7 Quick Ones

Woah, hi there. It’s Friday.  Friday means nothing to a stay at home mom, so. It’s just Friday. Dinner rush and ankle biting as usual.

–1–

Fist area of business: Wrenn Jewelry is giving away 50 buckaroos to shop her sparklies right here. The giveaway ends tomorrow at 3pm est.  Alissa, the designer, keeps coming up with delicious pieces every few weeks and each one is better than the next.  Whomever wins, I envy you, because her new pink peony druzys are the apple of my eye right now. Get thee!

–2–

Okay so last winter, Emmett was diagnosed with Autism a mere 13 days before his 3rd birthday.  After the strange (just strange) emotions we (and maybe I should just say I because I’m the one who broke down in tears for no reason) encountered and facing the reality of his diagnosis, and that this is a life-long challenge, Craig and I have been slowly learning ways to help Emmett communicate with us.  Emmett has never spontaneously uttered the words “mommy” or “daddy”, whether in want of something, or frustration, or sadness, or fear, or just as a hello.  He only ever repeats.  Even after asking him to say something, often times, Emmett does not.  So during the moments when Emmett actually says words, whether it be in parroting a movie or a song, we pounce on that and use it.

My mom found a laminator and we’ve been able to use it to create letter cards for Emmett.  See, he loves letters, words, and numbers.  His memory of words he sees is amazing.  I looked down a few weeks ago and noticed for the very first time a group of letters which made sense!
It was eerie to look down and realize no one else but your 3 year old is in the room to have spelled out the word FROZEN across the floor. Frozen is one of his favorite Disney’s at the moment (what Disney-watching child’s isn’t?).

Since then, we’ve worked with Emmett to recognize words which he can use to tell us his wants and emotions.

Mainly, they help during sensory overload situations to calm him down before his thrashing becomes all-out tasmanian devil.  If you’re following me on Instagram, you probably saw some of the pages I was working on to create his word book.  It’s been a life saver. Especially during Mass.

 

 

But for the very first time this week, Emmett brought me some of his cards as if to communicate with me.

For the very first time, my three year old told me he loved me. 

I’d resigned myself to accept that while Emmett might never look me in the eyes and say, “I love you, Mom” that he definitely shows me.  And he does. It’s clear he delights in and adores Craig, and it’s clear that he feels most at rest with the both of us close to him.  But I’d given up hoping to be literally, voluntarily given those words.

So, one might imagine how that felt.

–3–

Today, Emmett ran up to me, holding up a card and smiling with wide eyes in recognition of something new.

The card which reads MOMMY, he held next to my face.

It seems like it’s likely a part of something a parent of young children with Autism definitely knows painfully well: to wonder, does he even know I’m his mommy?  Does it even matter to him who’s there to feed him and clean him up during the day? Who does he see?

With your typical child who is not autistic, it’s always quite clear they seek out comfort and respite from Mom or Dad. But with Emmett, I am simply a pair of hands which “DO.”  Hands give and take and wipe and clean (I’m stating this as a matter of fact, not to complain.  This is simply how it’s been.). Emmett’s whole 2nd year of life, it was like he did not have the ability to look at the person beyond the hands.

But little by little, it’s as if Craig and I have come into focus for Emmett.

I have to say, it is rewarding.

–4–

You’ve told me all along, having multiple children does get better. But when one of them is thrashing upon the floor screeching like a banshee, while the other is attached to the boob, and the third is waiting for his bum to be wiped from the bathroom upstairs, while the bacon is burning in the oven and you step in a unidentified puddle of fluid on your way to crawl in a hole and die, ’tis but a dream.

But it’s true.  New challenges (“challenges” HA.) replace the old, of course, but it makes it INFINITELY much better when you can bark at your 5 year old to bring you an extra diaper, fill his brother’s juice cups, and put some shorts on everyone (whether those shorts are three sizes too small or large, or match in anyway whatsoever, at this point, mother dearest doesn’t care).

Even Collin, who will turn 2 this Autumn, is now helping break put the dishes away and clear the dinner table.  He and Lexington often fight over who gets to vacuum.  I’m going to laugh at that one forever and use it as proper leverage when they’re teens.  They’re simple tasks, but my ankle biters are becoming the extra hands I’ve longed for since day one. BANGARANG.

–5–

So I’m just kicking back and the house is sparkly white, right? …r i g h t.  That’s what the exposure adjustment is for.

–6–

I’m working on my second crochet blanket for our boys, and the place I’m at right now took me literally 6 months to achieve with the first blanket.  I’ve been at this one for 2 weeks. whizzbang.

–6.5–

Does anyone here weave??? Like with a loom? I’m really interested in jimmy-rigging a cardboard thing like Pinterest says and giving it a go.  I really want to try a kitchen rug with strips from old clothes that are just too embarrassing to give to Goodwill. Anyone have good tips?  I’m all eyes.

–7–

Many moons ago, I wrote about a natural deodorant I liked.  Well, it wasn’t too long before I realized I did not, in fact, like it at all.  It was greasy and left an un-washable fily oil stain on my shirts, and after a day at Bumpy Bridge, where the power is known to go out with a slight breeze of the wind and often times, the AC just flat stopped working, the Bee Oh wafted prodigiously. Lurvely.

My friend, Ashley, shared Prima Pit Paste with me and after using it for a full month, I can truly say I’ll never love another. My husband can vouch for it too. Big fan, that stinky man– though stinky not so much anymore.  I’m in such a love with Primal Pit Paste (it’s really fun to say it like a toothless moonshiner from the hollers of Kentucky) that I’m going to bug them for a review and hopefully do a giveaway, and you’ll love it too.  Stay tuned!

 

Have a great weekend, youse guys!  Thanks, Jen, for another week of 7QT.