Summer So Far...Part 2

Well, we were off to a slow start this summer. I guess it was bound to happen... chaos. I put the boys in swimming lessons every day. Dallen is always so much better after swimming so I wanted to take advantage it! Ethan is afraid of the water so I thought it would be good for him as well. Jaxon has been playing baseball for PAL (Police Athletic League) and John has been the assistant coach. That involves 2 practices a week plus 1 to 2 games a week! We haven't been able to really leave town yet as John in on a pager and has not been able to get off. You can only have 3 guys off the pager at a time. There are usually 2 guys on vacation and there is one guy who is out for medical reasons. So, unless you are on vacation you can pretty much bet getting of the pager is not going to happen. So, we are waiting to go on a big camping trip until John is on vacation. In the mean time we will be going somewhere close by. I say we save ourselves the trouble and pitch a tent in the backyard! I don't think the boys will go for that. Dallen wants to have a camp fire so bad he decided to try to build one on the side of our house! He stacked up some wood (quite well I might add) and proceeded to try to light a fire using a whole box of matches (from a big box). He was unsuccessful (THANK GOODNESS) but did manage to burn his finger. (see pictures below).







I have been taking the boys over to a splash pad/park not far from our house. Last week when we went I sprayed them all down with sunscreen. That night I was really curious as to how we were all sunburned! Yes, after spraying down with SPF ONE MILLION we were still sunburned...????!!!??? Dallen so kindly pointed out that Jaxon noticed the bottle was empty and refilled it with water and a little bit of soap. AHHH!!! Hence the sunburn! Wish I would have known that little bit of information before going out in the sun!

We had to take Dallen to the Urgent Care on Saturday night because he split his head open. It wasn't very big, maybe an inch, but it was pretty open and required some Dermabonding! I need to get some of that stuff for my medicine cabinet. It would save me a trip. The over-the-counter stuff doesn't work nearly as well...

Megan cut her finger open on a soda can that her brother, Ethan, so kindly gave her. A Band-Aide wasn't an option as she tried to eat the two we put on. I finally just gave her towel to hold. That seemed to work until the bleeding stopped.

Summer is moving so fast. The kids will be back in school before I know it! In a way, I am ready. They boys have been at each others throats all summer. Dallen has also really been a challenge this summer. I have been really bad at continuing his therapy at home since he has the summer off from OT. He has been having HUGE meltdowns triggered by seemingly little things. He goes into a rant that seems to last forever. I really have been at my wits end. I really have no idea what to do. I have scheduled some therapy time into our day. I am hoping that helps. If not, I am calling his therapist! Last night Dallen had another meltdown so I sent him to bed. He kept shouting mean things to me and getting out of his room. Yelling, time out, spanking, taking privileges away doesn't work for him. So, I grabbed him,gave him a big hug, told him I loved him, kissed him and put him back in bed. This lasted for at least a half an hour. I was getting tired of carrying him back to bed but I could see he was breaking! The intensity of his fit weakened significantly and you could see traces of a smile underneath the thumb he was sucking. I guess showing love is the strongest and most effective way of handling the situation. I was thinking the other day how would Jesus handle this child. I thought about Christ's life and thought came to me to just show love. I guess that's how I have to handle Dallen. It worked slowly yesterday, but I am hoping that it will work better each time. I have to trust that it will work. After all, Dallen is a Child of God too and the Lord knows him very well. Heaven knows I need all the help I can get in raising him.