Swings

Before we knew Ryan was autistic, he always wanted to go on a swing at every time we went to any outdoor park. For months, he would not try out for another part of playground structures before he learned to use more words. The more he speaks, the less time he focused on swings.

But today when my family gathered with other family at Balboa Park,he did try out for a "Toddler" swing. This only lasted for at least 30 seconds. The picture was captured as he was giving a salutation to the "Toddler" swing.Then, he wanted to try out for an older swing. He did swing for a few minutes independently before he went out to play more other playground structures with other kids. I believe the positive influence was coming from his school where he would see other "typical" kids went on a regular swing.


Also, I have a theory. While he was struggling to interact and communicating with others in the past, David and I took our sons, especially for Ryan's need to go for an indoor playground weekly. Eventually, he had learned to interact with others at a playground. Apparently, my theory seemed to be working, that includes practicing excessively in his speech and language. At the end, I believe that's one of the factor reasons he spend less time focusing on swinging alone.

Trip to Balboa Park

This afternoon, we did a lot of activities at Balboa Park with Melissa, Sean and their two year old daughter, Layla. We went inside of Reuben H. Fleet and searched for Kid City. Before we found it was upstairs, we explored nearby hand-on activities. It was not appropriate for younger kids, but they enjoyed exploring new things.

The first thing they noticed was the foggy before they explored further on the first floor. After that, they decided to hop from activities to another: playing drums, dancing and playing with sand before discovering the Kid City was upstairs. (see at the bottom of this post's video)

Not only the kids explored themselves, I discovered both my husband and Sean were curious such as playing with the Chinese Bowl. It was supposed to rub on the handle and make the water bubbles. Sean prayed so hard to succeed while David was not the kind of a person who would give it up on trying his destination.Finally, we all went upstairs to go to in Kid City Department. Inside of the room, it has lots of colorful, interactive exhibitions that includes conveyor belts, air chutes, a factory, grocery store, and several kid-friendly computers to teach young visitors age six and under about the wonders of the everyday working world.

As we let our kids got their opportunity to open the world around them, I have found Dylan, Ryan and Layla enjoyed what they like the most. Dylan enjoyed pretending he was a charity by giving pretend food out to others. Ryan enjoyed playing with the plastic balls that go up in the tube. Layla, enjoyed having her dad pretending they were talking over the phone. Their exploration last for at least a half hour before we went to see an hour of The Living Sea: IMAX Film. While we were there, we had to separate the seats because Layla was so young. The parents and Layla had to seat up in the front while the four of us were seating in the back of the seat. Throughout the movie, we were pretty pleased to see our children behaving so well. Dylan actually was afraid of a three dimension movie because he thought he would drown in the water while Ryan LOVED seeing all of the motions. I had to held myself tight because I was hoping I would not get a vertigo attack due to the motions. Lucky, it didn't attack me.

Once the movie was over, we gathered for quick lunch before we did more activities for our kids. They ran around the water foundation and danced in a front of jazz.

Eventually, we walked to a nearby park. All of them loved to try something challenging them with and without our assistance. Layla loved to climb upstairs and tried to do without our help. I could say I was pretty impressed with her independence especially her age. Dylan enjoyed the spinning seat. After a couple of times, he finally admitted he felt dizzy. David had to hold him until his dizzy stopped. Ryan just liked to try everything new without depending on swinging as he used to obsessed whenever we went to park.

When the weather got colder in the late afternoon, we all called it off for home. I would say that it was really nice change for the boys to spend a wonderful afternoon with their cousin, Layla. Not only spending times with Layla, both David and I enjoyed spending the time with Melissa and Sean.

Christmas Day with Family

After we had completed our Stockings from Santa Claus, four of us headed for another Christmas event--to David's family house. By the time we arrived there, there were lots of giggling, chatting and hugging.

Actually we arrived an hour late, Layla was thrilled to see the boys for a short period of time before they headed for her grandmother's house. We immediately gave her a Christmas gift from all of us. Layla looked darling with sunglasses, pink sparkling purse and pink/purple boa. With the little time, Ryan and Layla found a time to share their laughter. By the time she and her parents had to leave for her grandmother's house, she was so disappointed that she couldn't spend as much as she would like with our boys. However, we had planned on getting together this week.

Without Layla around, the boys found a way to entertain themselves throughout the evening: chatting, watching their new DVD tape, Super Underdog, and playing with Melissa and Doug's dog, Stella. Occasionally, Dylan would read his all time favorite book, The Magic Tree House series (1-8) around the house.
As for adults, we hung around the kitchen and living room as usual. Doug and Pam and their two daughters, Beth and Becky were busy cooking for the family. While cooking, it was a good thing Doug was mellow himself out instead of attacking us with the knife. Cathy was also was a good teacher to Becky by teaching her out to use the homemade gravy while they both were using wine. Lucky, the home made gravy did not burn after Becky found herself running out of wine.

Throughout the evening, we enjoyed chatting. Grandpa Jarvis especially was blessed to have his real home made box from his son in law, Mark. It was an awesome home made box I ever saw, especially making the Texas and the Lone Star. That is something he would always cherish his Christmas gift.

We were the last person to open the gifts. I did get many wonderful gifts from my Secret Santa, Sean. My Christmas lists he gave me made me even more special for the evening. Collecting more earrings were also one of the gifts I got it from him.

Both boys did get their remaining gifts from the relatives. Dylan got more PEZs, legos, games, and few other stuff from The Caviness, The Jarvis and Linda Miller. Dylan's room will have displays of his PEZ collections. Ryan was thrilled to get his own Hot Wheels Crash and Go from Linda. He really wanted us to open the gift before we headed for home. Of course, we had to tell him to wait until we get home and open the gift. Could you image that Ryan dragged his Hot Wheels in his huge Christmas bag on the way out to our van?
With all of the excitement we have had, we all were exhausted. The boys fell fast asleep in our van except us. Yet, we all went to bed early after all we had the nicest, warm Christmas Day with our loving family.

Stockings

Every year on Christmas morning, we opened our Christmas stockings from Santa Claus. My parents in law, Cathy and Richard, including their affectionate dog, Zack joined the special tradition event with us.

Before they came to our home, the boys had the opportunity to open ALL of their gifts from us before their grandparents came to our cozy home for stockings. Dylan was delighted to open the gift, but not Ryan. Ryan would rather to play a Game Boy for a couple of few minutes before he decided to join his brother. The first thing Dylan decided to open was the BIGGEST gift he saw under the tree, the solar planets for his room.

After he opened all of his gifts, he couldn't make his mind of which gifts he liked the most from collecting more The Magic Trees series to gift cards to Borders. That included collecting SO MANY PEZs from the loving relatives and friends (Thanks! It will add to his bedroom's shelves.)

Finally, Ryan decided to open the gifts. Believe it or not, it astounded us that some of the gifts he opened was using the kids' scissors! I thought it was humorous because he got the genetic traits, not from me! He loved all of the gifts, especially getting his Christmas lists come true, the Hot Wheels! That was a good thing to change from his obsession toy; the trains to another toys, including learning to play variety of game activities that he got for Christmas!

Once they finished with their Christmas gifts from us, my parents in law finally showed up for stockings and eat the delicious breakfast that David, the chef, cooked for all of us. As a part of stocking tradition, we usually started with the younger ones to the oldest ones in the household.

As parents of Dylan and Ryan, David enjoyed getting many unique gifts from Santa Claus. That was even collecting more gift certificates. He was satisfied with the gifts he got and was relaxed for the wonderful picture. I was delighted to get all of my wish lists come true: the accessories for my Sidekicker pager to collecting more earrings. One of the nicest things Santa gave me was the lavender bath salt, so I could spend my spare time alone without having my two sons, who loved taking baths, join with me.

Cathy was the person after I completed my stocking. She loved EVERY single things from the stocking. The first thing she saw was the coolest RED reading glasses. It looked GREAT on her. She had yearned for more stuff from the stocking. I guess she was fortunately to get all of the pleasant gifts from Santa because she rarely was naughty throughout the year.

Richard was near the last person to get the gifts from Santa while Zack, the dog was so patience for his turn. Before he realized he also received his new reading glasses, he borrowed Cathy's new reading glass. But this time with his new reading glasses, I thought he was silly with his tag on his forehead. At the end, he got a Home Depot gift certificate. It astounded us, yet had hoped he finds something useful instead of damaging his home with his new tools. He will need your help by keeping your finger crossed that he will do awesome job for his home.

Zack, the dog, was so relieved to get all of his new toys. I guess he was getting tired of his old toys, except twp of the possible treasure toys: his white stuffed wool- heart and stuffed bear that he had left it at home. Who knows if his new toys would be useful from Santa?
After opening all of the gifts and stockings, we decided to take an automatic family photo. The problem was that the camera accidentally set up a video instead. In the video, we spoke both in English and gibberish. The essential part of the video was that we all were in good Christmas spirits.

At the end of our Christmas morning, our beautiful home became CHAOS! Yet, it was blessing to see the enthusiastic kids and adults all morning before we headed for another Christmas event in the afternoon.

Letters for Santa Claus

A night before Santa arrived to our home, the boys received an unexpected visitor at our front door. No one was at the door,but they found two small yellow envelopes containing a letter for each from Santa Claus. They read a letter to themselves. Then, they decided to write him a letter at a very last minute (click pictures to enlarge the pictures.)

Dylan wrote a letter on his own without our assistance. The question is, "Will Santa Claus find a time to go back and get what he wanted, "violin?" It would not hurt to ask if he was able to squeeze his short time in order to get his wishes.

Ryan copied the letter that I wrote on the other piece of a paper. I have to admit I am proud that he did on his own without an obligation. Truthfully, it was his first time to write any letter. This letter must be very special to Ryan because he knew Santa would bring something that he always wanted, "Hot Wheels."

After finished writing a letter to Santa Claus, the boys had helped me by setting a cup of milk and the brownies, instead cookies. They were excited and count the hours before the midnight arrives. Of course, they pleaded us to stay up so they could see Santa Claus. Of course, we didn't allow them.
However, we, as parents, allowed them to open only ONE Christmas present at our choice at 8 P.M. It was our mistake because both boys, especially Dylan kept looking at the clock. Every five minutes, he would tell us how many minutes left. However, it was a perfect timing for both of us because the Chargers football game had ended and then we would be able to watch our boys to open ONE gift.

They played with "Cars" stamping and stickers for a couple of minutes before they hit off for a bath, reading a story and hit the sack. We certainly hope it will satisfy them for the night instead of waking us at wee hours.

Relaxing Morning

A day before Christmas Eve, I have decided to take a two day break after I consistently had been working with my students and taking care of two boys. While we were watching Disney's program, David decided to take a picture of us on our love seat.

Mother and Sons' Bonding Times

Dylan smiles for the picture

Ryan plays "Cars" on his Game Boy

But at the end of taking pictures of us, I decided to change my attitude by sticking my tongue to David--meaning, "That's enough! Please leave me alone, and let me enjoy my relaxing morning."

Christmas Pictures

Finally, we were ashamed for not having a professional family pictures yearly. It had been three years since we last had our professional family pictures.

Lucky, Santa has forgiven us! He encouraged us to have our professional family picture yearly. We will try to keep the commitment for him.

School Pictures

I could have post our sons' school pictures earlier, but our scanner did not work properly for months. We instead downloaded the pictures from our camera. But now, we finally got our scanner working properly.

Dylan, 1st grade

Dylan loves his reading class, recess and of course, hanging around with his puppy love girlfriend.

Ryan, Kindergarten

Ryan loves to play "Hot Potatoes" in recess, and reading books.

Yummy !

At first, I asked Ryan if he wanted me to put whipped cream in his mouth. He said, "No, I wanted whipped cream in a blue cup." It seemed odd ,but he was happy to taste it along with his Santa Hat.

Girlfriends

Who ever thought a six year old boy would write the list of girlfriends he had in his notebook? That's what he did while we were in a van. (The pictures may be difficult to read, so I will subtitle of each picture he wrote if you enlarge the picture)

I have a girlfriend
Chayla

I have a ex-girlfriend
Hannah

I have a ex -ex-girlfriend
Emmakae

After he showed me the names of his girlfriends, he then mentioned to me, "My long time girlfriend name was Abby. I didn't break her up. She had to move to another school, and no one had helped us." I held my laughter and automatically knew David would have to deal with him when he gets older.

More Fun Activities

A day after the boys experienced the snow fight near by our home, we took our boys to see another Santa Claus (good grief, they didn't get a hint for finding out why there were so many Santa Claus!)

When we got there, we had the most delicious Free Breakfast from our community club. Who couldn't resist the food?

While we were waiting for the boys speaking with Santa Claus, I had Dylan and Ryan making their own Gingerbread cookies. I was pretty impressed that Ryan did a FABULOUS job without my assist! It was a good thing I took a picture of his awesome job before either someone had accidentally took the wrong gingerbread cookie or stole his cookie. Dylan was in a good sportsmanship for willing to complete his gingerbread cookie with my assist.

After they finished making their cookie, Dylan was willing to try out for another art craft: making a snowman out of a mini pail. Unfortunately, he didn't finish it. We still have it in our home waiting for us to complete the task.
As usual, we were waiting for our turn to see Santa Claus, Ryan decided to explore an indoor community building. He went upstairs to oversee the view. Then, he found his dad and Dylan watching him from upstairs. He hurriedly ran downstairs to sit on his dad's lap. I guess, he was jealous!

But while he was sitting on his dad's lap, both boys decided to fool themselves out when I took a picture of them. You can judge that !

Still we were waiting for Santa Claus to speak with our goofy boys, Dylan was gallant enough to sing "Jingle Bell " in a front of audience with the carolers. (Watch out for the upload you tube.)

Finally, we got a chance to have our picture taken with Santa Claus. I personally think the picture turned out better than the first ones (in our "Winter Activities" post.)

A Sign of the Times

I thought it was too cute to share it with you all after I got a Christmas card from my mother.

As a little boy climbed onto Santa's lap, Santa asked,

" And what would you like for Christmas?"

The child stared at him open-mouthed and horrified for a minute, then gasped:

"Didn't you get my email?"

Winter Activities

Have you ever thought about seeing two lives reindeer nearby our home? Both Dylan and Ryan were inquisitive to see if the reindeer were actually real! In order to satisfy them, we took to see the two real reindeer nearby our home.

The chance of getting close to the reindeer was to take the first 500 attendance to get free picture with Santa Claus and two reindeer. We indeed were lucky to be one of the among attendances. Instead of waiting for the boys' turn, they desperately wanted to take a closer look at the reindeer.

Signs for "Reindeer"

Before we allowed them to have fun, we rushed out for Mexican lunch before the crowded came. The food was too good to get FREE Kids' meal, while the adults had to pay their own meal. Oh well, we are being thrifty especially having Christmas around the corner. Also, it was so nice to stay inside of the building because it was cold for California residence, low 50's.

Gallant Son Goes Without Jacket

Once we got stuffed from the delicious lunch meal, we were valiant to go out in the cold with the winds. The first thing the boys PLEADED to go out for a snow fight, but we wouldn't let them until they finished taking pictures with Santa Claus and reindeer. Who would want to see their teeth chattering if their clothes were damped from the snow fight?

Oh boy, I had to deal with their pouting. But they turned their frown upside down until they got in the bouncy rides. They idolized the older kids who could jump high in the air and bounced it down the hill. Dylan really wanted to copy it, but later the thought of doing this frighten him. Ryan followed after his brother. They went twice before our call to see Santa Claus.

As the boys got closer to see Santa Claus, Dylan inquired Mrs. Santa what were the names of two reindeer: Dancer and Prancer. Who ever thought a child would tell Mrs. Santa Claus that we forgot to serve them the carrots? Without having carrots, they went up to tell Santa Claus what they wanted before taking their pictures.

My disappointment was the picture did NOT turn out great. Why should I grumbled over this since we were one of the 500 attendance got FREE picture?

As soon as they finished having their picture with Santa Claus, the first thing they thought was going out for a SNOW FIGHT ! It was the first time they experienced with the real snow from Julian, California and played for five minutes. Both Dylan and Ryan exchanged the snow fight to each others and other people.

Siblings Snow Fight

After they finished the snow fight, they kept saying, "I'M SO COLD!" They did get their clothes wet, but lucky I did bring extra clothes in the van before we left for our last minute Christmas shopping for the day.