Talk To Me

All right . . . back to more important things.  It's time for a Benji update.  This is the most recent picture I have of him is from our outing to the newish splash pad in North Salt Lake, in the Foxboro development.  It was a lovely day, and a really nice splash pad.  I met up with Konae there, and Rachael joined us.

Lily, Tessa & Benji @ the splash pad. 

Benji was in his little pirate shirt, which I made for all of the nieces & nephews @ his birthday party.  I'm glad the kiddos still wear them, even if they are ugly as sin!

Konae & her kids, and me trying to get Benji to look up.

Anyway, about Benjamin.  We have had a few big (well, big for us!) things happen in the past week.  First: I realized that he gets songs stuck in his head, too.  He's usually speaking his own language, so we only catch words here and there.  But the other day, he was quoting the Move and Groove song from "Signing Time" (Season 2), which gives you signs and actions.  He said, "Shake, shake, shake, freeze."  The next word is "kick," and eventually he said that, too.  It makes me happy to know that he sings to himself (incidentally, I have been singing Keane to myself for the past several weeks . . .), and that the connection between brain and mouth is becoming clearer.

Second: a real sentence.  While I'm fairly sure I have heard him say sentences before, I'm doubt he knew what he was saying (he said, "I guess I did it," but there was no reason or repetition).  This time, it was a response to a question.  The context: we were at Target yesterday, and he was sitting in the basket while we cruised the dollar section.  Since it is back-to-school time, they have some fun decor and stuff there, among which are street signs (''My Way or The Highway," etc.).  I pulled out a Stop sign (it says "Stop Studying" on one side; something equally snarky on the other), but it is red and shaped like an octagon.  I held it up to Benji and asked him what the sign said.

He replied: "The sign says . . ." then he paused for a minute, and said, "Stop."  I couldn't believe it!  He wouldn't say it again, but I know what I heard.  I think I may need to go back and buy that Stop sign, just to remind me!

Today, church was a bit of a challenge.  He would not sit still for ANYTHING, so it was basically a 3-hour wrestling match.  He was also talking to himself all through Primary, while the teacher was trying to give her lesson.  I also found out that a little girl in his class actually wanted to come play with Benji, but her mom didn't know how that might work with him.  I realized that Benji has very few social skills, and that I haven't sought out many opportunities for him to work on them.  I just know how he his with his cousins, who love him, but don't love playing with him.  I understand, and I'm not offended by it; they want some interaction, and Benji doesn't really know how to play with other kids.  He'll play along side them (sometimes), but he's so caught up in his own world, always exploring and finding things to spin and things to put in his mouth, that I'm not sure how much he even notices other kids. I'm sure this will be something we will be working on for the next few years (and maybe for the rest of his life), but the fact that Natalie actually wanted to play with him gave me a little wake-up call.  I don't think I'll be setting up playdates anytime soon, but I guess that is something that normal kids do, and maybe I should look into that.  I'm really going to try to get involved in the PTA and parent groups at the Pingree School this coming year, because almost all of the parents are going through this same thing.  Social awkwardness is a hallmark of an autistic child, so not having to explain what Benji does, what he understands, etc. will be so nice.

Even though church was pretty rough, we had something pretty monumental tonight at bath time.  He has pooped in the potty before, but only a few times, and most of those were lucky catches.  We always make him go potty (standing up) before he gets in the bath, but tonight he kept scratching his bum, so I sat him down.  I sat him down yesterday for about 20 minutes, and nothing.  Tonight, after about 10 minutes, he went!  He sat there for about 10 minutes longer, getting it all out.  I was so proud of him!  I told him a hundred times how proud I was, and I tried to be super-excited as a motivator for him.  I don't think he noticed how happy I was, but I told him "good job" over and over again.  I'm wondering if he wouldn't do better on a potty schedule.  As of now, he'll go when we take him, but he has never said the words "potty" or "poo poo" or "pee pee" without being prompted.  The other day, he was giving me hugs, and with no indication whatsoever, he pooped in his diaper.  I don't know if we can get on a pooping schedule, but I think we'll at least try a more strict potty schedule, and see if he'll stay dry.

Pretty exciting, at least in my world!  The next challenge is our upcoming vacation.  I don't know how he'll do on the road; I think we'll have to make a lot of pit-stops, but I'm pretty sure that's par-for-the-course when you have young kids.  I long for the day when I can say "Potty up, dudes!"

So Much To Say

A new post!  Are you so excited?!  Yeah, I thought so.

Just kidding.

I finally finished watching "How I Met Your Mother" last night (through season 6, anyway).  Everything else pretty much fell to the wayside while I was watching.  I don't think I have gone to bed before 2am in the past three weeks.  It's usually closer to 3am, and last night was 4am, just so I could finish it.  Yes, I know I have a problem.  That's why I'm very reluctant to start watching new t.v. series or start new books--my life can't go back to normal until I have finished them!  Netflix only has through season 6, so I'm thinking I'll have to do the Hulu + thing.  But if I subscribe to that, then I'll have to watch all of this season's Grey's Anatomy, Glee, and How I Met Your Mother.  That's too much commitment at the moment, so I'll wait until a) I can't stand it anymore, b) I have some time and have mostly caught up on stuff I have let slide for the past few weeks, or c) all of the above.

There are a lot of things I have been meaning to write about (future blog fodder), like:

• I want to start a recipe and/or craft blog; nothing huge, mostly a place for me to put my favorite recipes since I'm always misplacing my cookbook(s).
• Finishing up the cruise summaries (it WILL happen!)
• Write about make-up (that one is coming . . . and it will probably be pretty underwhelming, but I want to do it just the same)
• Compare and contrast HIMYM with Scrubs (another random post important to nobody but me)
• More music/opinion posts (those will be coming too, since I have a couple of awesome concerts coming up!)
• Spiritual stuff, especially with the lessons I have been teaching in Relief Society.

And then, there are the posts I really SHOULD do, like family stuff, preschool graduation, pictures, etc.  Part of the problem is that I take so many pictures, it's a little overwhelming.  I need to let go of the compulsion to edit every picture I post, but if you haven't figured out how obsessive I am over certain things, you will never, ever, ever know me.  Oooo-ooooohh.

Until I actually get to these things, this will have to tide you over.  Here are a few pictures from this past month.

This one doesn't have much to do with Mother's Day, but it's one of very few semi-successful action-shots I have gotten.  It is entitled, "Lily Running."  Super creative, I know.

I didn't really get any pictures of my Mom on Mother's Day (I definitely did not get the "best daughter award" this year!); I just took a bunch of pictures at the backyard bbq.  It was getting dark, and the kids were running pretty fast, so I was quite happy with this one.  You're welcome, Mach.

I did want to get a decent picture of my boy to give to his preschool teachers, so I got this one of him while we were in Logan:

There may have been better photos from that mini-shoot, but I love the look in his eye.  That's my Benji.

I got some great pictures at Ella's birthday party, so it really does deserve it's own post.  But this one just cracks me up.  It is entitled "Sister Shenanigans."

Rebecca was pretending to steal Sarah's new purse, so they had to ham it up for the camera.  Sometimes we just get into other people's pictures for a laugh, and that was Mach.  That reminded me of another classic from the cruise:

And another from last year's N.F.H.P.

But I digress.  Back to this month.  After teaching R.S. a couple of weeks ago, I headed downtown to the "Living Traditions Festival" to watch Peggy do some Basque dancing.  I didn't know Jack was doing it too, so I was pretty happy to get this picture (which I edited, and Peggy uploaded to her facebook using Instagram.  I admit I was a little offended!).

And this face is just classic Peggy.  It brings a little tear of joy to my eye.  Je t'aime, ma puce, and happy 10th to you and Scott-babes.

Then we had Zekey's birthday party.  My camera battery died halfway through (way to go, Mare!), but I got this cute one of the birthday boy with Pablo.  He's such a cute poquito caballero (yes, my spanish sucks.)  Lex did such a great job with the Curious George/Circus theme.  It was lots o' fun.

From Benji's last day of preschool at Lincoln, this is a picture of him with his teacher, Miss Erica.  And she's tickling his hands.  Sweet, silly boy.

I need to finish this up, but I did want to mention a nice moment from yesterday: I really am trying to be more active, and I wanted to take Benji for a little hike.  As we were driving up to Little Cottonwood Canyon, some Air Supply came on the radio, and I cranked it up and sang along to "Every Woman In The World."  It's kinda lame, but I had a fleeting feeling that I am doing okay as a mom.  I want Benji to remember me singing, I want him to love the music I love, the music that I grew up with, and I want to take him on little adventures.  The moment didn't last long, but it was nice to feel like maybe I am doing something right.

And there's May in a nutshell.  I really will try to elaborate . . . on verra.  Bonne nuit.