Difficult Time

It feels so good to be back to my regular blogging routine! This past week-end the weather here was in the low 60's, I was able to get my front yard cleaned up. The last couple of days it has been quite windy, so I now have leaves back in my yard, isn't that how it always goes! The kids had a blast playing outside on the swing set. There are patches of mud in the backyard, and of course, Helen and Noah found them all! Thank goodness I was smart enough to have them wear their boots, although Helen felt it was summer, so she went barefoot. They had to change their clothes before church, and I had to wipe them off, Helen's feet were very dirty. The two of them didn't want to come in, I had to bribe them with a treat. During our movie night, Noah crawled up on the couch with me and fell asleep about 10 minutes into the movie. He usually doesn't fall asleep until half way through the first movie, it was all the fresh air, and stomping through the mud.

Ted has been having a tough time lately, he misses Peter terribly. Last night he was working on his homework, the other kids had gone to bed. I was helping Robbie get ready for bed when Ted came into my bedroom sobbing. I asked him what was wrong and he could barely get it out..."I miss Daddy, a lot." I think I have mentioned in other blogs that Peter would help Ted with his homework and also work with him in activity books, we called it Daddy School. I didn't know what to say, it was such a relief to finally see him actually cry about it, not just get teary-eyed. The last time I saw Ted sob over Peter was the night Sherry and Chris(my sister-in-law) brought them to the hospital so they could say good-bye. I have been worried, I know it's not good to keep all of that bottled up inside. I told him it was okay to miss him, and okay to cry about it. I told him I missed him too, and then I started to cry, I felt Ted had a breakthrough. He has had a hard time talking about Peter, going to the cemetery freaks him out, he says it's too weird. I just kept talking to him, I told him how Peter didn't want to leave us but it wasn't his choice to make. It stinks that he's gone, and it's not fair, he fought a brave battle and lost, all we can do now is remember him always. We will always have him in our hearts, a place where nobody can take it away from us. He loved us with all of his heart, and nothing meant more to him than his family, and I know he misses us too. I ended with telling him that I loved him very much and I wanted him to know that he could always come talk to me whenever he felt sad. I stressed the importance of communication, I hope I made him feel better. He went and finished what he could with his homework, I could tell he needed to unwind and go to bed so I didn't push it.

Katie had a friend over after school yesterday, it went very well. Her goal is talk to one friend at school, so the doctor thought having the friend come to our house would help. I was a bit nervous at first because Katie wouldn't talk to any of us. Her friend kept saying, "Talk to me Katie, just talk!" She sounded a bit frustrated. Katie came to me and said very quietly, "I'm trying very hard to talk to her, but I just can't!" I told her to do the best she could, and if that meant not talking, just nodding or shaking her head, that was okay. About 10 minutes later Katie came and told me that she had whispered in her friends ear, I was so happy for her. Then about 2 minutes later I heard a bunch of screaming and yelling, I went to check on them. It was Katie, her friend, Grace, Helen, and Noah, all in their bedroom dancing and singing to High School Musical. Katie had done it, she had talked to her friend, it was like they were celebrating! They had a good time, they were a bit loud, but they had fun. The big test was today at school, would Katie talk to her friend? I was told by Katie after school that, yes she did!!!! Hooray!!! What a huge step for Katie, I am so proud. I will get the full scoop in the morning when I talk to her teacher, I can't wait.

Tomorrow night is the rain gutter regatta with the cub scouts, the boys are looking forward to it. I hope their boats do well, I helped them this time around, it wasn't that difficult to do. We will find out tomorrow just how well I did. If Ted says he wants someone else to help him build it next year, I'll know I didn't do a good job! I will let you know next week how they did, keep your fingers crossed...

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue