Holiday Talking, Brought To You By the Letter "I"

Trying something a little new this year - talking about Thanksgiving and being thankful. A bit of a challenge when he's found the VHS tape of Sesame Street episodes I taped when he was a baby. He's focused on the subway scene at the end credits and why Big Bird has long legs.

We did manage to establish that Thanksgiving is when people give things like turkeys and chicken!

I explained that I am thankful for things like ... his smile, our family, a nice house, and good friends.

With a little prompting, James shared he's thankful for I Spy Treasure Hunt at the library.

Of course.

Sounds of Little Big Things

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been preparing for the kids' return to school. I can tell James is excited because he has been asking constantly when he gets to go to his new school (in our district, from K-5th, the kids move on to a new campus every other year). He is talking more and loudly. I see more hand-flapping and a decreased desire to go to bed.

I did mention the talking, right?

Because yesterday we went to a meet & greet at the school, so the new students could be on campus and see their teachers and classrooms before the start of the academic year.  James enjoyed it, and spent time on the playground, looking for friends. On the way home, I heard him telling his sister who he saw and and where he saw them. I asked what did he like about his new school and he replied with the name of his aide, whom we'd met the day before.

He talked about the "park" (playing field) at the school. He talked about which of his friends he still wanted to see. He kept asking if he was really going to this new school, and I kept telling him "yes."

This may sound pretty dull and typical. It's not for us. James is volunteering conversation, and able to sometimes respond to our questions in a normal, conversational way. It makes me so thankful to hear him chatter and exclaim. For so many years, I had to listen with "just" my eyes and heart.

Dreamland

James has started talking to me at night before he goes to sleep. It started with his sister putting him to sleep a couple of nights over the Winter Break. Very sweetly, she would tell him stories and tell him they would see each other that night in Dreamland. Then James would ask her what they would do and she would tell him. They came up with all kinds of fun things to do together.

Sometimes James wants me to stay with him for a bit after lights out. He doesn't want me to talk or sing. He just likes to hold my hand and check that I am still there. Tonight he wanted to know if the whole family was going to Dreamland. I said yes.

"What we gonna do?" he asked. "How about fly?" I suggested. "Yeah. I gonna have wings?" "Yes." "What colour?" So we came up with all the colours for each family member's wings: gold for James, aquamarine for his sister, purple for me, and green for Daddy.

Yes! Sweet dreams.

Puppet Show in a Tent

It's raining and hailing this morning. Again. We're coming off six weeks of someone being sick ... myself twice. Thanks kids, love ya!

Meanwhile the Christmas tree has finally departed and all decorations boxed neatly. Time to bring the play tent out of the garage and turn off the TV! James' sister took charge and started to set up a play area, complete with toys and snacks. Then she decided to put on a puppet show. Oh the fun!

There's a monkey pet ....

And a little Pony Girl, who is sad because her parents tell her they have no money for a pet (cue parental twinges of guilt, but it's true -- we can't afford vet bills at this point). Happily, she thinks to save her own money, and is finally able to buy her monkey pet. Theeeeeeeeeee end.

Both of them are still in here, with big sister driving the story lines and James contributing voices and sound effects. He's really contributing. I think about how nonverbal he's been over the years, how lonely big sister has been because there's been no one to play with ... and to hear the two of them playing together is like an answer to a whole slew of prayers.

Ooops, I can hear an intermission. James said "Let's take a break" and his sister is playing a lullaby on the piano for him while he takes a rest. Truly, I heart my kids.

PS: I got to clean out the spice cabinet while they played. Looooong overdue!

I Spy ... a Pigsty

There are days when I feel like I am running all day after the kids, trying to clean up after them (and their disasters), or overseeing their efforts to pick up after every meal or play session. There are even rare days when I can just about break even (those are probably the days spent largely outdoors).

But mostly? Our family room and the kids' bedrooms resemble the Real Life version of I Spy:

You know -- it started out as a clever series of books. It's probably a game on CD ROM or an iPhone app by now ...

 

And James is really liking the books right now. It lets him practice things he's covered in school, like colours, numbers, and names of objects. When he's gotten frustreated adn ripped off covers of some of his board books (and eaten them) ... the I Spy books escape mauling (knock wood).

"Who me? Harm a book? Naaaahhh!"


I like these books because they are great resources for getting James to talk with me. He related to a lot of the exciting objects in the books. If only he related to cleaning them up and putting them away on his own in the Real Life version ...

SOOC Saturday: Pushing Buttons

"What? You don't want me to push any buttons?"


James has been loving his new school-day routine of going to a mainstream daycare at a preschool 2 afternoons a week and their preschool session Friday mornings. He is talking more and having short, two-sentence discussions with us! He likes to play pretend games, and offers up spontaneous statements such as "I like red!"

The bad news for me is that he has given up his afternoon naps (except the day he has the mainstream preschool session with his SHAPE assistant) and he has put on the Sassy Pants Attitude. I am glad to see James progressing, even as I mourn the loss of a 3-hour break from the whirlwind that is James in the afternoons.

The attitude is really on the sweet side, as evidenced by the two-sentence conversations. Exhibit A, conversation regarding a game on his computer yesterday.

Me: "Hey, James -- you're four years old. Why don't you press button number four?"

James: "No! I want to press the one!"
(and he does, with a roguish grin, looking right at me)

"Well, what about this button?"



The Slurping Life is getting into Fall! Visit Melody and check out SOOC Saturday/Sunday entries past & present!



  

Starting the Day Right

I am teaching James to throw up his arms and say "Woo-hoooo!!!" So far, he sounds like a cute little owl. He is so tickled to be saying it

This morning he woke me up by banging his rocking chair against the wall. He tried talking to me, but it came out as babble speak. At school and in SHAPE, we've been working to ask him "What do you want James?", which is his cue to speak in a complete sentence.

So I did that this morning and he said "I want a diaper change, please."

Which is why I threw up my arms and said "Woo-hooooo!!!" And got him started on a morning of woo-hooing. There is a big grin on my face.

Better

This week, James is our $6 Million Dollar Guy. He is stronger, faster, bigger! Than last week, that is.

Around Wednesday he was well enough to go back to school and start up SHAPE again. As we took our regular stroll around the block, I noticed that James looked seriously taller and that I hadn't had to roll up his pants. He ran most of the way. It was like he had springs in the bottom of his feet, and he ran with joy. This made me very happy!

He is full of preferences and tells me about them all the time: *red* po'sickles, *my* b'ankie, *more* (Curious) George, and chi'n ta-ta (not "sham'ich"). He wants "Maisy" as his goodnight book. Still not interested in potty training though. Ah well, there's always *next* week!

More! Again!

James took it up a notch or two today. When I went in to get him up, he was reading a cloth book. He looked at me and said "book" and "bubble." Why this is big news: Usually he doesn't look at me when I come in, let alone talk to me about what he is doing. The book was turned to the page of a bubble bath. He and his sister took a bath last night, and he was very excited about that.

He started taking me by the hand or finger, talking to me to urge me somewhere and do something. He hasn't really done this before. Once was to change the TV channel, because he wanted Jack's Big Music Show. Once he grabbed my hand and said "up" and "poo-poo" because he wanted me to change his full diaper. He also wanted cookies from the pantry, but he hadn't eaten his dinner yet. He got a time out for throwing part of his dinner on the ground. Took two visits before he acknowledged the time out and said "okay" for agreeing to try again. We compromised -- he ate some alternative dinner and then he got some cookies.

I am thinking the temper storms are only beginning. He doesn't have a lot of ways to communicate. He will say "mad!" when prompted & he is MAD. But what to give him, as a replacement for screaming or hitting? It's the screaming that's the biggest problem. The hitting comes usually when he is tired, and he usually saves it for his family.

He picked out his shirt and socks. He and his sister played really well together on the playground after I voted this afternoon. They are holed up in her room right now, giggling and singing. Yay for siblings! Yay for siblings who play Tiger and tire each other out before bedtime!