Golf Clinic

Yesterday, Chris and Colin had a pretty neat opportunity to participate in a golf clinic at Baltusrol Golf Club, one of the most famous golf courses in NJ and one which has hosted the US Open.  The golf clinic was put on by the NJ Golf Foundation and was offered to Special Olympics of NJ Young Athletes. 

 



 

We were excited at the opportunity because most recently, Colin has been expressing a real interest in golf.  A few weeks ago, when one of the golf tournaments was on TV in the morning, Colin was asking to watch that instead of his usual morning shows and would watch for at least an hour.  He's also been seeking out his plastic golf clubs in the backyard and hitting the balls around when given the opportunity.   

 

After arriving, lunch was provided on the patio (Colin may be the only one to have ever eaten cottage cheese as a meal at Baltusrol Golf Club) and then they were taken for their clinic to one of the practice putting greens. 

The clinic was broken up into two different stations; chipping/pitching at one and putting at the other and was run by Brian, the club professional and two others.  In addition, Kevin Foley, PGA tour professional (a NJ native) was also there participating in the event. 

The kids were taught how to "put the hot dog in the bun" (holding the golf club) and then "tick tock" (swinging to hit the ball).  Colin really enjoyed himself and was a really good listener.  In addition, he even told Chris when he had to go to the bathroom so they were able to run inside and make it in time (almost just as exciting for me as the golf clinic itself!).

 

Chris caught a little bit of it on video too...

 



IMG 1390 from Kelli Tobin on Vimeo.

 It was a really great event put on for the Special Olympics Young Athletes and it was really nice to expose Colin to something that may actually be something he really enjoys in the future.  We are looking forward to more opportunities for golf events that will most likely be offered by the Special Olympics of NJ in the future.  We are really thankful to the Special Olympics, NJ Golf Foundation, Baltusrol Golf Club (and employees), PGA professional Kevin Foley and to Jason Kahn, News 12 NJ sports reporter for putting on and highlighting such a great event! 

 

Link to News 12 NJ sports report (Chris and Colin can be found at the 3 min. mark of the video): http://newjersey.news12.com/multimedia/new-jersey-sportscast-08-04-1.8964880

Overall it was a great event and a really successful day!

All About Kailey

While I do often talk about Colin AND Kailey on this blog, a lot of times my posts focus on Colin because of some of the unique challenges we face with him.  However, even though some of the things we deal with Kailey are more "typical", she certainly has her "things" as well. 

 

Kailey has become our little bossy pants of the family.  She can often be found scolding Colin or running to us to tell us something he is doing (regardless of whether it's something good or bad).  Unfortunately, there are a lot of times she instigates by telling him NOT to do something (even though he isn't currently doing it) and then he WILL do it simply because she told him not to.  A lot of times she looks at Colin with a little Mommy look on her face and scolds him for doing something and then will turn to me and say "We don't do _______, right Mommy?".  We are working on this with her because there are times when it's helpful (like when she told me he was emptying my wallet all over the couch) but a lot of times, she just takes disciplining into her own hands, even when it's not warranted.  (And yikes do I see myself in her sometimes when she's doing this!)

We have noticed that she has really come out of her shell in the past 6 months or so.  For a long time in public, we often used the phrase "she's shy" because she wouldn't answer questions or talk to anyone when conversation was initiated with her.  However, this has been changing and now there are many times when we can't get her to stop sharing information with people as she has become quite chatty.  I really, really enjoy this aspect of her personality because it makes for some fun conversations with her and it's quite interesting to hear the things that come out of her mouth sometimes.  It's amazing the things she retains and then repeats back.  If we do find her being shy, we just have to set up the conversation for her by saying something like, "Kailey, tell so and so what we did today..." and she'll often take over and then start chatting. 

She can still be considered very dramatic though and if something doesn't go the way she likes she immediately drops her head and starts pouting.  This used to ALWAYS bring about tears as well but that seems to be better as a  lot of times it's just moping instead of crying.  While she is doing pretty well with the "share" concept, this is certainly not great and is often the reason why the tears come when playing with Colin or other kids. 

She is quite the loving little girl and it is my favorite quality about her right now.  She will often come up to Chris or me to give us a hug and just to "tell us that she loves us".  She knows when to use that though and if you have to scold her or you get irritated with something she is doing she will use the phrase "but I love  you Mommy/Daddy".  She is plentiful with her hugs and kisses but the best part is when they are unprompted out of the blue ones. 

It has been really fun to see her relationship with Colin really bloom as they have become the best of friends.  They have been playing really nicely together, which is often led by Kailey, however, she has been relinquishing some control and allowing him to take charge (which is also really good for him as well).  She really loves her big brother and takes care of him (when she's not bossing him around).  There's no doubt as to how much she loves him. 

 

I have really been enjoying watching her grow and change and despite the drama, she brings the perfect amount of sass and spunk.  She loves having an audience for everything she is doing (yesterday my friends had to watch for 4 hours every time she jumped in the pool..."hey guys! excuse me! watch me!").  She loves taking care of her babies and I can't wait to see what she's like when the new baby gets here.  

 

 

 

We love our sweet, sassy, spunky and beautiful little Kailey!!