Moonsand and Clapping (but not clapping for moonsand)

Moonsand. We've played with it all of three times I think. And I find little clumps of it everywhere. I think from this day forward all "sensory experiences" will be reserved for the classroom. I just don't have the facilities. I'm so very far from a neat freak but the Moonsand makes me nutty. And Luke plays for with for 15-20 minutes. I can't imagine if he were a "typical" kid that played with it for hours. I would be over the edge for sure.

This photo also disturbs me because Luke looks so old. Have I said that every post lately? I think so. Maybe it's the haircut. But he looks so big. So much like a kindergardener. My heart is breaking.

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I am very proud to report Luke went to a program at school last week like an old pro. No written schedules or special accomadations needed. Ms. Jenny did report he looked back once to check in with her. She gave him a thumbs up and he told his buddy, "I think Ms. Jenny is so proud." Then after the program he asked her if she was indeed proud. The boy will fish for a compliment.

He clapped and cheered along with all his friends and never needed to cover his ears. Remarkable since every Sunday he asks me if there will be clapping at church and informs me he won't be able to sit through clapping. Hmm, very suspicious.

This reminds that last week while we were eating dinner Luke said, "Tell me about when Jesus comes." Only in recent weeks has he had any interest in Bible stories. I mean any at all. Previously he has not been a fan of reading the Bible But maybe as his comprehension improves it's more interesting. Or maybe it's because I tell him how proud I am when he picks the Bible to read. Is that bribery?

So back to Luke's question. Lamar responds, "Do you want to hear about the first time Jesus came or the next time he's coming?" Luke said, "Um, the next time." I whisper to Lamar, "DO NOT BE SCARY!" (a lot of emotion in my whisper). I remember as a child being scared of the end of time/Jesus' return. Terrified.

So Lamar tells Luke something about Jesus coming back and us all living with him along with all our family members. Luke takes it all in it seems and then says, "Will there be clapping?" And Lamar said, "If there is any clapping, it won't scare you at all anymore. I promise. Nothing will scare you anymore."

Weekend Appreciation

What a gorgeous weekend! Sunshine and 60s was so fabulous. And what a cold, cloudy Tuesday.


My very big boy after church on Sunday. He's just seemed so much bigger lately. Time is just zooming by. I wish I could just pause time and soak up every moment before it whizzes past.





Sunday afternoon we tried out some sidewalk chalk Luke got for his birthday. This was slightly more interesting to him than doing crafty things indoors, but not much. I did convince Luke to lie down on the driveway and let me trace his body. And then it was my turn. That aggregate driveway is not comfy.

After our chalk drawings, Luke and I walked to the school playground. He had fun and we were heading home we ran into our neighbors Kevin, Carolyn and little Ryan. Luke begged to play with them for a while so we did. He had a blast. Lamar was working so he'd been stuck with me all day and it was funny how happy he was to have new folks to talk to.

Luke asked Carolyn several times if they had a dog. I explained his fear of dogs is at an all time high. He reviewed for her all our friends that have dogs and who is nice enough to put their dog away when we visit.

As we walked home Luke asked Carolyn where they lived and she showed him their house. She told Luke he should come over sometime. He said "I can come over and I can stand on your floor." Carolyn said, "Well, okay!" I told her I suspect that is because she does not have a dog, because if she did, he could not stand on her floor. He would have to be carried. Trust me. I know. Luke confirmed I was right.

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This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at Luke's school. I really thought it was in April, but apparently not. Luke made cards last night for his teacher, aids, therapists, and student teacher. 7 cards. Amazing for Luke. He worked so hard without complaining. He wrote each name, I transcribed his note, and he wrote "Love, Luke" (well, he didn't do the comma). So his first card was to Ms. Jenny and he said, "Ms. Jenny, Thank you for liking my haircut. I love you so much. Love, Luke"

The next card, "Ms. Jodie, Do you like my haircut? I love you so much. Love, Luke"

Next up, "Ms. Bonnye, I like your haircut. I love you so much. Love, Luke"

Then "Ms. Lisa, I have great days at school. I love you so much. Love, Luke"

The last 3 cards were all the same, "Ms. (Sara, Susan, Lisa), I like your haircut. I love you so much. Love, Luke"

Bed and Taxes

Luke got a new quilt, sham, and bed skirt this week. Hooray for Marshall's! Hooray for Mimi going to Marshall's!

It jumps well.

Now I'd really like to find him a headboard. I've considered attempting to make (gasp!) a padded one. It looks so easy and inexpensive. And I'm sure it would be if I had one ounce of craftiness in me.

Luke spent last night at Mimi and Papa's house. I called this morning to arrange his transfer back to us. Luke got on phone and asked me, "What are you and Daddy doing?" I answered, "Well, we've been filing our taxes." (We're just crazy fun like that.)

Luke immediately asked, "Oh, did you use Turbo Tax?"

I said, "What?!!!" And he repeated the question.

I said, "Well, yes we did. What do you know about Turbo Tax?"

And he said, "I saw it on TV." Shocker.

OMG

Yesterday was Luke's first day back since his haircut. Seriously. A holiday, a snow day, and no school on Wednesdays. Ms. Jenny said he walked in and kept touching his hair until she asked him he'd had a haircut and complimented him on it.

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A few weeks ago Luke started saying, "oh my gosh". And I didn't want him to. I know where he heard it. Televisions most exciting hour. The fabulous 60 minute Price Is Right.


So we battled it out a couple of days and Luke decided he would say "oh my". I decided I could live with that. And he said "oh my" all the time for a couple of days and then kind of forgot about it.

Today we were leaving for school. Luke was piddling, as always. I call it "piddling" because that's what my mom called it when I did the same thing as a child. I was frustrated that he was being slow and that I couldn't find my keys. I said, "Luke, please get in the car. You are 5 years old and can do it by yourself."

Luke leans against the van, slowly "trying" to get in and making up a song while I empty the contents of my purse to find my keys on the bottom. He's very quietly singing a song that sounds sort of like Jesus Loves Me. But then I hear, "Jesus says oh my gosh."

It Snowed. Again.

I've lost count of how many times it has snowed this winter. But I'm pretty sure Luke's missed six days of school.

It snowed again today and I am so over it. There are reasons we live in the south. A big one is my inability to drive in the snow.

We enjoyed watching the flakes fall.

We were warm and cozy inside, watching a little Price is Right. At least this snow came on a holiday. No missed school. I had planned on going to work, but I have an extra free day to work this week, so a great day to do nothing and stay inside.

But I decided we needed just a few more snow pictures. I couldn't really play in the last snow since I was recovering. And this could be the last snow of the season (please! PLEASE!) So I drug everyone outside after my favorite lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup. I even took the tripod. I'm hardcore.

Everyone is thrilled. Lamar looks ready to rob a bank. And I have an enormous purple hand.

Apparently Lamar and I did not get the memo this was the surprised photo. And the tripod was a bit crooked.

Would be awesome without Luke's scrunched face.

I took a few as Luke danced around in the falling snowflakes.

He lets me know how he feels about the photo shoot.

And now he smiles.

There wasn't much to do in the snow. Not enough for a snowman. Too powdery for a decent snowball. So Luke decided he needed to climb a tree (with a lot of help). His hat got caught on a branch and his way up.

It was a nice day to do nothing together. And Luke just announced he just won both showcases on Wii Price is Right. Very good day.

Commercial Appeal

I really want to be a blogger that updates every few days. Not that anyone cares to read about our non-adventurous adventures that frequently. I just enjoy it. And if I blogged that frequently, it wouldn't be so hard for me to piece together the little things from our lives that I'd like to remember to compose one coherent post. So, this post will be anything but coherent.











The other night Luke found these Halloween stickers, because my house is so incredibly organized that Halloween stickers are sitting around in February. He sat quietly on the floor putting them on his face and pajamas and said, "Hey Mom, look at me!" And for reasons I can't explain, at that moment all I could think was "Thank you Lord!"






Several things lately have brought to mind Luke at age 3, when he was just beginning preschool. I remember Luke's very first IEP meeting. He had to come along with us because little Maggie was being born and Mimi and Papa were in Oklahoma for her birth. And there was no one I could leave Luke with without him screaming the entire time.




During the meeting Luke was wandering around the room, and likely because he was feeling anxious said, "Mama . . . . Come!" It was the first time he'd ever asked me to come.






I think the magnitude of his delays at that age has only recently hit me. Probably I just didn't let myself think about it at the time. What good would it have done? And so thinking how far he's come, considering the considerable developmental delays we began with, I'm just so thankful.




And yet after Lamar working all weekend, which means he is gone 5:45 a.m. til about 8:00 p.m., if I hear, "Mom will you please come?! Mom!!!! Mom!!!!" one more time . . .

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Luke's got a new 'do! I think I may have finally found THE person to cut Luke's hair. It was just a couple of months ago that Luke got his first professional haircut (since he was a baby). Since that cut, I've been trying to find someone that will cut it short without using the clippers. He absolutely can't handle the clippers. I can hold his head still for the sideburns, but he simply cannot relax his neck when the clippers get close. The last time we tried he got nicked. So Luke had the long little boy haircut. Which was kind of cute, but it grew so fast he needed a cut every two weeks! Thank you Jeanna at Great Clips for finally getting it and not being afraid to cut some hair!




Luke looked at himself in the mirror this morning and said, "Mom, thank you for my haircut!"




And I'm thinking about painting our living room that blue color in the photo above. Thoughts? I'm expecting tons of comments on that. The last comment I got was spam in Japanese (maybe) except for a certain word. Anyone know how I can delete comments? Anyway, I painted a small section of the room this blue while I decide. I asked Luke today if we should paint the whole room that color. He was playing Wii at the time. He immediately paused the Wii and said, "Oh yeah! Let's do it right now!"

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Luke and some friends playing a game show. I think this was Catch 21. The boy in the yellow hat had just been eliminated.







Luke as Bob Saget before we played 1 vs 100. He insisted on the glasses.

He hasn't watched any GSN in about 2 weeks. I wonder if the game show phase is on its way out. I won't be sorry, though he really hasn't obsessed to the same level as past "phases" with this one.

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I may have blogged before about Luke's love for commercials. He begged me to buy Glucerna and Elations at the grocery store the other day, though he's not diabetic and I'm pretty sure his joint health is good. They advertise heavily on GSN. I'm thinking the average GSN viewer is a little older than Luke.

He frequently suggests I go to Wal-mart to "save money, live better." He often requests I buy him some Listerine. I can only imagine what he would do if he ever put Listerine in his mouth. He is so scared of dogs but the other day he told me he wanted a dog so we could buy Kibbles and Bits and Beggin' Strips.

I don't think I ever blogged about a shopping experience just before Christmas. I ran in a grocery store on our way to Wednesday night Bible class to pick up a treat for the children in my class. Luke was begging for every item he recognized from ads. As I was trying to rush out he pulled a box of Splenda off the shelves. He insisted we needed it. I didn't have any artificial sweetener in the house, and I knew we were having company soon who would like for coffee. So I found the smallest box of Splenda and headed to check out. Luke carried the Splenda, holding it high above his head and announced, "SWEET!" to every shopper we passed. Just a few days ago I saw a Splenda commercial and they do exclaim "Sweet!" repeatedly.

Hope all had a happy Valentine's Day! I enjoyed the day with my SWEET! boy.

Obligatory Snow Post

We, along with about half the country, got some snow this week. And here are our snow pictures, as posted on every other blog this week.




Our backyard. I think we had around 4 inches. That is a lot for us. Some of it snow, some of it ice. It was too slippery according to Luke and he took some convincing to venture into the backyard. He slipped on some ice during our last snow, and goodness knows he never forgets something like that, making him extra cautious.


The day of our snow I had some out patient surgery. Not a big deal, just something I'd been putting off for a while. It did take us nearly 2 hours to get home from the hospital, normally about a 45 minute trip. The roads were not bad, but in true Southern fashion, every one left work and rushed home as soon as the flakes started falling, making a real traffic mess.

Luke spent Thursday and Friday night at Mimi and Papa's house. Sunday I convinced him and Lamar and go outside for a bit. And they built a couple of snowmen. I just stepped out the door to take a few obligatory photos.



Luke was much more interested in destroying the snowmen.

Luke was really dying to play with our neighbor, who wasn't that interested. So I called a friend and he and Lamar headed to our buddy Cooper's house and they enjoyed some fun times in the snow, but Daddy wasn't interested in lugging the camera along. Understandably.




Monday our snow and ice was still hanging around and school was cancelled again. We headed out for a bit Monday afternoon. While we were out, Mimi and Papa drove up. You see Luke was thrilled.

Luke convinced us to make snow angels. I'm not sure how he even knows about snow angels. Have I mentioned how exciting it is when he knows about typical kid things that I haven't taught him? Only about a hundred times? I think he learned this from a book at school.

Another view. I'm feeling much better but I don't recommend snow angels the same week as surgery. And I lost my earring back. Worth it though.

I really believe in keeping your head covered.

Short range snow ball fight. These were more like ice balls and Luke did hit me in the mouth. Nice. I set myself up for it.

Good times in the snow. And I'm definitely ready for school to reconvene.