Make the Dinner

While driving home this evening, our conversation in the car:

Ares: Do you want to watch TV when we get home?
Me:  No.
Ares: Why not?   You don't like TV?
Me:  No. (I only said this because this was about the 42nd question he had asked me in the last 3 minutes.)
Ares: That's OK, you can go make dinner then.

Then he told me that he wanted to be a Fireman when he grew up.   I hope he wasn't insulting my cooking skills.

I remember as a young child (like, young, back when I was Ares' age) sitting on my mom's lap, and complaining to her that she was 'prickly' or 'scratchy'.   Ares sat on my lap yesterday as I was putting his PJ's on, and after about one-eighth of a second, jumped up and went "Ugh, mommy!  You need to shave!" 

On a side note:  Asher has had all tubes (breathing, feeding, etc) removed and may be ready to go home in the next week or so.  Asher's story.

Doin' the Butt

We all know that Ares has terrible skin. (Blame me.)  On doctor's orders, we lather him up multiple times a day with lotion and Vaseline at night, or, if it's really dry/cracked or red/raw we use his prescription cream.   Sometimes, it's tough to get the crease between his butt and thighs (which gets dry and red quite often) so I ask him to bend over and stick his bootie in the air. 

His favorite thing now, - the butt dance, as he calls it - he puts his head on the ground, butt in the air, and slaps his butt cheeks multiple times.  (Usually he waits until he's naked, it's hilarious, and totally winds him up before bed.)  At least it gets me about 5 seconds of him being cooperative for the lotion (when he doesn't bend over too far and do a somersault!)

This kid is hilarious!  He told Adam yesterday "My quesadillas are too spicy."  Not really that funny, until you realize that the kid has just turned 3, and pronounced 'quesadillas' perfectly (not to mention he remembered the name), and used 'spicy' rather than 'hot'.  He finished them anyhow.  

Happy Mother's Day!  We had a great weekend, but didn't take any pictures of Mother's Day festivities, I'll post something else later. 

Where's the 6?

Ares: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11...
Grandma: Ares, you forgot the 6
Ares: No, it's in time out.

(For the record, he always forgets 6.)

Teacher Appreciation

Today is "Pinkalicious" day at Ares' school.  I searched high and low, not only does he not own a pink shirt, but he doesn't even have anything remotely close, or even purple.  So today, I sent him in red. -- And made some Berry Berry Kix / Strawberry marshmallow  rice krispy treats to make up for the lack of pink in his wardrobe (the treats came out very pink with a few purple kix thrown in for fun).

At the early age of 3, he was already grateful that I didn't dress him in pink (he used to have a pink polo shirt) and that he had some treats to share with his class. 

I also sent him with 3 gifts for his teachers since it's 'teacher appreciation week' or something like that.  I'm cheap, I just gave baskets with lots of candy.  Gummy bears, gum, s'mores, Now & Laters, Riesens, Smarties and a Mocha Latte sucker.   (I now realize, I should have gotten a Starbucks gift card.  Ah well, next year!)  It looked a lot like an Easter basket without the grass.  I came up with a little saying (I think it's clever, you judge for yourself). 

Thank you very much for being an extra special person in my life.  You're worth a million dollars. I love coming to school so I can play, learn, and have you read to me some more.  As I am growing, my parents can't wait to see what I am going to learn now and later (that was a hard one to use in a sentence).  Thanks to you, you're the reason we'll all be a bunch of smarties. For that, I say thanks a lot. 

Later, I realized, I am 'appreciating' them as teachers, however, I just sent my kid to school with a plate full of melted marshmallow  treats to share with the whole class.  I hope they don't think I hate them!!

Kelley's Island

This past weekend we spent on Kelley's Island with Chris and Tabitha. It was a last minute invite (Friday evening) so we didn't have anyone to watch Ares or Ballpark, so we all packed up in the car and made the 2 hour trek (including Ferry time) to the island. It was very windy on Saturday and the waves were crashing over the Ferry giving me a car wash. At least it's fresh water! I was getting a little nauseous (which is odd for me), but Ares kept saying 'It's not so bad mommy' and 'It's OK mommy'. LOL. At first I was worried about him being scared, because the boat was rocking up and down and left and right, but he was more worried about me, cutie pie.

Ares loves to throw rocks.

I took this right before he fell over.  Thank goodness only the sleeves
of his arms got wet, because it was COLD at this point. 



Ares' Derby hat.  He wore it for .5 seconds. 




Our mint juleps. 

 I typically hate mint juleps, but these were awesome.  Ares had one made of apple juice.  He had two, but requested the second one "without the salad in it".   LMAO,  he wasn't a fan of the mint,  which is odd, as he eats Altoids.  (His mint was one that wasn't soaked in alcohol.)

This weekend we had virtually no toys for Ares, and he took walks, rode bikes and went out with us like he was an adult (again, minus the alcohol).  He was so well behaved, it sometimes frightens me, the thought of trying for another kid and messing up the 'routine' of not having a routine.

***Update on baby Asher. He's now drinking from a bottle and is better with eye contact when there's not a lot of stimulation in the room.  His arms/legs are still very weak/limp and he has yet to cry.  But man, is he a cutie pie! ***

Asher Update

Is this not the cutest picture ever?  His parents captioned it with "I come from the future."

Just a quick update on Asher, his vision test went pretty well which is a relief, however, the EEG/MRI didn't go so well.  He has now been diagnosed moderately to severe disabled, known by some malfunction or malformation of some brain matter.  I am partly devastated for his parents, but just a few days ago (before Asher was born) I witnessed a severely disabled child (mentally and physically) at Great Clips, where Ares was getting his hair cut.  It completely changed my ideals on how life may be with a disabled child.
 
Ares didn't treat him any differently than any other kid, wasn't afraid and didn't make any comments.   What I was moved by, though, is that this child's mom treated him no differently than I treat Ares.  She still talked to him normally (he kind of understood 'look down', 'sit still', although, his body didn't always cooperate) and let him hold matchbox cars (he didn't know what to do with them, he just held) and he sat as still as possible when she read him a book.  While it likely took longer for her to get him ready in the morning and for the car trip, they were a perfectly 'normal' family.  So while I mourn with them for what 'could have been', I will be excited with them for all of the milestones that Asher will hit, when they are hit.

Quick Swing Set Update

Because there are three windows in my living room, 4 windows and a glass door in our morning room, I was able to be inside the house sweeping the kitchen/morning room floors while never losing sight of my kid on the swing set.  For-the-win! 
(I've never been able to be inside the house while he plays outside, because he's always on the driveway, where I have no visual from inside.)

Soccer has Started!

I was going to start the post referencing Rooney or Beckham or some other awesome-well-known soccer player, but then I decided, since Ares was most certainly not a striker to leave that out. 

His first soccer 'practice' was yesterday evening, and I think he had a good time.  He did very well listening to directions as coach Adam (not our Adam) told them to walk like a turtle, then run like a cheetah across the field. (Oh, and parents are required to participate, so yay!  I thought I'd get a decent workout in, but then, I forgot, Ares can 'run like a cheetah' and I can easily follow next to him wielding a camera without breaking a sweat.)

He is really good at dribbling and running at the same time, probably one of the best kids there, but when it came to kicking the ball into the net, he had to be DIRECTLY in front of it to hit.  haha, it was kind of funny. 

Again, he was a great listener, and did very well.  He loved when I was the shark and he had to dribble away from me because 'sharks eat soccer balls'.  We did that twice, and he laughed hysterically while (attempting) to keep the ball away from me.  He did not like it when he was the shark, and he couldn't get the ball away from me.  He fell and had grass on his lips and cheek.  He cried and was done.  (Thank GOODNESS it was the absolute last drill, although, he was still pouting and wouldn't participate when the 'team' went in for their end of practice huddle.)

Because of Ares' new hair cut, he  looked like one of the oldest ones there, but he was one of the youngest, if not the youngest.  Definitely was one of the smallest kids there.  They were ALL so cute though!!

Asher's Story

My dear sorority sister was the most prepared mother-to-be in the world.  Heck, before she even got pregnant, she sent out a 6 page questionnaire asking everything one would think of, and then questions you wouldn't even think she would know to ask, as she's never had kids. 

She picked out a mid wife and had her belly painted, henna'd (?) and had multiple professional photo shoots with her adorable little belly.   4 or 5 days after her due date, she finally went into labor, and off they went to the hospital.   She delivered a little baby boy, Asher Solomon at 6:47am on April 28th, he weighed in at 7lbs 13oz.  After a minute or so, however, they realize he isn't breathing anymore. It only took a few minutes to get him up and going again with help, but no one knows a) what has caused this, (they are starting to rule out a stroke) or b) what the long term repercussions are.  He's off the ventilator and breathing on his own after a few hours.  And they might take him off the cooling pad soon.  He is starting to react to touch and light, so there is hope, but mentally, or physically, no one knows yet. They say it's unlikely that he'll be severely physically and mentally disabled, but it is also very unlikely that there are no repurcussions either.  No one knows. At least babies are resiliant, and this new mom and pop are extremely strong people.

So, if you pray, or if you don't, please keep this family in your thoughts.   Asher's Story.