7/4

July 4th is awesome. Our country celebrates its birthday and its freedom. It's mid-summer--some is behind us, some is in front of us. Usually it's warm weather. I love the 4th of July.

This weekend has been filled with quite a few interesting happenings.

On Thursday, we visited with Miss April from PLAY Project. We watched some interesting video from our last visit, she did some modeling, and we set up some additional suggestions for the month:
1. Play dumb. Make him show you or tell you what he wants. Make him work to show you what he wants. Use playful obstruction in play. This is a goal that I find interesting, as we have become so accustomed to "reading" Max that we really haven't done too much in allowing him to tell us what he wants.
2. Use rewarding/reinforcement. When he initiates a response (called "opening a circle"), reward him with a tickle, rub, or rough housing. Give immediate reward or sensory motor play. April pointed out the proprioceptive need he has relating to pounding his feet. After we PLAYed a great deal, he did a lot of jumping on the concrete (made me cringe) over and over, fulfilling a sensory need for pressure on his feet.
3. Use simple pretend play. Give things feelings or personalities (talk through the toys). Use slapstick humor. Use theme and variation in play. This was interesting, as during her visit he started to play on the PC. I thought for sure he was "done--" focused on his game and the rest of the world was shut off. She initiated play with a stuffed animal, as if it was playing the game, too. He engaged in this play. I guess I underestimated how much he could be drawn from his game time.

On Thursday, I also made a trip to the dentist, as, while flossing, I broke off part of my tooth. A crown will come on Monday, alas.

On Friday, after Zumba, I finally went to the podiatrist. I needed to be fitted for custom orthodics for my feet. No fracture. But the way I walk messes with the tendons on my feet (I have now messed with tendons on both of my feet due to exercise), and he felt the orthodics were necessary so I could avoid tearing a tendon, which would require surgery to fix (no thanks).

After that appointment, we headed to Rochelle, IL, to the Rochelle Railroad Park. This is a crossroads for many railroad tracks and is one of the busiest crossings in the country. Man, was it noisy, too! We then stayed in a hotel (Hilton Garden) with a very cool pool in Rockford. On Saturday, we visited the Illinois Railroad Museum in Union, IL. Great time, although way too much for Max in one 24-hour period.

Today, we started the day off with church. The whole family went, and Max was extremely well-behaved. He knew we planned to head to the car wash, one of his favorite things in the world at the moment, and that brings out the inner angel in him for sure. After the car wash, we had a series of storms, and I completely sacked out. What else do you do when it rains, right? We barbecued some tasty marinated pork chops, had some couscous, and corn on the cob, and the all-American strawberry shortcake desert. Now, we are patiently awaiting heading to the fireworks (yeah, I forgot to get sparklers this year... bummer). It's all good. :)

There are many other photos and videos on Facebook, for the ever-so-curious. My personal favorite is the car wash video... a must see!