Winter updates

Elliott seems to have grown out of his cheeks just as his sister came into her own. His dead tooth has faded in color, so now you hardly notice. It might stay until its natural time to fall out comes.

He has been struggling some emotionally with the departure of his afternoon teacher (also the morning assistant teacher), who just left the school to have her baby (and will not be returning). She was really special, and I think her leaving brought him a second round of grieving the loss of his mom as a mom only to him.

So we've started some essences and oils, which seem to be calming him, and I'm trying to give him cooling foods to tamp down his rage. Some is appropriate developmentally, some is imitation of the 6-year-olds in his class, but some is just him being too fritzy. I had to drag him kicking and screaming home from the park the other day, decidedly a challenge while pushing a stroller. There are times when he amuses Annika wonderfully and other times when I fear for her safety in his presence. He clearly loves her dearly, but he's also brash and boisterous.

And, as has been he case for a while, he pretty much never stops talking.

We had never done a lot of screen media, but it's clear to me he can't really handle any. It's challenging to keep him from losing it while I put the baby down for a nap, but his constitution just seems too altered by screen time, even the more mellow stuff. We might do some nature videos on occasion (like Planet Earth) or even SteveSongs's music video if I really need help (and John sometimes shows him short video on his phone). But I hope the memories of other junk will start to fade and that he'll stop asking for them. Just please don't call the house between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m., because the second I get distracted he's going to start wrangling for screen time. For now, I'm okay with music if he wants to play CDs.