It seems like road trips are a part of little T’s destiny. Its a challenge to keep a toddler strapped into a seat for five minutes, let alone five hours. We’ve had to come up with games and activities that will keep his busy toddler mind occupied. Here’s a tutorial for one of our favorites.

Little T’s Car Drive Bingo

Supplies needed:

1 bingo card with different colored cars. There are lots online for free, but I purchased mine from Etsy for two dollars here. I also laminated it at Lakeshore Learning for extra protection, but you can also just print out a bunch of sheets and cross the cards off as you go.

1 package Sticky Back Velcro
1 sheet card stock
1 pack of favorite stickers

First, cut the Velcro to the correct size, and then attach one side to the bingo cards.

Next, put the stickers on the card stock, then cut them into little squares.

Put the other half of the Velcro onto the backs of the stickers/card stock.

Find a cute little envelope to put the stickers in, and voila! Road Trip Bingo!

With the extra Velcro, you can make yourself a mustache.

To play, give your toddler the card while they are sitting in the car. Ask him/her to find all of the cars that match. We keep it simple and just have him find a red car, blur car, green car, etc. When they find the car, give them a round of applause and hand them their favorite velcro’d sticker to attach to the bingo sheet. Happy driving for all!

I love our little home. I wish I could describe it, but I don’t know what I would say? I can tell you that Trevor and I are pretty simple, in that we don’t feel like we need a lot of things to be happy. Most of the decor in our home has some sort of special meaning or connection to us. They’re things that make us smile.

Living room, with a piano for playing. When I moved away from home for the first time, I used to rent a piano for my apartment. I finally was able to purchase one from a piano shop that was going out of business. I used to play Mozart, but now it’s mostly the theme song from the Pirates of the Carribbean. 😉

A friend who is an artist and knows me well, created this painting as a gift for me. This painting is bright and cheerful and happy, but doesn’t let anyone take advantage of their kindness and happiness.

J gave this framed Beatles quote to me, and I love it so much. It was also the last song they played at my wedding. It’s sitting in front of The Hungry Caterpillar~because of Little T and my love for children’s literature.

Above our old t.v., we keep cards from friends and family.

The kitty card holders were a gift from my Mom. One for each cat that lived in our house.

And on the other side of the living room, are the dishes for entertaining. Next to them are Big T’s wedding vows in a frame.

This poor succulent had started to wilt, but is doing much better now. We love succulents and have a garden of them. You can’t see it in this picture, but on the other side of the wall is another plant that my teacher/friend, Der, gave to me when my Grandmother passed away.  I can’t tell you how comforting that plant is, and I think of my Grandma from Oklahoma every time I walk by it. 

That’s the living room. Next home tour, I’ll show you my gnome collection. It is amazinggggg. 😉

The last week has been full speed ahead. This is really the first morning where I’ve been able to sit and drink my coffee in my fancy new Club 33 mug…

Our friend Carrie was kind enough to invite us to lunch there, and we were so excited to be among the few who have eaten above New Orleans Square in Disneyland. We were really geeky about it, and loved taking in all the history, details, and photos.

Of course, the first thing we did was take photos of the restroom. We were caught by a custodian who said that was the norm, catching people taking photos in the restroom. She taught us the best way to take secret restroom photos, by propping the stall doors open with tissue.

I also got to see Mandi and Steve again. I love those two, I could listen to them talk for hours. Of course, I’d have to add to the conversation a little too, or that might come across as a little creepy. ;p

The food was delicious. There weren’t many buffet items for appetizers, so I didn’t have high expectations for my meal. I didn’t think it would be like The Millenium Restaurant where they specialize in vegan cuisine, but my entree was surprisingly delicious. There were veggies and a coconut curry sauce, that I just can’t get out of my head. I wish pictures let you remember how something smelled and tasted. :p

Appetizers: not looking promising!

Total surprise-knocked it out of the ballpark entree:

Trevor’s entree:

Carrie, enjoying the soup:

Big T, being out of control:

All of us:

While we were eating, J was watching Little T at Disneyland. We met her afterward to pick up Little T:

Then we took Little T to meet his new hero, Miss Snow White. This may have blown his little mind.

We stayed in the park for a while afterward and danced at the mad Tea Party before calling it a night. Little T has some very fancy dance moves and didn’t think twice about showing them off!

A fun adventure for our family. I can’t say thank you enough to Carrie and Chris for inviting us. It really was one of those things I never imagined I’d be able to do, and I’m so glad we did!

One of our favorite things to do is take walks around Cal Poly. There are so many beautiful places to enjoy. Koi Ponds, lakes with turtles, and so much more. The roses in the rose garden are in full bloom right now, and we spent most of our time on this day playing hide and go seek in them.

We told Little T that he needed a good nap so that he would be able to stay awake during the fireworks. I didn’t know he would take me so seriously, but when we got home from the grocery store, he walked straight into his room and took off his shoes and went to bed.

We always spend the 4th of July with Big T’s family at his grandma’s house. She lives on a hill and we can see all the fireworks around the city from her backyard! It’s really beautiful, seeing fireworks all over the skyline.

For food, we made baked onion rings from Post Punk Kitchen:

And for snacks we had home made guacamole, olive tampenade, and hummus:

For dinner we had soy dogs or portobello mushroom burgers, baked beans, and fruit!

And for dessert we had cherry and apple pie with vanilla soy ice cream:

We had a great time, and Little T did like the fireworks. He stayed awake for as long as he could before we had to pack up and head home. One of the things that made us laugh, is that all night he was trying to figure out who this America person was, and why we were having a birthday party for them. He kept pointing to relatives and saying, “you America?” :p

How did you all spend the 4th? I hope you had a great one! 🙂

When I was in high school, my step sister and I would write letters to each other. This was way before e-mail, which sounds funny to say because now I can’t even imagine life without e-mail. My step sister still sends letters every once in a while, and I can’t tell you how nice it is to open your mailbox and see something that isn’t a bill. Weve received a lot of fun letters over the past month. Little T calls them books and likes to pretend he’s reading them. They say things like Thank You, but if you ask Little T, it’s actually a story that involves him and Harry Potter having some sort of epic battle against Darth Vader in our backyard. 😉

We took a quick trip to Big Bear for Big T’s birthday. I have to admit, I was feeling a little anxious about it because I promised Big T I would t bring my computer or do any work. I’m glad we made that decision though, it’s been nice to have a little break from the computer screen. Hopefully my business hasn’t exploded in the day I’ve been gone. 😉

We were greeted at the cabin with a donut cake and friendly faces. For his birthday, Big T got a puzzle, C3PO ear buds, a special book from Little T, and some water squirters.

The boys had an epic water fight outside while we packed lunches for our boat outing, but we did manage to fill up a giant bucket of water to throw on Big T towards the end of our sandwich making. Big T had made some vegan lemon cookies for the trip, and we added them to our boat bag.

We rented a pontoon boat and relaxed on the water for a few hours, before heading back to the cabin. When we got back, we devoured some hummus and veggies, and then walked to a nearby field to shoot off these little rockets we had brought. Little T loved the rockets, and played with them forever while the rest of us played frisbee.

We ended the night out to dinner in the Village at Big Bear. Today were going to play a few board games before heading back to real life, but it was a nice mini vacation!

We were so happy to hear that Uncle D got an incredible job in Oregon building hand made mandolins. The downfall, is that Uncle D and his girlfriend K are moving to Oregon. It was all very last minute, but we managed to get together to enjoy Bloody Mary’s, hand picked blueberries, good food, and a few laughs before saying goodbye. Little T is going to miss them, but we are looking forward to having another reason to visit beautiful Oregon. 🙂

I know I’ve shared about this before with Little T and his hypertonia, but Little T has this funky little thing going on with the right side of his body, where it’s a tiny bit stiffer than his left side. It’s one of those things that you wouldn’t notice unless A) you’re around him a lot,  or B) a physical/occupational therapist. It’s little things, like he can only go down the stairs with his left leg first, or he is right handed unless he’s doing some things that uses his fine motor skills, and then he switches to his left hand because his right hand is a little stiffer/weaker. He’s a bright kid and tests very well in everything else, it’s just this slight muscle stiffness that he can’t seem to shake. He’s been going to physical therapy and occupational therapy since he was 6 months old through the regional center, but when he turns three he loses all those services. *As a side note, I have to tell you that working with the regional center has been awful and frustrating, but that’s a blog post for a different day.*

So Little T is in this weird place. He’s doing well enough that everyone tells us he most likely wont qualify for services through the school district when he turns three. It’s not that he doesn’t _need_ services. It’s just that he isn’t as bad as someone who has more severe issues, and so he’s going to be glazed over as this child who can function and get by, even though he’s not able to do things at his full potential. It’s really frustrating as a parent, and I think the thing that drives me craziest is when people tell me that he’s going to be fine and that it could be worse. That’s all true and I’m glad that he’s doing so well, but Big T and I aren’t at the point where we feel we can give up on his leg and say that he’s doing good enough to get by. Yes, he is doing fine. Yes, he is going to be okay. Yes, we should be trying everything we can so he doesn’t have any issues at all.

What makes it harder is that the older he gets, the more he is able to communicate with us about his leg. He mostly says his leg hurts in the morning when he wakes up. Yesterday, we were walking, and his right leg was turning out a little bit and he was picking it up a little bit less than his left leg. He started hitting his leg with his hand with frustration and was saying that his leg wasn’t working. Moments like that are so hard.

Today, we’re going to see a physical therapist and an occupational therapist through our private insurance to see if he can get some more PT covered once his services through the regional center end, so keep your fingers crossed for us. If it doesn’t get approved, I’m not sure what we’ll do. I just want him to be able to play basketball and do all the things he wants to do without any limitations. If that doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t happen, but I don’t want it to be for a lack of trying.

So anyway, thanks for listening, I’m getting super frustrated over here.

As much as I love my home, I do love traveling to visit my family in Fresno. Before I leave, I always stock up on a few things that I just can’t seem find anywhere else. It’s an added bonus to a fun trip.

1) Jasmine Tea from Teazers World Market.

I buy Jasmine tea in bulk here. I’ve tried finding it other places, but for some reason Teazers has that magic touch.

2. Bobby Salazars Salsa:

This salsa is so amazing. I hope that someday they branch out and start selling it in my local grocery store.

3. Fresh bread from Charlottes Bakery:

Sometimes they make garlic bread, sometimes jalapeño, other times ill just go for white or wheat. I always bring home a loaf or two.

And the last thing, is my stepdads soup or chili. He always makes extra and sends us home with a container or two. I realize you can’t purchase this from a store, but maybe if you ask him nicely, he’ll make you some too. ;p