Mr. Independent

Well, I gave you snippets about S1 and S2, so now it's S3's turn. S3 is now 2 1/2 years old - if you can believe it. I can't, I still think of him as my baby and I am constantly amazed at how he is growing up! Right now he has hit the independence stage of development. I am constantly hearing, "No mommy, don't touch it. I do it." Or S3 will run into the room, throw his arms victoriously in the air and say, "I did it!" I'll always say, "Good Job!" or some other equally congratulatory phrase, even though I usually have no clue what he just accomplished. But heck, if he's proud, I'm proud.

He's also going to be a smarty like S2. He knows his basic colors, how to count to at least 10, count out up to 10 objects and is identifying letters. His favorite show on PBS is Super Why - a show about using books to solve problems and learning to read! Last night around 5 pm he was mad because he kept saying, "Super Why" and I kept telling him it wasn't on. He tried messing with the TV and VCR and was unsuccessful at finding what he wanted. Since he hadn't had a nap, that independent streak you know, he was reduced to tears and fell asleep for the night at 6 pm without having eaten dinner. Thus this morning I am taping an episode for him to watch later on today should he request it again.

S3 is in a big boy bed now so it's fun to rollover in the morning and see his little face looking at me as he stands next to the bed waiting for me to get up. Once I open my eyes he chimes, "Good Morning Mommy". You can't blame me for sleeping as it is usually about 6:45 am when this occurs. However, being in a big boy bed makes it very difficult to get him down for a nap as he is no longer entrapped by a crib. I'm going to start working on potty training him as soon as I get the motivation. He's pretty much ready, I think, but I'm not looking forward to it. Not that S2 was hard, but it's still one more thing to do when I have so much to get done. Speaking of which, I'd better go and get some weeds pulled or bushes trimmed before the trash man gets here. Wish me luck.

The Ice Man Cometh

Okay, I've never read that play so the reference probably isn't the best, although technically accurate. A few weeks ago I got a flier about a special needs ice hockey team. It stated that they would have limited space for non skaters so given that I would have to drive 30 min to get to the rink each week for practice and I didn't want S1 to take up space on the team if another skating kid wanted to play. Well, a few weeks into the "season" a friend of mine was telling me about how much her autistic son LOVED being on this new ice hockey team. I told her my reservations and she insisted that I try it out, that there were like three volunteers for every kid. So I called the people in charge, found out there was room on the team, and signed a zillion papers. Turns out that the team is sponsored by some corporations so it's basically free to the players - we had to buy a mouth guard (which he won't keep in of course), a cup (isn't his diaper enough padding?), and a hockey stick (which he absolutely LOVES - it also doubles as a guitar or a horse). He gets a helmet, skates, shin guards, gloves, shoulder/body pads and jersey from the team.

Well, the moment we went into the ice rink and S1 saw the ice, he ran for it. People were there for free skate still and he wanted to join them. We finally got him all in his gear and he loved getting onto the ice. Of course he had to have someone stand behind him and keep him up, but he loved it. Except for his helmet, he kept trying to rip that off. So we pulled him off the ice and got him a smaller helmet and exchanged the wire face guard for a clear Plexiglas one. While we were in the pro shop getting it all taken care of, I noticed that he was standing straight up on his hockey skates without any help or support! I was amazed. Then I couldn't believe it when he just started walking away and didn't fall down! Up until then we'd been helping him walk in his skates- it was kind of like watching Bambi first learn to stand up and walk. He was confident enough that he walked right out the proshop door, closed it and, from the other side of the glass,waved bye-bye, said bye out loud and took off practically running back to the ice. I was flabbergasted that he was able to adjust his balance and coordination that quickly.

Anyway, he got back out on the ice and was able to stand on the ice by himself with holding the wall for support. He laughed and smiled the rest of the time with his volunteer skating out on the ice. When practice was over and it was time to go home, we had to drag him off the ice to the changing room. Once there he cried as I took off his gear. He only stopped once he heard the word treat and happily took off with his helper while I collected the gear. After the treat when I tried to get him to leave, he just sat on the ground and tried to crawl away from me back to the rink. One of the other dads helped to get him up and out the door, where he became much more compliant.

So, much to my surprise and utter excitement, S1 loves to be on the ice. We'll see how he does this week.

Mr. Perfect

Okay, it's been awhile. I've been having a hard time finding time to sit down and type. Now that I thought all was quiet, I'm going to try, but even as the page loaded up, I hear S1 coming! Wish me luck.

S2 is now in kindergarten and he got his first quarter report card. He got a Y for complete mastery in every category that they tested him in and for each social skill. He also had zero absences and tardies. I had to laugh when I told him that he got his report card and that he'd gotten all Y's and had zero absences and tardies and he said, "I have a perfect report card." It kills me how much stuff he understands - I hadn't used the P word at all. I just hope that he doesn't feel too let down if he doesn't get a perfect report next time!

Just one other anecdote about Mr. Perfect. We went to the pharmacy to pick up a couple of prescriptions. When I got to the window I told the lady that we had to pick up two prescritions, one for S1 and one for myself. Away she went. A couple seconds latter she comes back and says, " I'll have your prescription ready in just a moment." Matthew pipes up and says, "Oh, that means she has S1's ready." Which was true as she had brought it over and set it down by the register - all out of S2's range of vision given that we were in the drive thru lane and he was sitting in the front passengers seat. Before anyone freaks out, our van is so old there is no air bag there. Once again I was just floored by his level of comprehension at only 5 years old. Boy, are we in trouble!