Mini Mystery Solved

In case you were wondering how we solved the mystery of the mini-trampoline...

We didn't take it with us to SC out of laziness more than anything else because we had room in the van for it. At least on the way there we did. The word "mini" should not be associated with this product. I made the mistake of:

1. putting it together by myself (it did suggest 2 adults)
2. putting it together when the kids were alert awake and enthusiastic to help
3. putting it together in my bedroom before assessing how big it was and strategizing a plan to get it out the door much less down the hall.

The Younger helped by getting his own snack from the fridge and leaving little bits of carrots all over the floor (at least he chose carrots) and then by using every adapter for the rachet on each nut and bolt. Finally by playing the drums on the walls with the screwdriver (sigh). I'll just remember to Spackle that before we paint over the sharpie marks (one day). The Elder was a HUGE help and helped me clean up afterward by picking up all the trash and putting the ratchet set back in the case (It's like a puzzle you know). They couldn't wait to jump on it! Somehow after multiple tries and then stopping to say a quick "Please Lord don't let this be stuck in our bedroom" prayer, I somehow managed to hold it in such a way that it barely made it down the hall (scraping the walls the whole way - thank goodness for the rubber handles).

Notice how it takes up ALL my floor space in the kitchen! It is also facing the microwave because I had to put a timer on Jump Time so they wouldn't kill each other by jumping on it at the same time. The Elder said to the Younger "You're going to break my back." A total echolalic moment of a time when I said that to him after he did a seat drop on top of me while I was laying on the bed and it cracked my back.

My fingers are swollen from trying to string the bungee cord through the mat. It totally wore me out and when I went to put The Younger down for a nap, I zonked out too, for like an hour. Thanks goodness The Asst (and her daughter since school is out) showed up sometime while I was out and The Elder wasn't totally unsupervised. When I came to, I was making no sense at all. It sounded like drunken speak. I just stopped talking and looked at her and said, "Let me go get a cup of coffee..."

Success Sunday

"When you're changing, you're growing."
--me (Ha!)

It's aftermath week. All routines have gone out the door since The AP left for vacation! I looked at The Hub and said, I didn't realize how undisciplined we are! Or maybe it is just we are out of practice. But I tell you, it has been NICE to have the kids all to myself and even NICER to send them outside with The Hub to get them out of my hair. I've totally rearranged my house (Those super slider gliders thingys are AMAZING!). I made sure that the kids were a part of the change. The Elder said,

"Why are you putting that there?"
"Because change is good."
"It's Change Time? Why is it Change Time?"
"Because when you are changing, it means you're growing."
"Even when you're small?"
"Especially when you're small!"

We have undergone so much change the last week with the traveling, The Hub home off from work, no school, no church because of The Younger's sickies, The Skipper Dog sprained his toe. Now a change in the calendar!

The Kiddos have seen the same Blue's Clues DVD (now at home) so much that The Younger has it memorized and is quoting it as it is playing. That's sad...OK, so we neglect the kids, BUT I feel SOOOOOO much more organized! I want to blog about The Book I'm reading about organizing for right-brainers one day. It makes me happy.

"So you like The Book?" The Hub asked.
"How did you guess?"
"It probably was the sighing and fondling of the book that gave it away."

So the past year was tough, but we have overcome every pit we dealt with (eventually at least) and I know we still have tough years ahead, but I'm confident that God doesn't assign us tasks that he doesn't equip us with the tools to accomplish them. (The Book!!!! Not the Big Book here, but that one is good too - just not on how to organize for right-brainers! HA!). I'm looking forward to entering this new year of Acceptance, of who I am, of who my family is.

Change is always good and always hard (who said that? I should have quoted him/her instead). Happy New Year, everyone! Be the Best You and it will be happy!

Find Out How To...

For my friends and family who aren't blog savvy...yet...

First of all, thanks for making the effort to visit us and keep up with us! It truly means a lot to us, especially if you are not a techie or if you are too busy to sit in front of a computer and read about us all day. =o)

Post a Comment

Why? Want to add your input, opinion, suggestion, kudos, or just say hi? You can Post a Comment to any post. I really encourage that you do this on the blog (as opposed to sending me an email) because I truly value your input, whether I agree with it or not (I might agree with it later when I've learned my lesson!) and I appreciate having the ability to go back and have you a part of my journal. Emails get lost and sometimes don't get read either (sorry)! Comments get treated like gold!

How? Click on the link at the bottom of the post that says "# - Find Out Who Comments on This Post" or "Post a Comment" and scroll all the way down the popup window or clicking on the link "Jump to comment form" at the top of the window. Leave your comment, word verification, and then Publish.

Creating a Backlink
(ok you might have to be a techie to use this one)

Why? If you are a blogger and want to reference a post of mine so that my readers will be able to link back to your site, then you'll want to create a backlink. The link to your site will be shown at the end of the post under "Find Out Who Links to This Post." Keep in mind that using http://whatjenfinds.blogspot.com as a backlink will not create a link back to your website and will not link your readers to a particular post on my site (only to my front page of the most recent posts).

How? There are several ways to create a backlink.

1. If you are not on the individual post page, click on the title of the post to get to the Post Page (for example, click on "Find Out How To..." above to get to this post's individual page). Click on the link at the bottom of the post that says "Create a Link" and a popup window will appear with the link in a new post.
   
2. If you already have a post written and just need the url, then copy the url of the individual Post Page and paste into your blog.
   
3. Or you can right-click on the Post's Title and select "Copy Link Location" then paste into your blog.

Subscribe to this Blog

Why? When you subscribe to someone's webpage, you will automatically be notified each time it is updated. You can use a Feed Reader of your choice to manage your subscriptions (I personally use Google Reader). If that really makes your brain hurt to think about, just post a comment, or email me at pinkpowerhouse at gmail dot com, and I'll add you to my distribution list to receive updates. If THAT makes your brain hurt, then just come visit and read when you can!

How? Once you have a Feed Reader, simply click here, choose your reader application in the drop down menu, and then click "Subscribe Now."

Subscribe to ALL Comments

Why? I typically respond to comments by posting a comment myself. Therefore if you pose a question(s), I will answer you in a comment within the same post. Blogger allows you to subscribe to comments for an individual post that you comment on by checking the box that says "Email follow-up comments to youremail@email.com." The reason why I personally stopped doing that was because I was getting WAY too many emails in my inbox. I figured out a way to subscribe to Blogger Comment Feeds the same way you subscribe to posts, and it is much easier to manage in Google Reader than in my inbox!

How? Once you have a Feed Reader, simply click here to subscribe to comments, choose your reader application in the drop down menu, and then click "Subscribe Now."

Find Out Who's Who

The Cast

The Hub	My Spouse (dx with AS in Oct 2007)
The Elder	My Elder son (dx with AS in June 2007)
The Younger	My Younger son (no AS dx, but so obviously OCD, SPD, and ADHD it's not even funny)
The Teacher	The Elder's Goddess of a Teacher of his Special Ed PreK-4 class
The Super Doc	The Hub's (now mine) psychologist who dx him with AS
The Skipper Dog	Our Jack Russell Terrier (7yo) named Skip.
The AP	Our Au Pair from Brazil
The Lola and The Lolo	My parents (Grandmother and Grandfather in Tagalog)
The Gma	The Hub's mommy
The PaPa	The Hub's dad
The GF-in-Law	The PaPa's girlfriend
The Brother	My Big Brother from Carolina
The Sis-in-Law	My Brother's Wife
The 6yo formerly known as the One With The No Tooth	My Brother's Younger son
The 9yo With The Bendy Glasses	My Brother's Elder son
The Niece	My Brother's daughter
The Sister	My Big Sister from California
The RB Book	The organizing book made for the Creative Person (RB=Right Brain)

Will add to this as new characters enter my blog!
Let me know if I forgot someone here....

Researching on Memory Lane

Well, The AP said that ever since she has been here (last April) The Younger's thumb didn't extend all the way. She said that once she tried to "fix" it and it clicked and straightened but then went back to crooked and she never tried again. So after this comment, I thought I would go back and look at our photos to see just when this little booger snuck up on us.

On the Fourth of July in 2006, The Younger just turned 1 and The Elder was getting ready to turn 3. No Trigger Thumb.

September 17, 2006. Possible triggering in his right thumb while in a relaxed state (understatement on the relaxed, huh?)

October 17, 2006. Awake and active here, the right thumb is not triggering.

January 5, 2007 - Awake and somewhat relaxed and somewhat active. No signs of major triggering.

January 26, 2007 - It's almost as if he posed for this one..."Hey, look at my trigger thumb!" You can see other evidence of triggering in other shots from this album.

February 25, 2007 - This is the same day as the tree picture in my banner above where I couldn't tell if it was triggering or not. Here however, it clearly is.

April 19, 2007 - At the airport, the day we picked up The AP. Very trigger happy here. (Wasn't that sweet and thoughtful of him to bring her flowers?)

May 1, 2007 - Sleepy head with a quick draw.

Conclusion - The AP was right. It seemed to be a more permanent thing about the time she arrived which makes me feel a whole lot less guilty for not noticing it sooner. She thought that I already knew about it so she never pointed it out. I guess that is the politically correct thing to do. But it doesn't appear to be a big deal to him. It doesn't hurt him and when the doc said "Man, that thumb does NOT want to budge," one would assume that he was using force to test that and The Younger never flinched. Our appointment is next Thursday with the Orthopedic Doc and will probably schedule the surgery from there. Thanks for all the comments for him. He would appreciate all the love!

Wherefore art thou?

The Elder has been blowing me away ever since we got back from our trip. He has been extremely voluntarily verbal. Something that I think he might have picked up from The Cousins. I told The Brother that The 8yo With The Bendy Glasses was a good influence on The Elder just from our dinner conversation led by him about how green beans are good for you. Yes, he's 8. Pretty amazing huh? Anyhoo, I walked by the bathroom yesterday and The Elder looked at me and said, "I'm washing my hands to help make the candy." (The AP was making a batch of Brazilian Candy before she left for New York for vacation.) Volunteered information? Volunteered hand washing?

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The Younger got a new L-Max (Thanks PaPa) and the house seems to be more peaceful as they both have their own now and there is less fighting over the one. The Elder actually got a new one too, but we haven't been able to separate him from his original one, so we are probably going to exchange the other one for a rechargeable battery for The Younger. What has been amazing is that The Elder has been coaching The Younger in playing his games. He's been pretty good at restraining himself from taking over the game (not perfect but responds well to when I say, "Just help").

"That one goes in the Trash. Go left, left, left, left."
"Honey, he doesn't know his left from his right."

"You're running out of time!! There's just a little bit left....Awwww game's over."
"Tell him he did a great job."
"G'job. Go to the Train Depot now. Train Depot. Train Depot. Train Depot."
"Honey, he can't read yet."

"Honey, where is yours?"
"Um, I just help brother."


WHO IS THIS CHILD??? I think the phrase "Use your words" has finally caught on!

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On the flipside for the subject title reference, I'm considering writing a book. Chapter titles have been floating around in my head for the last 2 days. I figured if I posted my intention, that I would have to actually do it and follow through. So all tips, encouragement, and prodding are welcome.

Trigger Happy

It's official...The Younger has trigger thumb. We will have to go see an orthopedic next week but the doc was pretty certain that it will need surgery. I'm not really too concerned about the surgery itself as I am with the recovery period. Mr. OCD is pretty particular with things touching him that shouldn't (or isn't normally there, say, band-aids or splints or scabs) and this is his right hand. He has a scar on his nose from picking a scab for a month. Remember the band-aid? I asked if therapy would do and he said that it wouldn't be enough (or ineffective in the long run).

He did great on the x-ray machine. The technician looks at me and asks, "Mom, is there any chance you might be pregnant?" I just wanted to faint when she asked that. Feels great to confidently say "I am not!"

snip snippery snip snippery snip snipperoo

I'm dreaming of a...

That's what I did...dream...practically all Christmas. I got a little over-indulgent in the gluten department. I'm not 100% convinced that the "sleep until 10:30am" morning and the "5-hour nap" in the afternoon was a result of the 15 eclairs and cream puffs I had. Because if I were, then that would mean I would never be able to eat them ever again. I think I still had some ill effects from the half of a biscuit I ate at Bojangles, but NOT from the cream puffs. (read: denial)

Christmas Eve was pretty low-key. NOT. The kids were all over the place. The Bouncy balls were the best things ever to keep them active in the house without destroying something. We ate pretty late for each meal so talk about throwing our schedule off. I start to forget whether or not we have fed them. That is bad. very bad. As we speak, The Elder is yelling in the back of the van "I'm Hungry" and I look at the clock and it is 6:30pm! Yikes! They haven't eaten since 11:30 this morning! Well, we are going to stop at the next exit to eat and then I'll finish this post...

OK, we are dedicated Starbucks drinkers... We just went around our butt to find one. That calls for a Venti....

Family tradition usually has us opening gifts at midnight after Christmas Eve dinner. However, The 6yo With The No Tooth and The 8yo With The Bendy Glasses have a track record of not making it past 8pm on normal occasions so The Brother (their father) decided 10pm would be the new midnight. Opening presents was fun this year because The Elder understood that that is what you do on Christmas. However I couldn't get his focus off his 2nd present (racing cars) long enough for him to open the rest of his presents. So we kept them for the next day as rewards.

Because I was off in Dreamland most of Christmas day, The Elder lacked some serious structure. By the end of the day, he was not only hyper, but impulsive and aggressive. I was very frustrated because I knew it could have all been prevented had I been conscious, and also frustrated because I really didn't know what to tell The Cousins who were getting the brunt of it, because I don't think they know about his diagnosis so I didn't want to use it as an excuse. So as "discipline" I made The Elder bounce 10 laps around the ping pong table and he wasn't allowed to open a present that night. (We still have like 5 presents for them each to open!) Have you found yourself in this situtaion? And if so I'd like to hear how you handled it...or wish you had handled it.

Now, according to The Lola, Santa got stuck at the North Pole and wasn't able to deliver the presents on Christmas Eve so we didn't wake up to overflowing stockings Christmas morn. The Hub was disappointed because Santa usually brings us chocolate. Coincidently my parents have been abroad for the last month on a mission trip and was exempt from Christmas shopping beforehand. So Santa and The Lola struck up some plan to have her just take us all shopping instead to make up for both of their lack. So we went to the outlet mall today in Myrtle Beach to find some goodies.

Updated at 11:33pm (computer battery died in the car)
We actually went to Barnes and Nobles first because I wanted to get the book about organizing for the right brainers (I can't remember if I blogged about that or not, but The Brother and I were discussing it) and a much needed Starbucks fix. The Hub dropped me and The Lola off so we didn't have to drag the kids in there and she ran off to the bathroom and said she would catch up with me. In my quest to find this book, I came across the psychology shelf and, out of habit, stopped to browse. Driven to Distraction caught my eye, but I felt like the title was a little negative. Well, then I saw its sequel Delivered from Distraction. Much more positive title, so I picked it up instead. The first chapter is called "Read this if you can't read the whole book." Now THAT'S my kind of book! I scanned the other Adult ADHD topics when my mom came up behind me...

"Did you get your book already."
"Oh, no not yet, I got distracted."

My nonchalant, inadvertently ironic comment made me giggle. I knew right then I was going to buy that book!

Next Stop: Target. There are some wooden trains in the Hot Spot that The Kiddos went wild over. The Elder calls them "The Trains with No Face." I'll post pictures one day. We bought our Christmas New Year's Cards to be delivered sometime after we get The Kiddos Holiday Pictures made. Will probably take advantage of The Hub photographic talents this year and save on some moolah.

Finally we arrived at the Tanger Outlets. I had a goal to find new patent leather dress shoes. I went to every shoe store. Found the perfect pair (on sale too) at Nine West. However they didn't have my size. We got quite a few things for the kids and a few decoration for the house for next year (The Elder really wanted a star for the treetop next year, as opposed to the angel), but I walked away from our "Santa went AWOL" shopping spree with only the book. I looked at The Sister-In-Law and said, "So this is the mommy syndrome...all that shopping and nothing to show for it...I must be growing up."

We did have a nice trip to see my side of the family. It was great to see and spend time with my nephews. It was humbling to see how grown my niece is now that she is a college girl. It was nice to meet my sister's significant other. It was fulfilling to see The AP enjoy The Lola and The Tita's (my aunt) filipino cooking as it reminded her of Brazilian cuisine. I was thankful that The Brother and The Sister-In-Law joined us today, since I usually don't get to tell them good-bye. It was particularly uplifting to be sad to go. Usually within 24 hours I'm ready to haul tail out of dodge, but this year was different. I felt like it was time to go home sooner than I wanted. If I didn't have to work tomorrow, I'd probably would have convinced myself to stay an extra day.

We left about 3 hours later than we planned but still arrived in TN at a decent time. The Kiddos insisted on watching the Blues Clues Holiday DVD THE ENTIRE 8 HOUR DRIVE HOME. I bought them Polar Express (which they have been whining about all week to see) and we had to stop it 20 minutes into the movie because of The Younger's request. (The Elder was asleep. I imagine he would have argued this had he not been.) But even once he woke up, there was no switching movies. It was cute to hear The Younger sing "We just got a letter" and The Elder sing "Spin, Dreidel, Spin." I, personally, ran the juice out my computer catching up on blogs and then ran the juice out of my cell phone playing Spider Solitaire and Sodoku. Whew, it's nice to be home! I've dedicated myself to go back on the gfcr diet, limiting casein to cheese and only once a week and only outside of the home. I figured I'd feel less guilty if I gave myself some leeway. And....no more cream puffs.

Sidebar Blues

I've had 2 complaints about my sidebar spillage (at least Susan and Marla were the only two who mentioned it), so I switched my sidebar to the right. Please let me know if this fixes the problem. Thanks!

"Are you kidding me?"

This was the response from my brother after I asked, "Is there a Starbucks in town?"

I wasn't sure if it was "duh, there are Starbucks everywhere" answer, or if it was "we don't have anything in our dinky town" answer. It was the latter. We didn't plan our consumption very well on this trip. We assumed way too much, so our food routine has been off the last 24 hours. Actually our whole routine is but I figured, better to do this on a trip AWAY from home than in our own home. No blender for The Hub's daily smoothies. Because tax is cheaper in SC (like by 5%!) we decided to wait until we got here to purchase groceries since we get the organic-gluten-free-casein-free-costs-an-arm-and-a-leg brands and every little bit helps. So we had very little food to choose from. We found a KFC during the trip and peeled off the breading to get it as gluten-reduced as possible. (Here's a picture of The Younger discovering he like corn-on-the-cob. Was NOT a fun diaper to change later especially since I didn't think about bringing a sprayer.) We made a box of hash browns for breakfast and noticed in the ingredients that there is wheat flour in it (I guess to keep the potatoes from sticking together). The kids have been super hyper today and I looked at The Hub saying "no more gluten for them." He laments, "why does gluten turn us into zombies and they go freakin' crazy?" Well, The Lola (my mom) only knew of one place to go (because we scoped 2 grocery stores in town that had nothing organic, much less gluten-free) and we stocked up on some goods for the kids that they (and we) can handle.

---------------------------------
So we come in yesterday and The Elder goes crazy running around the house. He goes up to The Lola and says in shock and awe, "You got TWO uv em???? One over there and one over there?" I realized he was speaking of TVs. We only have one TV upstairs in our house and we have taken the the cable out of the wall. So they had 2 channels going simultaneously on ABC family watching The Incredibles and USA watching Christmas Vacation so that those in the kitchen were bombarded by clashing noises. This morning, we were serenaded by Spongebob at breakfast. I looked at The Hub and said, we have got to buy some toys to lure these kids away from the tube. So we went out today and got these.



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The Kiddos immediately took ALL (all 832 of them) the throw pillows off the couches and onto the floors. This is acceptable in our house because we have crappy furniture. My parents however have really nice furniture, the kind I'd like to have one day when I grow up. The Lola was hilarious when she decided, "Maybe tomorrow I'll have to establish some house rules." I interjected, "Maybe now?"

"Rule #1: Pillows are not toys."

So The Hub made a sign and taped it onto the oven and printed that for The Elder to read.

---------------------------------
Today was the first time The Younger met his cousins and the first time The Elder noticed them. Collectively, they are ages 2, 4, 6, and 8. Isn't that cute? (Since there are more of them, I couldn't called them The Cousin.) Well, The 8yo announces "I have glasses now....Are yours as bendy as mine?" and then later over dinner he looks at me and proclaims, "did you know that animals are connected to sound waves?" So the smarty pants are obviously hand-me-downs, except each kid keeps the smarts before passing it on. The Elder isn't that great with names yet until after the 2nd or 3rd meeting so as he was calling after them "Hey, 2 guys...." and then later trying to get The 6yo's attention, he calls after him, "Hey....the one with the no tooth." I thought I would die laughing.

The 6yo With No Tooth shares The Younger's love for bananas. We don't understand why he put it on his head. I think The Younger has a classic sensory look on his face as that peel gets a little too close to his face. Here you can see The Elder indulging his most recent compulsion, flipping the light switches on and off.

"Rule #2: Light switches are not toys."

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"We need a napkin." (uh-oh)
"What happened?"
"He has tomato on his shirt."

My immediate thought was bloody nose, then worse I thought about the bottle of ketchup on the table. But then I see The 8yo With The Bendy Glasses with a whole Cosco-sized container of cherry tomatoes, feeding them to The Elder.

"Don't be eating those on the couch!!" (remember, it's nice furniture.) At least he got the Elder eating tomatoes, um, unless he spit them out and that is why it was on his shirt. The Hub thought ahead while he was in there, and removed the squeeze bottle of potentially projectile ketchup from the table while reciting, the next rule...

"Rule #3: Tomatoes are not toys."

---------------------------------

Off to deal with totally overstimulated kids...

Whoa there, Trigger Thumb

Does anyone have any experience with this condition?

Success Sunday

"If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time."
--author unknown

Thought I would get this in a day early in case I don't get the computer out. This quote come to me as I lamented not winning a newfounded award, then immediately being proud of myself at the effort The Hub and I made to make it happen. I told him that I wanted to help him not wait til the last minute to keep anxiety low all around. We were aiming to leave the party at 8:30 last night (what poopers we are) but it was almost 10pm when we did. However, we were the first ones to announce that we had to leave (bet the hostess was ready to get rid of all of us). When The AP asked me last night what time we were leaving in the morning, my answer was "Our goal it 9am, but no later than noon." Ha! However, it's 6:30 in the morning as I am getting ready to shut down and pack my computer...on-target to reach the 9am goal! Yahoo!

Day -1

Well, we didn't get the car packed last night, but I was impressed with what we got accomplished before midnight. I've been at a Christmas Breakfast all morning and have my list ready to get the rest done today and packed before we go to our last Christmas Party tonight. I'm bringing my computer on our trip tomorrow, so I'll have means for checking blogs and commenting but may or may not pull it out the bag. So in case it is the latter, I hope everyone has a great holiday unless I'm going to be seeing you, which then of course you'd be having a great holiday right? Ha!

I know that me and The Hub have crossover readers so I won't repeat this potty story but had to link to it. The Hub has the funnier perspective on it anyway.

Here's a fun toy to play with. Merry Christmas!



Added this at The Elder's request:

It's a Great Day

Well, my schedule got thrown off a tad because The AP is sick, but already had the kids lined up to be occupied, but I just feel really bad for her. I still got to shower on time to greet my customer with mascara and dry hair (and clothes too, of course), but as she was leaving the bus pulled up. Welp, there goes my morning plans to get "it" together.

Updated at 7:01pm
OK, so today didn't quite go as planned. The Housekeeper called and said she was sick. BUT but but she is coming on Saturday while we are gone, so I get to come home to a clean house! Yay! When The Elder got off the bus I said, "After lunch today, you're going to help me wrap gifts."

"You can do it aaaaaalllllll by yourself."

I think he was trying to be encouraging...he eventually helped me and I got some pictures on my camera, but I dropped it so it is broken for now. Great timing. Anyhoo, when I checked The Elder's folder, he got one big circle around the GREAT's. Not only was it his first GREAT mark, but they were ALL marked Great!! I'm so excited!!

The Teacher came and it was just the two of us. It was really good. I'm telling you I am in LOVE with this woman! I was not anxious at all. The Elder gave me opportunity to have to "parent" him and The Teacher actually praised me instead of correcting me this time! One of her philosophies that explains his improvement in behavior this week is that we are taking control away from him and he is freed up to be a kid, have fun, relax, and be happy. As opposed to uptight and anxious and stressed over making decisions as simple as "what do you want to eat for breakfast?" Looking at it that way, I don't feel so mean!

She gave me homework to do - at least one activity a day that is completely parent-driven. He gets no input and no choice but to follow my directions. She wants to keep the momentum going over the 2-week break while he is on the upswing of progress. He also has an obsession of pulling strings, which I've mentioned in this blog on my very first post:

B4. Two things come to mind when I read this. The Elder's obsession with strings - pulling and picking them out of clothing, bedding, throw pillow, furniture. Drives me mad! We have fluff falling out of every pillow and my jacquard comforter is "hairy" from all the broken strings hanging out of it. The other thing is his intense fear of buttons, though his dad and I just realized that it might be the button holes he dislikes. We might have to test that theory.

Her suggestion is to get a cheap towel from Walmart and only allow him to pull the strings on that until it is demolished. She said if it continues in the future, then he must be responsible for replacing his own towel. She predicts that I will have few academic concerns in the future and wants to focus on the behaviors. So in a Gold Star system, I need to pair a task that is simple that I know he can do, like putting on his shoes by himself, with a task that is a little more challenging for him, like sitting at the table for 5 minutes during a meal. A preferred with a non-preferred, and then extend the time/complexity of the task as he gets consistent. The hardest thing she is asking me to do is balance praise. I'm so used to "Thank You"-ing him and "Good Job"-ing him that it is very difficult for me to just sit there. She said praise is GREAT, but to not over-praise. He should not be praised for something that he is capable of doing and is expected to do, for example, sitting at the table during a meal. But to praise him when he does something that maybe he was incapable of doing before, and then raise the bar. For example, the fact that he knew to hug his brother when he slammed the door on his finger. I praise him for acknowledging it and then I pair the emotion to the body language. "That is so great that you comfort your brother when he is sad. I can see you were sad too because of your frown."

Very enlightening session and I hope others will get something from this post too.

Once The Hub came home, The Kiddos had found some microphones and were on the couch stage while we were on the floor audience watching them sing. We have a electric piano with a DEMO mode that The Elder has memorized (classical music) and a Snowman playing Carols on a piano that both have memorized (so cute) and they were performing a duet to the Clav and Honky Tonk demos on the piano playing simultaneously with the snowman singing a "Let it Snow/Jingle Bell Rock/Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" medly. If my camera hadn't been broke, I would've gotten video.

So now it is after 7pm and I haven't finished laundry, nor packed, nor come even close to getting the van ready. But Tulip Mom inadvertently issued a challenge so I'm still going to go for it!! All I need is a little extrinsic motivation to get me going. So what will that award be called?

Conversation

"It's time to go to school."
"I'm coming."
(You can hear him trying to get out of The Skipper Dog's travel cage. What is the deal with kids and cages?)
"OK, I'm here."

The Hub and I just looked at each other with this "what just happened here" look. He was compliant and used appropriate timely responses to communicate his intentions without the need for repeating on our part. Yahoo!

We have our monthly meeting with The Teacher today. I cannot wait! Doesn't that sound a little odd? I've just been so proud of him lately and the strides that he has made at home since being in school that I want to hear how he's doing at school. The next step will be community and how to transfer his skills to church and other public places, which I think will be simple (note I didn't say easy). The only issue I have is hyperactivity, but then again, he IS four! I'm actually really enjoying seeing the two boys just being boys and romping around the house chasing the dog, wrestling each other to the ground until someone screams, and dragging packaging materials all through the house. I'm NOT enjoying cleaning up after them.

I feel very good today. I think I'll be productive. The Gma is coming to get The Younger for the day while I get us ready for our trip. The Elder and I are wrapping gifts when he gets off the bus (he's been practicing at school) and then we are meeting with The Teacher. The Housekeeper is coming to make me very happy. Then The Hub and I are planning to load up the minivan tonight (36 hours early). I'm being very optimistic!!

Victory!

Thank you to everyone who signed the online petition!!!

From ASAN:

I am pleased to inform you that this afternoon the NYU Child Study Center announced that they will be ending the "Ransom Notes" ad campaign in response to widespread public pressure from the disability community. You can read that announcement here (at the NYU Child Study Center's website). The thousands of people with disabilities, family members, professionals and others who have written, called, e-mailed and signed our petition have been heard. Today is a historic day for the disability community. Furthermore, having spoken directly with Dr. Harold Koplewicz, Director of the NYU Child Study Center, I have obtained a commitment to pursue real dialogue in the creation of any further ad campaign depicting individuals with disabilities. We applaud the NYU Child Study Center for hearing the voice of the disability community and withdrawing the "Ransom Notes" ad campaign.

Twenty-two disability rights organizations came together to ensure the withdrawal of this advertising campaign. Our response to this campaign stretched continents, with e-mails, letters and phone calls coming from as far away as Israel, Britain and Australia. The disability community acted with a unity and decisiveness that has rarely been heard before and we are seeing the results of our strength today. Our success sends an inescapable message: if you wish to depict people with disabilities, you must consult us and seek our approval. Anything less will guarantee that we will make our voices heard. We are willing to help anyone and any group that seeks to raise awareness of disability issues, but those efforts must be done with us, not against us. This is a victory for inclusion, for respect and for the strength and unity of people with disabilities across the world. It is that message that has carried the day in our successful response to this campaign. Furthermore, we intend to build on this progress, not only by continuing a dialogue with the NYU Child Study Center and using this momentum to ensure self-advocate representation at other institutions as well, but also by building on the broad and powerful alliance that secured the withdrawal of these ads in the first place. We are strongest when we stand together, as a community, as a culture and as a people.

Thank you to all of you who have made this victory possible. Remember: "Nothing About Us, Without Us!"

Regards,
Ari Ne'eman
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, President
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org
info@autisticadvocacy.org
732.763.5530

Special Interest

Ten Points to every geek person who can help me resolve this problem that Marla comments on here.

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Yesterday, I pulled this drawing out of The Elder's folder in his backpack and just totally cracked up about it. He has been getting Good marks lately at school which might be why he's been overly hyperactive at home and not wanting to answer too many questions. When he doesn't want to think about how to respond to a question, his answer is "trains."

"What day is today?"
"trains."
"Where are your glasses?"
"trains."

So this was just a funny.

-----------------
Yesterday we also went through a toy magazine and I had him point out his favorite toys.

"Well, first it's trains." (to the tune of "duh")
"What's your second favorite?"
"This one." (it was like a hot wheels track)
"What is your favorite toy that doesn't have wheels?"
"Let's go to Arts & Crafts."
(He sounded like The Teacher here)
"This one." (it was a build and paint a train craft!)
"That has wheels. Which is your favorite without wheels?"
"Just the paint."

To paint the train, no doubt.

Reading & Comprehension

Those were always my lowest scores on those standardized tests in grade school. I remember that by the time I was in high school I was very aware of this deficit (being the over high achiever that I am) and would concentrate so hard on the passage trying to figure out exactly what questions they would ask on the next page and I'd scanned the paragraphs in an attempt to memorize the whole thing. I still got low scores because the older I got, the harder and more complex the questions. I've been overanalyzing myself these days in light of The Elder's diagnosis and then the recent suggestion by The Super Doc in our last three sessions that I am classic ADHD. I'm not exactly sure what about me is so classic, but as much as I hate to admit it, the more I talked (just being myself - finally to that point with her), the more she pointed out my traits. Dang it. Just what I needed, another lightbulb moment to explain the madness I call daily life. Now I have to follow the a-ha! trail back to my childhood (that's the OCD in me, which I've always owned up to! Ha!). Reminds me of this post by Kristina. I always wondered why both my siblings have a passion for reading and I rarely ever finish a book (though I did finish Look Me in the Eye). I like to read. I love to learn. But I have to concentrate so hard to focus that sometimes I have to read out loud to myself. And I might get really excited about something that I learned in the first chapter that I'll go make life applications based on that and never finish the book! I know I'm not alone so I'm not ashamed. I just always wondered how my brother could read The Hobbit in 2 days when he was in the 6th grade and I can barely get past reading the title as an adult. The Super Doc doesn't push medication but strongly suggested it with each time I put my foot in my mouth and showed my adhd colors. Well, see my last Success Sunday quote. The good news is that I'm already on the gluten-free-casein-free reduced diet. If I see no significant change then I'll stop the meds. I'm specifically looking for consistent executive functioning skills. I tend to be one extreme or the other. The scenario that really gets me is when I spend all day on my agenda, that by the time I'm done, it's bedtime and the day is over. I think that is why I do well flying by the seat of my pants. The no-reading thing I can live with.

So this post wasn't really about MY reading and comprehension skills, but The Elder's. As you recall I have witnessed him read an entire book by himself. Well, The AP takes them to the library every Friday while I'm at a church group meeting and they check out books and videos (that has actually been great for shaking up his routine. "Sorry we returned that book to the library already, pick a different book."). Well, today after doing some great pretending (The Elder was the bus driver, I was his little girlfriend on the bus, and The Younger was The Elder on the bus - it was hilarious. We also pretended to be in the classroom, but once I told him that the bus driver doesn't go to class, maybe he should be The Teacher, he decided he wanted to be himself so that he could pick a (PECS) card and play games. Then he told me what to say..."Now you say, 'You may now go to your centers.' Say it, just like that."), we decided to read some library books because we hadn't cracked into them over the weekend and he pulls out a sequel.

"Are you going to read it to me?"
"No, you read it."
"Let's take turns."
"OK, you first."
"It was Easter morning...your turn."
"The Easter Bunny hid ten hot-paynk (TN twang for pink) marshmallow...I like marshmallows...chickens, um, chicks. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall over the house."

We continued like this until I smelled The Younger. So I leave The Elder on the couch with the book to go change a diaper (Yay! It was solid). As I was cleaning him up and spraying off the diaper (we tend to always forget to use a liner when he poops), I could hear The Elder continue to read aloud. It was so cute! He was using proper story-telling inflections in his voice. He read the rest of the book by himself! You can tell when looking over his shoulder that he doesn't sound words out as much as he tries to recognize the word first. Like saying chicken first, then correcting himself to say chick. In the past, he has said "away" instead of "always"; "engine" instead of "english"; "violin" instead of "vitamin"; etc etc.

Well, I thought I would test his comprehension level and skimmed the book and started asking questions about the the story and he got all of the questions right!

"What color were Ruby's chicks?"
"Paynk"
"What color were Max's chicks?"
"Lellow...and they go pop pop pop pop through the mail pop."
"Mail pop?"
"I mean mail slot."
"How many chicks did he get?"
"Just ten."

I verified with The AP that she hadn't read the book to him before, so it was his first time reading that book. Gushing with pride. Watch out standardized tests! We got a genius on our hands!

Success Sunday

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure. "
--George Edward Woodberry

I'm getting ready for New Year's resolution time. I figured it's better to get an attitude check a couple of weeks ahead of time! So I tried packing my week in last week and it resulted in a laaaaaazy weekend. Nice and deserved but now it is time to get back and have a great strong productive "before the storm" week! Not meaning the storm being Christmas, but traveling 420 miles with The Kiddos, The AP, The Skipper Dog, and The Hub and Me in one supervan in (hopefully) less than 8 hours! How we are going to pack the trampoline in there, I'm not sure!

If you haven't signed it yet...

SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION HERE

Click here to get background information regarding this horrible Ad Campaign. Rescue Me: The NYU Child Study Center’s Ransom Notes Ad Campaign is one of many post regarding this issue and includes many links to other people's point of views as well. This is NOT just for Autism but for other disorders that affect someone you know even if you don't know that you do because so many are hidden.

I wanted to include a special link to Maternal Instincts...Flying By the Seat of My Pants: In the Blink of An Eye, because I've been wanting to blog about this for sometime but couldn't really get my thoughts together about it with the crazy busy week, and Niksmom tends to always give me perspective when I read her posts and watch her videos of the love and joy and triumph in her family. Down days are obvious and inevitable with any disorder (much more with multiple issues). Shoot, down days are inevitable period! You don't have to add neurological differences to expect that! But what the public doesn't see are the daily victories we as the parents see in every moment.

Today The Elder accidentally slammed the front door on his brother's finger. I heard The Younger scream (you know the one - the "I'm not kidding, I'm really in terrible pain" scream) and when I got to the door, The Elder was holding him. He didn't know what to say, but he knew what to do. He had a neutral look on his face and when I asked what had happened, The Elder said matter of factly,

"I just cwosed the door on brother's hand."
"Did you say you were sorry?"
"No, I just hug him."
"That was perfect and I bet you made him feel better." (as The Younger was screaming his head off)

If you don't have a child with autism, maybe the matter-of-fact, unfeeling, robotic tone of voice may not be good enough. Maybe he must apologize and "mean it" before it is acceptable. If you have a child who has autism, you know what a big deal that is. How many times before today did he hurt his brother and not even acknowledge it? Maybe he would just walk or run away ranting "di di di di di" or plugging his ears at the sound of the screams and then hit The Younger over and over again because it was hurting his ears and hitting was the only way he thought he could get him to stop crying.

He is amazing. He has to learn how to act and how to feel where others have instinct and intuition for that. He has to memorize consequences for his actions where others have common sense for that. He is more polite than a lot of "typical" 4 year olds I know, and once you get it into his routine, he is more consistent and accurate than a lot of "typical" adults I know. He appears to be "normal" when he has his "game on" because he is being trained now to do and know the things through "early intervention" that other parents take for granted that their children will just learn one day, which maybe they will or maybe they won't.

But if your child doesn't receive "early intervention" does that mean these Ransom Notes are fingered at you to get your child out of bondage? No! These Ransom Notes drive a wedge between the child and the rest of the world. They scream out to the child "You are different and you need help and you need help now or you will be helpless because it is only going to get worse." That is what I feel like they say. What kind of awareness are they trying to spread? Are we really in a minority, especially when you consider the loved ones who have "second hand autism/adhd/depression/etc." Do our families need to be fixed or do others need to be more tolerant/accepting/respectful? The Hub is 36 years old and found out 2 months ago that he is autistic. Does that make him *poof* a victim? Was he robbed of a glorious life because he is autistic? No! He has two beautiful children and a good education and job (and me, of course) - a good life. No he's not a victim...he's a VICTOR, and so is The Elder and so is YOUR CHILD. They work harder on a daily basis to merely exist in this world of normal expectations than us "lazy" neurotypicals who can do it naturally.

For the people behind this campaign who might think our life with autism is so horrible and unfulfilling, I beg to differ. I gush with pride when The Elder says, "I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to Daddy" (even if he is just asking to turn on the radio), when he eats everything on his plate, when he uses a fork or spoon, when he sleeps with socks on his hands because he has a hangnail, when he gets dressed/undressed by himself, when he doesn't cover his ears in the public bathrooms, when he poops, when he names all of the Thomas trains and accessories, when he corrects me ("Mommy, you missed the turn."), when he pretends to be "Dog #2," when he pretends "incorrectly" (serving me pretend food/drink by covering my mouth as if to kidnap me), when he touches something gooey, when I say OW and he said, "Are you OK, Mommy?" all the while never moving his gaze away from the computer, I get teary when I hear "I love you" even if its one of the scripts. This might sound like an ordinary life to them, but to us, it is extraordinary!

Tis the season for "making" "cookies"

Ok, so I don't get the Martha Stewart award when it comes to baking, or cooking, or much in the kitchen for that matter unless there are directions on the box for how long I need to microwave it. Well, I can do magic in the crockpot. Of course the only thing I need to do it put the stuff in there and then turn it on. It's not that I CAN'T cook (with guidelines), I just don't enjoy it as much as The Hub, therefore, he and the microwave takes turns providing nutritional means for us. Well, I have 2 cookie stories for you. I've posted all of the pictures in the slideshow on the sidebar.

Sugar Cookies...

Good ole fashion gfcf sugar cookies. One of The Elder's classmate's mom send us some gfcf flours and the recipe to try. First, I never make cookies from scratch and if I do, The Hub is there to supervise and then eventually take over. The Gma was coming over so I thought I was safe. Nope. That made it worse because now I'm feeling the pressure (where do you think The Hub got his baking talent?), but kindly enough I was not chastised for pitching the rolling pin and flattening out the dough with my hands. The Gma brought us a large assortment of cookie cutters to use. I let them pick out which ones they wanted to use, so among the Christmas Trees and ornament, we also had a Christmas Question Mark, a Christmas Hand and Foot, a Christmas "L," and a Christmas "Z." Oh, and the Christmas "X" which was accidentally stretched out to look like a Cross.Ten points to the first person who correctly identifies the mass to the left of the foot.

These were ALL the sugar cookies we made. All Ten of them. The Elder did well with the sensory portion. He hated touching the butter, but once we started cutting the shapes he had a lot of fun squishing and flattening the dough. Maybe a little too much...I bit into a cookie that had dog hairs in it. ho hum. We now only have enough batter left to make about 3 cookies. It was some yummy cookie dough - and a LOT easier to do it that way.

Gingerbread Cookfins...

In this post, we were preparing for upcoming food art projects. Fast forward 2 weeks later and we still haven't done the banana pops and we finally got around to the Gingerbread Train. Well, attempting to make it. In the interim we lost the box to the cookie mix. This is disastrous to me (see first paragraph). We looked through the recycle box but we cannot find that one. I went online to this particular company's website and lo and behold they can a recipe link on their site! Woo hoo! With much confidence, I start rattling off the instructions from the computer to The Hub. Still being drugged from his procedure (at least that is the excuse I'm using), he questions the instructions but listens to me anyway.

"Really? Two eggs?"
"That's what it says."
"Are you sure we use that much oil?"
I point to the computer screen.
"Ok."

Well, it was not quite the consistency we were hoping for.Yes, that would be the kids spooning the dough into the cookie mold. The Elder was not too excited about the drippiness of the cookie dough. It was not what he expected (or any of us for that matter). We had to get him to pose for this picture. I think I got 2-3 shots of that ONE scoop he participated in before hanging out on the yoga mat.

Needless to say, the trains didn't turn out. We couldn't even get the cooked matter out of the mold in one piece. They tasted pretty darn good though. Since we were in charge of refreshments at Sunday School this morning, we used the rest of the dough/batter for mini-muffins. They got hard pretty fast, so they were firm like a cookie, but airy like a muffin. We got lots of compliments on them, despite my lame attempt to explain to them exactly what they were. One of my friends said,

"They're Cookfins!"

So there, a new tradition? Try it! All the cool kids are doing it.

OT results

We didn't get the OT services through the school system. I think I'm ok with it because he does get related services through his curriculum like for fine motor and crossing the midline and sensory activities. The OT said she evaluated him twice and he made a marked improvement between the two evaluations. I must say I agree with her that he has improved but not to the extend that she is describing. For example, the buttons. Why just THAT morning he was freaking out because I was wearing PJs with buttons on them, that he was too distracted to brush his teeth and then when I took over he grimaced and pulled away from me. The OT believes he has behavioral issues outside of sensory processing. The Teacher believes that he must have constant intellectual stimulation or he reverts to his "sensory" ways. We decided that he "performs" differently under the structured environment of school versus the unstructureness of home and church. I can still request another evaluation in the future and I still have gymnastics as an option for now if we choose to pay for it (that's the real key I guess).

Kindergarten was the other issue that arose. The Assistant Principal (I love her) said that he will go next year because he will be 5 BUT it will be an inclusion class with no resource class/CDC available to him because of some rule-changing. I'll have to learn more about that. So if I'm not ready for him to go to Kindergarten then I'll need to enroll him into a private preschool next year because public preschool will not take him if he is 5. It's scary to think that he will go from a class of 7 kids of his peers (they are all HFA/AS) to an inclusion class of 20 and No Aide (and at a different school because Karns is NOT is our zone). The Regular Ed Teacher was talking about how much he would be expected to do as far as nouns, verbs, sentence structure and story telling. Even The Special Ed Teacher said, that wouldn't be a problem because he's already doing that (me, gushing inside with pride), but his current transition skills are not up to par. So in the next 6 months they will be doing more inclusion with the Regular Preschool "typical" students to help the kids prepare for Kindergarten transition. So we will see. In the meantime I'm going to be trying to reserve him a spot in a new preschool for next year.

Me Me Too

Elissa from Managing Autism tagged me for Christmas. I shall tag some of my newer blogger friends that I've yet to read a meme on their blog.

Mandolin Mom
Gwendolyn's Gifts
Allie
Kara

(I'll get all the links once I get permission to)

I'm going to make up my own rules. Copy and paste the questions below and substitute your own answers (unless we think alike, you have permission to use my answers). Click on the picture and do your own Elf Yourself (just kidding, that's optional, but check out The AP, The Elder, and The Younger doing the jig by clicking on the picture or here - PREPARE TO ROFLMAO). Then tag 4 of your friends and let them know they've been tagged.

“When people say ‘Christmas’ you immediately think…”

Decorations. I don't particularly care to DO them, but I LOVE to look at them and drive around or go to open houses to see other families' talents. Particularly, we have a house in our neighborhood that displays a Christmas dolphin, sun, and flamingo. That one is just tradition to go see.

“Favourite Christmas memory…”

As a child, I remember getting up the next morning to see what was in my stocking. The specific memory that comes to mind was when we got a trampoline and they had it set up in the back yard already and I started jumping around the house. I remember my sister and brother being just as excited about seeing my reaction to the surprise.

As an adult, my favorite memory was having my whole family spending Christmas here in TN. Not only did we not have to travel, but the whole family was together (something that hasn't happened in 3 years) and I remember it being very relaxing in the middle of a stressful time in my life.

“Favourite Christmas song/carol…”

When we are together, my sister and brother and I sing together. We are a SAT trio who each had the same high school chorus teacher, therefore know many of the same arrangements. Our favorites are Carol of the Bells, O Holy Night, and Joy in the Morning.

“Favourite Christmas movie…”

I'm not sure I have a favorite. I did mention Elf the other day. But I do love the classics - Miracle of 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life.

“Favourite Christmas character…”

Probably the reindeer. They are so cute - especially the Rodney Reindeer stuffed animals. I used to call him Dopey Deer.

“Favourite Christmas ornament/object…”

A Star or the nativity. I think it is really important to remember why we even have the season.

“Plans for this Christmas…”

To travel to see my family and be together again for the first Christmas in a long time.

“Is Christmas your favourite holiday?”

I'm not sure I have ever had a favorite holiday, but I suppose I would say that Christmas season is my favorite time of the year for so many reasons. It is a time when you have many opportunities to reflect, give, appreciate, keep in touch, set new goals, and be others-focused.

BTW, The Hub is doing well. Here's his post-procedure post. All I can say is TGIF. I still have to work but I don't have to GO anywhere! Woo hoo! Well, I do have a Mom's Group party to go to tonight.

Not quite dead yet...see you Thursday...

Ten Points to the first person who names the source of the title (The Hub cannot play!!).

This week has been tougher on me than I thought it would be - physically that is. Tuesday started the ball really rolling because it was a loooooooooooooooooong day. My first meeting was at 7:30am. The last was in Chattanooga. I actually skipped the meeting, The Hub went solo and I had dinner with a friend. Ha! But we didn't get back home until close to midnight.

This morning I got up and got The Elder ready for school at the normal 6am (except it was about 6:40 when I got around to it). When the AP took over The Younger at 8am, I went back to bed until 10:30am. I chose to NOT feel guilty about it because I knew I had a 9-top show tonight AND tomorrow is the Four-fer, which just recently turned into a Five-fer commitment day (I'm delivering an order between the psych and school appointments because her work office is on the way - so not too terribly time consuming). Fortunately, The Grandma came by to see the kids (though we made cookies so it wasn't that relaxing - pretty stressful as a matter of fact being the first batch of gfcf cookies I've ever made, but the quality time was great) and I've got her lined up to Hub-sit after his surgery tomorrow while I'm at my meeting. I told her that he would probably be just fine, but that I would feel less guilty if she came and sat with him.

I left at 5 something tonight to drive to the eastside of town for the party and came home and asked The Hub to make me a vitamin shake because I was going to need the boost to get through tomorrow!

I would post cookies photos (which are so funny) but I'm too tired. I hope I don't forget to blog about it this weekend because it was great. Someone remind me. But not tomorrow...

Good-night...

Trip to the Doc

This was actually a well-check up for The Elder for his 4th year of existence. I really hadn't expected it to take as long as it did but The Younger came too and missed a nap because of it.

This was the first time The Elder had been to the pediatrician since his diagnosis. It didn't occur to me until we had to fill out the PDQ form. This was the first time that he struggled with the questionnaire. We cheated and answered all of the questions (instead of stopping at 3 no's). The ones he got Yeses to were all non-verbal questions like, "which one moos?" "which is red?" "which is longer?" which he answered correctly without much thought. The ones he got Nos to were all motor skills and language questions like copying a circle or plus sign, drawing a person, hopping on one foot, balancing on one foot, "what do you do when it's cold?" "what is a chair?" "what is a pencil?" There were more of the latter and he hit 3 no's pretty soon. I was devastated at the black and white of his abilities.

When we saw The Doctor, he was fascinated at his diagnosis (evidently they haven't received the report from the psychologist's office yet) and asked a ton of questions. These were the very same questions that I used to get really defensive about when other people asked them. But since he's been going to his special class, I have much more confidence in what he is and is not capable of doing and which ones are significant and which are not, and the significant ones don't seem like such a huge mountain anymore. A blip, if I may steal vocabulary from Kristen, that needs special attention for now, but will get better after an inconvenience. The Doctor was there long enough to witness their chaotic, no-nap behavior The Elder's speech limitations and recognized where he was using scripts and when he was not. I was satisfied with that. I also told him that he could read.

"What book can you read all by yourself?"
"Max and Ruby's ABC Book."

The Doctor says, "Oh is he recognizing words now?"
So I grab a piece of paper of recommended books that they just gave me and gave it to The Elder. "What does this say?"

"The Little Engine That Could" (OK that was kinda cheating as we have like 4 versions of that)
"Keep Going..."
"Mittens....Marshmallows! Oh I like marshmallows! I hold the bag."
(That's his job when we make s'mores though he doesn't eat them. He prefers the marshmallows in the "raw." Must be a sensory aversion to gooey. We no longer indulge ourselves in s'mores since it is the opposite of gfcf.)

So it was an interesting trip to the Doc. Didn't have to ask for a probiotic for The Younger as he was recovering, see The Hub's post. But The Elder did have to get a shot and I feel terribly guilty. I didn't know he was due and I struggled with "do I tell him or do I just let them do it?" If the former he may flail wildy in opposition and The Nurse wouldn't be able to approach him. If the latter he may flail wildly in opposition when The Nurse approached him with the needle. Well, I did the latter. I don't know if it was the right decision or not, but he got nicked a little when he jerked (he was laying there so willingly and innocently). He cried for a LONG time. It wasn't a "I'm in pain" cry, it was a "My feelings are hurt" cry. At one point he even sobbed, "I can't stop crying." My heart breaks everytime I replay that in my head. I know he will remember the next time we go which will be his kindergarten check, hopefully not that is.

Well, it has a good ending. They both fell asleep on the way home and I had 2 deliveries to make, so it was a nice resting period for a no-nap day.

Turn it back to 2

I'm sure this is a common trait among Aspergians who love music...Track Memorization. The following video of The Elder showcases his singing talent to Track #2 of the They Might Be Giants album Here Come the ABC's. The Hub is a huge TMBG fan and we even got to see them in concert, stageside, at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville. That was pretty awesome. The Hub got to see them again in Market Square. So when this album came out he was quick to purchase it. We have been subjecting The Elder to both the CD and the DVD ever since then. His favorite song at first was "The Alphabet Lost and Found." We had to replay that one over and over again. But now he pretty much has the entire soundtrack lyrics memorized. The difference now is he is singing it (not just letting the words come out of his mouth in some random tune or non-tune, whichever the case may be). I've been trying to capture this on video for weeks now but today The Elder finally got all the way through it (with visual aid for focus - he successfully did not sing my to-do list on the right half of the page), and The Younger wasn't louder than the music. Enjoy the Show! (You may need to turn your speakers up.)

The Alphabet of Nations

The Elder is modeling his paper crown that we made today for our Advent Devotional Activity.

One unscheduled event

It's 2 in the morning and we've had a poop disaster, a poop scare, and a family of four who may not get back to bed tonight! Details one of these days...

Updated at 8:06AM
[WARNING: not for the weak-tummied readers]

Ok, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of the toilet flushing, which is odd because I'm the only member of my family it seems that knows how to do that. I didn't hear a cry out to wipe or pitter patter of feet to the kitchen for plundering so I laid back down but stayed awake because I had taken some allergy meds and it tends to affect my sleep in that way. About 10 minutes later I hear The Younger crying out for me that he "poo pooed, mommy!"

He has had the runs off and on for about 2 weeks now. We think that it started with too much chocolate the last week of November and his tummy environment has yet to recover. The Hub is feeding him Yogurt (of the Casein variety) as we speak to help. I have a doc appointment tomorrow so hopefully he will get a probiotic of some sort. I don't believe it is a virus merely because of the inconsistency, the length of time it has been going on, and the fact that none of us have caught it (knock on wood) despite the fact that he is mr. drooly boy. (I'd like for everyone to think that I keep my house germ-free, but sadly, I do not.) I alluded to a former poop disaster in some of the comments I've left on others' blogs but didn't really document it here. I'll just give the highlights here for my own journaling sake.

• On Dec, 3, did some Christmas shopping with just me and The Younger, stopped at Belk to purchase a gift card
• Was checking out the sales for myself when I smelled something awful
• The Younger asks for new diaper
• I failed to bring a diaper bag, but alas, we keep spare diapers in the car
• We do not keep spare diaper wipes in the car
• So we must go home, so I pick him up and put him in his car seat and retreat my poo-covered hand in parking space next to the handicap space so on-lookers wouldn't have to go out of their way to be a witness to my misfortune.
  
• New car and new diet, so there was not a stack of fast food restaurant napkins in the glove box.
• There was however, tissue in a baby shower gift bag (hey, it was an emergency), and a plastic shopping bag from going to Staples earlier.

We did make it home (sans Belk gift card) and I stripped him naked in the 50 degree weather outside and carried him straight to the tub. Placed all the garments and car seat cover and seat belts in the washer. He's telling the story all day, "Poo poo on my back, poo poo on my seat belt, poo poo on my leg....etc." I could have sung along, "Poo poo on my jeans, Poo poo on my coat, Poo poo on my car..."

So fast forward to 2am this morning. Since I was already awake from the toilet flushing, I decided the nice thing to do was take care of it myself, and not nudge The Hub to do the dirty deed. As I removed PJ pants, poop streaked his legs. Great. A messy one. (Remember they had been inconsistent in consistency and volume) Great. A BIG messy one. Without going into gory details of how it was dripping everywhere and he was squirming all over the place (oops, I guess that was a gory detail), it ended up that I had to hollar out to wake up The Hub for help.

As we were getting it all cleaned up with The Hub tackling hosing down The Younger and me taking care of the carpet and walls and clothes, The Elder appears and is butt-naked and he has his brown-mass covered hands in my face saying, "I need to wash my hands." It was on his face, his hands, and his bottom. I panicked. But then I caught wind of a pleasant smell. Whew. It was just chocolate. Chocolate!?!?!?! Where did you get that and why are you eating it at 2AM??? "I'm hungry."

To his defense, we had gone to his class party and there really wasn't a lot for him to eat (but contraband chocolate). So we go make him a piece of gluten-free toast and peanut butter. Of course you can't do for one that you aren't willing to do for The Younger so he partook as well. Then I got a little hungry myself. Peer pressure I suppose. We were all wide awake and had to start back and do the evening routine all over again.

I finally crawled into my bed around 5ish. At 7:30, The Younger comes to our bedside and we hear the most awful sound come from his body. We both sat straight up (Thank God he was on Dad's side of the bed!) and The Hub rushed him to the bathroom as The Younger exclaims, "BIG poo poo." Minimal movement translates to "maintained containment." Whew!

Alls well that ends well. Until next time....

Success Sunday

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"
--Robert Schuller

This wasn't the quote that I originally wanted to use for today. We had a guest speaker on Thursday and I think she was quoting Thomas Edison, but I couldn't find it verbatim on google but it was something like the key ingredient to success is failure. It sounds negative but so many people give up when they fail, especially when they fail the same way over and over again. I have been complaining about my lack of executive functioning for what, 6 months now? Well, I have totally thrown myself over the line and I literally am totally booked up next week with 2-3 appointments/engagements per day (including Saturday, I had 3 events, and Sunday (today) I have 2, not including church). Even a four-fer on Thursday: a psychologist appointment at 9:15, OT meeting with the school at noon, an outpatient surgical procedure for The Hub at 3:45, followed by a work meeting that I'm leading at 5:00. That probably looks like a "walk in the park" (er, mall) week for super moms like Niksmom, but I'm in a whirlwind and couldn't be happier because I do like being busy, believe it or not, and I love the feeling that I will be productive. Yes, I'm a little freaked out at the night and day comparison of my schedule and the amount of energy I'll need to muster up to survive it (no gluten for me), but I trust that it will all work out. I fly by the seat of my pants pretty well, so maybe if I pretend that I don't have my week planned out, I'll have a successful week without all the anxiety of feeling like I'm in over my head. (Who am I?? Boy, those drugs are good!)

That's what friends are for...

I met a lady just last night at our sunday school class's Christmas Party whose 5yo son was told that he was probably on the spectrum but they weren't going to diagnose him yet (of course not because that might cost the school money), and all I could think to tell her was "you need my network of friends." Thanks to Elissa at Managing Autism who sent me this award, or acknowledgment rather. I'm very flattered and honored as helping others via my experiences is something that is important for me to pass on because of what I have gained from everyone. Virtual or not, you guys give me so much support, more than I could ever imagine having. And if I may sound a little self-centered, just knowing that people visit my blog and pay attention to what I have to say is sometimes enough to get me through a woe-is-me day. So I would like to acknowledge the following people in my "colorful circle of friends" who have shared with me, taught me something profound, and helped lift the fog:

Elissa at Managing Autism
Casdok at Mother of Shrek
Jen at Jen's Blot
Karen at Beyond Understanding
Tulip Mom
Mandolin Mom
John at Look Me in the Eye
Bonnie at Coffee Autism Faith Explored
Maddy at Whitterer on Autism
Niksmom at Maternal Instincts
Marla
Gwen at Gwendolyn's Gifts
Kara
Susan at I Run for My Life
David (my big bro - where I learned the rules of the Big Brother Rites, but I love you anyway!)
The Hub (last but not least, my partner in our adventure of life - today is our 11.5 anniversary)

Most of the links are on my sidebar blogroll, if you are not and would like to be added please let me know! (I'm totally getting out of the Linking Test)

I know there are other people who read my blog, but either are not bloggers themselves or do not comment and I do want to acknowledge you too, whoever and wherever you are! (I have Google Analytics so I know you exist! Cue: Mischievous Laugh). Leave a comment here so I can properly thank you unless you are a "lurker" and like it to stay that way, which is fine too!

My lil GPS - Part II

In my last post, I forgot to mention the ride to the Party. The Kiddos were having a echolalia/perserveration contest. Two kids. Two topics. Too Loud. Two highly entertained parents (The Hub was on speaker phone). The Younger was actually trying to have a conversation with Dad on the phone so I can't say that he was in this contest, but definitely in the who-can-be-louder contest. The Elder was quoting the OnStar electronic voices as he was navigating me to the house (mind you, OnStar was not on). We probably haven't been to this house in 3-4 months, but he knew the way.

"Do I turn left or right?" (So I guess I started it)
"Right" (said to the tune of "Duh")

"Is this M's House?"
"This just isn't it. In half a mile, turn right. You have left the planned route. Do you need new directions? Say Yes or No. Say Yes or No. Say Yes or No."

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