Pancakes, Piano and Wii...Oh My!

Today I had the rare opportunity to hang out with my little Owen for the entire morning -- just the two of us -- while Aidan was out playing dress-up with daddy at the Renaissance Festival.

Owen is about 400 times more talkative when his brother isn't around and it was nice to get to focus all of my attention on him for several hours. I asked him if he wanted to get something special for breakfast. He chose the Original Pancake House (the kid has good taste). 

Between the hot chocolate and the chocolate chip pancakes, I'm pretty sure he consumed more whipped cream and chocolate chips than anything resembling breakfast, but he had a good time..if there was any doubt about that, he put it to rest by exclaiming for everyone within a 20 foot radius  to hear, "That was SO fun!" as we left the restaurant. 

After stopping back home for some solo Wii time (imagine the excitement of not having to take turns for one short hour of your little twin life), we were off to Owen's very first piano class at MacPhail. 

I should note here that today was our Walk Now for Autism event and Team Owen was regrettably absent...although I think my sister-in-law might have been there to represent us. I had planned on being there with the kids right up until I realized that Owen would have to miss his first piano class. As much as I wanted to show my support for Autism Speaks, I didn't want to set Owen up to be a week behind the rest of his (neurotypical) class. But all the donations went to the cause, so that's still something to feel good about. 

Anyway, back to piano class... 

That's Owen's little head sticking up on the other side of that piano. How CUTE is that? They're all wired up to the teacher via headsets. The whole classroom vibe seems a bit serious for my taste, but I guess that's how they produce the next generation of maestros...plus, Owen likes structure, so it might be right up his alley. He seemed very proud of himself when class was over, which is always a good sign.  

After piano, it was time to go back home and meet up with Owen's other half, who arrived a dirty, whiney mess, but was quickly revived with some mac 'n' cheese and a shower. 

Tomorrow is Owen's day with daddy and my alone time with Aidan. He hasn't told me what he wants to do yet, but I'm looking forward to finding out. 

So Much

Whew! Yesterday was a big day. The boys even had to go to bed half an hour earlier than usual so they could recover...and so I could watch the first disc of season 2 of Weeds. (Next disc is coming today!)

The first day of kindergarten wasn't our only big event. We also had the first day of Aidan's hip-hop dance class. Owen had a last-minute fit of feeling left out, which broke my heart, but I know it's for the best. Synchronized choreography and Owen will probably never be friends. Solo freestyle breakdancing? Maybe. Anyway, I signed Owen up for his own piano class for 5-year-olds (somehow they teach a group of kids piano all at once), which he is excited about -- and which came in handy when the well-meaning mothers at dance class asked why he wasn't participating.

The other big event of the day was the teenager's birthday present: tickets to the Rage Against the Machine concert -- on his birthday, during the Republican National Convention, no less (could there be a better time to see RATM?). As expected, the concert ended in a vaguely political, rock-fueled riot. The closest the teenager came to the riot was being stuck in the traffic it caused, which I think is a good thing as I'm not ready for middle-of-the-night phone calls from the police station. 

The euphoria of seeing a really good rock show was still with him this morning. Let's hope his life has been changed in some small way for the better. 

So after all that, do I get to lounge around the house in sweatpants today? No. Today brings the first day of swimming lessons. I am dumb. I've turned into one of those mothers who over-schedules her kids...only it happened unintentionally. I want them to learn to swim for safety reasons, but Aidan really wanted to take hip-hop dancing, which left Owen in need of a counter balance activity. And here I am with lessons three days a week. Someday I will learn how to say no to learning experiences without feeling like I'm cheating my kids...but not today. 

Extracurriculars

Even though it’s barely even July, I already I have to figure out what the boys are doing this fall. I mean, in addition to kindergarten (!), of course.

The easy answer would be “nothing.” They don’t have to be involved in any extracurriculars…it would be cheaper and less chaotic to be sure. Except, Aidan really wants to learn hip-hop dancing (thank you, “So You Think You Can Dance”) and I feel compelled to balance out Aidan’s activity by signing Owen up for something.

Plus, now that they are five I’m trying to encourage separate interests when possible. They are already SO competitive over everything, that I think it would be good for them each to have their own “thing.” However, figuring out what those “things” should be is proving difficult, as Aidan wants to try everything and Owen has a “me too!” attitude about everything Aidan does.

I’m trying to decide whether or not to put Owen in a social skills class (that is, if I can find one without a waitlist). I know it’s something he needs to work on, but part of me thinks he gets better practice when thrown into activities with “typical” kids. I’m not saying learning to hold a real conversation isn’t a valuable skill, but I’m wondering if it’s a skill he could build on while also learning something else.

As usual, I feel underqualified to make these decisions…but my gut is telling me we should try him out on piano. Concert pianists don’t really need to be good conversationalists, right?

**Special note: Check out Judith's Autismville blog today. See? I'm not crazy! Or, at least, it's going around...the more the merrier, I say.**