Blackie Dog!

We still need to get caught up on pictures from a month ago when we made our trip to Mizzert (as Superman likes to say). 

Without further ado, here's the dog my boys love to hate.  ;)

 

She really is a major sweetie, but scares my guys with her big jumps. 

 

Little of this, little of that

Good news for the day:

• After a couple of missing weeks, baby Jesus has been found in a lunch box.
• My to-do list earlier this week included the Hokey Pokey.  We read a book that mentioned it, and I couldn't believe we had gotten so far into this parenting gig without doing the Hokey Pokey. 

Bad news for the day:

• It's totally gross here.  There is no visibility because of dust storms.  I just saw on the news that the interstate is closed because of a big pile-up.  I'm sitting in my living room and I can taste dirt.  Gross, gross, gross. 
• In case you've never seen a dust storm before, here is what it looks like on the ground and from above.  A consecutive 5 hours and 38 minutes with visibility below 1/2 mile.  Not so much fun.

The best news of the day:

• It's almost time to spend two whole weeks with my family!

 

Get excited people. It's time to talk lefse.

 

Prematurely Aged

....everywhere you go...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

 

My Tricks!

Tumbling Finale!

 

The very last tumbling class and Superman says, "hmmmm... there's lots of girls."  Astute. 

"Did you see my tricks??!!"

 

Perfecting the cartwheel.

Cats in Hats and Kids who Conquer

We pretty much watch all PBS shows.  I'd like the think it's because they are all educational with a diverse cast of characters, but that would only be a partial truth.  The real reason for all the PBS love is that we don't really have cable, so that's the only option.  And this mama's got to have some built in tv time.  :)

There have been commercials on PBS for a few weeks about a Cat in the Hat event that is going to be at the library.  Superman begins talking about it and seems pretty excited, so we put it on the calendar.  He begins his countdown to Saturday.

Bear, Superman, and I hop in the van on Cat in the Hat day and head over to the library.  We walk in and there are seriously 100's of people who are just as excited as my Green Eggs and Ham lovers.  We walk to the back of the library where the line ends and inch our way toward the doors we just walked through.  The good news, the line is moving quite fast.  The bad news, once we get to the front of the line I realize there is another line, longer and slower, to get to the actual Cat in the Hat.  This line snakes through the stacks so you have no way of seeing it upon arrival.  This line easily ups the aforementioned 100's of people to the 500+ range.

I go into diversion mode.  
"What do you think Ababa's doing at home?  Should we go home and play?  Should we go get in the van or stay in this really, really long line and see the cat?"  Everyone thinks we should stay.  I'm not sure we can handle it.  I'm about to start mentioning stopping for ice cream, but decide to bite my tongue.  What if one wants to leave for ice cream and one wants to stay for the cat?  I don't want any kind of mutiny, after all.  So we wait.  And wait.

Let's let all the waiting serve as a segue into another topic.  Although we have been talking about it for months, we have recently decided to pursue some help for Superman in the realm of sensory processing issues.  We have been back and forth on this because it does seem he needs some help, yet when I read or do any research on sensory problems it seems so much more than what Superman deals with.  We've finally gotten in touch with an OT that has a stellar reputation and we will see where we go from there. 

Now let's get back to that super long line.
Can you see where this is going?  A kid with slight sensory issues surrounded by tons of people waiting for an hour in the most boring line of his life?

Well, you are wrong!  He did fantastic!  An angel.  Seriously, it was a proud and hope-filled feeling.

Rather than crawling around and/or pushing his body into strangers or book shelves, he dug in his Cat in the Hat goodie bag and passed out stickers to all the kids surrounding us.  He thought of good questions to ask the Cat in the Hat and wondered aloud what kind of things he should tell him.  He held my hand, looked up into my eyes, smiled, and whispered that he was excited about 30 times.  He asked Bear questions about the cat.  He tried talking to our super shy line buddy. 

I was so, so very proud.  Such a seemingly normal event, but such a big one in my eyes.  I went home and told Jon that we could, in fact, handle Disney some day.  Maybe even the fair.

When we finally did get to the cat, both boys were ecstatic, yet 100% appropriate.  Awesome.  Superman really does have an affinity for characters in costume.  Another strong argument for going to Disney.  :)  After all, remember his love for the Chick-fil-a cow?  After we hugged the cat several times, had our pictures taken, petted his soft fur, and patted his face, we moved on to sit and sing Christmas carols with a crowd and a guy with a guitar.    When guitar man was wrapping up we got up to leave which happily coincided with a break for the cat, so we got a little extra chat time with him.  After saying good bye again we began walking to the door.  Superman said, "wait right here, I gotta see the cat in the hat and tell him something!"  I did not wait right there, but instead followed back over in time to hear Superman say, "I really like all your books!".  It was so seriously sweet.  :) 

Advice Appreciated

Here is our beloved red car. 

 Here is the havoc it wreaks on shoes. 

Yes, that is a toe you are seeing.  And yes, he is wearing socks.

 

Between Superman's days of loving the red car and Bear's, we have approximately 6 pairs of shoes that sport substantial breathability.  

So I've wised up.  I keep one pair of old shoes under the seat in the red car so we don't ruin yet another pair. 

 

I thought I had beat this problem. 

Nope. 

Now the hole is so huge, he ruins a pair of socks every time he rides it. I think this was his third pair this week. 

 

Is it too early for steel toe play shoes?

 

Hooray, Hooray! Blogger, you are fixed!!!

How about a little used car salesman to celebrate?

More tomorrow.... we've got lots to catch up on!

 

A few from the farm

 

 

Still no pictures.  :(  Blogger's help forum emailed to tell me that it was a known problem and would be fixed this week.  Hope so!

Here's some updates from around these parts.

Superman is in love with our Christmas tree.  He stands by it contentedly, sighs and tells me how pretty it is.  This is not a stretch from his every day love of playing with sticks.  Specifically, sticks with leaves.  I've had more conversations about a Cottonwood tree in the past 2 months than I've had in my entire life previously.  I think this is saying something, as I married a forester. 

Superman begs for Hot Chocolate daily and Bear loves Egg Nog. 

I also had ECI (Early Childhood Intervention... they did PT for Bear) back out for a speech evaluation, and was happy to hear he is right on track.  Even since Thanksgiving it is surprising to hear all the new things he has to say.  

Both the boys are big readers.  Superman's current favorite is The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.  Bear likes a book called Two and Too Much.  It's fitting.  Tonight he was pulling down some books from a shelf and a few fell and landed by his feet.  After a huge gasp he said, "I like it ham! I like it ham! I like it ham!"  Hooray!  An old friend found!  They both love any and all books involving singing. 

The boys are entering a great phase of playing together joyfully.  This comes right at the heels of the phase of tormenting each other and trying to pass it off as play, so I've been one happy mama.  Hopefully this phase will last until everyone moves out of the house.  :)

Superman continues to ask great questions about God and Jesus and has all sorts of stories to tell after church or BSF.  We were in the van the other day and he shouted out, "Thanks for giving us trees and sticks, God!"  Totally out of the blue.  I love seeing and hearing expressions of his grateful heart. 

I'm off to fold laundry and watch tv.... more later!