Joseph's Summer and Lee

It seemed like in a blink of an eye, summer came and went.  Joseph spent most of the summer cooped up in the house, safe from the heat and the humidity.  He did go out on a few outings like a couple of visits to the library for their Summer Reading series...

 He saw a couple of movies: Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2.



He went to the Circus for the second time in his life and actually sat through the whole show. 

We made sure that we got floor seats so that he could SEE the show.

The first time we took him to the circus, three years ago, we only stayed for 20 minutes.  It took us an hour and a half to get there, and Joseph decided he wanted to go home as soon as we got to our seats.  We convinced him to stay a few minutes just to see the elephants.  We couldn't blame him really; the accessible seats were up on the middle level and with him reclined on his wheelchair, he could not see the show very well.

This time, though, he had an optimal view of the performers and  the circus animals.



Motorcycle up in the air

 

Tight-rope walkers



Hanging by the hair

 

My personal favorite

This summer, we finally managed to take Joseph to the dentist.  I felt bad for waiting until this time for him to see a dentist, but somehow it was never a good time for us to go before.  Add the fact that I wanted to take Joseph to a pediatric dentist who has experience with kids with special needs.  Such dentists are two hours away, meaning, both Brady and I have to take off from work to make the visit.  Anyway, we had a good visit and Joseph did wonderful.  He was very nervous and unsure of what to expect in the beginning, but he handled the tooth-cleaning well and even when the dentist opened his mouth wide.



For most of the summer, at least the last two months, Joseph was consumed with Little Big Planet.  He started by watching Youtube videos of the levels, then playing vicariously through us.  It has only been three weeks or so that he's finally able to play the game himself.  We are all very happy to be "free" again.  For Joseph to be able to play the game when he wants to, without waiting for us to be ready.  Now, we can actually do other things while sitting with him as he played.  Brady is now able to watch old episodes of Western shows.  I am able to surf the 'Net again or read a book while sitting by Joseph.  And while the Versatility device is awesome, it is still not sufficient for Joseph to play the game 100% by himself.  I never knew how much coordination and dexterity and quick thinking it takes to play a video game until I played PS3 two months ago.  There are so many buttons to press and sticks to move around.  With the Versatility and the adapted switches, Joseph can control the buttons for X, circle, triangle, square and left stick.  Sometimes he can also control the up or down or start button using additional switches.  Most of the time, though, one of us presses the up or down or start button, or the L1, L2, R2, or press down the right or left sticks, or move up the left or right sticks to make things smaller or bigger.  THERE ARE SO MANY BUTTONS TO OPERATE.  Thankfully now that Joseph is controlling most of the buttons, Nana and Ms. Frances are now able to help with the other buttons, therefore giving Joseph more game time without having to rely on Brady or me.  And we all type the text for him to make it faster and easier for him when he is playing.  Believe me when I say that whatever text/chat appears on the screen, it is all from Joseph.  We only type for him.

                            

And that about sums up Joseph's summer vacation. 

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TROPICAL STORM (OR DEPRESSION?) LEE

It has been raining here since Saturday morning.  Everybody is happy to finally get some rain.  The ground was so dry that it absorbed much of the rain up until 3pm today.  I took these pictures at 12:30 this afternoon.



And then we had this.

Untitled

Continuing on the matter of Summertime, how do you keep your child occupied when school is out?  Although Joseph did not attend the traditional classroom during the school year, the loss of the 1-hour a day interaction with either his teacher or his class via the Web seems to have stretched the hours longer when he has to be kept entertained.  I downloaded another Putt-putt game, which he already breezed through in a couple of hours.  Thankfully, yesterday, Nana was able to drive us to a Target store where Joseph picked up a couple of  PC games.  He chose two JumpStart CDs for 1st and 2nd Grades.  He started on them as soon as we got home.  I think he made good choices because watching him play the games/activities gives me an idea what he's learned by now and what he needs to work on for the next year.  Nerdy, I know.  Anyway, at the end of the day yesterday, he took his customary shower-on-the-swing.

Joseph carrying the tomatoes that Mommy picked from Daddy's garden.

Today, the JumpStart CDs kept him occupied.  He needed a lot of help with using the arrow keys.  I haven't looked yet to see if he could use the Joypad for these games, but then the games require him to switch back and forth from using the mouse to the arrow keys so he still requires someone to pay attention to the game he's playing.  There was enough time for me to fix a snack that I copied from Disney Family Fun Magazine.  It's a recipe inspired by the upcoming Winnie the Pooh movie in July.



Joseph eyeing the Hunny Bee cookies.



Aren't they cute?  It was fun to make them!



Joseph with his Vanilla Hunny Shake and Hunny Bee Cookies**


**Obviously, Joseph didn't really eat or drink the snacks.  He, of course, tasted them.  And that was good enough for him :o)

Hunny Bee Cookies
Frost 12 round cookies with blue frosting and place a Twix Mini in the center of each.  For the wings, use scissors to cut the ends from 12 marshmallows, then press them onto the cookies, sticky side down.  Pipe yellow frosting as stripes onto the bees.

Vanilla Hunny shake
In a blender, process 1 cup vanilla ice cream, 1/2 cup whole milk, 1 tsp honey, and a pinch of cinnamon until the ingredients are combined.  Pour into chilled glasses and serve immediately.  Makes about 2 8-oz servings.
(Recipes borrowed from the June/July 2011 issue of Disney Family Fun Magazine)

It Feels Like Summer Already

Summer is almost here.  It feels that it's been here for the past few weeks due to

 temperatures in the high 90's and low 100's.  Summer is that time of the year when a

child with SMA is freer to go places and move amongst the crowd.  Like the movies.



Kung Fu Panda 2 is awesome.



It's that time of the year, too, when you do what you got to do to cool off.

Ahhh...that's much better.



Sporting a buzz cut and being shirtless also works.



This summer, we're going to do our best to keep Joseph occupied and interested.

Just tonight he informed us that he's getting bored playing the same games on the computer.

Think.  What other games can he play while we are at work?

Is It Still Summer?

What happened to July? We certainly did not go anywhere new and exciting this Summer, unlike the past three years. Joseph's illness and subsequent hospital stay way back in March, along with other illnesses here and there, and a couple of medical appointments, pretty much devoured my PTO at work. But it's August. And with this new month, I have my newly-replenished PTO minus the six hours or so that I already owe. I wish that this coming year, we actually get to spend our paid days-off on being relaxed, refreshed and entertained.

So what has Joseph been doing?


Pretty much this. All day. Almost everyday.
Or this.

You get the picture. He has sort of neglected his Neopets, skipped out on his Poptropica adventures, and instead waddled his way to Club Penguin.

That's his penguin on the right, and mine on the left. Of course, whatever Joseph plays, Mommy plays, too. The kink in my neck testifies to that.

And once in a while, he plays with his toys.

And even manages to catch a movie. We talked him into seeing Toy Story 3. We all liked it a lot.

And for the rest of the Summer, and way beyond it, Joseph (and his Dad) will just have to accept the fact that Mommy will take pictures, no matter what.