Gloria in Excelsis Deo: Memorial Day Week

Much copied from Facebook, but also fresh material . . .

Patience at the Baskin-Robbins

Dear Lord, When I kvetch and moan resentfully about my travails, may I please be more like little Thomas, who has learned much about how to suffer. ~ Katherine

Tonight I took the children out to Baskin-Robbins for Sunday night dessert . . . a rare treat to actually go out! Thomas was over-the-moon excited, as he has been taken to an ice cream shop only four times in the last 14 months. We got there and discovered the store does not carry even a single sugar-free ice cream, so Thomas agreed immediately that it would be okay if all his siblings still got to order ice cream and he accepted my offer to swing by a grocery store on the way home to buy some sugar-free ice cream. Then he sat sweetly amidst his siblings, drinking his ice water--the only safe thing for him on the menu--and he didn't even complain once. Ice cream is an undeniably big deal for a six-year-old tyke.

I had to fight back tears at the Baskin-Robbins to think of my daily complaints in light of how much physical horror Thomas previously endured and all the more garden variety challenges he still surmounts daily that he does not complain about. Just earlier today, he ate something unsafe for him, collapsed on the kitchen floor (where he lay for 20 minutes), covered in sweat (hair soaked through), saying he felt like he was "suffocating," and then began throwing up as I poked his fingers to verify his skyrocketing blood glucose. No complaints.

Please let me do better.

Mundane Miracles

In a miracle of every day life, I note that Thomas has lived to experience the childhood milestone of losing his two bottom teeth and two top teeth in very short order, so he looks like quite the silly little boy right now and he’s bustin’ with pride about it. May God grant me the grace as often as possible for me to recognize the mundane miracles.

Memorial Day 2022

We enjoyed having some families over for a cookout and watching Joseph set off his latest rocket!

A New Goal

I've set my sights on walking (maybe fast-walking, maybe jogging) a 5K in September and I've gotten my 13- and 15-year-olds to agree to train with me. Our first week and three jog-walks are under our belts!

Physical Therapy Walks

I'm trying to take the younger boys on morning walks most days of the week, with my main (unspoken) goal to increase Thomas's strength and endurance. He is very good at using his scooter to race around, but just plain walking uses up his endurance and causes leg pain.

One tactic I used successfully this week was to take them on a nature walk with sketch books, which kept the boys interested to keep going. They loved studying the trap door spiders we found!

Summer Routine Set In Action

I posted a few weeks ago asking for advice on controlling the black vortex that is the Internet. I’ve come up with a daily summer to do list for the kids before they can have Internet recreation time, which then should be limited to an hour. Various kids will be learning or reviewing math facts, spelling, penmanship, and keyboarding. I’ve also assigned some daily exercise and reading. Our oldest has a job and the next two will be working for neighbors. Plus there should be pool time most days! I have high hopes for a great summer!

Thomas (6) reading The Hobbit

Puppy Pics

We had our second session with the dog trainer with goals of the dogs learning their proper position in the pack (read: not at the top), becoming properly housebroken, and Nicky overcoming his anxiety. If he securely knows his place in the pack, the anxiety should dissipate.

One of our tools is the Calming Cap. He can still see through it: it just dims his experience of simulation, like looking through a screen. It calms him down so much that he just goes to sleep.