Cause it ain't September! Miss Fabulous is fabulous once again! She seems to be benefiting from the 1/4 ml dose increase. She is sleeping again, her frustration tolerance is improved, she is making appropriate choices more often than not and is currently bouncing next to me on the mini trampoline. Bounce bounce bounce. That kids burns off everything she eats!
Yesterday we went skating with some friends. Miss was overwhelmed and nervous at first, she hung back with Mom. Before we left she was skating around the floor for the first time ever! She has been to the skating ring a bunch of times with summer camp but would never skate. But in the comfort of being with her family she was brave enough to try. That is the positive side of her being comfortable with her family!
Lil Bro is doing great at Banana School! He is making friends and has some favorite friends. His handwriting is improving and he can write his name now to the point that we can read it!
Big Sis is doing "outstanding" according to her virtual teacher in her on line school. We still battle the lazy factor but that is to be expected.
Mr. Man is doing well overall. He is starting to display typical 'Asperger' struggles with the curriculum in school. Math word problems are a challenge and he even scored a 58 on a recent test. For a child who is not comfortable getting anything wrong that went over like a led balloon.
Fall is here and even in the Sunshine State it is less hot. We have been spending a lot of time outside!
Showing posts with label Weekend Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weekend Report. Show all posts
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Little Bits of Normal
I think it might be hard for anyone to really know what normal is anymore but as far as I can tell we had a bit of it around here this past weekend. Hold on there let me back the train up and mention our minor derailing on Friday evening.
Miss Fabulous in all fairness had not had the best week. I mean from her point of view with it kind of stunk it up bit. You know with the whole summer school/ enrichment program's Mrs. Teacher expecting her to do work and all and then not letting her have recess with the other kids when she did not do said work. And you know Mom called her out on several things this week, also in the no likey category. So I pretty much knew we had it comin so to speak.
Friday night she got through pizza dinner with no problems, go figure. However, when it came time to clean up the toys which meant get ready for bed which meant that we the parents would be discovering the fact that her pants were not clean which meant she would need to get a bath ... ah heck she just decided to blow her lid a big one. I mean it was no holds bar going right for the violence and aggression. Poor Dad was taken a back and it took him a minute or two to get with the program. He tried to block and redirect her but she wasn't having it and she wasn't being safe. He did a great job of keeping her safe and when it was all said and done she cleaned up the toys and got a bath. Bummer, I would have preferred to skip the rage outburst and just get right to clean up and bath but it wasn't my call.
Oh yeah so where is the normal you ask? After that she did pretty well for the rest of the weekend.
She played with the siblings. She did not want to include Mr. Man and we do understand that the sisters like to have some play time with out boys so we set a time when it would be Mr. Man's turn to join the "play date". Funny thing was she was all done playing when it was his turn to join. Mom directed the crew (the 3 oldest kids) to go ahead and enjoy their play date. Mr. Man wanted to play with his beanie babies and Big Sis was okay with that so they moved forward. 3 2 1 "Mommmmmmmmmmmmmm Miss Fabulous is being mean and has a bad attitude and isn't playing nice." Enter Miss Fabulous crying hysterically that Big Sis was tattling on her. Mom asked if what Big Sis said was true? To which Miss answered YES!!! I said then Big Sis was not tattling and that she could return to the play date or she could have a tantrum and then return to the play date. Banshee screams and door kicks and two minutes later she went back into the room and played beanie baby mania for all of 5 minutes and then Mr. Man was all done with the play date too.
Our current focus is to help Miss Fabulous finish things and follow through. Sometimes we have to play with a sibling for a few minutes just to be nice people and that's life. And ... tantrums won't get her out of what she needs to do. Darn! Going up sure can be full of a lot of things you don't want to do. And that's one to grow on.
This weekend included:
What can I say? We keep it interesting!
Miss Fabulous in all fairness had not had the best week. I mean from her point of view with it kind of stunk it up bit. You know with the whole summer school/ enrichment program's Mrs. Teacher expecting her to do work and all and then not letting her have recess with the other kids when she did not do said work. And you know Mom called her out on several things this week, also in the no likey category. So I pretty much knew we had it comin so to speak.
Friday night she got through pizza dinner with no problems, go figure. However, when it came time to clean up the toys which meant get ready for bed which meant that we the parents would be discovering the fact that her pants were not clean which meant she would need to get a bath ... ah heck she just decided to blow her lid a big one. I mean it was no holds bar going right for the violence and aggression. Poor Dad was taken a back and it took him a minute or two to get with the program. He tried to block and redirect her but she wasn't having it and she wasn't being safe. He did a great job of keeping her safe and when it was all said and done she cleaned up the toys and got a bath. Bummer, I would have preferred to skip the rage outburst and just get right to clean up and bath but it wasn't my call.
Oh yeah so where is the normal you ask? After that she did pretty well for the rest of the weekend.
She played with the siblings. She did not want to include Mr. Man and we do understand that the sisters like to have some play time with out boys so we set a time when it would be Mr. Man's turn to join the "play date". Funny thing was she was all done playing when it was his turn to join. Mom directed the crew (the 3 oldest kids) to go ahead and enjoy their play date. Mr. Man wanted to play with his beanie babies and Big Sis was okay with that so they moved forward. 3 2 1 "Mommmmmmmmmmmmmm Miss Fabulous is being mean and has a bad attitude and isn't playing nice." Enter Miss Fabulous crying hysterically that Big Sis was tattling on her. Mom asked if what Big Sis said was true? To which Miss answered YES!!! I said then Big Sis was not tattling and that she could return to the play date or she could have a tantrum and then return to the play date. Banshee screams and door kicks and two minutes later she went back into the room and played beanie baby mania for all of 5 minutes and then Mr. Man was all done with the play date too.
Our current focus is to help Miss Fabulous finish things and follow through. Sometimes we have to play with a sibling for a few minutes just to be nice people and that's life. And ... tantrums won't get her out of what she needs to do. Darn! Going up sure can be full of a lot of things you don't want to do. And that's one to grow on.
This weekend included:
- a trip to the mall where no one fell apart before during or after the outing. Good stuff!
- A day trip to a Florida Spring which included swimming in water that was 72 degrees (sounds warmer than it is),
- packing our own back packs for what we would need for the day (we are all becoming independent little people),
- car trip, dinner out, changing clothes in a public restroom, piling in and out of the van multiple times,
- loads of inquiring looks containing questions such as "are these people all together?" "is this a his hers and theirs situation and if so where is the Latino DNA giver?" "is one of those kids Asian too?" and last but not least "did that kid just try to pee in the grass over there?"
What can I say? We keep it interesting!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Summer School Drool
Miss Fabulous started summer school this past Monday. Correction she began the "summer enrichment program" which last for only 2 weeks because of budget cuts.
At first the Mrs. Teacher seemed overly sweet and we had initial concern that we were going to have a repeat of the last school year for these next two weeks. Not so. Summer time Mrs. Teacher ROCKS! She is kind but says what she means and means what she says. Miss' tears did not get her recess time even though she choose not to do ANY WORK WHAT SO EVER.
Mrs. Teacher explained that she gave reminders to the group that anyone that did not complete their work would not be having recess time. She said Miss was very well behaved as she sat at her seat and refused to do any work. Mrs. Teacher explained that she would not be going out to recess and the tears came with minor drama. Mrs. Teacher asked Miss if it would be fair for her to have recess when she CHOOSE not to do her work and the other children did. Miss said that it would not be fair.
I am loving this lady! Thank you Mrs. Teacher for helping our little one with real true help so that she can continue to develop and grow in the right direction!
Today Mrs. Teacher explained that Miss put forth a better effort but still did not complete her work so no recess but Mrs. Teacher was pleased with the improved effort. Cool beans Miss Fabulous!
We are on the edge of our seat waiting for the written report and results of the testing so that we can make the school aware of Miss needs for the upcoming school year. A watched pot never seems to boil!
I was able to catch Mr. Behavior Guy up last night on what we found out via testing. He had been on vacation so this was the first he had heard of the results. This gives him good direction as to which direction to go in with Miss behavior education.
All in all the kids are doing very well at this time. Miss had a great weekend with really good behavior and choices. Mr. Man is struggling at times but is over all stable. Go team Loo-Loo!
At first the Mrs. Teacher seemed overly sweet and we had initial concern that we were going to have a repeat of the last school year for these next two weeks. Not so. Summer time Mrs. Teacher ROCKS! She is kind but says what she means and means what she says. Miss' tears did not get her recess time even though she choose not to do ANY WORK WHAT SO EVER.
Mrs. Teacher explained that she gave reminders to the group that anyone that did not complete their work would not be having recess time. She said Miss was very well behaved as she sat at her seat and refused to do any work. Mrs. Teacher explained that she would not be going out to recess and the tears came with minor drama. Mrs. Teacher asked Miss if it would be fair for her to have recess when she CHOOSE not to do her work and the other children did. Miss said that it would not be fair.
I am loving this lady! Thank you Mrs. Teacher for helping our little one with real true help so that she can continue to develop and grow in the right direction!
Today Mrs. Teacher explained that Miss put forth a better effort but still did not complete her work so no recess but Mrs. Teacher was pleased with the improved effort. Cool beans Miss Fabulous!
We are on the edge of our seat waiting for the written report and results of the testing so that we can make the school aware of Miss needs for the upcoming school year. A watched pot never seems to boil!
I was able to catch Mr. Behavior Guy up last night on what we found out via testing. He had been on vacation so this was the first he had heard of the results. This gives him good direction as to which direction to go in with Miss behavior education.
All in all the kids are doing very well at this time. Miss had a great weekend with really good behavior and choices. Mr. Man is struggling at times but is over all stable. Go team Loo-Loo!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The weigh in ...
I am pruney from all the time we have spent in the pool this summer. We have had a lot of fun, mostly. Lil Bro is amazing us with his swimming skills. He has amazing breath control, swims fast and dives like a fisherman. His Dad is over the moon that he has a little athlete.
We went to see Dr. Psychiatrist Friday. That went well and I must say we were on our best behavior.
He is looking forward to the findings of the testing the university did. He said he faxed them the entire file so that "they would know what they were dealing with". I have an appointment Monday to meet with the clinician.
The doctor did not change any ones meds. The disruption that we have had lately is mild in comparison and he feels that the kids will level back out when school starts.
He asked Miss M if she gets angry and she looked at him with the "now I must kill you eyes" and said, "yes." Then she went back to playing with the siblings with the toys in the office. It's a plastic track kind of thing and some little people.
He tried to talk to her a little bit about why and she was not going to chat so he asked Mom and Mom explained that she doesn't like to get a bath for one. You know the usual stuff.
I am proud to report that Mr. Man only gained half a pound in 3 months and grew half an inch. Our attempts to keep his weight in check are working.
Miss Fabulous had gained a pound and a half and had also grown half an inch. The twins are still the same height. Too funny.
That's all for now.
We went to see Dr. Psychiatrist Friday. That went well and I must say we were on our best behavior.
He is looking forward to the findings of the testing the university did. He said he faxed them the entire file so that "they would know what they were dealing with". I have an appointment Monday to meet with the clinician.
The doctor did not change any ones meds. The disruption that we have had lately is mild in comparison and he feels that the kids will level back out when school starts.
He asked Miss M if she gets angry and she looked at him with the "now I must kill you eyes" and said, "yes." Then she went back to playing with the siblings with the toys in the office. It's a plastic track kind of thing and some little people.
He tried to talk to her a little bit about why and she was not going to chat so he asked Mom and Mom explained that she doesn't like to get a bath for one. You know the usual stuff.
I am proud to report that Mr. Man only gained half a pound in 3 months and grew half an inch. Our attempts to keep his weight in check are working.
Miss Fabulous had gained a pound and a half and had also grown half an inch. The twins are still the same height. Too funny.
That's all for now.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Braving the Drizzle
We had a relatively normal weekend. Hooray for us!
We had our appointment with Dr. Psychiatrist on Friday, he adjusted Miss M’s meds slightly elevating one med. She has grown a bit since being on this med regiment for the past 10 months.
Miss was very RADtastic this weekend bringing out all of her passive aggressive Chinese water torture drip drop drip drop Lord give my strength behaviors. But she never raged or even tantrumed so we just keep on keeping on.
She is in that mode where she isn’t much fun to play with if you are another kid. She is having a real hard time making the right choice right now, and is having lots of perceptual problems as to what is really going on with sibling interactions. It seemed like a lot of attention seeking in the form of attempting to get the other child in trouble. She did not go about it all that swiftly however since the adult was present (in the same vicinity) and clearly observed the goings on and the fiction as well. But there was nothing earth shattering and she did not blow up even when she was over reacting so … that’s progress, again.
Mr. did well overall but did fail to earn one Wii time for becoming aggressive. He and Miss do not want to feel that they are being denied access to Mom but I do have to go to the potty at times and Nan is completely with in her rights to say, “No you will not go in there while Mom is in the potty.” But he got the train back on the tracks and did great otherwise.
Lil Bro got a fat lip at the park. He was running up the slide and lost his footing and BAM! busted his lip. Thankfully we know someone that lives right next to the park and so we ran over there for some ice in a baggy. The lip was bleeding significantly, as they tend to do, but a baggy of ice and a pop cycle later we all were able to move on.
Since that wasn’t enough excitement we decided to take the crew to the beach for the afternoon and since we are the Loo Loo’s and yes Smokey the bear died the night before the day I (as a toddler) was supposed to get to see him, it rained. It was a drizzle kind of annoying rain and so we went to the beach anyway because once we set these ‘no likey change’ kids in motion it is not a good idea to change the plan if at all possible.
Here are some pics from the day, pardon the occasional fuzzy spot on the pics they are rain drops.
We had our appointment with Dr. Psychiatrist on Friday, he adjusted Miss M’s meds slightly elevating one med. She has grown a bit since being on this med regiment for the past 10 months.
Miss was very RADtastic this weekend bringing out all of her passive aggressive Chinese water torture drip drop drip drop Lord give my strength behaviors. But she never raged or even tantrumed so we just keep on keeping on.
She is in that mode where she isn’t much fun to play with if you are another kid. She is having a real hard time making the right choice right now, and is having lots of perceptual problems as to what is really going on with sibling interactions. It seemed like a lot of attention seeking in the form of attempting to get the other child in trouble. She did not go about it all that swiftly however since the adult was present (in the same vicinity) and clearly observed the goings on and the fiction as well. But there was nothing earth shattering and she did not blow up even when she was over reacting so … that’s progress, again.
Mr. did well overall but did fail to earn one Wii time for becoming aggressive. He and Miss do not want to feel that they are being denied access to Mom but I do have to go to the potty at times and Nan is completely with in her rights to say, “No you will not go in there while Mom is in the potty.” But he got the train back on the tracks and did great otherwise.
Lil Bro got a fat lip at the park. He was running up the slide and lost his footing and BAM! busted his lip. Thankfully we know someone that lives right next to the park and so we ran over there for some ice in a baggy. The lip was bleeding significantly, as they tend to do, but a baggy of ice and a pop cycle later we all were able to move on.
Since that wasn’t enough excitement we decided to take the crew to the beach for the afternoon and since we are the Loo Loo’s and yes Smokey the bear died the night before the day I (as a toddler) was supposed to get to see him, it rained. It was a drizzle kind of annoying rain and so we went to the beach anyway because once we set these ‘no likey change’ kids in motion it is not a good idea to change the plan if at all possible.
Here are some pics from the day, pardon the occasional fuzzy spot on the pics they are rain drops.
Here I am braving the drizzle.
Longing to be out there with Dad surfing.
The smile is not reaching her eyes today.
Nan keeping watch.
Silly boys!
Beach Bums 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Give A Day, Get A Day
After being told about the Disney Give A Day Get A Day promotion our family signed up to participate. Going through the list of options it was difficult to figure out what would be a good fit for six people with the youngest child being 6 years old (Lil Bro was too young to participate). Some good options didn’t allow children that young to volunteer and then I came across an organization with horses. Bingo!
I had wanted to have Miss and Mr. participate in horse therapy last summer but it was expensive and we just could not swing it for both. I thought this would be a great opportunity to see how they reacted with the horses. Mr. has a very common fear among Aspies, he is afraid of bugs and especially flying bugs and spiders. He has had MAJOR panic attacks that were the likes of a TV movie hallucination. Even around our big bouncy Daisy the Dog he tends to me jumpy so how he would react to horses that have been rescued because of mistreatment in most cases was definitely a question mark.
Miss has these grandiose fantasies where she rides like the wind on back of a Spirit the horse however the reality of her actually meeting a horse for the first time was that she flipped out and refused to get out of the car. So I definitely had a question mark there too.
But … what was the worst that would happen? They or even just one of them would flip out and we would leave the ranch and not go to Disney. Life would go on.
To our surprise they both did amazing! We knew that Big Sis would be in horse heaven because she has wanted to be a veterinarian since age 3. The kid would ride a tiger given the opportunity. When she attended zoo camp this summer she was the only kid a lot of times that would pick up or go in to feed the less desirable animals. So there was no question mark regarding her. And she did great!
My two first grades brushed and groomed a 23-year-old Clydesdale horse. They went tromping through a pasture of horse poop and marched right up to this gentle giant and brushed him like his was their best friend, it was amazing! Mr. was very in charge and had no fear around these horses. He helped clean horse gear and polished brass with his Big Sister. Miss stuck with Mama and we did lots of talking to horses and feeding them apples and carrots and putting away helmets and such.
The organization pegged The Hubs as capable right off the bat and had him doing all kinds of manual labor. They were really grateful for the help. One benefit was that everyone that volunteered had the opportunity to ride a horse.
Mr. was a hoot! He was very assertive about wanting to ride the horse and at one point I thought he was just going to jump on. Impulse control is not his strong point. But the staff were very assertive too and safety conscience so that handled him well. Although Miss did great with interacting with the horses when it came time to ride she said, “Mommy I’m scared and I’m not doing it.” I said that was no problem and she could come with Mommy and watch the others ride. She seemed disappointed in herself but we all kept commending the great work she did that day and how brave she was with the horses. She had a minor meltdown when it came time to leave. She started picking at Big Sis and that did not go in her favor but we all just moved forward and when The Hubs started the van she jumped in and decided to abandon her stand off. Gosh is takes years to figure your kid out and know how best to handle a particular situation with said child. One thing I have learned is if I seem completely oblivious to her misbehavior and keep everyone in the group moving forward she is not going to let us get out of sight. As soon as she shuts it off I give her positive attention of some sort, in this case praising her again for her good work with the horses. We just move on and act as if we never noticed her naughtiness. It sometimes gives her enough time, even just a moment, to plug her brain back in and move forward with the rest of us. Thankfully it worked this time.
I am definitely going to be exploring what options are available closer to home for the kids to interact with horses. The therapeutic benefits truly are amazing.
Now as I mentioned Lil Bro did not attend this event with us so that meant that he needed a babysitter. We just don’t leave our kids with babysitters. The last time we paid a babysitter Big Sis was age 4, she will be 11 in May. Usually we would organize for Grandma to come and stay for a day or so and then she would baby sit Lil Bro at home. Well Grandma being the traveler that she is had just been away on a 2 week vacation with Paw Paw and their friends. They had a wonderful time by the way but it was too soon to ask her to come for a visit. So this meant we needed a real babysitter. We arranged for some friends of ours to watch Lil Bro.
He announced, “I’m not staying here. I go wit you Mom.” I used our phrase, “Mommy always comes back.” This is something that he likes to role-play often at home. Although he has had no other form of trauma in his blessed little life the one trauma he experienced was loss of birth giver and then loss of foster Mom and family. They had him from the time he was 2 days old until he was 14 months old and in my arms forever. So separating from Mom is somewhat traumatic and we have worked to make it less upsetting for him. He is allowed to call Mom on the phone for reassurance and yes I was in the middle of a horse pasture assuring Lil Bro that I was coming back.
All in all the family that watched him did a great job of keeping him busy and distracted and he did okay. He slept well that night and has been okay since.
I had wanted to have Miss and Mr. participate in horse therapy last summer but it was expensive and we just could not swing it for both. I thought this would be a great opportunity to see how they reacted with the horses. Mr. has a very common fear among Aspies, he is afraid of bugs and especially flying bugs and spiders. He has had MAJOR panic attacks that were the likes of a TV movie hallucination. Even around our big bouncy Daisy the Dog he tends to me jumpy so how he would react to horses that have been rescued because of mistreatment in most cases was definitely a question mark.
Miss has these grandiose fantasies where she rides like the wind on back of a Spirit the horse however the reality of her actually meeting a horse for the first time was that she flipped out and refused to get out of the car. So I definitely had a question mark there too.
But … what was the worst that would happen? They or even just one of them would flip out and we would leave the ranch and not go to Disney. Life would go on.
To our surprise they both did amazing! We knew that Big Sis would be in horse heaven because she has wanted to be a veterinarian since age 3. The kid would ride a tiger given the opportunity. When she attended zoo camp this summer she was the only kid a lot of times that would pick up or go in to feed the less desirable animals. So there was no question mark regarding her. And she did great!
My two first grades brushed and groomed a 23-year-old Clydesdale horse. They went tromping through a pasture of horse poop and marched right up to this gentle giant and brushed him like his was their best friend, it was amazing! Mr. was very in charge and had no fear around these horses. He helped clean horse gear and polished brass with his Big Sister. Miss stuck with Mama and we did lots of talking to horses and feeding them apples and carrots and putting away helmets and such.
The organization pegged The Hubs as capable right off the bat and had him doing all kinds of manual labor. They were really grateful for the help. One benefit was that everyone that volunteered had the opportunity to ride a horse.
Mr. was a hoot! He was very assertive about wanting to ride the horse and at one point I thought he was just going to jump on. Impulse control is not his strong point. But the staff were very assertive too and safety conscience so that handled him well. Although Miss did great with interacting with the horses when it came time to ride she said, “Mommy I’m scared and I’m not doing it.” I said that was no problem and she could come with Mommy and watch the others ride. She seemed disappointed in herself but we all kept commending the great work she did that day and how brave she was with the horses. She had a minor meltdown when it came time to leave. She started picking at Big Sis and that did not go in her favor but we all just moved forward and when The Hubs started the van she jumped in and decided to abandon her stand off. Gosh is takes years to figure your kid out and know how best to handle a particular situation with said child. One thing I have learned is if I seem completely oblivious to her misbehavior and keep everyone in the group moving forward she is not going to let us get out of sight. As soon as she shuts it off I give her positive attention of some sort, in this case praising her again for her good work with the horses. We just move on and act as if we never noticed her naughtiness. It sometimes gives her enough time, even just a moment, to plug her brain back in and move forward with the rest of us. Thankfully it worked this time.
I am definitely going to be exploring what options are available closer to home for the kids to interact with horses. The therapeutic benefits truly are amazing.
Now as I mentioned Lil Bro did not attend this event with us so that meant that he needed a babysitter. We just don’t leave our kids with babysitters. The last time we paid a babysitter Big Sis was age 4, she will be 11 in May. Usually we would organize for Grandma to come and stay for a day or so and then she would baby sit Lil Bro at home. Well Grandma being the traveler that she is had just been away on a 2 week vacation with Paw Paw and their friends. They had a wonderful time by the way but it was too soon to ask her to come for a visit. So this meant we needed a real babysitter. We arranged for some friends of ours to watch Lil Bro.
He announced, “I’m not staying here. I go wit you Mom.” I used our phrase, “Mommy always comes back.” This is something that he likes to role-play often at home. Although he has had no other form of trauma in his blessed little life the one trauma he experienced was loss of birth giver and then loss of foster Mom and family. They had him from the time he was 2 days old until he was 14 months old and in my arms forever. So separating from Mom is somewhat traumatic and we have worked to make it less upsetting for him. He is allowed to call Mom on the phone for reassurance and yes I was in the middle of a horse pasture assuring Lil Bro that I was coming back.
All in all the family that watched him did a great job of keeping him busy and distracted and he did okay. He slept well that night and has been okay since.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Hello From My Sick Bed
The weekend has not been good. I have been sick with the flu, the kind where you have to go to bed and wait to die or get better. Thankfully I seem to be getting better but this has left Nan and The Hubs on their own largely.
Miss has been challenging, not surprising I guess but still no fun to deal with. She had a full on rage and many other tantrums. About what? It never matters, same old stuff. Her pants are clean though.
Mr. has made a decent effort I will say but he has lost a few times. He took things to a new level and actually bit himself until he bleed.
Lil Bro has popped in to inform me, “Miss M is naughty. She no listen to Nanny.” I think that about sums it up.
Big Sis is feeling better and has been busy being 10. She wanted to go over to a friends house, what and leave all this? So amongst the chaos Nan and Dad worked out taking her and dropping her off over there.
I think that Miss’ meds may need to be adjusted. Although the reports from school say she is behaving well her schoolwork is not going so well and the artwork coming home is indicating that things may not be going so well inside Miss’ head. I will try to get the Hubs to scan some so that I can post it.
Miss has been challenging, not surprising I guess but still no fun to deal with. She had a full on rage and many other tantrums. About what? It never matters, same old stuff. Her pants are clean though.
Mr. has made a decent effort I will say but he has lost a few times. He took things to a new level and actually bit himself until he bleed.
Lil Bro has popped in to inform me, “Miss M is naughty. She no listen to Nanny.” I think that about sums it up.
Big Sis is feeling better and has been busy being 10. She wanted to go over to a friends house, what and leave all this? So amongst the chaos Nan and Dad worked out taking her and dropping her off over there.
I think that Miss’ meds may need to be adjusted. Although the reports from school say she is behaving well her schoolwork is not going so well and the artwork coming home is indicating that things may not be going so well inside Miss’ head. I will try to get the Hubs to scan some so that I can post it.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Because things were not loo loo enough…
So since I’m up anyway I minas well make use of the time and play bloggy catch up.
In conversation with Miss I became aware that she has a teacher assistant in her class now. I think this is one piece of the puzzle as to what has been going on with her down swing upswing, whichever way we want to phrase the recent travels to tantrum town.
Miss began speaking of Miss Assistant a few weeks ago but I misunderstood and thought she was one of the inclusion teachers that Miss works with. All indications are that the assistant is to Miss' liking but still it is a major change (and we no likey change) in the classroom and I am sure not nearly as easy to monopolize Mrs. Teacher's attention.
We spend a lot of time outside doing physical activity normally but with the cold that we have been having that has changed too. This past weekend was beautiful and we spent the majority of the weekend outside. Although she is clearly still "off" we had no tantrums, until Monday morning 'I don't want to go to school'.
Mr. is doing much better at moving forward and not going into aggression mode when he gets stuck up on something. Last night we decided to grab a bite of dinner out. We don't do that often especially during the school week (change in routine) and he missed his last scheduled Wii time because of the outing. Because of the way Mr.'s brain works we cannot deviate from the schedule, meaning that if a time is missed because we were out and about that time is missed and we go to the next available time. It has to be law of the universe concrete for Mr. or he wants to "earn" Wii time all the time anytime. Dad made a boo-boo and gave in to some extra Wii time a week ago Monday and we are still trying to recover from that. Literal thinking says if I can have extra Wii time this time then I should be able to have extra Wii time anytime and I will attempt to negotiate and or harass you into reason.
At any rate he was upset because of having missed his last Wii time and I confirmed that I understood that he was frustrated and that next time we would be sure to give him the option of staying home so that he did not miss that last earned time. One grown up would stay with him and we would bring his dinner back to the house but this time he was now working toward earning his morning Wii time. Normally I would feel this is too cumbersome for a family but ASD works a little differently and the success that he has been having is worth it to us. I believe ultimately he would choose to go and miss the Wii time but it would processed differently in that case.
At any rate we went about getting everyone in PJ's and ready for Family Bible Study and then we all met in the living room. He fussed and complained and seemed close to melting down but never became aggressive.
Why does the dog who hates to get a bath jump into an empty bath tub and steal bath toys at other times? Why does the kid who will have a tantrum about not wanting to get a bath then not want to get out of the bath tub once they are in there? Why does a kid go for weeks with out poop in the pants but kick up the tantrums and then knock off the tantrums only to kick up the poop in the pants again? If I have to make a choice between the two frankly I’d rather have the poop. And that’s why we call this place Loo Loo Land!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Weekend Report
The weekend has been busy.
Miss M is definitely more regulated than ever before and has a noticeable bounce back feature that used to be non-existent. She got upset about taking a bath Saturday, didn't want to wash the hair, ya know. She started the banshee scream and I thought well here we go, 8 weeks later and we are finally going to get the wham-o. I cleared the area and a few minutes later Dad went in and made the announcement that when she was calm Mom would come in and help her with her hair. It took a few minutes but she calmed down and I went in and asked, "Are you ready for Mom to help you with your hair?" She nodded yes and we moved forward. She immediately wanted to say sorry for her behavior and I commented on how quickly she had come back into control of her behavior and that was good.
Mr. is quite simply a kid on the autism spectrum who is struggling right now with all the change we experience during this time of the year. On one hand he likes the break from school and being at home more, he is really affectionate and gives Mom hugs and cuddles regularly and tells me how much he loves me and sticks his nose in my hair and says, "I like smelling you, you smell like Mommy." Precious right?
On the other hand the break from school is breaking from routine and that is difficult for those on the Autism Spectrum, so we are struggling right now. As his CBA put it we are back to square one with Mr. C. Our main focus is to get him to use calming techniques and anytime he is upset and does not assault someone or destroy property this is a positive outcome.
Saturday we went to the local zoo. Miss M had some disappointment when we did not go where she thought we should go first, the playground. It was interesting that she started to have a tantrum, she stomped her foot and crossed her arms and just as quick turned it off and moved forward with the group. I did notice that she became passive aggressive with some really minor stuff after that. She asked to put her shoes on and go play at the animal care station with Big Sis. I put her shoes on for her and she went over there for exactly 30 seconds and then came back and jumped in the indoor sand pit with her shoes on. It is really obvious that everyone has to take their shoes off even the babies understand to take their shoes off and she has been there a hundred times so she definitely knows that there are no shoes in the sand pit. I directed her to kick the sand off her shoes and come on out because there are no shoes allowed in the sand pit and we were getting ready to leave (so it did not warrant taking shoes off and starting all over). She did that big smirky smile as she knocked the sand off her shoes and then turned around and jumped right back in the sand pit. I said, "Nice jump, come take a sit down with Mom for a few minutes." To which the smirk turned to ticked off face. There were several other accidental on purpose things but all in all no biggy.
Here are some pics from the day and the new header pic is from the day also and the updated side photos of the kids. I really love the old header pic but I thought this one was good also.
I love how they are in sync step for step.
Winter Florida Style
The Sand Pit
The Play Area at the Zoo closed so we improvised.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Weekend Report
Thanks to everyone for the supportive comments regarding our 3-hour tantrum. Mr. is definitely doing better today as well. I guess his med dose change is the right one. The sign in sheet and regulated play times with the Wii and Computer are helping him as well. He asked when we would be done with that schedule. Ha ha.
He helped Dad with the repair of the closet door as restitution for the damage. He does not like this kind of activity where as Miss M is quiet happy with this kind of activity and the one on one attention that comes with it. He had to go to the hardware store with Dad and then help with the repair. We had a discussion about restitution prior to the hardware trip. I reminded him of when Mom got a traffic ticket for making a U turn where it wasn't allowed. I did not see the sign and did not knowingly make the mistake but I still had to make restitution for the mistake by taking a driving course and paying the State of Florida a lot of money. He remembered and got the comparison.
Miss M is struggling with emotions at the moment, lots of crying fits but no violence. It's been 2 months since she physically assaulted anyone. She seems to be using the techniques that she has learned to help herself regulate.
We are going on the 29th for a Diagnostic Evaluation to try to get a little more insight on the comprehension problems she has. They are becoming more evident as her aggression at home is more under control. She seems behind in her social play. Unless she is being physical such as running, jumping, swinging etc. she seems lost. She always wants her horse or pony or person (toy) to be an aggressor and she has come to accept that is not acceptable. We remind her and she turns it right off but then she doesn't seem to know just what to do. She will line the toys up to give hugs or try to follow the other childs lead in what the imaginative story is all about but I don't think she has the ability to "picture" things in her mind very well.
This isn't really new information but at 6 and a half she is definitely at an age where it stands out to me that she has these struggles. I think that perhaps it goes unnoticed more often than not in school and camp because there are so man opportunities to just be physical (run, swing and so on) that it just seems that she prefers those things and clearly she does but I really think that she does not understand imaginative play. It is so similar to a child on the Autism Spectrum but I don't see that as a factor with her. She definitely learned social behavior like being charming and being perceived as "a sweet girl". A child on the AS doesn't have the ability to do that. But she seems equally impaired to me in terms of comprehension and imaginative play, the ability to visualize to "picture".
The first step has been to regulate behavior and get these rage outburst under control, it seems we are there largely. Now I can focus more on trying to figure out what help she needs with these other issues.
He helped Dad with the repair of the closet door as restitution for the damage. He does not like this kind of activity where as Miss M is quiet happy with this kind of activity and the one on one attention that comes with it. He had to go to the hardware store with Dad and then help with the repair. We had a discussion about restitution prior to the hardware trip. I reminded him of when Mom got a traffic ticket for making a U turn where it wasn't allowed. I did not see the sign and did not knowingly make the mistake but I still had to make restitution for the mistake by taking a driving course and paying the State of Florida a lot of money. He remembered and got the comparison.
Miss M is struggling with emotions at the moment, lots of crying fits but no violence. It's been 2 months since she physically assaulted anyone. She seems to be using the techniques that she has learned to help herself regulate.
We are going on the 29th for a Diagnostic Evaluation to try to get a little more insight on the comprehension problems she has. They are becoming more evident as her aggression at home is more under control. She seems behind in her social play. Unless she is being physical such as running, jumping, swinging etc. she seems lost. She always wants her horse or pony or person (toy) to be an aggressor and she has come to accept that is not acceptable. We remind her and she turns it right off but then she doesn't seem to know just what to do. She will line the toys up to give hugs or try to follow the other childs lead in what the imaginative story is all about but I don't think she has the ability to "picture" things in her mind very well.
This isn't really new information but at 6 and a half she is definitely at an age where it stands out to me that she has these struggles. I think that perhaps it goes unnoticed more often than not in school and camp because there are so man opportunities to just be physical (run, swing and so on) that it just seems that she prefers those things and clearly she does but I really think that she does not understand imaginative play. It is so similar to a child on the Autism Spectrum but I don't see that as a factor with her. She definitely learned social behavior like being charming and being perceived as "a sweet girl". A child on the AS doesn't have the ability to do that. But she seems equally impaired to me in terms of comprehension and imaginative play, the ability to visualize to "picture".
The first step has been to regulate behavior and get these rage outburst under control, it seems we are there largely. Now I can focus more on trying to figure out what help she needs with these other issues.
*******************
Further on the Weekend Report - Dad decided to take Daisy for a walk with the roller blades.
Things are under way now.
They are the tiny dot down the road so all went well.
No Miss M we do not take the Snow-Doh Man out with the stick.
Here he is still in one piece, no worries.
Here is the Nanster recovering with Nurse Chihuahua Jasmine by her side.
And that's news to me!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
That's News To Me
Saturday was a challenge. Miss M announced that she, “Misses Daddy and wants to see him.” She may be drawing the conclusion that he is being held captive somewhere, I don’t know. She talks to him on the phone daily so she knows he is still alive and well but seeing is believing I guess.
She had multiple melt downs yesterday and could not get it together to deal with playing with anyone, not even Big Sis one on one. I did a bang up job redirecting her and diverting her but she was determined yesterday and finally got fed up with all the nicey-nicey redirecting and announced that she wanted to go play with Big Sis. I was keeping her close to me and keeping her involved with a variety of activities, but the other kids were playing in another room and she wanted to go be apart of that.
She just was not able to cope with it yesterday. She could not make good choices, she repeatedly blew up at others over nothing, she would allow a sibling to come in and play littlest pet shops or ponies and then suddenly explode telling that child to “get out” and as they went to exit “don’t go” - EXPLOSION. We have not had a visit to crazy town in a while and our frequent visits there yesterday were a definite reminder that it is not a nice place to live.
None of this was surprising; we understand what is upsetting her. Still doesn’t make it easy to deal with.
Did I mention that my back up person aka Nanster has a kidney infection? Further proof that the Universe is against me. We had a plan to separate the kids yesterday and keep them busy, she’d take two and I’d take two. That clearly could not happen because she was sick with a kidney infection. So we did the best we could with what we had to work with.
It has also been rainy and over cast. Super let’s throw in lacking in Sunlight for good measure. Yes we were all packed and ready for that visit to crazy town.
Following the most major meltdown from Miss M I put her raincoat on and she and I took Daisy the Pit Bull for a walk, in the drizzle. The walk helped her. I give her markers like “that mail box” and she runs to the marker and back to me. She loves to run and it helps her. If it had been sunny we would have been outside all day.
I imagine we must be quiet the spectacle. Our immediate neighbors know about Miss M’s issues so they aren’t real surprised to see her and I out of the house in raincoats getting our wiggles out. One chubby white woman, a little brown girl and an idiot dog that is pulling on the lease as if we have signed her up to run the Alaskan Iditarod and I am sure we are entertaining to watch.
I was impressed with Miss M though in regards to managing her anger. She was clearly ready to rage and she wanted to physically assault me, I could see the debate going on in her head. She never lashed out at me, she did pick up a heavy object and throw it at the wall and scream like a banshee but that is a huge level of self-control for a child that only months ago physically attacked anyone with in her reach when angry.
Mr. C is still in “I’ll be a butt” mode. He is perseverating on various issues, aka I want my own way. This morning it was 45 minutes of I want to play with the Littlest Pet Shops. Well that would be fine accepted he doesn’t have any of his own, he chooses to collect Mario Brother cards instead. I knew that him playing with either of the girls would not go well so I said no and recommended other options. We have a whole collection of Little People and Animalville and their cars and toys that he could play with and we also have a collection of playmobil people that he could play with. He did not accept those alternatives. I recommended drawing, playing with his card collection, and play-doh.
Eventually he began playing play-doh. Unfortunately he failed to earn any Wii or computer time, bummer.
So that’s the weekend report from the Loo-Loo Crew and that’s news to me.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Day 2 - WOD (without Dad)
Sunday went okay all in all. The Nanster and I decided to be industrious and finish grouting the living room for the Hubs. He really may think twice before leaving me in charge again. hee hee
Notice in the pics that we are working directly next to the couch; this is where Miss M was (and Big Sis and Mr. C too most of the time)
We took the kids to Golden Coral for a late lunch.
Let me just say that Mr. C has been a toot all day. He had a major tantrum and assaulted Nan. I dealt with the tantrum and video taped so that Mr. CBA can review it Tuesday. Mr. C had been non-stop machine gun style verbally harassing me through out the store because of his lack of ability to find a Red Box DVD that he wanted to watch. It wasn't fair, I never let him do anything, on and on blah blah blah etc. The whole perseverating on it thing as Mr. CBA calls. I call it pain in the butt syndrome but whatever.
As we were leaving the store he wanted to go back to Red Box for a DVD. I said, "Did you earn a DVD with your behavior in the store?" He said, "Why do you always answer my questions with your questions?" Cause I am a trained Mama that's why!
Anyway, he and Nan walk ahead of the rest of us and the sticker lady at the Wal-Mart says, "Do ya'll want a sticker?" I honestly wanted to slap her but I did not because that would not be Christian of me plus the whole video camera evidence thing. So she gives one to Big Sis, Miss M and Lil Bro. Lil Bro is not impressed and gave his to Big Sis because honestly she was the person closest to him. Miss M says, "That's not fair!" I said, "What's not fair?" "She has two stickers." I say, "Why does she have two?" "Because Lil Bro gave her his." "Right. So what's not fair?" At which point she gave me the quiet mad look and I moved forward toward the van where we found Mr. C nearly melting down and still perseverating on the whole DVD situation.
Anyway we all got in the van. The house is less than a mile away. We drive into the driveway and Big Sis has been singing some song on the radio and Miss M is trying to sing along too. In the past she did lots of things to simply annoy others but that is not what she was doing this time. She was being six, she admires her big sister and she wanted to sing along too. Big Sis decided that now was the perfect time to be 10 and tell Miss M that she "can't sing." We all remember that the sticker thing was 7 minutes ago at the Wal-Mart? So Miss M is ready to rage. She starts the angry crying and a scream session all at the same time followed immediately by stomping the back of the seat in front of her. We all move forward with unloading the grocery bags and I have the key to the house so I start directing the bag carriers to place the bags by the front door. I get on the phone to call the CBA who lives near by just in case he might be available to stop by because we now have Mr. C and Miss M going at it in the front yard at the same time and the only thing better than a melt down is a double melt down. I look at Nan and whisper we are not opening the front door we are going to take a walk because if we go in that door it's all over and the holes in the wall are going to start and we don't have The Hubs here to do CPI is need be. She said, "Right."
So I announced, "Come on everybody we are going to take a walk, hooray!" And I start heading down the street. Miss M stomps and protests but quickly starts to follow when I say, "Come on we are going for a walk." With in 30 seconds her brain switches back to positive and she wants to say sorry to Big Sis. I said we would take care of that in a minute because Big Sis was up ahead of us. In reality Big Sis needed to apologize for the rude comment that started the whole thing.
Mr. C is complaining, "I don't like to walk. My leg hurts. I can't believe we are out here walking when it looks like it is going to rain. Have you ever thought about it raining on us? What are we going to do if it rains on us?" To which I said, "Then we'll get wet but that's okay because you are not made out of sugar so you won't melt." He continued on and on and by this time we had walked a few blocks. I let Mr. C know that if he was not able to be all done with his complaining before we got back to the house then he would get to take another lap around the neighborhood with Mommy. He said, "I do not want to walk around this neighborhood all all day. Can you hear me Mom?" So I said, "Well then you better stop the complaining dear." Before we made it around the last leg of our lap toward the house he had become interested in something that Big Sis was talking about and he knocked it off. We all went into the house and preceded on with bath time and he kept a lid on it the rest of the evening and so did Miss M. Mr. C said, "How am I doing now? Aren't I doing better with my behavior now?"
So all in all a productive day and no one raged.
The end.
Here is a sweet pic of my baby blogger assistant who wandered out of his room where he was supposed to be sleeping.
Here I am hard at work.
The Nanster at work.
We finished it up this evening while the kids watched a video.
Notice in the pics that we are working directly next to the couch; this is where Miss M was (and Big Sis and Mr. C too most of the time)
We took the kids to Golden Coral for a late lunch.
This is Lil Bro not wanting to cooperate with the photo taking.
Following the Golden Pig Out we went to Wal-Mart for a few things for the kids lunches tomorrow. I suggested that we all pick out soup for dinner and so they picked out Spongebob soup and Princess Spaghetti O's. They also rented another DVD from the Red Box at Wal-Mart.
Let me just say that Mr. C has been a toot all day. He had a major tantrum and assaulted Nan. I dealt with the tantrum and video taped so that Mr. CBA can review it Tuesday. Mr. C had been non-stop machine gun style verbally harassing me through out the store because of his lack of ability to find a Red Box DVD that he wanted to watch. It wasn't fair, I never let him do anything, on and on blah blah blah etc. The whole perseverating on it thing as Mr. CBA calls. I call it pain in the butt syndrome but whatever.
As we were leaving the store he wanted to go back to Red Box for a DVD. I said, "Did you earn a DVD with your behavior in the store?" He said, "Why do you always answer my questions with your questions?" Cause I am a trained Mama that's why!
Anyway, he and Nan walk ahead of the rest of us and the sticker lady at the Wal-Mart says, "Do ya'll want a sticker?" I honestly wanted to slap her but I did not because that would not be Christian of me plus the whole video camera evidence thing. So she gives one to Big Sis, Miss M and Lil Bro. Lil Bro is not impressed and gave his to Big Sis because honestly she was the person closest to him. Miss M says, "That's not fair!" I said, "What's not fair?" "She has two stickers." I say, "Why does she have two?" "Because Lil Bro gave her his." "Right. So what's not fair?" At which point she gave me the quiet mad look and I moved forward toward the van where we found Mr. C nearly melting down and still perseverating on the whole DVD situation.
Anyway we all got in the van. The house is less than a mile away. We drive into the driveway and Big Sis has been singing some song on the radio and Miss M is trying to sing along too. In the past she did lots of things to simply annoy others but that is not what she was doing this time. She was being six, she admires her big sister and she wanted to sing along too. Big Sis decided that now was the perfect time to be 10 and tell Miss M that she "can't sing." We all remember that the sticker thing was 7 minutes ago at the Wal-Mart? So Miss M is ready to rage. She starts the angry crying and a scream session all at the same time followed immediately by stomping the back of the seat in front of her. We all move forward with unloading the grocery bags and I have the key to the house so I start directing the bag carriers to place the bags by the front door. I get on the phone to call the CBA who lives near by just in case he might be available to stop by because we now have Mr. C and Miss M going at it in the front yard at the same time and the only thing better than a melt down is a double melt down. I look at Nan and whisper we are not opening the front door we are going to take a walk because if we go in that door it's all over and the holes in the wall are going to start and we don't have The Hubs here to do CPI is need be. She said, "Right."
So I announced, "Come on everybody we are going to take a walk, hooray!" And I start heading down the street. Miss M stomps and protests but quickly starts to follow when I say, "Come on we are going for a walk." With in 30 seconds her brain switches back to positive and she wants to say sorry to Big Sis. I said we would take care of that in a minute because Big Sis was up ahead of us. In reality Big Sis needed to apologize for the rude comment that started the whole thing.
Mr. C is complaining, "I don't like to walk. My leg hurts. I can't believe we are out here walking when it looks like it is going to rain. Have you ever thought about it raining on us? What are we going to do if it rains on us?" To which I said, "Then we'll get wet but that's okay because you are not made out of sugar so you won't melt." He continued on and on and by this time we had walked a few blocks. I let Mr. C know that if he was not able to be all done with his complaining before we got back to the house then he would get to take another lap around the neighborhood with Mommy. He said, "I do not want to walk around this neighborhood all all day. Can you hear me Mom?" So I said, "Well then you better stop the complaining dear." Before we made it around the last leg of our lap toward the house he had become interested in something that Big Sis was talking about and he knocked it off. We all went into the house and preceded on with bath time and he kept a lid on it the rest of the evening and so did Miss M. Mr. C said, "How am I doing now? Aren't I doing better with my behavior now?"
So all in all a productive day and no one raged.
The end.
Here is a sweet pic of my baby blogger assistant who wandered out of his room where he was supposed to be sleeping.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Day 1 - WOD (without Dad)
So yeah Dad is in Hawaii and that leaves the Loo Loo Crew foot lose and fancy free on our own and in search of which adult is in charge.
Day 1 went okay. Miss M had multiple mood swings if you will but pulled up instead of crash and burn, always the preferred plan. We were out and about and had forgotten her mid-day med. I looked at Nan and Nan at me and as I said, "Do you think we should go home for the med?" Miss M broke lose with a angry crying jag. So yeah I made a beeline for the house and we picked up the meds and administered the mid-day dose.
From there we did a little thrift store shopping. Each kid had $3.00 of their money they could spend and the money was in pennies and various coins mainly. It started out all good because the casher is a sweet little lady who counts in Spanish, but then the line started backing up and the other customers were not so into my kids using their various earned coins. Not to mention I had my own cart full O treasure, arrrrr.
I was nice though because after my last kid counted their pennies and nickels for their bits of stuff I let the next few folks in the line check out a head of me and my cart Ocrap stuff. Sniff sniff get the tissues it's a tearjerker moment at the GW with my random act O kindness. The O would be so proud of me!
Miss M purchased yet another horse. Mr. C hit the jackpot and found a Mario as in Mario Super Brothers, a journal, a mini beanie bear and a coin purse with a string on it for his lunch money on Fridays - Yes! Winner!
Lil Bro picked out a truck. It was a tractor-trailer style truck that really hauls hot wheel cars, I was so impressed! He came home and stuffed a train in there that clearly did not fit but that's another story. We nearly had a dilemma in deciding on a pair of Spiderman shoes or the truck. I said, "Which one buddy you pick, truck or shoes?" The Nanster said, "He isn't going to get what you are asking him. You know this right?" My smart 3 year old said, "Truck!" And proceeded to pull off the Spiderman shoes and hand them to me. And I was all like, "Ha! Don't under estimate the toddler dude! Cause he rocks!" That and we have totally had that discussion in the GW a few times and he knows when Mama says pick she means it and you are not leaving with both items.
Big Sis was packin the big bucks and was able to by a scooter for $6.00 and yet another stuffed Chihuahua dog with a sweater. Thank goodness she found that because that is EXACTLY what we need, another stuffed animal. Will they never catch on that I go through the stuffed animals every few months and donate them to the GW? Such is the circle of life.
We also made a stop by the Steak and Shake. Kids eat free on Saturday with every $8.00 you spend, so we also got shakes!
Day 1 went okay. Miss M had multiple mood swings if you will but pulled up instead of crash and burn, always the preferred plan. We were out and about and had forgotten her mid-day med. I looked at Nan and Nan at me and as I said, "Do you think we should go home for the med?" Miss M broke lose with a angry crying jag. So yeah I made a beeline for the house and we picked up the meds and administered the mid-day dose.
From there we did a little thrift store shopping. Each kid had $3.00 of their money they could spend and the money was in pennies and various coins mainly. It started out all good because the casher is a sweet little lady who counts in Spanish, but then the line started backing up and the other customers were not so into my kids using their various earned coins. Not to mention I had my own cart full O treasure, arrrrr.
I was nice though because after my last kid counted their pennies and nickels for their bits of stuff I let the next few folks in the line check out a head of me and my cart O
Miss M purchased yet another horse. Mr. C hit the jackpot and found a Mario as in Mario Super Brothers, a journal, a mini beanie bear and a coin purse with a string on it for his lunch money on Fridays - Yes! Winner!
Lil Bro picked out a truck. It was a tractor-trailer style truck that really hauls hot wheel cars, I was so impressed! He came home and stuffed a train in there that clearly did not fit but that's another story. We nearly had a dilemma in deciding on a pair of Spiderman shoes or the truck. I said, "Which one buddy you pick, truck or shoes?" The Nanster said, "He isn't going to get what you are asking him. You know this right?" My smart 3 year old said, "Truck!" And proceeded to pull off the Spiderman shoes and hand them to me. And I was all like, "Ha! Don't under estimate the toddler dude! Cause he rocks!" That and we have totally had that discussion in the GW a few times and he knows when Mama says pick she means it and you are not leaving with both items.
Big Sis was packin the big bucks and was able to by a scooter for $6.00 and yet another stuffed Chihuahua dog with a sweater. Thank goodness she found that because that is EXACTLY what we need, another stuffed animal. Will they never catch on that I go through the stuffed animals every few months and donate them to the GW? Such is the circle of life.
We also made a stop by the Steak and Shake. Kids eat free on Saturday with every $8.00 you spend, so we also got shakes!
The only thing better than a little Loo Loo in your day is when you sugar them up! (btw that is chocolate chips in Miss M's teeth if you enlarge the pic)
For dinner we went to the frozen food isle and Mom let the kids pick which dinner they wanted. They were totally cool with that. The Nanster and I had corn dogs, loaded potato skins and a salad for dinner. I think when the Hubs reads this he is going to know that leaving me in charge was probably not the way to go.
Alooooooooha!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
My Girl
Saturday before last Big Sis and I had some one on one time. We did some shopping at some second hand stores and went to lunch together at Squid lips. She received a free lunch there for making good grades and all the kids received rewards from Mom and Dad for their good grades and good efforts. Not everyone is mastering every area but if the teacher feels that child is making their best effort that's what we expect. For instance in 7th grade French my teacher sent a note home saying not to punish me for the D I received as I was "doing her best". Yeah French was not my strong point. Who knew that I would much prefer Spanish and I actually took several years of Sign Language. But I digress.
We had a great time and it emphasizes the need for one on one time with each child since what she choose as a reward was time with Mom and not a toy or DS game.
We had a great time and it emphasizes the need for one on one time with each child since what she choose as a reward was time with Mom and not a toy or DS game.
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