Obedience?

I try (feebly) to curb Joel's tv watching and computer game playing. Today after school and soccer I let him come home and watch an hour of tv. Then he had to turn it off. A few minutes after the tv was off I could hear Joel behind me opening the door to the basement headed toward the computer, so I told him in no uncertain terms that there was no computer right now. Probably less than ten seconds later I hear the basement door creaking open again. "Joel," I said, "You have to be obedient." His reply "obedient smobedient!" I loved it. He used his own language to mirror in different words a phrase that he has heard others use and he did it correctly. Yea Joel! Of course I won't be so happy if I hear my other children respond that way in a similar situation.

Autism Hurts

Autism hurts. It hurts when people don't understand. It hurts when parents you once thought were allies become opponents. It hurts when you feel alone. It hurts when you feel misunderstood. It hurts to feel isolated. It hurts to feel different. It hurts to be judged. It hurts to worry about the future. It hurts.

Snow!

We had a bit of snowfall today that stuck around for enough time to play. I asked Joel and Eli if they wanted to go outside and play, Eli said yes, but Joel said, "No, I'd rather stay inside where it's warm." Eli and I headed out and Eli had a grand time just going around the block. He loved that his shoes made Diego and Baby Jaquar prints in the snow. I figured out that he's so into the footprints because we've been reading "The Snowy Day" book by Ezra Jack Keats.

The snow was coming down in powdery little flakes and Joel loves to catch that type of snow on his tongue, so we headed back in to get him.

Laurie told me that as soon as Eli and I had gone outside, Joel climbed onto the counter and started rummaging around in the cupboards. Laurie asked him what he was doing and he said that we was going to make hot chocolate for mommy and Eli. So cute!!

Anyway we started bundling up Joel and Laurie decided she would get Cara's snowsuit on, and that they would come out too.

I managed to snag some snowpants for Joel and Eli last year off of freecycle, so they were extra warm.

They had so much fun throwing snowballs and making snow angels and just running around. It wasn't much snow, but they really made the most of it.

This past Christmas I realized I needed to make a stocking for Cara. My mom had given me my childhood stocking which was still in good shape, so I ripped the Amy off of it and put Cara's name on. When I went to hang the stockings up, I realized I had never made one for Eli either, I thought I had. So I told Eli, who can't read, that Daddy's stocking was his -- which he thought was great since Daddy's stocking is the biggest. I also hung up a cheapie stocking that we had used last year that had Eli's name in black marker on the back.

Well one day when Eli was playing with the stockings he noticed that the cheapie red one had his name on the back of it(he can read his own name), and he asked Daddy if that was his. Kelly said yes and Eli protested, "But it don't got no stuff on it!"

Christmas letter 2008

Hey all!

We thought we'd send our Christmas letter fashionably late this year so as to make a noticeable statement -- it wasn't that we were disorganized and behind schedule at all.

Our biggest most recent news took place in 2007. On December 6th we welcomed Cara Noelle into our home. She arrived six weeks early and weighed 5 pounds 4 ounces. Thankfully she was healthy as a horse. She's a happy little girl and I'm loving having another female in the house. She just turned one and among her first words are "Dora" and "backpack", and no I never let my children watch TV.

Eli, our child with the angelic face and demonic soul -- just kidding -- his face really isn't all that angelic (ha ha), is enjoying his first year of preschool. Tuesdays and Thursdays he attends a local program and another two days each week he and I participate in a co-op preschool. I get to teach him every fourth week and it's fun for both of us. And yes in case you were wondering, I keep him busy four mornings a week because I NEED a break from my precious munchkin.

Joel's becoming quite the little swimmer. Always afraid of completely submerging his head under water, he overcame his fear this past summer and is now happily paddling away as often as he can get to a pool. His current game show obsession is The Price is Right and he asked Santa Claus for the Wii version of aforementioned show. After finding and opening his new game he was immediately off to play it, his other presents no where near as paramount.

Kelly's busy working, working and working some more at Northrop Grumman. Still, in spite of his super busy schedule he still makes time to be a great husband and father. Cara has been our worst sleeper and it's usually Kelly that gets up to quiet her during her middle of the night crying jags. Thank you honey, you're the best!

I'm of course doing the mommy thing and I love my little rugrats in spite of their temper tantrums, potty accidents and bouts of the flu. They wear me out, but the sweet things they say and do make everything worth it.

Last summer, Joel picked a rose from the backyard, brought it over to me and said, "Mom, you're nice, you're beautiful and you're fantastic!"

I mean in what other job would I get such precious and loving feedback? Quite the perk!

Here's hoping that you and your family are happy and doing well.

Warmest wishes!

Kelly, Amy, Joel, Eli and Cara Ethington

Pictionary, potty training Eli and cute Cara

I played Pictionary with Joel today. I love playing with him because I love seeing his drawings and his interpretations. Also if he doesn't know what something is, it's a good learning opportunity. Today he drew THE BEST ambulance complete with siren and cross. I was so proud of him.

I love the confidence he exudes when we play. "Mom I'm really good at this game because I'm such a good drawer." I so want that confidence to stay in his little soul and it warms my mommy heart to hear it.

He's also very into The Price is Right now. Kelly tapes it everyday and they watch it daily after dinner. When Joel's home he's yanking me around to play another Price is Right game. I love seeing his creativity when he incorporates the various pricing games to make them his own

He's continuing to have trouble at school keeping his hands to himself. I kind of blame the soccer camp I put him in last summer where he learned lots of bad habits. He does better when we've promised him a reward if he has so many good days total. So far he's gone to a haunted house, seen High School Musical 3 and is working on a trip to a water slide park with Daddy.

Eli is still such an adorable looking little person. A month or so ago I was teaching grace arts at Joel's school. Eli was at preschool at Emily Walsh's house and Katie Robertson was watching Cara. As soon as preschool ended Emily brought Eli over to Katie's house where Cara was. Katie's little boys kept telling Eli to look at the baby girl they were watching. When I picked Eli and Cara up and we were riding home in the car Eli asked me where Cara was. I told him she was right next to him in her car seat. "NO!" he shouted, "That's baby girl!"

Eli's potty trained, but he doesn't like to do anything on his own. He ALWAYS wants me to be a part of his potty experience and he won't poop in the toliet, but luckily he doesn't do it in his underwear either. He usally has a bowel movement after he goes to bed when he has his nighttime diaper on and Kelly almost always changes it. What a nice husband!

Cara's developing more and more into her own little person. She can stand quite well on her own right now and is mimicing us more and more. When I nurse her or feed her a bottle, she just squeezes her fist and signs "milk" over and over again. It's so cute!

She's definitely my worst sleeper though, she's still not sleeping through the night.

First Grade Frustrations

Joel has been having a hard time in first grade. It breaks my little mother's heart. He started out spitting (doing raspberries) at other kids and blowing in their faces. None of which the kids liked. He does this kind of thing when he wrestles around with his dad and they're both laughing and having a good time. So I think he was just trying to have fun.

I hadn't heard from the teachers for awhile and was hoping no gnews was good gnews. No such luck. Apparently now Joel is still blowing, but instead of spitting, he's pinching. Last Thursday he left a bruise on some kid's arm.

Riding the regular ed bus has really been a trial for him. He's been engaging in the aforementioned behaviors there too and the only supervision there is an already frazzled bus driver who has no clue about his autistic issues (I mean she's been told he's on the autism spectrum, but what does that really mean to her?) She doesn't get it.

So I've been driving him in the mornings even tho it has been a pain with getting Eli off to preschool, and the time involved in making sure he pees before he goes. Joel's always a little late. I wanted to make sure I took him in the mornings to give him a better chance at starting the day off on the right foot.

All last week he came home off the bus from school in a sad/mad/bad mood. I feel like my sweet little boy is turning into a sad little boy who is turning into a sullen, even more inward little boy, and I DON'T LIKE IT. So, needless to say I am now going to pick him up from school too.

I would love to be able to spend more time at the school, but it's tough with Eli and Cara. I am going to teach Grace Arts and hopefully do some other volunteering maybe with reading with the kids.

Kelly is going into lunch with Joel every Friday which Joel loves.

On a happier note, today in Primary Joel's teacher divided his four person (today) class into two groups. He put Brian and Alex together and Zachary and Joel. Joel immediately walked up to Zachary, put his arm around him and said, "I guess it's you and me Zachary!" How cute. When Kelly told me about it in the car on the way home, Joel got his adorable little "mommy and daddy are talking about me and they're proud" smile on and I loved it.

Cara looked like quite the little princess today at church. She wore her green taffeta dress that Grandma Hurst gave her that had a sweet little matching headband and ever so adorable white patent leather shoes that I got off of freecycle.

Joel and Eli were twinners in their orange, blue and white striped shirts that I got on sale at Gymboree. I'm not sure if Joel noticed because he hates it when I dress him and Eli alike and he didn't protest, I mean no more than he normally does when he has to get ready for church.

Well I'm off to make Joel a reward chart for not spitting, blowing or pinching other kids at school. Hopefully it will help.

Cute Kids

Eli made me laugh yesterday. He was poking at my eyes (probably because Cara had earlier been poking at my eyes). And I told him, "Be careful, Mommy's eyes are delicate."

Then Eli says, "No I think fragile."

I couldn't believe his little vocabulary.

Joel likes to tell jokes lately. Today when we were out at the playset he told me the oldie but goodie about the frog in the blender. Then he upped the mileage and his new answer was "a giraffe in a blender" and he laughed and laughed. It made me feel warm and fuzzy that he changed the scenario around in a completely logical way (so to speak).

Eli has to be the center of attention. ALWAYS. Sometimes lately if Cara starts crying he'll shout, "NO Cara, it's my turn to cry!" followed by loud wails. I'm a little fearful of what the teenage years will bring. . . One day at a time. One day at a time.

Cara is crawling and pulling up and putting everything in her mouth and cute as cute can be. She's such a smiley girl. I love to kiss those chubba wubba cheeks and her bright blue eyes just light up every time I enter the room. Hopefully she'll be the child who inherits Kelly's warm and loving personality . . .

Still working on the potty training with Eli. I don't know if he'll ever do it independently since he always wants Mommy there. He doesn't like peeing in unfamiliar toliets in bathrooms where there is no Elmo potty seat -- even tho he rarely uses said Elmo potty seat any more. I guess I need to lug the thing with me every where I take him to exorcise all of the potty demons that lurk in other bathrooms.