Headlights in the Fog

Happy Halloween!

One more pile to purge

I have been a sentimental person all of my life. I still have all of my college and YMCA photo ID's... not because I'll ever use them again, but because they represented a time and a place in my mind. A literal picture of who I was. I've distilled all of my papers, photos and other such things in to a concise pile of 12 large boxes. They mostly happen to be in Kitty's closet... so I know I need to get a move on that sometime before she realizes she has a claim to her closet. Having children has brought out a new sentimental side in me for their drawings and photos. Problem is, now that Kitty is bringing home art from school and Jack is working through a seeming ream of paper each week everything is getting backed up. My usual piles of current magazines and things to be attended to has now been joined by 2 other piles for Jack and Kitty's stuff. How long do I need to hold on to a worksheet on writing the number 3? It feels wrong to throw it out... but with all the letters and numbers being practiced I'm guessing you can figure out how knee deep we are in them. Instead of being a house whose hallways are lined by stacks of newspaper, ours will be lined by school papers. The other issue is that I am very attached to some of Jack's artwork... The upper right hand picture is a firefighter driving a firetruck. The lower left is 'Outer Space.' Jack has decided he doesn't like doing art, so the well has dried up.
I know, shock horror... one of my kids doesn't like doing art! Well, I haven't broken it to Jack yet, but spending hours designing space ships out of lego does qualify as an art form. (sssssssssssssssssssshh!)

Goings-on

I know it has been a really long time since I've posted because I found pictures from our block party in the camera... a really awesome block party where a kid could bounce in a moonbounce for hours and get to spray a firehose while in part of a Darth Vader costume. One of the women on our block got a local fire station to drive their firetruck to our block and then let the kids climb all over it for an hour. To say that all of the kids were enthusiastic is a vast understatement.
Kitty has taken to being a princess recently:

 

I think it is dawning on her that she can have her own opinion about what she wears and doesn't have to enjoy wearing Jack's old clothes. Her favorite color has changed from blue to purple.

In other news, Kitty had a speech evaluation and will need probably a year of therapy to get her articulation where it should be. We're looking in to all the options and hopefully will find a place to have her go soon. The woman who evaluated Kitty said that she could tell Kitty has had a great deal of ear infections because she is dropping the middle and end of her words. She said, "Imagine learning to speak while underwater." Kitty is totally willing to repronounce things when we say them for her... so I'm not worried that she'll do fine once in therapy. Until then, Thom, Jack and I will work as 'Kitty-translators.'

Not speaking the language

This morning Jack came downstairs in his underwear and asked for some clothes. Kitty, upon hearing him request an outfit, said something that sounded like "I want my fish shirt." I said, "FISH shirt?" and she said, "NO! My FISH SHIRT!!!"  It went back and forth like this until Kitty got frustrated and burst in to hysterical tears. I was totally befuddled until I thought to ask her what it look like. Once she got calmed down enough to tell me, she said, "It's purple and has hearts and stars on it..." With a light bulb going off over my head I said, "OH! YOUR SWEATSHIRT!" Kitty said smiling, "Yes, my FISH SHIRT!"
Yesterday in the car Jack was telling me about the all-school assembly he had gone to. The topic was the upcoming election. He said, "Mommy, I wish you could have been there... they played the most beautiful song." Since the other tidbits he had told me pointed to the overall theme being an American and what that entails, I said, "Was it the Star Spangled Banner?" He replied with wonder, "YES! That was it!" I started singing it and, as usually happens when I hear it  or sing it, I was overcome with goosebumps and warm, tingly feelings about being an American. I explained to Jack what the song was about, the circumstances under which it was written, and the symbolism of our flag still flying. He asked a bunch of questions (as is his way when trying to understand something) and then was thoughtfully silent. Later, at home, he asked to hear the song again. I found a video of Christina Aguilera belting it out at a hockey game. He didn't like that at all whereas I was quite moved. We finally found this recording which he listened to for quite awhile until there was a ruckus and Kitty clicked on another link thus stopping the music.
I credit all of the kids' music appreciation directly to Thom. His passion for all sorts of music is a blessing to us all. Ever since Jack was a small baby, Thom has created mix CD's the likes of which I don't think has ever been seen before. There is classical, kids', pop, jazz and other genres represented along side each other. Yesterday it occurred to me that probably never before in the history of music has some of these songs been played next to each other. As an example the CD currently in our car has this string of songs: 'Walk Like An Egyptian' (by the Bangles), 'Baa Baa Twinkle' (an original composition by Thom), 'Mother Nature's Son' (the Beatles), 'Iv. Tempo Di Gavotta: Allegro' (Corelli), 'Mr. Blue Sky' (ELO), a piece by Poulenc and then 'You Can't Touch This' (MC Hammer.)
My man is an amazing man. I'm so glad to watch his handiwork create music lovers of our children.
Today in the car Jack said, "You know, I might be a Singer when I grow up. I can write beautiful songs... I really can." He then started singing quietly, to himself, a song of his own composition.

Do you remember...