The Great Debator

Bronson is on the debate team at Carbon High School this year, though not by choice (it took a little trickery and persuasion on my end). Although he bitterly complained about it at first, he's grown to enjoy it. Del and I were happy that we found a way to get Bronson involved at school, and we feel that his activity in debate has helped to improve his social skills. Bronson is even considering joining the squad next year - this time, voluntarily.

What none of us anticipated is that Bronson's actually really good at competitive debating. He placed in a couple of novice tournaments in the fall and has held his own these past few months as he's moved up from the newcomer ranks. Last weekend was Region - the final chance to qualify for State. It was held at Juan Diego High School, and there were 3 teams at the tournament. Bronson just wanted to do well enough to qualify for State but ended up sweeping all four of his rounds and tying for 1st place overall! This weekend is another big meet, with State being held March 7th and 8th. We'll keep everyone posted.

Way to go, Bronson!

Toilets, Trashes, Tempers, and Teething

As you might have gathered from the title, it's been a trying week with Mathison as he's beginning to travel the road of toddlerhood. Here are the main things that are keeping our family on their toes:

• TOILETS....... The bathroom is Mathison's new favorite play area, and the toilets are proving irresistable. Perhaps it's because they involve so many of his senses - he can hear the flushing sound when he pulls the handle, then watch the water whirl down the pipe. Next, he can feel the splash of the water and even lick it off his hands. And if Mathison gets tired of these activities, there's always the wonders of unrolling the toilet paper or shredding it to pieces. Who knew that bathrooms could be so fun?
• TRASHES....... These are a close second on Mathison's list of fun activities. There are so many mysteries to uncover in their depths, and he just might luck out and find some discarded gum or - happy day - actual food if he happens to raid the kitchen trash. This sheds a whole new light on the saying "one man's junk is another man's treasure".
• TEMPER........ All of my other kids entered the "terrible twos" around 18 mos, and it looks like Mathison is headed in the same direction. He's started yelling at family members if he's angry at them, and has even tried to hit his siblings once or twice. Mathison's newest - and most frustrating - trick is to arch his back, throw his arms in the air, and slump to the floor if you try picking him up when he doesn't want you to. It makes it almost impossible to hold him, and you feel like you're going to drop him at any moment.
• TEETHING....... To top things off, Mathison's cutting his 4 top teeth all at the same time. One finally broke through the other day, but the others are still bulging right beneath his gums. This has made him crankier than usual, and he's been crying a lot during the nights. Gnawing on things seems to alleviate some of the pain and pressure of his teething, but the objects Mathison wants to chew on are the body parts of other family members. It was quite a surprise when Mathison tried to take a chunk out of my toe while I was watching TV! Hands are also a popular choice, and Mathison even went after DEl's thigh the other night when he was lying on the couch.

I've been thinking hard about my "silver lining" for this situation (as per my last blog), and I've come up with the following: I guess I should feel lucky that if Mathison were to ever find himself alone in our house, he would be able to sustain himself with water from the toilet and food from the trash....and if an intruder were to enter the home, Mathison could use his arch and slump manuever while biting him on the thigh!

The Promise of Spring

It's been a bad winter.

For nearly 3 months, we haven't seen our yard. The snow on the north side of our lawn is 2 feet deep; the snow piled on the side of the driveway is 4 feet, with a layer of solid ice at the bottom that refuses to budge. There were 3 weeks in January when the temperature refused to move out of the low 20's. Earlier this month, there was a period of time when we had to shovel our driveway 5 days in a week's time. Old-timers say this is a once-in-20 years phenomenon. You get the picture.

However, at the beginning of this week the temperature hovered around 40 degrees for a couple of days. I was finally able to take an outdoor walk, savoring the sunshine in nothing more than a light jacket. I noticed that the roads and sidewalks were finally clear of snow and ice, but even more exciting was the green fringe of lawn starting to peep through the melting snow. I felt rejuvenated; here were the signs I had been longing for, the signs heralding an approaching spring.

Perhaps it was the sun, but I started to get philosophical. What a great metaphor this was for life! It was nice to be reminded that no matter how bad life gets, it will never stay that way forever. It brought to mind some of the old addages - "every cloud has a silver lining", "even the darkest night has a dawn", and "this too shall pass". These may seem a bit cheesy, but they're true nonetheless.

Does this magically mean the end of our terrible winter? Not yet - the temperatures have dropped again and it's snowing outside, with more snow predicted to hit the area later this weekend. But, I am facing this new round of storms with renewed strength as I remember the promise of an upcoming spring :)

Ladies' Man

Something exciting happened for Jefferson about a month ago, something he has been wanting to happen for a long time.

Jefferson got contacts.

We were going to wait until he was 12, but the director of "Shadowlands" didn't want Jefferson to wear his glasses in the play, and Jefferson is as blind as a bat without them. Our fears that he was too young to care for contacts soon abated; Jefferson has handled them like a pro from day one.

The lack of glasses brings out his startling eyes even more, especially his ultra-long lashes. I think Jefferson is also aware of this effect - I've caught him staring intently at himself in the mirror several times. I decided to ask him about it yesterday.

"So, Jefferson - what do you think? Do you feel more handsome with your contacts in?"

He nodded slowly, examining himself in the mirror before answering.

"Now all I need is some teeth whitening and a tan and - watch out, ladies!" He winked at himself, displaying a big "thumbs up" sign.

I couldn't trust myself to respond.

My Valentines

It was late Wednesday night and Del and I found ourselves alone at the kitchen table. He was putting the finishing touches on Jefferson's valentine box for school; I was labeling valentines for Mathison to take to our play group the following morning.

"Do you know the meaning of Valentine's Day?" Del asked.

"Well, I know it's named after St. Valentine," I replied, wondering what romantic turn this conversation was going to take.

"It means a lot of work for the parents!"

Okay, I had to concede that point. I had just finished rolling, cutting out, and baking over 80 sugar cookies for our Primary Activity Day then had spent the remainder of the evening coloring, cutting, gluing and labeling. However - for me - it was a labor of love because in spite of the countless hours of service I spend as a parent, I feel that I am more than compensated in return by the joy my children give me. While I appreciate that there is an official day to celebrate those we love, as a mother I feel I have received special "valentines" on a continual basis ever since our children were born; they just differ a bit from the traditional fare:

Butterfly kisses instead of X's and O's..........

A mud pie baked outside on my backstep instead of fancy chocolates.......

Scribbles and glue on construction paper instead of a designer card.......

A bouquet of wilted dandelions instead of expensive flowers......

A sticky handprint on the wall instead of priceless art.......

Barely edible breakfast in bed instead of gourmet cuisine......

Cuddles, bear hugs and toe tickles instead of passionate embraces......

And instead of an eloquent poem....the sincere "I love you, Mom" that melts my heart every time I hear it!

Call me crazy - but I prefer these everyday "valentines" to the expensive, once-a-year variety.........and I know that I will continue to treasure them for years to come :)

A Small Step

The other day, Bronson called and asked if he could stay after school and hang out with some of the other members of the Debate team after their lab. The kids were planning to walk to CEU and go swing dancing, and Bronson wanted to tag along.

Now this might not seem unusual to most of you; after all, a healthy social life is the agenda for most teens. But to Bronson, this was a big deal. You see, Bronson has Asperger's Syndrome.

Asperger's Syndrome (or AS) is a social disability that's considered part of the autism scale. Persons with AS are often highly intelligent and have impressive vocabularies, but lack even the most basic knowledge of how to interact with others, especially in a group situation. They are totally oblivious to nonverbal communication such as body language, voice inflection, and facial expressions. Kids with AS often have a very narrow focus of interest, and the slightest change in routine can be overwhelming for them. AS is often accompanied by other challenges like anxiety disorder, sensory sensitivities, poor muscle coordination, lack of organizational skills, and lack of attention. Those with AS are often described as painfully shy, quirky, clumsy, and "different" by their peers.

Learning basic social skills is a life-long process for these individuals; it can be done, but it is extremely difficult and takes a great deal of time. Imagine finding yourself in downtown Tokyo and expected to suddenly be fluent in Japanese. Of course, nothing would make sense to you - but after a while, bits and pieces would begin to seem familiar. Eventually, after a lot of hard work and considerable time, you would be able to converse in the language - although it would never be second nature or seem natural to you. This is what it's like for individuals with Asperger's when trying to navigate the subtleties of the social world.

For Bronson, this means that acheiving adult milestones such as finishing college, serving a mission, holding a job, and developing and maintaining meaningful relationships with girls will certainly be daunting and challenging - but hopefully, attainable. It just might take him a bit longer to figure things out - and when he does, he'll probably have his own unique way of doing it. Until then, we 'll encourage him to continue taking these "small steps" as he continues to discover his place in this world.

Shorty!

The inevitable has happened.

Krissia walked by me barefooted, and we were exactly eye to eye.

Upon measuring,we discovered that my daughter has exactly reached my height of 5' 8.5". She was delighted; I was depressed.

Not for her - I think it's great that Krissia's tall, especially where her swimming is concerned. The problem is, I don't think she's finished growing. She would really like to be 5'9" and I believe that's probably going to happen. What this means for me is that I will more than likely end up being the shortest one in our family someday!

It's not the end of the world - it's just that with having a mother who's 5'1" and sisters ranging between 5'2" - 5'5", I'm used to being the "tall" one. So I guess I'll swallow my pride and accept this ironic twist of fate.......and let someone else reach those items on the top shelf for once!

Why didn't I remember to Knock?

On wood, that is.

My sister Missy's most recent blog had some spectacular pictures of her 4-year-old son's head wound that needed stitches, and what did I say?

"I'm so glad our family has been lucky enough to avoid stiches so far!"

And what happens?

You guessed it - a few days later, Krissia takes a spill down the bleacher stairs at the swim team's party and gouges out a nice chunk of shin. By the time she got home, all the doctor's offices were closed, so we had our Young Women's President (a nurse) come over and look at it. She wasn't sure if it could be stitched together because of some skin missing on one side of the cut and said that they would probably glue or butterfly it together. We didn't feel like paying $150 emergency room co-pay for glue, so I sent Del to Wal-Mart for some butterfly bandaids and we patched her up.

You'd think I would have learned my lesson, but no.

I had to tempt fate again, this time bragging about how this had been a good winter for our family - we had hardly had much sickness. So, guess what - we're just recovering from a visit from the Super Flu Bug at our house. It's not the sniffling, sneezing, aching, Nyquil-can-fix-it variety. Oh, no. This has been the bone grinding, throat searing, head exploding, muscle burning, chills & fever, coughing up your lungs, please-let-me-die sickness. This is my 4th day, and I've only just decided that I might actually recover.

So, the next time I open my big mouth about our good fortune, I am going to have some wood handy.

State Swimming

Krissia competed at the State 3A Swimming Championships held this weekend at BYU. She'd had a strong season; this meet was no exception. On Friday, Krissia competed in the 50 Freestyle and she was the ONLY freshman to make it to the finals. She ended up taking 8th place overall and actually might have medaled, except that she was recovering from a bad cold and felt like she couldn't breathe during the last 15 meters of the race. Yesterday was the 100 meter Backstroke, Krissia's strongest event. She ended up earning a medal by taking 5th place and improved her time by nearly a second - setting another school record in this event! We are so proud of her and can't wait to see how maturity and experience will impact her swimming in the coming years. That is, if I can handle watching her compete for another 3 years - I felt like I was having a combined anxiety/heart attack during yesterday's race!