Teacher of the Year

I just found out my daughter's teacher received the "Teacher of the year" award at her school.  I am in tears.  Not because June's teacher is awesome.  She is.  Not because I am thrilled for what this means for her teacher.  I am.   Not because I am remembering my own journey as a teacher.  I remember it clearly.  I am moved because of what this means for June, and just how obvious I can see God's thumbprint on her life.  And to know she has gotten instruction from the best special needs pre-school teacher at Norfolk Public Schools this year is indeed, emotionally overwhelming! 

You see, in the Summer I begged for June to repeat the class that I thought must be best for her.  Same teacher.  Same agenda.  Half-way during the Summer I found out that NPS did not grant my request; However, there seemed to be a still, quiet voice whispering, "Everything is going to be okay".  I did not panic.  I waited.  I knew I would soon meet her.  And now it comes full circle.  I know why the plan was different, why June couldn't have the same teacher.  Ironically, June's former teacher was out for most of the year because of medical reasons.  God knew.  He foreknew.  He knows my future.  So happy He knows Iva June's.

Thank you Miss Citadel for giving my child the love that she so desperately doesn't even know she needs.  Thank you for spurring her on to independence in more ways than one.  Thank you for believing she can in fact, communicate.  Thank you for caring for her like your own little one.  We are really going to miss you next year!  But I KNOW God will only give June the BEST! 

Easter News

Our Easter weekend was a beautiful one, starting with and a special surprise for our precious June-bug.  A very generous family had given us a piano.  You should have seen her face on Saturday morning.  She would have said..."Wait!  Why is there a piano in our living room?"  She can now officially start becoming a piano sevant.

Saturday continued with blue-sky weather, a T-Ball game for James, egg dyeing and an awesome egg hunt at our home on Saturday. Everyone participated with eagerness...especially when they figured out there was exactly one all-natural jellybean in each egg.  I know, I make them work for 'em.  The day ended with the building of a tree house for James.  He drew up plans weeks ago....now we just need to paint it rainbow colors. Really, this story is best told in pictures.

Ben and James working on tree house

We ended our weekend with good news on Sunday morning.  We were happy to celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa!

"Death swallowed by triumphant LIFE!  Who got the last word, oh death?  Oh death, who is afraid of you now?  It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now, in a single, victorious stroke of LIFE, all three-sin, guilt, death-are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ."  from I Corinthians 15 (the MSG)

Happy Easter eve!

Opposites

I'm going to brag a little bit.  Firstly, I can't believe God has graced me with the presence of some very opposite children in this house.  We have every personality imaginable here.  Some are loud at night, some are loud during the day.  Some don't talk at all, some talk non-stop.  Some bite.  Some give hugs.  Some seek attention.  Some would like to spend the day alone in their room, pining away after the blinds.  Some like to be outside in the cold with no jacket on. Some cry when they are out in the cold.  Hard to imagine they come from us.  Oh....but I guess everyone has one thing in common.  They all like to be naked and they all love the water.  I guess that part might be inherited. 

So, James got "tested" for Kindergarten a few days ago and he, of course, passed with flying colors and was at-range or above range for every subject measured.  It's nice to know that he will most likely be successful in school Hallelujah.  What blew me away though, was that his linguistic score was measured at age 6.5.  She said he got every single question right when asked for opposites and when also given a verb and had to say a noun to accompany a verb.  For instance, she said "blow", and he had to come up with "wind".  So just how does THAT happen when I have another one who does not speak at all?  Don't these types of things typically run in families?  Again, I tell you, Iva June is a sweet mystery. I wouldn't have in any other way because she speaks to me in ways I can't express. The ways of the angels.

June has a routine in the morning and it goes like this.  Get up (with whining).  Change diaper.  Get dressed.  Eat breakfast.  Shoes on.  Coat on.  Wait at door for bus.  So, for a few days now she has been doing something that I think is remarkable.  She's been getting the toy die-cast bus and examining it, making bus noises, while she waits for the bus.

She's speaking to me.  Can you see it?  Her teacher also just told me she's been signing the word "candy at school to get a treat.  I'm impressed.

June with therapist

She's also been using the ipad and and participating in circle time.  I can't wait to spy on her.  She looks so happy.

June with her teacher

I'm ending with another brag.  My son told me for the first time that he loved me on Valentine's Day.  What a special treat.  I've been waiting for this moment for 5 years.  Most people get "I love you" at 2.  Not me. I guess he was waiting for perfect timing.  He came in the back door after being outside for a while, holding two perfect Camelia blooms (no stems of course) in his hand.  He said, "Mom, these are for you for Valentine's Day because I love you".  I melted, of course.

Five minutes later, my husband came in the door with these.  I guess someone is watching his Daddy.

I am blessed.

House in the night

We get our kids ready for bed the second we're finished with dinner.  It's up to the tub, towel off, lounge around naked, get dressed, get medicines, brush teeth, brush hair and then read a book or two or three or four.  Sometimes on rare occasions, by mistake, we fall asleep.

It is no joke to put these three rascals to bed. Although, they seem to think it's a party most of the time.

And now, note what June is doing.  Staring at a book.  A book she's been obsessed with.  Caught rocking in the rocking chair with.  House in the Night.  She fixates on one single picture the entire time.  I can't really figure out what she loves about it.  The millions of little lines? The violin case?  The music stand?  Certainly not the cat (Kat)...

June had one of the best days of her life.  She played with toys like a normal child and enjoyed swinging and bouncing at the park.  She ate without stuffing her mouth, was focused and delightful at therapy, and was just all-around happy. BUT the best thing by far was the unexpected thing that happened at snack time.  I am 99% sure she said "more" to me.  She looked at me in the eye when we were done with snack and said "Moaaaaw Mama" in a very low and deliberate voice.  I about fell over, but then I promptly got her more pretzels.  Just so I knew it wasn't my imagination, the therapist said she did the same thing today in therapy.  She was done playing with a really really cool toy that the therapist was holding and June looked at her and said "moaaaaw" as well.  Okay, we'll take it. And Hallelujah!

And now this house in the night is all quiet and vacuumed.  Good night little house. Good night sweet children. Good night husband who helps me put the babies to bed.  Good night friends. Good night Lord...and thank you. 

Stuck in a fleece

Have you ever been stuck in a fleece?  I mean, you wear the same
old fleece day after day after day because your butt continues to be cold?  I didn't realize I was actually doing this until my husband said to me the other day..."Hey honey, next time you get a fleece, could it be a nice color like pink or something?  I mean, you've had that dull gray thing on for years.  It's sort of a seal color...."  I tuned out after I heard the word "seal".  Really? Aren't seals big, fat and ugly too?  Oh I am telling you it is REALLY hard not to join a health club in January, but I need to hold out because every single January I do this.  I join a health club and go faithfully til it gets beautiful outside, then I don't ever want to go in that steamy place again.  So, maybe I'll try yoga once a week or something.  Something you only have to commit to in 8 week increments. 

So, besides the wearing of the daily fleece, all of my kids have been eating me out of house and home lately. And, I mean they're eating real food.  Not doritos and swedish fish.  I don't know what to make of it when my five year old has a peanut butter and honey sandwich with pickles, carrots, hummus, raisins and blueberries for lunch, then has an apple for dessert and then, not 10 minutes later is telling me he's hungry.  Or...when, my three year old gets off the bus at noon, just having a complete lunch, and makes her way to the table to get something more or steal the cheerios out of Charlotte's hand or off the floor.  My 9 month old went from (very free) breast milk to a full blown menu just over Christmas.  I even found her tinkering around in the pantry the other day.  My grocery bill is starting to sky-rocket and my husband is noticing. 

My babysitter must have thought I was absolutely crazy when she was about to throw a carrot away that had fallen on the floor and I stopped her in mid-throw to catch the carrot in the air to tell her that we do, in fact, eat off the floor.  And then 10 minutes later, I was on my hands and knees picking up all the Cheerios off the floor one by one to put them back on the table for the girls to eat...because have you seen how expensive Cheerios have gotten?  I'm buying the fake brand from now on.  Besides, is anyone else wondering about this gmo thing??  My sister has me worried about it.

Well other than gmo's, today was a good day. God painted the sky bright blue just for our family, so we got outside, got our cheeks a little sun-burned, and headed to the park.  I also got to take off my seal gray fleece and now I'm about to watch Downton Abbey. 

Yikes! I just found a picture of me in the gray fleece from 2 years ago!

Lucky One

It is the end of the year and all that keeps on going through my head is BAM: I AM THE LUCKY ONE.  Somehow, my three small children are still alive and well.  They were NOT shot to death when they went to school the morning of December 14.  Actually, they were all home sick with me that day and I remember being completely annoyed about that fact.  Shame on me.  Why do I keep trying to look forward to the BIG MOMENTS when all the little moments are so important and hold small golden treasures of their own (thank you Shauna Niequist and Cold Tangerines)?  I don't see them because I'm ready to move on to 7:30 pm when all my kids are safely tucked in bed and I can finally do the dishes, sit down to rest my weary body, and devour the chocolate treat I've been thinking about all day.

Sometimes I am a really good mom, for like 5 minutes.  I'll sit down and actually do a puzzle with them, pretend-play that a wolf is coming to get the silly little farm animals, help them watercolor a master-piece... then I move on to being a bad mom for a whole hour.  Ignoring my kids, yelling instead of disciplining, wishing they would play by themselves, letting them eat things they shouldn't and stare mindlessly into the TV.  Sometimes I can read my kids books like The Crippled Lamb or Mortimer's Christmas Manger (thanks, B!) and feel like I'm making a dent on their eternal perspective....because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt we're going somewhere else. Eventually.  Those precious little Newtown six year olds have found their home sooner than I.  I'm sad for their parents, really.  They are left to pick up their broken hearts and move on in a world too fast-paced for empathy and healing.

We celebrated Christmas tonight before making our trek to see family and with Faith Hill's Christmas album playing in the background (thanks, Jno!), I reminisced on the highlights (and lowlights) of this year.  Some things that stick out are:

-opening the door to our home on January 2, 2012 only to find the dishwasher still running after we had been gone for ten days.
-driving up the coast with my faithful friend Meryl, where I met my sister to tearfully drop off my (then) two kids so I could clean up the house, clean up my emotions, and get prepared for baby #3.
-waking up from a nap while pregnant and Kat (the blessing in my life and June's) had mopped the entire downstairs. 
-looking into the eyes of my 5 minute old baby girl and knowing that she was completely neuro-typical.
-telling June we should "go home now" and following her all the way home while she lead the way in her walker (this has only happened once).
-the Monday after Thanksgiving, my husband calling me and telling me there was no more work left for him at work.
-two times, in the last two weeks when my husband grabbed my hands and we prayed together, begging God for a miracle.  

Sitting by the Christmas tree, I feel God's hand of peace upon our lives, whispering in my ear that there's something good coming.  Looking forward to that moment of celebration.  In the meantime, I will celebrate this season of the Holy Child.  Merry Christmas!

June and Charli captured for a split-second

Freeze; she's poopy

I have a bad day about once a month.  Really, things are pretty good around here.  Just trying to raise a family.  I get tired in the afternoon like every other mom in the world...sometimes I "push-through" til dinner, and sometimes I collapse on the couch.  Sometimes, I squeeze five appointments or social engagements into one day, and sometimes, by mistake I eat five chocolate chip cookies; but today something happened that has never happened in my five years of raising children.

I had just bathed my precious little June bug, toweled her off, and left her on my bed for one second while I went to get her jammies.  I came back and what I saw made me freeze and call Rich at the top of my lungs.  Poop in the hand. Poop in the mouth.  Poop on the bed.  Poop in the hair.  Poop on the pillow. Poop all over June.  Where do you start?  What do you do?  Rich started yelling to swipe the poop out of her mouth and I was thinking, "I just watched her chew it up and swallow it."  I spouted, "You strip the bed, I'll clean the girl."  So you can imagine.  Bath #2.  A LOT of soap.  I was hoping she'd drink water to flush down the poop mouth.  I squirted toothpaste into her mouth to disinfect and deoderize.  Rich took her out, then she started throwing up poop.  Pajamas #2.  She went to bed pretty easily, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but her breath actually smelled good.

This was not really what I was going to write about, but it just happened tonight, so I had to.  I wanted you to know that your night was better than mine.  What I really wanted to say is that Iva June had a social breakthrough with Charlotte.  For the first time ever she interacted with Charlotte in a really sweet way.  We've been waiting for this moment for six months.  June had gotten home from school; Charlotte was on the back porch hanging out in the sunshine with her book.  June has a little Leapfrog magnetic machine that plays the ABC's.  She presses it and listens to it. 
So, she wanted to show Charlotte...

First, tentatively

Playing ABC's for Char

Both getting excited about it

Lied down next to Charlotte listening to music...was melting my heart!

To top it all off, June has been getting increasingly better with fine motor skills.  I think a combination of school, her new OT and trying new toys have helped to foster this in her.  Plus, she seems ready.  I gave her the letters, which I've never done before and she was putting them in the machine with little help.  It was an A+ kind of day and I could have stayed out on that sunny back porch all afternoon!

 This is a gift.  Even if it came with poopy.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."  James 1:17