The boy is amazing and bright and funny and loving and clumsy and weird. He's just a delight, even when he's really going through the terrible twos.
An example: when he gets mad, he throws stuff. The other day, he threw a tantrum and flung a frozen yogurt container, with the drippy, sticky mess of melted yogurt still inside. It got all over the couch. He had a time-out, and when he came out, I gave him a rag to clean up the mess. He started out doing a good job, then slacked off and was just whacking the couch with the rag. I reminded him how to do a good job, and he finished the job properly and even said he was sorry. (I know that's not amazing, just how it should go, but if his sister set a precedent, it would have been "No! I'm not doing it! I didn't throw it -- I just *tossed* it. It's your fault the yogurt cup was still out anyway...")
As for being a love, he's just such a cuddler and a snuggler and a kisser and hugger... He loves to be patted and have his head and back rubbed. This morning he woke up and called me, but it was dark enough that I could tell it was still early, so I lay on the bed with him and we both fell asleep with his head on my upper arm.
He loves music, and he sings along sometimes when I sing his bedtime songs. The other night he sang "I will" by the Beatles to Sweetie, and by the end of the song, Sweetie was holding him close and they were both smiling and rocking. I mean, he doesn't carry a tune perfectly --we're not going on Ellen anytime soon -- but he knows the words and enjoys singing.
He is super-knowledgeable about animals, which I suppose is not surprising. His favorite books and TV shows are all about animals. I refilled our hummingbird feeder last weekend, and one day Lochlan saw a hummingbird at the feeder. "Mom!" he said. "I see a red-throated hummingbird!" He also loves to talk about where animals live, what they eat, what eats them, what they do for protection, etc. He often applies this to himself or people. "I wish I had spikes like a porcupine for protection." "If I had a long, long nose, I could get food out of flowers."
He can't run or throw a ball for squat. One day this summer I took him to the Crocker, and as we were leaving, he started to run. There's a busy street, so I got a little nervous, but he bailed face-first onto the sidewalk before he got anywhere. "I'm not so good at running," he said as he brushed himself off.
Have you ever heard someone say, "That's something I never pictured myself saying!"? That's me EVERY DAY with him. Just this morning it was, "We can't eat celery that's been in our butt." (It was his "human tail.")
When he's happy, he does a couple little gallops in place. Sometimes he flaps his hands, which Azadeh wondered if it was a sign of autism, but I really don't think so.
We are very nearly through with potty training. I have been taking him places in underpants (with a change of clothes in the bag just in case) most of the time. He pretty consistently pees in the potty, and for several days has done... the other in there, too. And bless him, he always wants to help empty it into the big toilet! The one thing he really can't do is pull his own pants up and down. Partly because he ALWAYS has a toy in each hand, but partly I just don't think he quite gets it. He'll try to pull up just the front and leave his ass hanging out.
As for the girl, we've had a pretty mellow summer. Most of the time, she's sleeping well, although it's, I don't know, maybe 20% of the time she'll still have a rough time getting to sleep or she'll wake up at like 3 a.m. and be up for the day.
She can be hard to read. There are times when she'll unabashedly say she has no friends and no one likes her at school, and another time she'll say how much she's looking forward to seeing her friends at school. I don't know which one she believes, or if she goes back and forth between the two. Or she'll tell me that she has a hard time controlling her angry feelings, then act like I'm crazy when I say that we are seeing Miss M -- her therapist -- to help with her anger. She says she hates Wednesday clinic and doesn't need it, so every week I give her the option of getting picked up early, and every week she chooses to stay late. And it makes it hard for me -- I want to respect her wishes, but I also want to continue things that I think are good for her. Yesterday at Miss M's, she somewhat enthusiastically made a "worry box" to put her worries inside, with comforting thoughts on the outside. Last night, she had some anxiety (which she is calling "ank-shetty" and I have no idea if she's pronouncing it wrong on purpose), so I suggested she use her worry box. She said it was stupid and wanted me to hide it on a high shelf. Sigh.
She's been reading a lot -- mostly re-reading old favorites. And she plays a lot of video games and builds a lot of forts. She still enjoys winding up her brother, especially at the dinner table. He'll make an unfortunate noise or something and Sweetie and I will ignore it (because it WOULD go away if he didn't get a reaction) and she'll laugh hysterically or echo the noise herself.
We've bleached her hair and have purple dye to add this weekend. She'll start 4th grade this week with purple hair, yikes! The teacher she's been assigned is supposed to be good, and I look forward to working with her. The special ed teacher has left, so we have to meet the new one. I hope that goes well. We need strong advocates at the school. Luckily, her principal and teachers have been good so far. Even our least-favorite teacher (she wasn't bad, just not ideally suited for 2nd grade) was the one who suggested autism, so we have to thank her for that.
And both kids, perhaps needless to say, are gorgeous.
Even without a Snapchat filter
