Greenway walk

How amazing is this - after dropping Timo at school, we met Sadie (and Guthrie) and Lindsay (and Sunny) for a 2 mile walk on the Greenway! I could get used to this schedule! The mornings are cool in the mountains, so it was perfect for a walk. (And I brought my porridge and banana to eat in the parking lot since I hadn't eaten my breakfast yet...)

the boys

But beware! A copperhead!

Thankfully there were a lot of others on the trail this morning, and we were forewarned about this copperhead right next to the pavement. Mattias had been "off roading" with his bike so he quickly got back onto the sidewalk. Yikes!! We stopped for a few seconds and then wisely continued on. Apparently it's been such a rainy summer and the river level is high, so many of the snakes have had to venture up higher to find new burrows - and there are been a lot of snake sightings. I think I need to go read up on snake bike first-aid.

Timo starts kindergarten

Today was Timo's first day of Kindergarten! He was so enthusiastic, calm and ready to go this morning. What a smooth experience from start to finish the entire day. School is about 3 miles away, and we take the South River Road (winding alongside the Tuckaseegee River) the whole way. I drop him at 8:15 AM and pick him up at 3 PM. The principal, Mr. John, stands outside and ushers the students in/out of the building. This afternoon at pick-up, there was all of 1 car in front of me in line. I think we're going to like this small school!

Earlier in the week he and I cut out pictures from magazines and made a big poster of the steps for his school morning routine. He arranged all the pictures into a timeline and taped it up next to his bed (wake up; reading/quiet time; breakfast; make bed, get dressed, brush teeth; get backpack and lunch box; go to school). This seemed to help me get an idea of the morning and able to do all of those tasks by himself. The real challenge is going to be getting the rest of us ready in time along with him!

We even had 5 minutes to take a few photos this morning. Timo and Mattias decided to say "Gemma!" while they smiled for the photos, and Timo remarked, "Let's send this photo to Gemma to show her." Then he paused and smiled, "Can she see us right now? Can God see us? Well she's not really on earth anymore... she's getting ready for the New Earth!" We miss her a lot on days like these... she would be starting 2nd grade, and I'm sure would be enthusiastic for school and protective of Timo!

Hawk's head looks bigger because of the angle...

Another reason this morning went so smoothly is because of Kindergarten Camp last week, when all the K students spent a half-day at school for orientation. So on the first day, Timo walked right in, hung up his backpack and sat down at his spot to start coloring.

Mrs Abby is the teacher in the flowered dress on the left

Midway through the morning Mrs Aby texted all the parents this photo from recess! She also sent a text at the end of the day to say "today went great!"

Beautiful morning for a first day, and the sun is just coming out through those clouds!

Good exercise for Hawk's hands

It's hard to keep up with all the new things that Hawk is learning these days! He is 2 months post-spica cast, and really start to get more comfortable moving around and exploring, and slowly gaining more range of motion in his left hip. Meanwhile of course we continue to try to encourage him to use his hands in all kinds of ways so that his fingers can open up and gain more 'grip strength'.

Here are a couple of photos from last week - the therapist gave me lots of ideas for helpful activities, like ripping paper, hiding toys in socks and making him pull them out, lifting plastic containers out of the drawer, manipulating Duplos, squeezing balls, smushing play-doh, lifting and pouring cups of water... you get the idea! All sorts of fun for a little boy!

I had to record this moment (below) when all three boys were happily playing together in the upstairs playroom one morning. I think it was one of the first times that Hawk had joined the older two for playtime for an extended period, and I didn't have to monitor him every second. He carefully explored his way around (no easy task with Legos and cars everywhere), crawling or pulling up to stand. I even went back downstairs to do breakfast dishes and make another cup of coffee!

He loves his rusks!

Amazing week... Recovering today

We had an AMAZING week of family reunion time here in Sylva with our Hawkins family - 12 adults and 14 children! Today most of the family packed up and headed home, Jim went back to work, and the three boys and I sat around the house feeling wiped out and talking together about all the things we had enjoyed, like tubing and picnicking at the river, racing up and down the driveway with cousins, Timo learning the "Guess Who?" boardgame, family talent show... I look forward to loading all the photos and sharing them!

Timo spent three hours this afternoon listening to an audiobook and reading books on our bed. I couldn't even get him to budge at suppertime. "I'm going to keep having my quiet time," he explained.