First snowman of the year

It snowed last night...a LOT. I have not truly enjoyed the snow for years now. Sure it can be beautiful but it is also cold and I normally have to do snow removal. But it was one of those weird snows. It didn't stick much and then it melted off roads/driveways/sidewalks by noon. I was surprised when I stepped into it just how deep it was (almost to my knee). But the sun was out, it was relatively warm, and it was perfect packing snow. So I bundled Josh up to build our first snowman. We have built a snowman or two in the past but he has never really been into it. It is exceptionally difficult for Josh to walk in the snow. But this year was perfect. He still spent most of the time throwing snowballs at me while I rolled out the pieces or ringing the doorbell and pelting Sharon with snowballs when she answered, but that just made it more perfect. We tried sledding too but the snow was so deep and had not been packed down so we went under the snow rather than sledding on top of the snow. It was so much fun. We laughed our heads off. I don't think I have had this much fun in the snow since our first year in Utah.

And this is "Josh" the snowman. Unfortunately, since our options are limited, Josh names everything either "Mom" or "Josh" and Josh won out this time. He is giving the snowman a hug in the first picture.

Check out my tats man!

So Josh goes through tattoo waves. When he is on one, he wants to put them on all the time. I don't feel like there is any harm so I let him have as much fun with them as he can. Right now he is on one. For a week he has been putting on at least 5 a day. Luckily, many of them are mostly gone the next day. This was only a few days into the week. I told him he could put them where ever he wanted, he pointed to his eye lid. Okay, anywhere but there. And this is what he came up with:

He has been flashing everyone (even the bus ladies) so he can show them off. And yes, he is flexing his muscles in the mirror pictures.

Halloween night: "I am glad that Trevor and Gavin are here to say "trick or treat". Sometimes people are not so nice when Josh doesn't say it." "Well next year you should just dress him like a mime, then no one would expect him to say anything!" "I am not sure about a mime, but maybe Charlie Chaplin..."

I wasn't able to get this out of my mind. If Josh were to dress up like Charlie Chaplin he should know who he is. And why shouldn't he? Charlie Chaplin is a very funny man who does not speak. Would silent films interest my son? Josh is so funny but he has only seen people who are funny with what they say. He needs to see how funny people can be even when they don't talk. And maybe if he sees this, he will want to do this! And silent humor is universal. He could make friends with anyone. And everyone loves a funny person, he would be able to make friends easier! By doing this, I am helping him build on a talent that he already has. Why haven't I done this yet?

So I showed him a clip of Charlie Chaplin on youtube. It was okay. He did laugh but he seemed like he didn't appreciate it totally. So then we looked up Mr. Bean. Josh didn't just laugh, he literally howled with belly laughs. At the end of every episode he would intently sign more over and over again. I have done this a couple of times with him now. I think we will start by just watching, then talking about what makes him so funny. Then is practice (if he wants) making faces in the mirror, using our body to express what we are feeling in a humorous way, fake falls, etc. I am pretty excited about this. So much of the time I feel like we are just trying to survive. Survive school, the house, responsibilities, each other. When we do take a break from surviving and actually live, it often includes rough housing, playing music together, dancing and singing, when what maybe I should be doing is introducing him to ways that he can use his differences to really shine. I feel a new need to hone his particular gifts into something he can use in the future. Mr. Bean may seem like a strange way to begin doing that but I feel like it is the perfect fit.

Here is our favorite episode so far.

Halloween! 2012

Here are some pictures from the Halloween party. For some reason, I never remember to take pictures so there are not many but oh well. I am a peacock, Josh is Spiderman, Tyler is Clark Kent, Chantelle is beautiful, Melissa is an owl, and Kristi is Dr. Who.

And here are my Halloween nails, inspired by Dexter, which have nothing to do with a peacock.

After the party, I was cleaning up when I noticed that Josh was in the other room with a bowl and 3 rolls of tape. He had broken a bowl and had taken the responsibility to tape it back together. Luckily it was a cheap bowl and it was so cute that he tried to fix it that everyone just laughed.

Josh got to help carve his first pumpkin this year. He still wasn't strong or careful enough to do it by himself obviously but he came up with the concept, Tyler drew it, and they both cut it out.

My actual peacock makeup for real Halloween.