Time Passes Slowly

We're not even a month into the new year, and I really think it's going to be a hell of a year! For those of you who follow this blog (and yes, Sarah, there are more than family among our readers), I have never mentioned either my occupation or my employer, and that's not going to change today; but I will say that I moved on to a new employer (my choosing) and I couldn't be happier. It was as if the clouds parted and allowed the sun to shine through. Combine this news with Sarah's success and happiness with her self-employment venture, and I relish the coming year.

But the real reason I believe 2011 will be special is, of course, Elijah. Although sometimes it feels as if his autism is dominating his brain (his insistence on telling everyone he meets to"smile with your teeth" is wearing thin), he continues to show growth in all aspects of his socialization process. Every morning, as he bounds out of the car at school, he will greet any adult or classmate he sees. At a Cub Scouts meeting, he interacted with everyone he knew and enjoyed himself so much that we are participating in the "Pinewood Derby" for toy wooden cars this weekend. On the mornings I can't take him to school, he happily catches a ride with our neighbor Doug and his daughter, apparently yakking it up the entire way there.

But to me, the real show of progress was his request (actually, insistence) that two children he played with on New Year's Eve come over to his house for a playdate. A former co-worker of Sarah's who has a boy about a year younger than Elijah (and a little girl less than 2 years old) invited us over on New Year's Eve. Elijah, who had gotten to know Quinn during the past few summers at the local park pool, was very excited about going over to the house and counted off the days until the big event. When we got there, an added surprise, a little girl cousin named Zoey, was also there. After a little bit of getting-to-know-each-other time, the three played all evening long, which allowed the adults (there were eight of us) to relax and enjoy each other's company.

The next day I asked Elijah if he enjoyed playing with Quinn and Zoey, and not only did he reply in the affirmative, he asked if they could come over to our house to play. I could count one hand, with fingers to spare, how many times that has ever happened. Needless to say, I was overjoyed and insisted that Sarah start the process to get this done. When arrangements were finalized we put the date on Elijah's calendar and, as the date neared, he eagerly counted down the days.

Unfortunately, it appeared as if Mother Nature would put a crimp in our plans. Seven inches of snow had fallen a few days earlier, and now the weather forecast was calling for another four to five inches the day our guests were due to come over. Thankfully, the local weather people were as accurate as they always are, and all we got was a little dusting in the morning. Elijah was so excited he climbed up on a chair to move the clock hands, as if that would really make them come any earlier. (He mistakenly turned the hands back rather than forward, so it appeared to Sarah that the batteries had gone dead, and she insisted I change them.) When the young guests finally arrived, it was almost three straight hours of jumping, laughing, playing musical instruments, sledding (our backyard has a hill) and finally, cookie eating. It was a complete success!

These pictures may seem to be nothing but some kids playing together in the snow, but that's what makes them so wonderful to us. That Elijah not only asked for Quinn and Zoey to come over, but actually played and laughed with them, is an incredible milestone, one which I'm sure we'll be repeating soon. Yes, it's going to be a great year!

Drowning in a Sea of Snow

For those of you who live here this is old news, but for the benefit of those in my native state, this is what we were dealing with last week:

I was determined to keep our driveway clear, but as the snow kept falling, the piles got higher. But as bad as the snow piling up was, the bitter cold made it even worse. The combination of the two made it a miserable few days, but at least one person seemed to enjoy it.

It's Top 10 time!

Well, it's actually two Top 5 lists. I'm trying to update this blog more often but am too lazy to do those long posts all the time (you can thank me now!)

Top 5 things I hate about winter:
5. All that yucky mud and salt and dirt covering my car and eating away at the undercarriage.
4. No flowers, leaves or green grass in sight. For month after month after month.
3. Leaving my desk exhausted at midnight, going outside and finding that a 20-minute ice-scraping job awaits before I can start the half-hour drive home.
2. That sinking feeling as I try to start the car in subzero temperatures, with my (painfully frozen) fingers crossed in hopes that the engine will, indeed, eventually come to life. And then trying to coax the frozen steering wheel to turn and the stick shift to shift.
1. That blast of cold air whistling through the crack between the door and the frame and chilling the entire downstairs because when last I thought about weatherstripping, it was when I happened to notice, on a 103-degree day in July, that it was all peeling off. Must get that fixed before winter, I told myself.


Top 5 things I love about winter:
5. Watching big, beautiful snowflakes transform the world into a quiet, pristine and glittering landscape that no Hallmark card can even begin to replicate.
4. Bundling up with Elijah, layer after natural-fiber layer, so we can go out to the backyard to make snow angels and sled down the hill.
3. Snow ice cream!
2. Curling up with a good book or a glass of wine (or both!) in front of a roaring fireplace on a cold, dark night. Might even have a few freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies, while I'm being indulgent.
1. Dreaming of a white Christmas -- and watching that dream come true with my little boy!