Normalcy

We are getting tidbits of "normalcy" with A lately. For starters, A is all boy. Despite the communication barriers, there are apparently some things that transcend all barriers. This includes an appreciation of the opposite sex.

My son is in love with Alicia Keys. Yes, the singer. Everywhere he sees her, he has to stop and watch, whether we're out in a store or at home watching TV. He actually gets mad if we keep walking or turn the channel to something else. She was on Sesame Street this morning, and K walked up to the TV to dance and sing along, and A got very irate and pushed her out of the way. I don't advocate pushing, of course, but it was interesting to see him out of sorts because he was watching a chick. A beautiful one, granted, but still. He's not even four! ;)
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Yesterday, he walked up to me with the DVD case to Milo and Otis. He smiled, said, "Cat!" I said, "Yes, that is a cat. What else is there?" A promptly said, "Dog. I want to watch foofie." "You want to watch this movie?" "Yeah" "Ok, you had a really good day at school today, so we can watch it." A then grabbed my arm, saying, "Come on! Come on!" and pulled me over to the DVD player.

He also cracked his head on the table, and informed me that "It hurts." I don't think he's ever told me anything hurt before, so this is a big deal. That will help tremendously when he's sick, so he can tell us if his head or tummy hurts.

Each day gives us a new tidbit. For those moms struggling with potty training, here's our situation: A has pooped in the potty three times for us this week, but won't pee. That's backwards from how it usually goes (I understand most kids will pee but won't poop when they're potty training), but I'll take it. It's a lot easier to change a pee-filled training pant than it is the other!

You know, there was a time in the past when I wouldn't be quite so frank, but one purpose of this blog is to describe our challenges and our successes, and this is a big challenge right now. We are desperately trying to get him trained because he's so big, it's getting hard to find pants to fit him. As it is, the 4T-5T sized pull-ups are extremely snug (even though he's not 4 until November). The sooner we can wear "big boy underwear" the better. And cheaper. Goodnites actually fit him well, but they are an expensive way to go when that's your sole comfortable "upholstery" source. We've had to put him in generic pull-ups during the day, even though they aren't fitting so well, just for cost efficiency.

A is doing well in school, although we do have a brand new teacher, fresh out of college this year. Things aren't quite as smooth as last year, but I'm certain that is simply due to her lack of experience. No amount of training and classroom time can ever replace real live actual field experience, and that can only come with time. Frustrating to read some of her questions in the communication book, but she'll get that much needed experience some day.

Another area that he is actually showing some initiative in is getting food when he's hungry. The bad thing is, he doesn't ask, and leaves the refrigerator open, drops eggs on the floor, and chews through the plastic cheese wrappers, or pulls a chair over to the pantry and eats half of a large container of raisins. He only does this while I'm in the bathroom, or changing his sister's diaper, etc. (otherwise occupied) and he is FAST. I have been scolding him, telling him to ask first, and then mommy will let him get something, but it's not connecting. I really think he waits until I'm sidetracked before he goes for stuff because he knows he's not supposed to get into it. Today he REALLY got into trouble, because he ate through most of two pieces of cheese (still in the wrapper), pulled the extra pancakes out of the bag and crumbled them everywhere, and left the refrigerator door open while I was standing on the back porch so the dog can go do his business. That doesn't take so long, so he was MOVING to get all that accomplished before I came back in. He didn't ask, again.

I am having difficulty getting through to him that he's not in trouble for getting his own snacks, but he's in trouble for not asking first and getting into things he doesn't need to.