What we did in the beginning of July

The 3 day weekend

Lovely July starts with a 3 day weekend which I am very excited about ‘

Some of our couple friends come over and its very nice

They comment on how much R talks now .

Indeed I need to constantly remind myself that his talking is such a great gift.

Just 2 years ago we wondered if he would ever talk

Intuitively he knows that I am going to leave for a 3 day business trip on Tuesday and is stuck to me constantly ( though I now theorize, that he is actually paying attention to when DH and I talk and so he knows I am leaving before I make a schedule)

In the evening I decide to take a walk and usually R wants to stay behind but this time he insists on coming with me

I love his company and tell him so.

I love love love talking with him

Many of my questions go unanswered, he only answers the ones that are interesting to him

In the trail around the cabin, someone has parked two cycles

R points to them and says excitedly “ride a bicycle”

I reply “ They are not ours “

R bargains “First walk, then bicycle”

I reply "No bicycle, they are not ours , why do you want to cycle ?"

R replies “ Exercise”

We stop several times to look at the setting sun from different angles

R says “yellow circle”, “red circle “( very true)

He looks at a cabin ( which is much smaller than ours but has the whimsical name “kiss the moon” and so we all like it a lot – this is in sharp contradiction to other cabins that have been titled. "kiss me goodnight” – too coy even for me . Allison’s dream – cool but only if you are Alison , Sand-al’s – where is the sand ?)

He says “ I want to live in Kiss the moon”

He smells leaves

And when I ask him why , he replies “ Leaves smell pretty”

The child is so interesting .

One of my friends said that the greatest gift a parent can give to a child is to be interested in them, who they are

This is true ,

But sometimes I think this may also be the greatest gift you give yourself. 

As being truly interested in your child ( in fact in all your loved ones ) is a sure way to enjoy them.

Business Trip

I leave on my work trip and as is R’s usual behavior – he does not sleep the night before

DH and I have gone to bed late as we have to take care of a lot of things since I wont be home the next three evenings –

so we are none to happy when R is awake 12pm -3am  and then in a few hours its time to wake up and drop me to the airport

I hand R the schedule

Now that the time for me to leave is actually on us, R is fine.

He is like me, in that, he dreads unpleasant future events so much, that he experiences them much before they actually happens.

So when the event actually happens he is already halfway through it

While I am on my trip , we talk on Facetime on our Ipads for the first time ever and its lovely .

I LOVE technology – I sing songs to R and he demands I sing “Dancy dancy dance “.

 He keeps trying to get me to sing more songs though its time to leave and I am loath to end the call, so hungry I am for how he dances around the room giggling in excitement

Reading

We have been really working on comprehension skills with R .

Like many hyperlexic kid, R could read by himself at 3.

However being able to read does not mean, being able to comprehend

He is tutored for 2 hours everyday on this

He is getting so addicted to books.

He is as excited about going to the library as most children would be about going to a toy store

We discovered a new series of books. "My numbers books" by Jane Moncure.

These books are very childish . But that is where his level is and so they are perfect for him

He spreads them around and enjoys them tremendously , gloats over them in fact

He talks about the museums a lot ( yes the same museums in New York that he was so lackadaisical about).

With his therapist, - and then he wants to say something about the Statue of Liberty, but he is not able to articulate it properly.

So Gypsi  hands him a white board  and he draws this .. he went to see the Statue of Liberty with his Papa

I am so delighted with the picture , DH could literally use it as his passport picture ( almost)

Miss Gypsi shows him books and makes him describe pics

He is finally starting to get this and describes the emotions correctly ( rudimentary emotions )

Like in the following picture - the two characters have gone outside and are having fun playing in the rain - but the sun comes out and they are sad

R identifies correctly that they are sad becasue the rain has ended

Outside time  

Though its hot and sweaty outside, R loves to be outside these days

He also has taken to wandering around the front yard.

The other day he was off to visit Matt, his therapist's fiancee. His house has a lot of coke and sprite and clearly R think this makes Matt, king.And us, mere peasants.

One day he is pestering DH to take him to Kroger to "meet coke and sprite"

When DH tells him exasperatedly that he should just go by himself, R sets off ,

In a panic, we discover that he is not home and start the hunt

Luckily while he was off to Kroger , he is distracted by our neighbor's flowers and is busy playing with them

I and DH resolve to never joke about this kind of stuff with R, as he does not get irony

We discover interesting bugs

Friends visit

Have you ever met your online friends and though you are meeting for the first time  its like you have known each other forever

This weekend I met with one  my friends and her family  from my blogging life - it is SOOOO awesome

I have to laugh when I see the spread we have laid out for them.

Along with the homemade breads ( carbs are my thing ) , we have prepared bacon, ham and sausage

( pork is DH's thing- and he has not been discouraged in the least by recently taking R for his first movie - Charlotte's web- which is all about a little pig who is trying to not get slaughtered  )

Here she is - isn't she beautiful ?

We had to laugh at how alike our husbands look ( we have often joked how alike they are in temperament )

We have so much fun with their kids

Their daughter is so funny and charming - my friend tells me stories of her school that have us in splits

Their little daughter has a "boyfriend"

He is the Head honcho in his class

The reason for being the head honcho is that he has  the whole trifecta of amazing  qualities which are as follows  - 1. he can tie his shoe lace, 2. he can snap his fingers AND 3. he can whistle

The little girl has an admirer who is always bringing her presents- like toothbrushes and combs  ( which it is suspected that he steals from his sister )

R is SUPER stimmy - but we have made it a law to not keep "correcting him" when he does this as long as he is not ill mannered

Plus , for some reason he is stressed out. And  telling him to stop using his coping mechanism( however odd they may look )  makes no sense

When they leave, my friend jokes to her husband that I probably know more about him than he could imagine

DH asks me later - if all my online friends know a lot about him and if I complain.

"A little bit", I answer though honestly there is not much to complain about  "mostly I wish you were a neat freak and you gushed over me" ( for I am a praise junkie )

"Come on" - I add - "there must be things about me you dont like , something you wish I could change"

"Nothing," says my love

Nashville Trip

When R was really little, DH and R would come with me when I went on a business trip if we were at a drive able distance. We would just take a little therapy break

Now with school that is no longer possible - but since its the summer , DH and R come along with me to Nashville

Since I have traveled so much this summer, I am very grateful to not have the extra guilt of being away from R

The trip is very arduous, as in the facility I am having my meetings, the airconditioning is off and its 95 degree weather

We take a break to go to Starbucks - and guess what we see in the Parking Lot

( everyone walks away unscathed thank goodness )

While we are driving back, we find that R has lost one of his books ( which is a library book and we will probably have to pay 30 dollars or so in fines  ) in the Hilton , plus we have left my french-press mug which was a gift from DH and much prized by me

This one - how cool it was

DH and I bicker about exactly whose fault it was

According to him, its my fault, as I always bring too many things and also was texting him while he was packing which distracted him

According to me, I was right, because he should have looked under the beds as R spends so much time on the floor and he was doing the packing up

We bicker ( for we really no longer fight ) away.

And suddenly I see R trying to get my attention from the back seat - for he hates us bickering and is trying to distract me

"I love mama .. I love mama .. I love mama " he is chanting, with that eager expression on his face

Its true , life is not the breaths you take,

Its the moments that take your breath away