Oh sweet jiminies-- cutiehed Em!

Part of me misses those days.

Not enough to relive them. Perhaps just feel a hint of wistfulness.

If ya'll are on Flickr, there's a bunch of house pictures posted, too.

Timelies!

How are the kids doing in school this year?

I went to bed and missed you, sj. Sorry!

The kids are doing well. Aidan can write Aidan Michael Fisher, school bus, mom, dad, Kara, Thomas, Gordon, Edward, and all of his ABCs. He refuses to do his homework. I'm supposed to read him a poem, and then he's supposed to circle words in it and color the picture. "No. No thank you." He says, and then he goes and draws another bus or train or city. If I try to force it there's screaming.

Whenever we get near tall buildings he says, "We're going to the city!" and his favorite book right now is Virginia Lee Burton's "The Little House" which, until he brought it to me the second time, I thought would be a little too complex for him. He thinks the trolley cars are busses.

He's in the "Autism Unit" at school, which means he gets to spend some time in a regular classroom and a lot more time in a special resource room. He loves lunchtime--he has a lunch box with a lizard on it, and has to carry it onto the bus. It can't go in his backpack. he also loves art (of course) and math lab. He repeats everything he hears, and lately he's been saying "No screaming in school! Hush! I mean it! No screaming!" a lot.

Kara's started drawing more complex things. She drew a thing that's all black lines all over the page. It's a really interesting thing, though I don't quite know what it is. She's gotten into costuming, and yesterday dressed her littlest petshop duck as Jemima Puddleduck. She had a growth spurt just as school started and half of her clothes don't fit her anymore. She worries about wearing the right things so people don't laugh at her, and she never seems to feel like she quite fits in, but she has a best friend.

She's been reading a lot and playing Pokemon on her game cube. I made her do her homework last night before playing games and she gave me a note, each part on a separate piece of paper: I / am / un / happy / @t / mommy. (She calls me that when she wants to remind me that she's my baby girl, not some big girl who can do actual work.)

She's loving Math Lab more than art or music this year, which is a nice surprise. She's still slow at basic math facts, but she's starting to understand how they work.

She wants to grow her hair really long. It's past her shoulders now, and curly around her face. Her eyes have changed from sapphire blue to a sort of steel gray-blue.

And, of course, I'm already buried in Important! school papers from both of them.

Whew. Maybe more than anyone wanted to know.

Deena, it sounds like the kids are doing great. Which, not surprising considering how awesome their momma is.

Aimee, the house looks beautiful. I love Em's room!

Yay, Kara and Aidan! I'm glad they're doing well. At least Aidan is polite about not wanting to do his homework.

She worries about wearing the right things so people don't laugh at her, and she never seems to feel like she quite fits in, but she has a best friend.

I'm sorry to hear this, but having a best friend in this situation is so important.

Aimee - love the hairdo and the dress. Cute! cute.ded()

Deena, it's good to see you!

there were good times at the beach - I can prove it. (flocked - wave if you want in and you're not)

[link] - celebrating talk like a pirate day

[link] - pretending to be airplanes at the Wright Brothers' monument at Kitty Hawk

Em and her best friend: [link]

When I saw the head-tilt pic, I thought the only thing that could improve the pictures, would be for those white dots on her dress to be skulls. Then I saw this photo, and ... TCK. Total Cute Knockout.

I'm sorry to hear this, but having a best friend in this situation is so important.

This is a huge thing.

Also, Aidan rehearsing things he has heard in school is highly amusing, at least from where I'm sitting.

Aims, thank you. The pictures of Em are adorable, as is she. Such a cutie pie. Now I have to go look at the house pictures (and plot ways to get Aimee to come make my house pretty).

I'm sorry to hear this

She's way too much like her parents in the social awkwardness thing. She's exuberant and often says the wrong thing because she didn't think before opening her mouth, and of course her vocabulary is huge so she confuses all the children (and possibly some adults). She tattles, though that's improving a bit, when she should just shrug things off. She's got a mad crush on her assistant principal and has to hug him every day when she leaves the school, which I think he finds as cute as I do. She's super sensitive to teasing. For a while, she was wearing her pants like Nick does and wouldn't listen to me that it was inappropriate for a little girl (and for Nick in my opinion, but hey, he's a grown up), until some boys teased her because they could see her butt crack when she sat down, so she's finally pulling up her pants. It's frustrating to me that fashion matters in 2nd grade, and that her sense of style is weird to the other kids. She still has a decidedly morbid bent, and asked if the pine nuts in her dinner last night were poisonous. Her logic went something like: Some mushrooms are poisonous. People eat mushrooms. People are being poisoned by their food. What exactly is a pine nut and are you sure it's not poisonous?

Aidan rehearsing things he has heard in school is highly amusing,

It is... although last year I had to explain to the teacher where he learned to whisper "Fuckity fuckity fuckity fuckity fuck!" I did, however, turn "Oh, Jesus!" into "Macaroni and CHEESES!"

Poor Kara, that sounds painfully familiar. I hope she doesn't let peer pressure influence her darkish fashion style. She's such an amazing girl.