I keeee you

Haley really wants to go to her Grandma and Grandpa's.

She really wants me to (at least) put it on the calendar. She points at the calendar. She points at the only Saturday on the calendar that is open. It is the December calendar, so it is the 17th.

I have explained to her that the day she is pointing at was two weeks ago.

Her Dad tells her what happened on that day. I really don't think that helps.

She just wants me to write G and G on the calendar. I have told her that I don't know when we are going so I can't write anything.

All of these answers make her mad.

I refuse to lie to her though. I can't tell her something is going to happen if it is not. I can't say that we are not going, we might.

So the other day after this had been going on for a while, Haley's mood went down hill. She got madder and madder. She got to the point that she was screaming. A high pitched scream. I asked her to stop.

She screamed "I keeee you."

I don't know what she was actually saying.

That is what it sounded like to me. So what it kind of sounded like was "I kill you." It might not have been that, but I don't know.

My husband thought it was funny. He thought it sounded like Jeff Dunham's Achmed the Dead Terrorist. She has never heard that, that I know of.

Either way, I don't think that is what she said.

I hope that is not what she said.

Giving is as good...

On Christmas morning Haley was excited to dump out her stocking and see what she got. She was happy to play with the three baby farm animals that were in her stocking through breakfast. Then her sister came downstairs and suggested that we take a look at the tree. There is a curtain that closes off the entry from the living room and Haley's Grandparents had left it closed for privacy. We all gathered at the curtain and opened it.
 
I love the reaction that we get when Haley sees all of the presents under the tree. I know that she knows that they are not all for her, but it is still exciting for her to see so many.

She was pretty patient while we opened presents this year. She really didn't want to give anyone their presents though. She would pick up a present and look at the tag. If she recognized her name that was good. If she didn't she would hand it to me or her sister with a questioning look on her face. We would tell her who it was for and ask her to hand it to them and she would just grunt.

After having screwed up the present I was most excited about I did find a few good presents to give her.

I was kind of excited about giving her one of them.

When my Mom was here we went to Craft Warehouse.  I was telling her how I didn't really know what to get Haley.  I wanted to get her something that she would really be excited about.  Just then my Mom looked down and saw just the thing.  It was a print of the Daylight in the snow.  It was perfect.  I found a black frame for it.  I thought it would be a great addition to her room.  Her room is mostly decorated in horses, but I think we are about to transition it to trains.

I saved the framed print for her next to the last present.

She had gotten a Cars 2 book, a coloring book, a John Deere tractor and truck from G and G and some money from both sets of Grandparents.  My Mom had found a card with the Daylight on it that Haley really liked too. Then I handed her the print.

She did not disappoint.

She ripped the paper off and squealed.

It is so fun to give a gift that someone really likes.  There was no mistaking that she loved it.

It now hangs in a place of honor in her room.

Anticipation...

Haley had been in constant anticipation mode for a week. 

Not for what you might expect. 

She was anticipating going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

It did not seem to matter how many times I told her that we were not going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  She was convinced that we were.  I finally broke down and told her that they were actually coming here.  I put it on the calendar and we talked about it.  I showed her that G and G would be here on Christmas Eve and the next day we would open presents, thinking that the prospect of presents would distract her.

I thought she understood. 

Sometimes I think she did understand and then other times she still thought that we were going to their house and that we needed to pack.  She made piles of DVD cases.  She put her pillow pets by the back door.  She packed three purses full of toys. 

I explained it to her again.  She seemed to understand.  Again.  Then about an hour later she wanted her suitcase out of the closet. 

I began to feel like I was in a remake of the movie Ground Hog Day only nothing that I did made any difference at all.  It was just the same conversations over and over.

Finally on Christmas Eve, much to my relief, Grandma and Grandpa did arrive.

Haley gave them both shy sheepish hugs and promptly went upstairs to her room.  Soon she came down with various toys, magazines and pictures that they hadn't seen before.  One at a time, of course. That went on most of the day.

Haley's voice left her, like it always does, but she did sit next to Grandpa on the couch kind of voluntarily. 

We were all watching football and Haley came in to the room.  She pointed at the opposite end of the couch from where Grandpa was sitting.  I told her she could sit there.  She did.  Then her Dad told her that she could sit closer to Grandpa if she wanted to and she scooted a foot closer.  Then Grandpa patted the couch right next to him and she scooted all the way.  She stayed there until it was time for her to go to bed.

Haley gave them both hugs every night before she went to bed.  I also reminded her several times that she could just give them hugs whenever she wanted to.  She did!  We went for a walk down by the river on Monday and Haley really enjoyed walking with them.  She kept up with them too.

I don't know if it is obvious to her Grandparents that she loves having them here.  It is obvious to me.  She was quiet, but she was thrilled.  

Tuesday morning they started packing their things.  When their car was loaded we gave them hugs again and thanked them for coming.  Haley left the room.  Then she came back in.  I told her she could give them another hug and she did.  Then we watched them drive away, waving the whole time. 

Then her voice came back. 

She started going over all of the things we did while they were here.  She talked about them driving away.  We talked about how they had probably put on their seat belts before they drove away.  A little later she started talking about a bridge.  She knows they have to drive over a bridge to get to their house.

Today she is still talking about the visit.  She is also talking about going to their house. 

She wants to pack.

Here we go again!

Yeah, fun day!

The Holiday Express is a train ride behind one of the two steam engines that are housed in Portland. The first weekend this year it was pulled by the SP&S 700 and the second weekend it was pulled by the SP 4449.

Haley's Dad took her to watch the 700 on the first weekend. They had a great time together. They spent the rest of the day looking at the pictures that he had taken of it. Haley loves talking about the steam and the smoke. She still says that it smells good.

I found out later in the day that Haley and her Dad actually took a spill on a slippery part of the trail. She hadn't told me about that. Her Dad said that she was surprised and it looked as if she was about to cry when he laughed it off and made some jokes. Then she laughed about it too and they went on.

She was really excited about seeing the 700 running and kept talking about taking a train ride. Her Dad had to admit that we had tickets for the following weekend.  She even made him show them to her.  That was all she would talk about all week long. "Tickets. Ride. One, two, three, four,"  because we had tickets for each on of us.  Once she saw them she was fine. She was excited, but she never got upset like she has in the past when something fun doesn't happen fast enough.

So the next Saturday we got in the Yukon and headed out.  We planned to go early this year so that Haley could get her shopping done before the ride.  Her Big Sis needed to be somewhere right after the ride.  Haley enjoyed walking around looking at all of the merchandise they had on display.  She pointed at things and talked about them, but she wasn't picking things up or acting like she wanted any one thing.  I needed to speed it along so I asked her if she wanted to buy anything.  She was off like a shot picking up videos, calendars and t-shirts.  I had to push past a few people just to keep up with her.  I know she understands money and buying things now, but she was in such an excited state I was afraid that she would just fill her arms and head out.

She chose a calender of the SP 4449, a video (the second part of a series we already started buying her) and a shirt with the SP&S 700 on it.  I think she would have taken one of everything, but I had to limit her a little bit.  She also wanted a hot chocolate, but her Big Sis thought that maybe what she really wanted was the free cookie that went with it.

We got in line and listened to the volunteer explain about the engine and the trip.  Then we got to get on the train.  We chose a seat with a table and sat down and Haley opened up her bag of goodies to check everything out.  She had also picked up a brochure about Amtrak that she (surprisingly) didn't already have, considering how much time we had been spending at the Amtrak station lately.  There were brochures on the table when we sat down and she was quick to grab them and stuff them into her bag as well.

As we rode down the track we talked about what we saw out the window.  Her Dad pointed out the places that they had stopped along the trail to take pictures the weekend before.  He even pointed out where they both fell down.  Haley pointed out the lights and the ornaments that decorated the inside of the car.  Soon we heard the jingle of bells and we knew what to expect.  Santa and his elves came in to our car and gave everyone candy canes.  He stopped to take pictures with the children.  I asked him if I could take a picture of him with Haley.  I don't think that he realized she was a kid - she is getting so big these days.

We had a great time on the trip this year.  Haley still talks about it.  She says "Yeah, fun day!"

Random Ramblings...

...or...

If I don't post something on here you all will think I died...

I probably don't need to tell you that this time of year can get a little hectic.  So anyway...

My Mom came to visit for a day.  It should have been longer but she was on her way through via Amtrak and her train was so late getting in we basically lost a day.  She was only scheduled to be here for two days and then she left again to visit my brother down south for Thanksgiving.  I did put my foot down (and pouted quite a bit) when I found out that she would only be here a couple of days on her way back north and east, so her trip was extended and she was with us about four days after the holiday.

So Mom was here and that was fun.

Then for Thanksgiving we went to my husband's parents.  We did all of the things that Haley would expect.  She got to go to the Tree Farm with Grandpa and she rode the tractor.  She saw Heather.  We had wonderful food and generally had a nice visit.

Then Mom and Don came back and spent some time with us.  We all really love having my Mom around.  There is always lots of laughter.  Haley didn't seem shy at all.  She gave everyone big hugs every night before she went to bed.  In fact the hugs got bigger every time.

I have been busy getting Christmas presents and trying to get them wrapped while the girls are in school.  I am almost done.  They will have the next two weeks off and I think I am ready.  The calendar is looking less full toward the end of the month and I am really looking forward to just hanging out with my family.

Haley is excited for Christmas.  She brings home art from school each day.  Today she brought home a gift from her One-on-One.  It is a toy train that holds candy.  When you push down the smoke stack it makes a lot of train related noises.  The sounds go on for quite a while.  That gift may not last long around here.  She hasn't even discovered that there is candy in it yet.

Oh, Haley got to see the SP&S 700 and the SP 4449 too, but that is a subject for another day.

Comments

I enjoy reading blogs.  I read blogs by mothers of children with disabilities, blogs by single fathers, blogs by women who write for a living and blogs by women who have made their blogs their livelyhood.

I have noticed something.

People comment on blogs.  Sometimes I feel compelled to comment as well.  It is the way that the blogosphere communicates.

I don't get many comments on this blog.  I don't know why that is.  Maybe I haven't made it easy enough.  I am using blogger's commenting system.  There are others.

Maybe what I say doesn't prompt people to comment.

I actually get quite a few comments through facebook and I am thrilled when someone shares what I have written on facebook.  That is quite a compliment.

I also have several friends that read this blog and tell me in person how much they enjoy it, how much they have learned about Haley and how much they appreciate my sharing her adventures.

But in general, dear readers, you don't comment.

So when I get one it makes my day. 

For the most part the comments I have recieved have been positive.  I haven't gotten any spam that I am aware of, which is great.  I do monitor my comments and I don't publish some of them.  If you commented on this blog and I didn't publish it, it was probably because you mentioned my real name or the name of Haley's sister.  I try to keep personal things off of this blog to protect Haley.  I still appreciated the comment though, so thank you.

I just wanted to share with you how much the comments that you leave mean to me.  I truly do enjoy reading them and I try to respond. 

Thank you.