Loooong post.

Today I am sick. I was up all night, so after I put Harvey on the bus this morning I climbed back into bed and slept until noon. Luckily Grey was cooperative, and even sympathetic. (Mommy sick? Oh, otay. You need a kisses?) What a sweetie. He sat next to me on the bed and looked at books while I slept. Then he saw a picture of cookie-monster sugar cookies, and he could not sit still any longer. He dragged me into the kitchen and I sat in the chair and gave him instructions on baking.
"No, get that bigger bowl. No, the bigger one."
"Now two scoops out of that bucket. More. You need more. Fill the scoop all the way."
"Now stir it all up."
"Bring it over here so I can check your stirring."
"Okay, now you roll it all into balls like this."
I cracked the eggs and operated the oven. Twice the smell of baking cookies was enough to send me running for the restroom. (These cookies just keep getting more and more appetizing, don't they? I shouldn't even mention that Grey wasn't wearing any pants while he was baking, but I just did.) Hungry, anyone?

Here are pictures of him decorating them. You can kind of see my new breakfast nook, too. It is a work in progress. I still have to hang more pictures on the walls, sew the bench cushion, and figure out what I am going to do about window treatments. Jed put in a row of cabinets to be used as a bench. We went with oak because they matched the rest of the cabinets in the kitchen. Oak is not my favorite, but that way they will all have the same texture/grain if we ever get around to refinishing the cabinets. Right now the bench seat is a slab of MDF we painted green, but we will change it when we get a nice-colored scrap of Corian or Granite. I am also going to refinish my table and chairs, but I am waiting for my super-talented sister to give me her advice.

In other news, Harvey had a tooth repaired last Wednesday. He had a bad cavity buried deep in the root between two molars. The doctor had to put him under general anesthesia, because Harvey is very combative when people mess around in his mouth. He and I woke up at five AM and went to the surgical center. Harvey played with an orange triceratops in the waiting room. (His little buzz lightyear underpants kept peeking out the back of his hospital gown while he played. Cuteness.) When the doctor came in to collect him for surgery, they let him take his orange triceratops back with him. Just as Harvey was about to fall asleep from the anesthesia, the nurse asked him what a triceratops said, and Harvey let out the loudest roar I have ever heard. It echoed through the halls and I could hear people in other rooms laughing. They surgery was fast and easy. Harvey got a crown, and had the rest of his teeth sealed. He had to have a tube down his throat during the surgery, and an iv in his arm. When I got to him, there was a lot of blood in the tubes hanging over his head, and a lot of blood in his nostrils. He was scared and disoriented when he woke up. He rolled around three times and got his lines all tangled around him. He cried and cried and cried. He didn't recognize where he was, or maybe even who I was, or why he had all the terrible tubes. He wanted the IV out of his hand. He could feel the new crown in his mouth and it bothered him. Most of all, though, he wanted to know where that orange triceratops had disappeared to. He was still really confused when we left the surgical center. We stopped at Toys-R-Us on the way home and I bought him a new dinosaur. As soon as he had that dino in his hands he was okay. He didn't care where he was or who he was with or that his throat was sore or that his nose was bloody or that he had a strange new tooth in his mouth. He just fixated on that brontosaurus and it really helped him feel oriented until the anesthesia wore off.

Jed is on spring break, but it doesn't feel like much of a break. I am still writing papers. Jed is still submitting assignments. Harvey is still in school. I am itching to take a long road trip in my fancy new car, but Harvey will be in school until June. Jed's semester is over at the end of next month, but summer classes start on May 7th.

Now I am going to brag for a minute about my husband. Did you know that Jed did not go to very much school when he was a child? He was "home-schooled" but in this case, I really mean he was "un-schooled." (He spent his afternoons trying to teach himself by reading an encyclopedia and plunking at an old piano.) He attended first grade (where he learned to read) and part of third grade. Halfway through tenth grade, he begged and begged and begged his Dad to let him go to school, and so he was able to attend half of 10th, and all of 11th and 12th grade. Even though he had to make up all of 9th and half of 10th grade, not to mention studying to catch up on everything he'd missed in elementary/middle school, he still managed to graduate on time with his class with a 3.7 GPA. He also graduated from early morning seminary and worked as a bus-boy after school. And did an early-morning paper route BEFORE early-morning seminary. In Minnesota. In the Winter. And he gave all the money he earned over to his family for food and necessities. (Jed has complained once or twice about the paper routes, but he has never said a word against handing the money over to his parents.) Here is the point of all this: In spite of not having the benefit of an elementary/middle school education, Jed is working super hard and earning straight A's right now. What a stud.

With Jed working so hard lately, I have been taking Grey with me during my volunteer hours at Harvey's preschool. Grey thinks preschool is super cool. He jumps right in with the class and acts like one of the students. (It makes my ABA therapy sessions with Harvey a little more complicated, but we are getting the hang of it.) He cries when we have to leave. And Harvey loooves having Grey there. Harvey shows him all the toys, and how to check his chart and stand in line. Last week, during circle time, Harvey was so busy instructing Grey on what to do, ("Clap your hands like this, Grey. Hand on heart, Grey. Say the pledge, Grey. Sing the song, Grey. It's my turn to do the calendar, Grey. Choose a balloon, Grey) that he failed to earn a skittle by being quiet. I was super proud of Harvey for looking out for his brother, though. Maybe even prouder than I am when he sits still and earns his skittles.

Other things to remember:
1. Grey calls ABC's EIO's.
2. He is talking up a storm. Lately he has been using a lot of words I didn't even know he knew, like marshmallow and Frisbee.
3. He is unnatrually good at a game called Temple Run on the Ipad. Better than most adults. It is so funny to watch him play. Soon we will put a video of it up on YouTube and he will become an internet sensation.
4. Twice in recent weeks Harvey has cooperated with taking medicine. Once he even ASKED for it. Pretty sure this is a result of all the hard work he puts in at school. (Everyday at lunch he has to eat a bite of applesauce. At first it was more or less a very gentle force-feeding, but now he takes his bite without too much fuss. That may not sound like a big deal, but for us it is a huge success. Especially because it's making things like medicine a lot easier.If this keeps up he will no longer have to have his antibiotics injected or his acetaminophen...well, nevermind...)
5. Speaking of illness/medicine...
Harvey: What's wrong, Grey?"
Grey: I sick.
Harvey: Oh, you sick?
Grey: Yeah.
Harvey: (rubbing Greys tummy tenderly.) It okay, Grey, I help you. (screaming at me in his most demanding voice) Mom! You get Grey a me-cine WIGHT NOW!