Humpty Dumpty, Brownies, Start of Spring

Anastasia loves nursery rhymes and songs and often uses them to express her feelings instead of being able to just say what's going on in her head. We're pretty certain this is due to her autism and just her way of communicating. So we adapt and learn her riddles.

For a while, she's been asking for a "Humpty Dumpty dress, priddle [pretty] please?" Thankfully it's spring! I found an Easter egg outfit with baby chicks all over. It's supposed to be a tunic and capris but it's more of a dress with ruffled leggings on her. I'm happy with it because it gives her room to grow. As soon as Anastasia opened it up she yelled "Humpty Dumpty!! Soft. On? Priddle please!" She wears it frequently and we've only had it for a week. 

Heidi likes cooking dinner with me and baking during weekends or at night. She's discovered while these tend to be chores they double as coping skills for her. Heidi still loves taking pictures, especially of the Littles. 

Sometimes she'll let the Littles help her out and we end up with fun memories like these. Heidi was making brownies and we got some frosting and sprinkles to top it off with. She frosted the brownies and divided the sprinkles between the 3 of them. 

Anastasia promptly ate all of hers, not a single crumb made it onto the brownies. Rowan would pour his allotment onto the very center of the brownies. They were very perplexed to discover we couldn't make more sprinkles magically appear, no matter how politely they would ask.

We've been enjoying the lovely spring weather by going to the neighborhood park any chance we get. It supposed to be chilly for this time of year, however, it's perfect spring weather to us. The preschool has a difficult time keeping jackets on Anastasia and Rowan while outdoors.

The park we frequently go to is small, however, there are benches, swings and a slide. Rowan and Anastasia are learning to play pretend. Right now, Anastasia likes to act like a puppy. Complete with licking people. Rowan will climb to the top of the slide, shouting "LOOK!! Rowan climbing the highest mountain!" 

Rowan and Anastasia ask me or Heidi to take pictures of any flowers we pass while we're out on walks. 

To which we happily oblige them. I figure it's more polite to take a picture and have a pretty memory then letting them pick the flowers and having them die in a day or two. 

The Littles are learning Yoga at preschool, Rowan has really gravitated to it. He just loves to get into yoga poses and sit in the sun. Anastasia is picking up deep breathing techniques for when she's flustered. I think it's safe to say they are loving their teachers and preschool in general.

I've also made a sad realization. When your child has difficulties with speech they can't have those adorable, yet incorrect, pronunciation of words. For example, Anastasia says "priddle" instead of "pretty". Or she has a baby T-Rex she has to sleep with at night, she calls him "Baby Wex".

Rowan's 4th Birthday, Check Ups, and Pictures

We just celebrated Rowan's 4th Birthday on Sunday. We decided to open the presents in the morning because; Char had to work that night, Char had to study and a paper to work on. Bonus, opening them in the morning meant Rowan could play with the presents for the whole day.

One of his favorite surprises came from Grandma. It's a big battery operated train track set just like the one his cousin got for Christmas. At Christmas, those 2 little boys played with the train for hours. 

Rowan and Anastasia like to make human tunnels for the train to go under. They straddle the sides of the track and watch as the train goes under them. They played tunnels together for nearly an hour straight. 

Before Char left for work that night we had some birthday cake. Even though it was still daylight outside, Rowan wanted the lights off in the kitchen. As soon as Char lit the candles, Rowan promptly blew them out. 

We lit the candles again. Rowan let us sing all of the Happy Birthday song to him, without asking us to be quiet. That's huge! In fact, he was giggling the whole time. 

Anastasia is getting used to riding the bus and going to school. She still cries and pouts a little as she gets on the bus, however, she goes right to her assigned seat. She's also letting me do her hair in the mornings, which is amazing. 

Heidi Anne had activity day, it's a church youth program, this week. They played a variety of glow in the dark games. (I'm sure there was some lesson behind it all) but Heidi had a ton of fun, which is the important part. Rowan stayed up later than normal just to make sure Heidi came home okay. She brought the glow in the dark lights and he had a blast playing with her before bed.  

On Tuesday Rowan went for this 4 year well child check. He's 36.8 pounds (45th percentile) and 3 feet & 4 inches tall (60th percentile)! He was terrified at the thought that he'd get eye drops. As soon as the doctor came in he begged "No eye drops! Please!!" She kindly explained that she wasn't that kind of doctor. He didn't need any shots this round, but he'll get his kindergarten series next year. 

Oh! We had our first visit to the dentist in a long time. Once again, Rowan was worried about getting eye drops (I'm fairly certain those eye drops traumatized him). Rowan was not cooperating at all, wouldn't open his mouth, or even smile so the dentist could have a glance at his teeth. Anastasia would a least open her mouth for a short time. The dentist was patient and didn't push them, her goal is to get kids comfortable enough with the dentist. She saw enough to see there aren't any serious problems. We're going to practice examing their teeth at home and try again in 6 months. 

Heidi Anne's been doing okay. Since she is going to middle school in August she really wants her own cell phone. Char stuck a deal with her, she has to read a certain number of assigned books before her birthday in July and she can have her own phone. (It'll probably be one of those old school flip phones). Thus, she has been reading like crazy lately. 

Anastasia's First Day of Preschool, Check Ups, And Fixed It!

Anastasia just had her 3rd-year checkup. She is now 28 pounds (the 5th percentile) and 2'9 (the 2nd percentile) but she's on the charts!! She also got her MMR vaccine, which means we're really free from being housebound. Here she is recovering from the shot. We haven't done many adventures outside the home due to the measles outbreak. Now if the weather would just turn to spring we can do more outdoor things. 

Anastasia's first day of preschool was last week. Rowan's afternoon preschool teacher loves having him around so much, she requested that Anastasia be in her morning class. She adores Anastasia, too. (I know, new standards require you to take off the coat, which I did. We're just waiting for the school to open and it was so cold I bundled her up.)

Anastasia was so excited to go to school like Rowan...until she learned that mom wouldn't be staying with her. She started crying as soon as we would pull up to the school. They let me take her into the classroom for the first few days but Anastasia would become inconsolable once I left. 

This week we started with a bus taking her to school and dropping her back off at home. It's made the transition to school much easier for Anastasia. (Once again, Rowan's bus driver offered to be Anastasia's transportation). Now they both have the exact same teacher and bus driver. 

Both of them love their new one on one time with just mom, however, Rowan and Anastasia miss each other a great deal. As soon as one is off the bus they run to each other shouting "You're back!! I MISSED you!" Once inside they just like being close together.  

The Littles have come up with a new phrase. "How's your name?" They ask this many times a day. I think it's a mix between "How are you?" and "What's your name?". They ask it very sincerely and only seem to accept "My name's good." as an appropriate answer. 

I was cleaning up the kitchen while the Littles were in the other room. They would run up to me every few minutes and say, "Dollhouse Trains." I was like "Yeah! Dollhouse and Trains are so much fun! Good job!" High fives would be given and off they'd go. After 20 minutes of this, I overheard, "Yippie Skippie! We fixed the dollhouse, Anastasia." I rushed to the living room to see what happened. Apparently, they turned the dollhouse into a train yard still under construction. They asked me to take a "Cheese!!" [picture] of the newly "fixed" dollhouse. 

Rowan has rediscovered his wolf hat from last winter. As recently as November 2018 he still hated to wear hats. Now he won't take it off. It could be a super warm day (we haven't had many of them yet but they happen) and he'll still put it on. He would leave "Wolfie" at school sometimes and be very sad. I got him another, similar wolf hat which is never taken out of the house. According to Rowan, the hats are "brothers". 

Speaking of brothers, Rowan keeps confusing the school staff by telling everyone he has a little brother at home. His teacher went through his file and it has 2 sisters listed. The teacher would ask Rowan, "Do you have a baby sister at home?" Rowan's response? "Yes and baby brother."
So I asked him, "Rowan, where's your baby brother?" He ran up to Cas, giving Cas a big hug, and answers "Cas my brother!" My heart melted a little.