a few good nights

i wish i had a better memory. it is often a pleasure to converse with the kids. they are working through ideas and concepts and really communicating. k likes to tell us things with a lot of gusto and silliness. she also has a lot to say about the world around her. this morning she helped count buses. she pointed out trains and sang songs. r also had a good morning -- he has been agreeable except for a meltdown one morning. the food consumption has been tricky. i will come back to that issue another day.

it was a good evening. we have accepted the fact that thursday and friday nights are hard on the kids. they are tired and a little fragile. but i find that it helps that sarah comes to hang out with them on thursday night and that friday night we shake it up a bit and do something fun and relaxing.

we had sarah come yesterday but i tried to ensure that we fed them before she arrived. r was almost done with his dinner once she got there. k had a difficult minute when we left and then quite enjoyed her time with sarah. it is great for r when she comes. he can be transgressive and do things that he wants to without his uptight parents around. it is good for him to explore and experiment without our confining him with unnecessary rules. things are always rearranged when we get home but i am pretty sure that it is very important and helpful to him.

tonight we went to the cheese shop and then watched dvds while we ate our cheese and spanikopita. it was a nice time. k did puzzles and asked for elmo. r ate his food and then was pretty excited about parts of sesame street. we sang songs, counted, recited the alphabet, and named favorite characters. all in all a pretty wonderful evening -- we must have a little of our mojo back.

ruskin and i have been learning about autism. we would like to teach a class together on it next year. i am trying to educate myself. it is interesting to see what kind of questions and frameworks are dominant. i think our questions and interests are quite different than the standard ones that are the basis of most research so it will be interesting.

ruskin is working tomorrow so it will be me and the kids.