Some some summer time pictures

These first two photos were taken last fall, you can see how much they have grown in the new pictures.

Working on the farm.

Nighttime "can't sleep" issues, Daisy dog helped out.

Guard dogs.

The cat is the supervisor.

Playing a word game.

Miss Fabulous Room with the new bunk.

self portrait

The watering hole had too much bacteria in it to be safe to swim in, we improvised and played in the shower.

On our way to a different watering hole which was safe to swim in.

Just a swingin'.

Keep Moving Forward

I read this post and thought of my own beautiful boys.  This summer has gone really well overall, better than the summers have been in years.  Everyone is more stable than they have been in years.

The boys have become even more closely bonded.  They say things like "we're the brothers!"  I have been encouraging them how special their relationship is, not everyone gets a brother and it was important to Dad and I that they have each other.  Mr. Man has taken this information to heart and when the two are playing together says things like, "Are we 100% brothers or what!?"

The pool has been sick with yellow algae and so for the past few days they have not been able to get in and play.  Thankfully the pool should be back to swimable today or tomorrow.  In the mean time I have been letting the kids play with the hose on the patio.  They have used buckets sponges and soapy bubbles and it has been precious to watch.

Lil Bro has had fun watching the buckets fill with water and watching the ripples the running water makes in the bucket full of water.  Toy alligators have gone for a swim, sometimes in the dog dish which is yuck but we have lots of soap involved so it all works out.  It is awesome to watch his imagination at work and to know that he does not have the struggles that Miss Fabulous and Mr. Man have had to and continue to overcome.

Having a little brother that has such an imagination has been so beneficial to Mr. Man and his gains socially.  Brothers rock!

Miss Fabulous is doing well at the moment.  She feels real pride in applying herself and making improvement in her school work.  I hope that this will carry over into the school year when it begins in a few weeks.

Sometimes Miss makes some funny observations.  The way that she chooses to phrase things can be entertaining.  For instance we were browsing channels and there was an advertisement for a program with a cesarean section on TV.  Miss Fabulous looked at the TV and said, "Hey look they are letting that baby out of there."  The Hubs said to me quietly, "Yeah they are letting him out of the clink."  It was a hilariously precious moment with a healing kid just being a 7 year old kid and not being hyper vigilant and on guard but just living the moment.

Have you seen the movie The Robinson's?  Mr. Man loves that movie and when he first saw it he said, "That's just like me and you isn't it Mom?"  At that time he still struggled a lot socially and it was a surprising observation from him.  Tears came to my eyes and I will never forget it.

The message in the movie is "keep moving forward."  And that's just what we are doing.  Thank you all for joining us along the way.

More Pool Talk with the Loo Loo's

The summer is chugging along.  Overall things are going well.  Mr. Man is struggling a bit.  He is plucking Mom's last nerve for sure.

Miss Fabulous had been doing well through out the weekend, even with the extra day off.  Yesterday after camp and while the Behavior Therapist was here she did not want to get out of the pool for dinner.  She pitched a royal fit complete with banging on the sliding glass door and yelling and screaming.  My neighbors obviously just do not care, which works well for me.  This child is screaming "Mommy let me in" through an unlocked door which she had already been instructed to "come on inside when your ready". 

We did such a good job of going about our business that she OPENED the door to yell LET ME IN!  It was hard not to chuckle.  She had her towel and the patio was shady and it wasn't cold either so she was okay to take her time to come in.  If we had insisted that she come in she would have had a major rage in the house, where she was she was being perfectly safe and working it out of her system so we went with that.

She opened the door and said, "I am ready to come in now."  So we told her come on in and go get dressed for dinner.  She put her PJ's on and got into bed.  I went and checked on her and asked if she was tired and she said no that she just felt better being there.  Good choice!

She ate a double dinner and then went right out to sleep.

I think what might be behind the upset is the fact that she is not a good swimmer.  Her fear over takes her and she doesn't trust herself, even in the water she can stand in the feeling of her feet not being under her when she tries to swim frightens her and she stops trying.  It is okay with us.  We tell her to keep trying and good job and that she will get there but she is unhappy with herself and she is in a place where she realizes there is no one at fault other than herself, if one wanted to put it that way.  That in itself is huge.

Her little friends in camp are moving on to the deeper water because they are taking the test and passing it.  She is too afraid to try to take the test.  She is upset with herself about that and in addition her 4 year old brother who is the size of a 2 year old is swimming all on his own like a fish and everyone is really excited about it. 

It is one of those things that I think most kids go through.  Big Sis was 9 before she learned to ride a bike with no training wheels, and yes it looked ridiculous for this big ole' kid to be cocked over to one side because she had longgggggggggg out grown the training wheels.  Whatever eventually she wrestled with herself and learned to ride.  The pride and the since of accomplishment is huge when a person overcomes that kind of fear.  But no one can do it for that person and that's where Miss Fabulous is at.

Ah summertime...

Cruisin'

Alas we have returned to reality.  Thunk!

Boy that reentry is not easy when you have come to accept that every time you leave your state room the bed will be made and there will be a new towel animal waiting for you upon your return.

Man!  We had to like make dinner and junk tonight!

But ... the little ones did excellent here at home with Dad and Grandma.  My Fabulous Miss M is gearing up to give me the business for the next few days make no mistake about that, but they did very well while I was gone and that will make leaving again more doable!  Go me!

The cruise was an absolute retreat and spending that time with my 11 year old girl who will have out grown me in a blink was priceless.  She gets lost in the shuffle around here because she is capable and Mama has a lot on her plate.  I try to address it often, that I notice it and want it to be different.  And I do what I can do to make that happen.  I try to set aside time with her in the evening as many nights as possible but the reality is I am tired and worn out from the day and probably less fun then I'd like to be.

So making sure that she has this one on one time with Mama is important for both of us.

The Nanster needed time away too.  She is very good about backing us up and allowing either me or the Hubs to get done what we need to.  She is very dedicated to our brood and this was our way of saying thank you to her.

I will be posting more pictures of the trip soon.

Q and A time

Struggling To Stand and GB's Mom asked me a question the other day and I thought they were worth (the questions :-) answering/journaling about via the blog.

On food dyes - how did we figure out what bothered the kids?

Two Words, LIFE Cereal.  Food dye is NOT the be all end all problem for either of the two kids but it aggravates what they already have going on, badly.  Mr. loves LIFE cereal but I did not get it often for some reason.  Back a few years ago he was having a particularly good morning, so much so that we all kind of noticed it.  THEN he at a bowl of LIFE and wham-o with in 20 minutes he was hyper as all get out like someone had pushed the go button, can't hold still, can't stop touching everything, etc. and he became aggressive about any little thing that he did not particularly like.

As a baby he had been allergic to wheat and dairy, we knew because as soon as he ate those things the eczema on his cheeks turned bright red.  It was like a little STOP feeding me that sign.  But around age 2 he clearly started to out grow those allergies and we slowly introduced those things again.

Our first thought with the cereal was is it the wheat?  No because he was eating other things with wheat and not reacting.  I thought preservatives but didn't really know where to begin on that and then I saw yellow # 5 and #6.  What's that all about? 

And so the process of elimination began.  We cut out food with dye in it and his behavior improved and he did not have the dark circles popping up.  When we got sloppy and let something with dye in it slide we got those consistent reactions.

With Miss M we have determined that red dye #40 is a problem for her if consumed in a large amount.  Meaning sprinkles on a cookie is not going to set her off, but it will set off Mr.  However, drinking a cup of drink with red dye in it is going to cause her to be hyper and aggressive and likely go into a tantrum.

Avoiding food with dye is NOT easy, it's everywhere and in everything that kids gravitate toward.  But slowly progress is being made and more products are available with out dye.  We don't get the cute yogurt like Dora and what not we get the good stuff with no dye and we eat it in our little cups.  I sprinkle cinnamon or a few of the tiny chocolate chips on there because the real sprinkles have dye.  They have all become used to it and it's just our normal now.  At first they no likey not having sprinkles on the yogurt.

The question GB's Mom asked was if the other kids felt jealous because Miss M goes to camp and they don't? 

When Miss M is here she is an attention seeker.  She works hard to monopolize my attention because she does not want the other kids to have my attention.  It's a work in progress but it is what it is.  So the reality seems to be that 1. the kids have accepted that Miss M goes to camp.  We have explained the reasons why and they have come to accept it.  In the past Mr. has expressed a lot of 'it's not fair' regarding the matter but not so much lately.  2.  The other 3 kids are getting to go and do things just not at a camp.  We go to the library and to parks and they are still into the pool at this point.

Thanks for the questions!

So far today has been challenging regarding the attachment challenge.  Miss is out of sorts and has already had a big tantrum, no assaulting others however.

It Must Be The Peas...

Thank you for the reassuring comments regarding testing.  I agree that this teams being thorough is a very good thing.  We have an amazing psychiatrist and he is the one that sent us to this location for the testing so I will go in faith, just as so much has gone in a positive way in terms of getting help for Miss M we continue to be on that path.  Thank you again for the cyber hugs and support!

Summer is under way here in Sunny Florida.  The kids are out of school and Miss M is spending her days at day camp swimming and crafting and getting all that energy out.  She comes home and swims in the pool and eats dinner and cuddles and sleeps well.  Yeah summer!

Monday she fell off the bounce house slide at camp onto the rubber something or other.  It probably smarted for a moment but there was no bruise no mark nothing was twisted or broken it was just an everyday kind of ut-oh, right?  Oh no!  Miss Miss put on her best drama and had those poor folks at camp guessing all day.  They called and let us know what had happened and what they had done about it and I cringed because they had sooooooooooo fed the attention beast.  It all worked out not too bad.  She woke up at 10 pm with the fake-O drama in effect.  We checked her out again, still no sign of anything.  Got the pack of frozen peas on it and gave her a big dose of Motrin and called the on call doctor who told me to do what I had just done. 

The next day at camp was an outing to the public pool.  You would be amazed at the miracle a bag of frozen peas was able to work!  She popped out of bed and was ready to roll.  She said, "It must be the peas!" :-)

Wednesday Miss came home from camp with a scull and cross bone tattoo on her face.  I was not wild about that.  For one I don't think that a camp should put tattoos on a kids face because they don't come off easy and you can't cover them up on the face.  Honestly my little darlin picked that tattoo because she knew that Mom would not like it, right O!  Not a problem.  Mom made sure to let camp director know that Miss M is not to have any tattoos from now on, period.

Lil Bro was back at the pediatricians office today.  He is not really sick sick but he finished his antibiotic and he still has some cough and what not going on.  She said he also has an ear infection going on.  That kid never lets you know.  So poor guy had to get a shot in the butt and goes on another round of antibiotic.  Here's hoping that clears it up.

While we were there they gave the kids lolly pops because Lil Bro got a shot.  I let my Mr. have one.  It was just a tiny yellow lolly pop, what could it hurt?

The dark circles and the behavior started 20 minutes after he ate the darn thing!

Anyone that has a child with aggression and hyperactivity issues please explore food dye allergies.  We have determined that Mr. is allergic to yellow #5 and #6 and red dye #40, although we just aim to avoid them all.  Miss M is allergic/reactive to red dye #40 but she doesn't have a problem with the yellows or other colors.

Here's some info from CBS news on the subject.

The Pool Is Up and Running!

The fabulous Miss M was at day camp during this photo shoot.

Camp Mom - Week 10

Our last week of summer break went well. Miss M had a blast at her last week of summer camp and finished up the week with a visit to Grandma's house for the weekend. She had a blast there too and did great with the transition back into the house Sunday. In the past that has been difficult for her and resulted in rage. Not this time. She did great. Accepted when it was time to get off the Wii and go to bed. Didn't like it but accepted it anyway. A far cry from the child who raged every night at bed time a year ago. Her med combo seems to really be the ticket. She has that neurotypical kid "bounce back" in that she is able to handle things she doesn't like without going south to rageville.

The big hit around here was the Wii. Some expected disputes between Mr. C and Big Sis Viv but all and all good stuff. Lil Bro helped Dad cut the grass and was the cutest thing.

There were doctor appointments for new braces for Mr. C (AFO). And also a night splint which we keep forgetting to put on. We will get there.

Camp Mom - Week 9

This week at Camp Mom we were once again dealing with a little sir that was dealing with med that was not a match. Additionally we did some furniture shopping on craigslist and redid our Living Room for $300. We ended up with a 3 piece living room set in hunter green leather which includes 1 couch, 1 love seat, 1 chair with ottoman. Additionally we purchased a lovely entertainment center made of teak wood for a $100 bucks! As Mr. Carter announced "we are fans of craigslist."

We did the usual kind of stuff too. Library trips, lunch with Dad, made cookies, did art projects, went to the park, and tried to beat the heat once again.

Not Me Monday! and Not My Kids!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Well I haven't Not Me'd in a while so here goes.

While putting kids to bed I did NOT hand one a sippy cup of water from the night before so that I did not have to get up again since I definitely do NOT have to still lay down with a 6 and 3 year old boy to get them to go to sleep. The second child at demanding "juice" did NOT get the same day old water cup. Nope NOT me! That would be so yucky and probably bad parenting. Good thing it did NOT happen.

I did NOT put my 16 year old blind arthritic K-9 outside here in the summer heat and FORGET HIM and leave the house for 3 hours. Good grief! My mind has certainly NOT become that feeble. Said K-9 was NOT wondering in a circle by the pool. What can I say? He and I both lived to NOT tell about it.



While at a gas station my 3 year old did NOT say, "I gotta poop out my butt Dom." ? Why do kids NOT say stuff like that? Dom is not a type-o. This same 3 year old does NOT call his mother "Dom, Gom, Nom" as of late.

Another child did NOT announce that little brother "smells like boogers!" What?

Ya Wanna Piece of Me?

Ya wanna piece of me? No really he was say

-ing "take a picture of my arm." Why? I don't

ask, I just do.

So we moved this furniture which I bought off

craigs list. It is awesome!

One of our movers got into some trouble in the

back seat. What is on his face? Printer toner.

One of our movers was sleeping on the job. This

definitely calls for a formal write up.

The weekend has gone pretty well. Saturday Miss M raged BUT it was only 15 minutes in duration. She came back to reality quickly and life moved on as normal. She made efforts through out the day and we worked with her by having something always "coming next" to focus on. Frequent earning of rewards too such as a slurpee on the way to the dump and a stop by the park for 15 minutes when our running around was done.

Everyone handled the change of new furniture coming in and the old furniture going out. We made sure they helped move "their" new furniture in and talked about how they would need to clean their couch with a leather conditioner. It helped them take owner ship of the new furniture.

Sunday is a new day...

Park Time

This is the follow up to the skate board accident. The permanent tooth that is coming in seems okay, the gum over top it is bruised. The tooth that got knocked out was a baby tooth and the next to go via mother nature. It was a little wiggly but no where near ready to come out. (See Camp Mom - Week 8 post)


I took this pic because this was them having snack after their bath. They could sit anywhere but they seem to end up just like this most of the time. :-)


Obviously the boys and I went to a park today. We go early before it gets too hot. They need to get the wiggles out and this is a good way to do it.