For fall break, we decided to come and visit my family in Virginia. I said if I could find tickets for under $300 each, we'll go. And I did, so we did.
We left SFO at 5:30am on Saturday. The beginning of the first flight was hard for Bronwyn. She had expectations that weren't met. Mainly, that it was loud. She cried loudly for about 20 minutes, then fell asleep for a half hour, or so. We had a decently long layover in Charlotte. We got lunch at chick fil a. Bert got a lemonade, that he almost immediately spilled (about half of it). So we spent a long time cleaning up the floor with those super thin napkins. We got out food, then he spilled his drink again. (Somehow, there was still some left, despite being spilled twice.) The second flight was short, and uneventful. That night, both kids slept in bed with me. I'm not sure why.
Sunday was mom's birthday. The kids and I went shopping in the morning for a little bit. We had lunch together, and Rebecca brought Nothing Bundt Cake for dessert.
Monday we went to a few different places. When we were at Walmart, Bertram managed to flip the shopping cart over, onto himself. It landed right on his ankle, which I was sure was broken. Shopping carts are much heavier than I thought. He was ok though. Just a scrape on his arm. He was quite upset, but he bucked up pretty quickly.
Tuesday I got a much needed haircut. I haven't done much with my hair. Even though it doesn't feel like it, it's still pretty humid here, which makes my hair very puffy. So I've been wearing it up a lot.
On Wednesday, we went to the zoo in the morning. Bertram was determined to have a bad day. He tried his best, but I think he had fun, in spite of himself. Both kids wanted to feed the parakeets. So we bought the little seed sticks, an off they went. As soon as you open the door, all the birds come rushing at you. Both kids immediately started screaming, and threw their seed sticks. Bron starting crying and melting down. I took them both out of there (which was difficult, because the birds were still trying to follow the kids, assuming they had food. Bronwyn went out to Nana, and was still screaming and crying. I think she was in sensory overload. She was holding the cup of animal food (to feed to the goats, and such), which she threw. About half the food spilled out all over the ground. But she calmed down after that and helped me pick up most of the food. After that, both kids refused to feed any animals. But I had fun feeding them. My favourite was feed the giraffe. They have really long, almost prehensile, tongues. I thought I had a picture of me feeding the giraffes, but it's not on google photos. That evening we went to my favourite restaurant, Cracker Barrel. (Mainly because we don't have Cracker Barrel). Bron didn't eat too much, which is fairly typical. Bert at all his food.
Bron and Emu
BB Eddie and a wallaby
The kiddos
He wants to photoshop a turtle into his hand.
Nana and kiddos.
Kids looking at turtles.
Thursday we went to an indoor play place called Kids Empire. They had a blast, and practically had the run of the place. There was only ever maybe 5 other kids there. The slides were really fun. I enjoyed it too, but I'm getting old, because it's hard on my back. At midday, both kids were hungry, so we went to IHOP for lunch. We went to Kohls for a few minutes. Then the kids wanted Maccas, despite having eaten very well at lunch. So we did the drive through and then went back to the play place for the afternoon. They were doing well. Towards the end, Bronwyn had an issue. She and Bert were sliding down on little sleds, and crashing into the other little sleds. But then it was another girl's turn, and Bron didn't want to move the sleds out of the way so the little girl could slide down. So I moved them, Bronwyn started kicking me, and the girl slide down. Then Bronwyn tried to kick the little girl (she missed fortunately). I said, Nope you're done, and scooped her up. Bertram played for a little longer then it was time to head home. Bron recovered fairly quickly. But it's annoying to have to bear-hug her all the time when she's melting down.
Bron and big Legos
Bert sliding.
The little sleds, mentioned above
"The Brown Splodge" by Bronwyn
Friday, today, Bb came over in the morning with the baby for a bit. We hung out. In the afternoon, we (me, the kids, Nana and Jessica) went to the science museum. It was a really cool place, and since it was a Friday afternoon, it wasn't busy, so we didn't have to wait for any exhibits. The front desk had sensory backpacks that you can borrow. I got one for Bronwyn, mainly for the headphones (I was going to bring hers and forgot). We saw rats playing basketball. That was so cute. I played air hockey against a robot. We tied. I was impressed that I managed to score on it. The first area was fine, no issues. The second area started badly for Bron and went downhill from there. They had a human hamster wheel, which Bron did not like, for some reason. There was an exhibit where you make music, and that was her last straw(she had the headphones on the whole time). She started screaming, and crying. So I took her out to the hall, where it was quiet. She calmed down, and we found the little kid area. It was for 5 and under, but I figured a young 6 was close enough. It was quiet. with simple activities. The ret of our group met us there. Bert played with some blocks for a few minutes and built a greek temple. Then we saw the beehive and the reptiles and spiders. There was an exhibit on different physics principles that everyone seemed to enjoy. Even though the museum is aimed towards kids, it was still really enjoyable. I definitely would like to go back when we visit again. After that we got dinner from Panera. And went to Walgreens to buy snacks for the trip home tomorrow. I spent the evening stressing about packing. I'm hoping the suitcases are not over weight. But, as Aaron reminded me, the worst that can happen is I have to pay for the overage, which isn't a huge deal. I don't think either is 50lbs, because I can still lift them without too much struggle. But we'll find out tomorrow. Mom has a luggage scale I can use.
Nana and grandkids.
Seesters!
Rat basketball
Human hamster wheel.
Bron (with the sensory backpack) calming down in the little kid area
The Greek temple
She made a moon lab
She really liked this photo op.
Every night, until tonight (the last night) Bronwyn has been sleeping in my bed, with me. When I ask her why she can't sleep in her bed she says "I just can't handle it". Tonight, I finally got her to sleep in her bed, because I was packing, and my bed was covered in stuff. Then, while I was taking a bath, Bertram came in and asked if he could sleep with me. So, I thought I would get one night to spread out, but no.
Bronwyn started on a non-stimulate ADHD medication a couple weeks ago. I haven't noticed much difference. The psychiatrist said to up the dose. (She was getting .5mg in the evening, now she'll get .5mg morning and evening.)
She got the 1-on-1 aide. It didn't help, really at all. She was still having all the same issues. We had another IEP meeting just before break. The district finally agreed to move her to the SpEd class. She will still join her old class for certain activities (math, library and PE), but will be in SpEd the rest of the time. When she is in the gen. ed. class she'll still have her aide. Hopefully that helps with her behaviour, and she'll be more motivated to do classwork, since she'll be less stressed by the environment.
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