The Year So Far....

As the first month of the new year draws to a close, some stray observations...

• It is annoying to have a snow blower that doesn't work.  Yep. Hoping to get that fixed sometime soon.

• Chewy has been writing a sort-of homage/eulogy to our friend Paul and I find it interesting how this year anniversary has come and gone and our family is still coping with this loss.

• Kittens are damned cute.  (Which is good, because cat litter is damned smelly!)

• Michael seems to have gotten through his first ever mid-terms and pulled up his grades (A/Bs, probably a C in Honors Algebra) this term.  He seems to have an affinity to English that I never really knew he had.

• Lately, Willow has become obsessed with her hair.  Wanting to have it just right, having it in pony tails and pig tails.  Things I can do pretty ineptly.  Braids...I am not going there.  (But she did...at the hair cut place)

•  Michael is going to be 15 years old in less than a month.  I have gotten him personalized M&Ms and I am thinking of getting a picture of Batman and putting it on a cake for him.  (Adam West Batman, I think) Other than that, pretty low key--maybe have a couple of his friends over for pizza or movie or laser tag. 

• Michael's friends--I know he has them. I have never seen them.  Chewy has met them briefly.  But we have never actually met them.  They come over after school on Fridays and hang out for a bit.  I have heard them on the phone when Michael calls in to say he is home.  I know this sounds a bit like I am being a negligent parent here--but, frankly, with Michael's Aspergers and his usual loner attitude--friends are hard to come by, so, for some reason...this has worked for about 2 years.  (Maybe I will meet them soon!)

• Tonight, I realized how I have to change my perspective---literally.  I was teaching Willow how to peel carrots for dinner...when I remembered that she is left-handed.  It really just dawned on me why she was having a bit more trouble than I thought she would.  I had to switch her hands up...and remind myself of this newly acquired trait.

• Both children amaze and annoy me with their growing-ness.  Our house has a teen going to bed early at night; a kindergartner not wanting to go to bed at bed time.  Food that disappears regularly -- my stove top often has a pan with little bits of mac n cheese or canned pasta sitting on it.  Toys are everywhere, including the bathroom sink (we seem to be a salon--last weekend she used sticky notes to draw pictures and put them on the bathroom door...one said I "heart" CH...not sure what that meant).

• Already looking towards spring and a possible vacation in April....