Inside -Out Pants

Dear Nice(reads Non-judgmental ) Teacher,

Aiden has acquired a new skill! He is now able to pick out his own clothes from a collection of pre put together outfits in his closet and dress himself! Everything except the shoes. Yay!

He has made great progress and is still working on,( as I am sure you have noticed) ,the difference between inside and out, front and back. He is Very sensitive to correction, so we are trying to gently guide him on where the tags, pictures and buttons go. So do not be surprised by a backwards shirt here and there, mismatched socks or inside out pants.

Aiden is very proud of himself and we are proud of him too.

Thank you in advance for your patience in this matter,

Aiden’s Mom

P.S. Could you have a chat with the nice( reads judgmental and browbeating) bus driver lady? I don’t think she understands the significance of inside out pants. J

Dear Aiden’s Mom,

We are very happy to hear that Aiden is dressing himself! That is a great self-care skill!

Sincerely,

Nice Teacher

Ring Around The Rosies

Of course it’s a Monday, and rushing through the morning routine because we woke up late. Head downwards swaying to left and right, looking for another stray shoe. I have just a few minutes to get the children ready for the bus. I don’t want to make the driver wait.

I hear a familiar song being sung , voices that I know but do not often hear. I look up to see my children holding hands, playing “ring around the rosies” . They are led by “Fwen”( that’s how my oldest pronounces his name) the 8 year old that I baby-sit. Aiden and Xavier are trying to follow the lyrics while Marjika is trying to follow the tune.

I dare not laugh. I dare not cry lest I break the spell and end this truly social moment . Not a common occurrence in our home, it only lasted for a minute. Then went their separate ways, content to play beside each other, rather than together.

I am content as well. However short the moment was, it shows progress.

Baby Steps

Our youngest,John-John, stood for the first time today, and for( the first time in our family) long enough for me to grab the camera AND take the picture. It will be the first " first steps "in our family album.

It has always been between Daddy and I trying to alert the other without startling the child, yelling "hey lookit, lookit, lookit" which makes the kid drop to the floor, or grabbing the camera just in time to see him plop to a sitting position.

I joke with John -John that he needs to get mobile because he is getting to big to carry. Is he ever a big boy. (Not fat. Chubby, no. More like a linebacker with built in shoulder pads.)

For an 11 month old that came into this world at 7lbs 14oz (which really isn't all that big) he's a pretty big boy. He is almost the same height as his 26month old brother( who was also 7lbs 14 oz at birth) and can wear a 3t (toddler size = to three years of age) tee comfortably.

He's strong too and once he realizes it we are in trouble. He gave me a love pat in the face once and I saw so many stars I thought I was at the Oscars. Daddy works with I-beams all day and even he has trouble pulling something out of John-John's hands when he has a death grip on it.

It won't be long now, he'll be walking soon. Soon I'll be kicking myself for all those mobile jokes as he gets faster and into more things. Soon I'll be watching him and wondering where did time go?