Week of Feb 15

Saturday and Sunday

We spend the weekend in Gatlinburg – I book a little cottage.

And of course, AFTER having booked and paid 100%- I decide to look at the reviews on trip-advisor

The people who have stayed in this cottage are completely of different opinions.

One claims that this is the best place they have ever stayed in.

Another claims its musty and moldy.He expresses shock that there are not mushrooms growing beneath the bed . He further adds, that the manager yelled at him and frightened his 71 year old mother !

As the time for us to check-in draws closer –I am leaning more and more towards the second person's review and have convinced myself that the first review was a fake one written by the owners of the cottage.

Filled with pre-emptive dread, I am fully convinced that we will be spend the night on a bed of mold and shall be yelled at by the diabolical manager, if we dare to complaint.

The cottage turns out to be one of the cutest prettiest places we have ever stayed in –large, shiny, new and cheerful and the manager the next morning is a genial man oozing Southern charm and does not yell at all!!!

Gatlinburg is gorgeous – especially when there are not too many people around!

It snows gently. DH, I and R sit in companionable silence.

I feel I am in a Snow globe. I have a simply lovely time imagining myself as an elf  (wearing a red and white pinafore) with an elf family living in a little house in the hollow of a tree with a lantern in the window

There are mountain people and there are beach people.

I think we are mountain people, even though both R and I tend to get car sick in the mountains

The ice is as treacherous as its beautiful.

At one point, our 4WD has its wheels turning precariously. DH tells me and R to get off and stand far away .
He looks tense and I am quite frightened because its takes a lot to get DH nervous.

Once we are all safely on clear roads – DH claims that he was not nervous  and simply did not want me and R to "feel a thud" and was "not at all in fear of our lives".

We are looking at cabins in case we end up buying one.

The cabins on the market are lovely.

But some have sad stories of the way we are talking over the natural beauty of the Smokies – for some builders have taken a mountain over and just build many many cabins without any desire to try and fit in with the surrounding.

 These cabins look like boils on the mountain.

There is a sign on a gorgeous mountain – which says "Approved for 400 units" and this makes me shudder!!!

DH and I have classified the cabins into the following

• Pimples ( many cabins on one mountain),
• A-shaped ( the swiss Chalet Style )
• Veiled Bride ( the one that have a large upside down U shaped roof ),
• Babbling Brooks ( ones on the side of a noisy stream- we love these )
• Scenic Views ( nice view of mountain – don't have to see too many people)
• Fakey – Mc Fake ( where the builder has added a lot of pretentious olde-time touches like a water wheel, a cart etc )

Another thing that makes me sad is the story of foreclosures that some of these cabins tell

One cabin -that DH loves because it has its own pond and a horse riding farm next to it – has an eviction notice on it and an abandoned Barbie trike in the backyard.

Tears fill my eyes when I imagine the little girl whose home this may have been.

DH looks at my teary eyes and hastily says that this must have been an extra investment home (this I notice is not unlike the doggie-heaven story that people give their kids when their pets have died) .

But I am inconsolable and say we could never live here.

Resignedly he moves on!

Monday

We play a bit .

Owing the Vitamin M, R falls asleep really fast.

(He bursts into tears in the bathtub – he is that sleepy )

This leaves me and DH free to watch Northanger Abbey – this is a lot of fun.

People do not change much over the time

These people in their gowns in the 19^th century desperately are looking for the right match – the woman with a good annual income, the man with the connections are just like many people today !

( except, of course, for the hero and heroine who are only interested in true love )

Our single friends, 200 years later than Jane Austen's characters , claim to be "commitment phobes".

However, we always tease them that its not the phobia of commitment but the feeling that there may be better fish in the sea – that causes their reluctance towards nuptials


Tuesday

Our School speechie came in and did our Hanen Training .

She suggests an interesting thing to encourage speech - instead of pointing out interesting things in the environment - we should try to notice what R is looking at and then describe it

This is subtle but powerful

So for instance if he is looking at the frig - we could say "The frig?.. the frig keeps things cold"

I ask about Pretend play and she gives us some suggestions that we are already doing

1. act out with the toys things that are already part of his routine
2. act out scenes from what he watches with the toys

I think DH is her star student ( as he should be -he really is amazing at playing with R and has a very calm air about him)

Surprisingly R is starting to show some joint attention

When DH is playing "airplane" with R –a song is going on on you –tube "there was a lady "

R is loving the game with DH but he is also interested in the song and we notice he is laughing and constantly looking at Dh and the speechie video-recording – to share in the joy

This is brilliant

R 's acquiring words everyday-Its stilted and immature but its correct .

He sees me with a towel wrapped turban-style around my wet hair

He says "come here "

I coo and ask  "Mama come here ?"

He touches my hair and says "Com hair" ( comb hair )

Thursday

DH and I have a nice lunch at Chili's

I plan carefully ( as I am now on Weightwatchers . must get weighed tomorrow and I really don't want to do the walk of shame ) and order a Chicken Green Chile soup

Its low in calories and also low in satisfaction

I absentmindedly down some of DH's fries and stop in a panic

When I come home .. the sun is shining and we go outside and jump

We left a toy tea-cup in the trampoline many days ago and R runs to it and we sing "I am a little tea pot"

R wants to do the WiiFit but we are only able to get halfway before his therapist gets there. We are unable to do "Soccer heading "- one of his faves

I do bedtime tonight – R takes a long time to sleep as I did not give him melatonin today

I am thinking over my day as I usually do before I go to sleep  – gloating over the joyful bits and mourning over the sad bits

When suddenly I hear a small voice say  "Soccer Heading " ( this is the game we were interrupted in )

Then I hear the same small voice croon in a tune "Soooooowy day" ( "snowy day"- this is the song he was listening to on You tube )

Suddenly with a rush of happiness – I realize that R is doing exactly what I am doing – going over his day in his head !

My little boy!

Just like me!