This morning, as Daughter curled up in bed with me, I whispered, "Я тебя очень люблю" "I love you very much" and she replied, sleepily, "А я тебя еще больше люблю" "and I love you even more" It doesn't get any better than that.
Husband and I had a spur of the moment night out last night. Valentine's Day is just about flowers and chocolate in our house, because it's the eve of The Entrance of our Lord Jesus Christ into the Temple. Husband went all out for Daughter, and traveled the world of CVSes to buy her a battery operated rose that blooms. And I received the most beautiful bouquet I've gotten from him from 1800flowers.com

The lillies have smelled up the whole first floor of our house- and they are just as beautiful as the picture. Thankfully, there were no red roses in my bouquet....definitely ruins the bouquet....Anyway, Husband was texting me at work asking me when I would be home. I joked back saying - why? Are you surprising me with a babysitter and a night out? And that is exactly what he did! Of course I was the one who set it in motion, but as my father always says, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Or in my case, you have to say what you want! I don't know what the magical recipe of the evening was, but it is one that will linger in my memory for a long time. The mood was light, we talked and laughed a lot. Married almost 11 years, and we're still not that couple (who we did see at the restaurant) that silently eats together, yet separately.
On another note, I have been reading this author,Stephanie Haddad. Last week I downloaded her book, A Previous Engagement, onto my Kindle, which was available for free.

You never know what you're going to get with the free books, but it never hurts to download a book and try it out. Especially if it's free! If I hate the writing (which happens more often than I would like), I just delete it from my Kindle. Stephanie Haddad's writing captured me right away, and kept me reading. In fact, I read her second book (I paid1.99 or 2.99) in one evening, because I couldn't put it down.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't literature, and it isn't deep. It's Emily Giffin style, or Sophie Kinsella. She is funny and light, and the plots are worth sticking with to the end. I highly recommend her, and I can't wait till her third book is out. I read an excerpt over lunch today, and maybe it's a good thing I don't have it, because I'd be slamming through it right now.

Daughter Story Time

My 15-month old did something that neither of my other kids has ever done to date. When giving Baby a quick bath the other day, I didn't plug up the bathtub. We use one of the flat, circular stoppers. Baby totally figured me out, found the stopper and put it in the right spot to plug up the water! I was floored....and my belief that he is a genius was confirmed once again. lol.

Today I want to share some of Daughter's photography, and I believe it's quite appropriate for my Valentine's Day theme. Tonight, I feel the need to put down how much I love my children. However much I may complain, I would never give them back (yea, I know I can't even if I wanted to), and they light up my life. They make me responsible (I just don't always stay responsible). Husband sent me a picture at work today, and it made me realize how big the kids are getting, and how time is flying. I try to remember that when I am so irritated that I could just scream. It's hard to remember, though.

So back to Daughter's photography. I was going through my photos on my camera, and although I know that the kids hi-jack my camera sometimes, this is the first time that I've seen something that I wanted to keep.  And I even think they are worth sharing!

Apparently, Daughter has a new best friend - the Nutcracker. These are just a few of the many snapshots taken with him.

Here's the fun part: Daughter staged a story and captured it on film!

We may need to have a conversation about monogomy....

Little Bits

It’s that time of year again – when my clothes is tight and my mood is low. But I’m making a stand and I’m back on the wagon again with a different mind frame. It’s not about losing weight for me right now (although hopefully it will be an added bonus); it’s about making better choices and eating healthier. Tried a great new recipe from weightwatchers.com, a Moroccan stew. Not only was it healthy, but it was a slow cooker recipe! And it tasted (and smelled) great!

Can I just mention, as a side note, that I hate eating oranges? This ties in, because I’m trying to eat more fruits and vegetables, and although I do like oranges, I hate peeling them, and getting that orange peel stench on my fingers. I’ve had an orange sitting on my desk all week, and finally today I forced myself to peel it. I even washed my hands twice after peeling it, and I can still smell whiffs of orange peel on my fingers. Maybe I should draft Husband to peel the oranges for me…there’s an idea)

February 3, we went to Elizabeth Jordan’s reception for her Prayers and Written Offerings exhibit.

http://ejordanphotography.com/ 

 This is the exhibit where Son’s photograph is hanging. When we walked up to the photograph, the first “graffiti” that popped out at me made my throat constrict with tears. Son’s friend, Billy, who also has Ds, had written Hi Kyprian! By Billy and drawn a heart in which he wrote a K on one side and a B on the other. I know Billy. And I know how much effort it takes for a child with low muscle tone to form his letters. But beyond that, this was Billy’s testament of friendship with Son.  

May this friendship grow for the rest of their lives. It was so overwhelming to see the kind thoughts that were written for my son.  I tried to take pictures of every piece, but every time I walked away and came back, there would be more I wanted to capture.

Daughter immortalizing her love

It was so nice for Kypa's closest friends to be there

Daughter and Friend could not stop drawing

"He will keep you!" -I love this one

  

Another friend was featured.

 It was a pretty moving experience. My heart clenches when I read what I captured on camera.

The two stars

But I have to say, my favorite part of the exhibit was the mirror, where you could reflect on yourself.

 It was a bit distracting to have so many people around, so even though I did write on every photograph, and on the mirror, I don’t feel like I really bared my soul, or wrote anything that I would have written had I had a chance to just be with each photo.

Friday night, Daughters tooth fell out! She has been waiting for this day for a long time. Earlier in the day, she told Husband, “You know what will happen when my tooth falls out? I’ll only be able to speak in English.” I had a long, hard laugh about that one. She was very anxious about the tooth fairy coming, and although she initially wanted to put her tooth in this plastic tooth container that her friend gave her, she decided not to because she was worried the tooth fairy wouldn’t find the tooth. We opted for a small zip lock bag used for extra buttons, and she wrote a nice little note to the tooth fairy. I’m sure the tooth fairy appreciated it, because she left a note for Daughter as well. So sweet. Except the tooth fairy forgot to tell Daughter to brush her teeth every day, but remembered to tell her to buy some candy with the money she left. You can’t win ‘em all.

I watched this clip today, and had to swallow my sobs. I don't know why I cry like a baby whenever I hear Kelle Hampton's birth story. Makes me wonder if I have pent-up emotions about my own special birth.

I love hearing the kids' personal prayers at bedtime. We have a ritual; we pray, and then theoretically, they are supposed to get into bed so I can sing to them and get on with my evening. But they like taking this one icon of the Theotokos and saying their own personal prayers. Here's Kypa's on any given day: "Сибо Божка сииильм! Сибо Божка Мэри Поппинс!" which is "Thank you God for movies! Thank you God for Mary Poppins!" Tonight Manya's made me laugh out loud: "Пожалуйста Боженька помоги мне что бы я не проглатила зуб!" Please, God, help me not to swallow my tooth!  You can't make this stuff up, people!

But on that note, I can't believe that Daughter's tooth is loose already! She's not even five! So you know where my paranoid, crazy mother thoughts took me? If she loses teeth early, is she on the fast track in physical development? Is she going to get her period early too?! I know, I know. I'm crazy. But my thoughts did go there.

Can I just say that I love love love how much Baby is signing? I love how he tells us when he's tired at night. He will walk up, bang on your arm and make the sign for sleep. Or he'll walk to the bottom of the stairs and point up. He's 15 months and only says Mama, Papa, Boo! and Ho-ho-ho (Santa), what a weird combination, I know! But at least he can sign to tell us that he's hungry, wants more, is done, is thirsty, needs a diaper change or wants to go to sleep. With Baby being the third, I doubt I'll be waiting on my tip-toes to hear Baby talk...I waited for Son and Daughter, and now I can't get a word in edgewise! I never thought the words would come out of my mouth, but I did tell Son one day - You are talking too much!

A Moment In Time

How often do I count the minutes before I can put the kids to bed? How often do I pray for the kids to just.stop.talking? I came home from work today....well, really this started yesterday....Daughter announced yesterday that tomorrow (today) she was going to take pictures of us in front of the Christmas tree. All fine and dandy, except yesterday we forgot, and she only remembered when it was time to go to bed. Of course. So I told her we could do it in the morning.Which we didn't, because it's always a war zone around here in the mornings. Getting ready for work, for school, for life. So, fast forward to evening, when I walk in the door after a full day of from work. The kids assail me, which is typical. And heartwarming. Until it's not. After wrestling with all three kids in my work clothes,  I go upstairs and change into something more comfortable. We sit down to dinner, and Daughter announces that we haven't taken pictures yet, and in order for her to take pictures, we all have to dress up. What?! I had just changed, so I told her she could take pictures of me as I am. And she refused. Of course. No pictures if we don't dress up. I was firmly standing my ground. Suddenly I realized that Husband was nowhere in sight. And then, there he was. Walking down the stairs in a suit and tie!

The kids were in the other room, and I knew what I had to do. I went upstairs and put on a dress (and spanks). Husband rocked it by putting on some pandora tunes on the iPhone, and a party was under way! Daughter was so happy, and here is the evidence of our everyday moment gone glamorous:

 

Tonight was one of those perfect evenings that I hope to never forget. It was what makes parenting worth it. I am so grateful to Daughter for staying true to the end result she wanted, and I am so grateful to Husband for taking that extra step to motivate me. Because the truth is, if it were up to me, it would have been pretty mundane tonight.

Short and Sweet

Just a few rambling thoughts today. Expect to see more of these in the future. This month has been a smorgasbord of achievements for the kids. Baby is signing oh so much! He is cutting 5 teeth at one time, and is still smiling. What an awesome kid.

Daughter is swimming on her back and Son has finally let go of his fears of floating, and has started swimming (with flotation device)! Daughter is always awe-inspiring in her thoughts; two favorites to share:

• God gives Ded Moroz (Father Frost) presents to give to everyone
• the day it snowed (finally), "God finally listened to me!"

 which spawned the lesson that God never sends anything that we don't need. If He didn't send it, that means it is not a benefit to us. If she doesn't remember that tidbit, I hope that at least I will!

Son is ever the constant fame builder. A photograph of him is featured in Elizabeth Jordan's art exhibit in NYC. We will be attending a reception on February 3. 

On another note, Son's teacher also submitted some of Son's own photography to an art show called Downright Art! featuring artists with Down syndrome. Son's artwork was accepted, and they will be part of an exhibit in March! More info on that to come.

I am a Lioness

When they told me that a mother is her child's best advocate, I listened. Or should I say, I heard, but didn't really listen. I go through these hot and cold periods; sometimes, I am all about pushing Son to learn things, other times, I'm all about just being a mom. Just leave us be, I think. Just let me be a mom. I don't want to be thinking that Pez make a good OT exercise, or that we need to be doing sit ups right now. I just want to play for playing. But there comes a time where you realize the truth of the words - the only person who is going to stick up for your son is you. I've made decisions in the past that I wasn't sure about, and today feel that we may have gone down a different road had we made different decisions in the past, but I don't dwell on that. I believe I made the best decisions for that point in time, and perhaps, faced with the same decisions, I wouldn't be surprise if I chose the same way I did back then.
It's been two years since Son went to Kindergarten. For two years, we've put him on an hour long bus ride one way for him to get his public education. Every year at his CSE meeting, we revisited our desire to have him educated in our home district, in his home school, and every year I felt it wasn't right. First, it was because our school district was revamping the entire special ed department the year Son entered Kindergarten. I preferred to send him into a stable environment where I knew he would succeed. This year felt right, somehow, and it seemed that the stars were aligned.
Our family met with the Superintendent of our school system, who was an elementary school principal during a time when a boy with Down syndrome was fully included. That boy completed K-12 in our school district and is now aging out of the system. The Superintendent was very welcoming. He suggested we visit both our home school and a neighboring elementary school within the district that houses the self-contained classrooms. Once we visited both schools, we scheduled a followup CSE to discuss which school Son would go to. At least, that's what we thought we were going to discuss. I won't bore you with the details, but I wanted to share some of our experience at this meeting. The school side of the committee came into the meeting with their minds made up - there would be no place for Son within the school district next year. They based their decision on testing that was deemed unsatisfactory at our previous CSE. The person who headed the meeting quoted laws that I later learned did not pertain to Son. I was numb with shock. I never expected this sort of outcome. I remember hearing the words - we are not required to provide him a program. We're only required to make sure he is educated. - or something to that effect. I left that meeting devastated. When I came home and spent a day or two shell-shocked, pacing the house, I realized that my time had come. It was time to overcome the hurdle of confrontation, it was time to stop worrying about what other people think, it was time to push for what I felt was best for Son. It took a bit of self-coaching, but I picked up the phone and called the Superintendent. I asked if I had misunderstood the welcome I felt from him and the principals we had met on our visits, and I asked if he could help me answer my questions as to what happened at the meeting. Within two hours, the Superintendent had the assistant director of special ed in his office, and set the tasks to have Son transferred to our local elementary school into motion. Of the many things I have accomplished in the almost 7 years of parenthood, and thirty-something years of living this was one of the most rewarding moments of  my life. I am a Lionness, hear me Roar!