Wipeout

The kids love watching Wipeout, the obstacle course show designed basically to cause the most spectacular falls/crashes/wipeouts possible, with Jon. I like watching them watch it. :)

The case of the ruined library book

Last week, I caught Nate drawing with pen in one of his library books. He knew it was wrong, as he tried to hide it when I walked in. I told him it was wrong to do that and asked what he thought we should do when we had to return the book. His first response was, "Don't tell them!" (as in, Mama, please don't tell the library what I did). I said that no, we would have to tell them, but I would talk to Daddy first. Jon and I decided that Nate would have to bring the book to the librarian himself, tell her what he had done, apologize, and ask how he could make it right. We knew we'd probably have to pay for the book, so we told Nate he will do extra chores around the house to pay us back.

Today we went to the library after school to return our books. The person behind the returns desk was a somewhat-gruff-looking older man, and Nate asked if he could please not talk to him. :) So I looked around and saw a woman at the information desk and told Nate he could go to her. He walked up, said "Excuse me," and opened the book. "I'm sorry I wrote with pen in this book. What do I need to do to make it right?" The lady told him he'd have to go tell the children's librarian. As we were leaving to find her, the first lady smiled at Nate and thanked him for being honest. We found the other librarian, and Nate repeated his apology (word for word). She explained that it ruined the book, and we would have to pay for it. But she also said it was good that he was brave and told the truth.

I paid for the book as we checked out our new ones, and now I have to think of some good houseworky things he can do to earn $15. :)

What I've learned

Inspired by this post, I am going to write an actual post!

I should start by saying that the biggest thing I've learned in the past few years is that I know way less than I thought I knew. Thinking I know it all is a sign of blind pride, and nothing has taught me that truth more than motherhood!

But I guess I have learned a few things worth sharing with others, so here I go.

On parenting
Let go of expectations about how your children will turn out--as babies, as young kids, and beyond. Enjoy who they are and try not to compare them to other children.

Give grace to other moms who are trying to do right or who are obviously having a bad day. I had a big list of "I will nevers" before I had kids. (I will never let my children do x in the middle of a store. I will never let my children talk to me in x sort of way. Insert your "I will never" here.) Then I had kids. And I learned that, in those situations where I feel I must give in on something, I certainly don't want to be judged. I appreciate a sympathetic smile, though.

On having a child with autism
Some may consider this a negative trial, but going through it, mourning the loss of what I thought mothering was going to be like the first time around, I learned much about letting go of expectations and embracing the beauty of what the Lord has given me.

But you do mourn the loss of your "blissful mothering experience," and you mourn for your child's lost childhood. It's hard seeing others' neurotypical children who just "get it." Their moms don't have to teach them how to talk or communicate; they just get it. Their moms can go to parks and playdates and fun stuff, all while you're taking your child to therapy.

Doing something to try to help your child is far better than sitting around wallowing. Read. Research. Talk to others. And, please, try the GFCFSF diet.

On marriage
Just as I rest in the security of my husband's love, he rests in the security of my respect. It doesn't make sense to the female brain, but it works. For me, practically, this means never speaking negatively about him to our children or to my friends. It means telling him and showing him how much I respect and appreciate how hard he works to provide for our family. It means remembering that he is not another one of my children, so I should not speak to him as if he were one.

When you want your husband to do something, just ask. Spell it out. None of this passive-aggressive stuff, expecting him to "just know" what you want without having to tell him. Chances are, he wants to please you but just needs some direction, because what you wanted yesterday is different from what you want today.

Dress-up time

Sweater refashion

I enjoy the Grosgrain blog a lot and have made a few of her things. Last month, she did a series on refashioning knit cardigans, and I was inspired to redo this old sweater of mine:



Those pictures are from Nate's baby dedication 5 years ago!

Using this post as inspiration, I added some polka dot chiffon and cording, and now look how fun!

Wreath update

Here are my new and improved front-door wreaths. Don't the flowers and yo-yos look better than that sad bow? :)

A Big Bear New Year

Over the weekend, we drove up to Big Bear and spent the night in a cabin owned by a family at church. Once Jon got the cabin warmed up (it was in the 20s!), we enjoyed hanging out.

The kids got a little stir crazy:



On Saturday, we went sledding in the beautiful snow. Lucy was first to try it, and she liked it until she got snow in her boots. Nate didn't want to sled at first, and he waited around for a bit before deciding to try it. Then he loved it. Levi wanted absolutely nothing to do with the snow or the snow clothes--perhaps because the snow suit was pink (borrowed from a girl cousin)!--so he spent the whole time in the car.








After sledding, we had lunch, took a nap at the cabin, and drove home. It was a quick but fun trip.

Welcome

I got some inspiration from this cute blog to make a new welcome wreath. I love that it used up some scraps and materials I already had on hand (except for the wreath base and the mini clothes pins). I have one more base and want to do another, more colorful one. And I need to work on my bow-tying skills. :)



Edit January 2: I redid the bow part today, and it looks much better. I should have known I shouldn't do bows! :) I also made a red and aqua wreath. I'll update the post as soon as I get good pictures.

Jumping jacks

Nate recently figured out how to do jumping jacks properly. Here they all are showing us their skills:

The new me

I've been wearing my glasses more often lately, because my contacts have been bothering me (I think it's allergy-related) and because it's just easier/quicker to put on glasses in the morning. I've had the same glasses since college, but yesterday I picked up a new pair. I'm still getting used to how dark and noticeable they are, but I like them!

Today's video

GFCFSF microwave popcorn

We do stovetop popcorn using kernels all the time. But Jon found this Orville Redenbacher's Natural microwave popcorn that the boys can have. (Other microwave popcorns always have milk ingredients.) And it is GOOD! Now I have an easy send-to-school snack for Nate on class party days.

Father, I adore You

I had to create a separate post for this video. I love singing songs with Levi, and he can sing along with some of them. He likes Jesus Loves Me, ABCs, and the books of the Bible song from Nate's AWANA CD (it's so cute hearing him try to say books like "Corinthians" and "Leviticus"). Here's my current favorite.

Merry Christmas!

We've had a great day. We got Nate Marbleworks, and Nate and Levi both are loving it. Lucy got a dollhouse and plenty of princessy things. We also got some new books, and Levi got dozens of new Hot Wheels (which were needed, since most of ours have been lost under the couch or who knows where).

I'm home now with Levi while the potato casserole bakes in the oven, and then we're heading back over to Ray and Colleen's house.

Happy birthday, Jesus.

Picture ornaments

I saw this project a long time ago and liked it. I finally did it this year using the cookie cutters that came in the Trader Joe's cookie kit Lucy and I used last week. I used TJ's Christmas bags as the backing and, although I couldn't get a good picture, they turned out cute!





Then Nate took the camera and took a few shots. Merry Christmas!

Love and don't love

I love the lazy mornings of Christmas break.
I do not love the rain-induced stir-craziness that has overtaken our house this week.

I love the sound of rain on the roof at night.
I do not love the creek behind our house rising at least 10 feet and being 3 feet away from overflowing and entering our downstairs.

I love Starbucks nonfat peppermint mochas.
I do not love their $4 price tag.

I love these kids! :)

Cookie time

Lucy and I made some cookies today (not a typical activity for me--too messy, too time-consuming, and I don't want to eat them. But Lucy LOVES it). This Trader's Joe's pre-packaged kit was perfect.




Lucy loves doing stuff by herself:







She and I both need to remember that mess-ups don't matter. :)

Winter blues

I've been feeling extra stressed and tired each day around 5:00-7:00 p.m. (dinner prep, dinner, and post-dinner). Today I realized it's because I really really don't like winter. I know I'm in California and don't have a right to complain about the weather. But the time change I think is what affects me the most. I hate that it's dark by 5:30, when the kids seem to be their wildest and can't go outside to run off some energy. I try to make dinner but constantly have to referee and discipline for disobeying house rules (e.g., no running in the house). I often don't stop what I'm doing to discipline properly but yell instead. Ug. I hate that. Winter winter, go away!

Christmas program

Nate's Christmas program at school was last night. Here's one of the songs they did:



Here's them singing a song as they exit. I love his little smile to me as he walks by and the way he had his arm behind the other boy.

Stinkeye face

Kidisms

If Levi wakes up from his nap but Lucy is still asleep, I tell him he needs to be nice and quiet. He whispers, "Otay, be tie-et."

Levi's in-home therapist's name is Ashley. Up until last week, he called her "Lashey." (He can now say it correctly.)

The kids are still enjoying watching Star Wars. Lucy calls the bad guy "Dark Vader." (Editing to add that Jon says he thought the name was Dark Vader too, until he was at least 10 years old.)

This year's tree

The kids were very excited to get our tree and put the ornaments up.

A good man

My sweet grandfather, Edward Suhling (known by most as Pop or Zu--short for Suhling), passed away on Sunday, November 28. Because of my wonderful husband and friends, I was able to fly to Virginia on Monday, attend the services on Tuesday, and fly home on Wednesday. All 12 of Pop's grandchildren were there--from New York, Texas, Australia, California, and Virginia. I missed some of the time when the whole family was together sharing memories about Pop, but I know there are many, many fond memories of him. Here are some of mine.

- He called me Katiebird. I didn't like it, but looking back now, I love it.
- The entire family (Nannie, Pop, Mama's siblings and their children, and us) vacationed at a house in Virginia Beach several different summers in the 80s. Someone might remember this particular story better than I do, but I know there was talk about someone being able to do a somersault, and Pop claimed he could do one. He did, and he promptly injured his neck.
- One of my most vivid childhood images of Pop is him grinning at me from a chair, next to a door, hooked up to a contraption that wrapped a piece of cloth/fabric under his chin and pulled his head up. I think it was to stretch his neck--perhaps because of the injury from the somersault!
- His songs
- His unforgettable and unmistakable laugh
- His piano playing, by memory, hitting those keys with force
- His way with dogs







I'll miss you, Pop!

Over and done

I was cleaning out a portion of our computer desk over the weekend and came upon the large binder full of Nate's "information"--therapy notes, regional center evaluations, school IEPs, neurologist records, training notes I had taken on special ed law, etc.

I threw it away.

Why do I need it now? It's very freeing to realize I no longer need documentation for meetings where I'll have to fight for certain services. I also don't need this physical reminder of that season in our lives. I already have the best physical reminder of the success of that season: Nate himself!

Levi is 2

Our cute little boy is 2 years old! How do I describe Levi at 2? He is affectionate, smart, and very spunky. He usually wants to be doing whatever Nate and Lucy are doing. He gets in contrary moods ("Levi, you're so cute." "No, not!"). He sleeps well (hallelujah--especially because he didn't sleep well as a baby 'til 10 months), taking one nap in the afternoons (2-3 hours), going to bed at 8:00 p.m., and waking usually by 7:00. He looooves his Hot Wheels cars and can play with them by himself for an hour some days. He eats very well, though vegetables aren't a favorite. He's still on the GFCFSF diet, and I don't have any plans of taking him off it any time soon. We love our Levi Paul!

We had family over for In-n-Out and brownies and ice cream on Saturday. When opening his presents, Levi was more interested in the paper than anything else:





Here he is ready for his "rice-eem" (ice cream):

Sad that Nate is sick

I still have to post about Levi's birthday, but in the meantime here he is saying the reason I haven't posted today:

Star Wars

We are watching Star Wars (episode IV--the first one made) with Nate and Lucy tonight for the first time. Nate is excitedly watching each scene; Lucy is asking, "What is that?" or "Why are they doing that?" at least once every 10 seconds. Their observations are so cute.

Lucy, asking about R2D2: "Does ATM talk?"
Lucy, about Princess Leia: "Is that a mama?"
Lucy, about R2D2 again: "Where is ATR going?"

Nate, when Darth Vader is about to try to get Leia to talk using the syringe: "Is that a bad medicine poke?"
Nate, when Luke first gets the lightsaber: "That's a light saver!"

Edit: I should add that Levi watched the first few minutes with us. He repeated all the oohs and ahhs of his siblings:
"Oh my!"
"Bad guy?"
"Robot!"

Sweet husband

Look what my sweet husband got me for my birthday (as if the party and my family visiting weren't enough!):





It's a Kindle, and I love it. He got me the blue cover too, and today I made that little ruffly thing to go on it for some added pizazz. I've already started re-reading Pride and Prejudice (one of the free books).

Thank you, Jon!

P.S. I added more pictures to the "Surprise" post below.