The Guy

Donny was sick this morning--he threw up a couple of times and was very, very lethargic. Mike had to work today so it was just me and Tiny Tim. I ended up having to give him a shower, which logistically is usually a 2 person job. He perked up after that and, once I got him toweled off and dressed, he announced it was "Videotime!" which means watching small selection of Donny Approved selections on YouTube. Lately its been Sesame Street but today he kept asking for something that I could'nt understand. Finally I cracked the code: "You want to see the guy?" "Yeah!" I don't know if I've mentioned it before on this blog but this has been one of Donovan's favorite things to watch for about a year now. He was so into it today that I managed to fold a whole basket of clean clothes in 4 minute increments.

Christopher Walken is my babysitter.

The Christmas Clock is Ticking.../Happy Solstice!

We're gearing up for Christmas here on Herron Avenue. Please note the perfection of our fantastic tree: One of the perks of being from an older family (as in all your relatives are old) is that you eventually end up with a bevy of antique ornaments. Of course this windfall is the result of my aunts deciding that their 3ft. artificial tree "was'nt worth the effort." I try not to think about that too much. At least I can put their old ornaments to good use:
Donovan very much likes the tree and has been playing in his House alot, which has been uprooted and moved across the room to make room for said tree:
He's also been playing alot with his freakishly huge Tonka dumptruck. That thing makes me realize just how big our house is. The layout often feels constricting but squarefootagewise, its pretty impressive. The kid was amusing me last night by using his Made in China Tonka truck to transport all his made by hand out of naturally dyed wool Waldorf inspired toys.
Best of both worlds, I suppose.

Me, I'm trying to get everything done before Zero Hour. So far I've managed to bake two batches of biscotti and I've got the dough for some Joe Froggers in the fridge. There is much giftwrapping to be done, at which time I will survey where I am and who I've neglected. The good news is that a quick trip to the Waterfront was all I needed to finish up for the Mom and the Aunts. The sister, however, is a quandry...

But now its time to address cards. We left off till now hoping we could get a good picture of the boy to include but he's just too fast for me. Tomorrow starts his two weeks off of daycare and my one week off of work. Tomorrow is also a busy day for him as his OT therapist is coming in at 10 and his speech therapist will be stopping by after 6pm. Dang.

Needles and Pins

It’s been quite the week, I must say. I had two major meetings at work which required much last minute number crunching from me. In between the two meetings I took a sick day because I got this monster cold. There was lots of stuff in between but here is why I’m on pins and needles: the meeting today that I couldn't miss fell in such a way that I had to cancel my plans to pick up my kid from Waldorf. Today is the last day before a two week break and his program gets out at 3. Planning for his pick up at the last minute got very baroque and now involves Sheryl, Mike’s folks, The Quiet Storm, the car seat and me getting picked up after work at 5. What I’m worried about is the kid going completely freakdeaky about someone who’s not me taking him somewhere that’s not Whole Foods. Lately he’s been not at all down with change. Plus, we are in the middle of Binkston Cold Turkey—we did the cutting off the end thing and that seemed to work and, so far, he hasn’t had any sort of binkstonworthy meltdown. I certainly hope that he’s alright. I haven’t gotten any exasperated texts from Sheryl yet and its almost 4. Maybe that means they are having a lovely time together. Maybe that means he’s been laying in the Waldorf parking lot screaming for an hour.

Say what you will: I have the next week off and today is the day that I earned it. Man I cannot wait to stop worrying!

OT for DVS

Donovan had an appointment with his Occupational Therapist last night. She had already spent time with him at Waldorf so this was his second time with her but the first time Mike and I had seen her in action. I felt like Donny was at a bit of a disadvantage as she got to our place a little bit late. By then he had had dinner and was winding down and in comes Ms. Whirlwind and Her Bag of Toys.

I’m not using Whirlwind in the pejorative sense--this gal was wonderful but she was a big personality and even I felt a little crowded out by her at first. It was pretty amazing to watch her work with Donny and she gave us some really great advice as well. First, she asked to go thru his toybox, which I was going to ask her to do anyhow. My suspicion that he’d outgrown a lot of the toys in there was confirmed, tho I had to remind myself that her enthusiasm for dismissing outgrown toys was in no way an accusing finger pointed at my mothering or Donny’s development--knee jerk reactions are such odd things… She also suggested that, to wean the kid off Binkston [that’s the pacifier for those of you not hip to the lingo] that we can let him have it but that we cut off the tip. Genius! I’d never heard of such a thing but it sounds like it might work. I hope that’s the pacifier equivalent of The Patch because he’s definitely hooked--tho his usage is probably the equivalent of the cigarette after dinner and maybe before that big test. She also showed us how to lead him in using phrases as opposed to single words--he responded very well to her when she did it and he seemed ok with Mike and I trying it too. She went on to say that she thought he was “very well placed” at Waldorf and that she was happy with how he was playing there and that he was “running around” and playing with his peers. BIG sigh of relief on that one: I’d pretty much talked myself into the idea that the freewheeling Waldorf style wasn’t structured enough for him but, according to what she said, its fine--better than fine, in fact.

So with all that under our belts I went on Amazon and ordered a couple new toys for the kid. We’ve been trying to keep Christmas to a dull roar this year but its coming at a time where he needs to upgrade so why not take advantage of the crazy ass sales out there?

The Tools Make the Man

So last night I had a lovely dinner with Sheryl--and upon coming home was immediately wracked with chills and a variety of other types of "discontent." While the rest of the evening and most of today were unpleasant, it was actually a relief: I'd spent the majority of my work day wondering if that nervous breakdown I've been trying to outrun had gained on me. Turns out it was just a fever! Hooray for fevers!

Since I was out of commission, Mike took Donny to Light Up Night in Polish Hill. The kid came home sucking on a candy cane and carrying a present from Santa. The label on it said "BOY 3+" Now how did Santa know that? Anyhow, Donny was all excited to see that he got a set of Real Fake Power Tools! We didn't take them out of the box yet as he was more excited to see that I'd made him a big bowl of pasta. Tomorrow, tho, we'll start working on that Real Fake Deck I've been wanting.

Joking aside, I was sorry I missed Light Up Night here in the Hills of Poles. Sounds like it was nice and nicely done.