Where did that come from?

Okay, I was in the kitchen doing dishes. S1 was out jumping on the trampoline. I hear him coming into the house so I turn to look. In he walks with a pee pee diaper in his hand. Where did that come from? S1 looks around and puts the diaper in the trash can. I tell him good job as he runs off to the TV and take him some candies because I am so impressed. Yet still I am wondering where did that diaper come from? So I give S1 a pat on the bum and discover that he's freestyling. There's my answer. Apparently while jumping on the trampoline his diaper fell off and out his pants down one of the legs. Quickly I give thanks that it wasn't a poopy diaper! Next I marvel at my little guy. We've been working on getting him to throw away his own diapers this summer. It's gone pretty well and he's at the point that we don't even have to turn off his show most of the time to get him to do it. He'll just take it, dump it and run back to his movie. Well I am so impressed because he noticed the diaper and knew exactly what to do with it and did it! Heck, most normal kids would have kept on jumping. So, I am so proud of my little guy and that he made the connection. I just had to share.

I'm so glad when daddy comes home

Dave was out of town for a month. That's right, an entire month without coming home. First he went to a conducting seminar at the University of North Texas for a week, then he went to Southern Oregon University's American Band College for just over two weeks to work on his Master's Degree, and from there it was off to Chicago to attend Northwestern's Wind and Conducting Symposium. So while he had fun eating out, going to the movies, playing his trumpet, hanging out with fellow band geeks, staying in a hotel, (supposedly studying, working hard, ; )) etc I stayed home with the three munchkins and tried to retain that shred of sanity that I so dutifully protect. I mean, if I lost it, what would my family do? Anyway, I shall tell you how I survived that month later on, to get to the point, the boys missed Dave like crazy.

S3 noticed the second day that Dad hadn't shown up like usual and started asking "Where's Daddy?" S1 didn't seem to notice or care and S2 understood what was going on. Plus, S2 and S3 would talk to Dave on the phone or Skype with him. S1 just wasn't interested. Well, fast forward one month. Dave got in at about 2 am so obviously the kids were dead to the world. But the next morning I woke up to S3, who has the sweetest little voice in the world, standing by my bed and saying, as usual, "good morning mommy". I cracked open an eye and said, "Good morning S3, go around to the other side of my bed." Being the obedient little child he is, he did so and exclaimed, "Good Morning Daddy!" He then proceeded to give dad hugs and kisses and climb up into our bed. S2 heard the Good morning Daddy and came barreling in jumping on top of dad and shouting, "Dad you're home!' before bestowing his own kisses and hugs. After the main excitement had died down one of the boys let S1 out of his room. When S1 came in he made a beeline for the TV, but Dave said, "Good Morning S1!" S1 immediately stopped in his tracks, looked over at me, then stood up straighter while looking over me to find the source of the voice. When he saw Dave, the smile that lit up S1's face was worth a million bucks! Dave got up and they spent the next few moments giving kisses and hugs and S1 just grinning the funniest grin. We were dying to know what he was thinking. S1 would look over at me as if to say, "Hey, is he really back? I was wondering what happened to my dad." Cutest grin ever. So Dave had a good homecoming all around.

I have a fish!

Okay, S3's been fairly skittish about the pool. He enjoys it, but he's rather clingy. I've been trying to build his confidence. He'll willingly go to his swim lesson - as long as it's his teacher. He refuses to get in the water if his aide isn't the one he sees. Once he sees her, off he trucks through the water with a smile on his face.

So today when we went as a family to go swimming, I introduced S3 to his monkeys. They are water wings with monkeys on them. He thinks the monkeys are pretty cool. Well, we started by wading in together. Then when it was deep enough I told him to try and kick. When he picked his feet up and he still floated, he thought that was pretty cool. Now, he's not a swimmer yet by any stretch of the imagination, but this time he didn't want me to hold him at all! He played a game of "catch" with S2 in the deeper section of the pool (the 3 to 4 foot deep area) for quite a while. And then when we needed to follow S1 to the deeper section, S3 wanted to do it by himself, trying to kick and use his arms to get around. When we were close to the edge S3 would climb out at the ladder and then sit down and slide back into the pool again all on his own. Then he would "swim" to get a ball or just away from the wall, turn around and go back again. When we had to follow S1 back to shallower waters, S3 pointed back to the deep end and said, "Go back over there!" So, now that he's discovered freedom and can "swim" like his brothers, he wants to keep doing it.

I do have to stay close because although he does pretty well with keeping his mouth closed or spitting water out, there were a couple of times when I had to hold him up until he could cough it out and catch his breath, but then off he went again. After just over an hour we left the pool and although we only live a block away, S3 was asleep in the stroller before we got home! Heck, he even slept through getting his swim clothes off and a dry diaper. And no, he's not dead, I can hear him breathing just fine. I am just so happy because here I thought I was going to have a scaredy cat of the water and it was going to make it so much harder to take all three of the them to the pool by myself. This is much more fun.

New Words

Well, one of the biggest struggles with S1 is communication. But we've had some major breakthroughs. A couple of months ago he started saying "eat" when he is hungry!!! Hooray!!!! For a "normal' child this might not be such huge news but for S1, who is 8, it was a miracle! It's so nice because now he'll come to me and say "eat" whenever he is hungry instead of just being whiny! Another word he loves to use now is "Wow!" He says it when he's impressed about something (like the waterfall at California Adventure @ DisneyLand) or had a lot of fun, like today when he got out of swim lessons. Another word he knows is hot. One Sunday we were getting ready for church and he started repeating hot and kind of whining. I thought he was being silly until he laid down on the floor and curled up into a ball. Then I took his temperature and sure enough, he had a fever! I couldn't believe it. I was floored. So we didn't go to church that day because S1 was hot.

Touching

The other day Dave had some friends passing through town on a road trip so they used our place as a rest stop. Which, by the way, you are also welcomed to do if passing through. We had a nice little visit. S3 was very friendly with our visitors and S2 basically hid in our bedroom. He finally came out and clung to my leg. As S2 refused to look at or greet our visitors, S3 said, "This is my brother (S2), he's my best friend." I almost melted on the spot. It was so darn sweet. S3 was so sincere, it was wonderful.

He likes me, he really really likes me

So, S1 is still a happy little chap. Lately a couple of things have happened that show how much he's learning or cares. The other day I worked an extra shift (12p to 5p on a Saturday). When I got home I basically had time to soak my feet (I had ingrown toenails removed) before I had to work my regular shift. Before you think it amazing that I can work on top of everything else I do, it's really not bad. Basically I hang out with the elderly with alzheimer's to keep them company/out of danger. I usually work 3hrs Saturday and Sunday evenings. So it gets me out of the house and I get paid for caregiving - which I do for free the rest of my days. It's really low key and a good chance to get away from my usual duties. Anyway, back to S1. I was sitting at the kitchen table with my feet soaking when S1 comes in the door from outback. He makes sure to close it all the way and then starts heading down the stairs to the basement. He hadn't looked my way and I could basically only see the top of his head. So I tried an experiment. As he head disappeared down the stairs, I called out, "Hi S1!" Now, I already knew that he knows my voice, I just wanted to see if he cared that I was home. Sure enough that little head pops back up the stairs, he looks straight at me when he gets to the top, grins, and comes over to me and starts talking!! Holy cow. He starts saying, "Treat, more, please, treat, more, please" which is his code for I am hungry. I just had to smile. I was so happy. Not only did he acknowledge me, he came right up and started communicating his need. Way to go kid. Now I know he likes me, he really really likes me - or at least knows I'll feed him.

He went with Dad to Blockbuster the other night. When Dave took him to the kid aisle to pick out a movie, he reached out for the nearest Barney movie he could get to. Dave suggested to him that he look at all the movies and then pick one. So S1 looked up and around, took a few steps forward and then picked out another movie - still a Barney movie but one with a Tuba on the cover! He was cooperative about giving the other movie back to Dave. He then counted off the band and chanted Tuba the entire ride home. When they got home I was in the kitchen when I saw this kid streak down the hall to the TV in our bedroom. It was S1. He had that movie in his hot little hands and once in the house knew right where to go to watch it. So, it was nice to see him make an actual choice, stay focused on it, anticipate what was to happen and then take the movie to the appropriate location for viewing. Huge strides in the whole thinking process. Never doubted that he could think, it's just so nice to see it in action.

It's also fun to watch when S1 is out jumping on the trampoline. He loves to "go". It doesn't matter to him where to, just as long as he gets to "go". If he's jumping on the trampoline, all we have to do is stand on the back porch and say, "S1 it's time to go" and that boy drops to his bum, hops off the trampoline and bolts across the yard. Watching S1 run is quite funny because although he usually doesn't fall anymore, he also is still very gangly and uncoordinated. So it's fun to watch him run pell mell across the yard.