Thinking of Soup

The other day, I was really able to get a glimpse of Lucian's thought processes. We went to the grocery store, just the two of us, and decided to have some "soup bar" soup for dinner before picking out groceries. I usually show him each one that he is allowed to have and tell him what it is. Naturally, he picked chicken noodle soup. I asked him if he wanted some crackers, since they actually had it filled. He did. We paid for our meal and he picked out which table he wanted to sit at. He always gets to pick out where we sit. I opened up his soup and utensils for him and then my own. He wanted the crackers opened as well, so I obliged. He took a cracker and did what he always does; he uses his spoon to scoop broth onto his cracker and then eats it. He offered me the other cracker so I could do the same in my soup, but I dunked mine in the broth instead, as I usually do. As usual, he decides to try it as well. He doesn't dip the whole cracker though, he breaks the cracker into a smaller chunk and dunks the piece. With success the first time, he decides to give it another go. This time, the cracker piece falls into his soup, and he is forced to scoop it out with his spoon to eat it. This whole scenario usually happens every time we have soup with crackers. It is fun, silly, and we laugh about it. But this time was different. He took it one step further. He added multiple cracker pieces to his soup and stirred it around so he could use his spoon to eat all of it (he has a thing for utensils). That's right family and friends, my son is officially a smashed cracker in the soup eater.

Anyways, the point of my story is he has always been interested in how things work and why, which he has been asking a lot more lately. But for a small period of time, in the midst of the grocery store eatery, my four year old deducted the process of eating soup with crackers all by himself. he decided what he wanted to try discovered a new way of eating in the process. I did not guide or prompt him. He figured it out on his own. I explained afterwards that many people eat crackers in their soup that way. He seemed proud of himself. And I was proud of him. A small moment of progression to self understanding and discovery.

Summertime

Well, I realize I haven't been doing a very good job updating this year.  I've been trying to do my best. We have been down to one computer, that Joseph needed for school, so that had an impact. Then when mine was finally fixed, his finally died. Now we have the old backup going. Otherwise, we have just been very busy with school, tutoring, and work. I was also very sick for the first part of the year. We are expecting a new addition in Fall this year!  We do not know the gender and we are not sure if we will learn the gender beforehand or not. Lucian is very excited, he has been wanting a baby to bring home. We are all excited and preparing for this new addition and expansion.

As for Lucian, he has been growing up like crazy. He has been forming his own opinions, discovering what he likes, and talking more and more. We were at the park a few weeks ago and he asked a little girl what her name was, I was shocked. That was the first time he'd ever asked that question to another child or person for that matter. I was cheering in my head for him and wanting to cry at the same time. It's the little victories for me when it comes to speech. We have made so much progress, he is getting there. In the same instance, he introduced himself, and he is saying his name so much clearer than before. He still gets a lot of looks from other children and sometimes they aren't very nice or won't include him because he is hard to understand. But we have gotten so far. I get so happy when there is a kid who will include him regardless. Of course, he gets happy too. He likes to play with other kids, but when they are mean, which they are often, it really pushed him away. So I hope the summer will be positive in that area.

He currently loves rainbows. He wants rainbow ice cream, rainbow popsicles, rainbow water, rainbow bubbles... anything! I think rainbow might be his favorite color if you ask him. Or maybe he will still say dark blue, you will have to ask yourself.  He insists we race everywhere, but he has to win (very sore loser). We play board games, discover nature, and play tag. It's getting harder for me to run, so I think he legitimately wins. He also likes to cheat. Is very stubborn. And throws temper tantrums. I still love him to death.

On another note, he is happy to eat mint, basil and parsley straight from our porch garden. He even likes to pick some to make tea for himself. It is adorably awesome. Okay, maybe just to me. Until next time!