September is for Heroes

Mali ~

We are solidly into autumn now (my favorite time of year) and so I thought it would be a good opportunity for us (just mom and kiddo) to go on an adventure through Ohio. I chose a weekend, piled you into the car, and off we went! On that Saturday, our first stop was Amish country and a really cool, working Amish farm that had 100 different species and 500 different animals! They allowed us to take a wagon ride through the property and hand-feed whoever sauntered (or galloped) up to the wagon. It was a little intimidating, but so neat!

I loved his beard!

longhorn steer! look at that tongue!

you face cracks me up in this picture...you did not
want to look away from this critter for the photo

these had super fuzzy antlers

you told me,
"Mom, make me look bigger than that giraffe!"
done.

these water buffalo were cool

Our next stop was at a nearby town named Sugarcreek where they claim to have the world's largest cuckoo clock. Every hour, music would play and wooden dancers would come out and twirl around.

it sure does look pretty big, doesn't it?

just a random VW beetle all decorated up like it's from Sweden

Rested up on Saturday night and were were off again bright and early on Sunday morning, this time with Lao Lao in tow. We surprised her with a trip to the sunflower fields near Yellow Springs and they did not disappoint. I've always wanted to see them but can never quite time it right, but this year was perfect. Afterwards, we had breakfast at Young's Dairy Farm before heading home. 

you and Lao Lao's heads are just above some of these
sunflowers...can you see yourself?

Aside from our adventures, we also got to play hero this month, too. On September 11th (the 18th anniversary of a horrible tragedy for our country), I was driving home from work and saw something in the middle of Sunbury Rd, flopping around during rush hour. Initially, I thought it was roadkill that the breeze was blowing about, but nope...it was a tiny black kitten that couldn't use it's right hind leg and was in jeopardy of being hit at any moment. Well, the animal lover I am slammed on my brakes, parked the car sideways in the road, got out and scooped him up, placed him in my lap and raced home to get you so you could help me race him to the vet to have him checked out.

Turns out, he was estimated to be a very malnourished 6 week old kitten (.87 of a lb!) and with a likely soft tissue injury to his leg. Other than all of that, he seemed ok. We decided to take him home and nurture him back to health, beginning with you feeding him water from a syringe all the way home. Poor thing was so thirsty and even more hungry.

Suzy was very concerned about this new critter

he's a beauty, isn't he?

snuggling him in the bathroom...his quarantined home until
we could make sure he was FIV/FeLV negative

While we nursed kitty back to health and awaited his test results, the rest of life marched on and you had your first middle school dance! Whoa. How can that be?

we ran into Jos as we dropped you off so we forced
you both to take a picture before heading inside

We actually ended up picking you up early from the dance because it was just too loud and chaotic for your liking. When we showed up, you were hanging out in the office and chatting with the resource officer. And honestly, I don't blame you for wanting to come home early because when Daddy and I walked in the school, it was absolute mayhem. Yikes! Craziness. We were happy to come get you. I'm sure you'll have better luck next time. I'm proud of you for giving it a try.

kitten snuggles and a movie with the family is
just the medicine needed to set things right

While kittens are great for turning around a rough night, they also make great reading buddies when you have an upcoming book report and need to get that book finished.

little monster wrestled Daddy and won!

this is the kitten and Daddy's phone...just to give you
some idea of scale on how tiny this guy is

I thought this tent would be good for him to be able to
safely hang outside with us...yeah, it lasted about 5 minutes

peek-a-boo

this was the photo I shared to announce that...drumroll...
the test results were negative and we can safely keep the kitten!
introducing..."Lucky" (aka Lightening Lucky Knuckles)

learning how to brush human teeth

under close supervision, Lucky and Grizz
were properly introduced...they love each other!

With all of this focus on the kitten, Grizz had to re-stake her claim. On your head!?

all moved from his bathroom quarantine and into
your room...happy with his new digs and the shafts of sunlight

a little size comparison between bunny and kitten

I realized that the bunny outweighs the kitten by 6 lbs!

more sleepy-time with Grizz's favorite human

We also attended the last of our Fourth Fridays and brought Jelysa and Jeffrey with us. They'd never been so it was fun to introduce them to a fun community tradition.

getting to know his big brother, GG

With all of this new hub-bub about another new pet in the home, it must have made you nostalgic. You decided to use your own money to buy a dog tag engraved with Abby's name on it, as a way to honor and remember our beloved angel puppy. So sweet.

so stinkin' sweet

Let me tell you, though...there's not much funnier stuff than when an animal discovers their reflection in the mirror. Abby used to bark and pounce at herself in the mirror at Lao Lao's. Lucky is just about as cute.

On the final day of the month, it was my birthday. I'm a pretty low-key person when it comes to my own birthday (yours? a whole other exciting story, ha). But, as you attended a therapy session, I took a brief walk nearby and found this beautiful slice of woods and thought it the perfect location to capture myself as I stepped into 44. Not sure why I'm including this in your blog. Maybe you'll want to know what your mama looked like at 44 someday. So, here you go.

And finally, with September fading into our rear view mirror, we are setting our sights on October and you know what that means...Halloween! You came up with the idea to be a mailbox for trick-or-treat this year and since there were no pre-made costumes for that crazy idea...it was up to me to make it. Here's my first attempt, which actually turned out mighty good, I think. We still need to find the right postal service stickers, etc...but, damn! I'm proud of this one! You look awesome! And the smile on your face was so worth the effort!

Love you, baby!

Mama

Middle School Already?!

Dear Mali ~

Oh boy...this month is a doozy! The beginning of middle school (yikes)!

Before we took that on, however...we had some fun at the Ohio State Fair and since Daddy's leg is still basically immobile, he rented a Rascal. Then we just had to get some spray-painted hats and shirt to complete our stereotypical summer fair look. Ha ha! When we do the fair, we do it right!

test driving a Rascal at Kroger before the fair

look at all of the gloriously spray-painted, wearable fair art!

fun family photo on the midway

you surprised me by going down the Giant Slide...
I could barely believe it!

taking Lao Lao on the slide now

given Daddy's injury, we thought this was an aptly-named ride
QUADZILLA!

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games before school started. We also had Daddy's surgery as well as Grizz's spay...back to back. Oof! Both surgeries went great but unfortunately it was too much to have to care for two patients at once post-surgery so I ended up taking Grizz back to the vet to board her for a week to complete her recuperation time and insure that her stitches stayed in and her incision healed well. She only spent one night at home with her "cone of shame" and I took her back the next morning (which broke my heart) but it turned out to be the best thing for everyone because we ended up taking Daddy back to the hospital until 4am that very night due to some random complications. Fortunately, it was a benign situation, but scary nonetheless. 

the one night Grizz was home before being boarded for her recovery

Daddy's post-surgery bandaging

he couldn't take a full shower for a while so I
washed his hair in the kitchen sink #SpaDay

some of the animals are a little jealous of all the
attention I've been giving Daddy

at one of Daddy's pre-op appointments, we found this awesome
wall nearby and you left your own contribution...

"before I die I want to go to space and see China"

another day we took Daddy to Inniswoods and pushed him around
in one of their wheelchairs...it's been hard for him being so immobile
(he wouldn't let me take a picture of him so I took a picture of you)

With all of the difficult, scary medical situations in the family lately, it was refreshing to have a fun one too. You lost a tooth that gave you a run for your money and refused to come out and was hanging by a literal thread for several days. You finally lost it and when you went back to school all excited for the Tooth Fairy, one of your friends told you that the Tooth Fairy was really your parents. As you relayed this to me, you added your response which was..."Well, my parents never have cash, so...the Tooth Fairy has to be real!" Best. Response. Ever. Hahaha.

 Ok...and now for the biggie this month...are you ready?! The beginning of middle school!

The day was finally upon us and we were all a mixture of excitement and nervousness and wonder. I can barely describe all of the thoughts and feelings running through me all that week. 

The emotions began about a week prior to that first day as we met with school staff to get to know them and build connections for you. I'm happy to report that this meeting went amazingly well. See for yourself...

I am so proud of you...and before the bus even got here on that first day, I had a favorite quote from you by 6:30am (thanks to Memaw for relaying this gem to us). See below... 

A few days later, we were heading to your therapy appointment and making (what has become) our usual stop at Panera for some treats. As we sat there chatting and eating, you made me cry. In a good way! See, we've both been so worried about middle school beginning and fearful of the changes about to take place. The first several days of school consisted of many ups and downs, mostly ups at school which helped ease my worries. Then, you experienced a slight difficulty with one of the school nurses when you tried to use the clinic restroom, which made me worry again, But then...you shared how a few kids gifted you with some random kindness (about which you added that you wished a teacher could have seen this RAK so they could have been recognized with a program at school to honor and encourage kindness). You then also added how you had gone out of your way to be kind to another kid at school as well. As I stared at you across the table at Panera, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the person you are...no matter what mountains and valleys lie ahead, I am immensely grateful for them all because each of them are a part of your (and our) journey. I couldn't have dreamed up a better child than you. Truly. And in true Mali fashion, as you saw the tears well up in my proud eyes, you distracted me with a random fact about the stoplight outside. Ha ha. You are adorably funny. I'm so blessed.

And...more chuckles and gratitude is shown below. Here's the little ditty that I shared after learning about how you handled your first gym classes (the class that you were most worried about before school began). I am in awe of you. In. Awe. 

Rock Star!

All kinds of new things are happening this year...here's yet another one. You are taking band and chose the French horn, which you were so excited to pick up. However, not necessarily as excited to learn how big and heavy it is! Yikes! On the plus side...your arms are going to be jacked by the end of sixth grade! Right? Ha.

Remember how I mentioned that we had to board Grizz after her surgery? Well...as you can see below...there were two very grateful beings to be reunited when she came home. Healed and ready to go...but more ready for snuggles with one of her favorite people.

So, along with knocking out all of these new challenges and responsibilities of middle school...you nailed one more and cooked us dinner too. Taco Pie a la Mali! It was ah-mazingly delicious!

We also tried something a little bit different as well...goat yoga! Yes...that's what I said. GOAT yoga. Ha. It was very fun, even if there was more goat than yoga happening. Plus, chickens, cats, llamas, sheep, etc. Such a fun experience.

evidently the chickens love blue yoga mats...who knew?

this one cracks me up!

silly goat kisses!

After goat yoga, we headed to the Obetz Zucchini Festival for some lunch. Local festivals are always a good time. One of my summer favorites.

And finally...I'm closing on this screenshot of texts between Lao Lao and me. See...I used to ask my mom to come and talk to me while I was in the shower at around your same age. When this happened the other night, it took me back. As you enter a whole new era in your development, as the challenges change and the stakes are raised in all kinds of ways, I hope you always know that I'm here to listen and talk and anything else you need. Always. 

Love you, babe.

Mama