Happy Birthday, Gideon

Dear Gideon,

We've been talking about Thursday for the past few days. Do you remember? What is Thursday? What is June 26th?

Usually I just get a lot of echos and some bouncing. I don't mind. I love your cheerful enthusiasm.

You go between "maniacal ball of fiery energy" to "completely engrossed in a piece of technology" in about 4 nanoseconds. You are ridiculously good at figuring out anything you want or need on an Apple product. A few months ago, you somehow switched the wifi on to the old iPhone that holds your games and you downloaded your Pooh Bear and Donald videos from your dad's cloud. Dude, I had to ask Daddy to explain it three times before I could do that on my iPad.

Donald is your favorite. You watch old Donald and Chip & Dale videos all of the time and laugh until you can't hold still. You've started listening to non-kid music and you like interesting music videos. Pentatonix, Pharrell, and OK Go are at the top of your list. We love watching how you are overcome with joy and must DANCE. And boy, do you dance! Your little flailing arms and legs send your Grandma and your Aunt Sarah into the roof with delight.

You just finished your second year of half-day PPCD. In August, you'll go to school for a full day. You'll start mainstreaming slowly. You'll eat school lunches and go to PE. I am so proud of you, little man. You're going to be amazing. It's going to be new and very different. There are going to be parts that you don't like. I'm asking you to be brave, Gideon. Be brave and step out a little more. I'll be waiting when you come home. You can always rest with me and your daddy. I promise.

I've felt sometimes that I miss a lot of you. You still carefully guard yourself in your own little world. There are days where you barely speak aloud. You are very uncomfortable with eye contact. But you are my Gideon. I know that you like yellow cheese sticks, throwing a ball, peanut M&M's more than regular, having your feet rubbed, and giraffes. You gently interact with your baby sister, trade iPhone games with your middle sister and gleefully wrestle with your older sister. I'm so grateful that you are our Gideon. This family is so much richer with you in the middle.

Happy 5th birthday. Mama adores her sweet Prince.

Love,

Mama

Moving On

I have three blog drafts from January on here. Maybe I'll eventually come back to them. Life just gets in the way.

Today, I'm watching Milly and Gideon eat yellow cheese sticks and act silly in front of Mickey in Wonderland. We're waiting for Milly's bus to come and take her to school. It's the last week of school. She's done such a great job in just a short amount of time.

Gideon has his 3-hour ABA assessment this afternoon so I have to keep him busy until we leave at 1:30.

Selfies are a good distraction.

The miserable teething baby is starting to act a little sleepy. FINALLY. Maybe she'll nap. (Please, sweet baby Jesus...)

I'm ready for a summer with the possibility of a few days to myself. Days where I can sit quietly and actually hear myself think. Days where I can work in the kitchen without the threat of tripping over two or three small bodies. Days where I can leisurely scrub a toilet without worrying that someone is eating the walls or a book.

Days where I might be able to write.