"How Many Uncles Do I Have, Mommy?"

School is over, but Jonathan is attending the public school child care program today and tomorrow. He normally just attends the morning; and the 2 times in the past that he spent the entire day there because of school closures, he was not very happy. However, today he was very happy to go. He has changed so much in just 2 months, it is weird (in a good way).

When we arrived, as soon as he was done putting his lunch bag in his cubby, a boy called his name "Jonathan, come on". He looked at me and said "bye mommy, I'm going to play". That was music to my ears. The ladies in this place love him. They told me that he was a very good boy and does quite well with the group there.

Grandpa took care of the kids this afternoon because I could not leave work early. He picked both of them up at school, brought them home, dressed them up for Tae Kwon Do and took them. It really shows how much they both have matured, because he tried to do this 3 months ago and Vanessa had a fit.

This evening, Jonathan and Vanessa played very nicely. They pretended that Jonathan was a daddy and Vanessa a little girl and that they spoke Spanish. They really tried to speak to each other in Spanish. It was quite cute to watch (where is the video camera when you need it, right?). Jonathan told me about his experience playing basketball today at school and that he learned that you use your hands to play basketball and cannot play with your feet. And he told me that he learned the "rules". That explained a lot because earlier today, when I got home from work, he came and asked me what our house rules were. I didn't understand and he said "I know 2. Put the caps in the markers and clean up. What else mommy?" So I came up with a couple, starting with "always be nice to your sister and be obedient".

After a while, Jonathan asked me to put Harry Potter 3 on because they had not been able to watch it yet. We saw number 1 and 2 last week. We sat together and watched some of it. They both can only tolerate so much of the narrative, so after the first 10 minutes, they were up and about. I made dinner and then watched the end together. I tried to explained scenes as they happened. Vanessa was very interested in the werewolf.

All of a sudden Jonathan asked me "do I have uncles, mom?" I looked at him and said "yes, tio hugo is your uncle, and tio Carlos too" and he was excited to hear those names. He was shocked they were his uncles. It was like an awakening moment "wow, I have uncles" is what he said. "How many uncles do I have, mommy?". So I counted 5 "Tio Hugo, Tio Carlos, Tio Juan Carlos, Tio Hernan and Tio Billy". Then he asked "how many aunts do I have?" I counted 5 again. "Tia Neni, Tia Nelci, Tia Michelle, Tia Sarah and Tia Sara". And he jumped "I have 2 aunt Saras'?" So I explained. Then he said "wow, I have aunts and uncles!". A few minutes later he asked "mommy, does Harry Potter have uncles? who is Harry Potter's uncle?" (and by the way, he is using prepositions correctly which is a big improvement). I thought hard as I had just told him that Sirius was Harry Potter's GodFather and I couldn't remember the uncle. But a few seconds later I remembered and said "yes, Harry Potter has one uncle. The fat guy, remember?" And he said "oh, yeah. the guy at the beginning of the movie that is mean to Harry". Wow, Daddy and I looked at each other in dismay. I said "yes, sweetie, that is exactly right". He is truly amazing me lately with his comments.

One thing that Jonathan is doing now is that he really wants to know what we are saying. If we say something and one of us laughs, he asks again until he understands the joke. He wants to know everything. If we say something and sound surprised, he wants to know too. So now we find ourselves explaining a lot.

DETOX
Two days ago, he had a horrible meltdown. I think it was detox. He normally recovers quickly when he gets upset, but this time it took him over 20 minutes to get over being upset. On Saturday, I took Vanessa to a playdate. I left Jonathan home with daddy playing the Wii because I didn't know where I was going. Since Vanessa was the one that was invited, I decided not to risk it. When I got there, the girl's mom asked me why I had not brought Jonathan and I told her that I didn't know and would bring him next time. She has another boy same age as Jonathan who happened to have ADHD. When we got home, Jonathan immediately asked Vanessa where she was. When she told him where she went, Jonathan got very VERY upset that he didn't come. And told me that he was mad at me for leaving him at home, that he didn't want to play Wii anymore. That he wanted to go with Vanessa to the girl's house and play. And just went on and on and cried uncontrollably for over 20 minutes. We had to get out of the house to just get him to think if something different.

Today his language was much better than usual. He used well structured sentences, prepositions and long sentences. Intonation is better. Still a bit flat, but much better. He is really trying. Vanessa mentioned a boy name George from school and he said "what many years George is" and I corrected him to say "how old is George". These are the types of problems that Jonathan is experiencing. But today he made less mistakes of this nature than normal.