OT, PT, OMG!

Okay, last time I went 10 months without giving an Aubrey update. I'm trying to be more on top of things! So now it has only been five months. Improvement! Anyway, Aubrey is quite a girl. She's smart and funny and sassy and sweet and volatile and stubborn and so much more! Here are some details about her:

• One day, when we told her to clean up her art desk, she responded, "I was made for art! I wasn't made for cleaning up!"
• Even though she's pretty much past that stage of pronouncing words wrong, she does have a few things she says funny:
• "Prentzels" for "pretzels"
• "Wrangular Park" for "Wrangler Park"
• "Warmart" for "Walmart"
• For awhile there, she had a rough time falling asleep at night. She always asked for extra pillows, so we gave her as many as she wanted. And we found her in many strange setups...

• She is always singing. Sometimes they're real songs, and sometimes they're made-up songs. But when she's in the bath or shower, when she's playing, when she's using the bathroom or washing her hands, when she's doing art, etc., she's singing. She has such a sweet little voice. I love it.
• At preschool, when they had a "Muffins with Mom" Mother's Day celebration, Ms. Shelley read an "about Mom" sheet on which each kid answered questions about their moms. For the question, "What makes your mom happy?", a lot of kids said things like, "when I give her hugs" or "when I help her." But Aubrey said, "when I leave her alone so she can rest." And these got read out loud for everyone. Proud parenting moment right there! *head slap*
• At the end of the year preschool celebration, the kids did a performance of some songs they'd practiced. Aubrey knew all the words and actions, but she refused to participate. She just looked uncomfortable on the stage. And she was the only kid not wearing a hat, a bandana, and the shirt she made. But hey, she went up there! So that's a big improvement.

• She loves eating at Dos Amigos, which she says has the best rice. I seriously think she could eat an endless amount of it. She used to love the rice we made at home, but now she's always sad when we make it because it's not Dos Amigos rice.
• She loves writing on Post-it notes and placing them on people. She usually copies words from books in her room, like "Dr. Seuss" or something. Sometimes she writes sight words/phrases she knows.
• For awhile there she was really into the planets, so she asked Daniel to print off a coloring page for each planet as well as the sun. Then she asked him what color each planet was, and she colored them accordingly (mostly). Finally, she hung them up in the kitchen, starting with the sun and placing them in order from there. It was so cool and cute!

• This girl loves her baby sister. She can't get enough of her! When she gets sad, she goes to Clara. It makes her feel better to snuggle and kiss her. If Clara is around, Aubrey is all over her. She is constantly kissing her and grabbing her hands or rubbing her face on Clara's head. It's very cute and sweet the way she feels about her baby sister. I hope it lasts!
• She got a new haircut! And she looks so cute. It's already grown some because it was cut at the end of June, but it's still cute! It suits her.

• She started full-day kindergarten! At the beginning of the school year, they did a two-day evaluation of all the kids to place them in equal, balanced classes. When I dropped her off I got to meet the teachers, and she got the one I wanted! She got nervous about me leaving on that first day, and as she was refusing to get off my lap and join the other kids in circle time, Mrs. Rushing not only noticed but also came over to invite her to join. And it actually worked! She's just very sweet and good at reaching Aubrey. Makaela, Aubrey's best friend from preschool, is also in her class! We were really hoping that would happen when we found out she'd be going to the same school. And even better is that Aubrey has made other friends we've heard her talk about often. So other than a few days of trouble getting her to go to school willingly (one time even having Grandma physically carry her in kicking and fighting) and trips to the Regulation Room (or the "fun room," as Aubrey calls it), it's been great.

• She's a reading champ! She reads the Level 2 Step into Reading books with basically no help, and she can do the Level 3 books pretty well. And I've heard her read regular picture books to Carter as well, and it's so sweet! She also sends texts to my parents and reads their responses herself.
• Her school did a Fun Run to earn money for STEM, and she was really excited about it. She found some change in our house and asked if she could pledge it, haha. She also insisted on wearing a dress that day. Oy. They did an obstacle course, and I got some good videos. In the first one, you can see her wave to her teacher (in pink). I also got a photo of her with Makaela.

• When Nana signed Aubrey up for adventure camp, we had to get a bigger backpack that she could take with her. The Sofia the First backpack she used for preschool was toddler-sized. And since she was going to be starting kindergarten in the Fall anyway, we decided to get the one she would use for school just a bit early. She was adamant about getting a rainbow backpack, and I got her a couple of options with the plan to return whichever backpack she didn't choose. She chose a rainbow striped one from Target, and she was SO excited about it. It was super adorable. She didn't want to wait until camp to use it, so she started bringing it to preschool. The first day she did, she was one of the last (or perhaps the very last) kid to arrive, so all of her friends were inside the classroom already. And backpacks get hung in the hallway outside of the class beforehand, so she couldn't show anyone her new backpack. But apparently her excitement was such that she just couldn't handle it, so she devised a diabolical plan. Well, there were two plans. The first plan failed. She and her friend Morgan told Ms. Kathleen they needed to use the bathroom, with the intention of sneaking out to see the backpack. But Ms. Kathleen stands at the door to the class and waits for kids to go to the bathroom, which is right outside the class but is in the opposite direction of the backpacks. So that was a bust. Plan B was the truly diabolical one. Aubrey convinced her friend to start breaking toys with her. The thought was that they would take the broken toys to Ms. Shelley, who would have to fix them. And while she was thus distracted, they would sneak out into the hall to see the backpack. In the end, Ms. Shelley didn't even bother trying to fix the toys, so it was another bust. And then Aubrey had to use the money from her piggy bank to buy toys to replace what she broke. And Daniel and I were simultaneously horrified and impressed. 
• On the completely opposite side of the Aubrey behavior spectrum, she put a band-aid on our kitchen floor after I dropped one of the big, glass refrigerator shelves on it and gouged a hole out. I was upset about it, so she put the band-aid on it to cover it up. She said, "There! Now no one will see it!" Heart melted.

• Just after her fifth birthday, we took Aubrey to be evaluated by Kaiser's behavioral health department. She was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, which is a neurological condition in which the brain has trouble receiving and responding to sensory information. A therapist said he thought she had ADHD as well, but basically everyone else disagrees. And a lot of the ADHD signs she exhibits are also signs of the type of SPD she has. Basically, she's sensory seeking, which means... well, I'll just copy and paste this description: "Individuals with this pattern actively seek or crave sensory stimulation and seem to have an almost insatiable desire for sensory input. They tend to be constantly moving, crashing, bumping, and/or jumping. They may 'need' to touch everything and be overly affectionate, not understanding what is 'their space' vs. 'other’s space.' A key factor with Sensory Craving is that when the individual receives more input it does not regulate him/her; in fact, those with true craving disorders become disorganized with additional stimulation." So yeah, this explains a lot of what we've been seeing over the last couple of years. So she's now going to weekly Occupational Therapy, where she's working on self-regulation techniques, motor skills, and vestibular and proprioceptive processing. Aubrey has trouble with her vestibular sense, which (again, copying and pasting) "provides us with information about where our body is in space. It is responsible for informing us whether our body is stationary or moving, how fast it is moving, and in what direction... The vestibular system involves vestibular organs and receptors, located in the non-auditory region of the inner ear. It includes two components: the semicircular canal, which detects rotational movements, and the otolith organs (utricle and saccule), which detects linear changes... Vestibular dysfunction not only affects us physically, but also psychologically. It can be responsible for high emotional reactions from stressful experiences and can develop into anxiety or insecurity in an environment." The vestibular system is closely connected to the limbic system, which (again, quoting here) "is the part of the brain involved in our behavioural and emotional responses, especially when it comes to behaviours we need for survival: feeding, reproduction and caring for our young, and fight or flight responses." Aubrey also has trouble with her proprioceptive sense. To quote another source, "The proprioceptive system is located in our muscles and joints. It provides us with a sense of body awareness and detects/controls force and pressure. The proprioceptive system also has an important regulatory role in sensory processing as proprioceptive input can assist in controlling responses to sensory stimuli... Proprioceptive input can be alerting for those who need increased sensory stimulation to facilitate attention and learning." So that's it in a nutshell. It's kind of a lot.

• All of this stuff has caused some physical side effects, such as Aubrey walking on her toes. As this awesome blog explains, "Sometime children toe-walk because they like the pressure it puts on their ankle, which is more proprioceptive feedback. Or, it can also be the result of a vestibular system that isn’t processing properly..." So with Aubrey walking on her toes since forever, she has caused some issues with her legs, which has caused issues with her balance, coordination, flexibility, etc. So long story short, she's also doing physical therapy. She goes for an hour on Tuesday night (for OT) and Thursday night (for PT) after dinner. And now we're waiting for the arrival of orthotic inserts that prevent her from walking on her toes. Again, it's a lot. Thankfully, Aubrey takes both OT and PT seriously, which is very good.

• She read a book with Daniel that involved characters communicating through Morse Code. The book had the code in the back, so Daniel taught her how to write messages that way. Then they spent a couple of weeks leaving each other Morse Code messages. Daniel would write one to her after she was in bed and leave it on the kitchen table for her. In the morning, she would read and respond. It was so cute.
• For her birthday present, my parents signed her up for an art class with a mountain theme. She loved it and wants to do it again! On their first day they created the following mountain scene:

Here she is working...

And here is her finished product!

• Speaking of Aubrey's art (which really needs a whole blog post of its own), she made a lovely drawing at the end of preschool that made me laugh out loud when I first saw it. When I asked what it was, she said, "I traced my scissors and colored it rainbow!"

• She got a cute purple purse from a friend on her birthday, and she loves taking it places. She always packs snacks, a toy or two, and an extra pair of underwear. ("Just in case I go poop in my underwear!" Incidentally, she doesn't still poop her pants. But hey, always be prepared!) I think it's hilarious.
• We started attending a new church building a few months ago, and we noticed a purple and white van parked outside one of the homes across the street from the church. Then every week she would eagerly look forward to seeing the van on our way to church. Unfortunately, the van recently disappeared, and Aubrey was really disappointed, haha. She also has a weird Jeep obsession. She always points out Jeeps as we're driving. I think her preoccupation with them began because she could actually read the word "Jeep." 
• She plays so cutely by herself, and a lot of what she says makes no sense. She also loves recording videos on my phone. For example:

Adventure Camp

For Aubrey's birthday, Nana paid for her to go to adventure camp in June through Avid4 Adventure. It was a five-day camp that went from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and included lots of fun outdoor activities, including kayaking, hiking, canoeing, and biking. She had a blast! Luckily, the camp leaders took photos and uploaded them, so I have documentation.

The first day was kayaking. Aubrey had a rough time with it, apparently, and they let her ride in someone else's canoe after she had some sort of meltdown. That was unfortunate.

On the second day, they did bicycle riding. Aubrey had been having a difficult time riding, even with her training wheels, so I was worried. I was even more concerned because I knew they required bicycles without training wheels. But she did great! It was the highlight of the camp for her, I'd say. She got so much more confident. 

By the end of the second bicycling day (it was the only activity they did two different days), she was gliding along with her feet on the pedals.

Since then, we've tried to work on pedaling. She gets frustrated easily, as you can see at the end of this video. But she's getting there!

The third day was canoeing, which Aubrey liked much better than kayaking. Here she is before getting in her canoe! Cutie.

And here she is out on the water. I absolutely LOVE this picture of her.

On the last day, they hiked. Aubrey has grown up hiking with us, so we weren't surprised to hear that she was a total champ. I love the pictures her leaders got of her along the way!

In addition to all the big outdoor adventures, the kids also got to just spend time together playing and eating lunch. They even did a craft, in which Aubrey made a dragonfly out of paper and pipe cleaners. Man, she loved that thing. I wish I could remember what she named it! It lasted for a few weeks before getting destroyed and subsequently tossed.

Anyway, Aubrey loved camp and will hopefully have a chance to go back next year. They handed out awards at the end of the week, and Aubrey got the Bravery award. That's my girl!

Aubrey Turns Five!

I'm a little behind on this (by about two months), but Aubrey turned five years old in April! I can't believe she's that old and about to start kindergarten! But anyway, I digress. 

We started the day with our traditional Swedish pancakes, which Aubrey requested we make purple. She also decided to wear her birthday crown from preschool while she ate.

After breakfast, I nearly killed myself making rainbow velvet cupcakes for her birthday party. I had to make the batter, separate it out into six bowls, dye each one a different color, and then fill the (rainbow) cupcake liners with some of each batter. Unfortunately, I didn't do the best job of putting the same amount of each batter in the liners, but it still looked fairly rainbowy. The colors are just a bit darker because of the cocoa in the batter.

Then I piped rosettes on the tops. I had never done that before, and I was happy with them! You can see, however, that the cupcakes aren't exactly a uniform size. My first batch was overfilled, and then I did better on the second one. But that made them varied. Oh well, the frosting looked good!

So after the cupcakes were finished, we took them to Aubrey's party, which we had at a gymnastics place. We'd never done a party anywhere but our house (because cheap), but Aubrey had really wanted to do a party like the ones her preschool friends did at fun venues. Plus that way she could invite everyone she wanted. (Our house is too small to accommodate a lot of kids.) So that's what we did! And then she got zero presents from us; that was the exchange, which she was fine with.

Anyway, the "coaches" started the party with some stretches, which Aubrey--in typical fashion--refused to participate in. (Doing what everyone else is doing isn't really her thing.)

Then they did a follow the leader thing, with Aubrey leading (which definitely is her thing).

They all took turns jumping in the foam pit. And thankfully, Daniel got this amazing animation thing of Aubrey taking her turn--with a flourish!

Then they had to try to get out of the foam pit, which isn't exactly easy.

It didn't take long for the coaches to realize this group was going to do better with unstructured free play, so that's what they got. Aubrey was hilarious and started somersaulting over and through everything.

She really had a blast just running around everywhere, free to do her own thing.

Carter decided to spend his time crawling around and hanging on things.

And Aubrey and her friends did some hanging of their own!

At some point, the kids got the idea to roll each other around in one of the padded rings. 

And finally, just before it was time to be done, Aubrey did one last walk across the beam. Her balance has gotten so much better since her days of gymnastics in Massachusetts!

Before we went to the party room, we got a group shot of all the kids (well, except for Carter, who refused to join... but hey, what can you do?).

After eating some pizza, we sang and did cupcakes. I got this video of the song.

And then, at home, Aubrey got to open the presents from her friends. She was so excited! (We've always previously told friends not to bring presents, so it was a new and exciting experience for her.)

All in all, it was a successful birthday. Stay tuned for the traditional update on all things Aubrey!

"I am a GREAT girl!"

I have been an absolute blogging failure over this last year. I'm so behind! I can't believe the last time I posted an update on Aubrey was 10 months ago!

As she gets older, it seems there are fewer Aubrey milestones and changes to record, but there are definitely a lot of hilarious Aubrey quotes. I went through my Facebook account and found all of the funny Aubreyisms I posted over the last 10 months. Here they are:

• After we told her many times to get her pajamas on: "I'm running away. I'm going to a different house... without my PJs." And then to Daniel, after she'd stormed away from me: "Daddy, I'm leaving and going to a new house." *pause* "Now how do I open this door?"
• During dinner, she was whining about her food being too hot and demanding we cool it off for her. When we told her she was old enough to do it herself, she lost it. She said hysterically, "But I don't know what to do! Blow on it? Fan it? Blow? Fan? Blow? I just don't know!!" She didn't take kindly to me and Daniel laughing at her...
• When Carter wanted to join her as she was playing: "Okay Carter, I get everything and you get nothing."
• One day I was worried I might be arrested because Aubrey decided to repeatedly shout, "Someone please help us!" out of our open window.
• "That rock looks like a baguette!" 

• When I picked Aubrey up at preschool towards the end of last school year, all of the kids had t-shirts they had painted to wear for their end-of-year ice cream social. When I talked about how cool it would be to match everyone, the following conversation occurred:
• Aubrey: "But Mommy, I don't like white. So I can't wear it."
• Me: "Aubrey, the shirt you're wearing now is white."
• *Pause*
• Aubrey: "Well I don't like shirts with fish on them."
• While jumping from the table onto the couch: "I'm sorry, Carter, but this is too dangerous for boys. It's just for girls." 
• After I called myself an idiot for hitting my head: "You're not an idiot, Mommy, you make me breakfast!" I'm glad she's set the bar low.
• She decided that she wanted to be a teacher like Daniel. She created a class called Spider Technology and drew up this ad for it (dictating the words to Daniel, which read, "Spider Technology is for me and you. Spider Technology is really cool. The spiders creep and crawl around your house. Spider Technology: you can learn about spiders too if you go to spider class!")

• After Daniel gave her Top Ramen with ice cubes and tried to stir it for her: "Daddy, I know how to mix it myself!" *pause* "Mommy, can you mix my soup?"
• Aubrey: "Ms. Shelley and Ms. Kathleen said I have to make a lot of potions today. I need to keep going until one explodes."
  Me: "Sweetie, I'm absolutely sure your teachers didn't tell you to do anything at home that would involve an explosion."
  Aubrey: "No, Miss Kathleen said to so that we can learn not to do that."
• One time, when she was using the bathroom and had toilet paper stuck between her cheeks: "Look, Mommy! I have a unicorn tail!"

• Me: "Do you want to go play at the Chick-fil-A park after the chiropractor?"
  Aubrey: "No. That place smells like boys."
  Me: "What do you mean by that?"
  Aubrey: "It smells like feet."
• When Grandpa said she was a good girl on Marco Polo, she responded with, "Thanks, Grandpa, I am a GREAT girl!"

Honestly, I can't think of a better way to illustrate who Aubrey is than through those quotes. But I'll throw a few more things in here.

• She's SO excited for the new baby coming in August, and she's very adamant that it be a girl. I've explained that we don't get to make the decision, but she's Aubrey, so there's that. She used to say she wanted to name the baby "Love" or "Snuggle," but when we asked her a couple of weeks ago, she said the name Clara, which is actually on our short list! It was weird.
• She loves being magnanimous to Carter (when it's her idea), so she'll take something she knows he'll want (like the blue spoon or the last strawberry yogurt), watch him throw a fit, and then give it to him in a grand gesture. It's kind of funny.

• She watched a kid's Halloween video on YouTube several months ago (and we have since deleted YouTube from everything), and it completely freaked her out. It was a cartoon and was geared toward kids, but it really was creepy and kind of evil feeling. Anyway, it scared her so much that she called it "the bad video" and had trouble falling asleep at night because she was thinking about it. So we encouraged her to think about happy things--family, school, friends, fun things coming up (like Christmas)--and to say a prayer. More than once after putting her to bed, I'd walk by her room and hear her saying a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help her think about Grandma and Grandpa and cousins and Christmas. It just melted my mommy heart.

• She has started reading! Her preschool teacher noticed she knew the phonetics for each of the letters and even knew the sounds made by some letter combinations, so she suggested we get the Bob Books from the library. Aubrey did great with them! She's even been reading some of the Level 1 readers, which are for kindergarteners. Sometimes she doesn't take the time to sound out the words, so she'll just guess random words that start with the right letter or are seen in the pictures, but she does really well when she takes her time.
• She still LOVES art, and she's been making good use of the art station Grandma and Grandpa got her for Christmas, as well as the supplies we got her. Her drawings of people have become more detailed, and she takes her arts and crafts very seriously. I love it. This top photo is her recreation of a plate Aunt Karen made as a kid. The second one is her rendering of President Eyring at the October General Conference.

 

• She once asked us why all the songs we listened to were "boy songs" and if there was any "girl music." So I downloaded a bunch of girl power music, from Sheryl Crow and Kelly Clarkson to old-school Hannah Montana and Hilary Duff, with a lot of cheesy girl music from my youth mixed in. She loves it! And I love that she thought of it and wanted it.
• She participated in a Broadway Disney Princess class, where they learned singing and dancing parts to two songs, "Let It Go" and "Under the Sea." She had lots of fun at the class, but when it came time for the performance she was very nervous. I thought she might not do it! As you can see (she's on the far right), she didn't really do many of the choreographed moves; she kind of stood there. But I was just really proud she went up there even though she was nervous!

• Unfortunately, she has since decided that she hates being up in front of people, and she utterly refuses to even go up with the other Primary kids for musical numbers in Sacrament Meeting. When they did the Primary Program last Fall, she refused to stand up for the songs, wouldn't go up and do her spoken part, and then came down to sit with us halway through. I was really disappointed. I've waited years to have my own kid in the program and be able to watch her with pride, but she doesn't let me do that. *sigh*
• She still has such a fun imagination, and I love hearing her play pretend in her room or with Carter. Here she is pretending to be an astronaut:

• We put her in swimming lessons over the summer, and she improved so much! She not only gained the skills of blowing bubbles under the water, jumping in and resurfacing, and gliding underwater, but she also gained a lot more confidence. She's always so proud to show us her swimming skills. We just went to the indoor community pool this past weekend, and we discovered that she plugs her nose all the way up until she actually dives down into the water, at which point she lets go of her nose. So she plugs it when she's just standing there, not in the water, but she doesn't plug her nose while she's actually swimming. It's so funny.
• She also started riding a bike this past summer, after our very kind neighbor gave us his daughter's old bike.

• For awhile there, she was very interested in what color different color combinations made.
• She loves watching Daddy play video games, especially Zelda (she helped name one of his horses, and she chose the name Robert). She also loves playing Mario Kart with him and Carter (and occasionally me, when I feel like it). 
• She also loves board games and has started learning to play more adult games, such as Carcassone, Splendor, and Takenoko. She really loves Uno and has been playing Trouble a lot since we got it for Christmas.
• She's gotten very into watching hockey with Daniel, and she'll shout, "Go Colorado!" when she does. She also loves this Avalanche jersey she inherited from someone in the ward. One time, when the Avs won, she hilariously asked Daniel, "Daddy, have they ever won before?"