Here's a few more August happenings.
Brian started First Grade
First Grade was definitely a bigger adjustment for all of us than Kindergarten. Brian started the Chinese Immersion Program where he has two different first grade teachers. He goes to Chinese in the morning where he learns mostly math and science all in Chinese and then in the afternoon he has a different teacher that teaches him reading in English. He is doing great and loves the Chinese. The biggest adjustment was going all day. He is still super tired when he gets home and needs to go to bed very early. Timmy and I miss him all afternoon. We wish he could be home with us.
The first day of school was a party at school! We arrived and our faces looked liked Brian's below. We were wondering what was going on. Then when we realized that the Jazz Bear and The Bees Bee and some Jazz players came to help us kick off a fun school year, Brian turned to all smiles.
We went for a family bike ride on the parkway
The kids finished swimming lessons
Mark's parents opened their mission call
They will be going to the Taiwan Temple!
The boys milked a cow at Wheeler Farm
Brian experienced his first emergency
Brian was smashed by the ramp to our trailer. He and Timmy were playing on the utility trailer and they each took out a pin that held up the ramp. The ramp moved out just enough so that they could not get the pins back in place. The boys knew they were not supposed to mess with the pins, so instead of coming to tell me, Brian went down below the ramp on the outside of the trailer to try to push it back into place so they could replace the pins. As he was down there the ramp came crashing down on top of him. We are not totally sure, but we think Timmy pushed it a little on accident. It smashed Brian's face into the ground and hit his back and his head pretty hard. I was outside already and got him out of there as quickly as I could. His nose and his head were both gushing blood and Timmy was screaming like a wild man. I think Timmy thought he had killed Brian. I assessed the damage in probably not the most calm way possible, but in my defense it was a lot of blood. Timmy grabbed towels and Brian's blankie to help calm him down and we headed to the Instacare. It seemed Brian was fine except he had a cut in his scalp that I assumed needed stitching. After the doctor checked him out and we monitored him for any head trauma issues the doctor concluded he was fine to go home with just two staples in his head to hold the cut together.
Each of us learned a lesson or two from the experience. Brian and Timmy learned the importance of following rules. At least they will never mess with the pins on the trailer again. I learned that my natural reaction in a time like that is to kind of freak out a little, which I know doesn't do anyone any good. I want to be more aware of my emotional state and remain calm if an emergency happens again. We are so so so grateful that it was not any worse and we all learned to be more grateful for our blessings and our bodies.
