A morning at the Beach

Last Saturday morning we headed to Kihei for a few hours on one of our fave South Shore beaches, Keawakapu. It was a beautiful Maui morning and we were reminded once again why we love it here so much. It was one of those amazing beach days when the weather is just perfect - sunny but not too hot, just a light breeze but not windy, the water was calm but with a few small sets every now and then so Joel could do a little body surfing. And as always, Dean had a blast!! He's a regular little beach bum. He goes to the beach WAY more often than Joel or I do. TuTu (my Mom) takes him just about every Tuesday & Thursday morning.

Dean's made a new friend on their weekday beach outings... Dylan is a few months older than Dean but TuTu says they play pretty well together. Dylan doesn't have verbal language, but instead communicates with sign language. He was born with a condition called Moebius Syndrome, which you can read more about HERE. Basically, Moebius Syndrome is a very rare neurological condition that affects specific cranial nerves to varying degrees. Fortunately Dylan has a mild presentation of the syndrome and it seems that only the nerves of his mouth and tongue have been affected. But this means it will be difficult for Dylan to learn verbal speech (he does not have motor control of the distal portion of his tongue or his lips), but it will be possible with therapy. Dylan will never be able to smile or frown or grimace or kiss. But none of this seems to phase Dean - the two of them have a great time. Dean does realize Dylan communicates differently than he does - if you ask Dean "Does Dylan talk?" he'll say "No. Dylan talks like this..." and move his hands as if he were doing sign language. It's very heart warming. I hope that we can help Dean to nurture these early traits of acceptance and tolerance.

Anyway, I really didn't mean to ramble that much. I'll get to the super cute pics from our morning at Keawakapu!!

Dean had so much fun playing in the sand:
And he was pretty content to chill in the sand hold with Daddy:

But his favorite thing of the whole morning was jumping off the sand ledge left from the South Swell we had the day before. He would stand on top and wait for a wave to come in, then jump off into the foam:

Swimming!

For the past week, TuTu has taken Dean up to "Susie and Bam's House" (as Dean calls it) to go swimming while the Chapmans are on the mainland. (Bam is the cat). Susie lives across the main "highway" (away from the ocean) from my Mom's neighborhood in South Kihei in an area called Maui Meadows. In Hawaii, we refer to this direction (away from the ocean / inland) as Mauka...and towards the ocean is Makai. Dean is so funny! When I pick him up from my Mom's house now and we turn onto the Piilani to head home, he says "No Mommy! Go Mauka to Susie's house". He's such a little smarty! Anyway, here are some pics of him having a blast swimming in Susie's pool a few times. He's really starting to like the water (he's never disliked it, but I think he's just finally getting the hang of things, but he still prefers the ocean).







In other exciting news, Auntie Jayci got here Tuesday night for an extended stay - and by extended we mean REALLY extended (she only bought a one-way ticket and is looking for a job!!). We're all pretty excited for her and happy she's here! She'll be staying with my parents for now. Dean LOVES Jayci (Ok, ok - he loves most women - he is definitely a ladies' man....but I really do think he remembers Jayci and he seems pretty darn happy she's here!!) and was really excited that she went to the beach with him and TuTu today! For those of you that don't know Jayci, her parents are probably some of my parents' dearest friends and I can't remember the Corwins' not being around. Jayci and her brother Andy practically grew up with my brother and I - lots of fun lake trips, ski trips, pool parties, birthdays and holidays shared with their family. I'd be willing to bet that Jayci's Mom, Judi, is the thing my Mom misses THE MOST about Oklahoma!! Anyway, if you need a refresher, Jayci was here to experience the last Haleakala backpacking trip with Joel and I, and both her and Judi were there for our first trip into the crater. I'm sure you'll be hearing lots more about Jayci's Single-Girl Adventures in Paradise in future blog posts!! (I'm living that exciting life vicariously through her!!!).

A visit from Grandma Jo and Granpa CR and 4th of July Festivities

Hi! WOW! I can't believe it's been like 5 weeks since I blogged. Sorry! Grandma Jo and Grandpa CR were here - they arrived on June 28 and headed home July 8. We had so much fun and Dean was so bummed when he woke up Thursday morning and realized they weren't here! He hadn't seen Grandpa CR in about a year and we weren't sure how he'd take to him since he very obviously is a ladies' man, but he warmed right up to him and enjoyed their daily "Grandpa and Dean" outside playtime!

The most exciting thing we did was head Upcountry to the Makawao 4th of July Rodeo Parade. It's important to explain that a Maui parade is slightly different from your typical mainland parade and if everything else about growing up on Maui wasn't so culturally enriching I'd feel really bad that Dean was somehow missing out on some essential part of childhood - the typical small-town American Parade. But the Maui Parade is still very entertaining, even if it is lacking in a single marching band or clown throwing candy and there was only one real thing that would actually qualify as a "float"!! Where else can an old lady just walk down the street in between a Bagpipe band and the Haleakala National Park service, carrying a Peace sign and simply singing "Give Peace a Chance"? Anyway, I thought I'd share a few pics from our 4th of July festivities...

Patiently waiting for the parade to start:

Still waiting...

Still waiting...
Oh! Look! It's a Nene!! (Courtesy of the Haleakala National Park Service):
And there's Maui County's Mayor, Charmaine Tavares (she's the grey-haired one without the hat):
The Hawaiian State Flag:
Miss Rodeo Hawaii (this is here just for Auntie Brandi, who I'm pretty sure never put a lei around her horse's neck):
This guy is actually one of my patients:
Henry Silva, the most decorated Hawaiian Cowboy of all time:
Starting to get bored...
Auntie Sue lookin' all spiffy in her Cowgirl getup (she was representing her farm, Kula Lani Ranch):
Joel and Dean talking to Mauri (Sue's boyfriend), who was riding a horse in the parade:
And finally, I really just have no idea (it IS Maui!!!):
Back home hanging out with Grandpa CR:
CHEESE!!!

Splash!

Well, it's been an exciting few weeks....but not necessarily the good kind of exciting. My Grandma Joan (who has been on Maui for an extended stay to help out with my Dad's care for the past 6 months) hadn't been feeling well for several weeks, mostly due to a flare-up of her on-again, off-again low back problems. I had taken her to the ER here on Maui once and they treated her with the standard cocktail of pain meds and anti-inflammatories (to which she had some weird side effects) and she seemed to get better for awhile. But a few weeks ago, the pain was back again with a vengeance and nothing was helping. She was also having a lot of nausea and stomach complaints (which is really not too unusual for her as she has a pretty sensitive stomach), but she was also just not seeming like herself cognitively. Instead of getting better, she just seemed to be getting worse. Mom and I decided it was best for her to go ahead and head home a month early so she could see her own doctor and figure out what was going on (we were still thinking most of the problem was with her back). So we changed her plane ticket home and bought me a ticket to accompany her. Grandma and I left Wednesday night and arrived in OKC Thursday morning. She went straight to her doctor who asked a lot of questions (mostly pertaining to her back symptoms) and examined her. He ordered some tests (both on her back and some scans of her brain) for the following week and sent her home. The next day her dear friend Bobbie stopped by to check on her and called me to tell me she just didn't seem right. I spoke to Grandma briefly and it was obvious something was very wrong (she was talking pretty crazy) so I told Bobbie to call my cousin Hillary and see if they could go ahead and get her to the ER and have those tests run right away (some brain imaging specifically). Anyway, long story short is that she had a mild heart attack and possibly a stroke and ended up needing a stent put in on Saturday morning. (something to note is that her ONLY symptoms of these events were severe nausea, loss of appetite and some mild cognitive changes - absolutely no chest pain or shortness of breath or the other standard cardiac or stroke symptoms we often hear about). She's doing well now, but probably going to have some long-term deficits. Our fingers are all crossed that this isn't going to be the beginning of a decline into dementia for her. She's always been so sharp and fit and healthy - it's very hard to see her like this. Fortunately my cousin Hillary and her fiance David are amazing - they will be moving in with Grandma and caring for her either temporarily until she's able to live on her own again or permanently if it turns out she does not fully recover all of her former cognitive and physical abilities. It was all very scary for awhile and stressful to imagine Grandma being on her own like this. I'm so thankful Hillary is willing and able to step up and take over right now. It's hard being so far away and knowing that Grandma lives alone - now knowing Hillary and David will be there really puts our minds at ease knowing she will be well cared for and looked after for as long as she needs it. We're not sure what is in store for the future, but we're doing lots of positive thinking right now and hoping that she is able to make a full recovery. I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, before I left, Dean had a fun Sunday afternoon with the little girl across the street, Riley. They played in a little kiddie pool for about an hour and had a blast splashing around and dumping water on each other! They're so cute!! Here are a few pics we took...

Big Boy School

It's Official....Dean is no longer a baby! He started preschool on Monday at the Children's Garden in Kihei. And he LOVED it!! He'll be attending 2 days/week (Monday & Wednesday) for now. I'd like him to go 3 days/week, but it's expensive so 2 days will work!

We got up early and got Dean dressed in some "Play Clothes" (because they spend A LOT of time outside at this school - even aside from the standard playtime, some of the curriculum stuff like art, etc is done outside), loaded up his new Backpack - which Dean keeps calling a "Rescue Pack" - thanks to Diego - his current favorite cartoon character (thank goodness it's no longer whiny Caillou!!) and matching lunch box and headed to Big Boy School. Dean was excited because this is the school where his BFF Charlie attends (even though Charlie will be a "Turtle" this year and Dean is only a "Roly Poly" AND they'll be going on different days) and Dean seems to think that if Charlie goes there, that means Charlie's big brother Sam (Dean's idol) will be there. Anyway, we got to school and Dean met his teacher, Miss Lauren. He turned his head away for about 2 seconds, then decided the place looked like fun and jumped right in!! We went into his classroom and I showed him where his cubby was - he was pretty excited about having his own basket with his name on it (He's REALLY into having his name on EVERYTHING these days and every time he sees his name, he has to spell it and say it - "D-E-A-N, Dean"). We put his stuff & his lunchbox in his cubby, put the morning and afternoon snacks (we have to provide all food for the day) in their proper place, and showed him where his water bottle would be. He took his slippers off, stuffed them in the cubby, said "bye Mom" and ran outside to play. He never even looked back at me!!!

I picked him up at the end of the day and the teacher said he did great - he cried a little at naptime (we were worried about that because Dean still uses a binky at night and at naptime at home), but not for very long and did fall asleep and slept for almost 2 hours. He peed in the potty twice and the little message board at the end of the day said "Dean enjoyed riding the tricycle around the track". When I went to pick him up, he wouldn't even look at me. As soon as he saw me, he ran and hid and said "No Mommy, Dean playing. Dean school. Go back over there" (he says "go back over there" when he wants me to go away). I literally had to carry him out of there kicking and screaming.

But then we went and got an ice cream to celebrate his first day of school and all was good! He's looking forward to going back tomorrow!! Here are a few pics (he really wasn't very cooperative with picture taking)...

All ready to go...

Giving me his new Fake Smile:
Heading off to school like a Big Boy:
Playing almost IMMEDIATELY after we arrived at school:
Wouldn't even look at me when I got there to pick him up - just kept turning his back to me and hiding (sooo did NOT want to go home!!):
A little celebratory ice cream (and another fake smile) after school:

Toddler PDA

Dean has a mad crush on the little girl across the street, Riley. Riley is about 8 months younger than Dean and with their blonde curls, they could be siblings! They LOVE to hug each other and several evenings a week are spent with them chasing each other around one of our yards squealing and laughing and hugging. Riley is SUPER affectionate - she even gives Joel lots of hugs. And although kids typically love Joel, I don't think they always consider him the most "huggable" of people in the world!! ha!! Riley is Rocky's (the 3-legged black lab) sister and every time we pull into our driveway, Dean says "There's Riley's house! There's Rocky's house! Take Rocky a cookie?" It's funny because for the longest time I think Dean thought all big black dogs were SUPPOSED to only have 3 legs and if we saw a 4-legged black dog somewhere, Dean would just look at it like "what the heck is wrong with that dog?" Anyway, I caught some super cute toddler Public Displays of Affection tonight....