Have I Mentioned This? (It's about Mal...)

Forgive me if this isn't something I've shared before, but my son talks. A lot. He basically talks all of the time, and even if he's watching a video, he might be talking or just mouthing the words (and wanting me to watch) or humming.

I've taken to wearing wireless earbuds and listening to podcasts while he rambles maybe 40% of the time. I'm not proud of this, but it's necessary for my sanity. He doesn't stop. He doesn't stop when you say, "Hold that thought; I need to use the restroom." He doesn't stop when I've explained that I'm going to do chores outside and I'm standing with the door partially open. He doesn't stop when James and I are watching television. He DOES ask us to pause what we're watching before he drops the life-shattering news on us though, so that's something.

He just has a lot to say.

Today, we had gotten out to wash the car (cedar waxwings ate a bunch of hackberries and pooped alllll over my car... twice. This time was worse than the first, and those berries are RED and stain.), and on the way home, I told him, "I forgot that I bought French fries! If you want, I can bake some when we get home." Mal said, "No, thanks. I only eat fries from five-star restaurants."

I will say that we have some tentative good news! For the past week or so, when Mal has gone to use the restroom, we haven't had to clean and change his drawers. So, after almost a full year of working on things, it looks like maybe... just maybe... his sphincter muscles are regaining their tone? Oh, goodness, I hope so. For him and for us. 

Mal has spent the past week playing with his new Minecraft LEGO stuff, making lots of bead art (the stuff you iron and it looks like 8-bit graphics), and today because it was on a video he was watching, he had me get out the Lincoln logs we received as a hand-me-down from a neighbor. I dig all of the creation. He's also gotten Super Mario Maker 2 back out and is making new levels on that.

Oh! For a New Year's gift, we pre-ordered Lego Star Wars, the Complete Skywalker Saga, for Mal's Switch. On December 31, I went in to check the tracking, and it has a release date of December 31, 2021! Duh! It was supposed to come out on October 20, 2020, and it got pushed back to spring 2021. I guess they just have that late date so they only have to change it once, when a real release date comes out. Good times.

Here are some pictures of Mal's past week.