"Shhhh Qui-at"

That's how Sofia tells us to be quiet. I'm appreciating the relative quiet this morning, because yesterday we had a playdate. There was no preschool again, for conferences, so I had Sofia's friend H over since her mom had to work. This is the only family we've really connected with in three years at preschool. Sofia and H are in the Inclusion class together, and go to speech together once a week (Sofia also gets one-on-one speech). H has delays and something going on with the 21st chromosome, but it's not DS, so she does not have "the look".

I have never seen two kids who are more alike and yet more different!

The two of them CAN play well together, when they feel like it. But I have forgotten that I actually have a quiet child. Sometimes I feel like Sofia never shuts up, always yelling at me (Mama! C'mere! Want Cheese! Please!) or chattering to her toys.

Well, Miss H certainly set me right. "Uh, Sofia's Mom?" Every other minute. Seriously. Constant chatter. And she does not have Sofia's attention span, so she was flitting from one thing to another with rather alarming speed. I've gotten used to (and forgotten to appreciate) Sofia's ability to focus for long periods of time.

Mid-afternoon, the speech therapist called to discuss prep for Sofia's IEP, and she laughed when I told her H was over. She said the two girls boss each other around, play together, yell at each other, and have a ton of fun. I could see it.

Since H's mom works until at least 4, I took both girls with me to pick up the boys (plus an extra boy). Then took the whole crew to get Sam a haircut - Micah and M (the other boy) were in charge of the girls while I worked with Sam and the hairdresser.

Then Sam needed something at Staples, so I left the other 4 in the car - M has a cell phone, and is 12 and a half years old. Sam wanted a mechanical pencil. But not any mechanical pencil. No, he wanted a very specific one. Which of course cost twice as much money. But he promised to pay me back (and he did!).

Then I took them all for ice cream, since I figured why not sugar 'em up! Very loud and hectic, but I got into a fun conversation with a guy at Friendly's while we were waiting for our order.

Dropped Micah at gymnastics, dropped Sam and M at M's dad's auto shop, then dropped H home. AH, my ears! Picked up Sam, and enjoyed the calm

My head cold was awful the past few days, but thankfully today I'm starting to feel better. Went to sleep early last night. I've been having REALLY weird dreams all week. Some about Sam's Bar Mitzvah, superimposed over scenes from my wedding (since I recently downloaded the VHS file to digital). Some about the boys' school (I remember dreaming that one of the teachers was actually 2 years older than me (she's SO not!), and telling another teacher but then realizing that that teacher was 6 years younger than me! Also a lot of feeding people dreams, probably brought on by excessive playing of The Restaurant Story, my family's new obsession on all the iPhones!

I got a call from the school nurse this morning - both boys were injured playing dodge ball in gym. I thought they outlawed dodge ball?! Micah hurt his back, but there's no bruise, and Sam got hit in the nose and has a headache.

Ok, I hear my "quiet" daughter tossing toys all over the living room now...