pictures for John...

These photos won't mean much to anyone but John, so please make sure he sees them! He had a bunch of toys that you put in water to watch them grow. When we left for vacation, they all came out of the water, so we could see what would happen to them. The little guy in the centre was a big dinosoar that hatched from an egg. It shrunk way down to the size of the Green Pig while we weren't looking! The troll thinks he's cool. They've all become good friends.

These were Fish Eggs (just pretend). They used to fill this whole bowl!

These were his marbles - they filled this entire tray when we left! Now they're right back to the little pellets they started as.



So much for thinking things would be easier with just two! We're on a two week "break" at home, before heading back to Dryden to retrieve the kids, and get them back to real life. We had lofty goals of gutting our garage, finishing the kids' toy room. All these big plans. We've gotten a lot of work done, but mostly, it's been a lot of one-on-one with Dave, who gets bluer by the day, without his siblings to play with.

We can't remember John being this out of sorts at this age, but I guess if all you know is noise, chaos, and lots of kids running around, solitude would be tough, whereas solitude is all John knew until Joan came along. But I still wasn't prepared for the level of attention a little guy can take - especially one used to non-stop stimulation! Everyday, he asks where John and Joan are. He calls thier names throughout the house. When I tell him they're with grandma, he starts wailing her name instead. Last night, he walked into the livingroom, stood in the middle of the floor, and just started sobbing. "are you hungry?" "NOOOOO!" "Are you tired?" "NOOOO!" Did you poop?" "NOOOOO!" "Are you lonely?" pause..."no," he sqeaked. "Do you want John and Joan back?" YYEEEEESSSSS!" Do you miss John and Joan?" "YEEEEEESSSS!" and at that point, he shuffled out of the room, head hung low, and flopped on Joan's bed.

Don't get me wrong - he has fun most of the time! He's discovered a love of trucks. He likes to line them all up, and drive them through the house in pairs. Without siblings around to interfere, he has quite a well-developed case of what I call Toddler OCD. I don't know if it has a real name, but with the older two, it was like a switch went off, at about 22 months, when they started stacking things, with a scary level of compulsion. Stacking, or lining up in neat little rows, taking meticulous care to get it all perfect. Dave's been doing that a lot. With John, coupled with the fact that he barely spoke, I thought it was Autism, until I was assured by a nurse that it was normal. Then Joan did it. I was a little worried when Dave didn't, but now I see that's just because he COULDN'T - his collection would be dimantled before it could reach Toddler OCD levels. And because he's quite articulate, it all makes more sense. He's just sorting. He'll build a stack of bears over there...trucks over here...dinky cars somewhere else, all arranged in neat little rows, lines or circles. Then he'll show them all to me and annouce what the collection is of, before dismantling them to start all over with a new set of sorting criteria.

Despite his being lonely, having him alone right now is a good thing. He's in a huge "what's this?" phase. He wants to know the name of EVERYTHING! It's a pretty time-consuming phase. Books aren't about stories anymore - he wants to know what every little thing in every picture is. He's picking it all up really fast! He's learning colours at the same time. He can say them all, but gets mixed up on which is which, though he's somewhat consistent with blue and yellow. He knows most of his barnyard animals just from reading a little book twice. His favourite is the cow, which he calls "moo". And there's a picture of a pig biting a sheep's ear. When he first saw it, he said "let go!" Now whenever se sees it, he says "Hey! Let go, Pig!"

Mike taught him the difference between cars and trucks, and with "Are you my mother" he learned boat and airplane, and it's all mixed to create a little monster! He loves to sit in front of the big window and name all the things that pass by. We can hear planes, and because we can see the lake, he can spot the boats, and of couse the cars and trucks driving down the road. I think he's even getting high and low..."boat down low" he says. At first I felt bad for him that we normally have so little time to devote to such a bright kid. But I know that's stupid - the reason he IS so bright is the fact that he has so many siblings to learn from!

I think the only time we feel really bad for him is when he's playing hide and seek. We couldn't tell what he was doing at first. But he'll burry his face in the couch, or put his face against a wall. Then he'll say "Two Four Six...here come!" and he'll run around the house like a loon. After a few seconds of zooming around, he'll stop at another wall, and start all over again. If he ever manages to find himself, I'll let you know.

Tom is doing well - he's basking in all this attention! He gets more cuddles, more playtime, more feeding time, more everything! We think he's looking bigger, but we'll know for sure the next time we can get him on a scale - doc appts and shots all around when the kids get home! Yay immunity! He's definitely a lot stronger. As the first baby I've had who will happily sleep on his back, (the others were carefully propped on their sides, or *gasp* allowed to sleep on their tummies, for the sake of sleep) we've had to work harder at tummy time for him. We mostly just do it on the bed, like we did for Joan - the therapists all told us it's the ideal place, because you can be at eye level, so it's more enjoyable for all, and they can just splay out on the bed when they need a little breather. It's paying off - he can roll from back to belly now, and he can wiggle himself right out of his seat. It's that miserable stage, when they're compelled to get freedom, so they wiggle out. But once they're on the floor, they still can't do anything but lay there. When he figures out the belly-to-back maneuvre, and how to sit, he'll be much happier, I think.

I tried to get all organized and get a back-to-school list for John, but apparently, we don't need to buy anything. They'll be giving him everything on his first day (Sept 7 - the countdown is on!) and then we just pay a fee. I tried to find the name of his teacher, so I could let him know, but we won't find out until the first day, when the lists are posted outside. I hope he gets a good one. As of yet, his old teacher hasn't been assigned to a class, and a different teacher was in the kindergarten spot. I hope she doesn't just follow him up - I know he liked her, but I had some issues with the way she did things. It would be nice to have someone different.

Anyway, better go. Mike's working latge, so I have extra cleaning time today. I should probably make use of it. Or maybe I'll just play a rousing game of "car or truck" at the window with Dave.