More Sleep

Bed time hadn’t been going well. We put the weighted blankets away during the summer because they’re too warm. It makes for difficulty in calming the boys down to fall asleep. 

I recently learned about compression sheets and WOW. Magic. They act like a weighted blanket but are way cooler. Lewis is falling asleep faster and sleeping longer in the morning. It isn’t taking Augustine hours to fall asleep and we think he’s getting about two more hours of sleep a night compared to before. 

Sensory regulation for the win. 

Officially A Toddler

He is EVERYWHERE. 

He is often here looking at a book, or just looking suspiciously innocent. 

He insisted on getting this toy out, which isn’t super safe for a toddler, so I sat right next to him and he figured it all out by himself! 

It was impressive fine motor, hand/eye coordination, concentration, problem solving, and attention span skills. 



He wants to like the felt board, but it mostly frustrates him. 

Big Ideas

He’s in the air quotes phase. Always funny!

Pandy had a lot of swinging fun the other day. 





“When I grow up I want to be a lawn service guy.”

He smacked the back of his head pretty badly yesterday. There was a goose egg. He couldn’t even stand it touching the car seat so we put a soft (clean) diaper behind his head. It worked. 

Buddies

People have been saying that one of the reasons that children need to get back to school is so they can continue to learn social skills. 

If you have siblings at home then social skills practice never ends. In fact, it’s incredibly intense and you have to structure your day so you get a BREAK from it. 

I’m so grateful they have each other. They’ve hit a new grove recently and it’s so fun to have a front row seat. 



If I get one toy out they haven’t seen in a while, it’s hours of fun!

Levi even got to play with a LEGO car yesterday. He didn’t break a single piece. He was too elated by the fact that he was included. 

Missing Friends

The boys haven’t talked much about missing their friends during the pandemic. I’ve asked them, but they shrug and say “kind of”. I offer them to FaceTime chat, write letters, make art, send a little gift but they don’t take me up on it. Augustine has FaceTime-ed two friends, and Lewis wrote a note to one friend. 

I was very nervous about Lewis’ note because he refused to let us read it, and it wasn’t easy to know if he’s telling the truth about the content. 

Turns out he was and it was super sweet. I love it when he surprises us like that. 

“Mary how are things going? I hope you are not sick. Please send something back.”

Care package!

We’ve been extremely careful the past two weeks because we may have been exposed to covid-19 three times removed. Some might not consider that exposure, but we take no chances. We have stayed put and done our part just in case we are carrying the deadliest virus the world has ever seen so as not to pass it on. 

Vranas stopped by one day and (carefully) passed off a fantastic care package for us. It was the highlight of our day! They told us to guess which item was for which member in our family. Super fun!

They included: beer, coffee, blank books, clay, car/little people, gummy bears, Paw Patrol art pack 



The clay was such a hit with the big boys that we got another tub. They played for two hours and made all sorts of things for the art show next year. Not sure it will last that long but we can try. 

It also inspired Augustine to get out another clay set he was given. 

I think we all guessed right on which item was for who. Levi grabbed a beer at one point and we got a great picture, but then I realized he’s in his diaper in all the photos so I can’t post them. Oops. 

THANK YOU VRANAS!!!

Seton Homeschool

Well, I never thought I’d teach anything other than preschool, but here we are living in a pandemic, so I’ll be the teacher for a toddler, preschooler, 2nd grader, and 4th grader. Here I am with my class. 

We ordered very organized curriculum so as not to be quite so overwhelmed, although it’s still completely overwhelming. We ordered two desks for the big boys. I’m working on creating a kindergarten readiness list so we can develop the skills Elias needs to master this year in preschool. Elias will do preschool once a week with Grandma Susan at her house. We’ve gathered school supplies to put in the desks. We had most of what we needed already. I got a laptop...haven’t needed one of those for almost 20 years. I’m working on ordering a cupboard for my stuff. It will be fun to set up a preschool classroom, but our playroom is pretty much that already. 

It was fun to get the box of school books! The big boys will go to G&G’s periodically too. We’re calling G&G days the big boys “specials”. Foods, technology, sewing, special projects. 



We will add our own art lessons and (hopefully) have our annual art show next spring. We will also being learning all about sensory processing for children and try to overcome some of the challenges we face. We may also dabble in a curriculum called Choose Love. 

Ambitious for our first go at this? Yep. Bring it on.