22 posts tagged “littlest brother”
So that vacation was good, and just what we needed.
We hadn't made the reservations yet when I lost my job, and at that time I wasn't convinced we should spend the $$, but Dear Husband insisted. We needed a break, he said.
And he was right.
It was great. Exhausting and occasionally overwhelming, but overall, just what we needed.
We drove. I was terrified of how awful the drive might be, but actually the kids were wonderful little travelers. (In-Car DVD Player, I love you!!).
Littlest Brother was stressed by the travel, breaking out in hives and scratching himself raw until we hit on the right combination of oral Benedryl and Gold-Bond Anti-Itch Creme. But once we got there, he settled down and the good-time endorphins cancelled out the stress chemicals, and the hives went away. Until we started the drive home... but this time we spotted the signs and administered Benedryl right away and the problem went away.
Now the only question is, whether Eldest Son can reinsert himself into regular school life after such a hedonistic pleasure jaunt. The last few years, he's had trouble with that; incidents of the week following are what led up to our visits to the child psychologist. This year, we've tried to prepare him better and we've had a little talk about our expectations, so I'm crossing my fingers in hope that it might go better...
While we were gone, the report was mailed to us from the extensive (and expensive) neuro-psych testing Eldest Son underwent about a month ago. Welp, pretty much confirmed everything we already knew. Pretty expensive second opinion, but, on the whole, I think it's good. Shows we're on the right track. Now we know for sure what we're working with, we can make some definite plans to help him, and we've already begun to do so.
Next week we have a meeting at the school to develop a "504" plan, the first step in documenting the accomodations Eldest Son will need next year in order to achieve his full potential at school. His teacher this year has done an excellent job, whether consciously or unconsciously, in providing him much of the support he needs, so mainly we need her to identify what those were, and write them down as guidelines for his teacher next year. We also need to communicate those to the Specials teachers, who have consistently been more likely to call me with complaints about his behavior. He also may receive some pragmatic-language therapy (i.e., training in non-verbal cues that he's not catching effectively now), and maybe a "lunch-bunch" supervised by the school counselor for social-skills practice. We've also begun to explore private social-skills training playgroups for him to join over the summer. Next week we also have a meeting with a therapist who organizes and leads those groups.
So stuff's gettin' better.
And me, I feel like much less of a walking open wound than I did before this trip. Broke me out of my own negative loop. I no longer feel like my intestines are trailing around on the ground for all and sundry to step on. Instead I feel cleaned up, tucked back in, sewn up, and on intravenous antibiotics to fight infection. Still get twinges, still have to recuperate, still have to move carefully so as to avoid pulling the stitches out. But, clearly on the mend. Healing is possible. Likely, even. Resumption of normal activity levels in the foreseeable future.
So, Dear Husband was right. We needed that. (He really is a pretty great guy.)
:-)
This is what made the most lasting impression on Precious Princess after last night's adventure. At least, this is the first thing she said about it to Grandma when it got to be her turn to talk.
Later, after we got home, she had to write it all down right away. (I think she'll be a journal-writer when she gets older; I recognize that impulese.) She made herself an illustrated book about it, using staples to connect the pages.
She wrote it all down again during free play at school today. In our school district's kindergarten and throughout much of first grade, they let the kids use "natural language" while they are learning to sound things out. Now in second grade, Eldest Son has spelling words that he has to learn to write correctly every week. He also is learning correct punctuation. But not in kindergarten.
So, here is Precious Princess's best effort to sound out and write down her adventure:
I WOTID TO GO ON THE EVADRE THE EVADRE GOT SUK THE EVADRE MAD A LOD NOS AND IT WUD NOT SOTP. WE WR SUK FOR A LOLN TOM FONNULIE THE MCNIC UPID THE DUR. WEN WE GOT OWT THR WR ULOT UV PPUL.
:-)
(ps - just for Punkinshell - Princess strenuously resists the idea that words should be written with lower-case letters...)
It was the biggest adventure of the evening at our church, and there were a lot of people waiting around to see how things turned out. Dear Husband was stuck in the elevator along with all three of our children, an elderly lady in a wheelchair, and her friend who was pushing the chair. They were in there about half an hour. Nice that the elevator company apparently has people in the area who are on call to rush out at 7:30 PM and fix a problem right away. He was the hero of the evening, for sure! And he had a mustache.
Eldest Son's assessment as soon as he got out: "It was boring."
(Though, he did have quite a lot more to say about it to Grandma on the phone, later...)
:-)
Littlest Brother's pronouncement was, "I never, ever, ever want to go on that elevator again!" (Though using phonetically spelling, it would go something like this: "I nevo, evo, EVO want to go on dat ewevado again!")
:-)
Thank goodness none of them had to go potty! I carefully refrained from asking, lest the power of suggestion rear its ugly head...
Oh, how did I manage to escape this fate? Well, we had been leading a class for the younger kids (age 4 thru 2nd grade). At the end of the class, our kids were getting wild, so Dear Husband decided to take them out to the playpark while I waited in the classroom for the other kids' parents to come and retrieve them. Precious Princess in particular, but really all of them, love to go on the elevator at our church, even though it's only one flight of stairs. (Well, not any more! Dear Husband thinks they're cured of that, at least for a while...) Needless to say, they did not get to play on the playpark after all, and they were wired on adrenaline for an hour after we got them home. Late bedtimes all around.
Cheers.
Recent cutenesses from Littlest Brother:
"We've got cwime to fight." Said during a (brief) pause in play with Big Sis, with a serious look and tone, the subtext being, "I don't have time for idle chit-chat, woman!" (that was the part that was cute, obviously, but you'll just have to imagine it)
***
"I'm not David, I'm Super DD Boy! And I have TEN superpowers." (Both hands outspread to show how many.)
"Oh, yeah? What are your superpowers?"
"I can't tell you. It's a secwet."
Obviously beyond my clearance level.
***
"I'm not David, I'm a tall, daowk stwanger." (Where'd that come from???)
***
So, okay, came up with a new concept for my contest story.
Although, I DID in fact manage to cut the other one down to 3500 words (YEAH!) and feel I'm still saying most of what I meant to say. Not sure it's ready yet; think I need to cut more out of my favorite section (snif!) and put in a bit more texture & backstory in a few other places where I cut too deeply. But honestly, I'm really pretty amazed at how well the story survived its crash diet. Hm. There's a lesson there...
But, I think I MAY do better starting with a fresh concept and writing UP TO the 3500-word limit... rather than taking 10 lbs. of s*** and trying to stuff it into a 5-lb. bag.
Or what the heck, maybe I'll finish both and enter both. (This contest, you can enter as many stories as you like, and last year's 1st and 2nd place prizes went to the same author -- not me, as regular blog visitors will recall.)
***
Took all the kids to see "Bolt" yesterday at the dollar theatre. (Economies, y'know.) That was a great movie. Highly recommend it to families with young kids. Even Eldest Son the dog-and-all-pets-hater thought it was great. The whole film-within-a-film thing was a bit too confusing for Littlest Brother to sort out, though. But he liked it anyway.
Took Precious Princess to see the local High School Musical of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" today -- she went in her Belle dress. Kids in costumes got a goody bag, a pleasant surprise. She was great, and the performances were great -- especially the girl who played Belle. (Though Beast, Gaston, LeFou, and Lumiere were no slouches either.) Tell you what, that girl has a mega future in musical theatre, should she desire it. MEGA. Her voice is strong, sweet, and crystal clear, throughout her whole range. And she has a great range. She didn't miss a single note, not even a tiny bit off pitch, and never flubbed a line either. (Believe me, the musical is close enough to the DVD that we'd have known if she did.) She had great stage presence and her emotive performance was flawless too. Her look and hair were perfect for Belle, too. It was almost scary. (And the weirdest thing is, she's also my mother-in-law's piano student. small town life, heh.)
Precious Princess, and all the little kids, were welcomed up on stage afterward to meet the cast and check out the set, which rocked. She totally dug it. Now she wants to take acting lessons. Hm. Well -- why not? We've got the summer coming up, and she could take acting lessons then if she still wants to. (She's definitely been a drama queen around here lately, I'll tellya...)
***
ANND, Eldest Son has his concept for his science fair project down. Now just have to fill in the entry form, and get the boy some library books... Volcanos, and not just any volcanos, but (1) Mount Vesuvius & the destruction of Pompeii, (2) Krakatoa, the explosion heard round the world, and (3) the Yellowstone Supervolcano, which is overdue for a major blow-out, just FYI.
(Yeah, that whole bad economy thing? Auto industry going belly up, yada yada? Terrorism, even? Octomom? Eh -- may not need to worry about it. Sometime between now and 10,000 years from now, the Yosemite Supervolcano is going to cover the western United States in dust and ash, and destroy Western Civilization, possibly human life on Earth. And just because we'd LIKE to believe it will be at the far end of the scale, that doesn't MEAN it couldn't be tomorrow.)
(And you people say we don't need to colonize the Moon! Sheesh! Where ELSE are the people going to come from who repopulate the Earth after it's wiped clean???)
Okay, where was I? Oh yeah. Science fair project. Got a concept. Just need to execute.
***
On to the next week! Hyah! *crack*
We're getting lots of snow.
Sparkling, fluffy, cold, and needing to be plowed off the driveway and shoveled off the walk, sometimes twice a day.
It's just so wonderful, until you get sick of it.
***
Took Eldest Son to his orthodontist appointment today, in which he received his first "appliance" and I got this nifty little pointy gadget with which I (or Dear Husband) must turn a tiny screw in the appliance once a day for the next month. Very weird little system, I must say. E.S was quite the champ in the chair, too; the whole thing went so much better than it might have gone a year ago, I'm flabbergasted.
He really is doing better.
Going to have his kid party this Saturday, at the local inflatable bounce palace. They love that! A place where it's okay to bounce off the walls! (Good God, a riot of 8-year-old boys hyped up on cake and ice cream, bouncing off the walls. Somebody save me!) :-)
***
Sold Girls Scout Cookies with Precious Princess for the first time; that was fun. How it brought me back!
"On my honor, I will try, to serve God, my country, and mankind, and to live by the Girl Scout Law."
At least, that's how we said it back then; it's a little different now, but recognizable.
***
Littlest Brother is starting to seem four now, so much more grown up than three! He's Just So Cute!! He's got his little opinions now, and can express them with remarkable acuity. And he's doing great on the pottying. Occasionally he has "issues" with unfamiliar pant-fastenings, but never an out-&-out accident where he just forgets or neglects to go. He has dunked his bottom once, but in general almost doesn't need the potty seat any more either.
***
Last week I saw & approved a proof of my first story to be accepted for publication (the one for $5), which means it really will appear somewhere, sometime in the near future. That was encouraging!
I don't have any stories out for consideration at the moment, but I mean to change that in the next week or two. One of my more recent ones I feel is really promising (made one of my first readers cry, and she's no sissy), I just hafta polish it up a bit more.
***
Dear Husband has been a rock, an absolute rock, and I could not ask for a better friend and partner in life.
Sweet Sixteen coming up in a couple of weeks! (Hard to believe, that!) (Seems like just yesterday I was writing up our fifteen-year anniversary...)
***
Cheers, all.
***
PS, Also lost 8 pounds in the past two weeks! I guess that "no desserts, no booze thing" is paying off...
Precious Princess: "What in carnation is that??"
***
My mom is here this weekend. She's sleeping in Littlest Brother's bed, which he graciously offered her while begging her to sleep in his room and not any of the other children's. He offered to sleep on the floor, in a sleeping bag. So that's what they did.
That's the backstory.
About 2:00 AM, my mom woke up to hear a little voice whimpering quietly.
Granny J. (half-awake): "D., D., -- are you okay?"
Littlest Brother (quietly): "Actuawwy, I don't wike having my head stuck undoe da bed."
(Well, who does??)
So, she hauled him out by one sleeper'ed foot, and got him settled in his sleeping bag again, and they both went back to sleep.
The next night we built a temporary levee of pillows and stuffed animals under the edge of the bed so it wouldn't happen again. Seems to be working well.
***
Littlest Brother is discovering the joys of proper pronunciation. Specifically, he is working on his L's. He is not pleased with himself when he uses W instead -- although, of course, he still does use W for R. Well, one thing at a time.
Sometimes he's confused as to whether a sound he has been used to pronouncing as W, "should" be an L, an R, or in fact a W.
L.B.: "I tuwned on da LLLight! LLLet's go down da sLLLide. LLLet's pLLLay."
Later: "GLLLanny, LLLet's LLLun a LLLace! -- I LLLun!" (would formerly been rendered as, "Gwanny, wet's wun a wace! -- I won!"
***
Precious Princess saw "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" with Granny J yesterday afternoon, and it apparently made a big impression on her. Since then she has been drawing nothing but Chihuahuas. She cuts them out and glues them onto popsicle sticks to make puppets of them. We have a fairly rousing pack of puppet Chihuahuas at this time.
***
Eldest Son is doing well, but hasn't said anything especially cute lately. He's outgrowing that phase, I guess. He knows it all now, I suppose, so... Those cute little malapropisms don't pop out of his mouth that often any more.
Speaking of his mouth -- His dentist has referred him for orthodontia. (!) Yes, already. Now he's got 2 permanent teeth on top and 2 on bottom, and that's enough, I guess. Apparently he has an overbite that they want to work on while his facial bones are still growing. If they waited until he was a teenager to tackle that, they wouldn't be able to correct it completely by moving only the teeth. Whereas if they get cracking on it now, apparently they can coax the bones to match up better. So, well, I had kind of thought (or hoped) that we were still years away from paying for braces, but I guess not.
***
It seems such a cliche, but they are growing up so fast! When E.S. was a baby, I thought it would never end. Now, every time I hug L.B. I think, "I won't always have a little 3-year-old to hug." And he is so unbelievably huggable!
Why ARE 3-year-olds so gosh-darned CUTE????? (Well, it's adaptive, for one thing, but still...)
Cheers, all.
G'night.
(Sorry -- sacrilege not REALLY intended. Just couldn't resist. Actually that was a prayer...)
This is THE BUSIEST WEEK OF OUR LIVES (and stupid ME for signing them up for so much all in the same week -- but that's when all the programs they REALLY WANTED or NEEDED to do were happening...), and probably the most challenging aspect of it is our church's Vacation Bible School, which is held in the evenings.
We changed to from daytime to evening a few years back b/c we could get so many more volunteers in the evening. But, it is really quite hard on the little kiddoes. (and isn't it supposed to be for them? -- Eh, never mind.)
Not that they're not having a wonderful time, but they get home well after their normal bedtime, and then they take a while to wind down, and then they don't sleep in in the mornings, so by today the cumulative sleep deficit was--uh, well let's just say it was CLEARLY having an impact.
Poor Eldest Son is really struggling with his allergies too, which usually manifests itself in him as a constant post-nasal drip leading to constant hacking cough, usually leading to some form of secondary infection, this time an ear infection and probably sinus too. He's on Benedryl for the allergy-cough, and antibiotics for the infection, so don't look at me like that when I tell you that I let him continue going to his activities if he feels up to it. (And so far, he has only missed one session of Science Camp -- that's how I knew he was sick in the first place, when he said he thought he was too tired for that...) So tonight he was just absolutely beside himself, just completely, completely...
Lord. Give me strength. (I mean that. Or maybe not strength, maybe patience and flexibility. Or maybe just whatever the dickens you think I need -- that usually works...)
He fell asleep tonight within about 5 minutes of being dragged up to his room -- protesting he wasn't tired. Let's just hope he really sleeps in tomorrow -- he's not real good at that.
And Princess! Man alive, that little woman was a stinker and a half today. It was like she did not understand English.
Littlest Brother was the only one of them who was remotely normal today -- and, of course, he's the one who stayed home with me last night and went to bed at his usual time. Plus he still takes naps, although this week he's getting shorted on them a bit b/c of the schedule for Precious Princess's Safety Town class. By the time we get home from dropping her off, he doesn't REALLY have enough time for a nap before we have to go pick her up again.
Ai-yi-yi, well, over the hump, anyway. Tomorrow evening's the last day of VBS, and then on Friday we have just the two camps in the afternoon -- Safety Town and Science Camp. A nice slow Friday morning will do us all a TON of good.
Plus, I'm tired, and when my sleep deficit gets high enough, well, let's just say that an outside observer could probably tell.
So g'night!
Finally downloaded my camera, and now have shots illustrating some of my recent posts. So, what follows is a whirlwind tour of my life in May; for more details, scroll down to earlier posts! ;-)
(1) Portrait of the Artist. Mentioned Eldest Son had a first-grade artwork chosen for the all-district art show. His is the fancy letter "A".
(2) Eldest Son's Rainforest display. Only two of MANY projects related to the rainforest unit, but these are the most photogenic. (He refused to pose in front of his poster.) Note, he specified in the poster that we must save the rainforestS (plural) because, as he pointed out, there are many of them, all over the world. Little Mr. Precision, that's him...
(3) Tidy Kitchen Counters!!! Yeah!!
(Note the Macaw mask in the center of this shot -- yet another rainforest project!)
(4) Memorial Day (Today), at the parade. Clearly, I should have stayed out of this shot... But the kids are cute!! :-)
(5) Precious Princess teaching her dinosaurs about addition. Note that they have each been issued with a blank sheet of paper and a sharpened pencil. The teacher of these students is prepared!
On this day that we set aside in honor of all those who have served our country, so that scenes like these can continue to occur in peace and safety,
I dedicate this post to you.
Thank you.
Everybody's all healthy now. Just been busy lately, extremely busy.
Had a riproaring week, though not in a bad way. But enough so that Dear Husband was exceedingly relieved when he asked me what was on the agenda for tomorrow night, and I said, "Nothing. You're grilling chicken breasts for dinner, and we're hanging out at home."
And enough so that I was exceedingly relieved, nay, blissed-out, when he reminded me that he is off work tomorrow. His generous employer observes Memorial Day as a 4-day holiday instead of 3, and he gets tomorrow off as well as Monday.
O.M.G., I feel like me again! I've been depressed for so long (even with the medication, I now realize -- it just made me bearable, didn't make me me), and now I'm finally, finally me again!
I got so flippin' much done this week! It's unbelievable. I actually organized the kitchen counters! On top of everything else we did this week! Now, that may not seem like much, but, come on, you all saw my kitchen counter back in February when I posted about my 15th wedding anniversary, complete with photo of my roses on my kitchen counter. And it only got worse since then, believe me.
When I found myself preparing my family's meals on the 8 or 10 inches closest to the counter's edge, because the rest of the counter was entirely covered in a foot-high mound of crap (metaphorically speaking), I said, "Girl, something's got to change."
So, hah! DID that. Check!
(I love to make lists, and check them off. It is the most deliciously satisfying feeling, making that little check mark!)
Okay, Big Kid Items since last update:
- Littlest Brother has been moved to a Big Boy Bed!
His crib and dresser/changing table having been schlepped off to Aunt J's parents, who are, even as I type, schlepping off down to Tennessee (a roughly 8-hour drive from hereabouts) to deliver said furniture along with all of the baby shower gifts to J & B in anticipation of MY FIRST NIECE's arrival next month. Yippee!!
Although I must admit to a pang as I was contemplating L.B.'s "last night in the crib" and "last nap in the crib" and so on -- the crib which has seen continual hard use by my children over the past 7-1/2 years. It served us well and truly is NOT much worse for the wear! I would definitely recommend the Childcraft brand of baby furniture.
- Continuing with the Big Boy theme, L.B. has taken to sitting on the toilet and attempting to go "peedle" first thing in the morning after we take his diaper off. And this morning he actually did it! Peedled into the potty! He was absolutely bursting with pride. So, I'm thinking potty training is on the horizon. I really detest potty training, on the whole, but I think L.B. MAY be easier than the older two were. He's SO motivated to be Big Boy.
- Eldest Son got a set of Bunk Beds! His old twin bed having been handed down to Littlest Brother. He of course insists on sleeping on the top bunk, and loves it. Absolutely adores it. Couldn't be happier.
- Also, tonight was Eldest Son's class "Rainforest" event. Their entire classroom has been decorated as a rainforest, complete with paper vines and animals, for the past month, and the children have been busy learning about, you guessed it, rainforests. They each chose an animal to become an expert on, and he chose the Macaw. He did a fabulous job at tonight's presentation, telling about the Macaw.
And, I noticed several important areas of progress for him during the related projects leading up to tonight's event. He showed new capacity for accepting adult advice, for changing his plan mid-stream when the first plan didn't work out, for continuing on a project even after he got frustrated with it -- for coming back to it after a cooling-off period and solving the problem. All of these things are tremendously encouraging for me to witness, because I know only too well from past experience how much it could have gone differently (read: worse).
And finally -- I got my first rejection from my most recent bout of story-submitting! Yeah!
And know what I did? I revamped the opening a tad bit, hoping to sharpen up the "hook". And I sent it out AGAIN, to a DIFFERENT publication! Yeah!
And I'm going to KEEP submitting it until either I use up my list of pubs that I think would be a good fit for it (in which case I'll retire it temporarily, let it rest a bit and work on some other things), OR one of them buys it! YEAH!
So THERE!
AND, last week Friday I submitted what I think is maybe my best bet yet. So, we'll see how that goes.
So, I still have 5 stories out there at this point.
And I'm wallowing in the mire of this one darned story that just keeps getting worse and worse.
Six months ago, it seemed like my best story yet. Seemed like it really didn't need much polishing in order to send it out. And then, and then everything I tried just made it WORSE. And I just got SO SICK OF IT, I literally couldn't stand the sight of it. I became completely incapable of judging whether the latest changes were in any way an improvement over the previous version, or if the entire thing was just a load of crap. Gee, maybe I should change it to present tense. Gee, maybe I should rewrite it from the point-of-view of the ficus tree. Gee, maybe I should write it in second person. And finally I decided to just take a fresh approach, and start over again on a blank sheet of paper.
No, no, no, don't worry, I didn't junk it. What, 're you kidding? I am constitutionally UNABLE to throw ANYTHING away, even when my entire house is being drowned in clutter. (Think: Tribbles. Made out of paper. Stacks and stacks of paper. And toys. Floods and floods of brightly-colored chunks of plastic, knee-deep in places.) Never mind my hard drive. My hard drive is essentially boundless for the kind of files I keep, and at least old computer files don't pile up in the meatspace, and threaten to topple over, burying small children under an avalanche of paper and Barbie-doll shoes. No, of course I changed the file name and still have ALL of the versions of this story -- all 7 of them to date, PLUS the all-new one.
So, I'm behind on my self-imposed deadline for getting this story in shape for submission, but I think it'll be worth it.
Okay, I've GOT to got to bed.
Toodle-oo!!
Feeling some better. Didn't break out in hives at Littlest Brother's swimming lesson today, so that weird skin-sensitivity thing seems to have gone away. Pretty much just dealing with stuffed-up head and a cough, which seem to be minutely better from one day to the next, so not really impacting my life any.
L.B. got the stomach-fever-gas thing, but he's better now too, and nobody else got that. Yay.
Eldest Son's Recent Accomplishments:
(Just to show you it's not all challenge and no reward...)
- Piano Recital a week and a day ago (the day of the night I got sick, so didn't blog about it)
- Had a piece of artwork chosen for the all-school-district art show that was held this past weekend over at the High School. (He had a piece chosen last year during kindergarten, too. There are things chosen from maybe 5 or so kids in each classroom at the elementary grades.) We all piled into the car and went to see that on Friday night, which was a big hit. Big Daddy got a cute Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man in front of his work, which I will post one of these days once I get the camera downloaded. The kids all really dug the quite-impressive works of the high-school art students, too.
- Is doing well at swimming lessons. Learning to dive into the deep end! "12 feet 3 inches deep," as he explained with precision later.
- Provided this completely adorable Mother's Day book which had me yelping in laughter as I read it. This book was where the children were provided with fill-in-the-blank sentences which they could complete as appropriate for their own mother, plus space where they could illustrate said fact.
My personal favorite was the page where Eldest Son had written,
My mother is very good at staying calm."
The little stick-figure-me above was smiling, and a speak-bubble impaling her head contained these enigmatic glyphs: "Huuuu. Huuuu."
"What am I saying here, honey?"
"Oh, that. You're taking deep breaths."
*giggle*
Well, I guess I OUGHTA be; goodness knows I get enough opportunities to practice!!!
;-)
Happy Belated Mother's Day to everyone to whom that applies!
What they hey, all KINDS of other Voxers are doing "Things on Tuesday," so I guess I will too.
Things I'm Loathing Today:
- Having eaten chocolates after lunch
- Having failed, ONCE AGAIN, to tidy up the house before my cleaning lady comes tomorrow (She does the cleaning -- vacuuming, mopping, and so on; I'm supposed to do the tidying that makes it possible for her to do her work...)
- Watching my poor little tykes get their shots at their check-ups today
- Having to communicate the decision I've come to -- can't really put it off much longer
- Water waste, agricultural run-off, invasive species, and loss of biodiversity (hey, it's Earth Day after all)
Things I'm Loving Today:
- Eldest Son, Precious Princess, and Littlest Brother
- Oh, Dear Husband too! :-)
- Having come to a decision
- Having tested a hypothesis regarding Eldest Son's behavioral "issues" (and deciding I was RIGHT)
- Feeling not judged, but supported, by Eldest Son's teacher and school social worker at today's meeting
- Looking forward to tomorrow's first meeting with the psychologist -- in the sense of at last maybe here is someone who can help us all (hoping this is not setting myself up for a big crashing disappointment like last year's counselor was)
- Learning that my little tykes are about as healthy as horses -- no worries there; no surprises either
- Having access to vaccinations for my kids
- Watching Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" with Precious Princess for the first time, this afternoon (I'd seen it before, when it first came out; she hadn't ever, before today)
- Aerobics Boot Camp
- Sloppy Joes for dinner
- Dear Husband taking the kids out for ice cream, so I got to eat my dinner AND take a shower in peace! Heaven!
- Looking forward to this weekend's Women's Retreat for my church.
*****
Cheers, all!
- C
