Ordinary is the new extraordinary

I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the new things Isaac is doing and saying.  He definitely seems to be on a developmental upswing.  And while that might not be helpful for some of my readers on a practical level, my aim is to give those same readers hope.  I am happy to say that Isaac is doing so well lately that it's a challenge to find things to write about.  We have been functioning like an almost typical family of a 3.5 year old.  New this week was the introduction of hide and seek, and while he hides in the same two places every time- he gets the premise of the game and loves it.  He also cheats.  We give him til the count of ten to find one of his two usual hiding spots (our bed or his) and Isaac gives us til the count of three.  He also peeks if you don't close the door to the room he's counting from.  He's just plain too smart for his own good.

As you may know, we've been cooking and baking a lot lately.  Isaac seems to be enjoying the idea of having "special food" that is all his.  He'll say "mommy, this will make you sick.  Isaac eats it.  Ok?"  Our own words coming back to us.  Likewise, he is getting in the practice of asking if a certain food will make him sick before eating it- just to check.  Yes!  More self-monitoring with the food.  This helicopter mom is ecstatic.  He made gfcf pizza with Andrew today.  He could name the ingredients and kitchen utensils needed- and in the right order.  Of course, he calls the rolling pin a "steam roller", but that just adds to his oozing pre-school charm.  After they put the pizza in the oven Isaac said, "I have an idea.  Let's clean up!"  That suck-up, Caillou, might not be such a bad influence after all- sans the whiny voice.  In fact, I think watching Caillou might be what is behind Isaac's new obsession with bringing things to school to show Miss Minda every day.  Today he brought her the paintings we did yesterday.  He was so proud of himself that tonight he kept saying, "Miss Minda saw my pictures.  She hung them up!"  He also has been calling me Miss Mommy due to how many Misses he has in his life right now.  I kinda like it.

You know what else I like?  Being right.  I've had this theory for awhile that on the days I feed Isaac mostly protein for breakfast he comes home with a better report from school than on the days where I feed him an all carb breakfast.  In fact, I've noticed that Isaac does best on a high protein diet in general.  If you think it's just a coincidence and that I am not keeping track that closely, then you don't know me very well and you might want to read the rest of my blog posts to get a grasp on how observant (or obsessed) I really am.  So I decided to do another test of my theory today and send Isaac to school on a belly filled with scrambled eggs and coconut milk.  What came home but a reallllly good report sheet- including a check next to reciprocally playing with a classmate for the first time.  Of course, it was the beautiful Esha- his Esha- as he calls her that he played blocks with.  But here's the best part: he could tell me about it.  I asked him if he played blocks with Esha today and he said yes.  And then he said,  "Play blocks with Esha.  Kara, Xzavior, Rosendo knocked them down!"  He's now elaborating beyond the one word answers.  This is a big deal so excuse me while I get really geeked out about something that must seem very ordinary.

If there's one thing I've learned in the past few years, it's that ordinary is a blessing.  In fact, I'm thinking of coining the phrase "ordinary is the new extraordinary."  Spectrum parents pray for ordinary.  We plan, strive, and pay top dollar for ordinary.  I'm blessed to have friends and family who take joy in our ordinary moments too.  Tuesday night Isaac and I went to a function at church and at the end a friend of mine came up to me smiling.  She said that Isaac just said hi back to her for the first time.  I could tell that she was just as excited about it as I was.  She said he looked her right in the eye too.  He even took part in a brief conversation with my pastor.  She asked him questions and he nodded affirmatively while looking right at her.  Then he said, in his new found three year old attitudinal way, "Um, Margie, do you see my dad?"  Like the way my kid addresses the pastor? hahahaha  She didn't seem to mind.  People are noticing a change in Isaac and that lets me know that I'm really not making this up.  Life is becoming more ordinary.  And for that, I'm grateful.