June 2013

June was busy, busy, busy. Ashlyn and Dayle came up for a visit and we took them to Crane Beach. It was a super hot day but the water was still REALLY cold, so we didn’t stay long. Such is New England in the early summer. We also went out for brunch to Beehive and then us girls split to do some shopping on Newbury Street. We went to a CNS end of year party at Sam Breslau’s lake house where we BBQ’d, took the boats out on the lake and played in the sun (the good) as well as refused to nap (Archer) and had a couple of too close to nap, too much sensory and social pressures meltdowns (Seb) (the bad). Nick took the boys to Touch-a-Truck day where Sebastien was super excited to find Grayson and the two of them ran around together all afternoon. We attended Sebastien’s Journey Book celebration at school – the class performed a couple of songs and we watched a slide show of their year together. It’s amazing how much they’ve all grown in just one school year. Archer and I drove down to NY for Margaret’s bachelorette party while Nick and Sebastien stayed and played in Boston. We met them back on Sunday, where they had made friends with the neighbors across the street. They have a 4.5 year old son (Brode) and a 3 year old daughter (Vreni) who S gets along with really well. Sebastien went to two weeks of CNS summer camp and had a blast, playing at the playground, visiting the guinea pigs, painting and playing cars with his friends. He learned to play tag and with the help of Erica (who is helping him with some social coaching), made amazing strides interacting with peers. He even used the potty at school, which was a pretty big deal for the kid who would rather wait until home even if that’s hours later. We went to the first of three evening concerts in City Square with our neighbors and S ran around with friends for hours. We started OT with Jesse and S seems to LOVE it – lots of jumping and crashing and swinging. The boys got their pre-wedding haircuts (Archer’s first REAL haircut) and S went to Max’s 3rd birthday party where he got his face painted like a tiger. On the last weekend in June, Sebastien went with Nick to the PwC box at Fenway for a Red Sox game and we all headed down to RI to see Dani and Eric’s new house and spend lots of time outside (and lots of wiffle ball).

Sebastien, you are all questions these days. How things work, why they are the way they are, and “why are we not” doing certain things. We spent a good part of the month reading our social story about being a ring bearer in the hopes that you would walk down the aisle at the wedding (spoiler alert: you did!) We started a sticker chart for saying nice hellos and goodbyes to people as part of the anxiety study and at the end of the month, you had earned the army truck you wanted. You’re much more likely to say hi to people now when we’re out and about, although you still have times where you just say no instead. It has been amazing to see you interact more with kids these days. You truly have back and forth conversations and seek out social interactions like you haven’t before. You are much happier playing with peers these days than by yourself and you don’t often ask for us to play when there are other kids around. Our only challenges these days are getting dressed by yourself in the morning and brushing teeth, which we are working on with ABA, but the rest of our day usually goes along pretty smoothly. You are still using a pacifier for naps and bedtime (sigh) but I’ve decided not to push that issue right now with everything else you have going on. Your current favorite toys are legos and playing music with the guitar, tambourine and drums. (You were anxiously awaiting the band at the wedding to see what instruments they would have. You were hoping for a mandolin, castanets and bagpipes!)

Archer, you are OBSESSED with the stairs. Any time we put you down, you immediately crawl over to them and start climbing. (We’ve temporarily blocked them off with a big Tupperware container of clothes because we can’t seem to find a gate narrow enough to fit.) You are into climbing other things too – the bookcase, the containers of duplos, Sebastien’s step-ladder. I do not remember Sebastien being quite as much of a daredevil and into EVERYTHING like you are. You don’t really want to play with toys – you just want to take apart my house. Your walking has gotten even better and you now choose to walk over crawl almost every time. You are fast and sturdy and can cross the whole living room on your own like it’s no big deal. You love being chased, especially when Sebastien is the chaser. You get all excited and try to run away with this little high pitched squeal and quick breathing, looking over your shoulder to see who is coming. Most of the time, you are smiling and laughing and super happy and you don’t cry often, but you sure do a lot of whining. I can’t wait until you can start communicating a little better! We are practicing sign language but you haven’t picked it up so far, although right at the end of the month (or early July), you started clapping and waving, definitely this time with intent. You are suddenly super affectionate, especially right after you wake up from a nap. You come over, wrap your arms around my neck and nuzzle your head in and just stay there for a few minutes and it’s the sweetest ever.

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