Running

I have recently learned that Madilyn is crazy for running. A lot. She LOVES to run... on the Wii. She will challenge anyone, and she's getting quite good. She gets great satisfaction in outrunning her dad, since the Wii levels the playing field.

Even with all the Christmas goodies around, Madilyn has lost 2 pounds from all the running and other activities. If the Wii Fit can help me do the same, I think I'm in LOVE!

Wii snark

This year, Santa brought our family a Wii for Christmas, as well as Wii Fit. Everyone seems to love it. Sarah mostly watches, but is becoming known for snarky comments...

I was trying out a yoga pose that involves standing on one leg, and, after several attempts, I commented "not going to happen." I then moved on to other exercises. When the balance test came up and I was required to stand on one leg, I heard a quiet voice behind me say...

"SO not going to happen!"

Unfortunately, she was right. But, we love our Wii!

Merry Christmas!

A christmas greeting from our girls to you!

sorry about the lighting... still working on those photo skills...

Over the river

...and through the woods to Grandmother's house we went!

Friday morning we learned that a blizzard was due to hit our home state mid-day on Saturday. We were scheduled to leave on Sunday, but decided to try to outrun the storm. After a flurry of activity (pun intended) on Friday, we did make it out the door on Saturday morning,

On the way, we made terrible time, endured two separate crying fits (one for each girl), used a gallon of washer fluid, and found out that the Saab - a Swedish car! - is not that great in ice and snow. But, we arrived safely, traveling on the fringes of a major storm for a good portion of our trip.

We are now looking forward to almost 2 weeks of relaxing at Grandma's! Details to follow...

Singing with Purpose

Tonight Madilyn's Brownie troop sang at a local nursing home. I, unfortunately, was included, and had to torture the residents with my complete lack of singing ability. Anyway, a huge group of us wandered the halls, singing to the residents, and passing out handmade Christmas ornaments. Madilyn did such a great job smiling and being friendly - that does seem to be her calling in life. You should have seen the smile on the face of the woman when Madilyn gave her an ornament. I wish I could have captured it on film... Fun Christmas memories.

A quiet sense of humor

So, with all of her disabilities, it's easy to forget that Sarah has a sense of humor. A dry one, to be sure, but it's there. Case in point:

Driving to the aforementioned church Christmas party, when she knew that the 3 Kings would be there, she quietly remarked, to no one in particular... "That must be the fourth king."... as we were passed by a semi truck labelled "Kings Express".

If you're not paying attention, her zingers get lost in the ether.

Christmas Quiz

So I get these e-mails all the time, asking for my answers to random questions. I love reading the responses, but never forward them on. Drives my sister crazy. So, in the spirit of giving, I figured I'd actually respond and post the answers here.

Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you... Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper

2. Real tree or artificial? artificial, with lots of pine scented candles

3. When do you put up the tree? day after Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? the day after we get home

5. Do you like eggnog? not even a little bit

6. Favorite gift received as a child? microscope

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes-lots

8. Hardest person to buy for? Parents

9. Easiest person to buy for? Kids

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I'm sure that there have been some, but I must be blocking out the memory...

11. Email or Christmas cards? Christmas newsletter

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Charlie Brown Christmas. Linus nails it!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? this year, july... but usually a week before

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I'm sure I have, but I'm not sharing specifics

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies and chocolate (actually, that's not restricted to Christmas)

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night. I have at least 7 versions on my iPod.

18. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? travel

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? in my sleep

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? people who forget the Savior on His birthday

23. What I love most about Christmas? Being with family, and reflecting on the wonderful gifts given to all by Christ.

The Kings vs. Saint Nick

Our ward decided this year that the Christmas party should be more spiritual, and good ol' Santa was given the boot in favor of the Three Kings (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar). As someone who is normally in favor of a return to canon and away from commercialism, I had mixed feelings about this. I supported the move toward recognizing the Savior, but dreaded telling the kids. Because we don't get out to the mall to visit Santa, the party is really their only time with the "big guy". I was grateful, however, that I learned of the situation before the party, so that I could prepare the kids.

Sarah was beyond appalled. "WHERE is Santa??!!" she wanted to know. "WHY won't he come?" It took a lot of work to calm her down. Madilyn was much more laid back about the situation - "Will we still get presents?" was her only concern.

So, we attended the party with Sarah still expressing great concern over the health and general well-being of Santa. I was hopeful for a spiritual experience, centered on Christ's birth. What we got was a holiday office party, nary a mention of the Savior, and three guys wrapped in colorful shawls delivering snowmen and penguin goody bags filled with Santa (!) straws, jingle bells, and candy.

Although festive and fun, in the end it just seemed like someone with a grudge against St. Nick had ejected him from a standard-issue Christmas party and put the Wise Men in his place. Not a wise move at all.

During the meal, Sarah turned to me and asked "Will Santa come here next year?"

I hope so, sweetie, I sure hope so.

Playing fast and easy with time

A warning to readers:  this blog will, through the magic of technology, defy the laws of time and space.  

Posts from the past will magically appear, and subscribers may feel that time is running forward and backward (or that I am just really, really messed up).

Fear not, it is just the wonderful world of computers, where you can backdate your post.  Because the end result is a blog that looks like it was created in chronological order, I'm taking full advantage of it.

Most days, I feel in danger of losing memories from my swiss-cheese brain... that I will forget something that I should have documented.  So, this blog is the place where I can take all of the drops of memories that have dripped from my over-full brain and try and assemble a meaningful chronology.

At least, that's my story today.  Tomorrow, I may rewrite the past.

She IS growing...

There was some debate at our last (September) visit with the endocrinologist regarding whether or not Sarah was actually getting taller, and therefore, whether or not we should continue using the growth hormone. After 3 months on HGH, the office measurement indicated no change in height, but the kid's pants looked ready to weather flood season! Anyway, the doctor agreed to try increasing the dose and check again in 3 months.

Reflecting on the situation, I came to suspect either a too-hot dryer or, more likely, a slouchy kid during measurements. September was, after all, the first time that I let the nurse perform the measurement without my involvement...

So, for today's appointment, I involved myself and made sure that she was standing straight. Not easy, but we got it done. Result? The doctor was amazed at how much she had grown since the last visit - an "exceptional growth velocity" even for non-chromosomally challenged girls. Sarah has actually found herself back ON the growth curve for the first time since she was two. Granted, she's still 5th percentile, but she's ON the curve. (for the record, she is now 4' 5 3/8" tall and it's still IMPOSSIBLE to find pants that fit without being shortened).

So, we're staying on the hormone, and hoping to get ahead of the curve. Five feet, here we come!

Lamenting the Christmas Letter

So yesterday I sent out our Christmas cards. On December 7th! Definitely a personal best. I am now, however, lamenting the loss of our Christmas letter. In the drive to get the cards out, I chose to create them online - a single picture with two lines of text - and then have them mailed directly to each of the recipients. How efficient!

How sad. Normally, I spend days agonizing over my letter, reviewing the pictures and events of the previous year, and working my best to come up with a holiday letter that won't end up on one of those "worst Christmas letter" websites. In the past two years, I've turned the newsletter into the card itself, working on designing something that, although homemade, is presentable. We always manually signed the cards, and tried to add some personalization. That's the part that's sad - the Christmas cards received by my family and friends will literally never have been touched by me!

Now, perhaps this wouldn't bother me so much if I was better at keeping in touch with friends and family thoughout the year, but I'm not. It's not that I don't think about these people, because I do - a lot. I just don't do anything about it. I have a feeling that this issue will make an appearance on my "2009 resolutions" list.

Regarding the issue at hand, however, I've decided that I can't live without an annual Christmas letter. So, it will appear here, on my blog. I'm also going to post the previous Christmas letters, in case anyone's interested. Long live the Christmas letter, in whatever form it takes!

A Wishbone Tie??

Madilyn and Sarah pulling the wishbone.

I've never heard of this, but the bone split evenly... resulting in a wishbone tie. Hopefully, they both got their wishes!

Happy Thanksgiving

As is becoming our tradition, my parents joined us for Thanksgiving. We are truly grateful for all the blessings we have received in 2008.

Going to the Dogs (and Backyardigans)

The day after my parents arrived, we all packed into the car, and headed to the Mall of America, except for Gary, who had to work. MOA on a Monday is a great place to be, especially when we use Sarah's special use pass (which allows us to bypass waiting in line - a HUGE blessing for kids with autism, who completely live in the RIGHT NOW). Here are some pics of us enjoying the Nickelodeon Universe theme park.

Lunchbox

I jumped into the shower while Sarah was finishing her breakfast. When I got out, I called for her to come and get dressed, and she said "I'm busy making lunch". While the fact that she actually responded to me verbally is shocking, when I went into the kitchen, I found a perfectly packed lunch. She said "I have a protein, a grain, and a vegetable!" Sure enough, she had a roll, some grape tomatoes, a yogurt, and a PediaSure all properly wrapped up and put in her lunch box with a straw and a spoon. The only thing missing was a napkin, which I suspect was next on her list before I interrupted her. Wow! That kid is amazing.

She's eating

Well, it took 5 WEEKS, but Sarah finally overcame her fear of eating. As I write this, she is sitting nearby with a bowl of Cheerios, happily munching away. It took 2 therapists and lots of time doing things that normally wouldn't be associated with eating (like cutting pictures of food out of magazines) to make the strides, but the end result is that she now understands a lot more about nutrition and the importance of eating from all the food groups. I can't tell you how much I love her "people" and how important they are in her life!

From a Kindergarten teacher

Today was Madilyn's parent/teacher school conference. She's doing really well, and the teacher was full of praise for her abilities. When I inquired regarding her social skills, her teacher mentioned that generally she got along really well with others, but that there was a very clear distinction in (Madilyn's) mind between right and wrong, and she didn't really understand why anyone would choose to do something wrong. I believe the teacher used the phrase "there's black, and there's white, and, in her opinion, there's really no gray in between."

Welcome to our world!

Party Time

Today we celebrated Sarah's birthday at Color Me Mine, a kid-friendly ceramics studio. Sarah's interest in painting lasted about 5 minutes, with the remaining time spent asking "can we open presents yet?" She invited her entire Sunday School class, so we filled the party room with 9 girls aged 6 to 12. Everyone had a great time, especially Mom, who really enjoyed the fact that someone ELSE had to clean up the mess at the end!

A few extra words

It's amazing how much difference a few extra words can make. Sarah recently had an orthodontic expander installed. As with all orthodontics, food choices become more limited. The assistant, showing me a list, said "here are the foods that she's not allowed to eat." Unfortunately, all Sarah's autistic brain heard was "... she's not allowed to eat". We've been struggling since Monday to convince her that she can't wait until June (when the expander is removed) to eat. This would all be comically funny if it weren't life threatening. Some day, looking at her beautiful smile, I'll laugh about this...

Gray in my life

Gray - and the lack of it - has such a presence in my life. Depression causes entire days to be just gray and dismal. Those days, it's a challenge just to focus. Life seems drab and just blah. Those are the gray times that I hate. Those are the times that I wish for a life without gray.

There are times, however, when I am cursed to have a life without gray... a different kind of gray. Living with someone with autism completely changes your perspective on the world. Just today I realized that the gray zone - the distinction between black and white - has been fading from my world view. Having to explain everything to my daughter, who only comprehends black and white, has led me to simplify my own world view.

I want to use this blog to remind myself of the consequences of doing so, and to record some of the funny moments that arise when you view life without the gray.

Gray, defined

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)

gray /greɪ/

1. (adj.) of a color between white and black; having a neutral hue.
2. (adj.) dark, dismal, or gloomy: gray skies.
3. (adj.) dull, dreary, or monotonous.
4. (adj.) having gray hair; gray-headed.
5. (adj.) pertaining to old age; mature.
6. (adj.) Informal. pertaining to, involving, or composed of older persons: gray households.
7. (adj.) old or ancient.
8. (adj.) indeterminate and intermediate in character: The tax audit concentrated on deductions in the gray area between purely personal and purely business expenses.
9. (n.) any achromatic color; any color with zero chroma, intermediate between white and black.
10. (n.) something of this color.
11. (n.) gray material or clothing: to dress in gray.
12. (n.) an unbleached and undyed condition.
13. (n.) (often initial capital letter) a member of the Confederate army in the American Civil War or the army itself.
14. (n.) a horse of a gray color.
15. (n.) a horse that appears white but is not an albino.
16. (v.) to make or become gray.

Old Time Rail Ride

I love the following quote by Gordon B. Hinckley:

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas, and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." (Address to Religious Educators, Temple Square Assembly Hall, Sept. 1980).

I think that it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the lives of others are so much more than our own. After all, who likes to publicize their failings? No one.

I am grateful for the ride.