An amazing weekend

I know I am still posting a little late, but our weekend was just too rich to keep to myself. It started for me at 4:15am Saturday morning as I left for work. It was such a fun day a Starbucks and I got to work over 7 hours, something that doesn't happen often. Customers were coming in ready for the beach and in a good mood. It was one of those days where even when things were going off a bit, there was excitement and intensity and everyone was having fun with it. The highlight was Claire coming in with Jared, the look on her face when she saw that I worked there was puzzled at first then she released a big grin. It is one of her favorite places to visit, she gets a disgusting amount of attention when we go there. We spent the afternoon just hanging around the house, riding the tricycle and other such fun that is appropriate for warm summer weather. Sunday we were off to the church gathering early in the morning and then home for lunch and naps. When we were back up it was off to Kelly's Bakery to meet our friend Tim. There is something about sitting on the patio with iced tea, a cookie and the sunshine that just helps me to let go. A bunch of wineries just opened tasting rooms in the same area so we walked over and the boys were excited to find a local vinter with an amazing complex pinot noir and a port that will be released in December. We thought that it had been a perfect day and we started to head home. We then decided that we would take Claire for a quick ride on the carousel. So we went to the boardwalk, rode the carosel, got a big cherry icee and played in the waves before sitting on the beach and watching the sun set, with, I kid you not, a few dolphins frolicking in the bay. It is times like this that remind me how little I am, and that if I sit back and watch God be God, it will be a lot more beautiful. The picture is Jared and Claire once we finaly made it home.

A diverse pallatte

One of the great things about living so close to the ocean is that there are lots of yummy things swimming around in it. Friday a friend went fishing and captured a bunch of rockfish and crab. As you may know I am a huge fan of slow food, it doesn't seem to get slower than this. We were invited over on Saturday for Ciappoino to celebrate the catch. As the soup cooked we sat around picking out nuggets of crab meat and thought that we would see if Claire enjoyed the sweet richness of the crab. Turns out that she is a crab eating machine, who knew. She also seems to enjoy calamari even when it is not breaded and fried. The soup was spectacular. I found it best to avoid using a spoon by using several pieces of fresh bread to soak up the tomatoy goodness. Claire's feeding extravaganza continued as she enjoyed pancakes and crisp bacon this morning. We then went to church where she got to play with the other kids her age. When we picked her up we learned of yet another culinary delight that she seems to enjoy, popsicle sticks dyed red and covered in glue. Who would have known? This is Claire's "Tower of Babble," I love how they were able to incorporate her different sounding speech into the lesson.

Still here

I am sorry for not posting for so long. The last few weeks have been trying times for me. I have had to focus on Claire and spending every moment on structuring our world for her success. It has been very rewarding. Since I last posted, Claire has pulled to stand off of a stool, with only the help of secured hands, once she places them. That is so huge, also her standing balance has improved greatly. These two things are very important pieces two walking, something that I pray that I see her do. This week Claire has started to use her left hand to make choices and hit her swithces, something that I never would have thought to work on or ask for, she just started. It is so amazing to me how fearfully we are designed and the things that we are capable of. On the more overwhelming side of life is our battle with the schools. Claire turned 3 October 24th. In the special needs world, that is a pretty big deal. She aged out of her 5 therapist that we worked 9 hours a week with. We got two new ones that we work with between 2 and 3 hours a week, but it was a shock. The way it is supposed to work is that Claire starts school when she is 3, something that she is looking forward to. Unfortunately the school district is afraid of her, they don't understand her. As a result, they have chosen to take the lower road and through little diligence on their part, we still have yet to meet for an IEP. The IEP is the plan for having Claire in an education environment. Currently the meeting is set for Monday and I am trying to stay focused until then. Otherwise, life is going amazing well up here. We are still enjoying the bounty of the harvest and all of the fun things that food brings. We have enjoyed many meals with good friends who are walking with us during this trying period in life. Now that it is Novemeber I am starting to look forward to the holidays. This will be our first year celebrating Hanukkah and I look forward to teaching Claire about it. So there is the update, now I feel like I can start blogging again. The picture is from Claire's birthday, but she wore the same thing for Halloween.