October 1 letter

October 1, 2006

Had planned to take the boys to the ‘Fish Zoo’ (as the aquarium is designated in our family) while Tom and Jeff worked on building the raised bed but on the return trip from coffee this morning, there was a grinding sound coming from the car. Decided that it was wiser to stick closer to home and drive locally, to see if the sound stayed around. Now, though we have gone out on two brief trips, the sound seems to have resolved – thank heavens! We have already spent far too much money on cars this year… not to mention on home repairs.

But that is not what I started to write. I have yet another story and this one makes me smile an astonished smile when I think of it. This morning Jason and Xander were playing together. Jason had suggested that they play dress up: Xander was a bear, Jason a chef. So, well and good. The amazing part came shortly into their game. Jason informed me that his restaurant, which must’ve been quite large, was used in part (the back part) to house homeless families – 96 families to be precise, and many of them with sick children. ‘I heard people being mean to them and laughing at them and I thought ‘that is not right’ so I decided to use the back part of my restaurant for them. They have beds to sleep in and right now I am making them cherry cakes. Cherry cakes,’ he explained confidingly, ‘make people feel better when they are sick.’ I was rather stunned. It was such generous impulse and, though I am ashamed to admit it, one he has come up with all himself. I cannot claim any credit for having been so generous an example. Though in retrospect, I shouldn’t be surprised. Jason is one of the most loving souls I have ever known. It is entirely in keeping with his personality.

In other news, Xander is definitely better. He only woke once last night – from 2 am to 3am and then he was all chat. His naps have been their normal duration of late and he has been waking up smiling and chirping, again, his normal pattern. I am relieved. I have taken him off of the Axid and the Benedryl though I am still giving cough medicines since the cough is still, periodically, making an appearance. Jason also is sleeping better. Yesterday he slept for 12 ½ hours. Last night only 11 but it was a restful sleep and he woke up generally happy, for which I am very grateful. We will see how school treats him. He did tell me, Friday, that he played soccer and basketball with one of the other boys from his class during recess – a step in the right direction. And he did quite well at soccer on Saturday – though the ground was a muddy, slippery mess, he managed to score two goals – one of them by simply running the whole length of the field in front of the pack and kicking it in. Twas an interesting game, especially since one of the boys on the other team seemed to prefer slide tackles as a method for getting the ball. Tom, who was refereeing, called them fouls. He says that at this level of play there is no point to getting into all the nit picky elements of such things. His concern, and rightly so, is that the game be played as safely as possible – therefore such things as tackles and deliberate pushing are automatic fouls. I got some of it on film but much of the film is a mess – I kept getting excited and shrieking or having to grab Xander when HE got excited and so the camera was all over the place. Many of the shots are of grass or of players’ feet…