Clothes Optional

Today we are just hanging out at home. I am going to skip working today because my mom isn't feeling well and since I work in their home and take the kids with me, I just don't want to risk David or Kyle (mostly David) coming down with something.

So instead, I need to dust (yuck), laundry should be tackled (yuck again), and I should really clean the floors (yuck yet again). We have yet to get out of jammies. Except for David. He's half out. By his own doing.

Keeping shirts on that child is like keeping Kyle away from his Hot Wheels. I know a lot of kids choose to make the "clothing optional" choice. Especially at younger ages. David has started doing this in the last 4-5 years. He probably would've done it sooner except he probably hadn't figured out the fine motor points of getting his shirt off yet. I'm guessing it's a sensory thing with him. Hot weather or cold weather. It doesn't matter. The shirt is coming off. I'm actually ok with it in the dog days of summer like we're in now. His room gets really hot in the afternoons and he has a hard time controlling his body temperature. But the winters are horrible. His room is cold in the winter. Yet, the shirt still comes off.

I don't know what to do about it. It's fine at home, but in junior high, it's not really socially acceptable to do. As long as we're at home, he always wins the war. If we're out, we can put the butterfly harness over him to try to help. He still pulls on it, but it is much more difficult with the harness on. I think they try their best at school to keep the shirt on him, but sometimes, inevitably, I think it's just easier to let him have it off. He has us all wrapped around his little fingers I guess.

Now this is a process I watched him do this morning.

                                  Step one: Pull it up over the face and get it all stretched out good

                                    Step two: Take a breather once the shirt's all stretched out nicely

                             Step three: Get it pulled up over the head and say a little prayer that all will go well

                                        And the final step:  Proudly wear a smile for a job well done.

Now, Kyle would never run around in just his pj bottoms or undies. He is much more modest than David. He's fine when it comes to wearing swimming attire, but that's where he draws the line at half nakedness. My skinny Kyle needs some clothes on him to ward off the cold I guess.

You can tell that we've had a wonderfully unremarkable couple of weeks when I choose to blog about David's clothes. So if you read this, sorry. But I will take the unremarkable couple of weeks any day over some of the others that we've experienced!

And, YES, David's room is always this messy when he's in there. His laundry basket of fun is always emptied out and spread throughout his room. It only gets picked up at night so we don't fall on something while staying awake with the party animal.

Sweet Summertime

I can't believe that we're already into July. Half of our summer has gone by so quickly. School will be starting next month. I will miss having the kids around at first, then ease back into the world of working without them with me (which is always like taking a breath of fresh air).

We made it through our annual SC vacation, including the drive there (David got carsick) and the drive home (Kyle got carsick). The trip, as usual, was a fun one. Michael wasn't feeling the best, so we've probably had better, but it was still fun anyway.

When we got home, David developed Michael's cold symptoms and had two visits to the doctor in a matter of four days. We're going on about 10-12 days of him not feeling well now. Lots of coughing, sneezing, and snot. Before we went on vacation we bought a pool for the backyard. I was so excited to put David in it, but  he hasn't been well enough yet. I'm sad that we haven't been able to enjoy it yet as a whole family. I am determined to get David well so we can reach that goal! Kyle, on the other hand, has been enjoying the pool immensely. He has turned into quite the little fish at our house.

We made it through the horrendous heatwave that washed over the midwest. We made it through by barely taking David out of the house. He hates it. He takes a medication that doesn't allow him to sweat, so he has a horrible time controlling his body temperature. Today was the first day in over a week that I feel like I can actually breathe outside. And it rained some today! Hooray! I thought it would make it super muggy outside, but so far so good.

I am looking forward to being able to ENJOY my evening walks with friends this week for some exercise instead of being MISERABLE during them.  Our walks last week were great for the conversation, but I don't think we looked pretty afterwards! Those walks, or going to workout, are some of the things I actually look forward to each week. It's one of the few things that I get to do for myself. I am so glad that I have good friends who give me that opportunity. They always listen to my down moments, up moments, and all in between. I sincerely appreciate all of them. The friendships that I have made since moving here are priceless to me.

The rest of the summer is still to be determined. Our number one goal is to get David WELL! After that I think we are just going to enjoy. The pool, our friends, grilling, taking walks, and of course, my new found love for those little frozen Daily's drinks. Here's to the rest of the summer!

We haven't had many smiles from our snotty boy the past two weeks, but here is one he gave us earlier today. I think he figured out that the heat wave has broken!