Sunny Day With New Snow

So yesterday it snowed about 5 inches and it looks MUCH prettier. Today is sunny, and we are expecting MORE SNOW! Since the track for skating (skate skiing) isn't groomed yet, my MIL and I are taking a field trip to the mecca of Simon Pearce, home of really nice glass (blown on site) and pottery. Also, one of my very favorite restaurants. I had originally planned to take Babysitter Extraordinaire there to scout out a wedding gift (by seeing what things she liked), but since she's not coming for long enough we'll go back together another time.

On another note, The Little Person makes up stories A LOT. They often start out," When I was a little baby..." or " My Grandpa used to..." or "When I was a little baby my Grandpa used to dress me up in a troll costume (true story from today)." Sometimes they are cute and we indulge the fantastic imagination, and sometimes I get concerned about whether he knows truth from fiction. Sometimes he talks about our dogs from Alaska, Loosy and Kramer, coming to visit on a specific day. Even though Kramer is in a canister in the pantry and Loosy got adopted *what I choose to believe* by a nice family in Juneau. Also, he calls my Dad, "Poppa," or "Pop," so one would assume he meant M's Dad when he refers to Grandpa. Except M's Dad passed away a year and a half ago. One time he talked about "his baby" coming to sleep in his room (this is after he asked for a baby sister on our Thanksgiving trip to CA), and when I asked if he wanted a baby doll for Christmukkah, he said,

"No, but that would be a nice toy for my baby."

Who was going to sleep in a crib, in his room. Anyway, I think he knows he's making things up, but I'm not sure where to draw the line and check in with him about the truth of the stories. When we discuss notaliveanymore Grandpa (or his Great-Grandfather, my Grandpa, who has also [passed), then he goes around telling everyone about his Grandpa.

"He died," he says.

As Ms. C at his school says,

"After the seventh time, I'm like, we get it, he's dead!"

I know it's common for kids this age to be fascinated by death and talk a lot about it, but I'm not sure he even knows what it means. He told me once that his Grandpa was dead but he was going top the hospital and the doctor would fix him. That lead to an interesting conversation.....,

Sam has been doing GREAT work on the new laptop. For the last two days we have gone through typing a series of twenty-four words. After each twelve, he gets a five minute break to swing. I have the words written on an index card, and he types them, presses the space bar and VOILA the computer says the word and (when it wants to) shows a picture of the word. We have taken pictures of most of the family members (still need to do Grammy while we are with her) and Puppy (beloved stuffed friend) and the software comes with a number of words with picture representations. I keep having to add new words to our list, and at first I say the letters and at the beginning was helping him find them on the keyboard, but now if it's a word he's seen before (and often when he hasn't), he can hold the card, point to each letter, find it, and push the letter , then space bar at the end. After each word he gets a token for his board (twelve total) and to pick a snack from the box (which has about twelve option, but everything is broken into tiny pieces so he's not eating a ton). He knows how it all works and can manage almost all of it by himself. My plan is to do a little bit everyday, increasing vocabulary, moving towards sentences, and the amount he can do by himself.
It's really satisfying for both of us, I think. Yesterday he chose not to take a break and keep doing work! I can't wait until the other software I ordered comes. We've also done a session with The Little Person, actually M did, because I found it too frustrating (pushing the same button really hard or multiple times-general not listening). I think it's good for both of them, and plan to look into educational software specifically for The Little Person.

The doorway swing we brought to VT ROCKS, and is really making a difference in Sam's behavior. He had a great time sledding and snowmobiling yesterday, and when he and I were alone outside he was totally manageable and even somewhat independent (carried his own sled). Plus, the sled holds up to 175 pounds, so every once in a while I swing by and SWING!