Monday, October 25, 2010

What Is Truth?

A Conversation with Zeze

Me: Zee did you put my phone in my coffee?

Z: No.

Me: Do you know who did it?

Z: It was Kai.

Kai: I didn't do it! Zeze is lying!

Z: I didn't do it. Kai is lying!

Me: Zeze, did you see Kai do it?

Z: Yes. ........No, wait. Daddy and Noah did it.

Me: Okay, did you see Daddy and Noah do it?

Z: Yes, I did! (With triumph in his voice and acting as though Mama was going to give a serious time-out to Daddy and Noah)

Me: Zeze that is a lie. Daddy wasn't home and Noah was sleeping. That isn't what really happened and it's not the truth.

Z: Oh.

Me: You need to tell me the truth all the time.

Z: But, Mama, it's just so hard! (Said with as much passion and conviction as though I had asked him to carry me upstairs.)

Me: (holding back a giggle) It's hard to tell the truth?

Z: Yes! I can't do it. Can you help me?

Me: Sure! When it's hard, you pray to God and ask him to help you tell the truth. Say, "Dear God, please help me tell the truth." Then when you're done you say the truth. Get it?

Z: Yes! (With a confident smile)

Me: How about you try.

Z: Dear God, the truth. Amen!!! ..........Oh Mama, look there's a bug on the window! He's climbing up the window!!!


I knew my point was lost, he said, "The truth." and the conversation was over, his attention span was thoroughly used up and he still might not have any idea what the words 'truth' and 'lie' mean even though he can convincingly shout, "Kai is lying!" with a tone of incredulous outrage.

I still have no idea which one put my phone in the coffee!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Copy Cat

Noah has an amazing ability to mimic people, their actions, their tone of voice (he can't say the words they are saying, but the intonation is spot on), etc.

The other morning I got him out of bed and he ran into the bathroom climbed up on the stool (a new skill learned this week which takes some quad strength to push up with one leg!), grabbed one of my barrettes from the counter and pretended to start shaving.

He watched Chad shaving one time last week and tried to copy him then, but this was a week later and Chad was not even home! Noah 'shaved' while acting as though he was looking in the mirror, doing a few strokes, rinsing the 'razor' in the sink, stretching his lip down to shave under his nose, pausing to look for more stubble, tilting his head to see the side of his cheek and then shaving a little more. I mean, it went on and on. I could have believed he was really shaving!! He was so accurately pretending to shave while using my barrette as the razor! He did all that from watching Chad ONCE a week ago! Amazing!

I think this kid is actually freaky smart, but he's trapped in a body with weak muscles with low muscle tone that won't let his face muscles form the words he wants to say nor let his body climb up onto the counter to get the real razor!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Gosh is happy?

This morning Zeze was informing me of some rules that the boys are learning. He said that we don't say, "Oh my G*d" like his friends, but we can say, "Oh my gosh." I told him he was doing a good job remembering and decided to jump on this teaching moment by adding that it makes God very sad when we say His name in an angry way. Zeze said, "I know...and it makes Gosh very happy when we say 'oh my gosh'. *sigh*

Maybe I should just teach him a cuss phrase that isn't confusing, like 'oh bloody h*ll'. It's not taking the Lord's name in vain and it's not creating another god named Gosh. :)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

A Child Died Yesterday

As you all know, I follow and support Reece's Rainbow (an agency that facilitates the adoption of children from Easter Europe and other countries with Down Syndrome). I daily look at their "Waiting Children" page to see who is new, who found a family, who has a new picture, who was transferred to a mental institution and sadly, who has died. There was a little girl on RR named AnneMarie (though her real name was recently published as Anya). I've seen pictures of this little girl with beautiful eyes since she was a baby and have longed to go save her, but knowing Chad and I cannot. Well, she died yesterday. Not sure from what. Adoptive parents were there a few months ago to get their own new babies and met her and she seemed 'healthy' despite a heart condition, dehydration, malnourishment and neglect. I don't often cry, but I sobbed about AnneMarie's death. She was 5 days younger than Kai. She had an extra chromosome like Noah. That was her 'crime' and why she was abandoned to the orphanage and not given heart surgery and basic nutrition.

I'm sorry to be a downer, but these kids weigh on my heart so heavily and I can't shake the fact that this will happen again and again to little kids I 'know' and pray for. PLEASE consider donating money to some of these kids' adoption funds so that a family can come forward to adopt without the burden of raising the full $25,000 or even better, commit to one of these angels today so they can know the love of a family. Thanks for reading and listening to my heart.

Here is the info Reece's Rainbow had on her and you can go to this link: http://www.reecesrainbow.com/inmemoriam.html


(they shave their heads to avoid lice and because it's easier than lovingly brushing it out.)

Anne Marie
Girl,
Born November 25, 2005
Died October 13, 2010

Look at this beautiful princess!! She is blowing you KISSES! Anne Marie has been waiting far too long for a loving family of her own. So many of her friends from this orphanage have already been adopted, and she continues to watch each of them leave with their new "forever family". Hope someone will consider Anne Marie!

Miss Anne Marie does have a heart murmur that should be checked once home.

From an adoptive family who visited with her in June 2010: "Anne Marie is a happy child, she is aware, interactive, and very sweet! She will do so well in a family. She has the most striking blue eyes!"

All, it is with great sadness that I share with you the passing of our sweetest little Anne Marie :(( Jesus will be her Christmas Warrior this year.

Her grant of $1105 of has been shared now with ALEXANDER in the same orphanage. 4 of the older children with DS have already been transferred to the institution now. I know we can't save them all, but this loss really comes as a blow for me. We have been advocating for Anne Marie for SO long.... ;((((((( Your prayers for ALL of the children as they wait and wait and wait.....

For those of you who have signed up to be Christmas Warriors for these kids....the fundraising goal is only $1000, but we all know it costs a LOT more than that to adopt, and that the more grant money a child has, the greater their chances of being chosen. So although your set goal is only $1000, shoot for the moon. Each child deserves nothing less than your absolute best. We have seen MIRACLES in fundraising these last many months, and this year's Angel Tree will be our biggest and most successful EVER with your help.

God bless each of you, and God bless and hold our baby Anne Marie.
Andrea

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Wonder Twin Powers, Activate! Form of.....

Zeze was watching me put on my make up and said that he wanted to grow up to be a girl so that he could put on make up and paint his toe nails. Not even a breath later he said, "Then I want to be an octopus and then a spider." He will be using his Wonder Twin Powers to transform into many fun things!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Fall Cooking

The drastic change in weather from high 80s to 50/60s has inspired me to cook lots of yummy Fall things! I went crazy this weekend and cooked so many meals. Usually I cook 3 times in a week and make enough for left overs, but this Fall weather helped me jump into gear. I made a GF/DF/SF Maple Apple Raisin Crisp that 4 of the 5 of us loved! Kai actually started to gag and salivate and spit it all out. Little bugger!
Here's my list of things I made:
Baked fish
Brown Sugared Acorn Squash
Cranberry rice
Apple Sauce
Apple Crisp
Pancakes and bacon
Raisin bread French toast
Pumpkin Chili
Corn Bread
loaf of regular bread
cleaned and dried squash seeds for roasting.

My family will all be shocked that I cooked that much voluntarily!! I know Chad was!

As for the squash seeds, I did an experiment. I was thinking that they could be roasted like pumpkin seeds even though I have never heard of anyone doing that with squash seeds. So today, after they were dry, I coated them with oil, sugar, cinnamon and a little salt and spread the on a cookie sheet. I couldn't remember the temp I roasted my pumpkin seeds last year and didn't feel like searching online for a recipe. So I just figured that 'roasting' is usually a high temp and set the oven to 400 and the timer for 10 mins. I remembered that the pumpkin seeds took a super long time last year and figured that I'd have to come and stir them multiple times over the next hour. I hoped that they wouldn't turn out gross (is there a reason why nobody ever does squash seeds?).
I left the kitchen and went upstairs with the boys and came downstairs when the timer read 6 mins left and it sounded like popcorn was exploding in my oven...Ping! pang! ding!!!! I then remembered that I TOASTED pumpkin seeds last year and did not ROAST them. Very different!!
I was scared to open the oven door due to flying shrapnel, but I squinted my eyes (always a good substitute for safety goggles), ducked low and peeked in. Sure enough my seeds were popping and zig zagging all through the oven. I shut the oven off and waited. Nope, they were still popping. I knew I had to get them out or all my seeds would explode and I'd never get to taste if they are better or worse than pumpkin seeds.
By now the kids are all chattering questions a mile a minute and pushing their way in toward the stove...oh wait, it was just Zeze chattering at a safe distance away (What are you doing? What's that sound? What are you cooking? Can I have some? I WANT SOME mama!! Why do I have to get out? Why do I have to stop talking? Why are you yelling at me? Why are you pushing Noah away with your foot? etc. etc.) while Noah squealed and did everything in his power to get to the stove.
Once the coast was clear I squinted my eyes, grabbed a dish towel shield and yanked the pan out of the oven while being ready to throw the towel on on top of them in case some stray poppers let loose!

In the end my oven has lots of seed shrapnel all over it and the seeds that were left on the pan tasted AMAZING! They actually were really good! Kai didn't like them, of course, but Zeze and Noah did! I had to force myself to stop eating them so I can save some for Chad.
Now I'm trying to decide when I do this again, if I should TOAST them at a low temp for a long long time while stirring every 10 minutes, or should I ROAST them at 400 for 5 minutes and just put an inverted cookie sheet on top to stop the seeds from flying about? :)
I think I like the fast and furious way best! :) :)