When Mom Forgets

I took the boys on a drive, out to Wakefield, one of our regular haunts. After being assured that there were no turkeys loose today, we were handed these new little booklets for kids to fill out, and they can earn a badge. Very nice little books, too. The first few pages are geared to the 5-8 crowd. Joey just turned 6, and loves to read. Fabulous.

So we wandered out, sauntering in our usual way, then we got up to the house site where the benches are, and I called Joey over to look at the new book.

Did I mention that sometimes I forget that Joey is disabled?

To me, Joey is just... Joey. And he's a smart kid on top of it. Reads like a dream. Interested in the world, in his way. He likes living things and taking walks and that kind of thing. And he's a cutie-pie, with very kissable cheeks and a big grin. That's my boy.

But there are some things Joey simply cannot do. One is to wander out to a place he doesn't see very often, stop at a point where he doesn't usually stop, and focus joint attention upon a book. On top of that, he was being asked questions about the book, which was giving him new information, and being asked to write the answers down.

Oh dear. No no no. This will not do. That child would have rather pulled out his own fingernails than sit with me and look at that book, or read a word from the page, and let me know in no uncertain terms.

Good side: he's communicating. And he remembered that George Washington was president.
Bad side: Well, after the meltdown over stopping at the benches, and the second meltdown over the book, we had a meltdown at the car because the sheep weren't out.

But basically, it was because Mom is an idiot.

First glimpses

I got Joey a camera for his birthday. Here are a few of our first glimpses into Joey's world:






He took 54 pictures today. Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Joey!

When I was one,
I just begun.



When I was two,
I was nearly new.



When I was three,
I was hardly me.



When I was four,
I was not much more.



When I was five,
I was just alive.



But now I'm six,
I'm as clever as clever.



So I think I will be six now,
forever and ever!

-A.A.Milne

Nothin' says lovin'

Like baking 50 cupcakes in the dead of night for a boy's birthday in the morning.

Actually, blueberry muffins, which will then be frosted with vanilla frosting dyed blue, then set with blue sprinkles.

Happy Birthday, Joey. I love you.

Sick day

The boys are home. Joey was complaining of tummy trouble yesterday, so I went and got him from school. That came with a nasty fever that broke early this morning. Now I just have two sniffle-heads. OK, we really have all four of us sniffling, but I'm the mom, and poor Allan had to go to work. :P

So I have two sniffleheads. They feel OK enough to want to play, but they get tired out easy and that makes them grumpy. So instead of getting them up and down the stairs, I have left them in their pajamas, and brought breakfast upstairs.

Now, I am not a gadget woman, nor a big TV viewer. My husband, however, is all over it. When he got his nice, big bonus this year (because he is an awesome worker and got awesome reviews), we got ourselves our anniversary present: an Apple TV. I was unsure how this gadget would be any better than the other gadgets we have, but it made him happy, and that was the important thing. But now, I would just like to say, thank you, JoeyAndyDad, for our AppleTV. We have spent a deliciously restful morning in the bedroom, tucked into Mommy and Daddy's bed, watching Oobi on the fancy TV. The boys are getting much-needed rest, we've only had one whining spell, and everybody is happy. We are sipping our juice boxes, no one has waxed, and we have smiling faces, despite still having fevers and sniffles.

Now I just need to find a couple pairs of google-eyes for two boys who want to play Oobi...

Discipline and Getting Older

Andy is a little under the weather. You'd never guess this from watching him rollick on the floor with his brother just now, causing Joey to erupt in cackles and giggles. But two hours ago, Andy was zonked out on the couch.

So there is my three year old, curled up on the sofa with Blankie and Mr. Guinea Pig when Joey decides the funny thing to do is to imitate the dryer sound (a loud, long buzz) at top volume. As intended, this noise woke Andy. But then he started to scream and cry- the poor kid couldn't believe anyone would mess with him when he was feeling so bad.

So, amidst the wails, Joey laughs. I order him to his room for a timeout- both to punish him and more importantly, restore some quiet to the room. I get "No, I don't think so."

This was not Joey's first trip to his room this afternoon. On our first trip, we talked about apologizing and what it meant. I modeled that when you apologize you mean that you're sorry, that you wish you hadn't done or said whatever you'd done or said, and that you'll try not to do it again.

So we went up for the second time and Joey was already scripting the usual "I'm sorry". Why? "Because Daddy's mad." Right. The previous lesson clearly had not sunk in. The time out rules this time were pretty strict- stay in your room, no toys, and most importantly, be quiet.

He was never really going to follow the third instruction, but I did want him to stop screeching at the top of his lungs, since we were right above where Andy was attempting to sleep. I went downstairs, and after about fifteen minutes of sniffling and wailing from above, returned to see what he'd learned.

After he calmed down, Joey said, "I'm sorry for Andy. I won't make dryer noise anymore." Wow. We walked through what happened again, focusing first on how Joey's noise made Andy feel, and then about how Joey was upset because he got punished and also that Andy was sad.

Andy's still at the age where he thinks simply saying he's sorry makes it all better. It seems like Joey is outgrowing that stage, and part of it is that he understands others' feelings more completely.