One Step Forward and All That

Ev came home this past Sunday and I couldn't be happier. This house and home fell the hell apart without her here to keep us all straight. I wish that I was making that up, but, alas, I am not. Les and I cussed like sailors, there was no feeding schedule as much as it was just kind of feed your face whenever, we played video games incessantly, no one ate a vegetable, we only read the labels on our junk food, there was no schedule, the dishes piled up. And every member of this household that remained behind, including the cat, moped around the last two days like people in a Bergman film.
So she's back. And so is life and structure and laughter.
The absence however, propelled her relationship with Liam into a whole new realm. There is much less fussing and fighting and more patience and tolerance. Last week, when she was tired of Liam, she would fuss and holler and kick him out of her room in no uncertain terms. This week, she walks up to me and says, "Hey mama, I need a little time. Can Liam be kept out of my room for a bit?" WOW! What a nice difference that is. I hope it lasts.

Liam is continuing his streak of getting things down and trying. He is still in that mode of making progress and then regressing. And it's maddening sometimes. But I know why he does it, why it happens and  I try to be patient. And he is truly trying to be better with Ev, I can see it. He goes into her room and he tries not to get into all of her stuff, he just can't help it yet. Imagine having nothing that was yours for your whole life and then being dumped into a home with more things than you have ever seen and try to have impulse control. Go ahead, try it. Listen, I can't resist a damn brownie and I have had them about my whole life it seems, so I feel for him. One day he will use his limited words and signs and the next day- it's like he doesn't even understand a single word we say.

I am trying desperately to maintain our schedule. It seems as of it's more important now than it ever was. Liam needs the structure.

I had so much more to say right now but.... There is a fire crackling away in the fireplace and Les is about to resume his reading of The Hobbit and a certain chubby boy of two just ran in and grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the living room because he wants me in there with them. I am no fool. I am heading in there to enjoy the companionship of my little family, in our own corner of the world. With our cat beside us and Tolkien's words swirling about.