Like a kid again

Thursday mornings are my favorite. I really look forward to them.
It's Thursday mornings when I get to go to the Wissahickon. If Dave's with me I get to hike; otherwise I walk along forbidden drive where there are more people and its safer.
This past Thursday morning was absolutely the best. The weather was brisk, and sunny. The trees were displaying their best fall colors. I was happy as a lark.
As I walked along the path a leaf floated down in front of me quite quickly. I tried to catch it, but failed. In this attempt I realized that trying to catch the leaf was more fun that the trill of catching it.
As I kept moving I tried again and again to catch falling leaves. Each time giggling more and more.
I kicked a large stone. Then it occurred to me it would be more fun to throw it in the river, so I did. It was a terrible throw and I never hit the water. As I kept going my mission was now to find another stone to this time get into the water. Mission accomplished.
I also stopped at this beautiful spot. I sat on the rocks and soaked in the sun. I'm convinced I need exuberant amounts of vitamin D.
Then I got distracted by the shape of a leaf. So I went on a search to collect different shapes, colors, and sizes of leaves. Hence, leaf art.

leaf art

It was a perfect morning of exercise (fast walking), nature, and having fun the way a kid would - catching leaves and throwing rocks in the water. Which goes back to a previous post about why I never want to become a runner. As a runner you are so focused on "RUNNING" that you can't run after a leaf falling and try to catch it, meanwhile cracking yourself up!

Lego Mania Birthday Party

THE BIRTHDAY BOY (and sister)

LEGO BINGO

PHOTO BOOTH

LEGO BRICK PINATA

 What I didn't think about was how strong and sturdy a box is, especially when taped up. My mom had to jump in there (well she wanted to; she's a kid at heart). Finally Dave had to cut slits in the box so we could get to the goodies inside!

"Happy Birthday to you..."

THE GANG

A big thanks so everyone who everyone who came! Alex felt so loved and celebrated!!! To quote my mom, "That was the best party you ever threw! I had the best time!" (Thanks mom)

Lego Mania Birthday Party!

         

Can you guess by the title who this is about...?
It could only be Alex!! The boy who plays Legos (playing and building) 7 days a week morning, noon, and night. (Quite literally, he plays before school, we play together after lunch until it's time to get Lilia, and then he plays for a good hour before bed.)

So in order to celebrate my great big boy turning 5 we celebrated Lego style (much thanks to Pinterest!!)
What I lack in math skills (seriously), I make up for in creativity. I went through Alex's Lego face collection and made faces on cups.

Thanks to yellow spray paint I was able to turn a former amazon box into a yellow brick pinata.
I cut out the shape of a lego head, cut out eyes and coated those faces in yellow for our photo booth (pictured later).

I also saw the idea of turning yellow lanterns into lego heads. Oh yeah - that happened too. I finished most of the cups and lantern heads late one night. That night's dreams were filled with Legos - red legos to be specific. We needed more red legos!
It was clear in the morning that I was spending way too much time on all this. However, when Alex came down in the morning and saw the lanterns and cups; his reaction made it all worth it!

I can't believe my snuggly, master-builder, tender hearted, incredibly observant, detail-oriented little guy is 5!!! I wouldn't trade his younger years, but I'm thankful that he's growing up. He's so much fun to play with, make up crazy games while Lilia is at school and it's just he and I, and build Legos with. I am enjoying him more and more!! He still has his beloved Stinky Bear. Although, just after his 5th birthday he stopped sucking on the ear. I'm pretty sure because half of it is dangling off. Maybe he's aware of the possibility of swallowing it? It wouldn't surprise me. Now he snuggles it to fall asleep and rubs Stinky's ear against his face. Could he moving away from Stinky? It's hard to picture them not together. 

The Gift of Dyslexia

On Tuesday evening we sat down with Lilia's former kindergarten teacher as we went over the test results. As she talked through page after page of her findings she read her conclusion, "Lilia has dyslexia." Mrs. Sanchez gently held my hand as the tears flooded my eyes. She had walked through this twice already with both of her sons. She told me that this evening was part of the healing process for her. She then talked through what incredible changes would happen in the classroom for Lilia, and how cared for she will be. She added that if Lilia had not gone through the
"fundations" program at The City School (a way to teach phonics and reading) then she would be far worse off.

Dyslexia is a language processing problem. It has absolutely nothing to do with your IQ. It's hereditary. Most people's brains have one side that is 10% smaller than the other. For someone with dyslexia, both sides of the brain are the same size. They are also right-side dominant. They learn best through concrete things that use the five-senses. They have a difficult time with abstract concepts.
Lilia is very gifted verbally. She can have an adult conversation with you very easily. However the disconnect comes with writing that down on paper. She has trouble with spelling, writing and sequencing. Her testing showed she is still unsure of the order of the days of the week and does not know the months of the year, let alone in order. She has a very difficult time copying thing off the board too. However, give her a book about animals and she can retain so much of that information and tell you (very passionately) all about sharks, or whatever she is reading.

Since we moved to Philadelphia in September of 2009 I had been praying where Lilia should go to school. God made it abundantly clear that He wanted her at The City School. As I look back over His perfect Sovereignty I am blown away. If she had not been through the "fundations" program she would have been far worse. Even the story of how we learned about her dyslexia can only point to an incredible God who cares so deeply for my daughter. Here's the story...
At the end of 1st grade a letter went home that Lilia would be re-enrolled in Phonics help. Being an elementary-ed major and a natural teacher I called the school to see what I could do to help over the summer. I never got a call back (not typical, but all part of God's plan).
Sometime in July we were all at the King of Prussia mall (largest mall in the country) and we ran into a teacher from Lilia's school, Miss Evans. Miss Evans' new role at the school is to be a bridge between teachers and kids with learning disabilities. She gave me her number and we later got together to discuss Lilia's trouble with phonics. She gave me some invaluable tips to help Lilia with phonics. She also told me how Mrs. Sanchez had just finished a dyslexia grad class. My interest was peaked because Lilia still had trouble with the direction of "b,d,p,q, and 9". We met with Mrs. Sanchez and she did some testing on Lilia.
Now - what are the odds of us running into Miss Evan at the KOP mall? What are the odds of the timing of Mrs. Sanchez taking this class? Very, very, very slim! God is so good! He is always in control!
I recently learned (about a week after I wrote this story) that The City School uses the Wilson Program to teach  reading, writing and phonics. "Fundations" is one of the pieces under the umbrella of Wilson. They are the ONLY school in Philly to use this program. (Most schools only use it as an intervention.) What's even more amazing is that the Wilson Program was made for kids with dyslexia! Now read that again. Can you believe it! God made it abundantly clear that He wanted her at the City School. Wow. Wow.

Today we explained to Lilia (I think we did a good job) about her dyslexia. She is excited about it. We watched a video explaining it a bit and talking about famous people with dyslexia - Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Leonardo Da Vinci, Pablo Piccaso, John Lennon, etc. A full list can be found here. Lilia wants to tell everyone about her dyslexia! Praise God that she sees it as a gift, because it is! People with dyslexia are gifted. One young girl gave a Ted talk. She said, "Find out what your strengths are and pursue them." Many CEO's are dyslexic.
I'm so thankful that we found out early. I see dyslexia as a gift for her. If she wants to go to vet school, she's going to have to work really, really hard. She's going to need grit. Dyslexia will give her the grit she needs to pursue whatever it is God has for her. Here's a short Ted talk about why grit is so important to succeed. I love the ways God has gifted her! Plus, who needs to know how to spell now-a-days? Every piece of technology has spell check!