Hug Twice

All around our neighborhood, maple trees are letting their seeds spin to the ground, and CJ loves it.  He calls them butterflies, and will scoop them up by the handful and throw them into the air in delight.  I always called them whirly-gigs growing up, I don’t know why, but I did.  He calls them butterflies, and I let him.

His friend M is not so accepting.  He says they are helicopters, and will correct CJ at every opportunity.  CJ is generally very obedient, for lack of a better word, when M bosses him around (M is a youngest who wants to be an oldest, CJ is an oldest with the personality of a youngest… it fits) but in this case, CJ frankly completely ignores M.  “Butterflies!” he yells, as he throws them into the air and they rain down around him.  “But…ter…fliiiiiiiies!”

Adorable.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Our neighbors, parents of M who is CJ’s friend, have a huge white dog.  Dogs just make me nervous.  They just do.  People always say their dog is friendly and wouldn’t hurt anyone but, anyway.  They make me nervous.

Well, Alexa knows no such fear.  She LOVES that dog.  She claps when she sees him, and she will hug him and kiss him and let him slobber all over her.  Again, it makes me nervous but I do my best to control my fears and let her experience the joy she obviously finds in the love of this dog.

This week, M’s parents got a new dog.  A very tiny little dog.  The dog is smaller than our cats - much smaller.  Today we met the new dog, which also was very friendly.

Alexa wanted nothing to do with that dog.  In fact, she made faces at the dog, shook her head no, turned her back on the dog, and generally made her displeasure known.  The dog that outweighs Alexa by at least 4 times, Alexa wants to be all over.  The dog that Alexa outweighs by four times, she dislikes and actually acts almost scared of.

it is an odd odd world.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

CJ has been focusing a lot at school on the concepts of “big” and “little”.  He happily tells us when something is too big for him, like Matt’s shoes, or too little, like Alexa’s hat.

He asked to sit in my lap, and told me “Mommy’s lap is just the right size.”

I don’t think there’s anything more I can add to that. 

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

That’s what CJ told me today when I asked him what he was doing.

His speech is really coming along.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that he is indeed still delayed and still behind where he should be, because he talks so much more than he did just a few months ago that it seems like he must be all caught up.  But, of course, he is not, as his case conference illustrated.  There are still many areas to work on, besides his inability to pay attention.

I still haven’t completely come to terms with that.  I am happy he will be going back to the same school next year, because he truly loves it and seems to thrive there.  But a part of me was hoping beyond hope that i would go into his conference and someone would say “CJ is far too advanced to qualify for this program next year.”

But no one did.  In fact, in November we’ll visit the idea of doing further psychological testing to make sure he has the help he needs in Kindergarten the following year.

Deep breath.

See, still not completely processing that information.  Me, not him.  I’m not even sure exactly what people want to test him for.  Although I know it must be connected to his not paying attention.  But I was unconsciously afraid to ask I guess, because it never occurred to me to ask until after I left.

I guess I should call his teacher and see her again.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

CJ is just about as under the weather as I am, and last night we were both lying in my bed together watching The Price Is Right on TV.  He likes the big spinning wheel, I found.

I kissed the top of his head and asked him “Are you feeling better, baby?”

And he looked up at me very seriously and said “I not a baby.  I CJ.”

How fast they grow up…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!