I love my little people

The other day I was with one of my elementary age boys in the car.  We were chatting while we drove to pick up someone from an activity.

I asked him how school had been that day.

He sighed and thoughtfully told me that today some kids in his class had been teasing a particular girl.  This girl struggles.  She can be rude and ornery and sometimes she doesn't understand or respect social norms.  She is not a bad kid at heart, but she doesn't always behave in a way that would make her "popular" or well liked with the other kids.

Well, at recess a group of boys had taken to teasing this girl and making fun of her a bit.  They told her she was weird and dumb and that's why she didn't have any friends because no one would ever want to be her friend.

And that's when my son stepped in.  He walked over to her, leaned in and told her that the boys who were teasing her were completely wrong because he was her friend.

I couldn't have been prouder.

My kids are far from perfect.  But so am I.  We are learning together, and moments like this make me think that maybe Heaven on Earth is a little bit closer than I believe it is in the moments when screaming and fighting fills the halls of my home.

My heart keeps hold of these moments, and they are something wonderful to fall back on in the minutes when family life is not nearly so sweet.

I do love my littles.

Tongue Battle! (fighting tongue thrust)

Once upon a time there was a girl and her tongue ruined her jaw.

Nope, not a really poorly put together version of a fairy tale.  This story is a condensed version of actual events.

Lateral tongue thrust.

It's a thing.

Pretty much it means that my daughter's tongue doesn't hang out in her mouth where it is supposed to.  When she swallows, her tongue twists and presses against the teeth on the right side of her mouth which (over the years) has warped her jaw (the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body, you know).
It's pretty crazy.

But not really in a good way.

Eventually, she will need surgery to repair the damage.

But we also have to help her retrain her tongue so that the problem doesn't continue and doesn't just happen again after surgery.

The top and bottom row of teeth have been pushed apart over the years as her jab
has become warped by the power of her tongue.  I always knew she was one
tough girl.  This is where her tongue hangs out which caused the issue.

You can see how her jaw angles down on the left side
of this picture.  It's actually a pretty dramatic slope.

Aaaaaand, just in case someone else out there has a child with a disobedient tongue, I wanted to share this link.  

Since Aubrey doesn't have a lisp, our insurance will not cover a speech therapist (and I know a couple of speech therapists and neither of them knew much about this so it must be a pretty specialized field).

But she's still absolutely beautiful if you ask me.

If this is something going on in the mouth of someone you love, this link may help you get started on correcting the issue.  It is REALLY hard for her to do these exercises, but she is making progress.  We'll see how it goes.

I always knew your tongue could get you in trouble.  

This just isn't quite the way I thought it would go down.

http://spiritedspeechpathology.blogspot.com/2013/05/tongue-thrust-suggestions-from.html

(FYI, this post was created with Aubrey's permission -- and actually encouragement -- because she wants people to be able to avoid her plight if possible.  I told you, great girl.)

Around the house of late...

Lately we've had all kinds of fun going on around here.  Thought we'd share a bit of that (you know, since you are sooooooo interested in the everyday goings on of this quirky household).

1. We became temporary cat owners.

Very temporary.

Because I am allergic.  

We found this little cutie calling for help from under our car one night and we just couldn't leave her out on her own.  So the kids made a home for her in our shed for a few days while we tried to find her family.  But, no luck, so eventually we took her to the shelter and hopefully she found a loving family there.

2. We did a bit of re-decorating.

This lovely little number came home with me from a trip to Michael's (Josh sent me to Michael's so really the whole thing was his fault). 

It matches my dresser (which is actually a buffet, but we don't say that out loud so it has no idea) perfectly and fills in a space that has needed some love on my wall for a while.  Yeah!!!

3. Kids making awesome stuff.

I love it when they get all creative and do something wonderful (in fact, that's the reason I LOOOOVE it when they tell me they are bored...I know something great is coming next).

4. Our front door needed some spicing up -- and something that could work in any season (can't leave our Easter Bunny up ALL year).  So Josh and I put our heads together and this is what we decided on.

One door hanger to rule them all...

5. Cutie pies sleeping.

That's all I have to say, but I love it when I find them.

6. Also not what I really went to Michael's for, but something I have been looking for for a long time (I didn't want one made of paper).  This metal number fills the bill.  The kids painted the states we have traveled to as a family (the whole family) and there you go.  I hope to completely fill this baby in over the coming years.

7. This little man has been completely enamored with cooking lately and helps me prepare just about every meal.  He is awesome and I love having a helper.

Life is good.  Life is crazy.  There is always something wild going on, but being surrounded by the very best people soothes the sting of whatever else comes our way.

A surprise for snack

Kids: Mom, can we have ice-cream for snack today?

Me (being a great, yet responsible parent): Sure, as long as you clean up before snack time.

Kids (being kids):  Awww, mom.  We hate cleaning up.  What will you give us for snack if we DON'T clean up?

Me: Broccoli.

Kids (laughing): Mom, you never give us broccoli for snack.

(That sounds just a tiny bit like a dare.)

Ta Da!!!

Incognito broccoli disguised as an ice cream cone.

Bryce (on finding the nutritious tag along in his cone): Mom, you should have done this for April Fools Day.

Maybe next year.

(In case you missed this years April Fools Day fun, see below.)

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