We're Done!!! (for now)

Today Karl turned in the last of his school work for this quarter. It's like one huge breath of fresh air for all of us. Tonight Karl came home from work, cleaned up the kitchen, made Soren one great dinner, put him to bed and helped me make lasagna. After we eat dinner, we're going to decorate our Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music and drinking some hot apple cider. I'm in heaven...

Its-It

No that's not a song, it's a tasty ice cream novelty and it fits the subject matter of this long-overdue post.

Just days after I posted about Soren's vocab, he had a language explosion and it hasn't stopped since. Every day he wakes up and has about 5+ new words he can say. It's wild...and I love hearing his sweet little voice so much as he's experimenting. I can't even attempt a list now, there's far too many to count.

As I mentioned in that same post, he pronounces applesauce as "apposit." He does this with some of his new words and we haven't been able to find a rhyme or reason to it. Some words are normal some words are "it" words. Here they are:

almonds = almondsit
medicine = medicit
paci = pacit

I have never heard of a child doing this to some words, but I'm going to hold off on calling in the speech therapist quite yet because I'm sure this is considered normal. Now if he's doing it at age 6...then we'll see.

Collaboration

As for the rest of our lives, that's going to take waaaaaaay more time to write down than I have. So we'll save it for another time. We're so close to being done with this quarter which we're all very ready for. Stay tuned for more updates, but be patient - I'm one wiped out mama.

1 2 3 4

One big rule of mine is no TV for babies (and by babies, I mean Soren...I know, he's not a baby anymore, but that's what I like to say.) Up until recently, we've done pretty well with this law but Karl and my parents have bent the rules when I'm away. Soren has picked some favorites from those times and I thought I'd share one of them with you. Obviously I'm letting this one slide because it's an adaptation of a song that I like to listen to.



Warning: This song may get stuck in your head for days.

What Soren Said

Ok, ok. That's not an actual song title, but it's adapted from the Death Cab For Cutie song "What Sarah Said." So there you go....

This one's about Soren's recent language explosion. He had been really into saying new words these days and it's been a lot of fun for Karl and I to try to figure out what he's trying to say. If we can't figure it out, usually my mom can. For example, the other day as we were sitting in the parking lot of TJ's, Soren kept saying what sounded exactly like "opposite." I kept saying "opposite?" and he would look at me with a disgusted look and say "no!" I gave up and we went inside. I told my parents about it while we were over there the other night and after some thought, my mom said, "I know what it is...applesauce!" Soren seemed really excited that finally someone got it. He must know that I buy applesauce at Trader's and that's why he kept saying it. Cute.

As for his other words, they are new every day. Here's a list of what I can think of off the top of my head at this early hour...

place (Violet's command)
sit
down
up
ball
eat
pills
eggs
medicine
ball
please
thank you (signs it spontanteously when I give him something)
nightnight
paci
bed
yes
no
nowaynowaynowaynoway
juice
hot
applesauce
ak-mak (his favorite crackers)
O's
Baba (grandpa)
Nanny (grammy)
Karl
Papa
Mama
side (outside)
clock (most used word these days)
two
wait
banana
eat
shoes
socks
byebye
nurse
snack

There's probably a few more that I'm forgetting, but I've got to wrap this up.

I would try to get a video of all this cuteness, but whenever I get the camera out he just gets obsessed with grabbing it. So you'll have to use your imagination or come visit - but not now!

This is one of the reasons I'm so exhausted these days.

{Ahhhh. Contained.}
His favorite breakfast:
Ezekial bread with coconut oil
applesauce
organic scrambled eggs

He's really serious about note-taking these days.

We Used to Vacation

I'm exhausted.

Karl's turning into a zombie.

Soren loves "school" now, but misses his Papa all the time.

We've got 4 weeks left of this quarter.

Will we make it? Anything's possible.

Life

I should so be in bed right now, but I just found this little clip from our family trip to Avila Valley Barn yesterday. Karl was up super late paying for a day spent with us, but I think he would agree it was well worth it (right, babe? wink. wink.)

Here's Soren being afraid of the ponies. Pretty darn cute.



And more of Soren with pumpkins. **I warned you this would happen.**

Daylight Fading

I am wasting too much time trying to come up with titles to my blogs, so - from now on I'm just going to name them a title of a song that best fits my mood at the time of writing it. Ok? Ok.

I know I say this every quarter, but...this quarter has been the hardest yet. Having gone into this year thinking it might actually be one of the easiest, we were hit with a big surprise. Karl has already pulled so many get-home-after-everyone's-asleep nights that we can't even count them, and we're only 3 weeks in. In the midst of a crazy school schedule, I just went through a week from hell and Soren has been acting out waaaaayy more than usual - partly because of his age, partly because of the changes and stress in our lives. We are all fried.

I contemplated not sharing so much of the hardships in our lives on these blogs. I truly feel like a broken record and like I'm complaining. The truth is, this is our life, and if someone is reading this who can relate, or who is going through the same season of life as we are - maybe reading this can help. I am confident that someday the story of our lives is going to look much brighter, and while there are still bright moments in our lives - right now, we're in winter.

I'm not going to go into details about my 'stressful is an understatment' week, but basically, I had several major issues to deal with while Soren and I were both pretty sick and Karl was busy with school. It feels like the dark cloud has lifted a bit and this past week was much better.

Last weekend my mom and I coordinated my cousin's wedding at the Hearst Castle. It had me stressing for weeks beforehand, but it all went off without a hitch and it was absolutely beautiful. Karl was able to be there to help me with Soren while I (literally) ran around the Castle making sure everything went smoothly. My aunt works at the Castle, so we had freedom to many more areas than other people do - which made it all the more fun. Soren loved exploring all of the steps, statues and fountains - it's not everyday that a kid gets to play in a diaper at a castle! My cousin was a gorgeous bride and I was honored to help make her wedding day perfect.

This weekend Soren and I went to Avila Valley Barn with my mom and picked out some pumpkins and gourds for his classroom. He is really into running these days, so he ran around the whole time, pointing to things of interest - namely goats and tractor parts. (Warning: I'm about to say something very cliche'...) It is amazing to see the world through the eyes of your child. It's like a surprise gift that a parent gets - like a second chance to find wonder in the things you take for granted as an adult. I love autumn, and it's just a million times better with Soren around. Showing him all of the different colors, smells and sounds of this season does something good to my heart. If it's this crazy right now, I can't imagine how I'm going to be at Christmas.

In the interest of keeping these posts manageable, I'll stop here. That's a little peak into our lives as of late. We miss all of our friends so much and promise that we will be able to hang out someday...in December...hopefully.