She has lately had trouble sleeping, occasionally having those nights where she sneaks into our bed in the middle of the night. The other night she had a bout of this and I overheard her say to Chewy: “Daddy, can you make the bad dreams come out of my head so I can sleep?” This morning I found her sleeping sideways in the rocking chair in her room (I have no idea how and why, but there she was, sound asleep).
Willow has also been enjoying school and it has been interesting to see her social network expand. She has a best friend named Kayla. Most days she is happy to go to school and play with her friends, reluctant to leave in the evening pick up.
She has a dance class at school, where she is learning to tap dance (she even got me to buy her tap shoes). We ask her what dances they learned this week, and she goes through the whole routine…it is damned cute. The last couple of weeks she has gone on and on about some cooking class at school. We did not know what she was talking about….seems we had not gotten the notice. Of course, now she is enrolled in the cooking class. Willow’s first “dish” she cooked was a very very very cheesy macaroni that she made sure we had with dinner. I do not generally like Mac N Cheese, and I had some, although it was kinda glue like in its consistency. (Michael needs more help in hiding his expressions of disgust when eating).
The other day we were out to lunch and she started asking out of the blue about how dinosaurs got extinct. We had a big discussion on the meteorite and how they died. We are having more conversations like this, where she asks questions that are more complicated and searching. Soon she will be five. FIVE. [sigh]
Michael is definitely a teenager now. He sulks in a corner or skulks out of the room before you notice. He can be rude and testy. Oftentimes he is reading Cracked (on Dad’s tablet) or Mad magazine. Or playing video games (mostly on the computer, usually obscure or old ones). Even when we want him to stay up (for a movie or a board game) he gets tired and goes to bed (only to wake up way too early for us). Lately, I have noticed him sleeping on car rides, something he usually doesn’t do. That is teenage growth spurts for ya.
I think he is enjoying the little bit of independence caused by walking home from school and often being on his own for a couple (few) hours between when he gets home from school and when I get home from work. Maybe too much. His grades suffered a bit last term. He is working on his time management skills. For example: “When is this project due? THIS Friday (two days from now)? So you need poster board, etc.? When did you know about this project? LAST Friday??”
Sometimes his is so mature; other times he is immature and inappropriate. I cannot always tell if it is his ADHD/Aspergers or his age. When he is not exasperating, he is wonderful and a great big brother and son. What to do for his FOURTEENTH birthday—have no idea.
UPDATE:
When I went to pick up Willow tonight, they had these two pictures of Willow from the cooking class.
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