The week before Christmas

This past week has been busy. Both boys had school functions Thursday afternoon. Jacob had a holiday party that I volunteered to help with and Kyle had his Christmas program. The times overlapped and I felt terrible having to miss Kyle's first big school program, but I'd promised Jacob and I knew it was important to him that I help out with his class. Mel planned to go to Kyle's event, but then ended up coming home from work sick. Thankfully Melinda rearranged her plans and "filled in" for us to see Kyle sing on stage. Yes sing. He doesn't sing in his classroom so he's never really practiced the songs, but he sang his little heart out in front of an audience of parents. Even his teachers were surprised. I'm sad I missed it. It was good to be in Jacob's classroom though for his party. It gave me a chance to meet some of the kids in his class that he's talked about, see his teacher interact with the students and see how Jacob interacts with others at school. All the kids seemed to have a great time playing games, doing a craft and eating lots of treats.
On Friday we took Melinda, Stella and Sophie to the airport and then Kyle had his dental procedure at the hospital. It was a long day and I was a little emotional about it all, but everything went really well. He woke up quiet, but very content and I held him and stroked his hair. The first thing he said to me was, "Mommy, I love you." Talk about melting your heart. Then he sucked down two popsicles and asked for a third. I knew he was back to himself. He even thought of his brother and wanted to bring a popsicle home for Jacob.

I finally got the presents wrapped and under the tree Saturday night so Sunday morning the kids were very excited. Kyle keeps asking to open them though so I'm considering hiding them again.
Jacob has been asking a lot of funny questions about Santa. Not if he is real or not, but rather How many cookies should we leave for him? What if we're the last house? Won't he be full from all the cookies and milk? Have you ever heard footsteps on the roof? If you hear four footsteps, that's a reindeer. And this if the funniest thing he said. Santa doesn't bring me things I ask for but he brings me things I never knew I wanted.
Yesterday we stayed inside all day. It was -6 degrees with a wind chill of -25. I was able to get my Christmas cards finished and the boys frosted cookies. It was nice to not have to go anyway although by the evening the kids were feeling cooped up and bouncing off the walls. I hope it warms up soon, so the kids can get outside enjoy the snow.
Today we had an appointment for Jacob to get his hearing tested. We've received a few notes and phone calls from his school nurse over the last year saying she recommends Jacob have his hearing retested at his pediatrician. Last week we had it tested and he only heard one tone in his left ear (I'm not sure how many tones they test) so we had a follow up appointment with an ENT. Today they did an audiogram and tympanogram and found that his hearing in both ears is normal. No problems whatsoever. We're very happy to hear that he doesn't have any problems, but it doesn't explain why the other tests showed problems. The doctor said if he had a cold or if his allergies were acting up he could have had fluid in his ears at the time of the tests (although his ears were clear last week). Or my theory, he just didn't raise his hand when he heard the beeps. Maybe they were so faint he didn't know if he really heard them... Either way I told him he has no excuse now when he doesn't listen because we KNOW he hears us!