Snowmen have hearts? How cool!

Katie's last day at KidsN'Stuff was last Friday. I had planned for her to go another week or two just to give me a little extra time to get stronger but she was struggling with a few mean kids there. Sarah (owner) and Debbie (teacher) would always punish or reprimand these kids (boys) when they were being mean to Katie but there were a few days they called us and she was in tears and unconsolable. So, I wasn't going to keep subjecting her to that.

She is going to have to learn to be strong and not let what other people say to her bother her. In my childhood, I don't remember being picked on or kids being outright mean to me - other than boys being boys. But, Don was chubby and had thick glasses and a speech impetement - so he remembers being picked on all too well.

We are trying so hard to help Katie realize that everyone is different. Even if they seem "normal" on the outside - there is not telling what might be going on that we don't see. We tell her that God made all of us unique, different and special.

Her best friend from pre-school, Jared Grayson, also goes to KidsN'Stuff so Katie is very sad that she wont be seeing him in the afternoons. I am going to try and coordinate with Alesha, his mom, for them to get together occasionally. Jared is an amazing kid. He has a cochlear implant and his speech is VERY delayed but he has a heart of gold and he and Katie just have this bond. Oh yeah, and he's an amazing artist!!

This past summer when Emily got married... after the wedding, Katie was talking about how pretty she was. I told her that one day, she'd be a beautiful bride too. She walked off and did her own thing for about a half hour and came back and announced..."One day, when I'm a grown up and when Jared is a grown up - we will get married". I thought that was precious.

Library day for Katie is on Monday's and she always brings home two books. They are usually books we don't read because the past few months, they've been dinosaur, dragon, fantasy books that have a mean overtone to them and I just refuse to promote that in Katie's immagination.

Sunday night, I asked Katie to get the librarian to help her pick out some great books with nice stories and we would start reading them. Well, she brought home two good books this week. We read one last night and it was about snowmen and how they "come to life each night for a winterfest celebration"...lol! Well, at one point in the story - it was talking about how snowmen have hearts. Katie gasped and squealed, "Snowmen have hearts? How cool!".

She is now calling Don her big cuddly snowman. She insists that I do the same!

Last night was the first night that we all had dinner together. I had pinto beans, boiled chicken and macaroni and cheese. I had like 3 tbsp's of beans, three pasta noodles with melted cheese and two bites of chicken. It was the yummiest food I've had in a month! :)

More later...

LA :)