Tired But Good

I have been very tired lately. YAWN. So that's why there has been no scintillating post from this neck of the woods for over a week. There is no excuse for my tiredness except my two lovely children (one of whom is cutting her four bottom teeth - and she really is cutting them this time because one of them has broken through), a 4-day migraine, a new playful kitty at night, and temperatures in the triple digits. Now that I've made my excuses, here's what's up in our life lately! (And it took me three days to write this post!)

(Included are photos of our trip down to RI this past weekend to visit my family. We went to Waterfire (hard to explain, but it's this amazing spectacle of lighted braziers on the Providence River) and the theme was Carnivale, hence Clare in the butterfly mask. We also went to the zoo, primarily because of the huge dinosaur exhibit they have. Jamie is obsessed with dinosaurs, but these dinos were a little too real for him and Clare! Which meant that Daddy carried Jamie through the exhibit, and Mommy and Auntie Erin took turns carrying Clare. On a sidenote to a sidenote: although Clare was scared of the dinosaurs and buried her face into my or Erin's shoulder most of the time, sometimes, she just had to peek up at those scary dinosaurs. Then bury her face quickly again! And Auntie Chrissy came up from her new home in Jersey. My sister Christina is who I think Clare looks like, especially with Clare's new glasses! And kitty Jack Sparrow is just too cute not to show him off again!)

Clare is starting to get ready to make another jump in her development. One of my other WS moms told of an analogy of how kids with Williams Syndrome develop - like a staircase. They will stay where they are for so long, then suddenly jump a step. I feel like Clare has been in her plateau forever now; since she mastered sitting independently, which was about six months ago. Clare had zero interest in even attempting to learn to crawl. It was getting so bad that even Clare's OT finally admitted that she didn't think Clare would ever crawl and just skip right to walking. But then, out of the blue, Clare discovered rolling again. She first rolled at four months old, but was not a baby who rolled. Now, though, Clare rolls EVERYWHERE! I never thought I would be so happy to have diaper changing challenges!

Jack is a great motivator for Clare as well. She loves Jack and says "kkkk kkkk" whenever he comes near her. She is very gentle with him and loves to touch his ears or pat his back. Jack will usually sit next to her and let her do this. He is not as kind with Jamie - still runs whenever Jamie comes near! (Smart kitty!) One day, Jack was under Clare's crib peeking out at her. She was captivated. She was on her belly trying to look under the crib, calling "kkkk kkkk." She even scooted up a bit on her knees to get a better look! Clare is still a long ways off from crawling, but the constant rolling and getting on her knees a couple times is a good start. Maybe we just needed a cat to get Clare to crawl.

Since it has been 100 degrees around here lately, we've been doing mostly indoor activities. It is just too hot to play outside. I don't think Jamie would mind - he would run around sweaty and red-faced all day if we let him. If the air conditioner is on and it still says 91 degrees on the thermometer, Jamie says he's cold. Clare and I, however, are comprised of a much more delicate temperament and cannot endure the heat. So indoors it has been. Luckily we had our beautiful weekend of outdoor fun in RI. And it's supposed to cool off this coming weekend, so maybe our deck will finally be finished! (The big summer project - anyone remember our garage-building marathon? It's been kind of like that only on a slightly smaller scale.)

So that's life in a nutshell right now. Nothing terribly exciting, but you know what? That's okay by me!