Play play play

Being the glutton for fun that I am, I have once again booked us for two weeks solid of playdates. It is exhausting but fun and we love being social, I am simply tired x20 at the end of the day. I am glad I waited until I was older to have children - hey, I have traveled the world! - but I wonder if my energy doesn't seem to last as long these days because I hit the 40 mark? : )

That being said, many of the play dates we have are with Moms my age or older (!) so really - I have no excuse! But I must tell you, for the past few evenings I have needed a 10 minute power nap on the comfy sofa while Daddy is bathing the kiddos. Tonight was no different. I swear, I heard him turn on the water and next thing I know he is asking me to come put jammies on a clean kid. 10 minutes - POOF!

Today was especially busy. Ben's early intervention interviewers came by this morning. I tucked Emma away on her bed with the portable dvd player and some headphones and closed the door behind me. We never heard a peep out of her. Ben was his usual quirky self playing along with the interviewers on occasion and trying to do headstands on the bean bag chair on occasion. At his quirkiest of moments, the psychologist was trying to get him to point at objects in a book, "Ben, can you point at the ball? Can you point at the kitty cat?" etc., he simply looked at her like, "I hear you but I'd much rather play with these puzzles you just tested me on." She kept turning the pages of her book in attempt to interest him when something caught his eye. It was a picture of a cookie. He looked at the picture (not pointing) and said, "Cookie!" The psychologist said, "That's right, Ben, point to the cookie. Point to the cookie!" Benjamin picked up the book, put it to his face and said, "Cookie, um um um um um um," as if he was eating it. The interviewers gasped and said, "Wow, we've never seen that before!" They proceeded to finish out the book with Ben identifying all the objects by pretending to eat them! It took every ounce of discipline inside me (and all of my back up tanks) to not burst out laughing. I ENJOY THIS KID SO MUCH!

After about 45 minutes of "testing" they left wondering how they were going to get this kid to qualify for the program. He is obviously so smart, he just needs a little nudge from someone who is not his parents. They said they would attempt to tweak the test scores - he needs to be deficient in 2 of 3 fields (he was only deficient in speech, and even then it was borderline) - but the whole not pointing upon request may be the "cognitive" skill that he 'lacks' that will get him in the door. I should hear their results in the next week...

After lunch, Emma's preschool friend, Sophie, came over for a play date. I didn't really know her mama much more than exchanging pleasantries during drop off and pick up, but she seemed like my kind of gal and I was correct. We had a lovely afternoon getting to know each other and I am glad I connected with someone that potentially I will be seeing at school for the next 14 years (pre-k thru 12).

After that play date we excitedly noticed our neighbors were home from their 3 week vacation and playing outside. We went out to play with them for a while to try and catch up and see how their trip was. Luckily we were getting a break from the rain at the time and the kids were able to work out some of their we've been inside for 48 hours wiggles.

Some Benisms since we last met:
1) Ben, frustrated with me for vacuuming while he was watching TV,  said in a commanding voice to me, "ALL DONE, MOMMY! ALL DONE!"
2) Ben, frustrated with the dogs for laying on his beloved train tracks when he is playing with them says, "Cass move!" to both dogs as if the name is interchangeable. (Never, "Dodo, move!")
3) When Ben bonks his head which is often, he grabs his head and says, "Hurt head. Hurt head." It's so dang cute!