rees genre

No! What an empowering word! With one little word, your opinion is known without doubt or equivocation. There is no second guessing, no pondering double entendres or ambiguities. The answer is simple and clear. Our emboldened two year old has recently discovered and harnessed this power. While there are moments when “no” is not the answer I want to hear, the fact that I am getting an answer is a huge improvement. Up until now, we could only guess whether he wanted something or not, but now Rowan can make sure we know that no is the answer. And with no hesitation, he uses the word liberally.

It must be this time of year, because I seem to do a post about this time on the wacky things in our backyard. Today I found this beautiful little goldfinch perched in my basil. He has visited us a few times and I’m hoping he comes back. Later this afternoon, I found this huge spider (about as big as my palm) near my car. Before I could panic, I noticed this black wasp-like insect coming after me, so I stepped back a little. Feeling like it had taken care of the threat, the wasp went back to its prey, the huge spider. The spider was either dead or immobilized, because the wasp grabbed it by the head and proceeded to drag it across my driveway several feet to the grass on the other side. I'll be happy if both the spider and the wasp find another place to play.

My sister made the mistake last night of asking me about my garden. She planted a garden this year as well and has reaped its beautiful rewards. Our efforts have only been moderately successful. While our plants have grown to amazing proportions, our little rodent neighbors (namely squirrels and chipmunks, a.k.a. “tree rats”) have made themselves quite at home. I have several large tomato plants loaded with tomatoes, but it has been weeks since I have picked a ripe one because the rodents get to them first. In fact, they even eat them when they are green! Because of the size and location of the plants, there is little I can do to barricade them from their attackers. I have managed to grow cucumbers, cantaloupes, beans, corn, okra, butternut squash, beets, carrots, onions, swiss chard, and raspberries, so I can’t say that it has been a complete failure. However, I have learned about what it takes to grow that little handful of beans that you so casually toss into a bag at the grocer...

For the past four weeks of summer, we have been pretty scheduled. Davin attended a speech summer camp, went to a social group for five year old Aspies (short for Aspergers), and had occupational therapy with his therapist. In a lot of ways it felt like we were back in school for a month. While I don’t regret keeping what Davin is working on fresh in his mind, I did miss the freedom of being able to plan a day without having other obligations. Speech camp ended yesterday and today was completely unscheduled, and Davin and I decided we needed an adventure. I found a playground in Gastonia that was made by the same company who did the Castle Heights playground in Fruit Heights, a park my dad helped to bring about so it is kind of special to us. Davin loves the Castle Heights park and even though the park in Gastonia was a bit of a drive, it was a great place to start our adventure. Unfortunately we started a little late and didn’t get there until one. The park was a little toasty, so we ...

I have heard talking heads complain about America being “over-therapized”; since we first recognized Rowan’s speech delay and Davin’s delays, we have had seven therapists (in addition to many doctors). Rowan started with a physical therapist and a developmental therapist (this is when they thought he couldn’t talk because he couldn’t walk, when in fact it was his ears that slowed his walking) and now he works with a speech pathologist who specializes in audio verbal therapy. Davin worked with a speech therapist, and occupational therapist, and a resource teacher last year. This summer he is attending a speech camp that is run by speech therapists, he continues to work with his occupational therapist from school, and he attends a social skills class run by a therapist who specializes in helping kids with Aspergers. In addition, I attended classes and workshops run by these therapists as well as worked directly with our therapists to glean information from them about how to help our boy...

I gave Davin and Rowan summer cuts a few weeks ago and it seemed to make them grow-up just a little. There is other evidence of them growing as well. Davin made amazing progress this year at school. We had an end-of-year meeting with his teachers and it was wonderful to take note of all that he had accomplished this year. Tasks that seemed an overwhelming challenge are now easy and he continues to improve every day. Today both Davin and Rowan started swimming lessons and Davin was a champ! He did everything his instructor asked and had a great time. Davin continues to be a sweetheart, mostly cheerful and eager to help around the house. The other day at church he started to talk about going on a mission. He told me that he was too little to go but that he would go when he got bigger. He then asked, “Will you be sad when I go? Will you cry?” I was caught off-guard by his question and got a little teary. I gave him and squeeze told him “Of course I will cry!” and secretly prayed that ti...

I have a lot of friends who are having babies this summer. Not be left out, we decided to get a baby as well… Not sure what the gender is yet, but it seems to sleep through the night just fine.