My Boy The Schmoozer

Diego asked me if he could send someone an email this evening. He said he was learning to write letters in school and this would be good practice. When I asked him who he wanted to email, his response was, "You, Mom."
Here's the email he sent:

I love you so much.I hope you are having a good day.I like what you make me in the mornings.I hope you are going to have a good day tomorrow.I think you are having a good day today.I enjoy seeing you every day.If I have the Wii tomorrow and if I have 30 min.I will let you play cars with me.I bet you will like it do you?I will see you in the morning. after I send this message can I play fun brain for a while yes or no?once again I hope you are having a good day.


Sincerely,
Diego

p.s.I will go get a popsicle right now. Thank you for letting me play the wii today.

What a schmoozer!

What's in that blanket? Wipe that smirk off your face!

The other night Diego was having a hard time staying in bed (see my previous post, Full Moon).

On his second trip down the stairs Diego said, "Okay, Mom, you caught me. I had these toys under my bed and I'm going to take care of them in the basement." He had a backpack full of plastic animals in his right hand and his "Cars" fleece blanket in his left.

Diego went to the basement and was there for a bit longer than I thought it should take him to drop the toys and come back upstairs. When he emerged from the basement door he had his "Cars" blanket bundled against his chest, holding it tightly with both hands - like it was really heavy.

Naturally I asked what was in the blanket? "Nothing," was the reply. I asked again, "Are you sure there's nothing inside the blanket?" "No, nothing," as a red Lightning McQueen car fell from the blanket's fold onto the floor.

"Hmmm, looks like something to me," I said. "That was the only one," the look on his face was like he couldn't believe one of his favorite toys would betray him like that.

I told him, "If there's nothing else in the blanket, drop it right now." Diego didn't want to do that. See, the bright orange "Bob the Builder" lunch bag that holds his Cars contains almost 75 matchbox size cars and weighs around 10 pounds... it could break a toe!

Diego was busted, he had to reveal the lunchbox and take the Cars back to the basement.

It was one of those parenting moments where you're angry because your kid just lied to you. The mind is buzzing with possible punishments for lying (he lost TV for the next day). However, if your husband is seated behind the child stifling a laugh, all you want to do is yell, "Wipe that smirk off your face!" This is serious stuff. And then you burst out laughing too... parenting 101 didn't teach this.

Full Moon

Diego is always affected by the moon's phases, the full moon is probably the worst for him. In case you haven't noticed, the last couple of nights the sky has been occupied by a full moon.
I recently read the book "The Moon Children". Here's a description from amazon.com:
"Staring across the street, eleven-year-old Billy Ray is startled to see one of his schoolmates, an adopted Romanian girl, gazing at the sky and then writing in a notebook. She is keeping a Moon Journal, cataloging the phases of the moon to keep alive a secret memory that, eventually, Billy is the first to discover.

Although he has Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and struggles with many things that typical kids take for granted, Billy's curiosity and warmth intrigue Natasha, and the two children develop a friendship that gives them the strength and courage to reveal their deepest secrets and to reach for their dreams.

One of Billy's dreams is to enter a talent contest at the local park. He has been practicing yo-yo tricks over and over again, hoping to impress his father. Things don't turn out as planned, but under unfair circumstances that would make other children give up, Billy proves himself to be a steadfast example of the way hope elicits the power to carry on."


I found Diego in this book. And I found a deeper understanding of his disorder.

Another FAS Moment.... or Two

Diego and I typically have tough mornings. He isn't one to rise early and cooperate in getting ready for whatever the schedule holds. My response is to remove privileges from his after school activities.
Monday (what is it about Mondays?) was particularly difficult before school. Diego wouldn't get out of bed which, of course, led to his imminent loss of privileges. No Wii ("Why do you always take the Wii away first, Mom?"), no TV or movies, early bed time. His schedule on the wipe off board was erased except for homework, supper, bath and bed time. Poor kid, right?

After school Monday, Diego began the conversation with, "I did well in school today, Mom so I should get to earn my privileges back." My reply was simple, "What's it going to take for you to realize you can't behave like you do in the mornings?" A lengthy silence broken by, "I don't know why I do that. I still should earn my privileges for being good at school." I know he doesn't know why, but he does know he behaves poorly.

Finally I offered Diego the choice: 20 minutes of Wii, 30 minutes of TV, or his usual bed time. No brainer, he chose the Wii.

So, Tuesday morning arrived and I had no sooner called out his name and Diego appeared in the doorway, completely dressed and smiling. Let's just say, he had gotten up at some point in the night and dressed and went back to bed. It only took one reminder to brush his teeth and wash his face, one request to eat breakfast, one "put your coat on". Who was this child and what had he done with Diego? It was refreshing, to say the least, to arrive at school without grinding my teeth during a discussion about things which have absolutely no bearing on the day, let alone his life.

As I put him to bed Tuesday night, Diego was sure he shouldn't have to go to bed on time since he had done so well in the morning for me and he had done a good job at school. He had looked at the TV guide earlier (he does that constantly) to find a movie he wanted to watch was on late; he really was trying his hardest to win a later bed time. His FAS brain refused to understand the reasoning behind bed time being bed time. Translation: no compromise on a school night + child in defiant, explain it to me again mode = meltdown.

It took a few minutes to calm Diego by doing deep compression massage on his back and legs, he even responded to my, "I love you" with his own, "I love you." As I closed the bedroom door his small voice called out, "I still get to stay up late on Friday!"

Cool video

My sister sent me this link to a cool video. Check it out. If the link won't work copy and paste www.thephilfiles.com/2008/10/21/is-it-in-you/

It's Definitely Monday... or is it just me?!?!

You know it's Monday when...

* your kid won't get ready for school because he's tired and tells you it's totally your fault.

* several of the items you usually buy at the grocery store are out of stock.

* the customer behind you in the check-out line pushes their cart all the way up to the point where the check writing stand is which forces you to write your check/pay at the bagging station. Maybe I should have asked her to pay for my groceries since she was standing where I needed to be.

* another car pulls up to the gas pump you were pulling into... and won't back up. THEN when you find another pump soon to be vacated (or so you hope), the person inside the vehicle starts and finishes a cell phone conversation before pulling away from the pump.

* thinking you're almost home free, the vehicle in front of you decides against using the left turn lane and stops traffic on a major highway - which ticked off a semi driver who goes around the line of vehicles blowing his air horn.

* when you open the trunk of the car you discover that the grocery bags ALL have holes in them.

* something smells like it died in the refrigerator and you can't find it and one of the items that was out of stock at the store was the baking soda.


Happy Monday!

Family

Here is Diego on Christmas morning showing off what the "FedEx Guy" gave him. Okay, let me explain... I ran out of people to say gifts were from when I was wrapping Christmas gifts (we don't do Santa so 'Mom & Dad' was getting redundant). I signed this gift from the Fed Ex Guy because it had been delivered via Fed Ex.



We had a great Christmas with family and friends. My sister from Indianapolis surprised everyone by bringing my sister from North Carolina here. It's been almost 4 years since I've seen or talked to my sister in North Carolina. I took some 'sister' pictures since we were all together for this rare occasion. Here we are in all our glory....




And here is a shot of Tyler on his first Christmas...