** I am pretty sure that last sentence was too long, and that I broke at least half a dozen grammatical laws.** Oh well. The mechanics of my writing have never been my strong suit.
Let's move things right along, shall we?
While I realize this is not one of my children, however feral they may be, I went for a walk a few weeks ago with Livy, camera in hand, and saw this little guy roaming around on our way to the duck pond. He--I am pretty sure it is a *he*, I don't know, everything is out there in plain view in this photo, so if you have the knowledge of deciphering, dear reader, do impart your knowledge-- anyways, *he* looked up at Livy and I, mostly to the bread in our hands, and sheepishly began to come towards us. Livy was fascinated, because as I began to talk to the squirrel, yes *talk* to the squirrel, it crept closer and closer. I would by no means call myself an "animal whisperer," so I used the meager knowledge that I do have of animals, and began to beckon the squirrel to us as if it were a kitty: "Here squirrely, squirrely, squirelly." It worked like a charm, as *he* came within inches of us. Livy was contented and I was too. The pictures I got were hilarious.
This was not your 'run of the mill' squirrel. This squirrel played hide and seek. and if I am not mistaken, did a pretty mean robot:
If it weren't for a fear of rabies, I may have packed this little fella' in my purse and taken him home. Anyways, back to my children. So, while I was out on my walk I decided to take some pictures of Livy and practice working with subjects that moved, because heaven knows I have enough pictures of shoes, flowers, and cookies to wallpaper every house we will ever live in for the rest of our lives.
Olivia was surprisingly a delight to photograph. She is growing up in so many ways, one of them being that she will now pose nicely for me and look at the camera with a "genuine" smile. However she does like to take the creative reigns when I am taking pictures of her and lets me know how and when to take her picture. I love having children that will now cooperate with me when I am trying to take their picture, I just try not to overstay my welcome, otherwise they let me know when they are done, which can get really ugly.
This girl tries me. She pushes my buttons. Her behaviors propel me to the internet, googling self-help books, parenting books, and "will this _________ stage of my daughter's life ever end?" She challenges me. Honestly if she weren't this cute, I think I would have run away by now.
Livy's flare for theatrics continue to intensify. I am seriously considering putting this child in some sort of children theater group, but fear the "stage moms" I may encounter in the process.
She watches your every move to incorporate what you do and you say into her pretend play. She will be talking on her Disney Princess "cell phone" and say: "excuse me? I am having trouble hearing you! You're breaking up, I think we have a bad connection." Then she will look at me and say, "Mom, I dropped another call. I just hung up on Belle." She has countless "voices" in her repertoire, which I am sure she gets from Jake, and uses them any chance she can get. My favorite voice she does is one that sounds like a rich, privileged, old lady, from England. She also makes up languages that have Jake and I rolling on the ground. Where she comes up with her material is a mystery.
**Just a side note about the photograph below: I am so glad that I captured this. She is pretending be asleep, and snoring. The thing I like most about it is that I have captured her lisp, which I find, now, endearing and adorable, but will soon have to eradicate with a speech therapist.**
Her favorite thing to do right now is to play board games. Among her favorites being: Pretty Pretty Princess, Take the Cake, Snail Race, Feed the Kitty, and Can You See What I See? If you have children under the age of six or seven, run, don't walk, to your nearest game store, or to your computer to get it on Amazon like I did, and buy these games for them. They are affordable and FABULOUS!
One day I asked Livy: "Hey Liv, what do you want to be when you grow up?" And she answered "I want to be a mama just like you." Of course this melted my heart and made me love this girl even more because even despite my flaws as a mother Livy unconditionally loves me and wants to be like me. It also made me be a little bit more patient with her as she follows me around everywhere wanting to know everything I am doing. Bless her. This girl also LOVES to do chores. Dusting, sweeping, folding clothes, washing windows, you name it and this girl jumps at the chance to do it. I know that all of those desires will soon change once she understands the full meaning of the word "chores." For right now, we will pretend that cleaning the toilets is a party.
Here are the rest of the pictures from our "photo shoot."
After Oscar saw the abundant amount of pictures that I took of Livy he requested that I take him out the following day to get pictures of him. It wasn't so much the pictures he wanted as it was the festering sibling rivalry that is ever so present in my house.
What is there to say about "O-Town?" He thinks he is a Power Ranger. Seriously. They are making a comeback right now in my living room. Ugh. Let's hope this phase is brief.
I don't know what the rules are about having sun spots in a photo, but I love this next picture of Oscar. I don't know why he insisted on pursing his lips in every photo, but when I would say "smile nice" this is what I got: the expression of a grandmother after having put a lemon in her mouth.
When you ask Oscar what he wants to be when he grows up he answers with any kind of variation of a scientist. One day it is a "scientist scuba diver." Other days it is a "scientist that sits in the airport traffic control tower." He is OBSESSED with space right now. He likes to ask questions about planets, galaxies, the gases they emit, and black holes--you know all of those questions I don't have the answers to. Needless to say, I have ceased educating myself about Star Wars and Superheroes and moved on to Quantum Mechanics. Naturally. If I ask Oscar over and over again to do something he will act as if he is deaf, but if I add in a Power Ranger here and a planet there he remembers every word. His memory for what I tell him to do non-existent, his memory for anything space related bottomless.
On to other Olesen Parenting quandaries. Both of our kids talk as if they are from Boston. I swear I enunciate my words but no matter how hard I exaggerate the sounds of each word, my children insist on holding onto these east coast accents. We are just clinging to the advice of speech therapists that these will eventually disappear by the time they are between the ages 6-8. In the mean time, Jake and I continue to correct Oscar about how to pronounce things. This last Sunday we were in the car on our way home for church and Oscar was talking about something, and Jake stopped him to correct how he was saying something: "Oscar, it is "Bro-TH-er, not bro-v-er." Oscar, looked up and said, "whatever." Sounds about right. I love that he is using catch phrases correctly, even if it is to tell me to leave him alone or to back off. These are things you never take for granted as a mom of a child with autism.
Another thing that I am thoroughly enjoying about Oscar's age right now is teaching him how to read. I love hearing him read, and sound those words out that he is having trouble with. Nothing makes me happier than seeing him learn and succeed in his efforts.
Anyways, here are the rest of his photos:
And last but not least, I only got one picture of my children together. I would have to be a miracle worker in order to get a picture of my children together. The only time these two really like each other is if they are conspiring against me, sparring, or there is chocolate present. Hence the picture with sticks. Let's just overlook my oversight in letting my children be within inches of each other with a sharp pointy object.
If anyone has the secret to getting their children to love each other more than wanting to kill each another please leave a comment. Two of the books I am currently reading: "Siblings Without Rivalry" and "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk." Pray for me.
3 comments:
We love the pictures. Tori loved the squirrel and was really excited that Livy & Oscar were on there too! She especially loved the ones with the sticks! hhr tg df f g mkbdr j k km l m m m m n vbbbggfbn vvv vv v fdcnkrn1. That last bit was from Tori
Xander is sitting next to me as I read your blog. Of course, he immediately spotted the squirrel and had to ask while pointing, "Is that his private spots?"
I think all of your pictures are adorable! Keep practicing on them, they will be your favorite subjects.
As for sibling rivalry, don't ask me, my kids fight constantly every day! Get any good advice send it to me!
"Siblings Without Rivalry"? No such thing. If it helps, my brother and I fought like cats and dogs and are now the best of friends.
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