The Mystery Refrigerator

For about two months now Cindy has been asking me and the children if we have been turning off the refrigerator. James has been interrogated but somehow he could sense in his mother's voice that an admission to the crime implied by her tone would not be a good idea. Since it did not appear that anyone was turning off the refrigerator we thought maybe it was part of the new noises coming out of our old refrigerator. Maybe there was a mysterious explanation like the new noises caused enough vibration to move the dial around from cold to warm and warmest and then to off. While it seemed like a quite absurd idea, we had no other solution. Tonight while sitting in the living room with the family Coco went into the kitchen and returned to report that once again the refrigerator ghost has struck again. James had been in and out of the living room and had for sure been scoping out the food supply in the refrigerator. His mother faithfully informed him that supper was over and there would be no more helpings of chicken and rice. Coco insisted that it must be James who is turning off the refrigerator. I called James in and took a different approach. I asked James if he knew how to turn off the refrigerator. He hesitated and then I suggested that if he knew how would he please teach Coco how to turn it off. He very confidently marched into the kitchen as the expert and promptly gave his sister instruction on how to turn the refrigerator off. The mystery had been solved.

My next effort was to convince him that he must not keep doing this little trick. I tried to explain that if the refrigerator gets warm, Mom will have to throw away all of the chicken and he would surely not be able to snack. His auntie explained that he better not do that again or he would not have any chicken to eat. To which he replied an emphatic "WHAT?".

Time will tell if he understands the importance of this instruction but at least the mystery is solved once and for all.

My own "mamote"

One of James' favorite Christmas presents this year is his very own tv remote control. I finally had a stroke a genius and came up with an idea that hopefully will help us keep our remote in our room. James is always absconding with our remote. It is not so much that we are unwilling to share, but it seems that these remotes somehow find the "black hole" of tv remotes that is located in James' room. When Cindy feels it is time to do a deep cleaning and total re-organization of his room, we often find the missing remotes. The problem is we don't have time for the cleaning as often as we lose another remote. James loves his new remote control. I put his name on it so there is no confusion about which one is his. He is protective and very careful so far to keep his remote from the "black hole of tv remotes" in his room. All are happy. Christmas is great.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is a great time with the family. For James, family is everything. This year after meeting a real live Santa Claus at the Down Syndrome of the Ozarks Party James is convinced that Santa Claus is coming. He asked tonight during our meal "Ata Claus, Where!" We asked him what about Santa Claus? His answer was quick and to the point, "toys". Well one thing is certain. When he wakes up tomorrow there will be toys around the tree.

GO TO STORE!

James came home Tuesday very much in the Christmas spirit. When I got home he immediately asked me to take him to the store. James what do you want to buy at the store? "Whales and green chips and Sprite" I told him that maybe after the news I could take him. I really thought he would forget all about it but he did not. He came in dressed and ready to go and so off we went to the dollar store. We got our basket and after about a 20 minute walk down the toy aisle where all of the interesting toys got a good demonstration we went on to buy what he came for. In the mean time, I got some great ideas for a few more gifts for him. He loved the little plastic basketball game, the funny teeth, every ball in the store, the rifles that made a shooting noise and the recorder.

We found the aisle looking for "green" pringles his prevailing favorite chip. I told him he could get two of each item. We found the "Whales" (for those who don't know what Whales are, they are cheese crackers in the shape of whales). He knelt down and looked up at me and said, "one for me... " and put it in the basket. Then he got another box and said "one for...me again". And then with a hopeful look in his eyes, perhaps hoping to capitalize on the Christmas spirit in the air, he put a third box of whales in the basket and said, "three for...me". I had to play the scrooge and told him only two boxes. then I tried to get him to buy some off brand of Sprite. He would have none of that and ran up to the front of the stores to the cooler and pulled out Sprite. Two bottles of Sprite. Before I knew it he had gone up to the counter and was checking out. I ran after him and thanks to some money sent from Grandpa and Grandma in the Philippines he got to buy everything in his basket. He was one happy boy and is loving Christmas.