lesson is, so I figured something formal would not go over well. But I figured it would be great to have a good quality keyboard in the house for me to practice and for the boys eventually. They both love it!

Anthony's parents were visiting an RV show in Daytona and they invited James to come along. He loved checking out all the nooks and crannies of the RVs. He would figure out how something worked and then was so excited to show everyone around him. He was a cute little salesman!

Passed out on the way home. That's how you know you had a great time!

We took the boys to the park and they decided to bury their cars in the sand and take turns towing them out.

Rett would escape into the mangroves and then yell, "Mommy, yook!" (look)