I am so blessed.

Just feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude lately.  I have a job that I absolutely love and have enjoyed my whole life!  Whether it's working in Early Intervention or babysitting my grand kids I am doing what I love, and I learn something new everyday! 

Just the other day I had the opportunity to have 2 of my granddaughters come to one of the Early Intervention classes.  One of them is 2 1/2 years old and the other is only 1 1/2 years old.  This class is for children 2 1/2 - 3 years old with delays, but we love having non-delayed peers come in the class to 'teach' the other kids appropriate play and behaviors.  So the younger one of my granddaughters (C) gets to come just because she has a lot of language, and because it's a really small class!  So I watch them - as I'm manhandling another child across the room! - and am just in awe of the process of life and how C , no matter how smart she is, has such a hard time sitting down for any length of time.  A on the other hand, is sitting and participating like a champ.  Just those few months of learning added to A vs. C and her attention span is tenfold. 

I guess in my profession it makes me more aware of the little things kids seem to do automatically and we take them for granted.  Using our hands;  did you know there's a real learning process there?  We all start grasping things from the outside in, so from our pinkie to our thumb.  As our grasp gets improved we only need to use our three inner fingers - thumb, pointer and middle finger - to rake things into our palm.  As our eye-hand coordination improves, and we learn to get a better pinch, we only need the two fingers - thumb and pointer.  It just takes time!  Some people more time than others.  And some people, depending on their ability, may never be able to have a fully functioning pincer grasp.  But how many of us just watch a baby reaching for his binky and never even notice  how  that just occurred?  It's amazing!!!

And then there's the love of my life.  My honey bunny.  My sweetheart.  I love my George so much that sometimes it hurts.  That may seem odd, but it's true.  I miss him when we aren't together.  But I am so lucky to have him, and to love him and that he loves me back!  I know that's a rare thing to have in this world, and I am very gratefully to have someone who I love and respect soooo much!  Ewww!!  So mushy!!

And then there's my Al.  Oh, that boy!  He's been struggling with low oxygen saturations for about 6 months now and I'm worried they may put him on oxygen 24/7, but he has so much spunk and charisma that he can get away with just about anything!  He puts his oxygen on the other day because he had lost the chance to watch a movie after school because of bad behaviors, but his teacher said if he wore his oxygen he could watch a short one.  So, he so dutifully put the oxygen on, had me take a picture of him to send to his teacher and said, "MMMM.  This makes me feel better!"  Then when I went down 10 minutes later, he not only had the oxygen off, but he had broken the cannula and ripped apart the filter that goes on the back of the machine.  But, of course, the movie was still on!!  He's a smart kid.  As much as I vent about him - and I really am not complaining, it's just a lot of work being his mom! - I wouldn't trade my life with him for anything!  He teaches me so much love and understanding - that is, when I actually look at him and what he has to offer.  It's my fault I don't learn something from him, not his!!  I got a good laugh on his expense yesterday that I need to share.  We had a Stake combined YM/YW activity last night where they served us a dinner then we had a water balloon 'fight' (each team had a launcher and they launched balloons one at a time so we could make sure everyone was safe).  So Alex was conniving his way into getting some water balloons and then chasing some of us leaders with it and trying to get us wet.  I think he picked on us because we are slower than the young women, but it was still fun.  I tried to intervene and try to get him to throw it at someone from a distance so they had time to dodge it (it was chilly last night!) and I would yell, "Alex, look!  A dolphin!"  This is something we have done with him since he was young, and to this day, he will stop what he's doing and still look!!  No, he has never seen a dolphin, especially since we are usually in our house or yard when we say this, but he always trusts us and looks.   Others around us that heard got a good chuckle, but that boy just warms my heart!  AND yesterday after school his oxygen levels were above 90!  Yahoo!!!!  Keep taking deep breaths Al!!!

As you can see, I'm just gushing with love and blessings and am one lucky lady!!