A friend of ours granddaughter passed away this week, and she was a 15, a friend from church, she had her health problems too, but she still had a sparkle. They didn’t expect to lose her this soon or as fast as it happened. Chris and I know her Grandma better because she is runs the MOPPETS program, the kids program at MOPS. We all went to the viewing this evening, and it was much more somber than Grandma Willman’s two weeks ago. Chris gave hugs freely, and I swear, people really did feel better after getting a hug from him. It’s like he has a magic power, a God-given Gift, to bring comfort and love to all he meets, and it really works. Instantaneously. You can’t see his smile and not smile, or hear his laugh and not be touched. To hear his story just amazes. I was telling his story to some of the parents at preschool this week, and they were floored, they had no idea that so much was “wrong” with Chris. Well, that’s the beauty of who he is, all that little stuff, is just small stuff, and it doesn’t impede with his amazing gifts and personality. But the whole thing just makes me want to hold Chris tight, and never let him go.

It was a beautiful day today, quite possibly the last we’ll have for a while. We went to the zoo to play After Preschool, which is normally a lot later than we would be out and about, but Mommy has been feeling crummy for a week, and we’ve missed a lot of good quality outdoor time. Today we took one last hurrah. Chris conked out on the way back from the zoo. I put him in bed as soon as we got home, and played on the computer for a bit, before I went upstairs to join him napping. It had only been a half an hour and I heard him talking, he was awake, so I readjusted his blanket and tapped his Music (Sisit) and went to sleep. An hour later, I woke and I heard a strange cry from the other side of the house. Apparently the monitor next to my bed was not working, and he’d been crying for a while. I picked him up and he was a sweaty snotty mess, coughing, and crying. I don’t know how long he was crying. It took him a while to calm down, all the while I apologized for falling asleep and not hearing him cry. He just held on to me. Tight. For 15 minutes, he and I just sat there on the couch, I finally talked him into letting me get up to get him some milk and to let the dog out. I think he took a couple hours forgive me because he was in a snitsy mood for a while.

During naptime Tuesday, same thing, I came downstairs to hop on the internet, after about a half an hour, I heard a weird noise. I ran upstairs to find Chris crying his head off, covered in tears and sweat, a sign he’d been going for a while. He was a sweaty mess, and just kept crying, Baw. Baw. Baw. It took me a good 10 minutes to calm him down enough to realize what he wanted was a little orange bouncy ball that he’d gotten from Halloween. I let him have it. I let him take that silly ball into bed with me, as we tried to take a nap together. It didn’t work. Not only did he not want to let go of the ball, but he kept rolling it on my face, not letting me sleep either. I had to put it on the dresser, within sight of Chris, before he relaxed enough to sleep. Then again, he started beating me, ended up back in his own bed, and only slept a whopping 20 minutes. Love those days.

Chris has been saying extra adorable things lately. Of course with last week’s activities there was Happy Hiyo-ween, and Tree or Teet. He had a great Halloween, he was thrilled to be Mitt-tey Mouse. I am Mittey Mouse he’d yell. His girlfriend Emily was Minnie Mouse for Halloween and they came over that evening, and they did a couple houses, looking stinky precious all the while. We took lots of pictures. He went around the block with Daddy and Aaron, and made quite the haul. But as a result of those we’ve been assaulted with candy, Tanee, or Tayee, not to be confused with Tee-ee, which is Kaylee, his cousin. Anyway, he’s been eating up his candy. His favorite are apparently M&Ms, which he calls Ellems. You never saw a boy so interested in his colors than when Chris eats M&Ms. If I had known they were the key to color training, I would’ve started them a long time ago. I picked up a bag of Minis on discount at the store, and boy howdy am I glad I did. He had them for lunch yesterday, desert, and asked for them for breakfast, and after snack, and for dinner tonight. Eric and I have been laughing about them, but we’ve learned we can’t say the word M&Ms outloud, because that sets Chris off, unless we’re prepared to give him some, or it’s a reward for doing something great, like eating broccoli. This evening, Eric came up for the code word, After L’s. Chris did not catch on. We’ll see how long that lasts.

My new favorite phrase that Chris is using, “Sure Honey.” I asked him to bring me the phone this weekend, as I was still feeling puny from last week’s stomach flu. He knew and he was eager and willing to fetch for me. Sure Honey. Clear as day. Eric heard him say it late to him, and Eric just laughed. At first it took me a second to figure out where he got it, then I realized, I say it. All the time. Eric calls me hon or dear, and Chris did go through a Yes Dear phase not too long ago, but this week, it’s Sure Honey. I like it. It ranks right up there with my another great one, I wun tyu (I love you.) Chris will sit there and tell us over and over and over, like that Friends episode where Ross and Emily are on the phone, I love you more, no I love you more, no I love you more. Well, Chris will do that I love you too, I wun tyu too Mommy.” I love you too Daddy. It’s exhausting, sure, but Wondrous. I can’t help but smile, drop everything, and try to hug him or hold his hand, and join this contest, when he’s sweet and affectionate like that. I hope he never loses that freedom for open affection.

Our assessment with the Brownsburg Developmental Preschool was yesterday. Actually, it went better than I thought. We met with the school nurse, Speech Therapist, and Occupational Therapist, as well as his teacher. First, they were ecstatic that Chris passed his Swallow Study last month. They were worried since they’d heard he had aspirated on all liquids and semi-solids, and was undergoing speech therapy, that he would be hard to communicate with. Not our Chris. He did a great job communicating with them. They were impressed by his articulation. I was worried he’d flunk if he was asked if he was a boy or a girl, because about 75% of the time, he says he’s a girl. I didn’t hear them ask that particular question-whew! It was really great that they seem to be on the same page as what I would like to see. They don’t think he’ll have any problem qualifying. They loved his current Preschool, and told me they really don’t want to pull him out of it. That was a relief, because I was afraid they might. One lady said at the end, that Chris is doing so well, that he may not require services come kindergarten. The quizzing seemed to go well, I mentioned my concern that he has problems with K and L sounds for speech and they weren’t too worried. It was nice to hear them say that Chris wasn’t disabled, just delayed. Refreshing actually. I had to give a detailed history to the school nurse, and as I find he gets older, and we do more little piddly stuff, being able to quickly whip out his medical history gets harder. I think I’m leaving something out, often. I almost left out the hearing loss at our preliminary meeting last month and they jumped when I said it. The mostly deaf ear seems to be a free pass into Developmental Preschool. As we were leaving, today, the nurse, showed us the classroom. I peeked in the door, but the room was more around the corner. I recognized a boy from Chris’s Kindrmusik class and waved. Chris took the opportunity that I stuck my arm into the room as an invite, and weedled his skinny little self right into that classroom, and went running around to see the toy s and the kids. He was thrilled. He burst into tears when I picked him up to take him out. He really wants to go to school. That made me happy, that he automatically liked it so much he didn’t want to leave. I’ll take it as a good sign. It will be a few weeks before we know their official recommendations, but it sounds like they are thinking like us 1 or 2 days a week. Hopefully. Apparently, they have a morning and afternoon program, and the bus comes and gets the kids for 2 ½ hours and takes them home. Eric asked me, “Is it the short bus?” I laughed, but I was like I don’t care, this bus has an aide on it, and Carseats to buckle the kids in. Not Short Bus, but Special Bus. Seat belts and carseats make me very happy if I’m sending my 3 year old baby on a bus.

I can’t believe he’s growing up so fast, that by this spring, he may be taking a bus to school. He’s already in preschool. Today was his first picture day. There will be a school class picture, just like I had. He’s growing up. I just want to go wake him up to hold him, not let him grow up, to hold him and cuddle him, and not let anything hurt him, and not let go.