What's Up

We're past due for an update!

• Remy loves Wheels on the Bus. He can do the hand motions for four of the verses and if you even say the word "song" he will jump right in with the "round and round" motions!
• Remy's behavioral counselor has started him on a notebook of skills to learn and he is cruising right down the list. Most recently he has learned how to give me things when I ask for them.  
• The therapists in Remy's playgroup are very impressed with him. He has better eye contact and better pointing than any of the other kids in the group. 
• Remy is giving up his binky! Not cold turkey, but he now goes hours without it and is fine. He doesn't use it or his blanky at all in playgroup and now he has even stopped taking them to Sunday School. Such a big boy!
• I bought Remy a baby doll named Bob. Remy loves to give Bob a drink from his cup and to brush his non-existent hair but best of all is when Bob chases Remy around the house while I shout "Bob's gonna get you!"  Remy laughs so hard he cries!
• Ross played at church last weekend after a pretty long break. He sounded awesome. He is a great artist, but sometimes I think his drumming moves me even more than his painting and drawings do.  I hope Remy gets his musical talent!
• I signed up for a Dahn Yoga session. If I like it I am going to try to go twice a week! I first learned a little yoga from my physical therapist in 2003-2004 and it was such a relief and a pleasure to me, I am super excited to learn more yoga!  
• Had a colonoscopy last week. It was not fun. It was hard to drink the laxative and, don't tell the doctor, but I didn't finish it. When I woke up there was a note from the doctor saying I had diverticulosis and gastric erosions, which he biopsied.  That's all I know for now, my follow-up with him is scheduled for 6/11. 
• We bought our tickets for our July 4th trip to Raleigh. We're going to fly in on the 4th and then rent a car and drive up the lake house to celebrate Ross's Dad's birthday. I think the whole family is going to be there, even Granddad Bates. Remy is going to love swimming and going on the boat. We'll stay 5 nights and fly back on the 9th. 

Some pics from the last week:

Solar Eclipse

We had a solar eclipse yesterday. Not the dramatic "ring of fire" that some other people got to see, but still pretty awesome. I decided to try to take pictures. I used my telephoto lens with the shutter speed set to 1/4000 (fastest it would go) and the aperture closed down to f.45 (or something like that) and the sun was still overexposed! I hope (hope, hope, hope!) that I didn't hurt my camera's sensor. I have taken pictures of plenty of sunsets with no problem, but usually not with a telephoto lens!  Anyway, here are a couple of my favorite pics!

(The crescent appears to be rotating because the sun was going down as the pictures were being taken.)

Remy is Two!

Saturday was Remy's second birthday. We kept it simple, just us and the grandparents, and it was a wonderful day for a wonderful boy.

 Mommo baked him a yummy gluten free cake. 

Remy's First Pony Ride!

Warming up for the real thing!

Look Poppo, no hands!

Good Pony!

The proud grandparents!

Red Rock Canyon

Supermoon 2012

Last night, according to the news, was a phenomenon called "Supermoon." The moon passed a little closer to earth than usual making this full moon appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than a full moon at its furthest distance from the earth. I missed the rising but I went out around 9 o'clock and the moon was visible above the neighboring apartment building and I was able to get a shot.  I am not sure if it looked bigger to me but it certainly looked very bright! I think the brightness contributed to being able to get a decent shot without even using a tripod.

Kalanchoe cont.

It survived the transplant and some very physical attention from Remy to bloom again! I love this plant!

My Beautiful Boy

Mama's little monkey turns two this month! What a magical couple of years it has been. Haven't figured out what we are going to do yet to celebrate but I am stock piling gifts in my closet for the big day.