morning

It's 7:30. The older two are sitting at the table, eating cereal. Hermes is ready to go to the Palace of Learning and Knowledge-rather excited that it's just today and tomorrow, then spring break. He wonders if he'll get extra homeowrk, since he'll be out of school for a week. I assure him that if he runs out of work, I'll be able to find something for him.
Thor is being very quiet right now. He is picking up more understandable words every day, and slowing down when he talks-the combination os stunning. He still asks "Can you hear me?", every now and again. A friend of mine who has an adult son who is much like Thor said that her boy could never quite tell if he was thinking, speaking aloud, or yelling-might be something to look into with Thor. He is doing amazing at eating cereal with milk and not spilling...we can also see that he is this close to finally mastering drinking rom a standard cup.
Buddha is being rather serene at the moment. His moments of serenity are far and few these days-as he is learning and discovering new skills, he wants o try them. He gets frustrated that his meager words cannot describe everything, he is excited by the food he is getting now, and the mobility! If he had the skills, he would write an ode to walking, standing, and jumping. He is also trying to not sleep, unless he is in the crib, so no more convenient for me naps in the playpen, but now I can do things in the main floor while he's napping, without fear of waking him.

Me? I'm good. I put in an application to waitress on the weekend, bring in a little extra cash, get me in a little better shape, all in one fell swoop. Hubby thinks it's great-as it will also force alone time for him and the pantheon. All three boys are at an age where Poppa is the center of their universe, and he wants to milk it for all it's worth, as he knows it wont last long. Granted, it will come back again, but to have all three want him at the same time, though frustrating, is noce, for both uf us.

numbers and personal pronouns!

Thor has finally decided to open up his big bag o' tricks and pull out the numbers up to ten, personal pronouns, and some verbs! It's not consistant yet, he still get quite with transitions, but words are a-comin!
Speaking with his main SHEILD therapist, we know that the sensory integration/seeking issues are going to be a lifelong battle-he'll learn ways to cope, but will never quite process everything the way you and I might, but with words to help us...it will be easier, and in this case, the easier way is the better way!

Happy spring, and other things

7:07 pm-vernal equinox. Happy Spring, everyone. If the weathermen can be trusted, we might actually warm up a bit, mid fifties and rain in just a few days! Granted, there's a;ways the 'Easter Squall' to watch for, as my grandma would put it.
All of the kids are doing fairly well. We are pretty sure that Thor has started saying 'No', and 'I'mmmmm' both of wich are majorly huge breakthroughs. We'll see if the loquaciosnous carries on. Buddha is becoming more and more self-sufficient every day. More mobile, more stable, more gabby. We have conferences for the oh so modest (I'm very smart, you know!) Hermes on wednesday...Hubby and I are really looking forward to it!
I'm in the process of drinking rediculous quantities of water for an ultrasound I am having in just shy of an hour. They want to check for polyps, cysts, and fibroids...on the thirtieth I go in and get the US results, as well as results from the rediculous quatities of blood they took a week and a half ago---hopefully, it will be an issue with my Thyroid-that would wrap everything up in an easily treated package that explains everything. Otherwise, it's more testing...woohoo!

what can, and cannot, be flushed

Thor is at the age where, like most kids, he is discovering what can, and cannot, be flushed down the toilet. So far, he has discovered that plastic cups, himself, shampoo bottles, toothpaste tubes, himself, large toys, towels, himself, washrags, and hairbrushed cannot be flushed...did I mention himself? For some reason, he seems rather keen on trying to flush himself down the toilet, and always seems rather sad that it doesn't work. I do not know where, how, or why he picked up the need to try this, but at least once a week, he will have sopping wet jammies or socks and pants, because he STOOD IN THE TOILET trying to flush himself. Maybe he thinks it will be a fun ride.
He has discovered that toilet paper flushes really well, both if you put in one sheet at a time, and if you put in a large portion of the mega-roll at a time. He has also realized that you can put just the end of the roll into the toilet, flush, and watch the paper go flying off the roll, at high speed, down the drain. I remember doing this last one, myself, as a kid. It was rather entertaining.

It is suggested, by the expert, that the interest in flushing things is one sign of petty training readiness. This might be so, but when you have a child who cannot tolerate the way his bare butt feels on the potty, training is alittle harder.
Some autism experts feel that they like the spiral motion objects make while being flushed. This, too, makes sense, but does not bring us any closer to having Thor out of daipers.

Hermes was not fully potty trained until right after he turned four. He could use the potty, and would, but it took a little bit for him to grasp that he was supposed to, regularly, even if he was having fun playing. For the most part, he was three and a half when he had it down good, but if the legos, magnetix, or trains were out, we would have to remind him, regularly, to use the potty, and to make sure that he was all the way done before we got off the toilet.
I will be pleased when Hermes finally decides to use the potty. We have so far tried letting him run around naked, supossedly this is supposed to be a fool proof method. What we have found, when trying this, is that he will just find a corner in which to pee. Not my idea of a good time cleaning.

Sometimes I worry that Buddha will be trained before Thor, but I understand that it will be more dificult to train Thor than a standard kid. I have to make it routine, easy, not scary. I might have to start parking the potty seat in the living room to start, so he has easy access. I don't want to transition him out of pull-ups and into training pants until we have the basic concept down, but maybe that is what he needs to get the concept.

Either way, he is still shy of two and a half, we have plenty of time to work on this.

Hopeefully, he won't try to flush his brothers.

Momma can fix ANYTHING!!

Hubby and I discussed, at great lengths, the double-standard of adults being sick, in our home. When he is ill, I try to make a quiet space for him, encourage the kids to leave him be, and generally get him better as fast as I can. When I am ill, well, they try, they honestly do, but it just doesn't quite work that way. I am Momma, and apparently, Momma means that I am the glue that holds everyhting together, and the wheels that keep it all moving, all rolled into one giant life giving package. When I am ill, the only way to keep the kids from bothering me is to have them somewhere else-they know that when Momma cuddles them, they feel better, so shouldn't it work the other way? I still generally end up cooking, cause that's what I do, and I still drive everyone araound. Hermes looked at me last night, as I was tucking him into bed, and after thanking me for tucking him up, asked why I wasn't better ye? I tried to explain that sometimes it takes longer to get better, but he wouldn't buy it. Hermes insisted that I am Momma, and I can fix anyhting, make anything better, make it all be good.

I love that he has such faith in my abilities, but I also know that the day when I am hated for ruining everything cannot be terribly far off.

Thor knows that something isn't right, he keeps trying to cuddle, to rub my back and hair..once again, the things I do for him, but he cannot sit still long enough, and he forgets to let go of my hair before he walks away.

Buddha will sit quietly and cuddle if I hold him, but he and I are at oppisite ends of the virus lifespan, and I don't want to start his over, being it's mutated between us...

Ah Well...time to bring Hermes to the Palace of Learning and Knowledge, now with tai chi!

it figures

you'd think, that after a virus that came into the house, most likely through me, has run it's course through everyone in the house, that it would go away. No. The virus mutated juuuust enough, while being passed from me to hubby to Hermes(who mixed it with soemthing from school), to Thor (who had it worst), to buddha, that it would be gone. No. It has decided to take up a malingering residence in me. Not as bad as before, but somehow worse for it. It used to have a definitive schedule of suckiness, whereas now, even thoughit is not so severe in it's intensity, it is not leaving. I am truely miserable, but at the same time, I have periods of feeling fabulous, just to be shot down all dizzy and clammy like twenty minutes later.
Ghrrrr