Hitting the highlights

Pictures:
1) Kerwin's first time bowling
2) Kerwin as a pilgrim at the school Thanksgiving feast
3) Kerwin playing the mandolin and singing on Thanksgiving night
4) Kerwin playing with the water works at the Cincinnati Children's Museum
5) Kerwin shoveling rocks in the construction area at the CCM

I have been intimidated by thought of blogging because so much has happened since the last time I posted. But I am back at it now and I will try to hit the highlights.

Our open house went great! We had so many folks come and Kerwin had a great time. He loves having people over which is great because we do too. My grandma came down and stayed at our house for two weeks which was wonderful because Kerwin really got to know her and she helped me so much with getting ready for the party. She even helped with taking the school run several times while I was at work.

That's another development. I now have a part time job. I took a contract with the Berea school district and I am working with preschoolers. So far everything is going great. It seems like a really good place to work.

Last Wednesday, Mike and I were both off but Kerwin had a half day of school. So we dropped him off and hung out for a few hours and then came back to visit his classroom and go to the school's Thanksgiving feast. It was really fun and everyone loved my dessert which I had just learned how to make. It was super easy to make so I gave the recipe to everyone. They typed it up right away and passed it out to everyone who wanted one. They didn't know what to call it so one of the teachers named it "Kerwin's Mom's Pumpkin Fluff Cake."

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. My mom had a big meal at her house with my all of my grandparents, an aunt, a cousin, and then all of Mike's immediate family plus grandma and great aunt. So now Kerwin has met all of his great grandparents; he has five. Thanksgiving night we drove up to northern Kentucky to celebrate with Mike's extended family. Kerwin had a good time and seemed right at home with all those new people. He just ran around playing with his toys. Then he got to play the mandolin and sing into the microphone. It was so cute. He had all the motions down, he was really rockin' it.

Friday we went out for breakfast with Mike's dad and then went to the Cincinnati Children's Museum. Kerwin had a great time. He played with lots of different things and was VERY well behaved. Which I really appreciated after seeing the way everyone else's little brats were acting. I was again reminded of how thankful I am for Kerwin. I only intervened with other people's children when there was violence involved and that was twice. The first time I had to break up a fist fight between 4 year olds. The second time, I had to stop some little hoodlum from whipping my kid in the face with a stuffed rat tail as he crawled through the tube on the way to the slide. I couldn't get to where they were so I just yelled (really mean and loud) into the tube, "STOP, STOP IT." It got the intended result but the other parents were less than impressed. They were encouraging their children to stay away from "that lady." But give me a break, my poor, less-than-confident child was being assaulted in a dark tunnel by a kid with a rodent. The good news is, Kerwin was completely unaffected and continued on his way to the slide after he took his whipping. I was kind of hoping he'd have at least taken away the kid's weapon and chucked it. I guess I didn't give him much time to react. I was all over that kid. Besides the aforementioned incident we all had a great time. Kerwin loved playing in the water, the ball area, the construction area and with the wooden train set. When we stopped playing and finally left the museum, he was so hungry. He couldn't talk about anything else but eating. After eating, we went back to Mike's parents house and they had "card party" at their house. A few of the neighbor kids who are right around Kerwin's age came over. He had such a great time with them and they stayed over pretty late.

Today he was tired and grumpy when we left him with grandma to go the UK game (ugh, we lost in quadruple over time). But by the time we met them for dinner he was all smiles again.

We have a big week this week: a play date with a new friend tomorrow, riding the bus to school for the first time Monday (I will still pick him up in the afternoons), an appointment with Shriner's Tuesday to find out what course of treatment they will take for his legs, and an appointment at Cincinnati Children's to get his hearing aids on Wednesday. I'll post again soon to keep you updated. Please pray for these appointments and that Kerwin will adjust well to his new hearing aids.