Friday Listiness

1. The forecast for today is 70 degrees. SEVENTY. Yes, I’m shouting. Less than a month ago we had a blizzard. I love the three days of spring (and I know, I know this isn't spring yet but just a tease) we get in New York City. Trust me, we go from cherry blossoms to jungle humidity in about sixty hours here and I am relishing every minute of this little spring preview.

2. People are walking around midtown Manhattan in flip flops and short sleeved shirts. We are desperate (clearly) for warmth. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. Our big plans include a trip to Trader Joe’s for homemade salsa ingredients and, well, coming home to make homemade salsa. And play outside. Compensate for last weekend's very busy weekend which included heading into Manhattan not once, but twice, and on the same day of the worst storm in our area's history. Weeee!

3. OK, fine. I guess I’ll throw in a little vacuuming, laundry and yard work too, just because the house/yard is crying out for it.

4. All this warm(ish) weather has me craving these for Leo:

And for Ellie:


I’m probably jumping the gun just a tad regarding sandal planning (we could certainly get more snow knowing the way things go around here) but hey, a girl has to dream, have goals and make plans.

5. For those who may not know, Leo’s favorite color is yellow. If given a color choice, ever, it’s always yellow. A yellow balloon at Trader Joe’s, a yellow cupcake from Magnolia. He meets yellow items with such enthusiasm that I’m not sure what he’s going to do when he gets yellow shoes. But I’m going to risk it.

I admit, I went a little back and forth on the yellow ones. Are they a little too something? Maybe. I don’t know. Honestly though, isn’t life too short not to wear yellow shoes, if given the chance?

6. Ellie has become our sporadic translator. For the most part, I can understand Leo pretty well and a lot of his language is contextual, that is I get what he’s saying based on what we’ve been talking about already. But sometimes, I am just stumped. What did he say? That’s when Ellie steps in and matter-of-factly announces “he said rock” or “he said owl.” I love that they know each other this well.

7. I finally got my act together and contacted Leo’s occupational therapist about his “sensory issues” surrounding haircuts (or should I say his hysterical, scary, traumatic (for all of us) refusal to even entertain the possibility of a haircut). I tried to make a little joke of it in my note to the OT, saying something like “in case you hadn’t noticed, Leo will not tolerate a haircut" (my little ragamuffin). Parent/Teacher conferences are next week and she’s agreed to meet with me then. In the meantime she said she’s going to start doing some exercises with him that should help. I’m interested to know what those entail.

If all else fails, maybe the OT will cut Leo’s hair? Cause that's totally in her job description, right? (It's a shame the bus driver obviously failed to take the hint that he too could cut Leo's hair).

8. Lastly, an answer to my thank you note to Leo’s speech therapist for her note about Leo's reading of The Runaway Bunny (yes I am one of those parents who thanks teachers and therapists for every little thing they do, including taking the time to write me a note with a sweet detail about my child’s day. What can I say but that I come from a family of teachers and I know how hard they work/how overworked they are).

Her response:

"It is always my pleasure to work with Leo. He is a very, very hard worker. Each day continues to be richer than the last. Incorporating literacy into the sessions is an important part of speech therapy for my students. Leo responds very positively to books. Today he read "Brown Bear" along with me and did very well sounding out the words. Perhaps he has already read it at home, since he did such a great job. We worked on prediciton as well, and he was right on. Yes, Leo has become increasingly engaged and verbal recently and I believe this is the beginning of some very exciting times!"

I couldn't agree more.