It's HOT...

The temperature in my home right now is 86 degrees. No, our AC is not broken, well at least not that I know of. Yes, I am hot.

I could turn on the air, but that would be admitting to my husband that I couldn't make it as long as he could without turning on the AC. And, you know me, I am way too stubborn to do that! Most of our friends have been running their ACs for weeks, but we are holding out. Yes, we are insane.

A few years ago, Farrel and I started playing a game to see how long we could go before turning on the AC for the summer. You know, once you turn it on, you can't turn it back off because you become so quickly acclimated to the cool air. Last year, the goal was to see how low our electric bill would be if we could wait until June 1 to turn on the air. Our bill was $70! We laughed when we saw the bill--mission completed--and promptly turned on the air and reveled in the fact that we could move around without sweating.

So, you are thinking to yourselves, "Boy, those Ritchies are hard up for entertainment!" I agree...we should leave this hot house and go to a movie or something, but it would just require too much effort in this heat.

Girl Scout Party at the Zone

The Girl Scouts from Laiken's troop met up last night at The Zone for their end-of-year party. They had pizza and played laser tag before calling the year to a close. Thanks to Alicia and Karla for a great year of fun and activities!

Last Day of Speech

Yesterday, Nolan had his last in-home speech therapy session with Miss Andi. Andrea has been coming to our home twice a month since July to work with Nolan and it was bittersweet that yesterday was her last visit. The progress that he has made in the last 10 months has been nothing short of a miracle.

When Nolan turned two last May, he had a vocabulary of five functional words and there were days that he would not even say those. Most of our interactions were spent with him breaking down into a tantrum while I tried to figure out what he wanted. To say that there was a lot of tension is an understatement. I am a teacher by training and I could not help my child learn to speak. The frustration and guilt that I felt from my inadequacies are hard to describe. All kinds of things went through my head....autism, hearing loss, emotional and/or learning disorders...

At his 24 month check-up, the pediatrician finally agreed that Nolan's language development was significantly delayed (something I had known since he was about 15 months old). Although I already knew Nolan was delayed, there was something about the official diagnosis that was hard for me to process. Due to the fact that Nolan only had speech delays, the doctor felt we could rule out autism, but hearing loss was still a possibility. Fortunately, two extensive rounds of tests conducted last summer indicated that he has normal hearing function.

In September, on the recommendation of the pediatrician and the audiologist, we enrolled Nolan into the same preschool that Laiken and Carson had attended. I had intended to keep him home with me one more year, but the doctors felt like it might help jump start Nolan's speech. I often wondered during that first month of school what kind of mother left her child in a strange situation with no ability to verbalize what he needed or wanted and no ability to tell me what had happened while he was away from me. The guilt ran high and there were days, amidst his tears and tantrums, that I almost took him back home with me.

By mid-October, we began to see a shift. Nolan became comfortable with Andi and looked forward to her visits. He was crying much less on school mornings and his teacher was indicating that his participation in class had increased. And, miraculously, he was finally developing a vocabulary and creating sentences. His speech was very robot-like, as if he was startled by and unsure of his own voice, but the verbal ability was there. Almost overnight, he could name things all over the house and ask for what he wanted. A month or so later, he was able to tell stories of what had happened during his day, he asked for certain things for Christmas, and he began singing. The progression since then has been like a flood-gate opening: all of the talking, singing, rhyming, and babbling that had been bottled up for over two years just started spilling out and hasn't quit since.

No one could ever explain to us why Nolan took so long to talk. Doctors and specialists used the all-encompassing, "Well, he's a boy and sometimes they just take longer..." excuse. That explanation was like nails on a chalkboard to me. I wanted to understand what was happening to my child and how to fix it. Blaming his condition on his gender seemed inappropriate and artificial. Nolan turns 3 on Saturday and by all indications, he is a typically-developing child. He astounds us now with his vocabulary. His memory and observation skills are eerily keen. He makes unusual comparisons that surprise us and he has this great sense of humor that keeps us laughing all the time. He is a little spoiled, very stubborn, and extremely active, and thankfully, I can hardly remember a time when he couldn't talk to us.

Almost Summer!

This afternoon found us at Lifetime enjoying the pool with the Wright, Jones, and Grimes families. It was so great to be back out in the sun, watching the kids play and getting hot enough to finally brave getting into the water that is still COLD! Monica said, "I forgot how much I was missing this!" I totally agree. I love, love, love being at the pool with friends and now I am seriously counting the days until summer break. I do have to say, though, that seeing Marcy and Angie in their swimsuits makes me wish that I had been working out and counting calories as diligently as they have!! I'm starting tomorrow.... :-)

And since, somehow, we forgot to get a picture of me and my sweet kiddos last week for Mother's Day, here's the one we took after church today:

Go Stars!

Farrel got on StubHub yesterday and got some tickets to take Carson to the Stars playoff game last night. With 3 losses going into last night's game, the tickets were a little more plentiful as many Stars fans had already given up hope for a win. Carson was ecstatic to be going and I hid the little bit of disappointment over the fact that apparently this was a father-son event. They got home around 10:15 and Carson was crazy with excitement about the Stars 3-1 win. He thinks we should plan on driving to Detroit this weekend to watch game 5. With gas prices what they are, I think he can forget about that plan!

I Jinxed It!

Kasey and I have been friends since 6th grade when she moved to Van Alstyne. We became life-long friends, sharing in the years of middle school angst, her parents' divorce and remarriage, her mother's crazy mood swings circa 1987, countless moves due to one thing or another, and more life events than I can even begin to recount. In the 24 years since we first met, we have only spent 3 and 1/2 years living in the same town, but the friendship, unlike most, is not bound by physical proximity, but by a shared history and a deep understanding that only comes from knowing someone as well as we know each other. Growing up, Kasey and I were almost total opposites. She was outgoing, confident, and a daredevil. She didn't follow any rules and I spent a lot of my time with her worried that I was going to get in trouble. Her house was crazy. She had two older brothers and a younger sister and someone was always coming or going. Her parents were funny and irreverent at times, but loved big and open and, at times, fought big and open. Being a part of Kasey's world was my parallel universe, literally, and I loved it.

Kasey and I have a running joke that many of the things that have happened in her life could only happen in the Harris family. To that end, we have laughed and cried on more than one occasion about whatever current drama has infiltrated her life. This week, I made the mistake of saying to her, "Things sure have been quiet with you lately." I'm not kidding that less than 12 hours later, she was calling me with revelations that she should not have had to hear which resulted in a 3 hour talk at Starbucks with her ex-husband. There are not many things worse than having to endure a lengthy emotional talk in a public setting, but I'm hoping that it helped with the closure. And, for what it's worth, K, I'm really sorry and I will do my best not to jinx you again.

Mother's Day Weekend

We spent most of Saturday at my mom and dad's. I am really lucky that my parents aren't just my parents, but my friends, too. I think a lot of people never get to experience that as adults and I am really fortunate that my relationship with my parents is what it is. We talk, we spend time together, they are influential people in my children's lives, and have always been my biggest supporters. Oh, we disagree sometimes and we have sarcastic dialogue that, at times, substitutes for what might really need to be said; but, considering you can't choose your family, I think I couldn't have been luckier to have these people in my life. So, Happy Mother's Day to my mom--my role model for the most demanding, most rewarding role in my life. My brother and I didn't always make it easy for her, but she always loved us regardless. She always helped out at school, hosted countless sleep-overs, parties, and dinners with our friends, maintained a home for her family who never did enough to help out and make her job any easier, and from the time I was 10 years old, she worked full-time. I didn't know then what it took for her to do all of that, but I do now and no amount of thanks could ever be enough.
As for Sunday, my family couldn't have been sweeter to me. Cards, gifts, dinner at Cantina Laredo, and a completely relaxing day made for a great Mother's Day! Thanks to Farrel and my little dumplings for loving me so much.

Field Day

Laiken and Carson's school has THE BEST Field Day every year. It is really well-organized, with lots of different games and races and loud music playing in the background. The P.E. teachers even include several water games (which the kids love, of course.) I usually volunteer to help, but I took a break this year. I'm guessing that next year I will be working a station again since my kids were crushed that I did not sign up to help. When I ran down the list of everything else that I HAD helped with this year, Laiken said, "Well, we still wanted you to work at Field Day." Sigh... I did go up and snap a few pictures and my kids were having such a great time that they barely missed me volunteering!

Trying to Get Some Sleep

After we moved Nolan out of his crib into a bed, he did really well with the adjustment. He stayed in and slept there all night and still continued to have good naps during the day. Now, the new has worn off, and since he and Carson share a room, Carson has been having to deal with more of it than is fair. On several nights, Nolan has gotten Carson out of bed to get him a drink or to put the covers back on him. At bedtime, Nolan will often stand beside Carson's bed, refusing to get back into his own bed without intervention from me and Farrel. Last night, Carson apparently quit fighting it because this is what we saw before we went to bed:

This morning when Farrel asked Carson why he let Nolan get in bed with him, Carson said, "At least he quit fussing and went to sleep." Poor, sweet boy. He is such a great big brother and we are definitely going to have to get some stricter bedtime policies in place for Nolan.

Gladney Night at Six Flags

After a long week of TAKS, we headed out to Six Flags and met up with some other families for a night of fun. If you have never been to Six Flags during the Gladney Fundraiser, then mark your calendars now for next year's event! This was our seventh year to go and we have never been disappointed. Your ticket cost goes to support Gladney's amazing adoption programs and the whole evening is family-oriented. The best part? The park is closed to the public, so there are no crowds!! We rode the Shock Wave 4 times without leaving our seats (could have stayed put for more, but that was about as many times as my head could handle it!) For the big rides like Titan and Texas Giant, we waited through one cycle before boarding. The kids are so spoiled to going on Gladney night that when we had to wait about 10 minutes to ride one of the more popular rides, they started grumbling about the "long wait."

Cartoons with Nolan

I realized today that the opening song for Little Einsteins says, "We're going on a trip on our favorite rocket ship..." Really?? These kids have access to so many rocket ships that they can designate one as being their favorite? I am feeling a little gypped--I'm still waiting on the jet pack that was supposed to be available to everyone by now, much less a fleet of rocket ships to choose from as my mode of transportation.