Lost in the Leaves - Week of Oct. 22nd

With a burst of warm weather this week, it was time to take advantage of every bit of extended sunshine!
A bike ride was an essential "to-do" and the boys ventured out in shorts, feeling the warm breezes during their route.

In the evenings, Chris has been hard at work (with his engineering partner) to finish Cameron's Halloween "costume" for this year.  Painting was required and Dad's helper was anxious to test out the rollers.

Living in Michigan, we've been accustomed to raking up leaves, but it seems with a bigger backyard, the number of leaves has grown exponentially.  We are very fortunate to still have our awesome neighbors and luckily, one of Cam's favorite buddies, Emma, was available to help rake/play in the leaves!  As the pile of leaves kept growing and growing, it was tough to keep track of everyone.  At one point, Emma hid in the pile of leaves while the rest of us had our backs turned.  When Cam went looking for Emma, he was "digging" through the leaves and she jumped up behind him!!

As the afternoon wore on, the crispness of fall was evident once again.  After all of the work and play, Emma and Cam decided to relax and watch a show together.  What a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

"Speaking" of Activity - Week of Oct. 15th

Every Friday afternoon, Cameron doesn't go to school, but in a way, school comes to him!
Cam's speech therapist at Wellerwood School, Miss Felicia, visits every week for a home session.
Learning new words is combined with activities and games, like bowling.  
Miss Felicia is helping Cam use his breath support to project his voice.  Now, when he sees her at school, he always says "Hi" and "Bye" very loudly!  Obviously, she's been a great speech teacher and even though she makes Cam work hard, he truly adores her.

Weekend activities included a visit to cousin August to celebrate his 1st birthday!  Cameron picked out his cousin's gift , a mini electric guitar, and actually chose it over an Elmo cell phone.  The boys also had some fun playing with the new toys August received as presents.


Since Chris always gets creative with train track design, he and Cameron think up new areas for the engineering to expand into.
The best part of this setup put Cam right in the middle of the action!

After a busy couple of days, what better activity than relaxing in front of the fire.  It was time to kick back and watch some football...
or listen to it while snoring, whichever may be your preference!

University Technology - Week of Oct. 8th

Modern medicine, for all its advances, knows less than 10 percent of what your body knows instinctively.
~Deepak Chopra

Many of you are aware that Cameron is already "working for a living" by assisting a local university professor, "Miss Lisa" with physical therapy graduate classes.  Miss Lisa also works with Cam on a regular basis and she wanted him to see the NeuroCom room where advanced technology is used to study movement.

The NeuroCom room at Grand Valley State measures and records a person's movements on a computer screen.  The screen shows an image that tracks a person's moves.  The computer screen guy became known as "The Cam Man" during our session.  Miss Lisa was quite impressed with Cam's ability to understand how to make the Cam Man move and stop on the screen.  This can help a person understand where they are spatially.

After sitting on the bench, it was time for Cam to try out a parachute-like outfit that allowed him to stand suspended and move around more freely.  Although he is still a little too young for the screen to capture his movements while in the strapped suit, he definitely enjoyed the experience.

We are incredibly grateful to Miss Lisa for spending time with Cam and teaching her students and others the importance of the potential in every person.  Her positive attitude is infectious and we're very thankful Cameron has the opportunity to be connected with such a gifted person.

After a tough work week, what could be better than a treat at our local homemade frozen yogurt place, Spoonlickers?  Even on a rainy day, it's still the best dessert around.  You pick out the toppings along with your favorite frozen yogurt.  There are over 25 things to choose from...Cam's recommendation?  Anything (and everything) with chocolate!

Star Student - Week of Oct. 1st

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
~Albert Camus

We are most fortunate to live in a state where the four seasons are definitive and purposeful.

 

While our family went on a drive to Home Depot over the weekend, we snapped this pic while in the car never thinking the image would capture how beautiful the colors were...

Another picture-perfect photo (thanks to Katherine!) was captured this week of our "Star Student"- Mr. Cameron Jackson!

 

Each week, the students in Cam's class are given a different job or task to be in charge of for the duration of their time in school.  One student is given the honor of being "star student" and this week, Cam was chosen.  He was beyond excited about this opportunity.  He picked out his favorite photos to bring into class and the teachers helped him put them up on the board.  Cameron also was asked to chose one item for show-and-tell...a big note was sent home indicating it could not be a live animal or food, so we decided not to send Stella the cat.  Cam brought his saxoflute- an instrument that is a cross between a saxophone and a flute.  He can make very loud sounds with it and his classmates loved it!

With the weather turning a bit cooler and the rain falling, it seems that it's still a bit impossible for Cameron's mood to be affected.  Even in the chilly wet climate, Cam sports his smile proudly!