Happy 8th Birthday Colin!

Happy 8th Birthday to our beautiful little boy Colin! I am always so thankful for Colin's birthday as it always reminds me of where we all were when he was first born and just how far we have all come today. I couldn't imagine my life without Colin as he is truly one of the best people I know. He continues to work so hard every day in becoming this grown up little person that he is today. We are so proud of Colin and all of his accomplishments no matter how big or small. Happy Birthday Colin! We love you with all of our hearts!

Making Memories Over Spring Break

We're wrapping up a fun and *mostly* relaxing spring break tonight and I am sad to see it end. We tried to keep busy this week and find some fun things to do and I think we were successful in doing so.

Our first day was a beautiful one so the kids and I spent the morning outside doing some yard work. We ripped out a pricker bush and planted a new hydrangea that I was very excited about.

We also started potty training Cody which went shockingly well over the week (more on that in another post)!

I also had a cleanup in "aisle 3" as one shelf in my china cabinet fell when Kailey ran by shattering most of our wedding items.

Later that day, Colin had an eye doctor appointment and we took a walk up to the beach after he was done. It was much chillier on the beach than it was 5 miles inland!

We were all so excited to get our feet in the sand and start talking about our summer adventures ahead.

On Tuesday, we took a ride up to the Turtle Back Zoo and met my mom. It was beautiful out and so it was super crowded (it was probably our quickest walk through yet!).

Wednesday we met our friends Lauren and Landon for a swim date at the local YMCA for open family swim. We were all splashing around in the pool!

Thursday wasn't necessarily fun but we did make great progress at the dentist. Colin did great for the first time ever and Cody also had his first checkup and did pretty well!

On Friday, we bought a lawnmower and then headed to the boardwalk for the first rides session of the season!

By this past weekend, it was back to soccer, we went to our first BlueClaws game of the season (I shockingly left my phone in the car and didn't get any pictures!) and then it was Easter! We had a very fulfilling spring break and I'm sad to see it end!

Sensory Relief

It has seemed to be that throughout the years, Colin has had certain habits that would provide some relief for some sensory issues that he has had. He seems to be "under sensitized" where he seeks out certain actions that will give him input he is looking for. In the past we have seen things like chewing on his thumbs, rubbing his fingers on eyelashes/strings, rubbing his hands on his socks and tearing them apart and sliding on the floor. Sometimes some of these things on the list reemerge here and there but for the most part, he has moved onto other "sensory seeking" behaviors.

Throughout the course of this school year, the two biggest sensory related behaviors are teeth grinding and picking at his finger/toe nails. For a long time, Chris and I tried our best to ignore these behaviors as many times, he wouldn't even be aware he was doing it. At the end of the summer, I had talked to the dentist about it and he had explained that sensory wise, there is a lot going on in his mouth at this time (loose teeth and growing teeth/shifting/etc.) and it made a whole lot of sense. I am anxious to go back over spring break to ask more questions because he basically seems to be at a point where he is grinding his teeth more than he's not. It is really hard to ignore now as I worry about what his newly forming adult teeth will be like if he keeps this up AND because it is the MOST irritating noise. I think it's really getting to Chris and I now. The rational part of my brain understands that it must be providing some relief to him but the irrational side wants to just scream "stop the grinding!!".

If he's not grinding his teeth, he is also picking at his fingers and toes on the nails. This clicking sound is just as irritating as the teeth grinding but for different reasons. Again, we understand that these behaviors provide some relief to sensory needs that he may have but it is hard when these are sounds we hear nonstop these days!

It's a good thing he's cute!