You learn something new every day, right?!?

Well if that's true, then today I learned that Bailey has not mastered the brakes on his bicycle. During my run this afternoon we headed out of our neighborhood onto the trails. All three boys wanted to go to the 'big hill' and so that's the direction we took. At the top of the hill I could see the excitement in the eyes of my three boys! They could see down the other side which is quite steep. I decided to use my head and think of possible catastrophes. My best solution to avoid any catastrophes was to stagger their descent. I let Hayden go first, and he was down in no time, waiting for us at the bottom near the exercise equipment. Carson was next and bless his heart, he stayed in complete control the entire time. Almost the point where I wanted to yell and give him permission to go a little faster. And then it was Bailey's turn.

Now, for those of you who live here at Fort Carson and run these trails, you know that this particular hill (right across the street from Cheyenne Mountain State Park) is a steep, speed-gathering hill. You also know that it has a slight flattening about 1/3 of the way down and then drops down farther. Kind of reminds me of a roller coaster when thinking about it, though that's never what I'm thinking when I'm running it. Well, Bailey stayed in control during that first part of the hill, and I was keeping pace beside him. And then he hit that second part. Before long I noticed he was picking up serious speed and got worried...and then I saw his front tire wobbling back and forth, just before he crashed. This was the kind of crash you see on TV, cringe, and then say, "Shew, glad that's on TV." But this time I was really there and this was happening to my baby. I sprinted to him praying that simple prayer - the only one that would come. "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD!" It eventually turned to "HELP MY BABY, HELP MY BABY!' He was not moving, though he was screaming. When I got there I tried to keep him from getting up so I could check him out. He was having none of that, but he really couldn't control his movements, and his right arm was having spasms. He wanted to stand but his legs were like rubber. I forced him to sit on my lap for a few minutes so I could check him out. As far as I could tell there was nothing broken and the only blood was coming from skinned places. All his teeth were intact, though they were sharing the space with a lot of dirt and gravel. He was wearing a good-fitting helmet (glad we had one fitted for his head!) and he was responsive. In fact, in the midst of his screaming he kept saying, "I'm hungry!!" Poor guy!

When he had settled and I was sure he was in no immediate danger, I asked if he wanted to try to stand up. He was able to, though he didn't do so for long. Both of his brothers had dropped their bikes and ran back up the hill to see if he was okay...Hayden was actually getting in MY way and I had to shoo him away a few times. (Looking back, that's pretty sweet of him...I will tell him that tomorrow!) So when Bailey sat back down I walked back down to with Hayden and Carson to where they had dropped their bikes. This was to kind of give Bailey a few moments to compose himself. When we got back I reminded him of our family rule: If you fall off a bike, you gotta get back on and ride one more time. While he was not fond of this idea, he was a trooper! I walked the bike back up to the top of that second hill and made him ride. I taught him how to press hard on the brakes to keep control of the bike. He was not doing great, but he was getting the idea. We finally reached the bottom (much slower than we did the first time) and then turned to walk back up.

When we got to the top, we still had to go back down the side that is closer to our house. Fortunately it is not nearly as steep and it is curvy. I am SO PROUD of him because he kept complete control and stayed beside me the whole time. Yes, he was crying, but I was able to walk beside him as he rode! And when he reached the bottom he took off and was pretty much fine...aside from crying for Daddy!!

I was thankful I had my phone, though I didn't really need it. The thought always crosses my mind that if don't have it and there's an emergency I'd be stuck.

When he crashed he didn't quite go over his handlebars, but he did end up in front of his bike and he rolled about 4 times before sliding a long way to a stop. On the way back up the hill the last time I counted the paces from where I sat with him for several minutes to the very first tire out-of-control tire track and it was about 20 of my paces. That's a pretty far distance for him to roll and slide.

When we got home I cleaned up his wounds and gave him some Motrin. I can imagine that he's pretty sore. He is very fortunate that he prefers to wear jeans because they protected his legs very well. Most of his scrapes are on his arms, a few on his back and face. And of course, I took pictures. He fell asleep on my bed while I was getting ready to go out with a friend (GIRL'S NIGHT!!!) which sort of worried me. I was fortunate, however, that this friend of mine is a nurse. So I had her inspect him for signs of a concussion. He was just fine, but probably a bit traumatized from the day's events.

Turns out after all that crying about being hungry he had no appetite for dinner. I left him with Matt while I enjoyed Greek cuisine with a friend PCSing soon, so I'm not sure if he ever ate. I am, however, sitting in his room (at 1:20 AM) because I needed reassurance that he's fine. He is! Sleeping soundly while I type away...I'm awake because I enjoyed a yummy cup of coffee at oh-late-thirty!!

So today I learned that Bailey had not mastered the brakes and then I learned he had the tenacity to get back up on the bike and try again, even facing the very hill that had beaten him to a pulp. I am sure there's a lesson in there for adults...

Absolutely Random

After our wonderful trip to Crested Butte, Hayden and I ended up quite sick.  We had the worst colds we've ever had, and are still praising the Lord that Matt and the other two boys stayed well.  I will say it was kind of nice being sick while another parent was in the house.  Not only did Matt take amazing care of me and Hayden, he also kept the house clean, laundry washed, and all of us fed.  We are better now, though that annoying persistent cough is tagging along for a long ride. 

Last week we spent catching up on school work (Hayden has tested at 5th grade reading level!!) and getting more in before our "Spring Break."  I have been working constantly on preparing things for our cruise.  Things like renting our convertible for the 4 days in LA before our cruise.  Like cooking 14 meals and freezing them so mom and Linda simply thaw and heat.  Like shopping for a new bathing suit and spring clothes (honestly, my spring wardrobe was quite lacking from last year, and it hit me last week that I'm still wearing winter clothes...won't need those in Mexico!).  I wrote all the instructions for mom:  not that mom can't do this without instructions, but I figured if I've already done things the hard way and figured out what works, I could at least share those with her.  Whether or not she and Linda do things the way I do doesn't matter to me.  But I really do want to leave them with as little to try to figure out as possible. 

My final job is to clean the house today.  That's my Monday job, but yesterday I was quite busy.  I cooked, got my nails done for the cruise, cut the boys' hair, then I went to dinner with a friend who is moving.  When I say "moving" I mean to KANSAS and while I'm on my cruise!  This is the person God put in my life to be my back-up parent while Matt was in Iraq.  She lives right across the street and I could count on her to watch my boys in an emergency or while I went out for a run.  She and I swapped child care and food, ate pizza every Tuesday night for a year, and generally enjoyed watching each others' backs during deployment.  

Before I could even consider working on the house or packing, I needed to make sure my SC cards were put on computer and CD.  Fortunately I only had about 15 pictures that were not uploaded and burned.  These were of Bailey's birthday party!  I am so amazed that my youngest child is 5 years old.  I look through the scrapbooks I've made and they take me right back to the moment he was born, the baby years, and I miss them.  Bailey has been a blessing, though he has been our most challenging child!  In the past year he has been diagnosed with SPD (originally by the neighbor I mentioned in previous paragraph, then by our doctor, and finally by Occupational Therapists).  After diagnosis, he spent 6 months in OT and graduated the program in record time.  Bear with me while I give you the stats:  At the original testing he was 50 months old but tested at 28 months in fine motor skills.  6 months later he was 55 months old (not quite 56 months old) and he tested at 55 month level.  Right on track for his age!  Most kids take a year to get caught up, and he came from WAY behind!  He's a great learner, just needed some help with his sensory issues.  Last year in preschool he wouldn't TOUCH a crayon, much less scissors.  This year his teacher has to drag him out of "art center" and encourage him to go to others to achieve a variety of preschool experiences!  I'm floored by his transformation!

Birthdays this year have been very low-key.  Those in NC know I love to make a big deal out of them, but this year with Matt coming back just 11 days before Carson's, we were in no state of mind to do anything major.  We went to a movie in the afternoon, then had two families over for cake and ice cream.  For Bailey, we went to Chuck E Cheese's and then had families over.  But he had asked for the same families with an additional two.  Well, let me tell you, this drained Matt.  He had a good time visiting, but for two days after that he was in silent mode.  We've decided (with Hayden's approval) to host his party outside of the home.  Matt's still not accustomed to large crowds in tight spaces.  (I will say something fun about Bailey's party:  We had 5 families here, and in those families we had 11 kids here:  10 boys and 1 girl!  Bless her heart!)

Well, I just spent an hour on the computer updating, uploading, and burning.  I guess I need to get to the real work of the day!  I'll post after the cruise!  I still can't believe I'm going on a cruise!  First of all because we've never been in a financial position to do so, but also because we're not beach people.  BUT:  We LIVE in the mountains so to see the beautiful beach will be nice!  (Poor Matt...he said while in Iraq that he could live the rest of his life never seeing sand again!  Hehe!!  But don't let him fool you...he's really excited about this trip, too!)

"I want my soft pants!!!!!"

Okay, I need to journal a bit more about Bailey's condition.  

When we got back from NC he had a rough time adjusting, and I wrote about that on the other site.  All has been very calm the past 2 weeks, but his teacher and I decided that if he had another bad day, she would call and I'd come right away.  

Yesterday I got a call from his teacher saying that he was having a rough day.  The only problem was I was in the middle of teaching at PWOC.  

By the time I was done teaching it was time for me to pick him up.  I headed over there and the teacher, Bailey, and I had a conference.  He had hit one of the children (thankfully it was a child we know and I was able to apologize to his mom...she just roller her eyes and said, "Boys will be boys!! No big deal!").  Still, it broke my heart for Bailey to have been a bully.  

As we were about to leave, his teacher said, "I wonder if he's coming down with something.  He was very whiney today."  

That's when it hit me.  There had been an "incident" at home that may have been partly responsible for his strange behavior.

With his condition - Sensory Processing Disorder - things that feel different on his body (shoes, socks, pants, coats, etc) can stress his body out without him even knowing it.  For the past 2 years, he's been especially fond of his "blue pants" which are jeans.  I have been so thankful that our church is a causal one, because he only wore jeans. 

When we went  back home over Christmas he got some "soft pants."  These were wind suits, sort of like what basketball players wear.  I didn't mind, and neither did Bailey.  I didn't notice anything wrong with him having these until Sunday when I told him he needed to wear jeans to church. He threw a massive fit and because I was on the phone with Matt and running late, I just gave in.  But I resolved to break him of this new addiction.  (As a parent of a child with SPD, I have to pick my battles, and this is one I'm willing to fight.)  

Let me preface the following with a fact so that you don't think what I'm about to say is just horrible.  About 2 years ago, my three unique sons decided they were done with pj's.  They began getting out of the bath in the evenings and putting on their clean clothes for the next day.  Monday evening I told Bailey all his "soft pants" were dirty and that he was going to have to wear "blue pants."  (I decided it was better to get the battle out of the way the night before school and that way he'd be used to the pants by time to leave home.)  He had an absolute meltdown. He screamed and cried for about 30 minutes.  I did the brushing technique that I have been taught by the OT, I put lotion on him, I rubbed his back, nothing would console him.  I told him that if he didn't sleep in the jeans that he wouldn't get to listen to Adventures in Odyssey while falling asleep.  That's a kid's CD of Bible Stories my kids absolutely LOVE!!!  Anyway, he finally settled, I turned on the CD, and he went to sleep.  

All seemed fine and he never complained the next morning.  In fact, I was rather proud of myself for thinking ahead and getting the battle out of the way the night before.  

However, a friend and I were discussing this screaming fit, as her son has SPD as well, and even more severely than Bailey.  Basically, even though Bailey was not conscious of the pants bothering him, they could have still be wreaking havoc on his nervous system as it was trying to get adjusted to them again.  

Then, to top it all off, he vomited last night in his bed, so he has come down with something on top of that.  (Not that I'm glad he is sick, but it is a bit relieving to have a set of reasons to explain Bailey's behavior yesterday.)

Oh, and he did not get to listen to his CD last night before bed, and he cried for a few minutes.  He will remember that next time I use it as a warning!

One final note:  Matt is in Kuwait, so he could be home as early as tomorrow or as late as Saturday.  I'm telling the boys he'll be home sometime next week, to provide a buffer. 

Here is a series of prayer requests:

• That Bailey stays well from now on.
• That no one else gets sick
• That Bailey adjusts to his "blue pants"
• That Matt's flight from Kuwait is SOON but more importantly, safe.
• That there are no delays as he travels home.  One of our friends had a 10 day layover in Spain due to plane trouble
• That our reintegration is smooth!  

You are a blessing to our family!

~Jennifer