Cream of Potato Soup

Halloween is over already, and it's not even "officially" Halloween yet. We had no trick or treaters at our house on Thursday, and we've taken our trip to the pumpkin farm. Evan trick or treated on Thursday at therapy (big success) and today up at the college (not at all successful). But we've still got loads of candy so I guess it's not all bad.

I usually take Evan up to Erie on Halloween to see my folks/family and show off his costume, but we're not doing that this year. With him in school and going to bed by 8, I didn't want to risk it. I know it's hard to believe that I'm the one so concerned about bedtimes, but it's true. Once you've got a good sleeper on your hands, you'll do anything to keep things going.

Speaking of sleep, I'm headed there now. Ev was up an hour early this morning (surprise) and somehow I have felt tired all day long. There's nothing to do about that except head to bed and enjoy an nice early night.

Posted by jenny at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm with Evan every day, from the time his little face appears at my bedside in the morning until the moment I tuck him in at night. We have short breaks here and there for school or therapy or an errand, but for the most part we are constant companions. And while this is wonderful and I love being with him, it leads to a sameness, perhaps to taking each other for granted. He knows that I will always be here to change his pants and pour his juice and play cars with him, and I know he'll always be waiting for me to do those things for him. I'm with him so much that sometimes I don't even notice the little changes each day brings, and the growing he's doing from week to week.

Last night I was up in Erie, alone. This is something that never happens, but I had some things to do and Mike decided that he would stay home with Ev. This was good because the two of them got to spend some special time together, just the guys, and I got to take my time without interrupting Ev's routine or stopping off at the nearest Playland because he'd had enough time in the car.

As nice as my little trip was, I missed my guys and called home once to see how things were going. Everything was fine, and the boys were having a wonderful evening. As I chatted with Mike, I could hear Evan talking in the background. Just talking away, "Hiya, Mama!" and "more cereal" and most endearing, "love you Mama." Of course I melted. I never talk to Ev on the phone, and somehow his words really reached me when I couldn't see him speaking them. When did this happen, that he's talking so much and so well?

It just made me fall in love with him all over again. I kept exclaiming to Mike how excited I was, how happy that he was talking. My heart just ached to hear him, and I was never so pleased and so proud. It really hit home then how far he's come, and what a beautiful thing I was hearing. My kid, talking to me over the phone.

Posted by jenny at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We finally broke down and turned the heat on today. Man, that feels better. It was getting downright frigid in here. Sorry, we're cheap. But now we're much more comfortable, even in our fleece jammies and flannel sheets.

Evan's doing fine. His sickness wasn't really even a sickness, and we ended up going to Ohio for the weekend as planned. Mike went to a concert and other than that we all just hung out, so things worked out well. We came home to an invitation from Ev's preschool teacher for a trip to the pumpkin farm. His class was going this morning, and Ev would have gotten to ride the bus and everything! Unfortunately, we had speech already scheduled, and the weather was super crappy, so I let that one pass by. It's too bad, because I know he would have loved it.

Ev does have other Halloween fun planned for this week though. Thursday he's going trick or treating at therapy--the speech department gets the therapy kids to trick or treat at the different offices throughout the building. It's fun for them and helps practice language and social skills as well. Ev will also be going up to the college for trick or treating on Sunday. Mike has taken him to that for the last few years and he's really enjoyed it. All the holiday fun, none of the tromping around in the rain to strangers houses. We'll save that for when he gets a little older.

So that's all the news around here. I'll post pics of Ev's costume once I get it finished. Until then, you may find me on the couch, under a blanket. I'll be sipping hot chocolate and watching "Medium".

Posted by jenny at 09:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, Evan's sick. He was fine all day yesterday, and then around dinner time he just got kind of hot and tired. He kept looking like he was going to vomit, and ended up doing so all over Mike and the couch. Somehow, the helpful bucket nearby didn't help at all. So we took it easy last night, he didn't throw up anymore, he had a bath and went to bed. This morning he hasn't thrown up or anything, but he's still just not himself. He's laying on the couch, doesn't want to eat, and sounds a little congested.

I cancelled preschool, speech and OT for today--of course he's sick on his busiest day of the week. We're just camped out on the couch, watching TV and hoping for the best. We were supposed to head out of town tonight for the weekend, but that's on hold now too. We'll just wait and see how the day goes. Nothing's quite as much fun as a sick kid.

UPDATE: Evan's fine. I guess the puke of yesterday was just one of those weird things that kids do. He's been fine since about 10 this morning, even yelling at me because I wouldn't let him go to school. That's what I get for cancelling everything, huh?

Posted by jenny at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yeah, I got nothin'.

It's been a quiet few days here, as we stick close to home and wait impatiently for school to resume. Evan's been asking to go every morning, and every morning I must weather the tantrum that follows my telling him there's no school. We've been keeping busy though--playing a lot of golf outside, reading tons of books, and working on cutting with scissors. You haven't seen scary until you've seen this kid with a pair of scissors.

Evan's speech continues to improve also. His SLP and I talked for a few minutes yesterday, and she told me how excited she was about his progress. He's doing so well and learning new words daily. He replaces some consonants (golf is "bolf", cup is "pop") but overall is doing great. He's displaying a lot of characteristics of apraxia now as well, so it's become evident that was the proper diagnosis for him. He's still got a long way to go, but he's really doing an awesome job so far.

Ev starts OT this week too--he's going to be getting a half hour on Thursdays after speech. I'm hoping that he won't be too annoyed about being at the hospital for a whole hour, but it might help that OT is a lot more active than speech. It might be just different enough for him to tolerate. The OT's report was a long one, as Evan will have a lot to work on in that area. But it wasn't anything we weren't expecting, so we just keep marching along.

Posted by jenny at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There's something sick about the fact that my son cries when it's time to leave preschool. Seriously. He wanted to go today, and when I told him he couldn't, he got upset and decided to wear his bookbag around the house all day anyway. He's not going to be happy when he hears he can't go back until Wednesday either. It's going to be a long couple of days.

Yesterday we were out at the playground for a couple of hours again. I'm savoring our time outside more these days, knowing that the end is near. As I watched Evan hit golf balls over the fence onto the baseball field, I wondered why a kid that can hit a golf ball 30 yards can't poop on the potty? This is a question for the ages.

Tomorrow I think we're headed up to Erie for the day. I'd like to try to see my mom, because we haven't seen her in a few weeks, but I'm not sure if she's even going to be home. We're also going to look for a comforter for Evan's bed--if we can't find one we like, we'll have to order online. And of course there's the Kohl's giftcard left over from my birthday that's burning a hole in my wallet. So we'll be buzzing around town tomorrow, kicking back and enjoying some nice family time. That works for me.

Posted by jenny at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday I took Evan to the playground in the afternoon. The sun came out for a few hours and I thought it would do us good to get some fresh air. Evan played golf for an hour or so, and then spent another 45 minutes climbing and running on the playground equipment. It's so funny to see how much he's changed just this summer. Back in May, there were things he was afraid to climb on, places he couldn't reach--now he's doing everything so well, so easily. I can't help but be impressed.

I think once the weather turns for good, we're going to be in big trouble. I always dread being cooped up in the house all winter with such an energetic little boy. We've been going back and forth about joining the Y here in town, but I'm still not sure. Evan could take a swim class, but I'd like him to take some gym stuff as well. The only thing they offer kids his age is gymnastics--I don't mind that, but I'm not sure Evan would do well. From what I understand, it's fairly structured, and Ev isn't always the best about following directions. I'm afraid he'd disrupt the class a lot. It would be good for him, but I'm not sure about the rest of the kids!

This year has fairly flown by--Evan has grown through another season, and we're facing year's end again. Christmas is just around the corner, and then Evan will be 4. Four! And maybe a gymnast! What's going on here, anyway?

Posted by jenny at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evan's been big on numbers lately. He like to count things (though we don't get past ten) and he says the numbers pretty well too. Four and seven are a little dodgy, but the rest of them are easily understood I think. What I didn't realize until earlier this week though is that he actually can read the numbers. I thought he had just memorized them in order from 1-10, but I gave him a book where the numbers go backwards 10-1 and he got those all right too.

I was very impressed. I think Evan likes to do this, learn things on the sly and then surprise the hell out of me. So now that we can read the actual numbers, we're practicing all the time. We do prices when we watch "The Price Is Right", scores on hockey games (and numbers on jerseys), and last night in Wal-Mart Mike quizzed Ev on lots of numbers all over the store. So we've got 1-10 down--next up: 11-20.

Posted by jenny at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're all still slowly recovering. I've been having a coughing problem, and Ev's still got a runny nose here and there. These colds linger way too long for my liking. Enough already, we've got stuff to do.

Evan has gone to school all week though, and he's doing fine. God help the people who live and work on Chestnut Street as he screams and hollers his way to school every morning, so excited he can barely contain himself. When we get there, Ev has to wait out front for the two buses to come, and at the end of the day he has to help all the kids get back on their buses again. He can't leave until they are all buckled in and ready to go. My little patrol. Maybe I'll get him an orange sash.

Posted by jenny at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mike's family was in visiting all weekend. We had a nice time, and I'm all worn out from entertaining. It doesn't help that Mike and I did end up getting Evan's cold also. Of course, we didn't start feeling sick until Friday evening, when everyone was already on their way here. I hope they don't all get sick too.

Evan had fun all weekend though. He got lots of time outside and adventures with Papa, so that's always good. He's pretty worn out too--he's already asleep and I think I'm soon to follow. Hopefully we'll all be better in the morning. And I'll be able to write more coherent sentences.

Posted by jenny at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)