Stormy weather............

We have been LOVING the morning Zigo rides......it just makes Winston want to sing! We swear he's not screaming because we're using his back as a bongo drum!






Its been a long week. We're still coming down from the high of our visit with Nana. When we have a break in our routine, no matter how fun, it tends to overstimulate us. What that looks like for each of us is a bit different.

In Saf's case, she's been really amped up and giddy. She been really loud, hyper, and has had a hard time listening. Even though it looks like she's having a great time...she's on edge. All it takes is something small to go awry and she has a meltdown. Friday we went to Lowe's, due to the rain, and she was having a hard time controlling herself. She was running around having a great time but wasn't listening to mom and we had to leave. She had a huge meltdown that ended with mom's thumb hyper extending and some bruises.

As for me, I've been crying a lot and just overall agitated. I don't seem to be able to keep it together for any prolonged period of time before I throw myself on the ground kicking and screaming. It kinda comes out of the blue...one minute I'm laughing and the next I'm writhing on the ground. When I'm upset like that there's nothing mom and dad can do to make me feel better. They just have to let me get it out and then I'm ok until the next meltdown. I've been having a hard time sleeping, waking up several times a night screaming and pretty much staying up from 2:30AM on.

Its rough stuff, but we're all hanging in there. It rained this week...and was even supposed to snow. No snow, but in its place perfectly crystal clear sunny skies and C-O-L-D wind. We bundled up good and hit the park and it was a blast.

Saf had a pretty good school week. On Thursday her class made english muffin pizzas. They made chef hats and everything. She loved making it but wasn't so keen on eating it...so I ate it for lunch. It was great!

I had a great Early Intervention meeting with my teacher, Lorene, and the occupational therapist Jo. It was super fun. I kept telling everyone, "I'm awesome!". I was doing a great job with midline dexterity and scooping and pouring these cool glitter fur ball things. I was fun!

Verbally Saf has really come into her own in the past month or so. She's commenting on all kids of stuff. Like pointing out to mom that a lemon is an oval, and that the piano bag is heavy. She even told mom, "I loves my books" this morning...'cuz she got a new set of books. These things may seem pretty small....but they're all new and exciting developments.

Not to be out shined, for the past two days I've told mom when I needed a poopy diaper change!

While we may struggle in a lot of ways, we rock in so many others!

With that, I say........

Peace
Nixi

This may not look like fun...but it totally is!


I love it when my big sister helps me "read" a book...

How sweet it is.........

Valentine's day was awesome! We got cookie lollipops, stuffed ponies, and dancing dogs! It was so much fun! Thank you to all of our family for the really neat cards. We've been pulling them out every day and looking at them. We love them!

It was pretty much an all around great week. Saf had three great days at school. I didn't have anything so mom and I just kicked around town...always fun. I will say, though, over the past week or so I haven't really wanted to go into stores very much. I tell mom, "all done" or "no thank you". We still go, and I power through it...but I just don't seem to feel all that comfortable with it. Maybe just an off week or so.

We had a super exciting visit from Nana Cummings and her friend, Dan. We didn't get to hang out with Dan for very long because he had a shooting competition to go to...but we thought he was pretty neat and look forward to getting to know him better in the future! We had a blast with Nana. We took her to Bravo Farms and showed her all the neat animals, we hit the park every day, and we even made it to the pet store! It was super fun. I spent the whole weekend bringing her things...lots of things...everything. It was cool. Saf had a great time just showing off and playing make believe with a Nana and a rubber lizard. All in all a great time.

As if that all weren't exciting enough....our Zigo came, too! What's a Zigo, you ask? Its a reverse tricycle with a child pod attached to the front of it between the two front wheels. Sounds confusing? Check out the Zigo montage video we made! We had to piece together lots of little clips because once we were off, no way was that camera gonna be able to keep up with us! It is the COOOOOOOOOOOOOLEST thing ever! Even Winston took to it like he was made for a Zigo! What a blast we're gonna have with it...especially when I get my helmet all adjusted and can actually see!
Check out their website to see all the cool features...
http://www.myzigo.com/how.php

So, that was our week. Pretty exciting. So exciting that Saf and I need a little down time. We're both a little overstimulated and wonky. Saf is doing better than me. I'm a little touch and go...laughing one minute, crying and agitated the next. Dad has Monday off so we'll have a low key day and prepare for this week's activities. Hope you all have a great week.

Peace
Nixi

Fun at Bravo Farms...Saf's delighting on the inside, I swear....


Introducing......Zigo!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I had three GREAT days at school. Our theme this month is Valentine's Day and food. We're making lots of super sparkly Valentine's art projects and its warming up so we get extra outside time! All of the days I walked in and out all on my own, and I'm just so in love with it all...just in time for the month of LOVE! We had a Valentine's party and I got to make a cool Valentine hat and exchange Valentine's with all of my friends! I shared my goodies with Nixi and we got to have our very first lollipops.....mmmmm! Turns out, a little sugar goes a looooooong way...we were spinning for hours!

We had two great days with Heather, our BIA consultant. We even went to Target and bought cheese puffs and sandwich bags. Remember, I haven't been in Target in over a year. The only stores I've been tolerating going into are pet stores. I was nervous...mom drew me a social story of what we were gonna do. Heather went with us and, while I did have a moment there where I panicked and screamed a bit, I did it! Once a week mom is going to take me into a store to buy one or two things. At first I'm gonna stay riding in the cart...I'll build up to walking around. See, when I'm walking around I tend to get distracted and run into people, also adults are more apt to try to talk to me if I'm out of the cart. The cart gives me a little insulation while I'm getting used to things. Either way, tremendous accomplishment!

Regional Center has approved Heather to do consultation for Nixi, too. That's great news! Aside from mom, dad, and me...Heather is the person Nixi is the most consistently comfortable with. Even with Nixi's trust and comfort in Heather, the prolonged presence of an "outsider" still seems to cause Nix anxiety. See, when Nix is nervous she asks to nurse or twiddles mom's hair. In the hour and 50 minutes that Heather is here, Nixi will ask to nurse a number of times and "checks in" with mom's hair often. Once Heather (or whoever it may be that is over) leaves, Nixi goes immediately back to running around the house, playing, laughing, talking. What a goofball! She's sure come a long way, though.

Mom had some surgery on her mouth this week so dad was home with us for 2 full days of fun! We got to hang out with dad at the park, and Nix got to go see the doctor with dad. Turns out she had bronchitis, but she's feeling much better after a series of antibiotics. At the end of the week dad's truck bit the big one and died. That sucks...but the great news, we got another extra day of dad off work and we got a new car! Its so awesome! We LOVE it so much. Its so cool because its low enough that I can get into my car seat by myself. After all, I am a big girl...its about time!

So, that's the bulk of the excitement for our week. Looking forward to Valentine's Day and sharing the love. Wishing you all a very lovely day of love and a great week!

xoxo
Saf

Check out our new car...we named her Louise!

Its been a great, but exhausting week. Dad was in Minnesota, and it sounds like he had a GREAT time! With it just being the 3 of us for the better part of the week, we all had to chip in a little extra and we're all pretty beat.

So, I'm gonna nutshell the week and leave you with a bunch of pictures and a video! I had a great week at school, walked in and out on my own all three days. Nixi had a blast with my BIA, Heather...who is now her BIA! Regional Center approved Heather to do consult for Nixi..yey! We're having some beautiful weather so we had a couple of really fun park days. We got to go to Bravo Farms and pet the animals...Nixi wasn't kind of freaked when she said "gobble" and a Tom turkey talked right back. We got to have ice cream and ride on the chuck wagon thing. It was a blast. We had pizza and a movie Saturday night. We got to paint and do some art stuff...and we got to play outside in the front of the house almost every evening! So, mom kept us busy and we had a really good time.

Missing dad and can't wait to see him. Hope all of you had a great week, and don't forget to check back next week!

xoxo
Saf

Check me out...I'm PEDDELING!!!!