ups and downs

Ralph was back to work today, so we were sort of back to the real world here. I'm still on holidays, so I was at home with all of the kids today...which is out of the normal routine. L helped me bake a cake this morning, then all three kids played in M's room for a good hour...no fighting!


This one is saying Mommy! I love it :-) Sometimes it's mama, sometimes it's mommy...and sometimes it's bowie. This is such a cute stage, but one that lets you know that very soon your baby isn't going to be a baby anymore!

It's really feeling like its time to get back into a normal routine...time to go back to work and school. While part of our day was really good, part of it was also a real struggle. G wanted to play checkers & backgammon with me again this afternoon, and every time I was able to make a play to get one of his checkers, he'd wipe all of the checkers off the board and start crying...quit the game... etc. We had a really nice supper with his respite worker and her husband, and he was so excited to see them both again (it's been a week and a half), but after supper he banged his sister in the head with his great big exercise ball. So, I put it away and told him he needed to have a time out, and he had a huge meltdown (headbutting me in the face, hitting, kicking). It's been awhile since we've seen one this bad...and it's always hard to see him regress like this, but it's a good reminder that routine and predictability are really important for his ability to function. He's getting bigger and stronger, so I'm really grateful that he doesn't get physical like this too often. I'm nervous about what the impact of the change in routine with his school schedule is going to be.