Jed is obsessed with the oven. Whenever we are baking something, and even when we're not, he loves to have me turn on the light so he can see what's going on inside. He is so tuned in that whenever the element clicks on, and especially when the timer dings, he has to "chea-ck on it and see how great" things in the oven are. I love the way he says "chea-ck" but I have no idea where that particular inflection comes from.
Jed loves green beans! He helps me pick them in the garden and is actually really good at telling which bean is ready and which could stand to wait a couple of days. He usually brings Big Wightning out to the bean patch with us and BW gets to inspect all beans before they go in the bowl. The other night all Jed ate for dinner was green beans!
He had already devoured a lot from this pile and there were only about a dozen beans left over. He did not get this trait from his mama, that's for sure! (although I am way more fond of fresh, steamed green beans than I am for any other kind)
Jed loves the fan on our air conditioner. When we play outside, if the fan turns on, he has to run over and watch the blades spin around and yell into it so he can hear his distorted voice. And I have to do the same. And then when the fan stops, we both "race" to go and see that, too. Actually, Jed races--I heave myself off our porch rocker and try to walk like a normal human being instead of waddle.
Jed loves Dave's old bike helmet. He found it in the shed when we were cleaning things out last Saturday. He like to wear it backwards and he calls it his "man hat."
I think he thinks the back straps are supposed to be eye holes. The helmet was in our throw-away pile because it is incredibly old and all the pads are falling apart--Dave has had it since high school and it's probably not up to code any more. Jed wore it blissfully all Sunday morning and when we finally sat down in Sacrament Meeting, I looked at him and realized his hair and collar were full of tiny bits of disentegrated helmet pads. Yum! Black dandruff!
Jed has suddenly become interested in bugs and beetles. He likes to inspect ants and has finally learned the difference between good ants and fire ants, so I am happy to let him watch them. He is continually finding lady bugs and beetles and running to show me. He will even pick them up and let them crawl on him and his giggle when their legs tickle is so sweet.
Jed's speech is coming along. We have been working on pronouns the past several weeks, because Jed has a bad habit of mixing up his I's and You's. For example, when Jed says "do you want a drink?" that really means he wants a drink. He seems to be catching on, thanks mostly to Miss Leah. Yesterday when I helped him take off a shirt that is a little too tight around the neck, he told me "Ow! that hurts my hair!" and I was so happy I wanted to dance. I'm sure he thought I was crazy. I went to bed with a migrane last night and it hadn't gone away when I woke up, so after I got Jed some crackers and yogurt, I crawled back into bed for a little more rest. About an hour later Jed came in to find me (after demolishing his room, I'm afraid) and told me "you can get up, mommy!"
Jed really likes to help me sew, and he loves all the little gadgets that go along with sewing. I have been busy with little projects lately (hopefully I will get some of them put on here) and while he's been a little more involved that I wish, he's also been really good. He loves to watch me wind bobbins and he likes to build towers out of spools of thread. He has developed a funny attachment to my seam gauge and tries to make off with my seam ripper any chance he gets. Yesterday I made myself an early lunch and Jed wasn't ready to eat yet, so he stayed and played on our stripped-down bed (it was laundry day) while I ate a salad. After 45 minutes he was still incredibly quiet, so I went to see what he was up to. As I walked in the room, I said "Jed, whatcha doing?" and he told me "Oh, just poking the bed." Then he happily demonstrated, carefully inserting the point of the seam ripper into the mattress and slowly pulling it back out again.
Waaaayyy back in December, when Jed was first diagnosed with Echolalia, I began praying for ways to help him. I felt very strongly that I needed to read the scriptures daily with Jed, employing as Alma did the "virtue of the word of God." I have struggled for a while being really consistent with this, but since the beginning of May we have done really well. Jed seems to enjoy our daily studies. We use the illustrated Book of Mormon for children and look at the pictures while I read the actual verses from the regular BoM, and we only do about 10 verses each day. But Jed does really well, if I do say so myself. When I first was impressed that we needed to do this, I felt that not only would we learn the gospel, but that it would help Jed's language skills develop, and I know that as we continue in our studies, we will have more and more success. I have noticed more patience in myself and a sweeter spirit between Jed and I each day, and I am so glad we take the 15 minutes each day to read. Alma is absolutely right!
Finally, one of the sweetest things about Jed: my sharing time last Sunday was about baptism--Jesus Christ was baptized and we choose the right by following His example. I decided to use the video of Jesus' baptism produced by the church and available on LDS.org as part of the lesson, so we watched it a couple of times beforehand just to make sure it was downloaded correctly. Jed loved the video and watched with rapt attention. At the end of the video, after Jesus has come up out of the water, He and John the Baptist hug. I explained to Jed that they do this because being baptized is a happy thing, and because they were cousins, and they love each other. Jed turned and threw his arms around my neck and told me "Just like Jesus, mama."
I'm really not trying to brag about these last 2 things. Some days it's all I can do not to tear out all my hair or gibber like a lunatic when I find Jed soaking the carpet with a spray bottle or when I have to search for Baby Wightning for the zillionth time. Every kid has bad and good moments. Maybe the good are sweeter for being rarer?
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