Photography Skills

Isn't this an exceptional photo? Okay, I admit that it in no way qualifies as a good photo or even a mediocre one, but I am still incredibly proud of it. Why, you ask? It's the first photo Peter has taken with a camera; not too shabby for a 23 month old. On Friday, Peter was playing on the computer. (No, I haven't converted him to the awesomeness of video games yet. He was literally playing on the turned off computer—moving the mouse around, tapping the keys and pushing buttons on the front of the monitor.) I had stupidly left my camera on the computer desk and of course Peter noticed it. However, I did not notice it until I heard the distinct fake shutter sound on my camera indicating a photo had just been taken. I turned around to find Peter with his finger on the camera and a huge grin on his face. He knew he had just done something cool. So above is the result of Peter's stolen minute with my camera. I think he did an impressive job setting up the shot, creating an interesting composition. Or maybe he just pushed a button (who can resist the siren call of a button?).

The Nicest Thing in My Kitchen

Well, for Christmas I received a cutting board that actually makes me want to be in my kitchen doing something other than heating up soup or pouring a bowl of cereal! Cooking is my least favorite domestic task (yes, I view it as a task and/or a necessary evil) but I just might have to start doing it more so I can use this cutting board. My wonderful (and obviously very talented) friend Faith actually made this.

Unfortunately, my sub par photography doesn't truly capture how beautiful the craftsmanship is and definitely doesn't show how smooth the wood is (I've had bed sheets that didn't come close to being this smooth!). It is truly a beautiful piece made from walnut, cherry, and maple and put together with the end grain facing up. It is not an exaggeration to say that the addition of this cutting board has classed up my kitchen. Thank you Faith!

I'm in awe of Faith's exceptional woodworking skills. She's been taking a woodworking class for years and has made numerous pieces of furniture (including her son's crib!). I recently decided that I would take the class with her this semester (it starts at the end of this month), but I must admit that now I'm even more intimidated than I was. I guess I will be Faith's foil in the class.

First Day of School

Peter started school today. Wait a minute! How old is that kid? He can't possibly be old enough for preschool already! At the suggestion of Peter's doctor, Ryan and I have been thinking for several months about placing Peter in an early preschool but were concerned about finding a quality one that would help Peter with his Austism Spectrum Disorder. Fortunately, the Early Intervention service that helps Peter has an early education center on site. So after discussing it with his EI team we decided to have him go there. So now my little will-be-2-in-February-boy is going to preschool for 5 hours a week. Peter will go 2 hours on Mondays and 3 on Wednesdays.

Young McPetey Had A Farm

Animals are taking over our house. But at least they are small, don't smell or shed, and never pee on the carpet (unlike Peter). Peter's SLP (Speech and Language Pathologist) Gayleen and his EIS (Early Intervention Specialist) Lindsey want me to use animals as part of Peter's daily home therapy. So Peter received several animal themed toys for Christmas. ("Peter NEEDS this Ryan. It's for his therapy; it will really help his Autism.")

One of the cutest toys is a Farm Memory Game by Little Tikes. It's a plastic egg carton with animals and eggs. There are 10 little animals that can be split in half. You separate the bottom from the top, then hide the pieces under the included egg cups. Peter loves this toy. He likes opening the carton, taking apart the eggs, finding the animals and putting them back in the carton (he's still a little too young to match the animals, so we keep them whole). But his favorite thing is to take the animals and line them up on a table. Then he moves them to the coffee table, then a chair, then a bookshelf, then the stairs, then the couch, then back to the table.

One of the most prevalent Autism Spectrum behaviors Peter has is his obsessive need/want to order and line objects up. Several months ago he would literally spend an hour moving 6 bottles of haircare products from one location to another on the second floor. He would carefully move the objects, organize them to his liking then immediately pick them up and start the entire process over. He would melt down if someone tried interrupting his process or moved things out of his order. Most of the time he would "play" with his toys this way unless someone was right there making him play with the toys correctly. Peter's doctor and EIS told Ryan and me that we needed to interrupt and prevent Peter from doing this lining up too much. While it's okay for him to do it occasionally for short periods of time it isn't okay for it to make up most of his solitary play. I've been working really hard since October to distract and redirect Peter when he starts lining things up.

Fortunately, Peter has made a lot of improvement; now most days he only does it once or twice for about 10 minutes. Then I bought those cute Little Tikes animals and the temptation was too much. Peter loves lining those animals up. Oops. I've had to hide them and only bring them out for a short time each day. Peter and I have a fun time moving those animals around. I try to make it more interactive by performing stunningly accurate imitations of animal sounds (except for the bunnny; what noise does a bunny make?) and requiring Peter to point and sign. Now if I could only get Peter to think cleaning and organizing the house is fun...

I'm a BIG Boy Now!

No, I didn't have a special surgery this Christmas (although I would probably get a lot more hits on my blog if I did). Peter is the big boy or at least he and I think so. Although he has been crawling up onto to chairs for months now, he's just realized that he can sit on them like everybody else. Whenever he sees people sitting at a table he thinks he should join them. He scoots to the front of the chair, leans forward, rests his arms and hands on the table and grins with pride (then he makes lame jokes and we are forced to laugh out of politeness...oh, wait that's my dad!). So even though his chin barely rises above the table, I think Peter looks like such a big boy. Where did my baby go?

Too Busy

Due to the Christmas hullabaloo I haven't had much time for blogging (I know, I know, I'm crying too!). Hopefully, I'll post a thorough outline of Christmas soon (try to contain your excitement). In the meantime here's my brief summary:

I celebrated Christmas (unlike Peter, I had pants on most of the time).

I spent time with family (I didn't want to, but apparently Christmas is a "family" holiday and so I was forced to interact with a bunch of enjoyable and funny relatives that I love—totally unfair!).

I cleaned up Christmas morning chaos (how do a handful of presents create mountains of packaging?).

I played with Peter's new toys (having a kid is awesome—I get to play with toys!).

And I fought to save Princess Peach on my new Nintendo DS Lite! (I have the best husband.)

Merry Christmas!