Daddy's out of town

We are roughing it with just the three of us for the night and all day tomorrow as Doug is in Melbourne with NS. Joshua's lip is looking better, although, a couple of boys at school were teasing him about it at recess and it made him cry a little bit (which made my heart cry). Kids can be so harsh and cruel at times! I told him that we need to pray for them to feel better about themselves so that they don't have to hurt others to make themselves feel better. I told Joshua that he is a lovable and likeable boy and that he has many friends...this is not something he has any control over. I pray that tomorrow will be a better day for he and these two boys. His lip really is looking better and it's only been 4 full days. It's amazing how fast the mouth heals from such a traumatic blow. Taylor and I spent some quality time this afternoon working on homework that she missed from last week when she wasn't feeling good one day at school and came home and then had a bloody nose in the carpool line the next morning and refused to go back to school once I got her home to change her. She worked very diligently on her homework today and finished every single sheet sent home (and there were at least 6 sheets). She was very focused and did a great job. She does not follow the arrows in which it tries to teach how to write the letters and numbers, but she does trace them and colors the areas she is supposed to (I had to remind her to use the colors that it says to use...this concept is not one she enjoys). I can tell that her skills are increasing and she seems to enjoy doing the sheets. Her teacher wrote an email to me yesterday saying that she has really good fine motor skills and that she is coming along in the classroom. I'm so glad that she seems to be settling into a routine at school and getting used to the structure a bit more. She still has her moments where she would rather stay home, but we are slowly getting there! Great job, kids! I love you both and am so proud of you!

Joshua's first stitches!

We had a roller coaster of a weekend with Joshua. On Saturday, while I was busy trying to get the house organized for family coming the following weekend, Doug took Taylor and Joshua to the park. Joshua really wanted to go to Kidscape Park...so that's where they ended up. They had been playing for a couple of hours when Joshua got up onto the 4 feet tall monkey bars (not the first time this trip per Doug) and was walking on top of them when he slipped and his mouth collided with the metal. Doug heard the thud of his face hitting the bars and turned to see him on the ground crying and holding his mouth. As Doug ran over there, Joshua's mouth was gushing with blood and Doug couldn't tell how bad the damage was, but by the amount of blood, he figured that they were heading to the ER. When he squirted water on his mouth, he saw that his left side of his lower lip had been fileted open and his was afraid of what his teeth might look like. He called me on the way to the ER and I met them there. After 45 minutes of Joshua holding napkins to his mouth in the waiting room, we were called. They were really busy that night and so it ended up being a four hour ER visit. Taylor was a trooper through most of the stay. Joshua held up pretty well, but started declining as he got hungrier and hungrier. At 8:45 they started stitching up his lip and Taylor and I stayed in the waiting room for the first 15 minutes while Doug held Joshua's hand through the stitching. He couldn't feel anything as they kept putting Lidocaine on his lip and had given him Loratab elixir painkiller which made him really relaxed. He didn't even realize what they were doing to his lip. They covered his eyes with a paper towel so all he could see was scissors. They thought his teeth looked ok, but told us to take him to the dentist within 5 days. Taylor and I left and went to McDonald's to get her some cookies and him a milkshake. They got home shortly after us and he gladly drank most of the milkshake. He ended up sleeping on the couch that night (falling asleep to "Sinbad"). His lip made me quite queasy to look at, but thank goodness that all can be healed and he will be fine! I took him to the dentist today and they ended up pulling a tooth that was starting to get loose on it's own, but got twisted into an odd position upon impact. The tooth behind this one on top had been shoved up into his gums and was impacted, but she told us that it should come back down on it's own and we'll have to watch it to see if there's any nerve damage from the impact. It will be a wait and see game. I held his hand through part of the procedure b/c he wanted me there, although, they really didn't want Taylor in the room, so I was needed in two places at once. They decided to let Taylor stay in the room so I could be with him and he did great. So...we are very thankful that both teeth that were affected are baby teeth and that no permanent damage seems to have occurred from this other than a small scar that he will have on his lip. He is a blessed boy!!!

Guardian angel!

The most amazing and beautiful thing happened this morning! I was doing the early morning school routine and made my way upstairs to wake Joshua up. I opened his door (which usually startles and wakes him up) and he peeped his eyes open at me and then shut them again. The room was dim, but there was enough light to see each other. He opened his eyes again and said, "Mommy, your angel is above you". I said, "What?" And he said, "I saw your angel above you when I first opened my eyes". I said, "What did it look like?" He told me that he didn't remember and didn't know if it was a man or woman, but that he saw the wings and it was above my head. He said it so calmly and matter of factly, like he sees angels all of the time. It made me wonder if he does see angels frequently. And, was this my guardian angel, or an angel that had been watching over him while he slept who hovered over me when I walked in the room. Either way, it was the most amazing gift that he gave me. I have never seen an angel (that I know of!) and so to know that right there in that moment...where I wasn't in any iminent danger...just a typical day in the Harding household, that God sends his angels to watch over us. It was very humbling and it made me so grateful to have such a loving Father to give us such a special gift here on Earth. Thank you, Joshua, for sharing this with me. It means more to me than you know! Your heart for God is so beautiful and we love watching you bloom and grow in your faith.

School Blues

Well, it's been another roller coaster K4 beginning with another child! Taylor is finding the adjustment just as difficult as Joshua did, but on a different level. Whereas, he didn't want to go and didn't like school or his teacher initially, Taylor likes school and her teacher, but wants to do her own thing and not adhere to rules. Today, she pushed another child out of line (a first for pushing), talked out of turn (not too concerned with this one...that will come with time) and ignored her teacher (am concerned with this one!). We are having to punish her for the bad behavior at school (no chocolate after school, etc) and it seems to work at times, and sometimes not. She has this independent spirit and is not yet willing to yield to authority. We are all praying for her success in school. Joshua told me today that he prayed for her at school today that she would have the best day yet. I had tears in my eyes as it was exactly what I needed to hear after another rough afternoon of finding out that she got another "unsatisfactory" behavior mark today. Grandma and Grandpa are praying about this and we are too, so Taylor, we are all in this together and praying that you will soon adjust and have a great year at CCS if that is God's plan for your academic early years!!

First Day of School

The First Day of School has arrived and Taylor and Joshua both seem to be excited! Joshua wore his blue shirt and khaki shorts and Taylor wore a yellow shirt and skort (which ended up falling off of her b/c it was too big in the waist!!). She really wanted to wear a belt just like her brother so I let her put on a purple belt over her skort...well the belt came off at recess and so did her skort. Her teacher said that

First week of school over!

We are done with the first week of school, and I must say, it has been an emotional roller coaster for Taylor and I! Taylor has had quite a bit of adjustment to learning the ropes of school etiquette and structure...mainly obedience! She just isn't used to having to be in such a structured routine and has had the run of the house for the past four years. The teachers have had trouble with her listening as she just did what she wanted to do. Mrs Helms was the most supportive and was wondering if her creative mind was just out there in creative world and then she would have to draw Taylor back into the classroom situation to get her to follow along. Taylor had some trouble with helping clean up and sitting still in chapel, staying away from the door when carpool was in progress, etc. It will be a huge learning curve for her, but we are praying for her that she will come through this with flying colors. My biggest concerns are her learning style as she hasn't been able to count to 10 successfully (skips around) and knows about 1/2 to 75% of her letters. I'm not sure if this is just from her not being in a routine school setting or if there might be a learning disability going on. I can't get her to recite her bible memory verse either without much coercion. It may just be a learning curve of adjustment to school for her and then she will fall into the hang of things or there may be an underlying situation that we will have to get her some help for. Time will tell. She does seem to enjoy school overall and got out of the car without tears or refusal to get out (as well dealt with with Joshua the first 6 weeks of school in K4). Big praise for Taylor...NO potty accidents this week at school! Yea! One huge blessing at the end of this week. Joshua came through school this week with flying colors...his teacher is singing huge praises about him and wrote that he is a good, sweet boy:) Makes his mommy proud:) Great job, kiddos! We know that you both will be successful in life with the dependence on your Lord, Jesus Christ and know that you are being prayed for throughout your life journey!

First Day of School

The first day of school has arrived! Joshua and Taylor were both excited to go and decked out in khaki shorts and blue shirt for Joshua and yellow shirt and plaid skort for Taylor! We took pre-school pictures and then took off for school. I walked Joshua to his class first and he settled in immediately. Mrs VanAmeringen has a huge heart and he is in great hands! Next, I walked Taylor to her class with Mrs Helms. Mrs Helms is new to the school this year and has a huge personality and tender heart. She is very welcoming and Doug and I both liked her from the moment we met her. Taylor walked into her classroom and was OK until I began to leave and then the tears came. She did not want me to leave and wanted to go home with me. Of course, I felt horrible, but I knew that she would be OK once she got accustomed to the situation. She did OK, but missed her mommy per conversation from Mrs. Garrett. Taylor wanted to wear a belt to school just like Joshua so she got a purple one and put it around her waist which I ended up liking the idea (even though is was against uniform) so that it would help hold up her skort which was a bit big on her. I don't remember the skort being so big when we tried it on, but it is a size 4 which is as small as they come. She ended up losing the belt on the playground and her skort fell down at school so that had to roll it down on the waist to help keep it up. Poor thing! First day of school and she loses her skort! I guess that she was quite embarrassed so mommy needs to do some surgery on the skort to make it fit better...I found out later that this happened to many K4 kids with either shorts of skorts! When she got home from school I gave her a stuffed animal kitty as a special gift for the first day of school and gave Joshua a stuffed dog. He had a great first day and really likes his teacher! One day down!