Thursday, December 22, 2011

Toys R Us and Thievery..

For the sake of argument, let's all assume "Thievery"is being used correctly (and for all I know spelled) for the rest of this post. It'll make this whole thing go smoother. So 2 days ago I got an email from the bank that the balance was SUPER low. Like. Really low. I thought that was odd, but went online to figure out what was going on, to discover that *someone* had gone to Toys R Us in TULSA and  done 3 transactions totaling almost $1000. Since C hadn't left the house that day, nor had I, a call to customer service was made. Thievery of C's card number had occurred.  He HAS his card. He never "loans" it out. The girl said she would stop the charges from going through and it shouldn't actually hit the account. She said the fraud department had already flagged it and canceled his card. It SOUNDED like it was taken care of.

Until today. I start balancing that account and those charges are there. All 3 of them. ARGG. I call them again and THIS girl says that they have NO way to stop charges to go through. And Really, what I should do - is call Toys R Us and see if they will refund the charges themselves. OH HELL NO I will not. I already was told you were going to block the freaking charges, plus Toys R Us is going to LAUGH like no tomorrow if I call them and say "Oh, can you just give me $1000. I was never there. Thanks. A receipt? No. Proof? Well I have charges on my account." Yeah. Good luck with that one. It's also obvious someone at Toys R Us in on the thievery of the card numbers since the number was run 3 times. Who would DO that if it wasn't stolen?  So now it's going to be up to 10 business days before we get the $1000 refunded by the bank.  And the moral of the story? If you go somewhere where you hand your card to a person and they walk off with it, give them an actual credit card like the experts keep saying. Apparently people CAN skim or scam or whatever it's called and steal your number and spend everything in your account causing a giant pain in the arse.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

People!


So this post was originally going to be titled "You Can't Beat the Autistic Kid.." as you may figure - that's how the past week has gone. But I had about half of it typed out and then I got lazy and saved it and went to answer the summons of "But MOMMMYYYY" and never got back to it. Then this morning we went to a Playdate. It was with People. We haven't left the house and seen People since before Thanksgiving. (And yes, the capitol "P"'s are on purpose thankyouverymuch.)  The to-do list is just as long. The kids moods aren't really any better. But it's surprising how much better being around GROWNUPS for just a few hours can be even if there are screaming kids in the background.  Not that we had hermitted that long by choice, illness made it necessary, but it's obvious by the fact that I seem to actually like my kids again that perhaps there was a bit of The Shining effect going on. REDRUM. REDRUM. Never know what's going to happen when it's all work and no play and odd topiary creatures appear in the lawn.

Anyhow. T1 went to the dentist again and is down some more teeth. Of course the tooth fairy came and left a small tooth pulling prize and some cash. The teeth that were growing in all wonky are already starting to look flatter and more straight in her mouth, which makes me think that it's *might* all be worth while in the long run to do this whole tooth pulling business. (You know, typical parental doubt.) If it saves her from having years and years and years of work with braces and what not later.. 


T1 ALSO got her ears pierced.

She did remarkably well with it and has been really good about reminding me to help her clean them and not playing with them. She almost changed her mind when I reminded her it was an actual hole they would be poking through her ear, but she wanted to be like the other girls in her Girl Scout troop.  I  had told her about a year ago that as soon as she decided she wanted to get them done, I'd take her.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Still Sick..

Yup. They're still sick. Took them in to the doctor. They have the flu. Apparently H1N1 and the regular flu got together and had a love child. They have the Love Child flu. T2 also has croup. He is absolutely horribly miserable. He's lost his voice. They both continuously have a fever over 101. T2 wants to just be held continuously, which heck, so would I. 

The doctor said they will both probably feel completely miserable and fevery for another 4-5 days on top of the 5-6 they've already had. BAD Baby Love Child Flu. BAD.

Poor Sick Babies!

T1 and T2 are sick. Super sick. T1 started off with a fever of 103.5 on Thursday and has been bouncing back and forth with Motrin between 102 and 99. It's Sunday night. Her eyes are glossy, she's got under eye circles. She doesn't bounce, play, frolic. It's rather pathetic. We've had to miss her Christmas Parade with her Girl Scout troop on Saturday as well as the circus Saturday evening. She's going to have to miss the Girl Scouts ornament exchange tomorrow too because we just can't get her fever down. We missed Ms. Jennifer (her behaviorist) Thursday. We are having to miss Ms. Chan (her beloved OT) tomorrow too. She is so miserable she doesn't even care. I have no idea what's wrong with my precious wee girl, other than the fever and feeling overall blech, she's only said her belly has hurt a little bit. We've gone to just basic therapies to keep her on schedule, but pretty much dropped everything else because they are both just SO lethargic.


Then we get to T2. His started Wed. His fever has been more mild overall but more constant at a 101-102. He started coughing some last night and has lost his voice mostly today and has both legs completely cramped up now to the point of him crying he "lost the use of his legs" all day.  He barely eats, hasn't slept unless he's been laying on me, is in a foul mood, barely moves around. He's miserable. There's no way around it. But there's no real "symptoms". I would guess the flu if he were snotty or sneezy more or complained he ached. But neither have. He's been drinking fluids well, so we put off going to the doctor so we could see HIS ped. since he has such a complex history for a 5 year old.

We have done SO many craft projects since they got sick, it's disgusting. We made Christmas trees out of tissue paper, snowmen out paper plates, glittery pine cones, snow globes, ornaments... I'm running out of ideas of what to DO with them other than let them watch tv and play video games and read to them. T2 literally crawls on the floor like an sad, pathetic inchworm. For some reason, it hits them both worse in the middle of the night too. The Motrin wears off - and those 2 can take up some serious bed space now that they are bigger.

But, we got our Christmas tree up. This is the first time we've ever gotten it up and decorated this early, but had to think of something to do with them. The kitten LOVES to climb it.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Blog Reading..

I was reading this blog thing earlier and it had a Facebook question leading from to it.. (Or from it.. or however that works..) And it was "How long have you been homeschooling?" 85% of the people answers included SOME version of "from birth" in it. REALLY?  From birth? How the heck are you "homeschooling from birth?" The kid pops out and you show it a book at tell it to read at 2 days old?? Damn your kid must be brilliant! I want to see that. I do, I honestly want to see someone "homeschooling" a freaking newborn. I can see "How long have you PLANNED on homeschooling?" "How long have you desired on...?" "When did you decide to...?" But come on..  You can't teach a newborn to not throw up it's breakfast, let alone a useful, viable piece of knowledge, and any parents JOB as a parent is to teach it basic life functioning.

Thank you, this has been the irrational rant for the day.. *curtsy*

Monday, November 28, 2011

Never Boring..

I must admit it's never boring here. How I wish it were, OH how I wish it were. Between the Thanksgiving holiday, Christmas anxiety (one has to know when it is - EXACTLY when it is. The other is better of not know - until it magically appears.), medical issues, and homeschooling 1 & 2 - it's never boring. Why just 2 seconds ago I had to explain why you can't just randomly learn things from a book (a piano book specifically) and have it mastered in 3 seconds. The specific explanation, after the normal version didn't work, included 4 pieces of wood, 20 screws and Sumo John falling on his arse when only 2 screws are used per piece of wood. The logic evaded what was being built with 4 pieces of wood with said screws but somehow THAT made the point. Illogical logic. Great.

1 & 2 have also decided they REALLY want *me* to teach them to play piano. NOW. Mathematically and with numbers. Awesome. *I* don't know how to play piano. And. Last time *I* looked at music it wasn't "math" based per se. But by golly it will be by the time I'm done with it.  Now. I must clarify that the piano thing isn't out of nowhere exactly, but T1 took piano lessons for a while from a wonderful, great teacher. Megan is a fantastic teacher. T1 got very, very frustrated as the lessons got harder because it's turning out she *probably* has some sort of education learning disability that they are just now testing for that makes it so she can't process past 3 steps in a row. As piano gets harder, there are more steps. Left hand, right hand, reading notes, hand position, etc. She literally gets stuck inside her brain and freezes in a loop. My current theory is to simplify the lessons by changing the notes to numbers (she can't tell patterns and differences in note location either.. Another piano/music learning flaw..) to help alleviate some of the steps to see if I can help her get past a portion of the loop.  T2 has an overwhelming urge to learn it to, so with 2 really eager triers and a piano already, a piano learning, again, we go.  Now, I know there are piano teachers and players alike groaning in misery. Sorry. I really am. I don't know how to play piano. Never really wanted to learn. Really don't want to have labels ALL over the piano, but come the end of the day - labels there will be. 







Sunday, November 20, 2011

Turkey Week!

Thanksgiving is Thursday! While that is good, getting there is going to be a royal PITA. T2 has his EEG on Tuesday. T1 has Therapy and  Girl Scouts Monday. C has a colonoscopy and endoscopy Wednesday.

Getting to Thursday is going to be special. For the EEG T2 has to be kept awake until at midnight Monday night and then be woken up by 5 am. His appt is at 10ish. That boy loves his sleep. I have NO idea how the hell we are going to keep him awake until midnight. We can barely keep him awake until 9 for the 4th of July. The waking him up is going to be a battle of epic proportions because we can't give him any chocolate (ie no chocolate milk) which is his favorite wakey beverage. Not a lot, just a smidge in his milk. But, it's a routine, and breaking a routine on a stressful morning is going to break the morning and day and evening. Fun times.

Thanksgiving this year is going to be ham. Mmmm Ham. C doesn't eat Turkey. We've had a chicken the last few years, but are going full our Hammy this year. And potatoes, and stuffing, and cherry pie. Because who doesn't like pie??

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Weekend!

It was a busy weekend for having absolutely nothing going on. Oddly, there's always something to DO around here.

T1 started listening therapy again last Monday. Listening therapy is a fairly intensive program (because what would it be if it wasn't intensive and time consuming around here?) where she listens to modified music 25-30 minutes - 2 times daily, everyday for several months at a time. During the time she is listening to the music (which is through special headphones and programed mini-sd card on a player now) she has do be doing something "creative". Sooo. I have to come up with 2 - 30 minute crafts every stinkin' day now too. This is in addition to the brushing every 2 hours or so as well as still going to OT and behavioral therapy every week. All in all it averages about 3 hours of therapy a day or more. Not counting "extras" like fits, mood swings, outbursts, or learning moments. Those can easily add an extra several hours a day or week.

T2 has gotten sick. He's got a super sore throat with little pus pockets, a slight fever, and blood coming out in his sinus rinse. I'm going to have to get him to the ped. tomorrow. This on top of trying to get him adjusted to the new medication jump is going to be super special. He's miserable today, but taking him to something like an urgent care given his problems - isn't going to be all that helpful. He needs to be seen by HIS doctor. The one who believes ME when I tell them something is wrong because of the way he presents with problems.

C had to work all weekend, but even so we managed to get a few things done. A tent is currently occupying our entire living room. The gerbils have a nice clean bed. I got all the therapies, medications, and sinus rinses done despite massive protest.  A cat, snake, button, and badges have all been sewn. Groceries were gotten on Friday. The house is somewhat clean-ish and the 20 loads of laundry done this week put  away. (I swear it multiplied at night. I'd go to bed almost caught up then there would be 4 more loads!)

I admit I am copying this listing idea of being productive from http://oursunnyview.blogspot.com/ . Sometimes, when the To-Do list is 900 miles long, it's hard to remember what you HAVE done and need to write that down too.                    

Friday, October 28, 2011

Cops

I must admit I don't *like* traffic cops too much - what grown up does really? But today, today the kids and I actually cheered for an undercover car that happened to just be in the right place at the right time and the DID pull over a guy who was drive like a complete fool.

My friend called me and asked me to pick up her sweet precious girl from Betty Rowland (which we love and if I could figure out a way to finagle them to let me send my kids there until they were 20 - I SO would do it). Going down the main road, through a school zone (we don't go there, but I don't want to run over their kids!) this fool come zipping in and out around cars going 45. To make it better, he's talking wildly on his phone complete with gesticulations. Then, he zipped passed the cop. And promptly got pulled over.

And the Peasants Rejoiced.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Georgia

We are working on the States - learning a little about each one (the capitol, the flower, the motto, the state animal, the state bird, what the state is known for..) and we were doing Georgia today. T1 is responsible for MOST of the work, seeing as how T2 is just getting to the point of being able to read and write adequately and T1 can do both fairly proficiently. (Well, that and that silly age difference - but if you heard THEM bring it up there is no difference.)  I'm sitting with my laptop trying to find something that will make Georgia look exciting and fun (really all I found was a state that would KILL ME- but that's a different topic), and was asking them their questions at the same time so they could look through the library books to find the answers and write them down. I then got to "What's the state flower?" T2 is, at this point, in his underwear (again - it's 2 pm at this point), dangling upside with his legs flopping about down in the corner of the couch doing a headstand. He states happy as can be "A rose. I don't know what kind of rose though, but a rose of some kind."

Now, I'm sure there are a TON of people who think the memorization of facts is very important. That the capitols, birds, flowers etc have to be memorize by state and be regurgitated for all times - *I* am not one of said people. I figure that unless the world comes to a immediate end and/or zombies attack that's what the internet, smartphone, iphones, and the like are for. It IS important to know the states, about where they are on a map,  geographically what they are next to, be familiar with the capitol so if someone SAYS it you don't look like an idiot. So I Google the answer because T1 has the books and I don't know what the flower is right off the top of my head. The state flower of Georgia is the Cherokee Rose.  T1 had no idea and she remembers almost everything she finds interesting. Just another reason I don't doubt the weird things my kids say even when they are upside down, in their underwear, talking on and on about roses - Those weird little monsters of mine are usually right when it comes to stuff like that.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Misfortune

Much to our dismay Gus didn't make it to the end of last week. He curled up into his favorite chair and died. Unfortunately his favorite chair was also computer chair, but you can't really just wipe that off when they are clinging to it (as my friend N suggested). Now admittedly she's never really had pets or cats and is very liberal about her "Death Policy". I have the - If Something Dies On It, It's Gone" rule.  I also have the "Poke It With A Stick To See If It Moves" policy which I also think N may not have. So while it IS inconvenient to be down a chair, sure is better than a sofa or a bed.


We also got a kitten. We call it the "Replacement Plan". My mom happened to know that the vet had some wee little kittens and she went and got one and "showed up" with one for the kids. C and I knew and talked to her about it, but the kids still think it was a complete surprise and she got to save the day and get hero points that way. *Shrug* Someone should. I got to explain their cat was dead and that at some point we'd probably get another one - I certainly wasn't getting any. C wouldn't just come home with a kitten without having me look at it first because he likes to be all considerate and nice. But sometimes, it's just easier when a kitten magically appears.




Monday, October 17, 2011

Behind..

I am painfully behind in posting. In everything really. We went to the pediatric neurologist and have been hoping the medication adjustment would solve all of T2's problems. They haven't. Not only did they NOT solve the headaches - he's getting a migraine everyday. He's now not sleeping at night and growling  like a hyena at people and aggressive and well. A wilderbeast. SO. It's safe to say option 1 on the meds is a no. But we have to give it until Thursday and then taper him back down THEN switch him to option 2, which also has wilderbeast side effects. OH YAY!

We also took a few days off and went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Texas. The kids had a really, really good time. We stopped by Legoland while we were there too. Small, but pretty cute. There was a little aquarium we went to there, but our aquarium here is massively bigger and better. I took about 4 pictures the entire time we were gone. I was picture lazy.

It was also my birthday on the day we drove back. C got me a super pretty purse. And the kids each made me a card. I DO have those and will put those up. They can each read and write so well now.

Also came back to one cat having mauled the others and poor Gus got a cold and is still sick. :( Nothing sadder than a wheezy, snot encrusted cat. Not to mention he went to the vet today.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Neurologist and MRI

T2 had his MRI. That boy did SOOOOO good. He was anxious - as any little boy would be. But, we stopped at QuikTrip - where some douchebag smashed his head in the door, but that's a different story all together- and got him some after MRI Cheetos bribe. We got to St. Francis and they had to get all of our insurance stuff straightened out and his forms filled out and his bracelets on, you know, the typical processing stuff. Well then we got back to radiology where the tech greeted us with a syringe and sound loudly that they had ordered contrast and that he was going to be Okay with an IV right? T2 is a clever little fellow and caught JUST enough of that to know what it meant and started to SCREAM like a pig being slaughtered. He HATES needles of any kind. He screams when *I* get my allergy shots. It takes 4 nurses to hold him down for his flu shots. So. No. The long and short of it is that contrast via IV probably isn't gonna happen.

But the tech was really great about it. She told him that it was ok, as long as he held really, really still and they got good pictures - they wouldn't have to. And she was good on her word. T2 held perfectly still the entire 20 minutes. He laid on his hands to keep from grabbing the things hold his head in, he didn't wiggle, flinch, squirm, or anything then entire time. And she didn't force the contrast issue.

We then went to the Pediatric Neurologist this morning. The neurologist was super nice. And now we have a headache plan. He's to double his atenolol for 2 weeks. IF that doesn't make a significant difference take him off of that and he gave us a script for something else to try. We go back in 6 weeks. He also has to go in about a month for an EEG to test for a certain kind of migraine. This is gonna be special because he's got to be sleep deprived. Go to bed at midnight and be awake by 5. Oy. Ah well. But it's a plan at least.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Wednesday..

So I'm a lousy Homeschooling Mom today. We are totally not doing anything really book related, but just enough "other" stuff that I can sort of, kinda, justify if as "School". We played Banangrams for spelling for instance. T2 is actually getting to the point where he can play. He knows a LOT of words now. I had the kids help me clean out the frog, gerbil, and fish tanks and we talked about the animal health and how we have to do certain things to keep them healthy. I pronounced this science. We did laundry, dishes, swept, and general toy tiding and well.. You gotta lean how to these things efficiently. Practice makes perfect. We are going to go to Texas in a few days on a wee few days trip and I'm going to have them look at the map and show them the route we'll take and plot out our stops with the places they want to stop. Legoland, the American Girl Store, Great Wolf Lodge, C wants to go to Fry's.. Look at those map skills they'll learn..

We did do a few pages in our math books, mostly because the girl is having issues with the section she's in and I want her to keep pushing through now that she's finally gotten the concept she was having issues with. I also don't want to hear "But I don't WANNNNNNNAAA. We didn't Yeeeessterdaaaaay." Tomorrow.

While we were cleaning the frog cage (which is more difficult that it may seem BTW), I got a call from T1's occupational therapist. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but she said that she wants to do some testing with her next week because her boss - the actual therapist who designs the the therapy program for each child- was reviewing her last results and saw something she wants to test for. Something visual processing? She's going to call me back her in a little bit with scheduling information - which is unfortunately going to probably be the same afternoon we get back, but *shrug* we live wild like that.

The other interesting kink in our plans is T2 is going for an MRI tomorrow and then to a pediatric neurologist Friday. His head has been hurting for several weeks and he's had a round of antibiotics (the regular ped thinking it was a sinus infection) with no relief. He's already on atenolol for migraines - which has helped enormously. BUT. They came back. Sooo he's being sent to a specialist now. Poor little fella. 10 sinus surgeries and a pediatric neurologist. :(  Not to mention  his head hurting all the time.

 

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Mommy Furies..

So my kid has reached a new level of infuriating today. She's developed the ability to throw purposeful fits in an attempt to get what she wants. Fits have been a longstanding problem for us. BAD fits. HOUR long, horrible fits. They are a symptom of our issues and are usually symbolic of a larger, unresolved, issue that sometimes SHE isn't even sure of. Usually she gets out of control of herself. She literally cannot cognatively control her behavior until we hit a breaking point. I can brush her and it helps and then we hit the crying portion and at some point we talk and I can play "Let Guess The Problem". After that a solution is come up with and after some bouncing and more brushing, the world is once again happy.

TODAY, that is sooo not what we had. Today she had a willful fit in an attempt to get out of something - specifically subtraction. The truly awkward part? She LOVES math. Adores it. Then decided she wasn't going to do it. She then attempted to mimic her "normal" pattern. But, given that she's.. HER.. it was an epic fail. Not even a close representation. She told me what she was going to do, ie "I'm going to run of in 3 seconds, Momma, I'm  going to ruuuun off. Momma. 1. 2. 3." Then was surprised when I told her to sit herself back down!

So after a rather lengthy ordeal that went on, and on, and well.. on. I talked to T1 about why she would suddenly think it was ok to try to have a fit to get what she wanted or get out of something. She then told me that she has her therapists (her OT and behavioral) convinced that it should work that way. Apparently, this coming week when I see these ladies (who have been working wonders with her) and asking them to STOP catering to these little "episodes".



But you know what fixes most bad days, even when they keep going and going?? Cuddling with a Super Puppy :)

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Fishing, Frogs, and Ticks! Oh My!

We went fishing up in Slick with Grandad today. The weather was great. *I* thought the fishing was good - but I caught 6 fish and T1 broke her line and Grandad and T2 both caught 1. C well. Lets say he was playing support staff too often to spend much time actually fishing. T1 actually spend a lot of her time catching little frogs. Since we are coming up to the amphibian portion of our science, we brought several home with us in an empty container.

The cats are surprisingly happy about this and we've had to bungie the lid closed because Molly figured out how to pop the lid off. Since I already let one loose in the kitchen and played a riveting game of hunt the frog, we went ahead and just made it hard for him to let them out.

Then, when we got home I discovered we brought home some unexpected "friends". If your friends are parasitic bugs, and really don't we all have some?? I had 1 on my leg and T1 had one on her forehead. The boys had none. NONE! How that's fair, I don't know.. But eeeewwwww.... Now I get all itchy then get paranoid about being itchy.. Aww well!



Monday, September 19, 2011

Reading

So I did reading level tests with 1 & 2 this morning. T1 is showing that she is proficient at a beginning 5th grade level. T2 is showing he is proficient at a 1.4th grade level. Must say I'm proud of both of the little monkeys. T1 never has had trouble learning to read. She's never struggled at all. T2 has. He and I battle with it almost daily, but he's clearly learning how to read. Though he would have been starting kindergarten this year at public school, he's clearly RIGHT where he should be.  It makes me happy that we've made the right decision for him. I think everyone who homeschools worries about that at some point. Is their child learning? Are they better off at home than at school? I like to occasionally do things like reading assessment tests (even though we don't do TEST tests) to make sure they ARE at a minimum level of where I put our goals - which I hope are more lofty that TPS's.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Oh.. *Sigh*

Sinus Boy has returned with a vengeance. It's a looooonnggg ongoing problem. But he's got another sinus infection to go along with the hole in his ear. (We DO already have a hearing test scheduled later this month and they are going to see if we need to go get it patched.) Not to mention, he's not feeling well.  That - on top of catching the microwave on fire while trying to make foam with Ivory soap. And. Also. ALL instant potato flakes are flammable, NOT just Potato Buds. It's a good thing to know, trust me.


T1 did the best thing this weekend.  We were going to Sam's and saw our elderly neighbors out. We don't really KNOW them, but see them out. When we got to Sam's and passed the flower isle, she asked if we could get them a small bunch of flowers to make their day better. I said sure, why not? We got home and I helped her cross the street and she went over and rang the bell and talked to the lady herself. The woman asked me if we would come in for a minute and give them to her mother because it was her mother's birthday! Her mother was turning 102 and had just arrived for a party yesterday. We didn't stay long, but T1 was SO proud of herself (not to mention I was too) for making the ladies day. T1 had never met someone over 100 and she was just so happy to see the old lady beaming!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Lego Club

In about an hour, we are leaving for our first visit to our Homeschool Group's Lego Club. It meets once a month and while we *could* have gone last year, we never actually made it. There was the broken foot, the torn tendon, bronchitis a bajillion times, therapies, mood issues and whatever else. BUT. Here we are. It's at a time and a place we CAN and ARE going to. T1 is vibrating with anxiety. Literally vibrating.  I know there will be some people we've met before and probably a person or 2 we haven't. Most likely, it will be small and fairly quiet - which makes it a perfect first gathering for us to go to for the year for the Homeschool Group.

This is also one of those time when brushing is really, REALLY, *really*, (can I stress **REALLY** again), handy. I have no idea exactly how it works. (Something about deep tissue then compression of the joints helps delay endorphin release..) She went from vibrating to being able to sit and color. Wiggling - Yes. Literally bouncing off walls with anxiety, borderline uncontrollable so she will spin into "fit" mode - No! Score! We will have to do it again in an hour when we are getting ready to leave, but I'm willing to do that if she can control herself after it.  *THIS* is why we homeschool. We (*I*) can give her the therapy she needs when she NEEDS it, as she needs it. And it's starting to work. Brushing is one of the biggest control techniques we've introduced so far. The listening program was HUGE. I need to reintroduce that right about now too though. She starting to become more sensitive again. Brushing, though. It's HUGE. It's been worth every miserable day of doing it every 2 hours with that insane timer (that we still have beeping every 2 hours BTW). It means we *may* actually be able to get through Lego Club without a complete meltdown.  I'll still bring earplugs, her brush, her ish (her lovey that she rubs across her face), and the normal things I bring in case we need them, but hopefully we can go out for a 2 hour low key club with "normal" homeschool kids and be unscathed.  Maybe, I can talk to another grownup without having to stand nearby and be ready to catch my kid getting ready to leap at something in a full fury because the other kid changed a "rule".  Ok. That may be a bit ambitious still. But, maybe, she can come and ask what's going on and let me explain that the "rule" is different BEFORE she gets to fury land.



Sunday, September 4, 2011

Aspergers and Learning

I must admit that trying to teach a kid with aspergers is both easier and harder than "normal" kids. T1 learns quickly. VERY quickly. Too quickly. I can throw things that a 6-1/2 should have no idea how to go about tackling and she gets it. Her logic is complicatedly sound. It's not a simple process like it is for T2. He just sits, looks at it, and KNOWS the answer. She looks at it, studies it, ponders it, and then some how makes these odd judgments that I can almost never figure out to get to the same answer. But she gets there.  This is true for all logic, math, science, and any similar problem that has definitive rules.  When you get to things like morality it gets a little dicey. There isn't a single "rule" for ALL situations for her to follow.  It's a big part of the reason she is homeschooled actually. The difference between when it's ok to defend against a bully and when it's best to walk away is a big example. There are SO many different situations that's really impossible for us to role-play all of them. We try to get as many as possible, but even within that there are so many different variables you can't account for there by making the "rules" void. The "rules" in her mind, are only good if the situation matches.

T2 and T1 make a great pair in most ways though. T2 gets people. He can read them, play them, dance away and never be bothered by any of it. T1 can't. She just.. Can't. She can't tell if they are kidding, serious, mean, kind, rude, sarcastic. Then gets into quite a tizzy about it because it's thrown her off kilter or something will happen and she won't notice ANYTHING has happened. A work in progress my T1.

We have 1 full week left of brushing every 2 hours (so we are on day 53). It's an annoying process. The benefits we are starting to see are ENORMOUS. It calms her almost instantly after joint compression. It helps her regain train of thought. She has been able to keep herself from throwing massive, uncontrollable, hour-lasting fits. So. Pain in the rump - YES. A worthwhile pain to have? YES. She has never really "warmed up to" the brushing, but does tolerate it which is the best I can expect.

I'm going to get the kids to work on Super Puppy with me here in a bit. The pictures are Hilarious! I may actually have to do an 2 sets of Super Puppy. 1 where they create the story and one where *I* do because the pictures are really JUST that good. Plus I need to figure out how to make little tabs at the top of blogger here. I'm not sure I know how just yet, but that would be a way for the whole story line to stay together.. Humm.. My and technology are just not always friendly..

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Coming Soon.

Coming Soon: The first installment of Super Puppy. Just wait. It's worth it. It's been in creation for a while, we've been working on it and we are ALMOST there, just a little post production work left. Now keep in mind, this is being created by a 5 and 6 year old as part of a disguised homeschool task. I'm teaching them how to train a puppy, create a story line, edit a story to be clear and have a cohesive beginning, middle, end (in a followable way). Show them that they can have long term projects and story boards. Plus. It's a puppy. Who doesn't want to have a super puppy. And the puppy aspect comes into play as well. Those little buggers are temperamental, at best, some days.  But. Hopefully, the first installment will be ready by the end of the weekend as a debut to Timmy, the mild mannered beagle as well as SUPER PUPPY!



:)

Monday, August 22, 2011

The First Day of School

Today is the first day of school. Public school that is. School my kids refuse to go to. That they vehemently refuse to even ponder. This is supposed to be a sad day for me because T2 is supposed to be starting Kindergarten today by "normal" school standards. Instead, it's simply a remind at how inept the system is for us. T2 would fail being in a big class of kindergartners all day.  He can't behave himself all day at HOME. He can't sit still. He can't undo his pants. BUT, at the same time, my wee man is doing all 1st grade work. He is having trouble writing, which MAY be one of the only things he DOES to that is age appropriate. There will be no first day of school photos. No dropping him off at class and leaving him. No having time without kids here.

Then we have savant child T1, who is giddy at the only geography book we could find - a 3rd grade book. She loves it. She's trucking though her 2nd grade materials a a swift speed. She's 6-1/2. The child cannot figure out how to do basic skills like pour juice, turn on bath water, wash her hair, put on shoes, BUT, she is figuring out ON HER OWN how to solve things like 4*5 +7*5 at 6. For the kicks and giggles of it. She has blatantly said that if we ever try to send her to "big school" she will do everything she can to get kicked out. She'll kick the teacher, start fights, punch people, be stubborn, etc. Sooo yeah. We clearly need to work on those interpersonal skills some more. 

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A Catch Up Post...

I've been trying to find something positive to post. I've just decided  that right now we're in a valley and  to go ahead and just be a Negative Nelly. In the last week  I've:

1. Caught my car on fire from my ipod charger. It resulted in a ruined charger and a mildly burned hand. Obviously could have been MUCH worse, but really REALLY. A charger CATCHING fire???!!


2. I have injured my left hand. The same one where I tore the tendon in my left thumb. I've got an appointment with the hand guy tomorrow. Lets just say my typing and txting is special with 1 thumb. At least I have a hand guy, but DAMN it hurts.

3. Took T1 to the ped. today, she has a big ol' nasty sty on her left eye. It's... Funky. It's really uncomfortable for her. When she's uncomfortable, it's very noticeable in her behavior.

4. A small one is I completely ruined dinner tonight. Which in comparison is completely minor. But Holy Cow. I put the chicken in at 4:15. At 5:45 it's bleeding still. EWWWWW sooo Taco Bell it is.

5. And the not so small one. We had to put Luke down on Saturday. It was a hard decision, but once we really got into it - fairly easy - because it was the correct one. He has a big tumor, he was whimpering when he sat down and could barely get back up (and that's with the mattress for a bed), he was loosing tons of fur, he was partially deaf, he was starting to get bad cataracts, several of his teeth were rotting. We COULD have spend several hundreds of dollars and patched him back together for 6 months or so, but ultimately whether that would have been the right choice or not? No. C and I went back and forth a bit on this, but to leave him as he was just seemed cruel.


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

T2 -1 Dentist - 0

T2 won the dentist battle. He will not win the war. Unfortunately, for the war to be won, next Monday he will be completely sedated to remove his shark teeth. (His adult teeth grew in behind his baby teeth and now the baby teeth have to be removed to make room for the adult teeth.) T2 is none to thrilled about the dentist. He never has been. In fact, when we went to the dentist yesterday he pulled one of his OWN teeth out in an attempt to thwart them (it was already wiggly, so it's not THAT bad.) He still has 2 more that need to go.  I got him near a chair. I got him to put his behind IN a chair. THEN. The chair moved. That was then end of the experience. He is PETRIFIED of chairs that move. His ass came so far out of that chair, I had to catch him before he bolted. The dentist hadn't even made it over to him yet. He was sobbing. Now, I know he hates the dentist, so, I had given him some Xanax that we have for the kids for such occasions to make it so we can get them to and from the dentists and such. Even WITH a full pill, he wouldn't even consider sitting on the chair that moved.

The dentist came over and looked at his teeth from afar. Confirmed that they did need to come out and got us scheduled for their next earliest time, all the while assuring me that he has to do that all the time for scared kids. While I understand THAT. The boy is afraid. Of. A. CHAIR.  He was really ok with the idea of getting his teeth pulled. I had him convinced it wasn't going to hurt. But the chair moved. Curse you chair.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

A Flurry Of Activity

The house has been busy around here lately. We have our brushing every 2 hours. Which is WOW time consuming to do and remember. Therapies 2 times a week with Occupational and Behavioral. I did discover that she NEEDS these weekly to be happy to. We've been going consistently enough that when there was a change in the routine it creates a nasty week. The therapies alone are 3.5 hours for the on location (1 hour each plus travel and waiting time) then brushing is 6-7 times a day and takes about 5 minutes a time so about 4 hours a week total there. So. Not to mention management of any therapy items that arise that have to be tackled immediately which happen almost daily, lets give that a good 30 minutes a day (so 3-1/2 hours a week)  for that. SOOOO A week we (T1, T2, and I) spend  10.5 HOURS a week JUST on T1's behavioral therapies. That's not including medication visits, trips to the pharmacy or anything. Just standard weekly therapies. And we NEED to add her listening therapy back in for her self regulation which is another 45-60 minutes A DAY. OY.

So on top of just the daily therapies, you add our standard other appointments for just - other - stuff. I go to the chiropractor 1 or 2 times a month and that takes about an hour. I get nerve ablation every 10 weeks (1 on each side so 2 visits) and that takes an hour and a half or so, BUT that day and the 2 or 3 days after have to be pretty much super low key days after.  Dentist appointment for getting things pulled, cleaned, filled, sealed etc are about every 2 months so far and take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.  ENT appointments are at least every 2 months and take an 1 -1/2 hours. Pediatrician appointments for sinus infections or other random ailments are usually 1 or 2 times a month and take an 1-1/2 hours or so. Appointments to the orthopedist for knee steroid injections are every 6-8 week, but usually are fairly swift at a mere 45 minutes. I , thankfully, no longer have to see the foot doctor which was bimonthly and took almost 2 hours. If Mattie has to have sinus surgery it take the entire day (and since he's had 10 of them, it's not like it's a "rare" occasion and he REALLY does need another one..).  Immunology appointments take an hour or so but are once every 3-6 months. Allergy shots are bimonthly now (they had been weekly and just got moved to every other week) but that takes an hour. Then of course if *I* get sick, hives, injured or anything else and have to go to just MY regular doctor  that takes another 1 -1/2 hours.

I'm sure there's more. It's a maddening amount of appointments to keep track of and GET to on time. Oddly, we've never missed any or been really, really late to any of them. And 1 & 2 have gotten to the point where they are very well behaved at appointments. They know if we have what I call "Appointment Day" (2 or 3 or 4 appointments in one day) they will get rewarded for good behavior. They will also get clobbered like monkeys if they are naughty. I keep them fed with snacks like pretzels and gold fish crackers and pliable with drinks and that helps, but who really wants to sit at 6 hours of appointments in 1 day? or 7 in 1 week? Exactly. And they have to - Frequently.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Twin Mind Speak

Even though T1 and T2 aren't actual twins, the have some kind of bizarre mind-to-mind twin speak going on. It's freakish. It's really rather unfair sometimes too. They can look at each other and somehow construct an entire game with established "rules", "language", "characters", and all and then tell people they should PLAY with them and follow the guidelines. They assume other people know these items. We don't. 

They also think that what one has, the other suddenly thinks is a great plan. T1 decided after I painted her room Friday, that she wants to take her door off and put up a pretty curtain over the doorway. Ok.. Sure. We are planning on ordering a hardmount curtain rod to do just that instead of a closet door, so.. *shrug* why not. I had painted the T2's room the weeks before and he hadn't mentioned anything about that at all. Hasn't said a WORD. I show him the curtains I'm getting for his closet "door" (for some reason our house has no closet doors in the bedrooms.. go figure..) and he starts saying that he wants THAT curtain for his doorway too.  Well. I am, in theory, ok with this plan. Except I've ordered his off Ebay (it's a full sized 2 panel Star Wars curtain - rather difficult to find if you are cheap.). Soo, that's a little more complicated.



They also feel some all consuming need to be "equal" and "fair". Yeah. Life is NOT equal OR fair.

 1) "It's not far she's ahead of me!!"  T1 is a girl who is 1 1/2 years older. Granted, she has gross delays in several areas which have allowed T2 to be on the same level as or better than in several areas, especially motor areas, math, science, history etc - and that makes it hard for him to remember that she IS older and SHOULD be more advanced in certain areas.

  2) T1 has accrued more money so far. Again, it's "just been around longer" thing. She's had more visits from the tooth fairy, from the random holiday grandparent, etc. She's got about double what he's got. He's gonna catch up, but he wants it Right Now. 

Friday, July 22, 2011

Complainers..

On social networking sites people are posting about they need ideas to keep their kids occupied. Great! I can see that. It's been 105 EVERY day for a while now. The kids are stir crazy, moms' are looking for new ideas, a friend may have an idea someone else may not have thought of. And enter the random "Give your kid Benadryl"  person. Really?!? I KNOW they are kidding. I get it. I get SO annoyed, tires, irritated, bored, and all the other possible other descriptors with my kids too. BUT... YOU are complaining because YOUR kids are home for the "summer" break of school. You only have to a few months to spend with them. To actually get to KNOW who they've turned in to for the older kids. And you are complaining because they've made your life more complicated. I'm not talking about the people *I* am friends with. They are mostly responses to friends of friends. But it still annoys me. I am with my little monkeys of trouble ALL day EVERY single day all year through choice and need. COULD I send them both off to school? Yep, could have last year.  Could this year. It would make summer, Christmas, weekends, evening and every single moment they have OUT of school that much more special I suppose, BUT I actually LIKE my kids as well as love the little bugger wall wipers.

Don't get me wrong, I do get to the point when I desperately NEED a break from them and feel like wringing their little necks. But I don't wish them away sooner. I wish them more healthily independent than they currently are. All we can do is work on it, which oddly we CAN do because they aren't in "big" school.  I like seeing a post on FB when someone misses their kids (not because they miss them - that part sucks..) because I can identify with that.  Soon people will start their "Count Downs" to school and be so excited that they can be rid of their kids again. *sigh*  School never stopped here and I'm not getting rid of mine and I'm not really all that sad about it. If I could let someone BORROW them for a few hours, great, but.. I think I'll keep them just like they are, hell monkeys or not.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Great Cat Exchange

We have now have this lovely monster of a cat:

Why? Mostly because we can. But practically because he was having some allergy issues around his eyes and face that needed more continuous daily care. We traded this feral beast for him:

This feral beast needed a calmer house to be happier where small kids weren't screaming and chasing her all the time. Jasmine went to my moms house. Molly (yes, a boy named Molly. To go along with Vinny the girl.)  on the other hand needs to be where someone can chase him around and help keep a closer eye on his scratches and allergies.  The Great Cat Exchange is under way.

Monday, July 18, 2011

LONNGG Day..

It's one of those days when you really just have to wonder where it all went wrong. Where absolutely nothing (or no one as the case may be) jives properly. And what's even better is there's not a damned person who seems to care. When you call 3 people and not a single person answers it just makes the day that much longer really. It's easy to justify it as "they're all just busy with summer plans" or "they've got a lot to do too". But really, maybe it just comes down to I need new people to call. I mean. Its not an epiphany of any kind that after a while a hint can be taken.  Because a big part of the reason I HAVE been trying to get a hold of them is to see how THEY are. *shrug* Whatever. I guess, whenever they become inspired, I shall be duly appointed important enough to be contacted.  But really. I like to pretend that I am a good friend to those I AM friends with - which maybe in reality I'm deluding myself - and I'm not.

I guess I'm on the hunt for new friends. Along with all the other shit, I need some new people to try to get along with both of my little hellion monkeys that can also understand that I am a flawed person.

Food.

FOOD.
I love it. I also hate it. I love so many different kinds of things that I just CANNOT have.


These for example:


I LOVE fresh, ripe, juicy, just picked peaches. I - as of 2 years ago - CANNOT eat them. Or any of their related friends, as I found out yesterday. Which is rather tragic. That 2 slivers of nectarine were SOOO good. My neighbor had gone to a produce stand and brought us back a few things and !WOW! they were perfect.

But now I have to add nectarines and plums to my ever increasing list of "Things I Cannot Eat". It's getting rather exhaustive. It includes most seasonal fruits and veggies. I DO enjoy living (and with an intestinal tract at that and my throat all normal sized), but think about it. No peaches, tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, melons of any variety, eggplants, nuts, kiwis, oranges, mangoes, plums, nectarines, mushrooms, barely, rye,  etc.. The list just goes and goes. *Sigh* And not only is it that, the list GROWS.  I just occasionally have to have a pity party.  Mostly when I discover something new for the list and am suffering the ill effects of said discovery. My belly is SO displeased with yesterday's discovery right now.  I should have just assumed that since I know I can't have peaches I can't have the others. But I didn't specifically KNOW and they looked SO good. 

Friday, July 15, 2011

Ear Tube Boy

Sooo Ear Tube Boy. Is now No Ear Tube Boy. And simply Ear Hole Boy. We went to the ENT and the nice Dr. Pulled that little sucker that was embedded into the side of his ear canal out. The Good News?? No more ear plugs in cleanish water (such as swimming pools, baths, sprinklers.) The bad news (because lets just admit it, there is ALWAYS bad news with us..): There is a still a wee tiny hole in his ear drum. He thinks it will, at some point, heal on it's own, but it may take some time. We're going to have them check it again when we go back at the end of Aug. for his sinus stuff.

Sooo now, I owe Ear Hole Boy a small toy from Target for letting them pull out the ear tube without making them have to sedate him. Let's just say bribery was done. But it got the job done. And, The Girl too since she didn't go ape shit crazy on my WHILE he was screaming bloody freaking murder when the chair moved. Yes, that's right.. The chair moved. Dun dun dummmmm. A chair that moved. We are SOOO screwed when it's dentist/ teeth pullin' time. That chair moves too.

Brush, Brush, Brush the kid.

We have finished 4 full days of brushing now. 6 or 7 times per day depending on when the girl gets up. Only 56 more days to go before we can start to trim that number down. I think, now, whenever ANY of us hear that stupid trill of the timer we ALL *sigh* and just get up and do it. That's a whole freaking lot of brushing. And joint compression. It's causing some negatives to her moods too. It's a routine change. It's  a LOT of touch and routine, and effort, and just... Brushing.. So I'm not worried about it. Her OT gal told me and warned me it would happen. But as I was dragging her through Sams as she was having an epic fit, I did have to ponder the brilliance of our plan. I do so hate having to be a grown up sometimes. I really just felt like having my own fit, but NOOOOO. I had to be the grown up and "work her through it". Whatever. Silly Stinkerpot.


I have to take the boy to get his ear looked at and see what's up with his ear tube that's gone haywire and see if there is still a hole. His Ped was a bit worried about it last week at his well child and didn't want us to wait until the end of August when his next ENT appt is. Unfortunately, his normal ENT is busy (or fortunately because he is a bit lazy) so we are seeing someone else in the same office. I'm *guessing* they will probably schedule it to be removed. Hopefully there isn't any hole to patch though. If they DO, I'm going to see if Sawyer wants to scope his sinuses and if they will do a cholesterol blood draw that the ped wanted. I'm SO not doing a freaking blood draw on a 5 year old after everything else that poor boy has to do when I don't have high cholesterol, C doesn't and the ONLY reason is he's "big". Yes. He is. But if he was 9 he would be average height and weight and wouldn't want to.. SOOOO just because he's proportionate for his height and weight just not age...? That one confuses me every time.

The poor boy also has an appt Aug 1 to go get his front bottom teeth pulled. He HAS a loose one, but it isn't coming out. The adult tooth shot up behind it AND the other tooth beside it. Soooo it looks like he's going the way of his sister and will be getting a SUPER Tooth Fairy Prize from that visit. It's currently looking like they will have to pull 3 of them. *rolls eyes* It's gonna be ugly.

Yup, one big ol joyful bag of news here.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Statistics

I like statistics. I think they are fun. I think they are fun to manipulate and show whatever you want to show. You can change 1 factor and get whatever you want to show to appear. For example - Hunger. I'm not mocking world hunger. There ARE places and people who are truly starving. Then, there are places where they aren't as much - it depends on who ya ask. If you define it as "the fear of not having enough food", WE are low food secure and will starve according to my 6 1/2 year old.  Have we ever been actually out of food? No. WILL we ever be out of food, even if we are dead broke crawling down the street, living in a box? Nope. There WILL be food at every meal. I will make sure of it. I gots ways. I'm brilliant like that. BUT to an OCD, anxiety person a half empty cupboard is DAMN too low and we are starving.  We aren't. I obviously went over this with said person.

But back to statistics. That's why I like them. You can alter them SO easily to prove whatever point you want. Statistically speaking, you won't get hit by lighting. Buuuuut you could.  Statistically,  a big dog will be a good deterrent to keep you house from getting robbed.  Buuuut not if they just shoot your dog.  Ahhh statistics.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Reading, Writing, Arithmatic..

While most kids are sitting on their rumps watching tv, mine are well trained to answer to a timer to flip their school books and do their school. Ok. I lie. There is nothing "well trained" about them. They scream, have fits, stomp and other wise protest when it's time to start. BUT once they plop their underwear clad behinds down they usually focus fairly well. ADHD  they are not.

T2's BIGGEST task of recent has been to learn to read. He has known his letters since he was tiny. He knew what sounds they made. He just didn't really want to bother with putting the sounds together and READING with them. Just in this last week - after MONTHS of frustrations for both him and me - HE GOT IT. He is easily sounding out new words. The peasants rejoice. Not only just that, but he's holding his pencil and writing some too. While *some of us* may have thought would never happen, it has.

T1 has helped me customize her schedule to meet her goals to fill in the gaps of her writing gaps, which is her hardest subject. Which I can't really say much about, it's complicated with may very unclear rules. With math it's very clear. 4 +4 = 8 ALWAYS.  So I'm trying to find ways to simplify it for her with some workbooks with "rules" in it. 

We started brushing yesterday. It's looking like we will be doing it at 7,9,11, 1, 3, 5, 7   (ish) on times. With joint compression after each set.  It's making super wonky, but so far hasn't put up TOO much resistance. BUT we've been doing it for less that 24 hours so that's truly can't be an accurate statement.  She even said a  when I did the 9 am one that she "kinda liked it a little". Which sure beat the "if you touch me with that again I'll scream" which we got the first time we tried about a year ago. Now.. just 2 months to go.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

T-Ball!

You know what wins more than a sinus infection in July? A sinus infection, ear infection, sunburn, swollen foot, and being 4 days away from getting you spine nerves microwaved. THAT so totally wins. That and I think I may have eaten something I'm allergic to because I am feeling that ever fun swelling feeling in my esophagus that is darn unpleasant.

Anyhow, 1 & 2 started beginners T-ball today. They did so good. T1 had a very difficult time understanding what she was supposed to be doing, but it was full parent involvement so I stayed with her and helped "interpret".  To make it even more confusing for her, the coach has a VERY thick accent (he's from Iran) and there is another girl that is actually the same size as her (so there can't be "big" and "little") with the same name. He would explain what he wanted them (and us) to do and then blow his whistle loudly and expect them to DO what he had just explained. The sound was bothersome to her and he touched her on the arm and back several times, which she really didn't like. BUT.. She did go through the ENTIRE 50 minutes without a single whine of "I'm DOOOOONNNNEEEE" or "I don't wannnnnaaa" or any of her typical things she does. It was good. I'm soooo proud that she was able to push herself past those discomforts because I think she liked big chunks of it, even if a few parts weren't her favorite.

#2 did super great too! He was the BEST boy of them all there. He wasn't the oldest boy, but was - by far- the largest. He ran when asked, paid attention, followed directions. The other boys were flopping on the floor, whining, whomping their dad's in the butt, and just being stupid little boys.  I know, "boys will be boys" - But MY boy will not act like a stupid fool in public. He does plenty of that at home, he can keep that there.

  I am a firm believer of the Before We Go Out Chat. It is a comprehensive list of what is expected and what will happen if it is not achieved. T-Ball's list was a bit expansive because I had to cover a lot of unknown territory. Like don't throw the ball at people, or animals, or bums, or cars, or anyone not paying attention. Don't hit anything with the bat except the ball and only when you are told and ONLY if there is no one near you that might accidentally get hurt. IT WILL BE your fault if they get hurt. Remember the bloody birthday party. Balls and Bats make Bloody.  No whining, no whaling, no whimpering, no answering questions to hear yourself talk. No dancing. Clothes must remain on. Listen and follow directions. etc....

Let's just go on to say the list was complete and expansive. BUT. It got the job done. They were the only ones NOT whining about "But why did SHHHHEEE get to go."  "But I'm tttiiiireed of running."  And quite frankly every time those kids whined and mine didn't, I wanted to smooch their little heads and give them a dime because it was making a GREAT point for me. It made them look ugly and whiny and MY kids noticed that THOSE kids whined and it was yucky. And THEY don't want to be those "yucky whiny kids out in public". 

Friday, July 8, 2011

The Things People Do... While Driving.

People do the weirdest crap while driving. There is of course the standard eating, smoking, talking on the phone, texting, dancing, applying eye makeup, drinking.Then you get to the weird.

Applying your clown nose. When you are already in full clown makeup and costume.

Feeding a puppy a bottle. Yes, safer for the infant that it's NOT a baby - perhaps not the rest of us.

3 dogs in 1 persons lap while driving.

In a bra, changing shirts. Interesting show for a few of the other drivers, and yet.


And my favorite to date: A man driving through the parking lot of Walmart WHILE playing the trumpet.  Not doing well on the former and probably not the latter either.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Boy VS Girl

One MIGHT think that by 6 1/2 a kid would know why a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. Especially a Smart Kid. Especially a smart girl kid who has a smart 5 year old brother. One would suppose they would get together and figure this out. ONE might be wrong. This does lead to a rather odd conversation one day when they are debating the gender of dogs based on how pretty and fluffy the dog is. After decreeing an entire batch of male dogs "girls" because they are "really pretty and super fluffy" I did have to ask why they decided that. And then crush their hopes and dreams and fluffy hair does alone does not make an animal a girl. As you might assume, the conversation just got weirder from there.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Friday Followup..

So we found out that Luke - the other great dane - is almost fully deaf. It DOES explain quite a few things about his recent behavior. The complete lack of response to commands he used to follow, his lack of even looking at you, his in lack of interest in normal dog like activities. Apparently, being deaf will do that. We've gone ahead and gotten Minnie a crate of her own to see if that helps with Luke's grouch level. That and if we have Minnie in with us and let them be separated. I don't know if that will help, but it's worth a shot.

The wee ones are getting into harder things with their school stuff. T2 for instance is actually reading AND forming letters people can mostly read now. He and I seem to have to butt heads about this every single day, but massive progress is being made. T1 is zipping through her math, reading, and has significantly improved her writing in just the short time we've been really focusing on it.  History and science are easy for them both still -and they both really like doing them as often as I'll let them.

T2 has another loose tooth. This makes the 4th loose tooth in the house in 2 weeks. The Tooth Fairy is a frequent flier over here lately.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Oy My Kid..

My kid... My kid needs to learn to shut her mouth. Today is just ONE instance of when we are out and she opens that big ol thing and shares WAY too much with people. Not friends or family who know she's not quite normal.. But cashiers and strangers. Todays little diddy was "On Saturday mommy beat our dog because the dog was being naughty and then this morning she was going to hit her on the head with the broom to play whack a  mole." Ummm Yes, cashier we've never met, please go ahead and call the police please. Because WOW.

Thanks kid. The dog had a momentary lapse where she thought SHE was more dominate and needed reminding so I was reminding her she was submissive. There was NO beating. *sigh* You can't have a 90 pound mastiff running around playing king of the world and busting through things and she was trying to. We had to have a chat about what "beating" really was. She STILL didn't understand so I pulled up some VERY very very tame pictures of mildly abused dogs and used those as examples of what a dog who HAD been beaten might look like. I explained the theory that the cashier COULD (but realistically wouldn't) call the police should she be so inclined, but should that ever happen we would just show them around because we really haven't done anything wrong. AND we retalked about our rules of who we should and should not be talking to, because clearly the first 5 times did not sink in fully.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Organization.

I have none. I'm self-motivated. I can get a lot done in a short period of time or a large project done easily. But I am NOT organized. I may be one of the most unorganized people for all that I should be doing with what I've got that I know. This is a bad thing. Add to it, at T1's OT they are wanting to start brushing. Brushing is a very VERY intense therapy. Hours of therapy a day actually for a few months. The therapist said that it will get ugly before it gets better. This could be some serious fun.

On top of that, I'm trying to figure out how to structure, more soundly that is, their homeschooling. We have books we like - which is a good start. I know about how much they can do at a time before they (and I) go completely loony. So I have a good jumping start of where I need to go. I just need to figure out how to get from where I am to where I want to be to help 1 and 2. They do BEST on a strict, continuous schedule. I mean CONTINUOUS strict schedule. And right now, we have one but it's a little bit more variable. Honestly, I think that if I added a but more stability in that even though it is already so stable, it would help more. Which *I* hate - but I'm not doing it for *me*.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Productivity

T2's room is FINALLY done. That is the longest it has EVER taken me to paint a room. EVER. There are built in bookshelves that were painted the same color as the trim that had to be painted as well and that's what added the extra time. It's not perfect, but it's definitely good enough.

T2 ALSO lost his first tooth!  T1 lost one last week and he was complaining that the tooth fairy was never going to come to him. I happened to stick my hand in his mouth and his front bottom tooth was just the tiniest bit wiggly. He took off with it and wigggggggled and wiggggglllllled that sucker and pulled it out himself. And then of course the tooth fairy visited. T1 is just about to lose another one in the next day or 2 as well.

Cats should never be bathed. Even if your kid wants to. T1 was curious what would happen if we did. SOoo we did. All but Jasmine the feral because WOW that one will tear your skin off. The kid now knows that cat bathing is NOT as much fun as she thought.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Painting..

Painting is completely evil.  To be more precise, built in book shelves are evil. WHY oh WHY did someone think they were a good idea?? I Can see their supposed usefulness, but they were WRONG! SO SO wrong. They are too tall. And such a PITA to paint. WHY oh why. The room would be DONE without those darned cursed things. As you may have guess "we" are on day 2 of the cursed painting and I usually would have been done with a room by now. The helpers may have helped a bit too much too.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Frustration!

The last few weeks have been riddled with one frustration after another. Individually they are somewhat minor issues, but they are adding up to the camel effect. To top it off that we've had NO babysitter for 1 & 2 for since around Feb. on top of a spectacularly spectacular spell of behavior from BOTH 1 & 2 I'm finding myself D-O-N-E by the end of the day. Then all I really want to do is become engrossed in stupid netflix rerun shows and become a veggie which SO cannot happen. And then I want to do that ALL day too. If you've ever met my kids, isn't happening either.

#2's ENT appointment went poorly. Basically we're in the same holding pattern as before. He's going to keep getting sinus infections and there's not a damned thing to do about them. His allergy testing came back completely negative. The ENT rejects every possible suggestion and has no idea what else to do.

#1's Therapies aren't going well. She started at a new therapist and has been having panic attacks all week because of one of her therapy tasks that she can't do because of her OCD.

Someone keeps stealing our trash cans. Why? Heck if I know. But we are down 3 so far.

My foot swells every time it threatens to rain. It's fluffy and sore to walk on 100% of the time with rain. How's that for a rain-o-meter?


The constant daily routine that we have to do every single day is a chore. *sigh* I mean. It's one thing to have a "daily routine" and then A Daily Routine. One is a habit. The other is.... Painfully exhausting at times. Because it's not *my* routine and heaven forbid I skip a step. OMG if I skip a step...

Friday, June 10, 2011

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Decisions..

I hate making them. HATE it. It's right up there with making phone calls to people I don't know. I am perfectly capable, I just don't LIKE to. I'm not talking about "What am I going to do right now?" or "What should I get at the store?" I'm talking about the IMPORTANT decisions. Like the "Where should we go to dinner?" or "When is the best time to change the kid's meds?" questions. The ones you can't go and change. You can always go back to the store and get something, but once you break your kid - you've done it. Once you've committed to a dinner - there's usually no going back. They are life ending questions, those are rare ( though, sadly, not unheard of if you have pets).  But, life ending ones are pretty easy when they come down to it. Either it's time or it's not. It's very black and white. I hate that muddled gray area. Like currently we are working with "Should we get a minivan right now?" and if they answer is yes then what kind and from where and so on. And then there is the issue of should we sell BOTH of the other cars or just one and keep the truck etc.. Lots of stupid little questions. And *I* have what *I* think is a good solutions, but then I'm suppose to include "others" in the solutions since technically it impacts them some what greatly..

*Rolls Eyes* I guess what I find difficult about decisions is the other people it impacts won't give me feedback.. It would be a lot easier to come up with ideas if I knew what they wanted and thought.. The little ones are easy like that. I ask them what they want and they flat out say exactly what it is.

Monday, May 30, 2011

What I Like To Do..

1.  I like to read the Missed Connections on Craigslist. I always feel so much better about myself as a person.

2. Snuggle a cat:
  Or 2:







3. Read a book that isn't just heinous. 

4. Snuggle a kid or 2:


4.  Have a delicious meal (preferably cooked):


5. Take a nap in a big fluffy bed. But I don't HAVE on of those.. So a nap on a surface that's softer that a pallet of boulders.. 


See I'm not overly complicated in what I like and enjoy.. rather simplistic actually.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Cleaning the House

I hate cleaning. I really hate it. I hate clutter more. I abhor it. I can honestly say that no one will EVER accuse me of being a hoarder. I chunk things in the garbage and in bags to donate at high speed. Over the last 2 weeks I have taught the kids the true joy of decluttering. There WAS a a small amount of bribery involved and it was built upon the previous lesson of "if you get rid of stuff, there will be rewards" and "if you donate stuff, it goes to people who have none". And they are FINALLY old enough to get these 2 lessons. Between their 2 rooms and just their toy bins in the front part of the house 15 bags of misc. "stuff" including trash, broken toys, toys for giving to younger friends, and donations were removed from the house. Not like little sacks, but BIG giant trash bags full o stuff.

This makes me happy for 2 reasons. 1. T1's meds are working well. Which is the best reason EVER. She's able to let things go and not obsess about them. She was able to sort her favorite items and figure out which were her favorite ones and which one she can let go. She is giving her others to her friend that is younger. THIS has been a MASSIVE past issue and is indicative of her progress. A HUGE, HUGE sign that she is doing better than ever on her current treatment. Her OCD is being well managed - not gone. It will never be "gone", but she is able to manage it, her feelings, and let things go.

 2. Our house is no longer a pack rats nest of useless crap.  15 GIANT TRASH BAGS of junk. Just THEIR junk. *Shudder*.. Now they can actually FIND the things they want to play with, get to their stuff now, and they are LOVING that. 

In return for giving up such an enormous amount of stuff, they each got to pick out a new toy. I figured that was rather sporting. They spend HOURS and hours and hours. Literally. Over the course of the cleaning event, they (and I because really they are 5 and 6 they aren't going to stay on task for longer than 10 minutes at a time) spent probably 6 or 7 hours total sorting and cleaning.  They don't earn an allowance yet (we have an odd marble system that we use) so they each got to pick out a new toy.  T1 got a new "Big" Lalalaoopsy and T2 got the Green Lantern Lair by Imaginex.  They are oddly thrilled to trade the 15 bags for their 1 toy each and so am I.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Mothers Day

Mothers Day was yesterday. For the first time since I've had kids I don't have a bitter, sour, angry feeling the day after. C tried REALLY hard to actually create a pleasant day and actually DO something for Mothers Day that would indicate he cares.

He helped the kids make cards.

He brought me coffee first thing in the am after having camped-in with the kids. I was also woken up to a riveting rendition of "Shake Shake Shake Your Hiney" compliments of T2.

He made reservations to the Melting Pot for an early dinner - which took planning and forethought because we were taking the kids and early is better than later for that - mood wise.

He gave the kids baths.

He had asked what I wanted a few weeks back in regards to a gift and I drew a blank at the time, but still got me one. And a super cool one at that. It's a memory card for my camera that automatically sends the pictures to my computer right after I take them so I don't have to take them, connect the cord, push 3 buttons, and transfer them. It just - does it. I didn't even know they MADE those. But how cool is that??


Then..

He set the thing up. Because I certainly didn't know how and nothing is worse than having something and having no idea how to use it and not being able to use if forever.

So.. Thank you Smoopy Pie. I know it was hard for you to do, but I very much appreciate it.

And mother dear of my own, I wasn't ignoring you. But C was going to lots and lots of effort.  And I DO have something for you, it got put in my room and 1 & 2 just didn't give it to you.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Irritation..

One of the most irritating thing in the world is when you say something repeatedly and NO ONE bothers to hear you. They may be able to recite what you say, but aren't HEARING you and listening to what you say. I have to admit I very rarely say things just for the grins and giggles of it. The purpose may not be clear at the time, but there usually IS one. Like a month and a half ago I asked C to call the house cleaning people we had a Groupon for. Did he? Of course not. Why would he need to? We don't need the service until THIS week - for right before Mattie's birthday. It can wait. This conversation went ON and ON and ON until a week or so ago until he tried to get a hold of them and couldn't. Then suddenly it was MY problem again. *I* needed to take care of it again and complain that these people were "evil" and whatnot. Turns out they finally get back to C. Their "next available service is LATE MAY. Yeah. Kinda what I figured. That may have been the reason I was bringing it up so darn much. And You may think "Why didn't you just call them yourself?" The promise of "Don't worry about it, I'm doing it today." Was made EVERY TIME. Had - even once- I don't have the time to get to it, can you just take care of it - been said,  I would have. I even offered several times, and was yelled at for. SOOOOO Now I am stuck with a broken foot, a dirty house, a cake to make, friends coming over, and am pissed.. 

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Mondays are EVILLLLL

Well mostly because they are Mondays.. But..I'm torn whether is was good or bad. I went to the orthopedic doctor and the re x-rayed my foot. The good news: It's had a good amount of healing. The bad news: It's not even close to being 100% healed. It's about 60% there. The original break is about 75% healed, BUT I have to go and be REALLY special and he found 2 places that he didn't see until they began to heal that are broken as well. Soooo in actuality I have 2 bone chips and the original break in that 5th metatarsal. I'm in a walking boot instead of a full cast. We're trying to think of a good name for the boot because WOW it's huge. And we need to get some gems or something to decorate it because it's damned ugly. I'll be in Bootsy for at least a month but depending on how the healing goes on the original break and chippy 1 & 2 - it could be up to 6 months. Sooo I'm super NOT thrilled at that.

In other news (because I'm a total squirrel like that) I've passed my medical transcription testing and I can go and get a job and do that - even from home part time - which is something I've been working on for the last full year. When I started we had not planned on homeschooling either kid and I had slated to finish in 6 months. I'm disappointed it took so long, but plans changed and I needed to take care of the needs of T1 and 2 - but this should allow some flexibility too.  This is  the test I retook to get a higher score on. I DID get a higher score and graduated with Honors now. YAY me..

And for a completely different subject.. The Boy's birthday is in less that a week. The baby is going to be 5. It's rather tragic really. He's getting SO big age, size, maturity - well.. Except when he starts acting like a loon. I'm gonna have to make him his own post later with a photo progression.. That will amuse me..

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

12 Days Of April...

On the 12th Day of April my true loves gave to meeeeee:


12. Flinching Banchee Screams

11. Sawing Saws

10. Suite Life On Decks

9. Wet Towels

8. Empty Cups

7. Hours of panic attacks

6. Time outs

5. Meals prepared

4. Piles of Vomit

3. Clogged and over flowing toliets

2. Snuggly huggly bunny naughty kids

annnnnd

1. reaaalllllly long day..

Monday, April 11, 2011

Music..

Behold the power of music. T1 is doing a listening therapy for OT and they just changed the CD from one she REALLY liked to one she REALLY doesn't. She had done fantastically on the previous one. Her mood was great. She was sleeping well. She was cooperating with the schooling. She had a decrease in fits. Since the switch in CD's there have been increase in fits, defiance, stubbornness in school, whiny "I don't want to's", not sleeping, fighting with brother, and a whole host of other displeasing side effects. From Music. ALL from listening to music 20-30 minutes twice a day. It's special music but it's IS just music in it's basic form. How messed up is that?  The therapist has suggested that *IF* we can just manage to muddle through right now and not strangle our precious little darling, then we MAY have found some kind of frequencies that are setting off some kind of changes and we will eventually see POSITIVE changes. Oy. One can hope..

And now. I must go remove a fussy, pouting, fit having child from the hallway and deposit said child back into their room.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Cake!

I've got my 5th cake of the week in the oven at this current moment. One might think that I LOVE cake, but no. I really don't. I don't usually eat the cakes I make at all (or cupcakes, or cake balls or whatever it happens to be..) I really don't LIKE cake at all. I like to pretend the cake TASTES really delicious and that I've found the right "way" to make a moist yet done yet springy cake. And yet, even though I bake probably 25-30 a year, I really don't enjoy eating them. Cake BATTER on the other hand. WOW can I lick a bowl. THAT never gets old. It doesn't matter the flavor of cake either for that as long as it's a nut free cake, I'm there. My kids even get into the act and I even purposely leave a smidgy left in the bowl for us all to umm.. well.. lick. It's gross.. I know. But oh so delicious.

On a completely different note, allergies are heinous and evil and should die. They are literally killing me today. I've already taken my second double dose of Zyrtec (in addition to the other 900 allergy meds I take) and it's 9:30 am. That's 4 freaking Zyrtec's. It's gonna be specials. And I can just imagine how The Boy is feeling with no sinus hole to drain his snot, but he has a Dr. appt here in a few hours to have that looked at again. He's honestly not quite right but has no definitive symptoms to point out, but he never EVER does. It's a giant fuzzy gray area for him.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Best Quotes Ever

"Mommy I'm mad that this is on the kindergarten setting on this game and it's hard!" The math problem was 94-8.  Umm Honey. That's not a kindergarten setting. That's the 2nd grade setting.






"Don't throw a pig at your sister's head."



"I never wanna brush my hair again. EVER.."  Dear. You have 3 miles of hair. It must be brushed at least once a day.


"I hate you because you broke your foot on purpose because you hate me!" Umm yes. That's correct. I did.


"I did it on purpose, but it was his fault." *scratches head*


"Do I have cauliflowers in my armpits yet?" Complete with armpit in face motion..

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A Plan

So The Girl has been getting in to Trouble. Lots and lots of trouble. Epic amounts of trouble.  Went to OT and psych on Monday and that wasn't ANY HELP at all.  Sooooo off to the internet for help. How to help a stubborn, not able to control themselves kid? Apparently a self made sticker chart. I've been trying EVERYTHING lately I can think of to keep certain behaviors from happening and they just keep increasing in frequency. Clearly, said methods weren't working. Marbles have been taken away, privileges removed, time outs given, stern talking-tos, all with very poor outcomes and no long lasting results. And the things she's doing NEED to stop. She's been doing really inappropriate and, at times, dangerous, things. SOOOO a sticker chart. That she drew herself. And boy... Is it heinous. And for every 6 stickers she earns by NOT being naughty (as to be determined by mommy) she gets 1 marble. Now how to determine when someone is not being naughty? Yeah. I have no idea really either. I guess when she's not slapping her brother, clawing her skin off, climbing on the fence, climbing on something else she shouldn't, sprouting an attitude and having her head twirl like satan or any other of the numerous charming things she does.. She gets a pretty sparkly sticker.

And the random phrase I've had to say today is: "Ohhhh Honey. No.. We do not pet ostriches in the wild.. No. Not anywhere else either."

Thursday, March 17, 2011

A Bleck Day

Let's just start off with ARGGGG Matey.. That sums up the day. Well it wasn't as bad as not being able to start the car, but it was more disheartening.

I went to the orthopedic doctor today and the cut of the purple cast, did x-rays, and examined them. Then the doctor pronounced that he couldn't find any REAL evidence of healing. MAYBE a little bit of slight haziness, but really not any, and the haziness was probably just the x-ray. Thanks Dr. McPositive.  He then declared I would be re-casted for 4 more weeks and then return to see him and HOPEFULLY some healing would be evident. Gee. Thanks once again Dr. McPositive.  So now I have Big Red. I must admit I have plans for Big Red. Big Red (also know as my Right Leg) is going to get gems hot glued and drawn on. Why? Why the hell not.. I really have nothing better to DO with this giant ass big red thing attached, apparently semi-permanently, on my leg. Now the real pisser, I've been SOOOOOO good. I've been eating the stupid dairy products even to my detriment. I've not walked on the damned thing AT ALL. I've kept it dry. I've kept it elevated. I've eaten healthy crap. Now it's just getting me angry at it.  I've even avoided ALL prednisone which is just a form of torture in allergy season for me. 

Then, later on our way home from the chiropractor, T1 closed her finger in the car door. I'm not talking a wee little "ohhh I closed my finger in the car doooooor." I'm talking " OHHHH SHIITTTT the car dooor is closed on the kid's freaking finger and she can't get it out". Let's just say we have figured out that Yes, yes you CAN hop across the entire garage on 1 foot with a 45 pound kid clinging like a monkey with a finger bleeding on you while said clinging monkey is screaming bloody murder.. After you hopped around the car to open the door to rescue said child from the car door. Yup.. Sure can. SHOULD YOU...? That, that is a different question entirely. But Boy howdy, it IS possibly and if highly motivated, very easy to do.

And yes, the finger is ok. She missed the joint AND the finger nail. She managed to hit right in between them. But OY..

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A Weeks Update

So it's been 4 days since Jake "went to the vet" and the house is oddly calmer and quieter. Which is an indication the dog wasn't doing well IMO.  The other 2 dogs are coping OK and getting a lot more attention from 1 & 2 because they aren't afraid to go into the laundry room anymore and pet them (and I'll let them go in there). The cats are being fairly freaky though.. T1 is pretty sure we NEED another puppy RIGHT NOW - which just isn't going to happen. I can't walk. And I honestly don't think it's fair to Luke who is the other Great Dane and almost 8, to get a puppy and have Minnie and a puppy gang  up on him. Soo We will probably wait until Luke goes to get another dog and it will probably be a smaller breed so that T2 will not be as afraid of it. Poor boy is HORRIFIED of dogs..

1 & 2 lost TV and video games by being naughty today. I honestly thought there would be a bigger fuss about it, but after I explained that *IF* they threw fits about it there would a LONGER period of no TV, oddly there have been none.  (For some reason if a child responds to a mommy "No, I am NOT coming I am watching TV" in a nasty tone.. TV goes away.. Go figure). 

A lovely cherry to my day so far is as I was getting ready to go to an appointment at the chiropractor I couldn't find my keys. I hopped around on the stupid crutches until I found where my clearly levelheaded and thinking spouse buried them and hopped back to the car. Then.. As my children lovingly pointed out.. There were NO lights on in the car. So I tried it anyhow BUT.. yeah.. The car was.. D_E_A_D.  Soo I few disgruntled calls and AAA was on the way. And WOW they were fast. With in about half an hour the guy was here and test the battery (yup it was just dead) and jumped it. And off we went to drive around to charge it some.

And while we were driving, I found said spouses ID. WHY it was buried in my cup holder.. I still haven't figured that out.. But it was. SOOOO we then got to deliver it to him Downtown. Since none of these activities were in the activities planned for the day, a Happy Meal was then fetched and home we went.. To not watch TV and the wait for the AC guy to come and clean the filters..

I'm having a fun ol' time today.. Oy..

Friday, March 11, 2011

Tribute to a Dog..

So we've decided that we need to put the oldest of our dogs down. It's time. It NEEDS to be done, but it was an easy decision.  The dog has a tumor on his side the size of a golf ball. He's blind - at least half to full. He's going senile and he's HUGE. We cannot have a senile and blind dog around little kids. We just.. CANNOT. Plus, he's almost 10 years old. I got him when I was like.. 21ish. and I'm 30.. So he's 10ish which is pushing REALLY REALLY old for a Great Dane.  The thing that tipped the scale was yesterday the kids were going through the laundry room where their crate is to get to the garage and he snarled and growled at them. I'm not talking a little "oh.. was that a growl, maybe he was growling at the other dogs.." growl.. A full-fledged SNARL and GROWL. And to me, THAT WAS IT. The end.  I love my pets, but that's it. My kids come first. END OF STORY on that.

Now having to explain THAT to a special functioning 6 year old kid and a 4-1/5 year old boy is an interesting task. One detaches and has not let me touch her since the other has plastered his behind to me and has turned into a circus clown. To explain this euthanasia thing, I must admit I didn't. They are 6 and 4. We HAVE talked about it before in an abstract fashion because The Girl CAN understand it when it doesn't apply to HER or her loved things. BUT, this is not time for a "learning experience".  The Girl was sad. Of course she was sad. She's handling it very well though. I did have to go through it very very logically - step by step - why we are doing this and then ask her if she thought it was a fair choice, for us AND for Jake. And honestly, I think she can see why we are doing this AND agrees. She's obviously still sad, but can at least understand WHY we have to make this choice. 



Quite honestly when I mentioned how old Jake really IS, she said out of the blue how creepy it would be to find a dead dog in the laundry room. How how scary it would be if he snapped at her or her brother.  So we had the big talk this morning. The Boy on the other hand started giggling like a loon and acting like a circus clown and asking how much the vet was going to "pay" for him. Obviously that took some revisionary visits and a different approach. So, once that was corrected, he then started in on "tricks" to cheer The Girl up.

Conveniently enough, we then discovered that one of the cats was bleeding. Not a lot. Just a TINY cut on one of their paws. But by golly how I love distractions. It provided enough of a distraction that the sobbing subsided! Now, the cat is not wounded, it really IS a tiny, tiny cut on it's paw.

Soooo school is shot for the day and is clearly going to be put on hold as we are now watching Finding Nemo. Pretty sure after this we will be doing something else equally benign as The Girl is sitting in the fetal position in the rocking chair with her lovies avoiding an kind of personal contact what so ever..