Why Sam remains the most chellenging of my children

Ok, I understand. Sofia will always have Down syndrome, and as she gets older, she will encounter more challenges. But we are fortunate to live in a time and place where we have many, many supports in place.

Micah will likely always have food allergies, which indeed could cause serious medical problems if not outright death. But we are fortunate to live in a time and place where we have many substitute foods available to us, and where knowledge of food allergies is growing.

But Sam. The OCD flare-ups are probably the worst, because they come in the middle of regular bad-mood tantrums, without warning, and cause him to be even less cooperative and helpful than usual. Today, his favorite jacket was suddenly "DISGUSTING" because he had thrown up on it last week. Never mind that it was just coming out of the laundry today. It's still disgusting. Do I had to wrestle him to sit down. Talk him through. Tame the Beast. "So you won't walk on the kitchen floor because there was barf on it?" No, of course not, it's been washed. "So you won't sit on the chair because it had barf on it?" No, of course not, it's been washed.

And by the time he realizes that it's just an OCD attack, he starts to feel foolish for wanting to avoid the item so much, and then he lashes out erratically. UGH!!!

And add in the budding teenager-ness, plus his standard "oh woe is me, I'm the ONLY kid who doesn't have...."

UGH!!!

(Ok, complaining done).

Yesterday was lovely. My sitter came in the morning, so I didn't have to take Sofia to shul (and Sofia didn't miss any school). So I was able to sit in shul for the whole service, since the boys are self-sufficient there. I did ok with the Haftorah reading (although once again I learned that there was a word repeated in that reading that should be pronounced differently than it is written. I need to find a list of these...).

Lunch at shul was nice, as always, and then both boys brought home friends. The weather was warm and lovely. Sam and his friend stayed outside. It takes them a while to figure out what exactly to do together, since they are both very task-oriented. They took a bike ride, then hung out, and eventually washed my car and started a garden task for me! Micah and his buddy played on the Wii for a while, until I kicked them out of the house, and then I saw them playing - there was a slow-motion basketball game, and swords and shields involved.

Meanwhile, of course I cleaned the garage some more. With my hand still bandaged.

Left at 4 to pick up Sofia, drop off Micah's friend, then drop Micah at gymnastics. Drop Sam's friend, stop at another friend's house to drop off the borrowed roof bag we'd used on vacation, and then grocery shopping. Pick up Micah, and find out that another child will be sleeping here. So stop at his house (he's Sam's classmate, but in Micah's gymnastics class) to pick up his stuff, and then home. cook dinnere at in sukkah until the mosquitos chase us back in the house.

Got Sofia to sleep, and the boys watched a movie. Eventually I came downstairs to find that Sam had gone to bed and Micah had fallen asleep on the couch, so I sent guest-child off to bed, too. Very cute.

They are all playing nicely today. Sofia starts school at 12:30, but my cleaning ladies are coming soon, so I'm trying to have them help with the straightening up.

More kids coming later today,a nd then a friend and her two for dinner tonight in the sukkah. Tomorrow, shul and sukkah-hopping, and then guests for dinner. Sunday more sukkah-hopping, and Sam is going on the Kadima boat cruise.

Gotta go clean!

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Oh, back for two more things. Definitely looking forward to a sleep study for Sofia. For the past two nights, I've listened as she's fallen out of her toddler bed (OVER the railing!), then rolled around the hallway for several hours until she finally rolled into my room and rolled around my bed for a few hours. Poor kid must be exhausted!

But I just refreshed my spirit by peeking in at Conny Wenk Photography. Gorgeous gorgeous photos!