What Ryan has Been up to

Thank you to all of you for your kind words and messages of support for Ryan.  I read to him many of them, but not all.  We are trying to move past the seizure, with the hope that it was an isolated incident.

Last week, Ryan, Freckles, and I attended Grace’s Fun Run at her school.  Ryan and I did this last year and we made her a poster and decided to do it again this year.  Ryan has been extremely tired recently (and I was last minute), so he gave me the idea for the poster and I created it.  Normally, he would have at least helped me color it, but we were short on time.

The Fun Run was moved indoors due to the weather.  We got there and it was a bit chaotic as the cafeteria really echoed the noise and they were playing music for the kids. Grace did great and ran 48 laps (she was capped at 36 for the purpose of not having her donors go broke) and Ryan, Freckles, and I ran one lap together.  Later, I asked Ryan if he was annoyed with me for making him run.

I LIKED IT.

“Cool. What did you think of the Fun Run?”

GREAT TO WATCH GRACE RUN.  TOO LOVING HER.

“What did you think of the noise?”

HARD TO THINK I MADE IT THROUGH THAT.

*****

On Sunday morning, Ryan attended his first religious education class.  He is enrolled in a fifth grade class and I am his aide in the classroom.  This is held once a month and the parents are charged with teaching the lessons for 3 weeks of the month and then there is a recap in the classroom once a month.  This is because it is encouraged to have parents direct their children’s faith and lead by example.  I really like this idea, maybe because I already homeschool Ryan, but also because I can help Grace as well and we can learn and grow together.

We got to the auditorium and there were chairs set up for the parents portion and there were signs to line up for the appropriate classroom and the catechists would be taking the children to the classrooms.

I had emailed Ryan’s teacher and aide and explained his situation.  Ryan was able to meet them both before heading back to the classroom with the students and me.  Once we were in the classroom, Mr. Fiorentino began by having each child design a name tag with their name and anything that they wanted to add to it.  Ryan wanted his name in blue and asked me to help him draw a baseball on it.

Each child introduced him/herself and was told to add one fact about him/herself.  When it was Ryan’s turn he spelled:  TOO HAPPY TO BE HERE.  MY NAME IS RYAN AND I LIKE BASEBALL TOO. (The first boy to speak had mentioned that he liked baseball.)

Ryan did well sitting for a time and then asked CAN WE PLEASE TAKE A BREAK, so I honored it and we went to the restroom and walked the hall for about 10 minutes and then returned for the rest of the class (it lasted an hour and fifteen minutes).

Ryan had this to say about the experience:

CAN WE REALLY GO MONTHLY?

“Yes.  I will be the teacher the rest of the time, just like we did our first lesson at home with Grace about Guardian Angels.”

TOO REALLY LIKING THE EXPERIENCE.  I AM TOO PREACHING THANKS TO MR. FIORENTINO FOR TREATING ME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.  WE ARE A GOOD TEAM MOM.

“You had me worried in the beginning when you looked like you weren’t feeling good when we were in the auditorium.”

I WASN’T.

“Do you have any idea why?”

IT WAS TOO LOUD.

“But you made it through the Fun Run and it was way louder.”

GOOD POINT.  NOT SURE.

I know that I am still a bit on edge with his health, but he did not appear to be feeling well and I was concerned.  He has not had a problem since then.

*****

After the religious education class, the Curry family was off to the Rangers last baseball game of the season!  The Levinson kids (my siblings) purchased tickets for us since we missed out on the Canada trip (it is being rescheduled–I promise!)

HARD TO THINK IT IS THE LAST GAME.  BOUND TO LOVE GOING TO BASEBALL GAMES. THE EXPERIENCE TOO MUCH ALWAYS IS SO FUN.

*****

We attended National Night Out in our neighborhood on Tuesday night.  Many families from our neighborhood met up at our local park and the local Firefighters and Police Officers came out to meet us.  There was pizza, ice cream, face painting, and fun.  Ryan and Grace rode their bikes down and Randy and I followed with Freckles.

As soon as we got there, Ryan spelled TOO LOVING OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

We walked around and Ryan played some on the playground and Grace played and rode her bike around the perimeter of the park.  I asked Ryan if he wanted to try and interview some of the people there.  CARING TO DO THAT.  ALWAYS LOVE INTERVIEWS.

We started to make our way over to the fire truck and we saw a familiar face.  The man’s name is Tom and he is the local cub scout leader in our area.  Ryan and I have met him a few times at events at Grace’s school and he is always so kind to Ryan.  We spoke with him and a few other parents for a while.

When Ryan was asked how he was doing, he replied:  REALLY I LOVE NEIGHBORHOOD EVENTS.

At some point, Ryan stealthily escaped and made his way back to the playground.  By the time we started to walk back, the fire truck was beginning to leave.

We then walked around some more and we saw a police officer.  He said hello to us and handed Ryan a pack with some small gifts in it (including a Back the Blue Flashlight that is awesome).  I asked Ryan if he wanted to introduce himself.

NO. REALLY NEED TO SAY SOMETHING.  CARING TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.

I was so surprised and caught off guard by this but it was so appropriate and amazing.

The weather then began to turn very quickly and as we tried to pack up, we got soaked on the ride home.  No one minded because we had such a great time.

REALLY LOVE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.  BOUND TO HAVE A FUN TIME.  TOTALLY FINDING THE NEIGHBORS FRIENDLY.  I THINK HALLOWEEN WILL BE FUN.

Can you tell that Ryan loves our neighborhood?

*****

Ryan turns 11 tomorrow (October 6th).  We have a great weekend planned for him with his friends here (Lawson, Austin, and Diego) and we will be sure to report back on the birthday festivities soon!