Messy Hmm

Messy Hmm
Originally uploaded by dennisgg2002

Dennis took this and I like it :)

blog entry -Yesterday was an interesting day.

got locked out of the car at the boy's doctor and my spare key is missing
so we had to walk home.

in my mind the way home was shorter and paved with sidewalks, I would never do that again!
*sigh*
Mary-Ann needs to learn how to let go of her issues about asking for help, or taking help from people.

the good news is we made it home ok, we played in the sprinkler for a bit and htne we broke into our house :)
still can't find my spare keys so we had to wait until DH got home from Maine to get the van.

also
the boy believes this to be one of his greatest adventures and we talked about turning everyday situations into adventures...anything can be fun depending on how you look at it :)

I have a lot to do today
the boy is going to his friend's house to "hang out" ROFL

before that we are off to Lowes to get some keys made :)
then we have to clean because my house is a pig sty with all the searching for the missing key that went on yesterday :)

So lessons learned?

1) ask for help when you need it
2) accept help when it's offered
3) never let the Moo-ster play with your keys (knew that one already just lost my brain for a bit)
4) Check and make sure you have your spare keys instead of assuming they are where you think they are.
I know there was one more but I can't remember it....hmm I guess that means I didn't learn it so, NEVER MIND! LOL
Now off to face the day.

ugh why am I not blogging?

what is the reason for neglecting my blog
I love blogging

hmmm

busy

sick

busy
and same thing as always

too many things going on at the same time

a mega blog entry coming up soon all about our troubles with Aspergers

I have it saved in a draft I am just not done typing it up yet *sigh*

Oh deer!

Years ago I lived in Seymour CT
ask me what I liked best about living there, and first I will say that we had the greatest neighbors ever!
the second best thing was the wooded backyard
we would see all kinds of creatures, our dog loved to chase them, it was fun!
every morning we would watch a family of deer walk across our back yard
every evening we would see them walk in the other direction.
I used to play MUD games online then and I had my whole group envious with my stories about the deer family LOL

Years later when we were searching for a house, we don't want to say that seeing deer in the yard had something to do with our buying this house, but it wasnt a negative to us, yes I do remember the movie Funny Farm "Que the deer" ROFL

So then they did the route 3 project and the deer stopped coming

well this year they are back

we've seen them several times...havent gotten any decent shots of them yet LOL

I love Deer


but

they eat EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

they ate all my sunflowers *cry*

they didn't even get to grow up, they never got even close to flowers and they are GONE

also I'm thinking they ate the blueberries too

on a good note they eat weeds too

so do I try to plant new sunflowers or just give up>?

:)

tonight I will have the right lens watch the deers not come back :)

So this morning we had a drama filled morning

first Moo (the three year old) had a toy that Curly (the six year old) wanted....take..yell...scream...time-outs

Curly has decided that she wanted some flavor of poptart that we do not have, scream...yell...timeouts...

after all was settled down...Moo holding the desired toy, and Curly standing off in the distance pouting...did My ears and eyes really see this?

Moo said to Curly "if you want a toy you have to ask for it properly!"

Curly just looking at her not saying anything, and then Moo put her hands up near Curly's face the way I to to help her to look me in the eyes and said "Curly Look me in the eyes and say 'may I please have the toy' and then I'll give it to you!"

Curly said it, and Moo gave it to her and they hugged.


what a weird feeling, to be both proud of your 3 year old for acting so grown-up and worried that this is damaging her psychologically KWIM?

the woman that comes here once a week from the schools, she told me this would happen
said that when Moo is older we really will need to give her some special time just for her to compensate.

life is weird huh?

today your money is a little safer than it was...???

OK this is a reoccurring theme on my blog, it bugs me, so I will blog about it.

Corrine Stephen

I blogged about her before

the foster mother who got 8 years in prison for killing a 4-year old little boy in her care.


and today they gave the guy who stole some money 150 years in prison

I'm not saying that Madoff should not have gotten what he got, I'm not saying that I am not outraged by the Ponzi scheme or whatever you call it!

but listening to the people outraged on the news about Madoff and thinking back, just wondering who remembers Corrine Stephen's name? How many of you will always remember Madoff?

who remembers the story about little Dontel Jeffers I am just wondering how much money is equal to the life of a child?

I'm tired of hearing stories about people who got out of prison only to kill again...well you can be sure that guy wont steal millions of dollars again huh?

whew so glad I can invest money again.

ok now off to play with my kiddos :)

kindergarten program and apologies

I've been in a blog drought, but I am trying to get going on it.

Sorry to all my tens of followers ROFL


here is the lyrics to the songs Curly sang at school Yesterday

well Her class sang them You KWIM LOL




First Grade, First Grade
A graduation song, sung to: "New York, New York"

Start spreading the news
We're leaving today
We want to be a part of it
First Grade, First Grade

We've worked very hard
We're ready to go
We're gonna be a part of it
First Grade, First Grade

We know our ABC's and our 1,2,3's so well
We've worked at sounding out words and stories to tell

Just asked us to rhyme
We'll say tens and pens
We've learned to share and get along with all our friends

So now we made it there
We'll make it anywhere
We're on our way
First Grade, First Grade
---------------------------------------
Chorus:
Each of us is a flower
Growing in life’s garden
Each of us is a flower
We need the sun and rain.

Each of us is a flower
Growing in life’s garden
Each of us is a flower
We need the sun and rain.

Verse:
Sun, shine your warmth on me
Moon, cool me with your night
Wind, bring the gentle rain
Earth, take my roots down deep.

yes the woman who never leaves the house without her camera actually forgot it to her daughters kindergarten program LOL
oh also the woman who is rarely weepy cried like a newborn LOL

Curly did good, she didn't freak out until after the show when everyone went back to the classroom LOL
she needed some alone time in the s3 (special education classroom)
she recovered quite well after a short time and that was impressive she has come a long way in a school year :)


so proud of my baby :)

AND her special needs teacher is going to be her Summer school Teacher which is A HUGE good deal :)

after a stressfull evening...

after a very stressful evening of Curly doing all kinds of things to break my heart, like refusing to hold my hand, not letting me touch her, only wanting to hold Daddy's hand, only wanting to sit next to daddy, not listening to me, and not looking at me,running from me, I drove them home and opened the door to let her out, she stood there in the van, stretched up to her tip toes, peered into my eyes, MADE eye contact with me and said "hi mom it's good to see you" and then gave me the biggest hug

Now that was AWESOME!

*sniff*

IEP?

So I got a phone call the other day telling me that the boy's meeting has been schedules for May 13th and was that a good time.
I said ok and today I got a call from the psychologist
"Is he on Medications?"
"Does he receive therapy?"
she said "I'll send this to the school and they will come up with a date for the meeting" I told her the day was set for May 13th and she said "nice of them to let me know "

HUH?

these are surely not the nice and helpful people who were on Curly's team

Now I am scared.
Now I understand all the chatter I have heard from everywhere about how dreadful IEPs are

I swear Curly's IEP was a pleasant picnic! no kidding they sent me an invitation with a notice of everyone that would be there, and I had a ton of time to prepare
this is different. they don't even know what they are doing.

So when I went to go check the mail there was a letter form the school, I thought maybe that would be more info

no it's the forms to fill out for next year

I still do not know what we are going to do.

:(
should he stay in the charter school? should We put him in the public?

repeat the fifth grade, or advance to the sixth?

*sigh*

as I sit and listen to my daughter cry for auntie Nan ...I just wish...

she loves her Dad
she loves her brother,
loves her sister
loves her teacher
her aids and helpers
her class mates
her therapist,
her specialists
her aunts her cousins
the dog next door...

I am her Mother!

vacation

no time to blog but will update later

I still have not figured out how to blog from the blackberry
soooooo
I know you will miss me :)

Bandages and Focalin

Soo I went to pick up the boy at his school early yesterday to take him to the doctor's For a medication check. They called him out of his room and he came down to me clutching his elbow "I got hurt someone pushed me over at recess" So I look at his elbow, and it's just a really big scrape, but the nurse had put a teeny tiny bandaid on it.

So I was glad we were going to the doctors because that nurse took one look at that pathetic job the school nurse did and got the stuff, cleaned up the wound and bandaged it right. *sigh* so I would like to ask "don't they have a first aid kit at the school?" So I went out to Walmart and picked up a package of knee and elbow bandages to give them, but WOW I was kind of surprised at how it was handled, not that the cut was bad, but the little band aid and the blood dripping all over the place, I could see bits of dirt in there...kind of shocking KWIM? I know he is in middle school now but I can't imagine them expecting him to clean a wound himself. *shrug*

so back to the ADHD stuff\

He needs a med change and homework is impossible so the psychiatrist recommends him changing to several doses a day instead of the once a day extended release
*sigh* of course the two doctors don't agree, but I am going to take the word of the Ped TYVM So they increased his dose.
Sometimes I get so upset, I wish we didn't have to give him medicine, I wonder about how it all affects him :( I've evn tried taking him off a few times, one time they sent him home from school...it's obvious he struggles so much without it :(

anyway we are hopeful that the new dose will help.

IEP is coming up :)

funny stories are always nice

I asked my kids the question at dinner

"what is the most fun you had at today at school"

Messy (who's new nickname is now Curly) was the first to tell me
" today I had a time out in school"

Ok the fact that she answered my question was thrilling, I guess we need to teach what "fun" means :) but we are still thrilled that she answered, and was the first one to answer :)

Moo (who will keep that nickname) took some coaxing to get her to answer, she is upset because I put the macaroni and cheese in the green bowl, and she had wanted broccoli in the green bowl, and the mac and cheese in the orange bowl hmmm you know she is just copying her sisters issues right??? after telling us several times that she had absolutely no fun at school today, she finally admitted that she slid on the slide and that was fun LOL

Mapboy (who's new nickname will be Larry) said that he had a quiz on Africa and he was only supposed to write in 20 countries he knew 32 and he also knew the capitals which are supposed to be extra. after several minutes of bragging about how awesome he is at Geography I reminded him that he needed to do his Language arts homework LOL


my kids ROCK! I complain about them a lot, too much they are pretty cool kids :)

So the nicknames results are in!

did you pick up on the names?

Moo Larry and curly :)


it is going to be a long spring if I am going to have to forgo redsox games so the kids can do homework ARGH LOL

I've done a few posters since the last blog update I'm just going to paste them over form flickr :)

Autism the real deal

I have changed a lot in the last couple of years, I used to be the mom in the grocery store who thought " man that kid is really spoiled rotten the parents must not know how to discipline" Now I'm the mom who thinks "oh that poor kid is really struggling" I guess that is why I almost never say anything to people who make comments and things. Thank God I never said anything to anyone back when I was unaware...but hey I can't go back in time and change how I used to think, only how I think now.


So we have to go to a new place to get the girl's blood test now, the nurses at the Peds office don't want to anymore, frankly I don't blame them but it makes things harder for us.

So we go to Children's Hospital and they don't really know us yet so I had to warn them when we got there "she has autism and puts up a fight for the blood test" I do that because it's easier than just saying "she puts up a fight" when you use the word autism it makes them understand that you really mean it KWIM?
Don't get me wrong, they are great there, they are fast, and accurate, none of that wiggling the needle around trying to find the vein KWIM? and they are very nice.

So the phlebotomist kept taking Messsy's face and looking in her eyes...I was pretty sure I knew what was coming next...the old "she doesn't have autism" thing sure enough this woman is convinced she has been misdiagnosed
Why? she talks, she is smart, and she is a girl...apparently girls don't get Autism LOL I have to be nice, the woman is really just trying to help. And after all one of Messy's Doctors doesn't believe she has it either.
Me I've excepted it. she needs an aid to help her or she would be a total disruption in her class, she spins around, she paces, some times she will throw herself on the floor and start screaming with her hands over her ears for no apparent reason, she needs help walking down stairs, she doesn't like to hold my hand, but does like to hold her dad's, she has to draw a picture and take it with her before we leave the house, she will pick up a knife, a razor, a candle, a hot coal she never remembers what is dangerous, she would run out into the street with cars coming if she saw a blue jay, not that she does these things I just think she might if we didn't watch her every second of every day. I gotta say that if she doesn't have autism I'm Rachael Ray...and we all know that I am NOT RR LOL


You all know that April is Autism awareness day right?
I hope my vast number of followers, I think I have 5, don't get sick of my autism posts
because all month I am going to talk about autism and Messy and what I want/hope/pray for.

hey isn't that the whole reason I started this blog in the first place? to talk about Messy :)

I am the MEANEST mom LOL

How many times have I told the boy not to leave his homework out

you don't even know

it's not funny
anyway last night I told him three times to clean up his homework off the table and he didnt, he also left out his pastels that is DANGEROUS with those girls LOL

So meanie mom took the pastels and put them into my cabinet (the place I put stuff they are not going to see again either ever, or for a long time) and I scooped all his homework up with his sisters papers and told myself that when he asks for it I will give it to him with a little "when will you learn your lesson" kind of talk.


problem

he never asked me for it

and

I totally forgot it was sitting with his sisters papers.

So he got called for the WCC work completion center its just a fancy way of saying he has to stay after school.

OK I still didn't remember until I went to go through the papers and separate artwork, from school work

So the boy is staying after school
because I can't pick him up at the same time as his sister I have to send him to the after school program


it cost 16 dollars to send him to that


We will be billing the boy

don't worry he knows it we have discussed this before, there is no way I can be in two places at once and the after school program is the only way

*sigh*

he is not going to be happy for sure

a little part of me wanted to say NO and rush his homework to him, but really, when is he going to learn his lesson and keep his homework where it is supposed to be?

what happens when I forget to blog for a bit

I can't remember what I blogged about and what I didn't LOL

I got a call from the kindergartner's teacher yesterday
she has been having lots of trouble with sensitivity to noise
Whistles on the playground, morning announcements...any normal noises have her rocking with her hands over her ears

I know that that is what she does doesn't necessarily mean her ears are bothering her.
I tell the teacher this and she agrees with me, but is also concerned that she might have an ear infection because she also has a runny nose and, well you know the deal right? they don't want to start behavior modification if she is doing it out of real pain, or if she is really sick. Autism really stinks sometimes

So I took her to walk-in and the NP says that she has fluid in the ear
OK I am holding a pamphlet in my hand about how you shouldn't treat fluid in the ears with antibiotics...but the NP is pushing for them so the school can get going on the Behavior modification. OK OK I get it! I just wish I was one of those really smart strong mothers who has all the answers and knows what to do....you know who they are right?

anyway Dh is away until Friday so we are going to busy all week :)

now I am off to make homemade pizza with the kids, well semi homemade...I bought the dough

sometimes I miss them

Here is a picture from the past!



OH those curls!

What kind of day has it been?

Well The Messy Girl has a book to return to school I really need to find another nickname for her I am starting to really dislike "Messy"

I can't find it

and I wonder is this a typical problem with kids?
do kids that don't have issues with autism hide things? whenever there is something that has to be returned to the library or the school, she hides it and she is really good at hiding things, then she forgets where it is, sometimes she hides her favorite toys and she can't find them. it's maddening!



anyway I can't find the missing book, and the moo-ster peed her pants right when it was time for Messy's bus So I rushed around changing Moo and getting Messy on the bus and then getting Moo off to school *sigh* My head is pounding

I drop moo at school, late again...I think we are late more days that not, but that is because we can't be in two places at once KWIM?

Then I zip to the grocery store to pick up a few things I need, get home to see Messy's lunch box and thermos on the table
So I zip over to her school to drop it off
zip back home and start taking off the couch cover

see we have these loveseats that have the removable covers, and we got extra covers
two loves seats and two red covers, two black covers, and then we found a zebra striped cover in the "as-is" room for 5 bucks Messy LOVES the zebra cover I wish we had a second one because I like it when things match but....

Ok I got sidetracked there didn't I?

anyway the red covers need to be washed so I started taking of one had to stop to zip and pick up moo who had a great day at school today :)

got home get her lunch and finished taking off the cover
Got the zebra cover lined it up and pulled it on smoothing it out, got it just perfect, I just needed to put the straps on it to keep the cover on and Moo climbed up on the couch all excited "ohh zebra" So I said "please get down, I still need to put on the straps" "ok mama" she got down and sat on the floor.

The cover slips in between the back and seat and the straps run through there


so I go to push the the cover in between and it felt wet

Yes she sat on it for 1 minute and peed on it. and what is the deal with the pee accidents? twice in one day for Moo, yesterday Messy had three pee accidents ????

So I went to clean her up and thought "well she needs a shower anyway, why don't I do that now" So while I was showering up Moo the phone rang.

Guess what? IT was 12:30, and the boy had a half day, I was supposed to pick him up at 12:15

so I had to whisk a wet and drippy moo I dried her off dressed her up and wrapped her up in a blanket, it's nice out, but not THAT nice out KWIM, off to pick him up *sigh*

all I can say is...it's got to get better :)


I guess I'm not going to make it to the library LOL

anyone have any advil? ROFL

Oh I made up a good dinner

I took the leftover corned beef dinner and I made a good casserole

I sliced up the potatoes and carrots really thin
cut up some of the meat into realy small cubes

I started with a layer of veggies
layer of cabbage
layer of tomato sauce
sprinkled some of the meat
layer of mozzarella

veggies
cabbage
sauce
meat
cheese

sprinkled some Italian seasoning
and Parmesan cheese

baked it about 20 minutes

and it was awesome

The boy loved it, the hubby loved it, I thought it was pretty darn good

girls wouldn't try it because it looks like "Basagna" and while they both know that Garfield LOVES "bazagna" they don't so.....

I must say the boy has been less fussy about his food lately :)


now if we could only get the kid to do his required homework.