Because his program is offered through our school district, they provide transportation to and from our house. He was super excited to take the bus the first day, but it never showed. I watched the window and paced the floor for a good 45 minutes. I called the department after 10 minutes past his pick up time, and they just said "many buses are running late today. Don't worry." They didn't ask for his name or anything. Once it got to 30 minutes I called again and asked if I should take him in. They said I should and that they'd make sure to get him home. When I dropped him off 45 minutes late, his teacher said the driver claimed we weren't there when she came by. After school he did get dropped off at our house, but I didn't get a chance to clarify things with the driver since the lady who brings him home is different from the lady who picks him up.
The confusion all started with the postcard we got the previous Saturday telling us Tyler's drop off location was at our house but the pickup was some other house in our complex. I thought it was a bit odd that he'd have different pickup and dropoff locations, especially since the other address was a house, not the major road we live closest to. I left a message for the department asking them to call back and clarify it for me. It was Labor Day weekend, so I didn't hear back from them until Tuesday, and all I got was a message from the driver saying "pick up time is 8:47am but I may be running late." There was no mention whatsoever explaining which location she'd be picking him up from. I called the department back around noon (the day before school started) to speak with someone about it. He told me both pick up and drop off locations should be at our house, he didn't know why that other address was in there to begin with, but that he'd updated it in their system and that the bus driver would be picking him up at our house for his first day of school.
The next morning came and the kids watched TV while I watched the window VERY carefully. From 8:45am - 9:00am I was doing pretty much nothing but staring out the window. I called the transportation department at 9:00am (when school starts) only to be told that many buses run late the first day of school and not to worry about it. I asked when I should be concerned, and she simply replied "Monday." Come 9:20am (20 minutes after school had started) I called the department again, and this time a different person told me to go ahead and bring him to school but that he'd look into it for me and get back to me later. I never got a call back from him, though I did call them three other times throughout the day. On the first two calls I was taken to an answering machine that asks you to call back later instead of leaving a message since they get too many calls those first few days and aren't able to return messages until Monday. Finally I did reach someone on the third call. She verified that the pick up address is our house, and asked if we'd been waiting outside our door. I told her "no, we'd stayed inside watching from the window." She told us we needed to be waiting outside the door or the driver would pass by, and I replied that there was no way I could have missed seeing the bus even if she'd driven by the house without stopping. I mentioned the incorrect address we'd originally been given for pick up, read it off to her from the postcard, and asked if the driver could be going to that address. She said "no. Your address is the one in our system. I don't know what that other address is or why you were assigned to it in the first place." She said "I'll do my part and make sure your driver knows what the correct address is and you do your part and have him outside the door ready to go when she arrives."
I definitely did my part. I got the kids out in front of our house 12 minutes before pick up time and let them play with sidewalk chalk while I kept watch for the bus for about 30 minutes. Either the lady I spoke with didn't do her part or the driver didn't get the memo. I felt vindicated, though, because now I knew for sure the bus driver had been coming to the wrong address. I watched as a school bus turned into our complex and then immediately turned down the wrong side street. Unfortunately that side street is too far away for me to catch up to the bus with both Tyler and Allison in toe, so I waited a little longer hoping it was just picking up another kid down that road before turning our way. Trees prevented me from seeing it leave the complex, so I waited long enough to know it must have taken off before calling the transportation department yet again. This representative knew exactly who I must be since the driver had just barely reported him as a no show. I told her he'd been brought home from school to the right place so the department definitely has our correct address. She told me to go ahead and bring him to school since the driver was too far out to come back for him but said she'd inform his teacher about the mistake before we and the bus had arrived. When I dropped him off his teacher told me she talked to the driver and let her know she's been going to the wrong address. For sure the driver would come to our house Monday, right?
But Monday came, and the bus driver still drove to the wrong address. The transportation department never gave her our correct address in spite of the 6 phone calls I made informing multiple representatives of their mistake. This time, however, we were prepared to chase her down. Oscar had taken the day off work so I could drive down to Portland with Amy, and he and Tyler were able to catch up to the driver and give her our correct address after she'd turned down the wrong side street. Amy stayed with Allison so I was able to run down to that side street and get this picture of Tyler finally riding the bus to school.
This past fall Allison started learning to do her first puzzles. She's crazy about them, especially this and another one we have that make sounds when she puts the right piece in the right place.
When we first bought Tyler these train tracks, we had to show him how to make them into double loops. Now he can build them all himself.
Don't you love Tyler's selfies?
Had to take some pictures with my girl on her 2nd birthday (we'd already celebrated it the day before with Amy, Malia, and Hana). For some reason she did not want to be held just then, so she fought it for awhile, but then she relented and went back to being her usual sweet, snuggly self.
Oscar did a good job keeping the kiddos entertained while I hung out with Amy. I dropped Amy off in Portland on Monday the 11th, came home midday on the 12th, then drove back down during the afternoon on the 14th and left early morning on the 18th. Oscar had a lot of quality time with the kiddos.
Leela is our little sweets lover. If we leave out an empty container/bowl of ice cream, she will lick it clean.
Nibbler puts up with Allison's intense love on a daily basisHow do you know Allison must be napping? - All 3 cats are sitting undisturbed on the changing table.
Amy and I had some extra packaged, dried broccoli that neither of us had cared for leftover from our trip. Turns out Allison loves it! Yeah! I found a way she's willing to eat broccoli!Sweet girl in her pretty green dress. She always looks so adorable all dolled up.
Here are the kids enjoying a nice warm day outside. I was too lazy to fill the pool, but they still had fun playing in it.
Sweet sleepy kiddos. Ty was in "quiet time" in both of these pics, but he fell asleep anyway.
We ended up getting home about 3:00am since her vitals had stayed strong up through the medication half life. I had a medic help me carry everything else out to the car while I wheeled her pack and play out with her still in it. She woke up while I put her in the car but then went back to sleep as soon as I put her in her crib. She was VERY happy to be back in her own bed. It really wasn't too bad compared to our ER/hospital stays when Tyler had bronchiolitis. She slept in her pack and play but threw pretty big fits when they had to put sensors on her fingers and toes. In spite of those she always fell back to sleep quickly and easily. I even managed to get some sleep in the hospital bed. The worst part was knowing it was all my fault she couldn't get the uninterrupted sleep she was begging for.
My sweet little reader! I often catch her in her room just buried in books
The next day Allison was super sleepy. That's to be expected since this particarly medication is meant to have a sedative type effect. Tyler slept a good 17 hours the first day he took it, and he weighed a good 12 pounds more than she does and got half the dosage. I woke her up at 9am just to make sure she could be woken up. I attempted to feed her (she was too tired to eat much) and kept her up for 2 hours, but after constantly begging me to let her sleep again, I finally gave in and put her back down at 11. I checked with her pediatrician's office since we were warned to watch for extreme lethargy, but the nurse I spoke with said she sounded like she was doing well. She explained that extreme lethargy would be if I couldn't wake her up or if she was so tired that she would just lie there and wouldn't reach out or acknowledge that I was even there. The fact that she ate breakfast, even if she didn't eat much, and asked for cuddles was all a good sign. She spent the most crucial period observed while her heart rate/oxygenation could have dropped drastically, but neither was ever a problem. From then we just had to ride out the drowsiness while the drug gets out of her system. She was a bit groggy and grumpy after that first nap, but she woke up on her own, climbed into her high chair by herself, and ate and drank her lunch normally. She did need another nap a couple hours later, and she still seemed a bit more tired than usual then next day, but by Saturday (when these two pics were taken) she was back to her usual energetic self.
Allison still tries to fit in her baby walker when I take her out in the yard.
Oscar built a new twin/loft bed for Tyler. It will remain down for awhile since Tyler's not ready to sleep at that height yet (and it still needs something to prevent him from falling off), but the kids loved playing up there, especially Allison. It was super cute when they'd touch the ceiling.
They liked being under it too. It will make a good fort one day.
Allison and I often go for a walk in the Mill Creek town center while Ty goes to occupational and play therapy (which are literally across the parking lot from each other). One day while we were walking we saw a leaf hanging in the middle of the air. It seriously looked like it was floating. I'm guessing it was attached by a spiderweb, but for the life of me I could not figure out where it was hanging from...
We were in a small car accident during the first weekend of October. Another car T-boned us turning left on our right of way going straight. We were all okay but were worried about Tyler since he'd had the brunt of the impact. He cried initially but cheered up quickly and was his usual active self the rest of the evening. His reaction was probably more out of shock than pain. We'd been on our way to a farm in Lake Stevens, but it was pouring rain. We thought we'd detour off to the nearby Children's Museum since it looked like the rain was going to clear within the next hour or so. This accident happened as we were going through a green light on our way there. We actually still ended up going to the museum since Oscar dropped us off while he took the car back home, contacted our insurance company, then picked us up in our other car. I never want to go to the museum alone with both kids on Saturday afternoon again! It was so busy I could barely keep track of the kids. I had to bring them both into the little toddler area (that Ty's technically too old for) just to maintain my sanity.
Though the accident clearly wasn't our fault, it's still been a huge hassle to deal with. She hit us, then was bumped by another car from behind, but her insurance claims the other driver is at fault for bumping her into us (in spite of Oscar's statement and a police report to the contrary). In the meantime our insurance covered everything as if it were our fault, meaning we had to pay out of pocket for our deductible and our rental car for two weeks (we actually tried to get by on just the one car for the first two weeks, but gave in and rented another car later in the month when the weather became too cold and rainy for Oscar to keep walking to work). We have no idea when we're going to get those funds reimbursed, though we've followed up with both our insurance and hers several times.
Haunted House cookie building with daddy, Allison snuggling daddy's coat like a blanket, and Tyler doing happy and sad selfies.
Here's Tyler throwing a fit because I tore his banana in half with my hands instead of using a knife.
The kiddos bonding over screen time and Tyler falling asleep playing the Ipad.
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| Oscar's layered pancakes |
Yep, I'd already brought the Christmas jammies out in October. It looks like Allison's holding Christmas cookies, but they're actually puzzle pieces.
These kids sure love playing with daddy! So many great smiles just from him holding them while falling backwards on the bed.
Allison discovered how to use the Scout books in October. Before all she'd do was press Scout's buttons, so discovering he could read books, play music, and make other fun sounds was like a revelation to her. I was actually able to get a lot of good house cleaning done while it was still novel to her (now I'm lucky if she reads them for more than 5-10 minutes).
On the left is Tyler sleeping on daddy in the foyer during Sacrament meeting. He'd fallen asleep in the car and didn't want to wake up.
On the right is Tyler getting an EKG at Seattle Children's Hospital. It was required for a medicine we considered, but in the end we found something else that helped that wasn't so intense on his little body. He also had to have his blood drawn, which was the worst. He handled it really well (didn't kick like the nurses had feared), but it took awhile for his blood to get flowing, and he kept crying for them to take the needle out.
Here are the kids watching the Great pumpkin with their Charlie Brown doll while eating Great pumpkin fruit snacks. Tyler went through a bit of a Charlie Brown phase last fall. I actually bought around 10 boxes of those discount Great Pumpkin fruit snacks last year just after Halloween was over, and 14 months later we still have just over a box left.
I love reading to the kids, but both of them on my lap at the same time makes it a wee bit challenging.
On the left Allison is playing with a little bluetooth speaker Oscar got at work. It changes colors as it plays music, so she was just completely fascinated by this new toy, though she'd get super frustruated when the sound would go out as she got too far away from my phone.And on the right everybody is cleaning the toilet. Oscar showed Allison how to use the toiletbrush, so now she always wants to clean the toilet whenever she comes in the bathroom. Better than flushing toys down the toilet, right?
Allison loves when daddy does pull ups!
These pics were taken at the park while we waited for daddy to finish up at the nearby chiropractor's office. The kids and I were adjusted first, so we went to play so daddy could be adjusted in peace. We all started seeing the chiropractor after our car accident in October. No one was injured, but the kids had a couple spots that needed a little work while Oscar and I mostly had preexisting issues that the accident just aggravated (I have neck and back alignment issues from pregnancy and lifting children all day and Oscar's neck is too straight from the way he sleeps).
What we weren't expecting is that Tyler LOVES being adjusted. He giggles hysterically after he feels the pop, and he miraculously stays still for it. Allison hates it, even though the chiropractor uses this super gentle tool on her while Ty gets the full treatment like an adult. Tyler is a sensory seeker, and chiropractic care gives him a big hit of sensory input directly into his spine, which is in turn connected to his nervous system. Interesting development! |
| Cutting up our 22 pound pumpkin! |
After Oscar got the pumpkin cut up and the kids helped clean out the guts, we tried putting each of the kids inside the pumpkin for a picture. As you can see, neither one liked it. Tyler at least cheered up and smiled for us, but Allison was not having it. So much for Pinterest picture ideas!
My part in all of this was getting all the pumpkin guts off the pumpkin seeds so we could roast them later. Yummy! They lasted me a couple months (and yes, we got them out before the kids stepped inside).
And to finish off the month, Allison trick or treating was officially the most adorable thing I have ever seen! She picked up on it very quickly and even held her container pretty well. Her little "trick or treat" was so cute! Oscar and I just smiled at each other every time she said it. She always wants to be where the action is, so trick or treating like her brother and meeting new people was right up her alley. Plus whenever there was a dog or cat at the door she always wanted to pet it. That was just as much fun for her as getting candy. She made several new admirers that evening.
Stay tuned for my next post for Halloween parties, pumpkin patches, and more
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