Things like how much Connor is enjoying Fall baseball, and how I'm seriously a little in love with his coach. He is an amazing baseball coach. Fall ball is by nature laid back and fun. And while his personality seems much the same, he is also taking the time to work with kids, to get down on their level, to use this time for instruction as well as fun. He watches each player, constantly looking for ways to improve their game while also encouraging them. He talks to them before and after every play, congratulating them when they do well and explaining to them how they could do it better if it didn't go quite so well. He takes time, even with the younger players, who are still prone to sulks and tears even though there is no crying in baseball (as I keep reminding Connor when he strikes out or gets tagged out). So far, it has been a great experience, we love the league and the coach.
I might tell you how Xander is doing so incredibly well with his transition, so much better than I could have ever expected or hoped for. His teachers and his aide have nothing but good things to report at the end of every school day (there are a few minor issues here and there, of course, but overall the report is glowing). How he is always ready to go to school in the mornings and jumps out of my truck easily and happily. How every new word he sees at school becomes a word he simply now knows how to spell. How he is using many more words, trying harder to use sentences and to say what he really means. How impressed his speech therapist was with today's amazing session.
Or I could mention that Sawyer is slowly finding his way in the new school, too. That though he is spending a lot of time in his resource room and not much in the traditional classroom, he is slowly adding more minutes with his peers. How he looks you in the eyes so much more often, how he walks up and engages you more than ever before. How he even seeks out peers at school or his brothers at home to play with him. All huge, HUGE steps forward for him.
But time is in short supply these days. Today will give you a pretty good picture. Xander was up before 6 o'clock, Sawyer about half an hour later. Connor had to be dragged unwillingly from bed a little after 7:30. In addition to being tired, he is also trying to come down with a cold (sore throat, sniffles and not much voice at the moment). Backpacks prepared and into the truck by 8, into school shortly thereafter. Next it was back home for a quick walk for the puppy, and then on to a dental appointment from 9 to 10, only to have to rush home to clean up a work project at the printer today. Next a stop by the printer to review the proof, then off to the grocery store for some essentials and a prescription. Then home to return the not one, but four phone calls I missed during the very quick grocery run. Issues with a client, with the printer and a few other things to be taken care of. Then packing up the truck with supplies for the afternoon - we would leave straight from school for speech therapy, then straight from speech therapy to the baseball field.
Thankfully, Grammy and Pappy came to the rescue again. Pappy met us at speech therapy, took two of the boys for ice cream while the first one had his session. Then he waited for the second session to end and took the twins back to the house for the night - where Grammy met him after she got off from her 12-hour nursing shift and they fed them, gave them baths, and got them into bed.
Connor and I left speech therapy and hit a fast food stop for dinner. Then it was straight to the batting cages to practice a little before the game. It didn't end until after 8:15, already past Connor's normal bedtime. We had done two work sheets of Connor's homework in the truck, in the 10 minutes we arrived before our speech therapy appointment, but we still had a easy reader book he had to read not once but twice and spelling words to practice. He also needed a shower. I think he made it to bed by a 10, more than two hours after his normal bed time. And we really could have used a little more time to practice spelling words.
And then I had to unload the truck from the day's adventures. Next I had to unpack school bags, check folders, initial daily logs and write in journals, refill snack containers and Xander's lunch, file homework and prepare everything for tomorrow morning. I also needed to start the daily load of laundry, load the dishwasher and feed the puppy again. And take a shower. And spend a few hours prepping for a client meeting first thing in the morning, after I drop the boys off at school. And respond to the 15 emails that accumulated between picking the boys up from school and getting back home tonight.
I am so ready for bed. And like Connor, I am so not going to be ready to get up in the morning. The twins will probably be up at some ungodly hour, and I will once again be wondering if I will ever sleep more than 6 hours in a night. I really, really hope it happens again. Soon.
