These Are the Days

So, I just finished re-reading Anne Frank's Diary.  We read it in HS and though I did get a lot out of it then - I think I appreciate it even more now.  I also stumbled across the Anne Frank House on the web.  It has a virtual tour you can take of the house - and it has made a profound impression on me.  I go back to the web almost every other day almost "checking in" on Anne.  Crazy, I know.  I don't know WHY this book got to me so much this time.  It's not my kind of book - except for the history of the thing.  I mean, it doesn't "flow" like I like.  Because of the translation it doesn't even create the greatest of pictures - not like some of the books I read.  Anyway, I think about it all the time.  Unlike books that "come alive" in films (which almost always suck compared to the book) this book "came alive" in truth for me with the tour.  But on to the other tales of my life thus far.  :-)

Sal has taken on Snow Shoeing as a ....... hmmmm - here's the deal with Sal - we sign her up for almost everything she expresses interest in through the local Park District.  They have a FANTASTIC Spec Rec staff and I see this as therapy for Sal.  OT, Speech, PT - it's all there and done by people who are really trained as well as any therapist I've ever met AND are MUCH more reliable, so , is it a hobby?  Therapy?  Project?  I don't know - we signed her up.  Sal has a thing where cold does not bother her near as much as a typical person and when she was younger you kind of had to watch her because she just never wanted to come in even when she was getting dangerously cold.  So, this seemed like a perfect fit and as usual - She loves it.  :-)  AND she's pretty good at it.  We all meet at a park in Downers Grove and they all stomp around in the snow and Jack plays football for the hour.  *I* sit in my nice warm car and read. In the *wonderful* quiet.  :-)

December has descended on us and as usual I am out of sorts.  I just really really hate Christmas.  I hate the colors, the garland, the tree.  It almost makes me a little queasy.  The hypocrisy of buying SO much and going to SUCH extent to celebrate made up birthday of a person who was so NOT what Christmas has become.   And in fact what it does is usually makes people feel inadequate, unprepared and a lot of times very lonely.  I've decided I'm much more a Jew than a Christian.  Getting out a Menorah seems SO much nicer than dragging out all that Christmas crap.  :-) 

I have a friend on the Oct List who is Jewish (there are several on the list) and I have been following her Hanuka celebration this year.  She has 8 kids and they are having a ball and guess what - NO DECORATIONS!  Their celebrations seems so much more genuine than the Christmas ones I've known. 

A friend of mine was surprised that we only get our kids two presents - one from Santa and one from us.  This is exactly what I mean - it's not "good enough".  And speaking as a mother of  a little boy who is having a hard time being grateful for what he gets now - I need not give in to that kind of thinking.

Yes, Jack has been a pip lately.  Every time he doesn't get EXACTLY what he wants or things don't go EXACTLY how he expects he throws a fit.  The only GOOD thing is that through these little fits and the latter punishment he has learned to say he's sorry.  (and he's getting good at it - see practice works)
:-)   He's MUCH more upset by changes than Sal is.  Drives me crazy.  And the thing is - we don't have THAT many changes  - because we are a Spec Needs family. 

Jack is also expressing more and more anger that Sal is "different".  He confided in me the other night that he wished Sal was "normal".  As I was making dinner that night they decided they would like to eat in the living room (Daddy wouldn't be home) so they got their places all ready and I heard Jack say "Sal, I was sitting there." 
"Oh, sorry."  She replied.
When he came in the kitchen I told him - "a *normal* sister would have told you to go chase a cat, when you told them that was your place.  That your name wasn't on that place and you could just move on."
"Yeah,"  he said "I guess you're right."  
Oh, lessons sometimes just pop right out of the air.  :-)

Jack also has been on a campaign to change his middle name to: Razzle Dazzle.  I have no idea where he came up with that.  He is entertaining to say the least.