Today

Today, Kyle brought me a carrot from the garden. And a grape. "Good, huh?" He's been playing with Sissie's kitten here in my room, too, and laughing hysterically.

Today, he also passed the sacrament during church - with a little help from his Friend. While he was near our pew, he paused to show me his two mosquito bites. And to tell me that his foot still hurt, he had a scratch on his arm and one on his chest.

And today his big brother has been very helpful at home. With new guidelines, he and sister have been doing ALL of their chores, instead of just bits and pieces of them. What a great improvement! They've also both been working at jobs outside the home all summer. How nice for them to be "rich!" Of course, all that money burns holes in their pockets, so we HAVE to go shopping tomorrow before school starts.

This weekend, Max is headed out to see our army boy graduate from basic training. He'll still be busy for another 6 weeks of training, but this is something he's very pleased with accomplishing. We're glad for him, too.

Biggest sister is working today at the Veterinarian's. She's told us about the workings of the back-room of the place. How they walk the dogs, clean the kennels, assist the vets and run the incinerator when necessary. She even did her duty and found a home for an abandoned kitten (which she promises to have fixed and declawed asap! before it scratches everything in our house to bits...)

Our Youngest

Our baby turned twelve last month. So grown up! He's even a deacon now and can pass the sacrament at church. We asked one of his past teachers to walk with him and guide him to the correct pews. He managed quite well, thank you! Tears streamed down our faces to see this great accomplishment!

He's so adorable. Because he's developmentally delayed, he can still entertain us with innocent twists of reasoning and a charming logic all his own. Last night he hung out with me and asked questions one after the other:
"What is hatred?"
"What is a platypus?"
"Why does a beaver slap his tail?"
"Does a beaver know about the cracks in the ice?"

I couldn't quite catch the connecting thread between all those questions, but he seemed satisfied with my answers. He likes to use big words and has a remarkable memory for people, music and events.

He doesn't like conforming to our form of living, though. I wonder sometimes what planet he'd be most comfortable on since he would stay up all night if we'd just let him; he'd set up the swimming pool in the snow - and have fun! Forget to tell you that his tooth aches or that he has any pain in general. He doesn't come when called or participate in family prayers or stop chattering no matter what you say or do to him. Unless he's at school. It took him two years before the teachers at Hawthorne ever heard him speak and even longer for the Sunday School teachers to know that he even knew how to talk. And he'd drink soda pop as his sole form of nutrition if we'd let him.

I take that back. He makes great melted cheese burritos - with garlic powder sprinkled on top. And he's eating it right now while wearing his new Iron Man costume (with Muscles and a Mask and the Blue Thing in Front that keeps him alive) and watching Sponge Bob and keeping the time so he can tell Heather when it's time to wake from her nap. So, here's raspberries to the System that labeled him 'mentally retarded' at age seven (that's the official age at which you can label a child.) We love him. We're glad there's someone around here who keeps things light and interesting. And teaches us new things every day!

Yea!

In the Mormon Church, you don't clap during the services. None of those loud acknowledgements such as "alleluias" or "Amens," either. No. When someone performs a lovely musical number, we are merely moved to tears or smiles of admiration. Total silence rules until after the service when we rush up and hug the person or pat them on the back and congratulate them on their superior peformance.

Except, that is, for when our baby was just two. Her daddy stood and in his very impressive bass sang a piece from "The Messiah." It was magnificent. Few people are aware of his fine talent and there were audible gasps. At this point, Baby yelled, "Yea!" and clapped her heart out. That was one Mormon performance that got its just rewards!

Mr. Scissors

Our second son loves scissors. He's never come out and said so, but he has regularly chopped things up. Often, he's not able to put words to what he does. But it seems there's something "moving him" to do it. Creativity?

He cut up a leather purse of mine and later insisted in front of a counselor that it would be no problem to sew it back up again and obviously We were the ones with the problem. Why wouldn't we just hand him a needle and he'd show us!

Once it wasn't just scissors - he took the clippers to his head and shaved the back of it bald. Then, he screamed for over four hours that he hadn't done it. Well, then who did? He was so convincing that we asked each of his siblings if they'd done it while he was asleep. Taking him for a walk by himself revealed the truth: yes, he'd turned on the clippers. Yes, he'd rubbed the clippers all over the back of his head. No, he didn't realize it would shave off all the hair wherever he'd rubbed them...

So, what kind of a job would you give such a child? Cutting the grass? He was so anxious to do that coveted chore that he took the mystery fluid sitting in a jug next to the garage and poured it into the lawn mower's oil pan. When that ended up smoking up the front yard, he washed it all out with the hose and water. His father has never forgiven him for that one!

He has a reasoning all his own when it comes to hacking away at things. On his adoption day, he wasn't able to express his mixed emotions. So, he cut up the trampoline - stabbing it repeatedly with a stick. He cut up his sisters' shirts because they had been "mean" to him. Cut up their panties and tied them in knots. In order to have ankle socks for sports, he cut the tops off of all his socks. Mr. Scissors now has quite a number of raggedy socks and he's sure COOL lookin'.