Mother's Day

I looked back on Mother's Day, May 10, 2009, the day I almost lost Nikko @ the Botanic Gardens. I remember it so clearly, and can hardly believe he was only 2 years old, the same age as Ronin today. My post had described how Nikko was not used to using PECS pictures yet and was a big bolter. Rereading that post reminds me that even today I still need to always cover my bases. Nikko has made many gains, as noted in my last entry, that I am not as worried of him bolting. He seems to need to know where I am at all times, unless he's engaged in a water activity.

Today was Mother's Day, 2010. The Penepackers invited us to go to the Gardens again, but I was mentally and physically exhausted from dragging the kids around with me everywhere last week. I think deep down inside I may have been harboring this fear of what happened last year, too. As evidenced from our Morton Arboretum visit, the kids are more of a handful, and if we don't have the proper coverage, we could really lose one of these kids. It was a non-eventful day, and I tried to take it for what it was and relax a little bit. The only event on the schedule was to have Mother's Day dinner at the Penepacker's house at 4pm. When we got there, Nikko had fallen asleep in the car but the other two kids were rarin' to explore. Ronin wanted to go play outside and Denis took him, but I kept Audrey inside. I woke up Nikko and made him walk into the house. He was still groggy and that put him in a very bad mood. He didn't like where he was and he was whining until I gave him a round cracker. That placated him and made him wanting more, but he still clung to my side for a while. We fed all the kids dinner before the adults ate, and by this time Nikko was finally starting to warm up to the place and go wander around downstairs. After dinner, all the kids were playing outside in the backyard. I could see Nikko from the window and he was sliding down the small toddler slide, even stood up on it before sliding down. He was having a fun time, and he was upset that we had to leave.

We don't have anything on the schedule tomorrow. My parents are leaving for the Philippines for 2.5 weeks so their week will be busy (they leave on Thursday). I hope to stop by their house on Wednesday in the early afternoon because Nikko has ABA at 4:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't think I'll bother them tomorrow.