Thankful

Our Thanksgiving plans changed last minute when my Mom broke her shoulder Sunday night. She'll love that I posted that on the blog. But I bet the 3 people that read this already knew (particularly since she is one of the three).


Publix makes a pretty good Thanksgiving meal to go. We loved the turkey. I enjoyed my job in charge of heating and serving. If heating and serving were all that is involved with preparing dinner I would be set. And I made appetizers and dessert. I could live on appetizers and dessert. Bad idea.



Our family at Thanksgiving. Apparently I forgot to tell Lamar to lean in. I did take a picture of Mimi and her sling for the memories. But I value my life too much to post it.


I was surprised how excited Luke was about Thanksgiving. He did not care for the parade though. I told him his speech therapist, Ms. Kristin, was at the parade and he should watch for her (thinking that might hold his attention a bit). He quickly found "her" in the first act, a high school cheer/dance team, and went back to Nick. He was very excited about the "special food," fixed his own plate, and devoured a turkey leg.


At lunch he decided we should do a chain prayer saying what we're thankful for. When it was my turn he said, "Daddy, tell that guy to pray." Nice.


There is so much to thankful for in each day. A couple of weeks ago we went out to eat with our friends George and Wendy and adorable baby Nathan who we never see despite how close we live to each other. But I learned they're among my three readers. So shout out to George and Wendy! The table was covered with paper and the hostess gave Luke crayons. He's not much for coloring and we'd already made our two trips to the restroom. To keep him occupied, I wrote his name on the table, hoping he'd do the same since he's really into writing his name lately. And he reached over and wrote M-O-M-M-Y. We've worked for MONTHS on his first name and now with no practice he's writing Mommy perfectly. I tore it off and brought it home with me. I would scan it in, but my computer problems continue.


As we were leaving, Luke wandered down the sidewalk and looked in the Great Clips window. Luke's last professional haircut was around age 2. My mom witnessed one of them and all the screaming and decided she would try cutting his hair herself. And Mimi has done a pretty fine job for a complete amateur. In recent months he's been doing so well with his haircuts that we'd discussed trying a professional again. I'd been gathering info from friends on where we should go.


So Luke looks through the Great Clips window and sees a little girl getting a haircut. He asks what she's doing. I respond, "Getting a haircut." He says, "Can I get one too?" I reply, "You sure can!" We abruptly end our conversation with George and Wendy and go into Great Clips. Lamar thought Luke would back out, but I was pretty sure by the look on his face he'd decided to do this. He marched right into the chair. His biggest worry was that he might fall off the booster.


Luke did fabulous. He still can't handle the clippers, but other than that he was perfect. We were SO PROUD!





Modeling the new haircut. He did get a new Wii game immediately following the haircut. Very dangerous precedent to set.


There was much to be thankful for in just that one evening. I can't begin to list all I'm thankful for. But one thing occurred to me this week. I'm thankful for my blog. I'm so thankful I have a record of the road we've traveled. Reading old posts where I logged each phrase Luke said, I realize how much I needed this. We tried so hard to stay positive. And blogging all the successes and the struggles really ordered my thoughts and gave me perspective. And I'm so thankful today that I don't need it like I used to. I still love to do it. I love to write. I love to remember. I hate to scrapbook. But I no longer need it to keep my sanity. Or maybe I do. I'm not going to experiment with that.

Women's and Men's

Warning . . .this post maybe a little TMI for some.

On the three trips we made in the last few months, we've noticed Luke has a little trouble with his tummy. Likely due dietary changes when we travel (more hot dogs and french fries, less fruits and vegetables). And also likely due to his unwillingness to pause a few minutes and spend a little time on the potty.

And on these last three trips, once he's seated and relaxed and in the car on the way home, nature calls about 50 miles into the trip. And we have a LENGTHY restroom stop. This happened on our way home from Destin last month. And Destin is a little drive from the interstate. A little drive through rural, south Alabama.

We luckily happened upon a clean gas station with large restrooms. I took Luke into the women's single restroom with me. And he sat and sat and sat. I told him he needed to stop talking or thinking about anything else and just use the potty. After about 10 minutes, Lamar knocks on the door and informs me a line is forming. It's possible I might have made a comment about what could I do, I was dealing with a child who hadn't pooped in 5 days. Maybe I said that.

So I tell Luke time to go. He protests he's not finished. I finally get him out of the restroom. The men's restroom is free (And there is no reason the women waiting couldn't have used the men's. It was a single restroom with a locking door.) so Lamar takes Luke with him. Moments later we have success.

Why am I blogging this lovely potty story? Because this was the beginning of Luke's bathroom obsession. In the weeks since our trip, any time we are out and about, Luke is suddenly struck with an overwhelming urge to potty. He usually bends over, kind of grabs himself, and mouths very dramatically, "I need to use the bathroom. Which one? Women's or Men's?" He always needs to go first to the women's with me. Seconds after we return from the restroom, the urge strikes again and he does the bending, grabbing, mouthing once again. This time he must go to the men's with Lamar.

The other day he HAD to go at Sonic. We told him Sonic doesn't have a potty. We didn't realize he could recognize the sign. Busted. Then he saw a fellow patron heading to the bathroom and said, "Is he going to the restroom?" When he saw him go in the restroom door he said, "I'm so excited!"

He asked Lamar last week if we could paint the bathroom door. Lamar relayed the info to me. I asked Luke what he wanted to paint. Women's and Men's. We compromised with some homemade signs.

Downstairs half-bath

Luke's bathroom

A few days later he decided the master bathroom needed a sign.

Master bath

I was a little worried we would have to adhere to the gender rules at all times, and I knew we'd certainly slip up on occasion. So far he just thinks it's hysterical when Daddy uses the women's or I use the men's. So far . . .

a tree and a boy

When we bought our house 7 years ago we had one tree in our front yard. I don't remember if had leaves at the time. It was October so probably not. The next summer we noticed the leaves were dying and wasps were swarming around the tree all the time. Our next door neighbors at the time said this happened every summer and the wasps always came.

So Lamar and I talked about removing the tree and planting something else. But we didn't know what kind of neighborhood board red tape we'd have to deal with. And as we do with most home improvements, we just left the wasp tree.

And then I started telling Lamar when we had children I didn't want wasps in the yard. It wasn't safe. That's the kind of thing I worried about premotherhood. Never mind our street is way too busy to play in the front yard.

Then our next door neighbors sold their house (back when you could sell houses) and new neighbors moved in. As we got acquainted, they mentioned they had a tree in their backyard that seemed to have the same problem ours did. They had an arborist (didn't know they existed) come look at the tree and he diagnosed it with scales. And scales can be treated with a simple anti-fungal (I think) root treatment you can get at Home Depot.

We purchased said product and began treating the tree. And that summer we had more leaves, less wasps. We continued to treat and each year it looked better. The last two springs it had pretty yellow blossoms. (Turns out it's a tulip something . . .poplar or maple? What do you know! I love tulips.)

It's a quirky tree though. It sprouts leaves off the trunk all the way to the base of tree.

But this fall the color was really beautiful. I enjoyed watching the colors change and the leaves slowly fall, just as the should at the right time of year.

So I got my boy to pose under the tree for some photos.

I so wish I was a good photographer. Karen, can I book you now to come take pictures next fall?

A tree and a boy. Both should not be underestimated (though we never considered cutting Luke down). With the right diagnosis and the right treatment, both miraculously flourished in their own quirky ways.

Helping Dad rake leaves in pajamas.

A Week of Halloween Revelry

What a week! Somehow this Halloween stretched into a week of festivities. My childhood memories of Halloween are one night of collecting candy. Luke had three and a party at school. But he LOVED it and it was worth every minute.

Luke really understood costumes this year. Anytime I mentioned it he had ideas. The three I heard the most were Mario, a boxer, and Dan Thomas (Channel 4 weatherman). As fun as a Dan costume would have been, and I bet Channel 4 would have shown his photo on TV, I think Mario was a bit more recognizable.

As soon as I scored a Mario costume, which was kind of tricky--Mario was pretty popular this year, Luke began saying that I would be Luigi. I was hoping he might forget about it, but no such luck.


Here we are are Trunk or Treat at Mimi and Papa's church. (Someone might find it entertaining that my hat is a Disaster Relief hat. I'm sure you recognize the braided cord across the front.)



So proud and excited. This was Halloween Round 1 for Mario.



Luke was so glad Mimi had a costume. Luke must not remember he incorporated this hat into his Spiderman costume last year. As soon as we arrived at Trunk or Treat Luke asked, "Papa, where is your costume!?" He skeptically repeated our answer several times that evening, "Papa is dressed as Papa," as if trying to convince himself that was indeed a costume.

Aren't these twins adorable? Luke totally got the concept this year. But he would not violate his self-imposed rule of one piece of candy per trunk. I think someone convinced his to take a piece for his mom. If they only knew how much of that candy his mom gets . . .

Wednesday was Trunk or Treat at our church. Of course Daddy needed a costume.

I asked everyone I knew if they had a gorilla mask, even a facebook status request. No luck. Monday I started searching online for gorilla masks and found one to print and tape to glasses. Then I had a stroke of brilliance and realized I could google Donkey Kong images, enlarge and crop it! I'm so glad my brilliance is reserved for things of major importance like Halloween costumes. And there you have it: Donkey Kong, Mario and Luigi.

Luke loved that his buddy Will was also Mario. Clearly Luke's mom got the cheap Mario costume, no gloves or inflatable belly.

Then Friday was Luke's school Halloween party. I was pretty proud of the little color sheet I created for the kids and bought some fun Halloween stickers. I was feeling confident in my Room Mom responsibilities. I'm a veteran party planner with one whole year of experience.

Friday rain was predicted and I began brainstorming ideas to extend the party a bit since we likely wouldn't be going to the playground. I thought I'd bring Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever and read to the kids. I mentioned this to Ms. Jenny at drop off and she told me the morning room mom brought three activities for the kids that they rotated through as centers. She said they had supplies left for two of the centers and we could use my coloring/sticker activity as the third. Seriously. I was upstaged as Room Mom. And there's the problem with pride. Even if I'm prideful about something completely ridiculous, like a Halloween party for 3, 4 & 5 year-olds, someone is still better than I am.

The kids had a fabulous time. Ms. Jenny said these were the smoothest parties she'd ever had. Understand that such a complete change in routine is a BIG deal to a lot of her students (obviously mine included there). And that's all the matters. But just wait til the Christmas party. Game on.

Mummy Luke. Not my idea. They loved it. But if I'm in charge of Luke's Kindergarten Halloween party next year we will be playing this game and I may or may not reveal where the idea originated.

And to conclude a week of celebrating, we trick or treated with our good friends Aiden and Durham last night.

Serious trick or treaters ready to head out. Luke loves them both and idolizes Aiden. Have I mentioned how much I love his developing friendships?

As I expected, Luke was a little hesitant about walking up to strangers doors and announcing trick or treat. It was one of the reasons we invited ourselves to trick or treat with friends. That and it was just great to spend some time together.

Luke quickly caught on and was soon ringing doorbells and peering through windows to see if anyone was home. Lamar was mortified and told him we do not look in people's windows. I thought that was part of trick or treating. I definitely remember doing that as a child.

Jackpot! When he got this full size candy bar he said, "Whoa! That's a BIG one!" This thrilled the generous family handing these out.

Luke even happily joined in playing with some neighborhood kids that gathered for a little party in the driveway. It was mostly hyper running around and playing a very unstructured version of tag. But Luke was right in the thick of them.

What a great Halloween! I'm exhausted.