Taking the Scenic Route

Me: So, where are we parked?
Dh: (in the white SUV) in front of Barnes & Noble
Me: Not helping.

The last day of the year was one of those days were the kids were picking at eachother all day.  So, in the evening, when they went downstairs to play before bed, I was happy to note that they seemed to be getting along better than they had all day.  Then Zora came upstairs to get a drink of water, and she was covered from head to toe in little white balls.  We followed the trail back to the downstairs bedroom and found Zane on the floor, making “snow angels” on the floor in the bajillion balls of a broken oversized bean bag chair.  It was obvious, from the indentions, that Zora had been doing the same thing.  It was well over 6 inches deep in places, and static electricity meant they were E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E

So, we brought the new year in with a vacuum cleaner.

Some day we will laugh.  Some day.

Mommy! My cake smells like BUTT CREAM!
Zora, it’s pronounced “Buttercream”

Zora is playing Duck Duck Goose with Zane. She pats his head, saying duck duck duck….GOOSE!, then runs away. Somehow not the same thing with 2 people.

Zora strikes again

Today Zane was driving Zora crazy singing “Frosty the Dirtman” and “Rudolph the Blue Nosed Reindeer”, and she was insisting “That just isn’t right Daddy/Mommy!”

That just seemed backwards to me.

In the waiting room, before the sessions.

It was the last semester with both of the kid’s student therapists this fall.

Zora & Michael, reading a story

sequencing it

retelling, with props

They had a lot of fun together this semester.  Michael following Zora’s instructions to “do a silly photo”.  Thank you Michael for letting yourself feel the silly.

Now, Corrissa has been with our family for a few semesters, and was Zora’s student ST for a while before she became Zane’s student ST.  She is somebody really special, both because of the length of time, and the quality of her work.  She is going to be a rockstar therapist in short order and who ever hires her is going to be very lucky.  I tease her that if I win the lottery, I am buying her services for life.  lol.

Goofyness was in the air I guess.  I seriously LOVE this series of photos.  Zane doesn’t often connect with somebody on this level.

And, the best for last:

The kid’s Christmas Pageant was great. Zane was “Wise Person #2″ and had lines, Zora was “Angel Chorus” and just stood there looking cute in her crooked halo.

The pageant was called “Backwards Christmas Pageant” and was a “play within a play” type thing.  The plot:  a group of kids are putting on a Christmas pageant and one of the Wise People has to leave early for a soccer game.  Since his part isn’t until the third act, they do the play backwards, so the Wise People go first, then the shepherds & angels, then the whole Elizabeth/Mary get pregnant & angels.  They all gather at the manger in the Epilogue.

Our first victory was to get Zane to stop saying “And then I say…” before each line.  Then we had to get him to understand that it was not the time to replace words for comic effect.  He got a kick out of the script and got the giggles, even when we were just running lines, especially the part where the Wise People show the gifts they are taking:

WP#1:  Gold

WP#2(Zane): Frankincense

WP#3:  Myrrh (but holds up a soccer ball instead, then corrects it with the right prop).

He thought that was so funny.  Apparently he still thought it was funny during rehearsals and would still be giggling 10 minutes after the exchange.

He was also greatly amused at the lines about a “Herd of Sheep”, where his next line was “Of course we’ve heard of sheep”, followed by a herd/flock exchange.

He actually had all of his lines memorized, but carried the script on stage with him (a  lot of the kids weren’t off scripts, so it wasn’t a big deal to carry it on stage).  He did a decent job of following the blocking, and didn’t stim as much as I thought he might.  (he did rock back and forth, but he was grinning ear to ear and obviously paying attention, just made him a blur for photos most of the time.)  The best part was that he so obviously was having a ball, grinning happily and very “in the moment” through it.

Zora did a good job too, but she was upset that she had no lines and that it was “boring” having to wait backstage.  She looked so adorable in her costume and did a good job of following the blocking.  You could hear her singing (they had mics set up backstage so that all the kids could contribute to singing the songs), so I know she was doing a good job of paying attention and participating.

Some pictures from dress rehearsal

Waiting backstage (unseen from audience)

The production:

We didn’t get a picture of the ending, but we wish we would have gotten video.  Instead of being nearer to the edge of the stage, like he was in rehearsal, he ended up next to the manger.  As they sang the last medley/finale, he opened up his box of Frankincense and”grabbed” stuff out of the (empty) box and, to the beat, “threw” it into Jesus’ manger.  As the song finished up, he upturned the box and shook it out, as if to make sure all of the contents were given to baby Jesus.  :laughn2:  It was hysterical.  (and a big deal to us, when we weren’t sure if he would ever do “pretend play”, to see him pantomime this with total spontaneity and showing a sense of humor)

I do have to give props to all the kids in the church.   I am so impressed by them and how generously they help my kids.  They treat them respectfully and are just very sweet.  There isn’t a bad attitude in the bunch.  The older kids all help the younger ones and make ventures such as these enjoyable.  I also appreciate the adults who do such a great job of including Zane and giving him the best chance of success.

After the last dress rehearsal for the Christmas Pageant and before church I decided to attempt a picture of the kids in their Christmas outfits.  It was marginally successful.

Happy that we finally got Zane to stop saying “Then I say…” before each line in the Christmas Pageant script.  Progress!