HELP MOM! I'm Stuck!

Today Austin got locked INTO his room-that's right-Locked in! Timmy & I were downstairs and we heard him yelling. We came upstairs to find a note that read "Help I am locked inside". The lock is a push button, so I got the emergency "key" we use when they lock the door and we need to get in....BUT it didn't work!.. Next thought I'll climb out Timmy's window then go to his window and help him out-Timmy has no roof below his window-so that idea was nada! Then I thought OK get the ladder-good idea until I looked out and remembered about the wind-we're having some pretty strong gusts! Not a good idea to get an aluminum ladder out! Soooooo...off to the toolbox-can I find a screwdriver small enough to fit under the door? YES! Can he get the lock unscrewed? YES! He even managed to get the knob off in record time-can we open it yet..... NO! Still jammed!!!! It took another 10 minutes of fiddling with the innards to get the lock to open...BUT, we got him out....I estimate it took about 20 more minutes......here are some pictures-Notice the NO ENTRY sign....the damaged lock and Austin peeking through the broken lock. Click on the photos to make them bigger.

Planetary Accomplishments....

Austin completed his model of the solar system. He got this project from Aunt Kathy for Christmas. We started in January, but ran out of paint (& promptly forgot about it until recently). Yesterday he completed all of it with minimal help. There was one extra styrofoam ball(YES-we counted to be sure-4 times!)-so he turned it into Earth's moon. Timmy helped with some painting too. He studying the solar system in school -so if they require a project-we're done!

Random Happenings

This week Timmy's class celebrated the 100 th day of school. The teacher sent home crowns so they could be the kings and queens of 100 day. Timmy wanted to be the king of puppies. A co-worker had a paw stamp that we borrowed-the prints were down in brown ink. The crown didn't have enough "area" to work with (for 99 small paws) , so we had to add a paper strip on top. It was a "ruff" project, but it looked PAW-fect once we completed it. I'm not sure how other families made out with their projects since the crowns were very large.


Austin attended his skating party. He did very well skating for the second time. They had pizza and cake in addition to skating for an hour and a half. He really enjoyed himself.

Austin's first time ice skating...

Austin was invited to an ice skating party next week , by a classmate who plays hockey. Of course in the conversation about the party I learned that many of the kids will be from his team, (keep in mind-I'm thinking...OH NO.... these kids can skate and he's never learned-you see Austin is VERY sensitive and has been in situations with teasing and my heart just breaks). So Austin and I went ice skating today. He has tried roller skating, but became frustrated quickly. Timmy stayed home (I was kind of glad because I didn't think I could teach them both and Timmy probably would have pulled one of his "I'm not doing it"episodes). I was surprised at how far away it was(I was thinking...this kid's mom drives how many days a week out here?), but we had a great time. Austin was very positive and excited and I think his playing with Wii fit actually helped him. He was aware of his balance "center" and at first he fell often, but got up very quickly and always with a smile. By the end of free skate time he was making bets with me (yeah, thanks Kathy-he's betting all the time now) about how far he could go without falling....he made it 3 laps. His confidence really shined and I think I feel (whew!) better about next week's party. Maybe we'll give roller skating another try this spring.....