Big Week Big Talks

Big week for us. Aleksa has made some pretty major strides in her fine motor skills. For months she was not interested in coloring or drawing and it was really stressing me out to find ways to trick her into practicing holding a pencil or crayon.

We were given two Leap Frog thingies, one of which is "Aleksa's" (It's the one for younger kids). She loves it! There are lots of "follow this line" games on it, and she has just taken off! The other day I plopped her on my lap and said, "Leksa, you need to draw me a nice picture. Can you draw me a happy face like this?" So, she said, "Ok, Mama, and promptly drew me a happy face! And then a man with stick legs and arms, (and a big bump on his head, she said). Can't tell you how relieved I am to see her drawing and telling me what the things are. It used to be she'd only draw little circles on her paper or color book, and then toddle off uninterested. Another big thing is that she has been marching right into elevators and isn't screaming her head off or even slightly anxious. She's really doing great!

The next thing this week was that Adam had his first "behind closed doors" talk with John about the birds and bees. He has been getting pimples, and I can't hardly believe it, but he also has peach fuzz on his upper lip. I've been very naturally and casually telling him other things to expect, but he definitely needed a nice long chat with John about things Mama has no bees wax talking about with the girls around. It's so weird though. One minute, he's playing cars and "pretend" games with his sisters, and the next he's talking about how he's becoming a man. It's weird to parent a child with such an extreme developmental spectrum. Emotionally, I'd say he's about an 8-yr-old. Physically, his body thinks he's 12. Plus, we're still teaching him basic vocab (he finally learned the word for his private parts yesterday, and boy was he proud to use it. "Papa, boys have p---!" ("What!?" John said.) That was one of the first things he announced to John when he came home from work yesterday. (After a few more declarations, John decided to usher him into Papa's Room for some more private chit-chatting). Don't know what John told him, but they were both giggling like crazy several minutes into their Talk, and Liana was dying to know just what on earth was going on in there without her. When he came out, Adam was all ready to play tickle and horsie and other "little kid" games as usual. In a way, it's rather refreshing to be talking to a child with his background about all this. There wasn't a speck of embarrassment or any unwillingness to want to talk to us about what's happening with his body, etc. Very child-like matter-of-factness. Such a relief to just mirror that right back at him. Makes for much easier communication for all of us.

John and I had our first date away from the kids on the 18th. Out to a restaurant and Uncle Jared babysat. Adam cried for about 30 minutes after we left. He couldn't understand that we would want to leave them and go eat by ourselves. When we have left them previously, it was because I had to take my dad to the doctor, or that John had a meeting to go to, etc. This time, I think it felt more like a rejection. He (and the others) were extra clingy when we got home, and realllllly didn't like it that we left. Our anniversary is coming up in a few weeks, so I'm afraid that's going to be another tough night for him.

We had our first company over for supper the other night too. We hadn't quite been brave enough to try that as of yet, but the kids did rather well, except for Liana standing up in her chair trying to reach for some more food on the other side of the table. And begging for more and more and more. (I made verenyky... which they'll all beg for until they know for certain that it is allll gone.) The other two did pretty well, and Aleksa didn't even once try to climb on and snuggle with the company. Liana lassoed the Mrs. into reading books for her though, but she didn't climb on her lap or anything.