Sunday

I didn't take any pictures this weekend, I can't wait until the weather is a little bit better, so we can get outside into some decent light. I wanted to post about Anthony's week because he had a very good one, he had a few days of "5's" at school, and his speech therapist at school seems to think he is doing very well. His occupational therapist writes very technical notes home, she never says how CUTE he is or how much she LIKES him, which of course I would like to see, but she does say a lot about all the work she does with him and how he responds, so what can you do?

We had our moments of tears this week, which of course I hate, but honestly, he cries less than I do, so that's good, right? He has been sleeping fine, he's up for quite a while after he goes to bed but he sleeps mostly all night. I can't believe I am typing that, but I don't believe in jinxes. Mostly I don't.

Tomorrow is March and it is going to be above 40 toward the end of the week, so I anticipate things will start to look up around here. Anthony is so thirsty in the mornings - yesterday he drank like THREE giant cups of water, Mike and I both noticed. Then I thought, well, *I* am as dry as a BONE when I wake up in the morning, we have had our heat on for MONTHS, of course he's thirsty! Wretched winter. We are thinking spring around here.

Happier

 

ROUGH

 
Poor Anthony, he is having a rough day. He started crying when Mike picked him up from school and kind of hasn't stopped since. He seems much happier after playing in the shaving cream, though. Maybe he thinks his days at school are too short? God knows he's not telling me.

Sunday

 
Now Maria can pull a chair over and get up on the counter herself. Today Mike found them both upstairs in our bathroom sink, digging in the medicine cabinet. We just got back for a walk - yesterday Anthony never even got dressed, it's so crappy out we never go anywhere. Of course, once we got everyone dressed and slung, it was raining when we walked outside. But we went once around the alley anyway, which was hard but worth it. Anthony really seemed happy to be outside. None of our jerkstore neighbors seem to believe in the Social Contract of shoveling their walks, so it made it pretty scary to walk on some of the ice, but we made it. Mike pushed Maria in the stroller, which is hard, and I appreciate it. Anyways, Anthony - he is doing well today and he seems happy. Last night he was crying in his room and Mike went up to try and calm him down. I told Mike and it's true - I don't care if he lives with us forever, I don't care if he never gets a job or whatever the hell - I would just like to be able to communicate enough with him to tell him that it's okay, that it's all going to be okay. That he can just go to sleep when he's tired and that if there's something we can do to help him, we will. I hope I hope I hope.

Smirk

 
He was laughing a little bit, but he tries to do it on the down low, so I don't know he can hear me. He had a pretty good week. He is consistently saying 'good night' and 'I you' when we say good night and I love you to him at bedtime. He had a great time at speech at his Tuesday school and he had a "5" this morning at school. Not bad!

Best Hair #1

 
Ha, they sent this home from school yesterday. His hair is looking excellent lately.

Gorgeous

 

salute

 
He's not really saluting here, although it looks like it, right? He is whacking that rolled up painting against his head. Whatever floats your boat, Anthony. His speech therapist at school wrote a nice note about him yesterday, she is really making progress with him. She always writes me right after she sees him, and of course, she seems to really like him. Thank God he is so loveable!

Sweet

 
Can you see how sweet he is, in this picture? I can.

He totally looks like he doesn't even know those girls

 

Sick

I am taking a break from posting to these blogs, as I am sick and it is taking all my energy to not kill myself or Maria.

He looks sad here ...

 
...but I don't think he is, he was just eating grapes. He had a good week but we had some highs and lows. We had his dentist visit, which sucked, but now it's over and he got through it great. He had a great day yesterday and his new, male therapist (Anthony likes men to be his therapists, I think it's because they can be a little rougher with him) wrote in his book "I love Thursday afternoons!", meaning with Anthony, so that's great. But he had a rough day today, he only got a 2 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, and they said he cried for no reason at lunch. I hate, HATE to think of him crying when he is away from me. They're so sweet about him at his school, I don't have any reason to worry. His MWF afternoon therapist told me on Wednesday that he had a great day, she said they are working on his receptive instruction and they tell him to 'give me a hug'. She said they are all LOVING it because they love to hug him. I totally get that - he's very "come to me", as my friend Susie would say, and it feels like a dream come true when he pays you some attention.

Dentist

 
Well, we've had our teeth filled now, we can cross that off. It was a very unpleasant trip and I felt awful about it but it was over pretty fast. The dentist was fantastic and Anthony was able to get his cavities filled and that's the point, right? I hated it, but he recovered fast. He had a milkshake about an hour after we left, then he ate a bunch of pizza for lunch, grapes, you name it. He slept like a rock last night, to no one's surprise. I hope we never have to do it again.