Thursday, January 7, 2010

Countless blessings





I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. If you're anything like me, you love it while it's here but are just as happy to see it go. I like to get back into routine and reflect on the many blessings of the past year.

I'm most thankful for is being able to stay home with my kids. Yes, they are both at school during the day, but managing Cole's care is a full-time job alone. I love getting the kids ready, seeing them off to school and working productively throughout the day until my loved ones get home. It's something I have longed for since Cole was born and I'm extremely grateful for the past 18 months. I haven't take one hour of it for granted.

December brought a lot of fun to our house. As you know, there was a lot of snow over Christmas and Cole was in heaven. The boys and Pat spent countless hours plowing, shoveling, sledding and playing in the snow. Pat put the plow on our yard tractor so Cole could plow the snow. Pat would hop on his 4-wheeler and Cole on the "Husky". I'm not sure who was having more fun! Cole plowed our driveway (and the street) like a pro. During one snowfall, he was outside while Pat was working in the garage. Pat called me out to look at how perfect Cole had plowed the driveway. He had to turn the direction of the plow and everything. Pretty amazing!! I think I see a business possibility in Cole's future.

Christmas went pretty well for us. The snow saved us to some extent. Cole had an outlet for those times when being inside was too much for him. He loved opening presents and tore them open as fast as he could. He got a new John Deere backpack that quickly replaced his old one and many other fun things. Cole understood Santa and was super excited to see he left lots of presents by the fireplace. He had a great time visiting Santa a few days before Christmas. He sat by him, rang bells and talked to him about Christmas. It sure made us proud.

One great thing for Cole was learning to ice skate!!! His Aunt Katie took him to the Depot downtown where Cole skated for the first time. Not surprisingly, he picked it up with ease. After all, this is the boy who taught himself how to ride a bike without training wheels at age three. Cole and Katie skated for more than two hours and Grandma Eileen said she has never seen Cole smile so big. Just this week we signed Cole up for MN Special Hockey; a league for children with disabilities. He'll start next weekend and we can't wait for that.

We are seeing a new challenge with Cole. It goes without saying that he adores his brother, Connor. Now Cole wants to be doing everything Connor does. And he wants Connor to do whatever he wants to do. There are a lot of things they love to do together: play the Wii, wrestle, sing, play Candyland, Lincoln Logs and go outside. But there are many times when Connor doesn't want to do what Cole wants him to do, or furthermore, it might not be possible. Connor has his own life, places to go and friends to play with. Cole doesn't understand that concept and it's bringing on some very challenging situations for our family. I've talked to Cole's therapist at MAC and she is brainstorming ways we can work through this.

All in all, it's been a good winter and we're having a wonderful time seeing our kids enjoy it. It brings back memories of jumping off my roof into the snowbank with my siblings and skating in our backyard ice rink. It's so fun to be a kid and there isn't anything more rewarding than creating memories for your own children.. what a blessing.

Check out these videos. One is of Cole skating and the other is from the our visit to Santa.