Obsessions & Interests

Colors, originally uploaded by cheryl.

This photo made me smile. Xander actually looking (and smiling) for the camera. That's been a long time coming. He usually is too interested in the camera, or looking at the letters on the front of the camera, to allow for a decent shot. His nose is usually pressed up to the lens. But here he was, sitting at the computer, smiling and looking up at me with his big brown eyes. I LOVE it!

Of course, I also love that he has connectible toys on each of his fingers. That's imaginative play, right? You're supposed to connect them into long trains of cars, boats and ... well ... trains. He opted for something different. And he even attempted to play computer games with them on his fingers. And actually managed it quite well, considering. Seeing those fingers (and those toys) work the mouse was entertaining, to say the least.

With Sawyer and Xander, there are phases that they go through. Certain toys or certain behaviors that dominate their days. They change from time to time, sometimes weekly, sometimes daily, sometimes after a few months. Xander often spells. That's his thing. Lately, he's been picking up on some new things at school and those are carrying over at home.

He's a bit of a show off, actually.

He counts to 31, with a little help. Can you imagine why he does that? He LOVES calendar at school. We count the days of the month. He also knows the days of the week. And the months of the year. In order, of course.

He still spells. All the time.

He also sings. That's relatively new. He loves the songs from his favorite children's shows - Special Agent Oso and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are two of his all-time favorites. He also sings a bunch that I don't know, which are probably from school. And he knows them all, word for word, and runs through them faster than even I could if I tried.

And last, but not least, he knows his colors. He is obsessed with colors lately. And that's what his connectible toys are to him - constantly changing and rearranging colors. He puts them on his fingers, then comes to you and tells you all the colors in order (and you must repeat each one back to him, or he will keep saying it until you do). And after he's gone through it, he quickly goes and gets more. And the process starts all over again.

So many new things lately, all coming one after the other. And so fun to watch as the world opens up for him. There are still obsessions, still struggles. But the words are multiplying, the speech (even though often scripted) is being used effectively and appropriately. Progress ... slowly but surely ... progress.

It's a Rough Life ...

It's a Rough Life ..., originally uploaded by cheryl.

Between school, work and the holidays, I haven't had much free time. I also have a wounded camera - my main lens attachment is broken (it was knocked around a little bit, on accident, by a certain little boy). You can still take pictures, but you have to be careful to hold the lens connected to the camera, because it will fall off if you don't. It makes it hard to zoom and focus while you're making sure it doesn't fall, so my pictures have been fewer and farther in between than normal.

But Buster laying on the couch was too much to pass up. He's done it before, but usually only after the boys had pulled the cushions off the couch to use in pillow forts (it's lower and easier for him to climb onto then). But today he decided he would climb up there cushions and all.

It's a rough life, he says, but someone has to live it ...

Getting Out

It’s been a long time coming. And it still takes something that’s either really important or something we think the boys will really enjoy, but we’re making more of an effort to get the boys out of the house and into the world a little more.

With most things, it’s simple logistics. Three kids with one parent is rare, unless it’s a relatively closed environment or short duration. Three kids with two parents is better, though it can still be a challenge.

Wednesday night, the local fire department hosted the annual Christmas party for families. Even as a new recruit (one year of training and probationary status), Daddy is now a local firefighter. The event centers around kids – with kid-friendly food (hot dogs and chips and soda), a big bouncy slide, and pictures with Santa Claus.

We braved the snow and ice and cold to take the boys. We had very mild expectations of how it would go. Strange place, lots of strange people, loud noises, and a posed picture with an odd looking man they didn’t know.

The food went over well for Sawyer. He enjoyed chips and bread (no hot dog, of course) and Mountain Dew. Xander ate a few chips, but quickly discovered he would rather “slide” than eat. Connor had discovered the slide as soon as we walked in the doors – and eating went completely out of his head until hours later, when he told us at home how hungry he suddenly felt.

All three boys actually really enjoyed the slide, each in his own way. There were also some small toys for each child (think children’s party type prizes). Our kids picked the most annoying – a plastic horn (Connor) and two plastic flutes (Sawyer and Xander).

Oh. My. Goodness. Annoying does not even begin to cover these toys. They’re in the closet. And they might get accidentally placed in the recycling bin one day very soon.

The final event was pictures with Santa. Our number was one of the last ones in the group. At some point we will get copies, which we don’t have yet, and I will post them. They are going to be priceless.

We were, of course, the last in our group of 10. The boys had to sit in the Santa room, waiting as all 9 other families did their picture with Santa. Connor and Xander were bored. Sawyer wanted very much to escape. We corralled them and waited our turn.

And then the screaming and crying began. Xander started with the screaming, quickly followed by Sawyer tearing up and trying to hide. We took one family photo that way. Connor was perfectly willing, so we put him in Santa’s lap and let him take another one by himself. That one will probably turn out pretty well.

And that was our Christmas party night. The boys wanted to slide some more, but it was getting late and it was a school night (though school would later end up being cancelled). And we were kind of exhausted from the whole event.

Small steps … getting the boys out a little more, forcing them out of their comfort zones and into normal, everyday interactions with the world. It’s not always fun, but it’s certainly necessary. And it gets a little bit easier – for them and for us – every single time.

Early Holiday Break

Ice Storm, originally uploaded by cheryl.

A little snow, a little ice, a little rain. A big mess. And no school for three of the five days this week, counting tomorrow which is already cancelled.

Connor will now have 15 whole days off from school. Can you hear his excitement? He's probably still in his room dreaming the rest of that "Yeeeessssss!" - his response when I told him he did not have school tomorrow after all.

After two snow days in a row, I might be ready to go to work tomorrow afternoon. For a little while anyway!

A Little (Okay, A LOT) Late

Apparently staying up until 2 a.m. baking cookies and getting up in time for school don't exactly coincide.

And maybe, just maybe, I shouldn't have given Daddy such a hard time when Connor got those tardies earlier this year (you know, two in as many weeks). His tardies were only a few minutes late, so that should count for something. But I digress ...

Last night after the kids went to bed, I turned into Santa's helper - preparing all the Christmas gifts for the people who support our boys during the school year. It turned into a late-night, early morning affair before it was all said and done. Making cookies is not something I can do with three little boys running around - they tend to pinch cookies off the baking sheets (Sawyer) or borrow the bowl of cookie dough (Xander) or lick the mixing spoon (Connor). It can be a problem, so I usually wait until they're down for the night. So it's round after round of baking, cooling, packaging, labeling, and so on.

Five hours later, around 2 this morning, I finally climbed into bed.

And the alarm should have gone off just a few (much too few) short hours later. And it did, sort of. The red light came on, which means the alarm is on. But it's a clock radio, you see, and there was no music. None. No sound at all. Just a red light. Which isn't exactly likely to wake anyone up.

Station off the air? Tuner knob moved off the usual station? Volume turned off? Xander does like to line things up on our foot board of late, so he has access and he does love buttons. But I digress again ...

The hows or whys don't really matter. What matters is that the alarm simply didn't make a sound, and I quite simply didn't wake up on time.

I'm not sure how I managed to wake myself up at all - because a morning person I am not - but I knew the moment I woke up that something was wrong. The house was quiet, much too quiet. And it just felt wrong. That would be because I was getting up just before Connor's school was about to start - at 7:35, instead of 6:35, which is when the alarm should have gone off.

And, of course, the irony is that my usual alarm clocks - aka Sawyer and Xander - were also still sound asleep in their beds. That happens maybe once a month at this time of the morning. It would be this morning. No 4 or 5 a.m. wake up calls today. Of course not.

So I get up, rush to get dressed (because I can't drive through car line in my pajamas today - it's already over), get everyone else dressed (because the twins will also not just be driving through car line today), get everyone fed, presentable and out the door. We made it to school by 7:25, which is nothing short of miraculous in and of itself given how late we woke up and how not awake the entire house was at the time.

No measly few minutes late for me. Nope, we were 40 minutes late. And I still had to drag (literally drag) Connor out of bed and force him to get dressed. He ate in the car. I was that mother today.

Here's hoping tomorrow goes a little better. Annoying buzzer alarm set - check. Cell phone alarm also set - check. Early bedtime for Mommy - working on it. Or maybe mother nature will take it's course - they're calling for snow and freezing rain. Maybe we'll all be sleeping in tomorrow ...