Prayers, Back update, and Grace's words

So, I have a few quick things. The first one before I forget has to do with Atticus' prayers tonight. So, first you should know that he had a rough day of behaving well on a consistent basis: lots of back talking and growling at me when I wasn't doing what he wanted. Unfortunately, earlier in the day, I told him I had a new book for him that I wanted to give him this weekend. I've had it for several weeks now and it's all about...you guessed it...Dinosaurs, and tells you where they lived and is super cool. Anyways, I wished I hadn't said that I had one because not only did he ask for it over and over and I have to remind him his behavior would indicate if he got it this weekend, but I think it made him just act worse. And I don't know why I did that. I like to reward him for acting good in a situation or for a day and I like to prepare him for the reward so he remembers and acts good. #bribery. I really think that is ok at this age if I use a normal amount of time. But, why did I tell a 3 year old who doesn't even understand 1 minute vs. 1 week that he could have something in 3 days? Dumb, Sarah.

Anyways, he really wants that book. So, tonight in our prayers, we finished up and we did the method of me saying a line and him repeating. (sometimes, he will just say it all or I will say it all or we do this repeating method). I was about to leave the room and he said he had something to add to the prayers. It went like this:

"Dear God. Thank you for the food. Please help me to be really nice. Please help me to have a lot of kindness and be really nice to Gwacie. And please help me to have a lot of kindness so I can get that dinosaur book. Amen."

That stinker. And then as I walked out the door, he looks so stinking cute as he says "I love you." But then he follows it up with, "I hope I dream about dinosaurs tonight." with that adorable, completely naïve and honest little grin on his face.

Also, I want to give a quick update on Grace's words. I swore she said "dinosaur" last night. She kept bringing over dinosaurs and roaring at me with them while I would squeal and run. But, she kept saying "di-sau". I kept listening and am willing myself to believe that is what she was saying. When I finally asked her to say "dinosaur" though, she would just say one of her regular sounds. But, I'm going to keep watching. We have also been reading a Dr. Seuss book called "Mr. Brown can moo, can you?" and without realizing it until just tonight, I have decided it's a fabulous book because it has so many sounds in it (tick tock, boom boom, splatt, whisper, etc.) and she is into repeating them and is getting better and better at it. Woohoo! She is also getting good at pointing to body parts. Just this week, she has added (to her current repertoire of eyes, nose, teeth, ears, hair, bellybutton, fingers, and toes) chin and muscles and she will put her little arms up as if she is flexing. Yay Grace!

And finally a quick update on Vic's back. So - Tiffany! you were right on track with a back plan! Thank you!! He met with a PA in a neurosurgeon's office yesterday afternoon who prescribed a weeklong prescription of an oral steroid and two pain medications and then prescribed him physical therapy 2 - 3x per week for 4-6 weeks. They want to see him back in 4 weeks to see how he is doing. Of course, Vic was hoping for a quicker fix and isn't thrilled about taking even more time out of work for appointments that often (his work schedule is very hard to schedule those kinds of things and he'd already done lots of appointments with the chiropractor). But, we are super happy that surgery is the last option, as far as this office was concerned, and hopeful that we have as much luck as our friend Tiffany did with physical therapy. He still has an appointment scheduled for a 2nd opinion for next Thursday with an orthopedic surgeon. We are really hoping it is the same opinion because we would feel better that this is the route it will take to fix him! Oh and better yet - the PA said "good luck on your race" for the big Texas Independence Relay race Vic and 11 other guys are doing at the end of March. Woohoo!

Okay - just had to get those updates in. Later!