Black Out!

On Monday, Jeff picked up the kids and they went to Sunflower (organic grocery store). Henry liked the rain drops in the parking lot. When they got home, Henry rediscovered the Yoda hat that Jamie made him last year. He even called it the Yoda hat, even though he hadn't seen it in several months. After dinner, Jeff gave them a bath. He put them in very cute PJs. Henry didn't want to be in PJs though. He announced that he wanted a night gown. So Jeff got the smallest t-shirt that he could find and gave it to Henry. Miss R wore dinosaur jammies. By the time I came home, they were in bed.

It was very windy night. When I went to bed, it was raging. I could see the windows shake in their frames. We had a blackout around 3:30PM or so. I woke up with a start and found Jeff missing. He was dealing with our alarm system that was beeping. There's a battery for it but it was running low. Thank goodness for flashlights. Jeff had seen a transmitter box blow outside on the mainroad.

On Tuesday morning, the kids looked super cute as we headed out the door. Henry is fond of my childhood sunglasses.










I took the kids to Gadabout for haircuts. Grammy had a 9AM appointment with Todd. I had scheduled a 10AM appointment for Miss R with Tammy...completely independent of Grammy's haircut. It worked out really well. While Grammy got her haircut, we threw many pennies in the water fountain. We visited the wall of water in the waiting area, and the kids hid behind the two-stories tall curtains. Henry got his haircut by Todd (haircut number 3). This time, he sat in the chair all by himself rather than on Grammy's lap.

Miss R had her very first haircut. When I called the Gadabout office, they recommended Tammy who works with kids and has experience with African-American hair. Miss R was fabulous. She sat in the chair like a trooper. I think that Tammy was impressed with Miss R's patience. I was pleased that Tammy thought that Miss R's hair felt pretty good. It is nice to know that we've been doing a good job with a hair type with which we had no prior experience. Upon getting Miss R, I called my friend Brenda and asked her what I needed to know about African-American hair. We've been using Nexxus' Humectress during bath time and have only been shampooing once every two weeks. We also have the Humectress leave-in conditioner to wet and style her hair in the mornings. I also use an olive oil spray. The needs of AA hair are completely different from white hair. Tammy recommended doing as little styling as possible as Miss R's particular kind of hair is very fine and fragile. The haircut looks really good. Everything is even now. And Miss R was really great about having someone cut her hair.

Grammy took Henry to Trader Joe's while Miss R had her hair cut. We met up at Grammy and Poppy's house. Miss R had a scone. Then, it was off to school. Henry didn't want to go. When we arrived, he said, "I don't like my friends." "I don't like..." has been a common phrase the past couple weeks. Don't know where he got it. At times, he has said, "I don't like Mommy...," "I don't like Daddy...," "I don't like Grammy...," etc. So far, I think that Poppy is the only one not on the "don't like" list. In fact, this morning on the way to Gadabout, Henry said, "I like Poppy." Anyway, I told Henry that he had to stay.

MISS STEPHANIE: Henry, don't you want toys for Christmas?
HENRY: Toys!
MISS STEPHANIE: Well then, Mommy has to go to work to make money so that she can buy you toys.

Henry got down and sat at the table. I was allowed to leave to make my fortune to buy him presents.

When I got home, Elsa from Project Amor called. We have a meeting with the school system next week. Since she doesn't visit us and doesn't know Henry well, she had several questions to ask about him.

There are some things that he doesn't do well in the area of fine motor skills (e.g. taking off articles of clothing). But on the social and communication indices, he was doing some of the items on the set for 48 month olds. I think that he is advanced in those areas, but I'm not convinced that he's really at at a 48 month level. One item was "Can your child speak between 300-1,000 words?" He was over 350 words 7 months ago when I stopped counting. He's probably beyond 1,000 words by now.

I called the OT's office a month ago to get an evaluation for him. I would have liked that to have taken place BEFORE talking with the school system next week. But the OT hasn't called us back. I sent an email. No response. Left yet another message. I don't know what's going on with that office. Fine motor is the one area where I would like to see his skills assessed. And of course, we still have the toe walking issue being handled by the PT.

That's all for now. Back to work...