So, in honor of the nice weather, here’s a few pictures from another nice February day, almost 5 years ago, when it was just Ane and Tad, and they were playing at the playground near Nana and Papa’s house…

Have a happy weekend, everyone!

(The really funny part is that after I wiped off all the yogurt, his hair was all stiff.  I didn’t bother washing it with more than a little water and a washcloth, because he was due for a bath that evening.  However, I let Ane get him up from his nap while I went to get Tad off the bus.  When I came back, Rerun smelled… perfumey.  I asked Ane what had happened.  She replied that he’d woken up with terrible bedhead, so she had decided to flatten his hair down with the Suave Kids Morning Hair Tamer spray that I had just bought.  Rerun’s hair was now stiffer than a board, and I was trying to contain the laughter – albeit not very well.  Oh, Ane.)

He’s doing really well.  During this last snow break, he got so antsy and upset about being stuck at home that I actually brought out a book I’d been hiding in reserve for him – it was a Biscuit the puppy beginning stories collection, similar to this one, but the one I had was from years ago that I bought off the bargain clearance shelf at Barnes & Noble.

He’d never laid eyes on this book before, and he could read the first two stories cold, only tripping on the word “Biscuit.”

(Which, when one comes to think of it, is a very interesting word.)

His skills are progressing at such a rate that he’s reading random things, like commercials and ads and cereal boxes.  I know that he’s picking up more from his favorite shark books, even making the attempt to actually read the names of sharks, instead of just identifying them by their picture.  He takes a great interest in reading signs, especially ones that are associated with places that he always goes, like the waiting room at the Autism Center.

And forget trying to spell words in front of him (or Ane) anymore.  I miss that.

He is continuing to join the general ed kindergarten class for reading groups twice a week.  Midori, the para that had initially been assigned to go with him (who I mentioned here in a previous post) to the gen ed class, was reassigned to another child, so Tad’s teacher, Mrs. McN, told me that she was trying to figure out how to keep sending him, since she needed all her paras in the classroom and couldn’t spare one to just go with him without getting extra help.

That gave me a brain wave.  So I made a phone call, then emailed Mrs. McN with my idea.

Grandma is now volunteering in Tad’s class twice a week, staying in the room to help while one of the other paras takes Tad to the gen ed class for reading.

Even with his most recent round of regressions (a bad combination of snow days and sick days) that is triggering spontaneous meltdowns at school, Tad is doing very well in the gen ed class.  Mrs. McN wrote in her note home yesterday that she’d done some one-on-one reading with him in class, and that he’d done very well.

You know, for a child with a significant speech delay, his reading abilities just knock my socks off.

And now Rerun is trying to one-up his brother – he can now identify the letters B and T.

Uh-oh, here we go…

This, of course, had everything to do with Christmas and her birthday being in quick succession.

Her LEGO Pottermania hit just in time, because when we visited the LEGO Store at Bellevue Square a couple of weeks ago (the only LEGO store in the state, by the way – you’d think there would be more of them!), we were told that the Harry Potter sets are in the process of being retired, since the movies have all come out and there won’t be any more big marketing pushes.

Still, there are a couple of sets that I knew that she would want.  And I was beginning to see which way the wind was blowing with these sets right before Christmas.  So… we have a couple of sets hiding in our closet at the moment, which she does not know about.

But then I had an idea.

When I was a little younger than Ane, but not by much, I desperately wanted the toy of the moment – a Cabbage Patch Doll.  Don’t laugh, it was the 80′s.

However, my parents set up a chart for me in the kitchen.  The Major had a similar one.  We both were receiving an allowance at the time, and we were saving up our money for our “goal” – the toy of our dreams.  For me, the Cabbage Patch Doll.  For the Major, it was an AT-AT.  We eventually saved enough money to buy our toys – I got mine first, since the Cabbage Patch Doll was cheaper than an AT-AT, and I had a bigger allowance because I was older.  But the Major finally went to a Toys ‘R Us in Portland, Oregon (no sales tax, which is why I also bought my doll in Oregon on a visit there), and plunked down the contents of his piggy bank for that AT-AT, which he still owns to this day.

And yes, I still have my doll.

So, I proposed to Ane that she start an earning chart.  If she can earn $80 (considering the rate of inflation and the size of the toy, this is probably not that far off from how far the Major had to go), then the Webmaster and I will pay for the rest… and she can buy the full Hogwarts Castle LEGO set.

(Which is already sitting in our closet because I was able to buy it for considerably cheaper – with a rain check sale price – than what it’s being sold for on the LEGO website.)

She liked the idea, so we’re going to do it.

This is good for both of us.  This is really going to reinforce to her the value of a dollar – something she has been discovering lately.  She got a lot of gift cards for her birthday, but has been surprisingly stingy about spending them.  She walked around the American Girl Doll store right after her birthday party, with gift cards burning a hole in her pocket… and declared that she was too overwhelmed to choose anything, so could she just go home and come back later?

It’s also going to help her with the concept of saving – not that she hasn’t done that before, but she’s never done it for something this BIG.  I really think every kid at about this age should be encouraged to save up for something big that they want.

This scheme is also going to help me… because I am not good at remembering to give Ane her allowance every week.  Granted, she has no problem spending MY money on things she wants. But then, when I say, “Fine, but it’s coming out of your allowance,” it doesn’t have any meaning to her, because that money was never in her hands in the first place.  It’s like I am Mom, the credit card with a limit.

Nope.  I need to be Mom, the ATM, that you have to withdraw from and see the cash in hand before you spend it.

I kind of wish we could do this with Tad, but he doesn’t earn an allowance yet because he doesn’t have any regular chores that he is expected to do around the house.  He helps to clean up and sweep every now and then, but Ane dusts, helps take out the garbage, watches Rerun for me while I am either taking Tad to or picking him up from the bus stop, and is supposed to keep her own room clean.  Plus she does earn extra money for extra jobs, like watching Rerun while we are working on a big project (like painting the house, for example), or for doing yard work or helping her Dad wash the cars.

If Ane gets really motivated, she could earn that set quicker than she thinks.

I guess we’re going to learn how motivated she really is.

Even Tad.

The poor kid was feeling much perkier on Friday – and then would stop, curl up on the couch, and crash fast asleep for two hours.  He’s slowly been rebuilding his energy and stamina, but he’s still not 100% of what he could be.  Still, he’s healthy enough for school, swimming lessons, and all his regular therapy.  I just know he will be dead on his feet after it’s all done.

Rerun’s digestive troubles – which are always the last thing to clear up – seem to be finally going away after a steady diet of bananas, applesauce, probiotics, yogurt and Goldfish saltine crackers.  He’s been back to his normal self for days now, and is quite completely and thoroughly acting like a… two-year-old.  His birthday is less than six weeks away.

Ane completely avoided this bug, for which I am very thankful.  The bug she does have, though – premature adolescence – shows no signs of abating or being amenable to treatment.

The Webmaster and I are in one piece.  He definitely had the worst of it, but I was feeling pretty rotten at the same time that Tad was so sick.  We’re all better now.

Between snow and sickness, I have had ENOUGH of this out-of-sync schedule!  Can we PLEASE get back to our version of normal around here??!?!?

He was up every single hour Wednesday night into Thursday morning vomiting.  He finally stopped at about 6 am, which is the same time that Rerun finally had had enough of all the disruptions and decided that he was up.  After getting changed and having a quick bath, Rerun came to watch Sesame Street in the master bedroom while his parents tried to get a little more sleep and Tad crashed out on the couch.  Once Ane (who is still feeling just fine) got off to school, we all went into hibernation mode.  Tad was alert, but wrung-out tired and kept falling asleep for naps.  After waking up at 6, I insisted that Rerun take his nap at 11 am.  Then the Webmaster and I took naps as well.

Ane came home from school feeling just fine, and Tad continued to doze.  We finally managed to get some liquids into him, but he’s going slowly.  Still, he hasn’t vomited since Thursday morning, so we can only hope that that’s all done.

I canceled Tad’s ABA appointment for today, which I didn’t really want to do, but I just know that he won’t be perky enough to make ABA worth it.

And I just want to say how very proud of Tad I am.  He knew that he didn’t have control over what his body was doing, but instead of freaking out and being upset, he just did what he had to do.  We had a plastic basin set up right by his bed, and he kept using it all through the night without having to be reminded.  He was such a trooper, and I’m so proud of him.

Now, if Ane can just stay healthy, and we can get Tad eating normally and Rerun’s diapers under control, we’ll all be much better off.

However… the Webmaster and Tad are now down with this bug.  And honestly, I’m not sure if I’m coming down with it or just suffering from exhaustion.

Ane is fine… for now.  We will have to see how she feels before I put her on a school bus.

Check back in 24 hours to see if we’re still all in one piece.

Boo.

To compensate for this uninteresting post, here is a picture of Tad, enjoying the new Angry Birds game that he insisted on buying for himself.  His best friend Danny got it for his birthday, and when Tad saw him unwrap it, his eyes lit up.  He then turned to me and said, “Mama, we go shopping?”  Fortunately, he had the money for it.

He can play with this game for hours.

Which I infinitely prefer to him sitting and playing it on the iPad for hours.

Last Saturday, everyone managed to dig themselves out of the snow and get to the mall, where Ane was hosting some friends at the American Girl Store for her birthday party!

Let me just say that every single girl who came to the party was worried that the weather might prevent her from going.  Who cares about school… WE CAN’T MISS THE PARTY!

So glad everyone has their priorities straight.  Ahem.

Anyway…

The party was held in the store’s party room.  Each girl brought her doll, if she owned one, and those who did not were able to borrow a “loaner doll” from the bistro that adjoins the store.  The dolls were all given paper crowns, and Ane got a crown of her own.

This is my favorite picture of her, because you can just sense the excitement coming off her.  She is glowing.  The dolls sat next to their girls in these cute little booster chairs (which you can buy in the store) and enjoyed their own “cups of tea” while the girls ordered lunch.  While we were waiting for the food to arrive, the girls got to do their craft.  Each girl got to make a fleece sleeping bag for their doll, so they spent time tying square knots to make a fluffy fringe.

The menu was quite expansive, and the food was actually very good!  Which was a very pleasant surprise – so often, kid-themed restaurants are big on the ambiance and lousy on the food.  I did not hear anyone say “But I don’t like any of this,” and everyone ordered exactly what they wanted.  Everyone got to choose an appetizer and a entree.

The girls could barely eat, they were so hyped up (everyone ended up taking a doggie bag home), and then the cake arrived.

While the girls ate their cake and ice cream, Ane opened presents – and cleaned up pretty well with the American Girl swag.

I did manage to take a group picture of all the girls and their dolls…

… and while they were eating the cake, the goodie bags arrived.  These were also part of the party package, and they were NICE.  Each girl got a doll t-shirt, a book, and a doll’s balloon.  Even I was surprised at the quality of the goodie bags.

Ane said that this was her most favorite birthday party ever, and all the girls agreed with her.

While this was not an inexpensive party (you don’t want to know), and we’ve already told Ane that a party like this will not be happening again, it was actually worth the money.  The food was good, the service was excellent, and the craft and the goodie bag exceeded my expectations.  It was actually the easiest party I’ve ever thrown, because all I had to do was show up with a credit card in hand.  Every single other thing was taken care of, right down to the cake.  So, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I have a feeling that Ane will actually remember this party for the rest of her life with a huge smile.

The snow has melted off the pavement, the roads are clear (enough), and the buses will be rolling this morning!!!

I am too excited to put up a decent post.  I will feel more like a functioning adult tomorrow.

Time to get back on schedule!

I leave you with a cute picture of Rerun, who loved playing in all this snow…

… and while he could, he made a collection of his favorite snowballs.

By the time he came inside that day, his collection was quite impressive.

This toddler is so funny and adorable.

But even he is very glad to be getting out of the house again!