prayers with Trevy (a bedtime book idea)

 

 

Praying with Trevy has always been part of our nightly routine.

 

 

Except when sick, Trevy is a sweet, sappy, cuddle bug at bedtime.  Even when dripping with exhaustion, there is something really special about snuggling up, reading a book, singing a song and praying.  No matter how cranky I am, it always gets me in the heart.  It’s one of the most peaceful moments in my day. 

 

I do naps and Daddy does night nights. 

 

 

Now that Trevy is understanding so much…

 

 

I’ve had this heart tug to make prayer time mean more for him. 

 

 

Once upon a time, I’d read a sweet post that shared a prayer over their children. Moving from head down to toes. It included words like “heart of a warrior – feet that run to Jesus”.

 

I thought I’d read it over at Sand in the Gears…one of my favorite reads which I’m shamelessly plugging. In fact, I emailed the author so convinced was I. Tony was kind enough to respond that he didn’t recall such a post but shared this link of inspiration instead.

 

 

I loved the idea on so many levels!

 

I loved consecrating each part of Trevy to Jesus.  I loved tangibly giving thanks for Trevy blessings.  I’ve grown into quite a pessimist over the years.  Forcing my heart to take notice of the blessings is needed!  I loved working on body parts with Trevy.  Helping him become more self aware.  I loved reminding him that he’s a perfectly Planned miracle child (as Toby calls him)! 

 

 

Did you know that the right side of the brain does most of the visual processing? 

 

Yep.  So it’s no wonder Trevy loves things that are visually stimulating.

 

Which is why I decided to take this idea that I loved and make it into a little prayer book.

 

 

I found some of my favorite Trevy pictures and using Pisca I cropped out the body parts I wanted to focus on.  Each page would be dedicated to a different focus. 

 

I then added the text “Dear Jesus, thank you for Trevy’s xyz”

 

I then free-style floated random words around the page.  I didn’t want too much text.  Just simple words that he and I (or he and daddy) can add to during prayers.

 

 

I then printed and laminated the pictures.  And a few hole punches and book rings later…we had our prayer book!

 

 

Trevy loves it.

 

 

He randomly talks about it throughout the day.  And will not go to bed without reading his prayer book.  The first time (and every time since) we read it together…he made it clear (in Trevy speak) that I forgot a very important body part.

 

 

His “taco”.

 

 

Swahili for bootay.

 

 

His siblings taught him to grab his boot and say, “I love my taco!”

 

 

Which he did whilst verbally adding a “thank you Jesus for my butt” page.  All twinkling eyes as he’s telling me all the reasons why his bum is so cool.  It goes poooop in the potty (sometimes) and makes boo-fahs (he’s a boy, people) and booty shakes (I’m not advocating for Magic Mike but I’ve seen the preview and I’m just saying, Trevy could rock the audition)…

 

 

Boys.

 

 

Trevy’s head to toe prayer book is one of the best things I’ve made for him!

 

 

…danielle

 

 

ps.  Praying over Trevy has been so beautiful that I decided to pray over the “big kids” too.  Oh if you could see the way their eyes shine!  Every now and then…an idea comes along that is a mommy home-run.

of boys and dogs

 

 

Trevy is listening to music on his iPad and one particular song says "blink your eyes".

 

Which is exactly when I hear Callie (the mutt) start growling.

 

So I look behind me and Trevy says "Callie blink!" and his little monkey fingers are helping her along!

 

He also commented "pink!” pause “Callie mouth!"  And he was right, because she was showing him! LOL

 

And I’m here thinking, either she loves him anyway or it's too cold in here for her to bother moving. :)

 

 

…danielle

 

 

ps.  Apologies to all my SLP friends.  I know that binky is driving you bonkers!

and my nose?

 

 

 

 

Trevy is fascinated by his MRI. I have a laminated picture in my wallet because I like to randomly remind myself of his journey.  It’s great for those moments I positively want to throttle him!   He saw it earlier while I was rifling through my wallet at the market. So I told him about his big scar. And how the doctors had to remove the yucky, broken tissue. I told him that he's a miracle. I was waxing quite eloquent, I think. He was listening intently and then said,

 

And my nose?

 

Sure enough, if you look at his brain the right way...it looks like a face with a nose!

 

 

…danielle

blessed on the beach (with the crazy people)

 

 

I’m a sappy head.

 

 

Which is why I established a family tradition of praying in the New Year on the beach when we were just newly weds.  We’ve always lived (or been) close to the shore on New Years.  Delaware.  Rhode Island.  Tanzania.  And it just makes my sappy heart feel all warm and fuzzy to stand before the powerful vastness of the ocean and dedicate our lives anew to the One who created it all! 

 

 

Also, it’s fun the heckle the crazies who brave hypothermia every New Year!!!  There were three of them on our little rinky dink beach this year.

 

 

Jonathan says, “Hey, who wants to take a dip with those crazy people?!” 

 

 

The two big kids immediately shout “NO WAY!” 

 

 

Trevy (true to form) shouts, “MEEEEE!”

 

 

Now for a little back story.

 

 

It also happens that there is snow on the ground this year.  And for the first time in as long as we can remember we felt like we could actually take the kiddos sledding.  It was to be their maiden voyage!  I just knew Trevy would love it.  (I couldn’t have been more wrong)  And it’s a rite of passage as New Englanders!

 

 

So away we went.  To find Potato Hill.

 

 

Which we discovered is HUGE!  And very crowded! 

 

 

Trevy was terrified.

 

 

Toby just slightly less so.

 

 

Fearless Bristel had the time of her life! 

 

 

But wouldn’t you know it…the last trip down the hill was drama laden.  Because I’m convinced our family is cursed!!!!

 

 

Trevy and I were freezing our patooties off at the top of the hill.  His cheeks may have been frozen into a frowny face.  He was NOT a fan of sledding or watching those who were.  But I wanted to watch them go for the last time.  So there we stood, waiting for them to stop lolly gagging at the bottom and get the heck up here so we could pile in the van and go.  I had NO idea what they were doing.  Jonathan, Bristel and Toby were on all fours…rooting around in the snow.  I thought one of the kids must have had an iPod in their pocket.  I wish!  Nope.  Turns out they were looking for half a tooth.  Half of a front tooth.  Half of Tobin’s permanent front tooth!!!!!

 

 

So fast forward to our New Year’s prayer moment several hours and lots of emotional upheaval later.

 

 

We park the toasty van in view of the waves.

 

 

Jonathan and I have a lot on our hearts and minds this year.  It’s been a heavy year for us in many ways.  Not a bad year.  Just heavy. 

 

 

Jonathan asks me to open the prayer…each of the kids taking their turn (except Trevy who was still nursing a grudge that we wouldn’t let him swim!) and Jonathan would wrap it up.

 

 

So I pray.  I confess my heart wasn’t entirely in it.  I was upset about Toby’s tooth.  Upset about Trevy hating sledding.  Upset about some financial issues.  Upset about other drama.  And my heart was just not as tender as I wished.

 

 

Bristel prayed sweetly.

 

 

Trevy said, “NO!”

 

 

And then came Toby’s prayer.  Some days that boy drives me positively bonkers.  Who knew boys could be moody?!  But then some days…I have glimpses of the man he’s growing into…and it leaves me breathless.  He is a beautiful.  In the soul.  His prayer was one of those moments.  I don’t remember it verbatim but my favorite line by far was something like…

 

 

Lord, our family is tough.  We can take a few hits and still get back up.  I mean, I broke my tooth.  But I know You don’t care about the outside.  You want my heart to be what people see as beautiful.  And Trevy.  He’s been through so much and he still smiles.  And that’s beautiful too.

 

 

The rest was lost on me because by that time I was a snotty weepy tender hearted mess.

 

 

Gosh, I love my family.

 

 

Even in the cursed drama laden moments.

 

 

These are my people.

 

 

My tribe.

 

 

The joys and loves of my life.

 

 

And even with broken teeth, missing brains, plus the run of the mill life drama…

 

 

I am feeling wonderfully blessed to call them mine.

 

 

And by the Grace of God we’ll make it through another year. Hopefully, with the rest of our teeth intact!!!!

 

 

But if not…I now know a dentist who can do a bang up job of creating a fake!

 

 

…danielle

Backyard Therapy: sorting and matching and following his lead

 

 

 

A really cool thing has been happening lately.

 

 

Trevy has been coming up with fun learning games from his own imagination!

 

This is a HUGE new skill.  He’s always relied on me teaching him how to play appropriately.  The ability to think up and implement playful ideas on his own is a big success and hopefully, a movement towards more independent play!  Not that I don’t love being with him every.waking.second.of.the.live.long.day…buuuuut…

 

 

 

Take this color sorting game for instance.

 

I put together a tray with foam blocks and color guide crayons (from an Abeka set I used with the big kids…but I lost my red and had to use it’s imposter from a Target calendar I bought ages ago ).  My idea was to have Trevy start by matching the foam shapes to their color guide.

 

I wanted to focus on several skills:

 

Visual Discrimination

Color Matching

Sorting

Fine Motor (I’m always always factoring in fine & gross motor opportunities as well as speech)

Shape Matching

and eventually move towards patterning ie. blue square, blue square, red heart with the goal of Trevy imitating or finishing my pattern

 

 

He was interested in my first idea (basic color matching) for all of about two seconds…

 

 

Until he had his own idea and declared…

 

I bih-wud!

 

Trevy Speak for “watch me, mommy, I’ve got this super cool idea to build with the blocks!”

 

 

He was totally 100% in after that…

 

for approximately three minutes

 

especially because building also means crashing!  If you could only hear the belly giggles he has when he’s destructive!  Those are the moments when my heart soars and I just want to eat him up!

 

**********

 

A friend gave me a GINOURMOUS bag of Thanksgiving stickers and they were SO cool!

 

 

Since Trevy needs to really work on his sorting skills I came up with another sorting idea. 

 

I was going to have him sort them into piles.  I’ll be honest, I’m a bit of a cheapskate so it never even crossed my mind to have him peel and stick them.  I was secretly hoping to keep using them!  Maybe even squirrel them away to use next year too!

 

 

Well…

 

once again, Trevy took my idea and ran with it!

 

He was all about the picking and peeling and especially the sticking! 

 

 

To help guide him towards my sorting goal (and prevent sticker-geddan in the schoolroom) I gave him four pieces of paper.

 

One for Veggies (pumpkin and corn)

 

One for Leaves

 

One for birds (turkeys and owls)

 

One for animals

 

 

 

He’s so in love with the sticker sorting activity that he’s requesting (by bringing me the tray and saying “do this”) several times a day! 

 

I feel SO wonderful seeing him have fun while working on SO many great skills at the same time!  I mean, picking stickers…that’s some of the best fine motor work out there!  And it’s too cute how he’s so proud of himself when he peels it in just one piece!  And it’s super cool that he’s leading me…and really, his ideas are even better than mine!

 

I love sharing Backyard Therapy ideas that work for Trevy in the hopes that they might work for your kiddos too!

 

 

***bonus*** It just so happens that a sorting app is FREE today too!  Snap up Families 2 while it’s FREE***

 

…danielle

yoga sequence cards for the monkey see–monkey do kiddos

 

 

One of Trevy’s ABA Lessons is Gross Motor imitation.  He’s working on various yoga moves during his school based PT sessions.  And everybody knows yoga is SO great on so many levels.  So I thought…let’s use that idea at home too!  And then I was inspired even more to have his BFF (aka…sister) peer model for me!  He’s totally “monkey see monkey do” with her.  Or maybe it’s “anything you can do, I can do better”?  Either way…it works.  Also, she loves helping me create things for him.  I spy a future therapist!  Plus, I love connecting the siblings into Trevy’s life in creative and fun ways.  Which is how this idea turned into a school project yesterday (reason # 287 why I <3 homeschooling).

 

 

The pictures turned out TOO cute!

 

 

I thought it was super adorable that she kept reminding me to be sure and share them on the blog. 

 

 

 

 

If you don’t have a willing sibling peer model but would love a printable version of these I can email you a Word doc.  Just email me: tanzie213@yahoo.com. 

 

 

Have fun getting’ stretchy!

 

 

…danielle

randomnings

 

 

Trevy to Uncle Byron: Dih-Doh (Bristel) hit me

 

Uncle Byron: Bristel hit you?

 

Trevy: YEEEEEESH!

 

Bristel: Oh Trevor, stop taking all the credit! You hit me too!

 

 

**********

 

I really should stop ignoring them so much.  On the way home from the wading pool Trevy was hollering in the back seat and I tuning him out.

 

 

According to Bristel he was hollering…

 

 

I nakey!

 

 

And sure enough, that’s how I found him.  He was already shirtless but somehow stripped off his bottoms with his seatbelt on and was beaming in all his birthday suit glory when we finally stopped.

 

 

**********

 

 

Toby finds me in the kitchen and says with a sigh…

 

 

I’m glad I found you, Mom.  I need to talk to you.

 

 

Around a mouthful I ask ‘bout what.

 

 

Life

 

 

He says.  With another melancholic sigh.  I don’t think I was supposed to snicker and choke.  But hey…it was cute.

 

 

**********

 

 

Bristel and Toby have been nit-picking at each other all morning. Bristel disappeared outside for awhile and comes in to inform Toby:

 

I created a sword to defeat you with!

 

It's covered in spider webs and bird poop!

 

 

**********

 

 

Bristel: Mom, if you were wondering where I was (which I wasn't...) I was in the basement looking at my baby clothes. They're SO cute it made me cry!

 

Yep, she's sappy like her mommy!

 

 

**********

 

So last night at the beach there was this big burly dude (think biker…complete with handle bar ‘stash) sprawled out on his stomach reading the newspaper. Trevy notices him...dashes-too-quick-for-me-to-catch over...sprawls out on HIS tummy and nonchalantly says…

 

 

yeah, I five.

 

 

**********

 

TMI alert

 

Trevy just woke up from his nap and the first thing we do is go potty always. Well, someone left a "gift" for us in the toilet. Trevy, who is already perched on the pot peeks down and sees it floating by and without missing a beat says...

 

Hiiiiiii...

 

(pause)

Bristel's poop!

 

**********

 

Bristel keeps saying, "it's smokin' hot outside". She's been on this kick for weeks now. Smokin’ hot this.  Smokin’ hot that.

 

 

IDKwhy...but it cracks me up!

 

 

**********

 

Have I ever mentioned that I love being their mommy!?

 

 

…danielle

melt your mommy moments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…danielle