Highlights
- Fall basketball season starts
- ROA classes begin
- The “sport court” gets concrete!
Sport Court is getting close
As usual, September ushered in the beginning of “real” summer weather here. Strings of hot days sprinkled throughout the month, but the kids definitely noticed the daylight hours decreasing. We got closer to completing the court for the back yard sports area, and the hot days gave even more sweat to the “blood, sweat and tears” needed to get this job done. After receiving several quotes, we finally settled on a contractor recommended from a friend to pour the concrete pad for the court. On September 29th, the crew came out and did the final preparations to the ground and then poured and finished the concrete pad. Calan loved watching the wet concrete oozing from the 6″ hose that wrapped from the truck at the street all the way to our backyard. He wanted to document the process as well, so he carried his camera around as he watched. He snapped photos and captured all the interesting angles of the works. The crew quickly filled and spread the “mud” into place within the wooden forms that outlined the court area. When it was all done, the hardest part began: waiting a solid week for it to cure. At least we could get the kids’ initials n place before the surface was dry.
Kitty gets sick
A couple weeks into September Mama began to worry a little bit more about Kitty’s eating. Kitty had been a picky eater since we got her in April, but in the last month or so it really became more of a game to get her to eat well. Nothing would stick, so the big strategy became rotating different types of food and finding ways to “trick” her into eating more of the good dry food we had for her. By now though, it had become harder, and her weight seemed to be decreasing. She’d also not been herself for some weeks now as far as playing and running around. Otherwise, she was still very affectionate and cuddly, her usual purring machine in full throttle any time you shared time with her.
Not taking any chances, we scheduled an appointment with the vet. Calan and Mama took her in. This gave Calan a chance to be a caretaker, helping out to and from the vet, but also comforting Kitty during her stressful trip. At one point while they waited briefly in the car, Calan pulled out a harmonica and played softly for her. It was just too sweet to see him show his love and care in this way. Initially, the doctor said Kitty’s weight was fine, and that this time of year he sees a lot of cats and dogs come in with these kinds of symptoms. It essentially amounted to allergies! We had to laugh, given the allergy issues in this household already. He gave her a steroid boost, and said it should get her through. She did get a little better as far as her appetite and energy levels.
But then we noticed something a little more alarming. Her breathing was presenting as more pronounced, with her lungs expanding larger and faster than we could ever remember. The breathing didn’t sit right, so we made another appointment. This time we saw the other doctor at the vet. He did an x-ray, and it revealed that her “lung field” was nearly full of something. When the main doctor saw the x-ray a few days later he had us bring Kitty back again urgently. Things weren’t looking too good at this point, as the doc confirmed her lungs were filled with a substance that clearly shouldn’t be there. He suspects something like cancer. He was able to carefully drain some of this thick fluid from her lungs, but could only get so much with Kitty struggling through it. Our hope at this point is that she would do a little better with some of it out of there. We shared everything with Calan to make sure he understood what’s happening with Kitty. Since we don’t know exactly what’s going on, it was easy to just sort of “inform” him for now. He got it at a high level, but when you’re young you don’t fully grasp some of the possibilities of what it all means. Our goal going forward is to help Kitty feel better and as comfortable as possible. With Calan, there is definitely no shortage of help from him, as he truly loves his little cat and wants her to get better.
Calan
Calan is constantly learning and exploring new things in our big world. Recently, he discovered gemstones. Out of nowhere, it was like the beginning of an obsession. Fortunately, we had a bag of about 20 or so little gemstones that Mama had received in some home school supplies from another mom who had downsized her home “classroom supplies”. Calan had seen these before, but suddenly now he was taking to them with profound interest. Making lists and identifying each one’s name and properties, Calan studied them carefully. He learned about where they come from and the special meanings and symbolism each one carries. Whether these rocks, with their metaphysical “gemmy “powers” truly work, you can’t deny the calming effect they bring to Calan whenever he engages with them. Not that needs to calm down, but the sheer act of holding and staring at them no doubt has an almost meditative effect.
Calan is getting more in touch with his mind and body in this way too, when it comes to settling down for sleep. Every now and then, he’ll have what amounts to a challenge with falling asleep and anxiety at night. In the past, it might be a concern or “worry” over something related to big ideas or a catastrophe like a fire. As he’s getting older, the sleep difficulties come with other thoughts about life or just dealing with an active mind and wakefulness that doesn’t let you relax and sink into sleep. Working with Calan’s emotions about this, Mama introduced the concept of a “worry box” for him. It’s not a box of worries, but rather a box with things that can help calm or distract him from other prevailing thoughts at bedtime. Keeping it next to his bed, Calan’s worry box has items in it like fidget toys, a lavender pillow, notes with ideas for relaxing, small lights and other objects that just feel good to the touch. He may not be using the worry box each night in the literal sense, but we think that it just being there along with working through the “worries” together brings comfort for Calan at nighttime.
ROA classes started for Calan this month. His “second grade” workshops are underway. This semester, he’s in his favorite, Book Club again, along with a new drawing class called Da Vinci World. His third and last class is one of his other favorites, Martial Arts. We decided to do a little more curriculum at home this semester, so to simplify things even further we kept the workshops to just one day per week.
He also had a game day play date with Augustine this month. Augustine came over, and the idea was to play a bunch of board games together with some special snacks. The boys did well overall, but at this age, there is still a sort of underdeveloped competitive spirit at play when playing games. This can sometimes bring about frustration if you don’t understand a new game or are not winning at a particular game. The fact that we did it though is all the success you can ask for with this.
A new basketball season got underway this month too. We successfully got most of the team back from the spring, with the other athletic and “aggressive” players on Calan’s team again. At first we didn’t have a coach, but in the final hours before the first practice we somehow landed our favorite coach from a couple seasons ago, Scott. The stage was set for a really fun and winning basketball season with “The Kobes” again. And as the season kicked off, we also changed our focus with Coach Wil for our weekly sessions. We moved our workouts to the Y gym where Calan could work with Wil more specifically on basketball; drilling movements, quickness building exercises, and of course, ball handling and shooting. Wil continues to be impressed with Calan, and is always excited to teach him. He loves his attentiveness and willing spirit to learn and absorb, and getting better every week. A teacher’s dream. 🙂
Notable quotes this month:
Not a quote, but a really nice gesture toward his brother: After seeing the movie Cars 3, Calan really wanted to buy some of the car characters. He picked a few out online and even used his own money. He kept asking when they would arrive, and was pretty excited the day they finally came to the door. Thinking he would be really possessive with them he surprised us all and brought them over to Evan and asked if he would like to play with them. Too sweet.
Said to Mama: “I might be inviting you and Dada over to my house when my kids are born.”
Evan
Notable quotes this month:
“I’m not playing basketball if someone is shooting a basketball on my head.”
” I can’t feel good” – After swallowing some allergy medicine too fast.
“I’m excited to have a cookie, but I want a hug from Mama.”
“It’s really night out there” – Looking out the window and seeing the early fall evenings getting darker.
“Mans don’t sleep…they wake up” – When getting ready to go upstairs to nap.
“It seems I’m not a balloon.”
Invents the word Popious. “Poppy-ess ” Kids make up words, it’s a fact. But this is Evan’s favorite right now, and he uses it at random. It’s always said with a smile and followed by laughter.