a sad little boy

We dropped Carl off this morning like any other morning. We even got to park by the favorite "green buggy car". (Thanks to Miss Joanne for driving a VW beetle... the twins love it!) We headed in, I put his lunch away, we washed hands and he headed over to the "rainbow table". There are 3 tables, rectangle, circle and one that is a half circle which they call a rainbow. The twins share a seat at the rainbow table. In the mornings, the teachers have manipulative toys out on the tables and the kids come in and sit down to the activity until Circle Time. Carl isn't a huge fan of small motor manipulatives that aren't tiny metal things with wheels, but he usually sits and stays quietly with the teacher as we kiss him goodbye and head out.

Not today, he started crying. Believe me, I know not to linger. Or return for another hug. Or peek my head in from the hallway and be seen. "I love you , Buddy. I'll see you after lunch. Bye!" and Gretchen & I headed out into the hallway. I could hear him crying "Where'd Mommy go?" over and over. Then, of course, I forgot the collage in his cubby - so I was able to send Gretchen back in to pick that up. I don't think he noticed her because he continued to cry for me. This is not like him. I hesitated a minute in the hallway, but then Gretchen & I left. I know from experience that he was probably calmed down by the time Gretchen & I passed the green buggy car again, but I am still anxious to hear from his speech therapist. She calls me after his Tuesday morning sessions to give me a report. The other difference today is the lead teacher was out for the day, but the other 2 ladies were still there, plus, the sub is a teacher he knows from before, too. But, maybe the lack of Diane and her whirlwind greeting in the morning was enough to tell him something was off today.

All I know is, I left a sad little boy at school. And that is not how our mornings usually go.

are you ready for some football?

Tonight is Monday Night Football!! It's the first MNF of the '09/10 season and our beloved Buffalo Bills are taking on the not-so-favorite-around-our-house New England Patriots in New England. Lew actually bet against the Bills in his football pool - with an attitude like that, we can blame him if the Bills lose tonight.


No matter what, we'll be watching and eating the traditional MNF meal: patty melts and french fries. Did you think I was going to say chicken wings?

Here are 2 pictures to put up before the game starts. Go BILLS!!
Hey, I may not have made their Halloween costumes, but I did decorate their football season tee shirts!

**Tuesday morning update**
Well, they lost. 24/25. They led until the last 50 seconds of the entire game. Once again, they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. One Bills' fumble in the last minutes set the Pats up to score two touchdowns within 76 seconds. We did get lots of nice footage throughout the rest of the game of Pats players and fans sporting sad "boo-hoo-woe-is-us-how-can-we-be-down-to-the-Buffalo-Bills-when-we-are-the-almighty-Patriots" faces. The glass half full part is that the Bills looked better than we anticipated. Maybe this season won't be so bad! Doesn't really matter, if you ever lived in Buffalo you know how you get sucked into the teams. Fans for life.

Last night, after the first Bills touchdown, Lew yelled, "touchdown!" and from across the room, Carl didn't skip a beat... he chimed in loudly with "Go Bills!" The, this morning, when we told Gretchen the Bills lost (the kids went to bed right before halftime, so we were winning... of course, we were winning until the final 50 seconds...don't get me going again) she gasped, "What? The Bills lost? Why?" They were born close enough to Western NY, I guess! Ah, mini fans!!! And now, we live in hurricane area... pretty foul weather at times. Seems fitting since we are the farthest things from fair weather fans for our teams!

a birthday party

Happy 10th Birthday to Fit For Fun! You have probably heard me gush about this place in the past. Fit For Fun is basically a huge early childhood play place. They have it set up for children aged 0-5 only. Parents come along and stay with their kids to play. The workers do organize games and singing songs, but for the most part, the kids can just play. They have tons of those riding Flintstone style cars, climbers, train table, tool bench, art projects, puzzles, doll houses... just stuff that kids 0-5 really enjoy! So, they celebrated their birthday on Saturday with a party! How could we pass it up? I knew admission was free for the day - so we bought them a gift even. I ebayed a copy of a jazz nursery rhyme CD that I really like. (Josh Greenberg & The Mother Goose Jazz Band's Go With The Flow for anyone looking for cool nursery rhymes set to 'grown up' jazz sounds.) I think it will fit in with the style of music they play there... and since I like it, maybe it'll be on for us to bop to when we visit.

But, the highlights of the party were the extras they had going on outside... a bouncy house and a big blow up slide. They were going to limit the bouncy house to 8 kids, but there was never a line and never 8 kids in at once... so they never made Carl get out! There is nothing or no one in this world happier than Flying Carl B--------!!!

the other little guy in there with Carl was 1/2 a set of twins, too! And he was a close second to Carl in the happiness department!!

Back inside, we all sang "Happy Birthday" and they served cake and ice cream. Carl will not eat cake. Carl will not eat frosting. Carl will not drink juice. Carl will not eat anything but pure vanilla ice cream. Carl is not the ideal birthday party guest... or is he? He won't eat all your cake on you. I knew they were serving cake for snack, so I came prepared with a baggie of pretzel fish and once I got him a glass of water, he was happy! The dixie cups had a swirl of chocolate running through them - so he wouldn't eat it - even the bites Lew scooped out without any chocolate on them. "No thank you".

That's pretty much all we did over the weekend. The weather here has reached "glorious" in status. We're in the low 80s, low humidity and blue sunny skies. We're not out of the woods for hurricane season, but we are just heading into the best part of living here! To be honest, this summer wasn't as bad as others we have weathered here. Or my blood is getting too thin. There were times when we'd be outside in 95* temps and I caught myself thinking, "This isn't so bad in the shade."

We still want to place an order for a nice white Christmas in NY!!! (and are accepting hand-me-down boots and snowpants for that week, too!)

America, the Beautiful

O beautiful, for spacious skies

For amber waves of grain

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain.

America! America! God shed His grace on thee

And crown they good with brotherhood

from sea to shining sea.

my first keepsake from school this year

Today, Carl brought home a little booklet stapled at the top. Half a page of paper sized. All with the teacher's writing in it. It had sentences started and then they quizzed the kids and filled in their own answers. Titled, My Me Book by Carl. I also had a note from his therapist about how she was there when the activity was going on. Of course, Carl first answered with his standard, "No thank you" when asked to come do his book. (He is very polite. His teacher even told me last week any time she does something for him, he says, "Thank you, Miss Diane" and she thought he was very cute and polite. She is right. He is.) But, Ashlie said today, once they showed him Gretchen's booklet, he was much more interested in doing his project.


page 1: I love Gretchen


page 2: My Favorite Color: purple


page 3: I like to eat pumpkin muffins (this one cracks me up!)


page 4:

I can't wait to get Gretchen's tomorrow! I will add it to this post when I get it.

I also got another report from Carl today about what he did at school. Last year, I never heard anything from Carl about his day. He started school in Sept, and Gretchen stared in February. The first day, she came home and told me they watched Dora on TV. "Oh no, Honey, they don't show television in the two's room." Ha! Wrong. Turns out, every single day they watch TV in there during the time that the teachers are cleaning up lunches/doing diapers & potty time/getting the half-day kids ready to be taken outside to their parents. Almost 6 months of TV and he never once mentioned it. And he loves TV, you'd think he would have happily told me about it.


Anyway - today, I asked him, "Did you pee on the potty?" (little history for ya... kids are supposed to be potty trained before entering this class. Carl's IEP is his ticket in - with Pull-Ups - don't get me going on those, pull-ups with velcro sides. C'mon, you mean a diaper, right??? They actually told me he is the only child to go into this room untrained. I asked, "Ever?" and was basically told yes... ha ha! I could pee my pants laughing at that idea! Don't tell me my child is the only 3 yr old in the history of the world to not be potty trained!) But, anyway, today when I asked him, "Did you pee on the potty?" he told me these two things, "I stand up." and "Jack go pee." So, I know Jack's potty trip was successful, but don't know about Carl's. Yay Jack!!!

(update)
Well, it is Friday and I got Gretchen's My Me Book in her backpack today!

page 1: I love You!

page 2: My Favorite Color: yellow

page 3: I like to eat hamburgers

page 4:

be careful with nicknames

Gretchen is one serious lady. Months ago, Lew tried to call her Gretchen"dirty nose" B-------- and she was having no part of that! She will scream her name and spell it at you if you stray from it. Occasionally, she allows someone to shorten it. I think it was her 2 yr old teachers because she'd come home and tell me, "Some people call me Gretch." (on the other hand, Carl loves the funny middle name type nicknames and even comes up withhis own. He truly does have a better sense of humor than Gretchen does. Unfortunately, I fear it mimics Big Ken's. So, maybe the next time you see Carl - ask him if his face hurts.)

Well, last Friday her new teacher, who I used to work with - so I know pretty well - came up to me and said, "Well, she sure put me in my place today!" Why, I asked... and Diane said, "I made the mistake of calling her "Pumpkin"." She gave her the full "My name is Gretchen Zoe. G-R-E-T-C-H-E-N. Z-O-E." treatment. She probably even sang it to her (use the "mic-key-mouse" song).

Well, today, Diane pulled me aside at pick up and said she was doing something with Gretchen and Gretchen gave her a big hug and told it, "You can call me Pumpkin if you want." Diane said it was sooo sweet!!

Phew - I was afraid the tough serious girl image was going to stick!

wordless Wednesday