Tuesday I did something that I should have done nearly five months ago. I invested in some boy specific toddler toys. After watching BoyTwo play with our little people houses and then seeing how fascinated he was with my one year old nephew's toys, I disregarded everything I had heard discouraging me from encouraging his regression (and merely allowing and accepting it during the actual physical act) and took myself down the toddler isle at the store.
Merry Christmas me. Seriously. This kid was mesmerized, amazed and immediately, without a shadow of a doubt, became completely and absolutely two again. Right down to the hitting and yelling 'mine!' The Merry-Christmas-me part is because it was so appropriate for him! He played appropriately, he was entertained, he was engaged. I've never seen him so comfortable or relaxed or peaceful ever. And, it kept him really occupied. For a couple of HOURS!! This is the kid whose attention span is usually, no joke, about 30 seconds. It was a Christmas miracle. Should have done this a long time ago. Moms, trust your gut. We ARE always right:)
Dishes. Last night BoyOne was noticing for the first time that we have a dishwasher, as in the machine, not me. I do hand wash quite a few dishes, which is probably why he never noticed until now that we had a dishwasher. He asked how it worked, watched me load it, watched me unload it, watched where I put the soap, watched which buttons I pushed and then opened it a couple of times while it was running just to check things out a bit. It was an interesting thing to observe him doing all this. Today he came home from school and was literally two minutes ahead of me (I saw him go inside, but was picking up Four from the neighbor's house). I walked into the house in time to see him proudly push the start button on the dishwasher. He showed me how he had unloaded and put away, best he could, all the dishes and then loaded and started the dishwasher for me. In two minutes. How stinkin' cute is that?! Seriously. Picture your four year old doing this to surprise you. It was that cute. He was so pleased with himself that I think had he won a gold medal at the Olympics he wouldn't have seemed this happy. When he wasn't looking, I snuck a look inside the dishwasher to see what he had put in there. Oh my melt. 3 tupperwares, 5 mini bowls, an 8 ounce measuring cup, and two small baking dishes. It took up approximately 1/4 of the space inside. The bowls were facing up. It was seriously one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I even took a picture, which I would post IF our hard drive had been replaced. Which it hasn't. grumpy sigh.
Barbecue. I left the school early today and met three of my dear friends down in town for some barbecue. The food was really, really good. The company was even better! It has been way too long since the four of us have been together. I'm definitely the weakest link here. Two of the girls are still neighbors and the third, get this, traveled from Idaho to be here with us. How's that for dedication and love?! We only had about two hours, which for women is never enough time, let alone women that had not seen each other in nearly a year, but boy did we make good use of our time. We have been through a lot together, well I guess I should say that THEY have all been through a lot and I tried to be there with baked goods and such during these times:) I left feeling great. Thanks girls. You rock. Okay, I have to tell you how awesome they are. So awesome!! One of them gives me all of her boys' clothes for my boys saving me TONS of money and time spent shopping. Another is always finding out information for me to better help my kids (think CHADD, and SPD support groups and therapies available, along with the latest advocate info for IEPs and 504s. This is really time consuming, so it's a real life saver). And after my post that ended with me saying 'pass the chocolate,' about a week later I received a package in the mail from the third. A box of chocolates with a note that said 'pass the chocolate'. Are you freaking kidding me?! I told you, awesome.
Plus, I was able to parallel park my suburban which always makes me feel happy because I do a pretty good job. Instant gratification is hard to come by these days and really insignificant things like parking my car help me feel better about life. haha
