Sam & Elmo's World

Last year, September I think, we took Sam to see Sesame Street Live.  Samuel does not really watch Sesame Street. but has always loved Elmo.  Samuel doesn't really sit still for TV, movies, let alone a show with loud music, lights.......bright fuzzy creatures running around.......

but, we thought it was worth the chance!

Of course, we had to take Elmo along!!!

Here is Samuel and Dad waiting....and waiting.....

and waiting......and waiting

to go in.

We signed up to do the meet and greet before the show started.  We didn't know how Sam would do.  We didn't know if that was all that we would do and end up having to go home.

We had to give it a try.

We prayed that Elmo would be part of the meet and greet.

He was!!!

Hooray!!!

Sam was happy!!!!

So was Jim and Sally-Ann!!!!!

Sam was having a tough time waiting in line.  Some nice families let us go ahead of them......

there are some good people in this world!

Bert was there as well.

I felt bad for Bert.

It was all, "Elmo, Elmo, Elmo!"

Sam gave Bert some love.......

Jim and Elmo hangin' out and waiting for the show to start.

Front seats baby!!!!  Wooo hooooo!

When it started, Sam did not move from his seat.

Intermission......Sam moved.

A lot

Very quickly

All over

Bert had some moves

Big Bird and Little Bear??

Not so much.

There was about 10-15 minutes left and Sam told us it was time to go home.

He stood up.....

and left!

So did Jim and I!

Sally-Ann

Shhhhhh.............

When I was a kid, I went to the library a lot.

I loved it.

During school term breaks my friends and I would go to the library to work on class projects.  The librarian would always tell us to, "Shhhhh!"  We would for a little while, and then our voices would eventually get back up to "Shhhhhh" worthy again.

When we lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, our neighborhood library was in a lovely old building.  In the summer time, I would load Joshua into his wagon and we would walk through the historic neighborhood to the library.  Our family used the library a lot, no matter where we lived.  When we moved to Tampa, we continued to go to the library.

That was....

until......

the saga of.......

It is a story for another time.

But, it is really Joshua's and Jessica's story to tell.

Each version will most likely be different.

All that matters is that "Thunder Bunny" was eventually returned to its library home..........

 

Today I took Samuel to the library.  We have not been to the library for a long, long time and I thought that it was about time that we made it a weekly event.  I picked Friday morning because I knew it would be quiet, no story time groups.  Eventually we will work up to going when it is busier, but I wanted it to be a good, calm experience today.

 

Sam's therapist, Liz, met us at the Seffner-Mango Library at 10am.

Sam walked into the children's section and declared,

"Oh boy, there must be 1,000 books!"

Sam played on the computer for a few minutes and then went about the serious work of selecting books.

4 Curious George books, 4 books about gardens and 4 Step into Reading books later, we left with plans to return next Friday.

 

We love to read in our family.  It was so wonderful to see Sam so excited about books.  He had his pile on the seat next to him on the drive home and excitedly told me all about them.  Such wonderful words coming out of my little boy's mouth.  We are slowly, but surely making our way together.  I love to see the world open up before him,

Even a simple trip to the library.

 

Sally-Ann

 

 



It's Raining, It's Pouring...........

 



Today is a rainy day in Tampa, Florida.

I have always loved rainy days.

Days to spend curled up with a good book, or watching a movie.

I love listening to the rain on the roof when I am laying in bed at night.

Not to mention that we could do with some rain at the moment.  It has been pretty dry and my flowers need the water.........we won't even talk about the lawn. 

Well, I should have said that "used" to love the rain.  I still have moments of loving it, but since about September of last year I have been viewing the rain, clouds, thunder and lightning through different eyes.........through Sam's eyes.

 

The weather had never really bothered Samuel that much.  Then all of a sudden it did.  Thunderstorms are pretty common during the summer in Florida, but it caught me by surprise one day, when during a particularly noisy storm I ended up.....well, I don't know if words can accurately describe the scene!!  Imagine Samuel wrapped around my neck as tightly as possible without actually making me pass out, insisting that we sit on my bed with Nick Jr. on as loud as humanly bearable and the covers over our head.  To top it off, the dog also appeared to have developed this fear over night and was trying to squash under the bed.  This was after I refused to let him on the bed.  Blue is a 100lb Golden Retriever.  There was no way I could have him sitting on me as well as Sam.

When I was little, my Mum would sing me all kinds of funny songs and nursery rhymes.  One of my favorites was

"It's raining, it's pouring,

the old man is snoring.

Bumped his head, and he went to bed,

And he couldn't get up in the mornin'.

Rain, rain, go away.  Come again some other day."

Several months ago I found a book by Peter, Paul and Mary

(for those who may not have a clue of who they are, they are a singing group from way back in the dark ages!!!)

Sometimes Sam and I will read the book and listen to the song that goes along with it.  In the book, all the children play a game of hide-and-seek to take their minds off the rain.

 

When I look at the stormy weather through Sam's eyes I don't necessarily understand why he is constantly asking me about everything imaginable about the different aspects of the storm, but it helps me not to get frustrated when I am asked the same questions over and over and over and over...........

Are there grey clouds?  Are there thunder clouds?  Is there lightning?  Is that thunder?  Is it going to be cloudy all day?  Is it going to thunder all day?  Is there going to be lightning all day?  Is the water going to come up? (Courtesy of the song, "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man."  It goes, "The rain came down and the floods came up, the rain came down and the floods came up.....")

When you have answered the questions, they are then repeated back.

There are grey clouds?  There are thunder clouds?  There is lightning?  That is thunder?  It is going to be cloudy all day?  It is going to thunder all day?  It is going to lightning all day?

 

I may not understand why this worries Sam so much, but I understand that it scares him and sends him into a constant loop of worry.  I know that he comes to me for comfort and for answers.  I do not have all the answers, but I can love him.

 

As for Blue, the big yellow dog.........

he is still not allowed in the bed.

 Sally-Ann

I am a Child of God

Well, it appears that I am a little behind on my blog posts!!

The thought of catching up is very daunting, overwhelming, insane, ALL of the crossed out words,  so instead, I am going to start posting as regularly as possible, and occassionally, I will throw a post in that will hopefully get you caught up with some aspect of our lives.  For a family that is pretty boring, we always seem extremely busy!

 

 

A couple of weeks ago Sam was assigned to give a talk in Primary at Church. 
(For those unfamiliar with our church terminology,
Primary is Junior Sunday School for ages 3 - 12)

Sam has been asked to do this in the past and it hasn't ended so well.  He gets so excited and it ends up with him making loud noises into the microphone, screaming or just refusing to speak at all.  But, it is important to keep trying.

 

On the Sunday the assignment was handed out, we were driving home from church and told Sam that he had been asked to give a talk in Primary the next week.  I asked him what he wanted to talk about.  Sam did not answer me and I thought he was just ignoring me.  But, after several minutes had passed, Sam told me that he wanted to talk about Heavenly Father.  As the week went on and we tried to prepare his talk, nothing seemed to work.  It is difficult for Sam to put his thoughts and feelings into words.  Finally, as we were sorting through some of Sam's books that he hadn't read for a very long time, we came across this one.

Samuel has always loved this book and had at one stage memorized the whole thing.  It seemed perfect for Sam's talk on Heavenly Father and that is what he decided on.

 

In the past we practiced and practiced his talks, speaking parts, etc., but this time we just read it a few times.  I wanted to make it important, but not make a huge deal about it.

 

On the day of his talk, Samuel sat up in front of the room on the chair marked "talk".

 Sorry!  Couldn't find a picture of one that said, "talk."

Samuel did get a little wiggly and distracted, but he sat there until it was his turn.
Sam walked up to the pulpit and gave his talk........
absolutely perfectly.

Primary is split up into 2 sections, Junior Primary and Senior Primary.  Sam meets with the Junior Primary which is made up of children from ages 3 to turning 8.  As you can imagine, a lot of the time there is always some sort of noise going on.  But, as Sam spoke, all went quiet.  Everyone listened.  I know I am Sam's Mum, but I think many hearts were touched that day.

Church is not always easy for Sam.  So much noise, so many people.  Little things that may not bother you or I, are big things to him.  If his Primary teachers are absent, new people in the class, different seating arrangement, the list can and does go on!!!  Any change of his "normal".

But, on this Sunday, he had a great day at church.
Sam gave his 1st talk.

Oh, how I love this boy!!
This is a picture of Sam after he had been helping out at the custard shop!!

"I am a Child of God" is a beautiful children's song, Samuel will burst into this song on a regular basis.  The book he used for his talk is based on that song, I thought I would share.

 

 Sally-Ann

 

 



I Dreamed.........

The Republican National Convention has been on my mind a bit the past week.

It is being held here in Tampa.

If I could vote, I would probably vote Republican.

(No hate comments, you will be deleted without any hesitation......I like Mitt)

 

But, that isn't why it has been on my mind.

Every morning and every afternoon I have to drive past downtown Tampa to get to Sam's school.  I can go 2 different ways.  Next week, one of those ways will be closed because of the Republican National Convention.

It is my favorite way.

It is my quickest way.

It is the way with the least amount of traffic.

I know that I am not the only one in this predicament.

So, next week I have to go another way.

The way I usually come home, but I hate to go that way.

Several people have suggested that I stay in a hotel on the beach for that week and not worry about traffic at all.

But, now there is the possibility of a hurricane coming our way.

I do not want to be stuck at the beach if that happens!

So, instead, I will drive through this.....

Anyway,

I think because all this has been on my mind.

Last night I had a dream.......

I dreamed that this Sunday Mitt Romney and his family were sitting behind us at church.

Samuel liked the look of his family and climbed over the pew and onto Mitt Romney's lap.  He then proceeded to insist that Mitt Romney play Jelly Cars on the IPad.

Governor Romney was very good, you could tell he has grandsons!

Dreams, we all have them.

I started to think about the other kind of dreams.

The dreams we have of our future - or our present.

When we were little we would dream of what we wanted to be when we grew up.

Who we would marry.

Where we would live.

Dreams for our life.

When we grow older.....

I mean older, middle aged older, and even older than that.

Do we still have dreams?

I mean more that goals.

Dreams.

For myself, I don't know......

and that makes me sad.

Sally-Ann

Good-byes & New Beginnings.......

Well, it is extremely obvious that I need to do some serious catching up on my blog!

But, before I even begin to attempt that grandiose feat........

here is what has been happening the past 2 weeks or so.

For the past 2 years Samuel has been attending Sydney's School.

He has grown in leaps and bounds.

The therapists and teachers there have worked with him, have loved him and taught him.

They have given Jim and I the skills and tools we need to help Sam, and us!!!!

Words will never be able to express how we feel about the changes for Sam over the past 2 years.
Here is a post I did at the beginning of school last year
First Day of Kindergarten
The 4th of August was Sam's last day at Sydney's School.
I cried.
I just realized that I never posted about how and why we ended up at Sydney's school.  I will, but not today.
I put together a little video, I think that will show why Sydney's School will always have a place in our hearts.

Yesterday, 20th August, Samuel started a new chapter in his life. 

Yesterday was his first day at Morning Star School!

His 1st grade teacher is Mrs. Castaneda.

He had a wonderful day. 

 I didn't get a photo yesterday, but I did this morning.  I am glad that I waited, be sure and take a close look at Sam's big smile!!!

I was hoping that it would be a bit more noticeable, but Sam is missing a upper, front tooth!

We are looking forward to a great year for Samuel!!!

Sally-Ann