Summer

We were able to trade in Dadaji's car and my van and got me a new one! It's still a Nissan Quest, but a 2011 instead of a 2009. It has only 20,000 miles and had 1 owner. Though it's 2 years newer than my old car, it's got a lot of perks my old one didn't have. I was secretly pleased that we never used the DVD player in the old car a single time. (My new car doesn't have one.) The kids love the fact that their windows open, their doors have automatic open/close buttons, and digital climate control. I was hesitant about the height for loading the harp, but I was able to test drive and the harp slid in with no issues. The (leather!) seats in this car fold completely flat, whereas my old car had a slight slope that required a little heft to get the harp in. (Not that I'm performing much these days, but still.) I'm still getting used to the keyless entry & keyless start, but having a new car is fun. (It's reassuring that Dadaji isn't driving anymore now, too.)

Shawn's been working hard on his morning & night routines, independence, & follow through. He's on a sticker chart reward system & so far he's met his goals each month. He's picked Legoland (he still has a free pass from his 5th b'day), GameWorks arcade with Raj (Lilly & I didn't ...have to... didn't get to go). Today we're off to Six Flags for this month's reward & to cash in a free pass he got from a reading program in kindergarten. Next month's reward is 2 treats a week from the candy bowl, rather than just 1. (I was getting nervous that each incentive was involving such big outings, but Raj & Shawn figure it out at the beginning of each month, so I try to stay out of that decision.) Shawn's pediatrician also suggested fish oil vitamins to help with his ability to focus. So, he's taking a kids' gummy fish oil & I'm trying capsules, too. (Shawn doesn't seem to mind them at all, but I get a gross aftertaste.) Though Ms. Johnsen never had any academic concerns about him in kindergarten, she scared me when she said she was worried if he could be successful in first grade because he needed so much prompting. I hope all this is helping him so he can better focus & follow directions independently in first grade.

We went on our annual Puri cousins' weekend away. We've been going to Lake Geneva but were ready for a change. This year we went to Wisconsin Dells instead. I was initially excited about all the things I had read about and talked with friends who knew the area. There's so much to do! Unfortunately (not surprisingly), I was completely outnumbered in my preference for a cheaper hotel & variety of experiences. We ended up at a waterpark resort & barely left the property. We got there on a Friday evening & left on Sunday morning, so there really wasn't an opportunity to do a lot. I was a bit disappointed. Still, the kids had a great time at the waterparks. Though Shawn hasn't had swimming lessons in forever (& needs them!), he's become very comfortable bobbing underwater and getting his head and face wet - all on his own. By Saturday afternoon, even Lilly was jumping off the side of a small pool to me (and sometimes getting her face wet, slightly less enthusiastically).

During our first night in the Dells, we got quite a scare. We got a phone call  at 2:30 am from Dadaji's emergency medical alert service saying that he had fallen and requested an ambulance because he was having severe back pain. They reported that he was able to unlock the door to allow the paramedics to come in, which at least meant he was mobile, but we didn't have much more information and he wasn't answering his cell phone. Eventually, we were able to speak to a paramedic and to Dadaji, too. He was trying to get a drink of water, dropped the glass, which shattered, and somehow he fell and jolted his back. They needed to take him to get Xrays to make sure nothing was broken. Using our outdoor security cameras, we were able to see him walk outside to the gurney before being rolled into the ambulance. The paramedic didn't think it was necessary for us to rush home and the hospital would help him get back home afterward, so we kept our phones close and waited anxiously for updates.

Dadaji's still sore, but doing fine. Nothing was broken and there's no visible bruising. His recollection of exactly what happened is pretty sketchy. We don't know why he was up in the first place because his sleeping pill normally knocks him out pretty hard. In one version of his story, he claims he tripped on one of the kids' toys, making him fall down, but there aren't any toys in that area. Raj bought 2 nanny cameras for the basement now. They allow him to talk with Dadaji through the cameras, which is pretty cool. I'm grateful for the medical alert button.

Aside from that scare, things with our boarder are going ok. I'm still having some adjustment pains, which I know may never go away, but I am very happy we have a helper, Ayesha. She encourages him to get out if the house and drives him on little outings to go grocery shopping, Walgreens, etc. She tells us whenever she has a concern (like his dependence on his sleeping meds and his pleas to sneak out to a casino). She also helps keep an eye on things so the kids and I don't have to stay home all the time. She closes the back door, which he leaves open and inadvertently lets Baron out. She helps clean up after him, since his shaking results in crumbs, spills, and splashes all over. She helped when he flooded his bathroom because he kept flushing the toilet and it was clogged. He tried to dislodge the clog with one of our wooden kitchen spoons. (???) She got him to stop and wait for me to come home. (She didn't know where the plunger was.) I plunged it, cleared the clog, and she helped me clean up the mess. (Sigh.) She's even offered to rearrange her schedule so she can be around if we go out of town again. I hate to think of not having her help.

We've been busy with camps and classes. I'll be sad when all of these end for the school year, though a new year has its share of excitement, too.