Every year we have a present swap with our friends that come to movie night. Some of the friends come regularly while others only come once per year because they have young children that make it hard to come due to the lateness of the hour for small children but on this one night, we all gather to share a night together and give small presents, usually from Amazon wish lists, but not always. It's a fun evening and one we always look forward to.
This year we were hosting and it occurred to me yesterday morning we'd better start getting ready for tonight. We had not a single decoration up in our house, no tree and not one present wrapped. There was an additional problem in that I thought it was Wednesday instead of Thursday, meaning we had even less time to get ready.
I enlisted the help of our sitter who, for two days, helped me transform the house and get everything wrapped just in time for this evening. My husband made a taco dinner for my son as a belated birthday dinner. My son and daughter helped put decorations on the tree and then my daughter helped put the presents under our tree.
People arrived and the children, my children, were practically manic, ready to have presents handed out while the last of the friends arrived. I brought the dog's place cot down and had her stay in the room, on place, with everyone around. Typically, she's be under the bed, avoiding everyone, but I'm working on this based on some suggestions from her trainer. I had her lay on her cot in the middle of a hectic room and she stayed calm. People came over and petted her and she stayed calm. Later, I released her and she got up, took a few steps away but instead of leaving the room she came back and elected to stay there and be around everyone. I was impressed, she made a lot of progress in one hour tonight.
After we swapped presents we came upstairs to sing happy birthday to my son and eat some ice cream cake my husband had gotten for him. My son was a little upset because he said he didn't like surprises. I think he enjoyed the attention though.
I'm now in my room, having kicked my children out, saying it was my time of night and I needed some time for me. This was fine for my son who only wanted to do things on a screened device. My daughter was a little less happy about it as she likes to be entertained at all times. I've sent her off to listen to an audiobook, movie or story on Alexa. I also told her she could read. She's starting to like to read more and more.
The Big Boy Update: My son is so energetic. I use the word 'manic' because that's what it seems like to me. He doesn't seem in control; like his brain and body are running at full tilt and he's not able to think or stop himself from bounding around and bouncing off things. I don't know if I was like this as a child; I suspect I was.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter enjoyed hanging ornaments today. I picked out ones that were very tactile and obvious in shape. Ornaments are great for a blind child because there is such variety and many of them feel like the things they are: angel, nutcracker, gingerbread man, reindeer, etc.
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