The sweetness that is Rhys

Today is Rhys' 3rd birthday. I have been taking little mental pictures of him the last couple of days, just to remember him right where he is. The other night Justin made a gingerbread house with the kids.

Starting first thing in the morning the next day all I heard about was Rhys getting to eat dessert. What he meant was eating the house. I came down the stairs at one point and could see him leaning over the kitchen table, trying to lick the roof of the house. I wish I had a camera right at that moment because it was hilarious.

Rhys is insanely smart. He takes this apart. He loves to build things and fix things. He also is very nurturing and has all of his guys or babies, depending on the day, that he has to take care of. He has his buddy, the lion that Ava gave him when he had his tonsils out. He has his moose and a baby monkey. All of them usually have to be in bed with him. He prefers to have them all tucked under his blanket with him because he says they need him. He is pretty convinced that the cats talk to him when they meow and that he can understand what they need. Tequi has gotten him to open bedroom doors because Rhys thinks the cat said he wants toys and is sad.

Rhys gets into trouble like no other and will lie like nobody's business. He does not get that things are really off limits to him and is a repeat offender with things like lotion, soap, make up, and markers.

A few weeks ago, he decided that he would ask Santa to get me make up and shoes. He figured it would be a good gift for me and wanted to know if it would be ok if he told Santa to get me those things. He was telling my friend Val his plan and she told him to ask Santa for some for her too while he was at it. Tonight at dinner Ava was talking about wanting to get all of us presents. Rhys says, "It is ok, I told Santa to get Mommy make up and shoes, and Miss Val too. Remember Mommy? I told her that at McDonald's?" We hadn't talked about that at all past that day but he remembered like it just happened.

My favorite thing about Rhys is his heart. Today I asked him to help Ava with her things when we got out of the car after picking her up from school. She had a bunch of little gifts and projects from her class party and she always insists on taking her coat off in the car and carrying it into the house. By the time I got him out of his seat, she had managed to get everything situated so she didn't need any help. Rhys was crushed. He was sobbing because he wanted to help her. He didn't stop until we got to the door and she asked him to take her backpack. He did and cheered right up. Tonight I was trying to take a nap before going into work. I was lying in bed and it looked like I was asleep. Rhys snuck into my bed, being very careful to crawl around me. He gets right up to my face and gives me a huge kiss on the cheek, making sure to make a good kissing noise. He then strokes my forehead with his hand and leans on me to hug me. He kisses me again and then lies down next to me to go to sleep. If you are lucky enough to be one of Rhys' people, he will make sure you know it. You will be showered with affection. I hope he never loses that. Don't hold back, Bubbie.

flashbacks

I finally went and was the room helper in Ava's class this week. I have really wanted to do this all year, but my theoretical plans for easy childcare for Rhys while I spend an hour in Ava's class crashed and burned so I haven't done it up until this point. I will be doing it way more often now and am just going to have to get creative with Rhys.

Ava earns tickets and gets them taken away based on behavior in school. At the end of the week she can cash in her tickets for prizes. She pretty much never gets prizes. She always, always loses her tickets for talking in class. Last week she kind of laughed and said, "I lost a ticket today and I didn't even have any to lose!" Clearly this ticket thing doesn't have a big impact on her. The prizes that she has gotten often sit in her backpack for weeks so they are clearly not a big motivator for her. Thursday the tide changed. She didn't just lose her tickets. She lost the envelope to put the tickets in! I am not quite clear on how this happened, but she was upset. There were many tears shed over this low blow. She also said she was not allowed to go outside for recess the following day because she got in so much trouble. Again, not quite clear as to what happened to cause her to lose recess because that same day she got a letter sent home from the dean saying she had too many tardies and will get a detention with one more...

So anyway, I go to Ava's class on Friday. I mentioned the envelope situation to her teacher. I wasn't clear on whether or not the envelope was taken away or if she actually just lost it and couldn't find it. The teacher said she might have had it taken away but she would have to check. She did point out that Ava's chair was rubber banded to the table leg. She said that Ava can't seem to stay sitting in the chair. It is always out too far, on the side of the table, she is rocking back in it or she is not actually sitting on it and more like crouching on it. Her teacher says that she has gotten bruises all over legs from walking into her chair all the time. She said that she thinks Ava likes the attention from getting told to sit down.

I didn't even know how to respond. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to tell her that she won't sit because the legs won't stay still and her butt really hurts in those chairs. I know...from personal experience. Ava can sit still. She can sit perfectly still for hours on end if she is watching a movie or something. But she still can't sit in a hard chair. She barely does it at the kitchen table and usually falls off at least once a day. As far as the talking goes...until she is working on something that actually challenges her other thoughts are just going to keep popping into her head that just want to come out. Clearly there is a time and place for talking to friends and she needs to learn that.

By the way, I helped with the science center. (Centers are their other subjects, they work on them in small groups and do six a week.) They were experimenting with colors and what new colors are made by mixing them. They got to use eye droppers with colored water. It felt very scientific. It was also clear to me that not everybody is on the same level as Ava. I sometimes assume that her whole class is pretty much at the same place learning wise.

Me: Red plus blue equals what?
Student: 2.
Me: Nope. Red plus blue.
Student: 2.
Me: Ok, so if you take the color red and mix it with the color blue, what color will you get?
Student: Yellow?

He was really cute in his earnestness.

champion

So to continue on in my journey of becoming a hippy and living on a commune, I went to a yoga studio this week. Not just any yoga studio. A bikram yoga studio. This isn't flowy yoga. This deep stretching poses, meant to extend and compress all organ systems in your body...all in a 105 degree room. It allegedly burns a ton of calories and you will also lose weight. So far I have not experienced any drastic weight loss in my 2 classes. I know. 2 classes. 2 90-minute classes in 105 degrees. I feel like I should have lost a ton of weight because I feel like a champion for a) going the first time and trying everything and b) actually going back again and c) making plans to go back more! I am not going to lose weight, though it will definitely be a perk and I will be a little bummed if I don't, but at the same time, unless I stop eating like a champion sumo wrestler, I can't expect that. I am just kind of hooked on the insane feeling of being a champion after it is over. It is actually really relaxing to be super focused on not dying or falling over and not have the ability to think of anything else during that whole time. When it is over, you are completely covered in sweat, you feel like you just climbed a mountain (I have never truly climbed a mountain, so figuratively) and did some really hard things with your body, improved over the last time and stayed in the room. The very hot room. So you just accomplished something awesome with your mind. Seriously, you just spend the rest of the day walking around drinking water, feeling like a superhero. It isn't just me. I went with my friendTerra and she felt the same way. In our minds I am sure we were really walking down the street in slow motion film action, wearing some sort of long open trench coat blowing behind us, crazy stomp you to death boots, super hot jeans and a comfy t-shirt, ready to rule the world. "What's up? You need me to do what??? No problem, I just did a camel, I can do anything."