Gavin watched some Pokemon while Lilah slept in.

We got some balloons at the dentist’s office so they tried tying things to the strings and seeing what would weigh down a balloon.  Large legos do, as well as toy ponies.  Then there was face drawing on the balloons, and looking through them to see the world in different colors.

Lilah and I pulled up a few carrots in our garden.

A last thank you letter was written, with fancy lettering.  If you wonder why it takes so long to finish up thank you letters, that’s because Gavin has left school with an ongoing anxiety and upset triggered by writing or even talking about writing.  There was what I feel was too much pressure too early on him and now he has little confidence and rarely can find any sense of achievement or enjoyment in writing.  It’s something I am hoping can change in a more patient environment.  I wish that he’d been left to his own timeline and been encouraged to find ways of enjoying it.  Now we have an opportunity to find ways for him to build confidence and enjoyment at home.

Every time he’s asked to write he asks for help from me, no matter if it’s actually challenging or not (I always help him and sit with him to support him) he says he feels scared about doing it wrong.  Today, he enjoyed making fancy lettering, though he still felt anxious and began to panic several times.  I’m calling it a small victory.

Then there was lunch and then we all agreed on a plan to go to the Museum of Natural Curiosity.  The kids read library books for the half hour drive.  When we arrived, we felt very lucky when we discovered there weren’t very many people there.  We spent a lot of time climbing in the rainforest area.  Lilah felt safe enough to try the spider climb today since it was relatively empty.  She really enjoyed it.  I went in with her and Gavin for a few minutes.  It’s the kind of thing I could have spent a whole day in as a kid.

We went into the water works area and experimented there with water pipes, wind power and earthquake resistant building.

Then we explored Kidopolis, painting with tempera and bubbles, making floating heads in the Magic Shoppe, pretending to be employees and customers at the bank, and playing with stop-motion animation, making their own short films.

We came home, ate together and then off for an evening walk.

It was a very good day.