pictures of homelife...

some friends (ok, one of asher's nurses and her husband) popped over this afternoon and brought gifts for the kids. blithe got a Happy Feet DVD and a doll, asher was given an airport set (toy helicopter - "hacot" - and plane, some cars, an airfield, some luggage and signage), and bram was given a fantastic train set. it's absolutely gorgeous! arturo picked it up somewhere but it didn't work, so he fixed it up, including a new electrical system, and gave it to bram. isn't that lovely?!

so, tonight, as i was making supper, the kids were all in the kitchen, playing with each other. and playing nicely! it is lovely to hear them all play, including the way they include asher in the play. it was heartwarming. so, i thought i would share it with you.


now, there's a bit of a story behind this next pic.

back in the spring, during one of our many visits to london cardio, i was chatting with a certain cardiologist from mexico. he noticed that asher was not particularly fond of sharing the thomas trains with other kids, and refused to come when called. one of us said that asher's spoiled, to which i replied, "but how do you discipline a kid who'll have a heart attack if he cries too hard?!" i expected the usual, "mom, you're paranoid." instead i got, "yeah, that's a problem." wha-?! well, this pic is for you, buffo, and for anyone else who thinks asher gets away with murder.
this was time-out number one tonight. he got another one a couple minutes later when he refused to make things right with nana. apparently, she had asked him to do something, which he refused to do. and by "refused" i mean that he yelled "NO!" repeatedly, then grabbed something of hers off the table and threw it across the room. yeah, time out for asher. and after the time out, after apologizing, he was asked repeatedly to pick up whatever it was and put it back, to which he replied "NO!" so... time out #2!

of course, now he's sitting blithely at the table in his high chair, singing Bob the Builder ("Bah Bih hahadooha kakaka!," roughly translated, but it's the exact rhythm, key, notes, everything!) and waiting for pizza. not that he'll eat any, all you medi-types reading this, but still... he's waiting for supper. the only person who can't eat is the only person at the table. ironic, n'est-ce pas? lol

btw, i didn't end up taking asher in to emerg yet. i decided to let him sleep overnight, which he did for the most part. right now i'm just keeping a close eye on him, but he'll be seeing someone medical in the next few days about those ears, rest assured.

anyway, have a great weekend, everyone! :)