Reality vs The Idea

All year long Kimmie will talk about Halloween. She will talk about what costume she wants to wear in great detail. She will talk about carrying her purple pumpkin basket, knocking on doors and signing trick-or-treat. Sometimes she is going to be a butterfly. Sometimes the Blue Genie. Sometimes Aladdin. But when Halloween arrives, Kimmie runs to the family room in the back of the house and won't go near the door, won't have anything to do with a costume, and signs "no" to everything.

We say that she likes the idea of Halloween, but not the reality of it.

She did go out trick-or-treating when she was younger, but it was always a bit difficult for her. One, she was scared of the other kids in costumes. Two, it was hard for her to see where to walk and whether the surface was even or uneven or steps. Three, the decorations scared her. Four, she was very slow getting around and would almost get trampled by kids who were running.

There are other examples of Kimmie liking the idea of something, but not the reality. Take peanut butter and jelly sandwiches . . . Kimmie talks about them all the time at school, but in reality, she does not like the texture of bread, nor does she like the texture of peanut butter.

She's an interesting girl.

--Mom

Sweet, S-W-E-E-T

Kimmie's favorite word right now is "sweet". She will sign "sweet" and then fingerspell it. She never signs just the word. She has a few words like this that she always has to fingerspell after signing the word. "Free" is one, "Free, F-R-E-E." Usually used in the context of "rub the gold lamp, free F-R-E-E the Blue Genie."

Right now Kimmie is big on Gwen, a character from the Ben10 cartoon. "Sweet S-W-E-E-T girl G-W-E-N." Before Gwen it was the girl characters on Teen Titans. "Sweet S-W-E-E-T girl Starfire." "Sweet S-W-E-E-T girl R-A-V-E-N." Daddy took exception with Raven being a sweet girl. He says she has anger management issues, but Kimmie thinks she's sweet.

We are always telling Kimmie that she is sweet, but she just shakes her head no.

--Mom

How to Get the Best Hugs

Kimmie has quite the imagination. Every morning she tells me who she is pretending to be and then I ask, "Who am I?" Most mornings she is Aladdin, and I am the Blue Genie. The Blue Genie and Aladdin always have to hug, and they are the best hugs. If you want a good hug, tell Kimmie you are pretending to be the Blue Genie.

Sometimes I'm Shaggy or she's Shaggy. That usually results in a pretty good hug.

Sometimes she's Gwen (from Ben10), and I'm Ben10. Again, they have to hug.

But the best hugs are Blue Genie hugs.

Helping Kimmie with her breakfast is rough . . . all that hugging! It's a great way to start the day!

--Mom

Eating Machine

Kimmie has turned into quite a little eating machine. She has gained back all the weight she lost during her surgeries plus a couple pounds more.

I counted up and on Sunday she had meals or snacks eight times! Breakfast, a snack during Sunday School, lunch, a hotdog at the zoo, a snack when we arrived home from the zoo, supper, a snack with her medicine, and then popcorn before she went to sleep.

--Mom

Invisibility cloak

Kimmie has been doing a little routine at bath time. She is never eager to leave her toys for a bath, and had usually fussed at us for interrupting.

One evening she was a bit happier than usual, and she started giggling as we went upstairs. She sat down, still giggling, while I went into her room to get fresh pajamas. She giggled even harder while I was gone, so I knew she was up to something.

When I walked back in the bathroom, she had gotten a washcloth from a drawer and spread it over her head. She laughed out loud, and ducked her head in that way that always means "you can't see me".

She did this more often, now it is almost every bath time. And she usually picks a blue or aqua washcloth.

We asked her tonight if she is invisible when she has the washcloth over her head. She looked a little confused, and then signed"yes". But her giggle will always give her away.

Dad

Brown Bear's Adventure

Brown Bear, for those who don't know, is Kimmie's teddy bear. Brown Bear was big brother's teddy bear first. Kimmie loved Brown Bear so much that big brother let her have him many, many years ago. Kimmie named him Brown Bear after her favorite book when she was little, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?" (Eric Carle)

Brown Bear is well loved. You can tell by the bald spots. He goes most places with Kimmie. He's even been through surgery with her, more than once. We always make sure we have him when going to a doctor.

Yesterday when we went to the doctor with Kimmie, we parked in the parking garage, rode the elevator to Level 3 so we could walk across the pedway to the office building. Once we arrived in the office building we took another elevator to the floor we needed.

When we were leaving the doctor's office we rode the elevator back to the third floor so we could walk across the pedway again, back to the parking garage. A woman on the elevator was talking to us and exited on the third floor with us. As I was talking to he, Kimmie walked over to the balcony overlooking the lobby and looked down at the fountain. As I continued talking with the woman, it crossed my mind that Kimmie might drop Brown Bear over the rail.

I glanced at Kimmie standing by the rail, she was fine, and then I turned back to the woman as we chatted. When I glanced back at Kimmie she was walking towards me with empty hands. Sure enough, she had dropped Brown Bear.

The woman and I rushed over to the rail and looked down. There lay Brown Bear. Fortunately she had dropped him rather than tossed him, or he might have ended up in the fountain.

BUT, as we looked down at Brown Bear, a lady picked him up and was walking off with him. As this lady was walking off with Brown Bear I started calling down to her, "Lady with the bear, wait, come back, lady with the bear . . . ". The woman I had been talking to started calling down to her as well, "Look up. Look up." I had no idea where the lady was going with Brown Bear.

She did stop and look up. (Whew!) I asked her to put him back and we'd come get him. She asked what floor we were on, said she was coming up and would bring him to us. A minute later the elevator doors opened, she stepped off, handed me Brown Bear and stepped back on the elevator. It happened so fast I hope I said "thank you," I think I did.

And Brown Bear returned to Kimmie's loving arms.

We have so much fun (well, that might be an overstatement) and so many adventures going to the doctors. We never know what might happen, who we will meet, who Kimmie will decide to hug, how people will respond to her . . .

--Mom

New Doctor

In January we took Kimmie to a new doctor. Well, technically she's not a new doctor since we did see her once before, about 4 or 5 years ago.

As usual Kimmie was quite stressed about a doctor appointment, especially since she couldn't remember and didn't know what to expect. We were taken into the doctor's office, rather than an exam room, which calmed Kimmie down.

We were chatting with the doctor when suddenly she interrupted herself to say, "She's signing!"

We responded that, yes, Kimmie signs, that's her means of communication.

She wanted to know if Kimmie was trying to tell us something. I turned and watched Kimmie for a minute and responded, "No, she's just talking to herself." (Kimmie does that a lot. She retreats into her own world and signs about it. Sometimes it's about Aladdin. Sometimes Eeyore. Sometimes she's a butterfly flying through the sky. . . .)

We went on with our discussion. A little while later she interrupted herself again and said, "She is just adorable!"

Today we went back to this doctor for a follow-up. She had a "student doctor" with her and twice she turned to the student doctor and said, "Isn't she adorable?"

I think this doctor is a keeper.

--Mom