Sunday, June 22, 2014

Mobile Moments, 6/16-6/22

It's been a week of discovery around here. Mia grows more capable on two feet every day, mastering important skills like balancing on uneven ground and weaving through the perils of a toy-strewn floor. She picks herself up from sitting position with ease, and masterfully shifts to crouching or kneeling as though she'd been accomplishing such things every day of her short life, rather than merely for the last month or so. It's a wonder to watch her, especially when I think back on how much she was still struggling when we first arrived at my parents' home about three weeks ago. A wonder, too, to see her fledgling attempts at communication begin to hit the mark as she verbalizes her needs for sleep, for food, for affection; and an experience of true awe to see her begin to follow simple instructions and to respond to familiar requests. What a privilege it has been for all of us to see her blossom and change before our very eyes. She's my third round of this experience, but it never feels any less amazing, or like any less of a privilege, to observe.

Michael, too, has flourished, displaying true comprehension of some of his favorite stories, continuing to use music and rhyme to find the confidence verbalize words, and demonstrating a familiarity with numbers and letters that is truly exciting to behold. Though he often gets confused about the proper order and can only sometimes identify numbers on sight, he can often be coaxed into counting up to five, and has gained enough of an understanding of the concept of color to begin to identify it. Interestingly, he's currently prone to labeling every color he sees "red," though I'm unsure if that's because he's still trying to match labels to hues or because it's the only label he feels comfortable enough to verbalize just yet.

As for Abby, she so benefits from the opportunity of having hours to herself within earshot of me but away from the hands and mouths of younger siblings (something that we're just not set up for in our own house) that it pains me to consider how our return home will likely bring a huge decrease in frequency to many of the activities she gets to experience daily here and has likely come to take for granted. In the back room of the basement I hear her concoct stories about the goings-on of the dollhouse inhabitants, chatter as she pieces together her favorite puzzles, sing as she colors and colors and colors away. She's even tried her hand at a few of the activities in her beloved coloring books, and I've been proudly impressed by her ability to follow instructions.

Michael has also found a love for putting color to paper (and floor, and wall, and furniture as well), which means that his time has been a bit more restricted and his activities much more closely monitored. However, few things please him more than those blackboard painted closet doors, on which he can scribble away to his heart's content and come away rainbow-tinted, dust covered, and immensely happy.

All the while I've scribbled mental notes in random parts of my brain, half long-forgotten by the time the week draws to its end and I realize that- once again- I've spent the greater part of it avoiding my blog like the plague. It takes enormous strength of will now to put this one post together, and I've begun to pine a bit for the days when it was just another part of the routine, all the while recognizing that some great amount of other sacrifices were made to carve out time to make it possible. I hope to find some kind of groove again someday, but hopefully until then you'll at least find me here, too late on a Sunday night,, fulfilling some unwritten obligation to myself and stumbling along this blogging journey, much like I do in every other area of my beautiful, crazy life.


Making music.

Story time in the "big kid" room.

"Bunny" (Designed and constructed by Abby)

"Mama Bird and Baby Bird" (Mama designed by Mommy, Baby designed by Abby, both constructed by Abby)

New summer sandals, at last!

"We can't wait to try them out!"

Mia's get a close-up, since they're her very first new pair of shoes.

Silly silly siblings.

Kisses stolen.

Kisses returned.

Abby did an amazing job at coloring by number, but Michael felt that a certain color was missing: Green.



Overheard this week:

Abby

"Daddy, the lights forgot to be on!"

Between Tom, Michael, and Abby

T: "Michael, are you The Map?"
A: "No, Daddy, Michael's not The Map- he's human. He's not the map, he's not a piece of paper, he's not a sticker. He doesn't stick to things.


Between Tom and Michael (Reading from Curious George)

T: "Now, George, you be a good little monkey and stay here."
M: {Uproarious laughter}
T: "Michael, is George going to be a good little monkey?"
M: "Nooooo!"
T: "Is George going to get into trouble?"
M: "Yeeaaah!"

Michael

"Way (as in, I want to go that way)"

Mia

"Down, sleepy (seep), outside (ow), ball, balloon (boon), hat (haa), sheep, (seep)"