2012 Hooray!

  A new year filled with hopes and dreams, resolutions and promises, and lots and lots of cooped up kiddos! We are lucky here this time of year. It has been mild and sunny allowing us to get the boys out of the house and physically active every day. I have been taking them on long walks. Our route covers two miles and goes up and down gentle hills. Boys and dogs are all tired by the time we arrive back home. Yesterday we walked it once in the morning and again in the late afternoon. Poor Ahren was so tired on the second walk that I literally dragged him the last mile. It is so much harder for him but he didn't complain. He was a trooper! Afterwards his poor little legs were so tired I sat him in a warm bath to soothe them. It is very important to keep him as active as possible to maintain as much muscle as we can.
  We take the two boxers on the walks and they are extremely well behaved, even the puppy! The boys, on the other hand, seem oblivious to my commands that they get out of the middle of the street, stop picking up trash, and stay out of the muddy ditches. Boys....maybe I should have put the leashes on them instead of the dogs! (Oooh that is sooo tempting.....hahahah)

  The week following Christmas went so much smoother than the previous week. I think the anticipation brought out the worst in my munchkins. There were many instances of pinching, hitting, kicking, name calling and even a chopstick stabbing (more of a poke). By the time the big day arrived I had lost every shred of my patience and was ready to push the tree over and run away. Christmas day was very pleasant and calm....to say I was shocked is an understatement. They shared and laughed and played happily together all day, and the next day and the next and so on. I am actually sad that they go back to school tomorrow and I have to return to work. This has been a lovely week.

  Therapy has been really helping Seth. He is starting to process some of the things that have hurt him in the past and is talking more and more about his feelings. It's always amazing when he has a breakthrough and also incredibly sad. He has made such amazing progress. In fact, when he has a breakthrough now there is very little fallout afterwards. His 'behaviors' are now limited to poor impulse control including the pinching, hitting, etc (minor offenses but without sufficient provocation) and lying. His teacher is working with us on both of these issues and she holds him to a pretty tough standard. That is great because he is a super-smarty who quickly figures out how to work the system.  If she acted like she felt in the least bit sorry for him, he would run with it. Instead, he is treated fairly and just like all the other kids. There is no gray area, the consequences are black and white. He responds best to this approach.

  One of these days I will actually catch up on my posts and pictures, but for now I am just moving forward. Forward feels good. Really good.

 Now it's off to scour the boys bathroom, a job that probably should require a hazmat suit. I swear, how can three little boys make such a mess. I have scrubbed the toilet so much the coating has worn off the seat. I am so glad I re-painted the walls with gloss paint that is super-washable because I am constantly washing all sorts of nastiness off of them. Dirty fingerprints, mud, toad-slime, you name it. The best idea would have been to build a floor drain into that bathroom and just epoxy-coat every surface, add a large industrial sprayer nozzle to the sink and be able to hose it down like an animal cage. In fact, I could hose the boys and the bathroom off at the same time! A brilliant idea if I do say so myself!!!!