Housekeeper Slam

In the last post I mentioned how I seem to have fooled some people. This week the universe decided to let me know that not everyone was fooled by my bald head and chwexican shaped eyes...by way of a housekeeper.

This housekeeper cleans my department at work and he really likes to talk. He really, REALLY likes to talk. He spent over an hour and a half telling me about the problems his family is having dealing with the inheritance after his mother's death. When he finished telling me the story he apologized for, "chewing my ear off."

I told him that it was ok, that this is what I want to do for a living. He asked, "What's that?"

I told him I want to be a therapist. He said, "Oh, you'll be good at that. The best therapists have in inner ability to listen and empathize. They aren't necessarily the smartest, but they know how to listen."

Ouch!

Who me?

Preface: I am in no way fishing for a compliment with this post. I really just want to share this for the sheer entertainment value. Thanks for understanding. :)

Strange things have been happening to me lately. For some reason people seem to be under the false impression that I am smart. First, a nurse in the emergency room has been asking me questions about EKGs for a few weeks now and while I do have a cursory knowledge of EKGs I am not the person you want to ask for help. I answered his question and went to do my test. I came out of the room to find him standing at the door. He turned to the student next to him and said, "This is Jared. He's the EKG guru. If you every need help, he's the man to ask."

I smiled and said, "Nice to meet you," and muttered something about not being a guru. I walked away thinking about how funny it was.

On another occasion a nursed asked for a good reference book on EKGs. I gave a few suggestions and mentioned a book that is frequently used by doctors but goes over my head. After looking for the books on the Internet the nurse asked a doctor about them. When they discussed the difficult book I mentioned the doctor told the nurse, "Jared is just being modest. He probably understands the whole book. He knows EKGs inside and out."

How nice to know that I have two people fooled! That book may as well been written in Swahili! I started to read it a few years ago hoping to get an edge, but gave up after the first page.

At school people in my classes seem to think I have some deep understanding of the material. This one really surprises me considering they have seen my test scores!

I have come up with a few theories. My first theory involves my Asian looking eyes. The stereotype applies to white guys too, I guess. Theory number two is my shiny head. I know that some people think my head is good luck. I know because so many patients ask me if they can rub my head for luck! Maybe some of them think that a bald head means something is going on in there. Lastly, I think it could be because I know when not to say anything. This theory only works if you can believe I ever keep quiet!

Whatever the reason is, I'm just trying to keep these people in the dark about the true inner workings (or inner idleness) of my brain. It's a little like playing dress up; I get to pretend to be someone I'm not.

He is a he

So the three of you would never be guilty of this I'm sure, but you get to listen to me vent nonetheless. Sorry. :)

After a recent trip to the doctor, a conversation with a friend and numerous conversations with a certain hyperbaric chamber operator I have grown very tired of the word they. The dentist, who has some autistic tendencies of his own, spoke with me about Avi. He said, "Go to the website and type in his name and do the tour. They do better after they are more familiar. They like it when we keep them in the same room. We'll keep him with the same hygienist, they like that. We'll let him wear the heavy lead vest, they really like that." And on and on.

The friend was asking things like, "Don't they sit in the corner and rock? They never learn to talk, right?"

I won't get into what the operator said, they are too many and too inane to repeat. I know that their use of the word is not meant to be offensive and I try not to let it bother me, but he really is not a they, he is a he. He is a person aside from his diagnosis. I hate to think that he might be defined by it for the rest of his life.

Anyway, you readers would never talk about him like that so I apologize for subjecting you to my rant.

Still Time for the Park

Our complex added a very small playground area a few weeks ago so we had to go try it out. The slide is really steep and fast and it threw Avi right off the end! It he laughed really hard, but I could tell he was scared of it. After going down a few times he refused to go up again. I climbed the ladder with him in my arms and he was screaming, "Abba!! Want Abba!" He was laughing as hard as he could while we went down together.

Itai on the other hand loved the slide. He went down over and over again. The sand was a new experience for Itai and while he didn't like walking in it he loved digging around in it with a plastic hammer he found.

It was fun to play while the weather isn't freezing!

Halloween

I'm a little behind, but I'm catching up. We were excited that Avi learned to say "trick or treat" just before Halloween and that both boys looked really cute in their costumes. Too bad it was freezing the whole week! Our Halloween was almost a week of trick or treating. Our ward had a trunk or treat party one night then Debbie's base invited all the children to the base for trick or treating another night and then there was Halloween. I don't think either Avi or Itai understood what in the world was going on, but neither seemed to care so long as candy kept coming their way.







Avi was Handy Manny from Playhouse Disney. He loved his costume. It had all of the tools on his little belt and he loved playing with them. He even remembered his line, "What does Handy Manny say?" "Hola!" Most people didn't know who he was supposed to be, but Avi loved it.

Itai was Mickey Mouse for Halloween. He did not love his costume, but he was so cute with his ears and his little tail being dragged behind him. It did keep him warm though. The fabric is really thick and it has a hood so the cold wind didn't bother him a bit. He did love getting candy from people though. At Debbie's base he wanted to take something from every bag, basket or bowl he could find.

While they both were a little confused about what was going on they both found something to love about Halloween. I'm excited for Christmas this year. I think they'll both love it!

Two Cat Burglars in Training

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of this little event, but I had to tell this story. Friday after I woke up and showered I came downstairs where everyone was waiting to head out. Debbie was sitting in the front room while Avi was enjoying privacy in the kitchen. Avi has been having serious tummy issues lately and he has no penchant for pooping publicly so we have been giving him alone time hoping it will take care of the problem. As soon as I reached the bottom of the steps Itai came around the corner to show me his prize, a piece of peanut butter squares we picked up the day before. They had been in the back corner of the counter so I knew he couldn't have reached them by himself, but I also knew that Debbie would never have given him the whole piece to him so I went to investigate. I found Avi laying on the kitchen floor with the package of peanut butter squares open in front of him. His newest skill is climbing. He has learned to use the drawers as a ladder and he pulls himself up on to the counter top.

I didn't see what happened of course, but I imagine that it went something like this: Avi went into the kitchen looking for something good to eat. Itai followed close behind. Avi spotted the peanut butter squares and decided to get some. After climbing up he put the squares near the edge of the counter and started down. Itai stood at the bottom looking up excitedly. Once on the ground he pulled them down to the floor where he and Itai had a feast.

Here's Avi back up on the counter top. Let's see what else they get themselves into! P.S. This is Itai doing "Once There Was a Snowman."

What to Think? *Updated*

Sorry, I forgot something I wanted to mention about Itai.

Avi has had a busy school year (busier than most 3 year olds), he left one preschool to begin a new program, began HBOT and started speech therapy. His days are pretty busy and he sometimes falls asleep on the bus, poor guy. He is a trooper though.

So, what has all this business brought about? It's hard to say. I will say that we've seen some changes in him. I'm a little emotionally invested in the whole thing so I have to admit that I'm not a impartial on his progress. I guess I'll let you be the judge. Since we've started all of this I've noticed that people who aren't always around him can understand him more easily, and I can too. We've noticed that he has more expressions. He says things like, "Hey! What did you do?" and "What does Quincy say?" so clearly now. He is so goofy and happy lately too. He loves to play and laugh. He loves being chased and tossed. One thing that we've been happy to see is how calm his body has become. His arms are much more relaxed than they've been in ages. he used to flap like crazy at meal time, now he sits and eats so nicely. Yesterday he even picked up his cup, drank from it nicely and set it back on the table. I almost cried! Lastly, he looks us in the eyes so much more now. We were sitting at the table the other day. He was eating and I was reading. He was talking about his puzzle while I kept reading. He repeated himself over and over getting louder and louder each time. I repeated what he said but he repeated it again. Finally I looked up to see that was starring me in the eyes waiting for me to look at him. As soon as I did he repeated it one more time smiling that he finally got me to understand. I looked at him while he played with his puzzle and realized I was smiling too. I realized that we had reached a new place.

So, is it real or am I just an overly invested parent with an overactive imagination? I guess time will tell.

Itai has had a busy year too. He's been dragged everywhere Avi has gone and then some. In the last few weeks he has started changing too. We were sitting down to eat with Debbie's family. I looked at him and realized he was signing "eat." So cute! Now he's signing, "more and bath." My personal favorite is his sign for prayer. He folds his little arms so cutely that I just want to squeeze him! What a cutie. One other thing he loves doing simply melts my heart (easily done, I know). He buts his hands up around his head and turns his body. It took my a while to figure out what exactly he was doing until he did it when I started singing "Once There Was a Snowman." I love it! He smiles so sweetly when we sing it for him.

On a less happy note he has learned another skill, fighting. He and Avi have certainly learned to compete. They push and pull and wrestle they're way on to my lap. It's cute in such a bad way. It's funny that I love it, but I love to see them doing things a "typical" child would do! But more on that later.