Trailblazer

Bopping to the beat

Oliver likes all his musical toys and bounces to the livelier tunes.

He's been scooting all over the house today and he's a lot less likely to fuss about being left to his own devices.

Stephen's pet of the hour

Trying to get Ollie eating

Ollie is finally getting one tooth: the lower right front tooth. It's just barely breaking through.

He's interested in exploring finger foods, but usually he gags on whatever gets in.

Most of these never made it into his mouth, but he sure had fun trying.

And who doesn't love to swoop in really close to this adorable face, boogers and baby food-stache and all?

The little brothers

McQueens visit

Stephen graduates from kindergarten!

With brothers home sick and the entire McQueen clan visiting, Stephen said he was OK with just Mom attending his graduation ceremony yesterday (Wednesday).

It was pouring down rain when we got there, so Mom used Steve's mortar board as an umbrella as we ran to the building, jumping puddles and squealing. 

Stephen is at the very back of this processional; you can just make him out.

Standing near his buddies, Harrison and Evan

Throughout much of the ceremony, Stephen's head was obscured by the little boy in front of him. You can see his mortar board just below the cross though :)

"Playing" their ukuleles.

Trying to keep his hat from falling off while getting his diploma from Miss Lauren.

A candid moment

Stephen with Mr. Philip Merritt, the school handyman who "knows how to fix things."

Stephen resisting any sentimental moments.

Stephen always succumbs to a little tickling :)

I'm not usually the sentimental type, but I suppose I should reminisce a bit about Stephen's year of half-day kindergarten at Grace Episcopal. He's made some new friends, learned to say "goodbye" to Rockam each morning (so Rock doesn't have to stand there moaning "Go-byyye Steeeeve, Go-byyyyyeee!"), he's learned to read and has developed an interest in drawing from his vibrant imagination. I've truly appreciated his teacher, Miss Lauren Taylor, who has accepted and worked with Stephen's idiosyncrasies with much grace, compassion and I daresay amusement. 

Back to the doctor

After Rockam's penicillin shot. Gotta love how all the little smudgy fingerprints on my phone's camera gives these photos a nice soft glow :)

After Oliver's throat culture. Nurse said his rash could be caused by dry skin... Not really buying that! 

After a five minute drive. Yes, rocky has a black eye. No, it's not related to the three nurses that had to restrain him while getting the shot.

Ollie tested negative for strep, but because I insisted his rash was very similar to Rockam's, the nurse took the 24 hour culture. So I'll keep you posted, Dad. Won't let my babies get rheumatic fever :) 

Interesting day

The day started off with me screaming in the shower.... But more about that later.

Ollie developed a rash like Rocky's, so I was fretting about him also having scarlet fever 

Poor little tum.

My day also included a trip to the pediatrician, seeing Stephen graduate kindergarten, and having some dear friends for dinner... These are noted in the posts that follow.

But back to my opening story... I had already taken off my glasses, and as I turned on the shower, I see out of the corner of my near sighted eye something long-legged and dark trying to clamber up the side of the tub. Naturally, I assume it's a giant spider, shut the curtain and start screaming. After regaining my composure, I peeked back into the shower....

I think I should win the award for the most frequent and unusual encounters with gray tree frogs!! And perhaps be punished for my swamp-like bathtub grout.

My sons and husband love me

Stephen keeps all my vases full :)

I was very blessed over the weekend. Joe pulled out all the stops this Mother's Day... first, by honoring my request to donate money to a charity that provides life-saving surgeries to African women who experience very difficult labors. I won't go into detail, but a chapter from Half the Sky has stuck with me and I couldn't shake the pain and despair that other moms are facing, while I am so blessed with a life and motherhood full of hope.

On a less heavy note, I also enjoyed a shopping trip to Clarksville, where I found a number of items to replenish my wardrobe full of stained and holey t-shirts. While we were on that outing, one of Joe's students was busy scrubbing my oven, getting rid of spiderwebs and cleaning my toilet! And after a stop home for lunch, we took the boys to the library, where I loaded up on books for them and books for me before heading back out into the sunshine to sneak onto Hopkinsville's new walking Rails-To-Trails walking trail... 

Yay for my Parrino boys!

Finally got a photo with all three of my kiddos. And three out of four smiles is pretty good. Poor Rocky threw up all over the car about 10 minutes after this was taken... so pretty good timing too.

Spider Steve, Spider Steve...

Does whatever he can to make little bro laugh!

Mom through Stephen's eyes

Mom, since you enjoyed the last post, I have another for you:

Stephen was so excited the day he dictated these answers (before I saw this worksheet)... he wanted to know if he got them "right." He was asking me, "Mom, is your favorite food salad? Or Jell-O? Are you 50? Are you really good at changing Ollie's diaper?" I was pleased that he knocked more than a decade off my actual age :)

Stephen's view of himself

The instructions say: Draw yourself here.

When I asked Stephen to tell me about what he drew he said, "this is me thinking about having a hamster, and this is you thinking about being a writer."

A hike & birthday party

Saturday we took the boys to Lake Barkley for a hike-- they did really well on a nearly 2-mile hilly jaunt:

I could almost imagine how it would be when the boys are older... They'll be way ahead of their limping parents :)

The big highlight of the hike was this little fellow:

Apparently, he was sleeping. Even after Rockam got too close and the turtle's limbs and head retracted, his eyes stayed shut.

After the hike, enjoyed House of Spice for lunch. Ollie enjoyed the menu.

Then, in the evening, we went to celebrate Joshua Bullen's third birthday!