Tears and happiness

For the past two years we haven't known exactly how much Daylight Savings has impacted Elijah's sleep because everything else was totally chaotic. It was impossible to pinpoint the main pieces of the puzzle because we were basically existing in the middle of a tornado. Now that things are much calmer, we have been able to see that Daylight Savings wreaks havoc on our early bird. That one teeny tiny hour of change sends our oldest boy into a tailspin. We have seen wake-up times between 1:30 and 4:30 for the past few weeks. Today he slept until 4:46 and I practically did cartwheels around the house! We will find our way back to a better place slowly. 

Last Friday Dan and I went to the boys' school to watch Elijah and the rest of the third graders do a Veterans' Day performance. Honestly, it made me sad and I wish we could redo it. Right away I could see that Elijah was upset. His teacher told me that he was nervous, but I know my boy and I could see that something specific was bothering him. I noticed that every kid was holding a flag...except for him. I knew he was upset about this. I frantically looked around for an extra flag that I could grab and bring to him, but I couldn't see anything. Aside from interrupting the music teacher, I didn't know what else to do. I stood and watched my boy cry through the entire performance. :( He stood so still with his arms folded in front of him, occasionally reaching up to wipe tears from his face and not doing a single action or singing a single word. I have been beating myself up, thinking I should have done something! I don't know what, but I should have been able to make him happy! The good news is that when it was his class' turn to come down in front and do a dance, Elijah participated! He didn't just participate...he did GREAT! He did all the actions! That turned things around for him (and for me). 

On Saturday we were so lucky to be able to spend time with my cousin's cutie pie. The boys were BEYOND excited to have Veda over! She is such a sweet girl and they all play so well together. The three of them played "Inside Out" and created some Play-Doh animals and then we headed to see the new Peanuts movie. It was such a fun day!

And on Sunday, thanks to Hope Kids, we were able to watch a live Timberwolves game! KG is back! I worked at Timberwolves games years ago, so I felt right at home. It was fun to watch the boys take everything in.

My silly boys with their pants pulled up just a tad too high! :)

Yesterday after the Twolves game, our boys were TIRED. Sammy was being especially sassy in the car and started doing some uncharacteristic whining that lasted for way too long. I said, "Sammy, can we please stop the whining?" He whined back to me in the longest, most drawn out voice: "WHINING IS WORTH IT!" Dan, Elijah and I exploded in laughter.

The boys got Operation Christmas Child boxes at church on Sunday, so today after school we picked up some goodies to put inside the boxes. I LOVED watching them get so excited about blessing kids who are less fortunate. I let them pick out what to put in the boxes (with some direction) and they took such pride and were genuinely so excited about making other kids happy. Tomorrow they will write letters to the kids and we will drop off the boxes together so they can experience the entire process. I love that they are old enough to appreciate and understand the concept of giving!

We have noticed some definite self-awareness in Elijah lately that is good...and bad. He is starting to see how other kids see him and he doesn't like it. He tells us all the time, "Everyone thinks I'm dumb." It kills me. We do our best to assure him that he is so super smart. That he is SUCH a good boy and so loved and liked by so many people. Even though this hurts my heart, it is also good. It's good that he is starting to look outside himself a bit. This will be a process for him, but we are here to love him and help him through it.

Both boys got their report cards today! Sammy's report was excellent. He is doing so well in kindergarten. We are so proud of him. Elijah's report was great, too! We are proud of how far he has come in the past year (heck, the past almost nine years!) and we see every "little" success as a very huge thing. Instead of getting hung up on current challenges, we see the progress and it encourages us and makes us so happy. There is SO much progress being made these days and we see every bit of it. We see it all, Elijah!

Thanks for checking in! Hoping you all have a wonderful week!