Cold, Coat, or Kota?

Winter has officially started in North Dakota. We are getting snow! I LOVE IT!! I am such a snow girl but unfortunately I believe I may have a cold-blooded son. Ahmi literally slows down in the cold. We were getting out of the pool the other day and walked into the cool hallway and he stops dead in his tracks and says, "Momma, Kota." Shivers. Then continues walking but is doing it robot style. Like serious pop and locking. He has turned into a chameleon that had its heating lamp turned off. This may be an interesting winter. I should also explain the Kota part. Kota is my parent's dog and Ahmi and Kota have had a few misunderstandings. You see, Kota likes to bark (charming quality that my dad has instilled in her) and she will chase moving things (she is a hunting dog). Neither of the qualities mix well with a 3 year old. So the name Kota is well imprinted in Ahmi's brain. Therefore anything that sounds like Kota, like for instance cold or coat, is just Kota. Leaves a lot up for translation.

We are on week two of school and things are going really well. We have our issues with getting dressed in the morning. Although I let him pick out most of his attire we still somehow end up with a battle and that leads to Ajura sitting in his bedroom in complete shut down mode which sometimes then leads to me dressing him like a life sized "My Buddy" doll (remember those, ha) and then dragging/carrying him to the car so we aren't late for school while Ahmi is dancing and circling us both like a cat singing, "Momma's makina!" I am pretty sure our dogs are looking at me like, "Wow, why do people cage up animals for entertainment when they could be witnessing this." Luckily for him, Karl is gone by this time in the morning. Don't you worry buddy, your time is coming up when I go back to work. Insert evil laugh. This week, thankfully, I have not had to drag him to the car because he actually really looks forward to school. Once I start the car and back out of the garage he runs downstairs and puts his shoes on and gets in the car. After the pouting is over, I always ask Ajura to look me in the eyes (which is a big thing for him), tell him we are a family and that we will always love him and be together, even when we have bad days, and he will say sorry to me and then I give him a hug. He definitely does not hug or kiss me without prompting and definitely will not hug me back but we are getting there. Getting him to look me in the eyes is huge. Yesterday, after school, we were driving home and Ajura said, "Momma, window down, please." It almost brought tears to my eyes because this is coming from my son who usually just demands things. I know it sounds crazy that this small gesture meant so much but it was a genuine please that didn't need prompting. We definitely have our ups and downs every single day but they are getting better and better. Today for instance we got ready for school without the smallest of hiccup. Well, let me rephrase, we got dressed without a hiccup, the hiccup was more of a belch that occurred at 5:30 this morning that included kids out of bed and a dog peeing on the floor but you know, small victories. We get to school and Ajura wants to bring a noise maker he received from my friend's birthday party the night before. Ajura wanted to bring it to school which knowing my son as I do would only result in blown eardrums and a phone call. Therefore I refused, unfortunately my timing was poor as he had already exited the car and is standing pretty much in the middle of the school's parking lot. So he shuts down and sits down in the middle of the parking lot where parents are dropping their children off left and right. Here I am holding a backpack and using my best mom voice trying to get him up before we both loose all dignity. This may be crude, but for those of you who have seen the movie "Bridesmaids" and the bride is pooping in the street due to food poisoning and she is waving other cars on is pretty much how I felt in this instance. Yep, I am totally not in control and I have no idea when it will end and did I mention my 3 year old is in the car still? I'm just smiling and waving at all the other families with their children that drive by us. Thankfully, this goes on for only about 5 minutes and he gets up and allows us to go into the school.

Minus the shut downs he is really doing quite well. He rides his bike without training wheels. Takes the garbage out.  Is really doing well with English, although hesitant to use it. His understanding amazes me. The birthday party invites have already begun which freaks me out as he literally knows like 11 kids. We went to the pumpkin patch last Friday and when leaving the car he said, "No, No, No Momma." Now I see these words more like a challenge, well let's be honest, I totally ignore them, and carry on. He ended up having a great time. Duh, told ya. Karl gave the kids the business about constantly saying "No" last night and then when we (yes just Karl and myself, woohoo!) went out to dinner last night we decided that we may need to clarify the "never say no" rule. It kind of goes against the whole "say no to drugs/strangers/backwash."

Ahmi has a future in rodeo we think. Thankfully he wears his helmet everywhere he goes (truly, he doesn't know how to get it off so when outside he wears it the entire time he is out there). Back to the rodeo, Ahmi was trying to keep our wild dog Nali in the house while he was opening the back door and wrapped his arms in a choke hold around her neck. Ahmi weighs less than a flea to Nali so she just dashes out the door with Ahmi hanging on around her neck, legs dragging. He finally let go when they got to the steps. Not even a tear shed. So proud. He is full of kisses and hugs. His "be nice" sounds a lot like "penis" which my sister and her fiancee giggle about constantly (ok, I do too, especially when he says "Pe-nice Brett").

I have to say one of the best things currently about being a parent is that right now we can choose so easily what are kids are exposed to. I have to admit I secretly relish in the fact that Ahmi thinks the merry-go-round horses at the mall just sit there and don't move, not understanding that they move once mom puts money in them. All video games are currently "broken." Evil you may think, yep, probably, but they will be exposed to all those things in time and it is fun to watch them love the simple things. Also currently the word "tomorrow" is magical. Seriously, the boys will be watching a cartoon and it is time for shower and bed and they ask, "TV tomorrow?" we say yes and up they jump. Perhaps it just shows they have hope and faith that tomorrow is going to be another crazy but wonderful day. Me too.