Blog malaise

Brother snuggle
Originally uploaded by Crit Chicken

It happens to us all. We seem to have been simultaneously up to a lot, and not much. The end of winter is a hard time, but today it is spring, 25 degrees and sunny.

So. Erik. Still not much in the way of speech. He had stopped using the signs he had, but I've started a campaign of really making him sign if he wants something. We get a bit of "please mummy" signed if I insist, and help him sign first. He's becoming a climber - loves the sofa, the coffee table and is showing signs of wanting to scale the shelves in the kitchen.

D'Arcy. Seems to be having a hard time, but we're not sure what's at the bottom of it. He wakes up most night, about an hour after going to bed, drenched in sweat and terrified. He can't articulate what it is. I don't think the situation is helped by the fact that he still doesn't have to sleep by himself at his dad's house. It's hard because it makes us the mean ones who make him sleep on his own. Also hard as he has third grade camp coming up at the end of the month. Two nights away. I have no idea how he's going to go. He says he's scared here at bed time. Maybe camp will be the kick he needs to get over it though. He recently had some enormous mouth ulcers. They were so bad he couldn't eat, so I took him to the doctor. Doctor explained to D'Arcy the importance of vegetables in the diet, and almost as an afterthought added "is he stressed at all?" D's step mum and I think he's probably got herpes simplex (coldsore virus) as we're both carriers, and they can sometimes manifest as massive ulcers, rather than coldsores, but that's not much help really!

The beloved and I went on a date the other afternoon to the movies. We saw Julie & Julia and loved it. My mum looked after E, and D was at a party. Everyone had a good time, so we've said we'll do it again soon.