Happy Birthday, my little one.

It's late and I'm tired but I couldn't let this day go by without telling the world how much I love you, Oliver.  So even though you kept me up last night between 2:30 and 6am, I think I'll keep you.  But let's not make it a habit again, OK?  I have a feeling that eight is going to be an awesome year, we have a lot of adventures ahead of us, and I want to be well rested for it.

A little homefront update: language and sleep

Someone asked me today why I think the words -- the sentences -- are coming easier for Oliver. And there is no doubt that it is getting easier for him. When Oliver becomes distressed during the course of any day I remind him that he can tell me what is wrong and then there it is: "I want a turn." "I feel hungry. I want to eat." "I want to go upstairs and get dressed." "I want to have that." "I want Sami to stop it." "I'm full. I don't want to eat that." "I want to put my bathing suit on and I need help."

I don't know, really, why everything seems to be coming together for my boy. But I do know that his receptive language has reached a point where there is no doubt that he understands almost every single thing that is said to him. I am sure of this because I have purposefully grown less careful in how I communicate. I am less explicit. For example, the other day we were collecting our milk from the farm, I had taken about a dozen steps from the milking shed with my arms full when I mentally noted that I forgotten to close the door behind me. "Oh, shoot!" I said. Then, pointing with my pursed lips in the direction of the door, I asked: "Oliver, could you get that for me?" Without missing a beat Oliver walked back to the building and closed the door. Then, later, Oliver closed his car door and started to buckle himself in without noticing that the door didn't latch all the way. From outside the car I said: "I don't think that did the trick!" In one fluid motion, Oliver looked up, saw what I was talking about and closed the door more securely. There are more examples, I'm sure (like telling him to skootch over when I wanted to sit, then having him do just that!) but these are the ones that come to mind.

Oliver is also -- unbelievably -- still sleeping through the night. We had a couple of rough weeks this summer when I wondered if our lucky streak had ended. But I think that had more to do with the copious amounts of pool water that Oliver was drinking every day! It took us some time to get that sorted out and soon we were back to sleeping all night every blessed night. It feels like we've won the lottery. Seriously.

I don't know what to think about all this wonderful language that we've been hearing. Obviously, Oliver is still greatly impaired when it comes to his ability to communicate. He still struggles. A lot. But hearing these words, these sentences, come forth has allowed a little blossom of hope to grow and I can almost imagine the day when we will have a conversation. 

Suddenly Summer

Today was one of those days when it really felt like summer vacation -- and not just because the calendar says it is the middle of June, but because our attitude says so. We're busy finding our groove and trying to beat the heat. We don't have air-conditioning and with a week of temperatures in the mid-nineties, it has been a challenge to keep myself the kids from being too cranky. Lucky for us, we live within just a few miles of some gorgeous swimming holes, which is where we spent a few hours today ignoring the heat. Unfortunately I remembered my camera but forgot the memory card. The heat will make you think you're losing your mind like that. So you'll just have to picture two giddy boys and their mama frolicking in the ice-cold river. And trust me, it was all that and more!

Once home again the kids and I engineered this awesome pirate/space ship by hanging all the sheets, blankets and towels from the clothesline.

Sami dragged his sleeping bag out there, declaring that he was going to sleep under the stars. Then the two kids spent a few hours lounging out there with books while I tried to figure out what to do with a staggering amount of laundry that had somehow spontaneously generated in my laundry room and which I now could not dare to hang on the clothesline. At bedtime tonight Sami lasted about three and a half minutes out there before throwing open the back door and indignantly telling us that the rabbits were making too much noise. Then he went upstairs, dragging his sleeping bag behind him, and climbed into bed with his brother.

Also in some weird twist of events, Oliver has taken a sudden liking to a basket of Little People that has been sitting in the corner of his room. I just don't even know what to say about it, really. Oliver has never much been one to play with toys and suddenly I find him zooming cars back and forth. 

And, as if all that weren't enough to make this a really great summer vacation kind of day? Just look at the broccoli we had for dinner tonight: