Why is my blog blue?

If you're reading this near the end of March/beginning of April, you'll notice a BIG change in my blog.

In recognition of World Autism Awareness Day (April 1 & 2) I've decided to "Light It Up Blue".  All around the world, individuals and businesses are exchanging their exterior white light bulbs for blue ones.  There are some really cool shots from last year at the LIUB website.



So head out to the hardware store and pick up some blue bulbs!

Bunny Love

Madi has recently learned how to pick up her rabbit, and now can often be found like this:

Most days, I feel sorry for the rabbit.  But, sometimes I want to turn her into stew, like when this happens:

Now, I know that the rabbit was just trying to get away from being held, and didn't mean any actual harm.  But there's a mother-bear-protector gene that kicks in when your child is injured, and you just want to make someone (or somerabbit) pay.

Happy Birthday Gary!

Happy birthday to Gary!

Gary's birthday fell on a Friday night, so we were able to celebrate with a nice dinner without having to run all over for therapy, church, or whatever.  Gary chose his standard - steak, baked potato, salad.  This year, I bought a strawberry cake from Sam's that, unfortunately, looked much tastier than it actually was.  Lesson learned.

Much to Sarah's dismay, we have chosen to only use one candle on our birthday cakes now. It prevents unnecessary fire hazards.

I let the girls come up with gift ideas for Gary this year, rather than guiding their purchases. Their choices are telling of their own preferences.

Sarah was convinced that her dad HAD to have Super Mario Galaxy 2. She nearly flapped herself right off the ground in her excitement over her choice.

Although she doesn't play Wii games, she loves to watch.

Madi chose a Pokedex as the must-have gift. She just knew that he would LOVE it. Unfortunately, she was right. He spends more time playing Pokemon than he cares to admit.



Turns out, both gifts were a huge hit, and both have been put into regular use. I guess it's true - boys never really grow up.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope you found YOUR pot of gold today!

Poor Parenting or Sound Economics?

I am not terribly proud of this, but I just successfully bribed my children out of a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.

Back in February, I had promised the girls that I would take them to CEC during spring break.  As children are wont to do, they have forgotten (or ignored) every other utterance I have made since - especially those involving chores and/or homework - but have not forgotten this one.  So today we were scheduled to hang with the mouse.

As I have gone on record as hating everything involving crowds - especially crowds of young, unsupervised children - it goes without saying that I was not looking forward to the adventure.  Especially since I woke with a KILLER headache.

Up to now, spring break has been filled with Sarah doing chores to earn money to buy Barbie movies.  At 25 cents a chore, she's been putting in a lot of work to afford even used copies of the movies she covets.  Simultaneously, Madilyn has been begging me to buy her Pokemon Diamond, but continues to refuse to actually work for it.  Perhaps she's actually got enough math sense to figure out how many 25 cent chores it would take to earn $35.  Either way, both are actively looking for a way to make a quick buck.

So, with thoughts of cheap pizza, loud games, and overpriced plastic junk swirling through my pain-addled brain, I offered them the option of staying home and splitting the money that I would have spent at CEC. After a little pondering, they both decided that they'd take the money.

Hooray!  Mouse bullet dodged, at least for today.

Sleepytime

Last night, Sarah wanted to sleep with ALL her small stuffed animals.  Here is the partial result (I didn't put all of them on the bed, just the ones she already had out.)

Cure for a bad day?

Today when I spoke to Gary, he told me he had a "meeting" that basically involved him being "yelled at" for 90 minutes.  Since he's not prone to exaggeration, I took him at his word.  Here is my solution to turning around his bad day:

Doesn't a smiley face cookie make everything better?

Playing with Fire

So I just spent the last 15 minutes in the bathroom with my youngest, literally playing with fire.  More accurately, I was teaching her the safe way to light a match.  Included were topics like proper lit match angle (anyone who's held a lit match point down for a few seconds knows what I'm talking about...), relative flammability (counter versus tissue - that was a fun demo), and how to properly dispose of hot matches.  She has additional safety concerns with that long hair, so we covered all of that.

Turns out she had experimented a bit on her own, but realized she was in over her head, and asked for help learning how to light a candle.  We talked about how dangerous it can be to try it without an adult, and how she can always come to us if she wants to try.  We would really rather that she not burn the house down.

She's gotten to the point where she doesn't freak out when the match is lit (the first time she successfully lit a match she was so shocked she threw it in the air, at me) and can actually hold the flaming match for a while before blowing it out.

So many parenting things that I just. never. thought. I. would. teach!  But, better me than a fellow 9 year old.

It seems to be working...

So, after initial concerns that the Antivert wasn't having any effect, it actually does seem to work, with a large enough dose.  The prescription is written for 1-2 pills every 4 hours as needed, but the doctor told me that I can go up to 4 pills every 4 hours.

On Friday, I gave her two to start, and after an hour there was no effect, so I gave her a third.  That seemed to do the trick!  Saturday, she took 3 pills in the morning, but didn't need any additional doses throughout the day.  Today, Sunday, she said that there wasn't any dizziness and she didn't need them.  It's the first day she hasn't been lightheaded since early February.

I've definitely noticed an improvement in her cognition; she's able to remember things and function much better.  That's a huge relief!

Princesses from the Past

A friend posted these pics on Facebook last month, and I just downloaded them.  Can't believe how young and adorable they look... where have my babies gone?  I'm guessing these are from 2006...

Looking out for me...

The fraud department at Bank of America just called me to verify that my card number hadn't been stolen.  Seems that in the past week, someone's made big purchases at TempurPedic, Pottery Barn, the Apple Store, and Amazon.

Guilty!

Poor Gary, he's not handling this well.  He says he understands our arrangement - he makes the money, I spend it - but I think he forgets how powerfully good I can be on my end of the deal.  :)

iOrdered it!

March 11, 2011 - before my feet even hit the ground after waking up, I had my iPhone in hand, ordering the new iPad 2.  Ended up switching to the macbook, since I needed Sarah to choose the cover color, but had the thing ordered ASAP.  Still, they are quoting a 5-7 business day delivery - not quick enough for someone with autism (or their overly eager mother).  I should have set my alarm for 2am and ordered it as soon as they went on sale - those people got a 2 day delivery.  You snooze, you lose (3-5 days!)

Medical Update

So, unfortunately, the lightheadedness continues, and every day, my daughter asks to stay home because her head feels so bad. Unfortunately, we have no idea what brought this on, or how to fix it.  It's been going on since the beginning of February.  The only event that might have triggered it was a cold, and not even a bad one!

I spoke with the doctor yesterday, and he recommended (1) continuing to super-hydrate (which has helped to eliminate the black spots blocking her vision), (2) vestibular rehab, and (3) starting her on Antivert, an antihistamine that combats dizziness and nausea.

Today we started the Antivert, and I will start calling around about advanced vestibular rehab.  Madi's OT has minimal experience with it, and is doing the best she can, but did mention some other clinics that might be able to better assist her.  Just what our family needs - another therapist!  But, of course I will do what is necessary to help my daughter get her head on straight...  :)

Thank you for all the concern, prayers, and well wishes.

Monster Blood

Madilyn has recently taken a liking to the R.L. Stein "Goosebumps" series.  Her latest read was "Monster Blood".

Something scary is happening in GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND, the all-new, all-terrifying series by R. L. Stine. Just how scary? You'll never know unless you crack open this classic prequel!
Evan visits an eerie old toy store and buys a dusty can of Monster Blood. But then he notices something weird about the slimy green ooze. It keeps growing. And growing. And growing.

And all that growing has given the Monster Blood a monstrous appetite. . . .

Can I just say that this is the girl who still gets scared during tense scenes in PG movies?  But, she really seems to love these books, and I know that they're a grade-school staple.  So, I just smile indulgently when she shows me her latest read...

Back to our story.  The book shown above comes with a recipe for Monster Blood in the back, and Madi had her heart set on trying it out.  She's been pestering me to buy Jell-O (ugh) so that she could make some.  I finally did, and here's the story of our laboratory experiment:

Here's Madi adding the green food coloring after smashing up the blue Jell-O.

The finished product.

Monster Blood - in a glass.  Aren't the blue chunks appealing?

Ready to sample some Monster Blood.

The face of horror afterwards, because the stuff tasted horrific!

We ended up sending the Monster Blood down the drain, because neither one of us could take more than a sip without wanting to gag.  I guess I shouldn't have expected smashed Berry Blue Jell-O floating in apple juice to taste good...

But now the Monster Blood is snaking its way through the sewers, free to terrorize another hapless family... will you be safe?   BWAHH HAA HAA!

Results are in...

My youngest's MRI was completely normal.  While this is a huge relief, we still don't have any idea what's causing her lightheadedness.

In a word

Last night while in the car, the following conversation occurred as driving past the 3M Center in Maplewood.

Sarah: "Gary, look!  That's where you work!"
Mom: "Yes, that's right, but that's not what you call him."
Sarah, not missing a beat: "Gerald, that's where you work!"
While Mom unsuccessfully fights back snickers, Madi yells "He's DAD!"
Sarah, unfazed: "Dad, is that your work?"

(After posting this yesterday, I realized that it is much funnier if you know that my husband's given name is Gerald, but he goes by his middle name...)

Family Fun

Tonight, for our family night, we went to check out a lighted sledding hill.  This outing had a dual purpose - the youth group wanted to have a sledding night on Wednesday, and I wanted to scope out the hill in advance - but that didn't mean that we couldn't have fun doing it.

Wow!  I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time.  I caught air a couple of times, but the best (?) run was (unintentionally) flying backwards down the hill in a small saucer, which hit a bump, flew off the ground, hit the ground at full speed, and then snowballed - with me executing a perfect backwards somersault.  I was laughing so hard I couldn't stop.

Sarah stayed in the car the whole time, but Madi was loving it, in spite of the fact that she claimed "I almost died!" after every run.  She did a really great job, and didn't even complain about climbing the very steep hill time after time.

We ended the expedition with hot chocolate (except Sarah, who vetoed the idea) and a quick trip to Menards and Fleet Farm to try and buy new sleds.  Turns out that it's pretty hard to find them in March, even in Minnesota.  All in all, a great family night.

The youth group is going to have a great time on Wednesday!

On Painting

As I have been doing a LOT of room painting recently, I've decided that it's a lot like childbirth.

Lots of planning beforehand, HATE IT when you're in the middle of it, but then the end result is generally so pleasant that you forget how much you hated actually doing it, so you end up doing it again.

Ditzy, Dizzy, or Lightheaded?

I love my youngest daughter terribly.  She is a wonderful person with a tremendous heart.  But seriously, sometimes she can be seriously... blonde.  (I'm allowed to make blonde jokes; I used to be one, naturally speaking)  As such, I often take what she says with a grain of salt.

She's been complaining of being "dizzy" since the beginning of February, so for about a month now.  I took her in to the doctor on the 9th, and he diagnosed her with a mild cold.  Needless to say, she didn't get to stay home.  But every day since then, it's the first thing she says when she wakes up.  "Mom, I'm dizzy."

Practical one that I am, I watch for signs of imbalance, and see none.  Off to school!  Finally on the 28th, she combines it with a sore throat, and I let her stay home, since her sister is home with a bad cold also (the day is already ruined, right?)

As the day progresses, she complains of black spots in front of her eyes.  She gets them several times a day, and sometimes, she says, they get so big that they obscure her vision, and she walks into walls.  What??  Further discussion reveals that this has been going on for weeks!  When I ask her why she didn't tell me, she says that I would make her go to school anyway... (she has definitely inherited the guilt gene).

So, I took her to the doctor today, and he suspected that she was dehydrated, based on her sitting, standing, and laying blood pressure/heart rate stats.  He prescribed LOTS of water.  To be thorough, he also ordered a hearing test to check for any loss.  As he was leaving, he said that the test would likely come back normal, and if so, the water's the trick.  If there was loss, then he wanted an MRI to check her ears and brain.

Well, there is a hearing loss, so she's scheduled for an MRI in two days.  I'm trying hard to not be scared.