Thanksgiving

One of my favorites lines from Shrek the Halls is- "Momma always says Christmas ain't Christmas til somebody cries." For our family, you can delete Christmas and insert just about any family function where we all get together. Yesterday, we went to our grandparent's house and had a blast. It took Little Bug a little bit to get warmed up as there was a new person there and it always does regardless of the circumstances.

I am thankful for Grandma and Grandpa and all that they have given us- support, love, laughter, and sometimes, a good kick in the ass when it's needed. They truly are the kind of people who would never turn you down when you are really in need.

Then we went to Nick's parents' house. It was interesting- there was gender bias, unabashed teasing, and some accidental violence- talk about a hoot and holler. Its easier to logically break this down into- SPECTACULAR, GOOD, BAD, UGLY.

SPECTACULAR- Little Bug did great yesterday! He only had a few minor skirmishes with other kids- very typical skirmishes. He did a great job of finding a way to calm himself down when he was upset- by going to the toy room and lining up the cars on the garage. He is doing a great job of self regulating. He also said three new words- HOUSE, LIES, and HOSE.

GOOD- We all managed to be in the same house without any serious fights for 3 hours. That may sound sad, but its true and the way life works out.

BAD- The cousins showed up with bacterial pneumonia and didn't bother to tell us. This is something that we have struggled with Nick's family for all of Little Bug's life. We have consistently been lied to about illnesses etc.

THE UGLY- Although no one intentionally went out of their way this year to call me Little Bug's mom over and over, they did feel the need to not acknowledge me as an Uncle- only as Blake- and to call me she several times. This gets old as it is really passive aggressively done. They will do this to me and then wait for me to get upset and leave the room and apologize to Nick.

Little Bug had a horrible time on the way home- it was too many people and too much going on. He started biting himself while we were there and that only got worse once we were leaving.

The hardest part of yesterday was when one of the cousins began to yell at Little Bug, "What's wrong with you?? Why can't you talk?? Do you talk? What's wrong with you?" over and over again. I tried to explained that Little Bug doesn't speak like other kids, but he can communicate with his hands and a few words. But was overrun by others who thought it would be better to not talk about that and simply say Little Bug can talk some. This is going to end well.

Oh- I forgot to explain the accidental violence. Little Bug was sitting in the back seat with the left overs that we we taking home and decided he wanted to eat 3 dinner rolls. Fine with me- in fact, I celebrate when he eats. I grabbed the container to get them for him and accidentally hit Nick in the back of the head. I got the dinner rolls out and then when putting the container back, hit Nick in the face with the container. Nick was a good sport and didn't get mad- he even laughed.

All in all, we are pretty lucky. We got to see Grandma and Grandpa even if only for a few hours. Little Bug not only didn't hurt any of the children, but he actually played with them and had a decent time. Nick and I were able to laugh together and at each other. Little Bug ate lots of food. We have a lot to be thankful for.