Great news

I survived 3 days of Jeff being in Minneapolis and my kids said that they had a lot of fun while dad was gone.  Really?  Because when I yelled at JJ to stop screaming, for I wasn't putting freaking apples on her grilled cheese, and she ran upstairs and M looked at me with a stark expression on her face and said "mom, she's just a preschooler", I thought that surely the summary for the 3 days would be described in other words than "fun".  But I'll take it.
And miracle of miracles:  M has worn shoes for 6 straight days now.  I KNOW.  HUGE.  I asked the OT at school if there was anything she could think of that would help and I guess she sprinkled her magic OT dust over M's head while she wasn't looking because M is going around saying that flip flops are dumb and they hurt your feet.  Hallelujah.  Friday, I thought it was too good to be true because she wanted to wear her flip flops again.  But halfway to school she changed her mind and said that she wanted her tennis shoes.  So I whipped those puppies out of her backpack and we were back in business.  The secret has been the socks.  If she has at least two pairs on, it feels tight enough on her feet and there isn't as much slipping inside the shoes.  So I have been washing the same 4 pairs of socks over and over again.  I might need to buy more socks.
Jeff took the girls to the school playground while I was working on Saturday and M learned to ride without her training wheels!  We were at a friend's house the night before and she hopped on their kid's bike and started riding so we figured she was ready.  It's such an amazing thing to see your baby ride a two-wheeler for the first time.  I'm so proud of her.  I just stood there watching her and thinking, "I'm not sure what life holds for my little girl with Asperger's, but she can ride a bike and I know that will make her happy.  And there are some kids who will never ride a bike."  I can't wait to go on family bike rides on the trails. 
And it's still 80 degrees where we live - Fall will return this weekend.  But I'm thankful that at 7 am yesterday morning as I went on my long run, I was still wearing shorts and a short-sleeve shirt.  And this weekend is Mizzou Homecoming!  We're not going, but we'll fly our flag proudly.  Even after our sad loss to K-State.  :(