a few more of my favorite things...

Sei il mio amico.  E anche tu sei il mio amico!

Tonight as I was letting Aaron chose the bedtime cartoon, Jordan turned to Aaron hugged him tight and said, "tu sei il mio amico!"  "You're my friend!"

Aaron hugged him back and said "anche tu sei il mio amico."  "You're my friend too!"  And they stayed hugging each other for a little bit.  The sweetest thing I've ever seen.

There's something in my mother heart that just melts when these two love each other as much as I do.  I'm such a lucky mother!

Aaron e Jordan e Gesu

 These are also two of my favorite pictures that Aaron has drawn recently.

Papa Jim and Grandma Copple

 My super hero's loving their bikes...

And the little Principessa is now climbing all over the chairs, and table.  She now has more missiles to launch.  If this kid doesn't turn into a star pitcher I'll be surprised.

4 years old, Jordan

 Happy Birthday baby boy!  I can still remember when you were born.  In the womb you did summer saults at 37 weeks!  I wondered what it meant that this little boy was such a wiggler.  After 4 years I'm starting to get to know this little person better.

 And I'm so grateful to have him in my life.

 Special picture from daddy, with some chocolate.  He was so happy

 Jordan is also the slowest in the family.  The last to wake up, needs more time after he wakes up, slowest to eat, slowest to get into the bathtub...  But on his birthday he was the first to wake up.  He then went into his room, turned on the lights and woke up his siblings so that they could celebrate with him too.

 Jordan wanted a space ship birthday cake for his birthday, and so he got it!

And I made this Spiderman pinata for his birthday party today.  I'll just keep my fingers crossed that it stops raining so that we can go to the park and use it!

Things I want to remember about Jordan:

1. He's our little knight.  He's a fighter, a defender.  The sword and shield he got (still can't believe that I gave my little ninja a weapon) are perfect for him.
2. He makes everyone laugh.  He's silly and joyful.  When you say "cheese" for the camera he always sticks his tongue out and makes a silly face.
3. He's a little shy at first with new people and faces.  He won't look at the new person and he won't talk either.  Was he's warmed up, his a ball of joy for that person too.  It takes him a while at a birthday party with new kids to be able to go and play.
4. He likes to assess the situation and figure it out before he jumps in.  He's a little more cautious that way.
5. He can't hold still.  Even when he's just standing there, he's not just standing there.  He's bouncing back and forth on both feet.  He's wiggling his arms.
6. He also falls down a lot, mostly to the inability to hold still and not paying attention.  He's standing there and he trips.  He's walking and he trips.  He's running on smooth, flat ground and he trips.  He sits at the dinner table to eat and he falls off the chair.  This kid should not be a tight rope walker when he grows up.
7. He's very sensitive- to the Spirit and to others.  He's got a heart of gold.
8. He's determined.  He never ever took a bottle, even when I was working.  Even when we left him almost 24 hours with friends to try and get him to take it.  If he doesn't want something, it's really hard to convince him otherwise.

scraped knees

 Jordan is the king of tripping and falling, and scraping his knees.  He's done this multiple times recently.  He's also the king of drama and falls apart at the seams with crocodile tears to the point of "not being able to walk" while I'm watching him.  When I'm not looking or there's something really fun to play with Aaron he's magically better.  It happened yet again one of these instances just yesterday morning.

He fell just outside our gate and sobbed that he couldn't even get up and walk.  Fortunately I did have our "magic band aids"  on hand, but it wasn't enough.  So I decided to go back for the double stroller (which I haven't used in a long time).  He was instantly able to limp bent over like an old man and hobble into the gate.  When we got where we needed to ...

 he was able to hop out and climb like a champ.  I think that I need to enroll Jordan in drama/theater.

 And yesterday was their little cousin Valentina's birthday party.  Her parents had hired someone to do entertainment for the kids and they got their faces painted.  They had a lot of fun.

more Aaronisms and Jordanisms

The other day Aaron was very, very insistent about wanting to watch cartoons before going to school.  Generally we don't watch the TV on school mornings.  He kept insisting and asking and I kept saying no.  Aaron doesn't know how to take "no" for answer.

Aaron on about the 50th request, "mom!  Look!  My body is waiting to watch cartoons!"

Jordan from the table where he was eating breakfast, "but my skeleton can wait until after school to watch cartoons."

I just laughed out loud.  So glad that your skeleton can wait. :)

My brother...

This is a very touching message about kids with autism.  It obviously touches a chord with us.  To all parents that share our struggle, our joy, our trust to take care of these special ones, I give my encouragement, my hope that you continue strong, and my love and admiration.

Some days life is hard, but we don't have to do this alone!  These little ones are also in the hands of their creator.  We have each other and we can put our arms around each other too.

La mia fattoria

 There's a farm (fattoria) that Jordan calls his farm.  This is because when he was in nursery school last year they went on a trip.  We went not too long ago.  It was a nice day.

 And we went on our first family hike.  I haven't dared before because it's too easy to lose a kid or have one get hurt.  It was a very modest walk, not too long.  We didn't lose any kids, and Aaron walked through a lot of stinging neddle, and Isabel only got a good bonk on her forehead, so no major injuries.

 During our walk the kids got thirsty, and thanks to Aaron walking through some stinging neddle, I had to cover his legs in mud.  The result was that we had a good drink and a wash at the little fountain.  The side effect was that Izzy played A LOT in the water, and got soaking wet.

 Aaron took our picture.  Not too bad, just kids that didn't want to hold still to get a family picture.

And I can't get them to put on a real smile for the camera.  :)

Happy Birthday Zio Daniele

 Uncle Daniele had a birthday and the boys decided the he needed a gecko birthday cake.  I got the idea from spoonful.com, and it's totally easy to make.  I made a weight watcher's brownie recipe and it was a really good cake!

 Buon compleanno Zio!!!!!

 As an aside, this is what our bath water looks like most days.  Totally gross.

 And as another aside, the little principessa's hair is growing and when I'm actually able to tie her down get her to hold still so that I can put them in, she likes like quite the little girl!

Also, we've taken away her binky.  She did fine.  I'm still totally missing it!