Sometimes I carp about all of Nik’s therapies, how inconsistent they are, how unreliable the ABA is, etc. Its easy to keep expecting more/better/more.
But there are children out there who’s parents cannot afford to send them to needed schools, who live in countries where the care is not state-funded, and who go through life without the early intervention.
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I don’t know…but I submitted a photo of Nik and Anju to the Regis & Kelly Beautiful Baby 2008 Contest. Get this: the winner will appear on the Regis & Kelly show, get on the cover of Parenting magazine, and $125,000 towards his/her college education. The 4 runners-up will get $25,000 each towards college, and all 10 semi-finalists will receive $1,000 in Walgreens gift cards.
So what the heck…I submitted a couple photos:
It’s voter driven, so as I don’t know towns full of people, I don’t see our chances as very good. But who knows, right?!
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So Nik is now into pretending he is a tiger. No, he hasn’t heard of this one, poor thing. He crawls around on the floor, stalking Anju. Who gets a little nervous, laughs a little, and tries to get out of his way. But there’s no escaping the Nik-tiger!
This morning, he roped me into becoming [myname]-elephant. So there I was, waving my elephant trunk around, being chased by a Nik-tiger, who was growling in his tiger voice: I’m a tiger. Growl. Then Anju had to become the baby elephant. It was all very cute.
Another step forward in Nik’s pretend play. I am really encouraged by his development, lately. [Despite the lack of ABA- the vendor we use seems to have a rotating-door policy for its tutors...no consistency, few hours, last-minute cancellations. Not happy with them right now.] But his social skills classes with a different agency are going really well…he looks forward to going, he talks about his friends by name (huge!).
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I have a temper. It is very short. I have a very short temper. And apparently, my son is very aware of this. He can read me like a book (not that you need to, I tend to radiate my moods to quite a distance).
He calls me on it. “Mommy, why are you mad?”
“Mommy, be happy.”
Sometimes, when I call to him to put on his shoes, or to eat dinner, or anything at all, and if he can hear the frustration in my voice, he will call back, “Coming!” and then run over to me with a smile pasted on his face, trying to thwart my anger. He will sneak his little hand into mine, and look up at my face, trying to catch my eye, so that I can see him smiling.
And I will smile back.
My son can defuse my temper.
For now.
I need to do it without his help.
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Anju came downstairs, took one look at the lit tree with all the presents around it, and said: “Wow!”
Nik said: “Look at that! Look at all the presents!”
And then the ripping of paper, and tossing of toys, and “Where’s the next present?” and “That’s mine!” and “Give it back!” (all from Nik) and crying (from Anju) and arguments (guess who?) and time-outs (hmmm?) ensued.
Followed by my Apple Puff Pancake with homemade orange syrup, Bacon, and lots of Peet’s Garuda coffee. Nik actually ate the pancake, even though he pushed all the apples off to the side. Still.
[pic courtesy relishmag.com]
That was Christmas morning at our house. How about yours?
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Nik talked to Pete’s parents on Monday, and to my sister and her husband yesterday. He just repeated what we told him to say, but he listened to the caller, and then said his words so carefully.
Little by little, our little guy is expanding his world.
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Nik has surprised us over the last month by singing.
He never really liked to sing before, and would get upset if we sang nursery rhymes to him. Not sure why.
That’s changed. He sings Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is coming to town, Old MacDonald, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Five little Monkeys, and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. I’m sure there’s more, and I’m waiting.
We love hearing his little singing voice.
That’s his gift to us this Christmas.
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Pete called last night. The kids were playing, loud and rowdy. So I asked Nik if he wanted to talk to Daddy. He didn’t really answer, and pushed the phone away. So I put it on speaker, and Pete started talking to Nik. Nik grabbed the phone and said, “Hi Daddy?” and then:
“I want hug?”
And then he hugged the phone.
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Pete’s been out for a couple of days for an assignment in San Francisco. Naturally, the kids miss him. They are constantly looking for him to come around the corner, or be the one ringing the doorbell, or giving them their bath at night.
Yesterday morning, Nik asked where Daddy was.
Me: He’s at work, baby.
Nik: Daddy’s gone to work.
Me: That’s right, he’s at work. He’s making money for you and me.
Nik: Daddy’s at work. He’s making honey with the bees.
I guess that works…Pete would probably like that analogy of him as a worker bee.
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