blatant overachiever when it comes to multitasking.

I have been busting my butt for the last few weeks to get the house as clean as possible before I start school. I have been juggling dishes, laundry, and kids like it were an olympic medal event.
Multitasking fears me.
Since I have multitasking down to an artform, it makes sense it would spill into the rest of my life.
I just got back from the doctor. I woke up feeling like crap after being perfect for a while on sunday.
I have the killer combo of an upper respiratory, and a sinus infection, all rolled into one!
Luckilly, they take the same antibiotic and OTCs to cure, but man. On the plus side? No strep!

hourglass figure

So, I was taking measurements earlier today. As I lose weight, I plan on making some more of my own clothing, so it fits right, as I am oddly proportioned. People will argue that with me, but I am. I have really wide shoulders, really wide hips, a really high, and oddly small for my size, natural waist, and i big ol' ribcage.
After taking my measurements, though, I realized that the ratio is really rather 1940's Vargas Girl, hourglassy.
I have determined that I have the hourglass figure, it just holds a wee bit more sand is all!

Awesome!

We ordered some books for Hermes through the scholastic orderforms. These things have been sent home with students since the dawn of time, I swear.
Anyways, since Hubby and I had the money, we ordered a couple of things. We held off on the Shel Silverstien, as we think those are going to be 'gift' books, books for christmas, or birthdays, We did, however, get a twelve pack of Magic Schoolbus books, a four pack of Flat Stanley books, 1001 pirate things to spot, the SuperHero ABCs, When A Pig Eats A Pancake, a hotwheels story, and Transformers: Optimus Prime Versus Megatron (early readers edition). All these books came to less than fifty dollars. all these books came home today. All these books, with the exception of the Transformers, are currently sitting nicely on Hermes desk. The transformers is currently being read, from cover to cover, by Hermes, who is on the couch. I had to give him a pass on homework until after dinner, instead of right when we got home, because he is so happy, reading.
Awesome!

Grrr...'Alternate plans" *Updated already*

Hermes school offers an extensive enrichment program after school. One of the things they offer is Kung Fu, one day a week, beginners level. This year they decided to split it, so that kindergarteners and 1st graders were in a class on wed, and 2nd & 3rd grade in a class on thursday.
I just got an e-mail from the enrichment coordinator letting me know that the wed class was full, mostly of Kinders. They are trying to move the first graders to thurs, as the thurs class does not have enough kids.
I told her, frankly, that I don't care how it happens, my boy wants to do this, and if that means working with older kids, so be it. I cannot see the instructor deciding to drop a class for not enough kids when the other class has too many. Common sense would dictate that the first graders will work with the bigger kids. They will not be sparring, and since it is a new instructor this year, everyone is at a beginer level, this was ade very clear in the materials they sent home.
I should know by the end of the day...I really do not want to tell Hermes he cannot do this, as it's the first after school program we've signed him up for, and it is too late now to sign up for anyhting else until the next tri.
Sigh...why can't anything ever be easy.

UPDATE
Immediately after posting this, I got an e-mail from Enrichment lady saying that she was able to transfer Hermes into the Thursday class no problem. Mr Sensai, who is also their gym instructor, feels that it will be better for Hermes anyways, because the older kids have better focus, so there will be less distraction and more learning.
This cracked me up. It amazes me that Hermes is so good at maintaining focus and self moderating at school, but at home it's all "Hermes gone wild, after school edition"
I swear the boy isn't even in the house for five minutes before we've lost the pants.

Oh, the joys of motherhood

Hermes was out of school last week in it's entirety. He had Norwalk Virus, a nasty gestroentiritus virus. Achy, poopy, and generally a pleasure to be around. He is back at school now, and has been feeling better since friday. Monday was off for a teacher devolopment day.
Sunday, Thor started showing some early symptoms, and by monday, he, too, was chock full of poop. Thor is also dealing with his allergy issues. When his sinuses drain, they gointo his tummy. This in turn gives us an amazing horkage factor. Vomit everywhere!!! He did manahe to get a spiffy new haircut last nght, though, with few ill effects.
Buddha is the latest to hop on the Norwalk train. He started with the massively impressive displays of shitting ability this morning. Namely, right as I was lifting him out of the crib. As I was stripping his bedding down to be washed, I noticed some holes in the incredibly soiled, fittif, crib sheet. When I removed the sheet, I realized he has jumped his mattress to it's untimely demise. The holes in the sheet are from the springs poking through the matress. I patched it with duct tape to carry through until I can get it replaced tonight.
Thor has four more days of this, with tomorrow starting the achy painy portion of the virus, and we are looking at about 6 days with Buddha, three till the achy painies.
Joy.

Surprisingly tasty!

Zatarain's, maker of boxed and premade cajunesque food now has instant rice pouches. You know the type, you just open the corner of the pouch, pop 'em in the nuker, and Voila-a rice side or meal.
Generally, I am leary of totally instant, add nothing, rice pouches, but I saqw that they have a red beans and rice WITH sausage added, and figured I would try it.
I'll be honest-it smells a little weird, and it ain't all that pretty. The sausage resembles peperonis past their prime, and the overall color is muddy. Tastewise, though, it is surprisingly good. There is moe rice than if I were to make it myself, but for a 60 second microwave gig, it's really not all that bad. It will definately sate the craving for red beans and rice till I'm up to making it from scratch, and with a little salsa or hotsauce sprinkled in, it even has enough kick!

obsessed

OK people, I now that someone out there in internet land can help me. Does any one, any where, including Eddie Vedder know what all the lyrics to "Yellow Ledbetter" are? The only definable lyrics that seem to be in any version of it he plase are "Leave it alone" "Leave it there" and "In a box or a bag" which many people interprate as "In a boxer a bag" for some reason. This is driving me nuts. It's almost as bad as trying to figure out the very middle of the 'spoken' part of Soul to Squeaze, until I saw a few different recording where I realized that Keidis doesn't actually say anything intelligable.

Yellow Ledbetter, people, work on it, I'll figure out a prize or something to the people who can some up with the most reasonable suggestions.

Dinner

We did a family dinner at a restaurant last night. I am really pleased with how well the kids behaved. No meltdowns, no tantrums, no random screaming/shrieking. It gives me hope that we can actually go out more often with the kids.
Thor is doing alot better about learning how to keep himself calm. Every now and then throughout dinner he would do a little dance in his chair, it was part of how he kept himself in the here and now. He did fabulously until he hit some hot mustard, but calmed down as soon as he drank some milk and got cuddled.
Buddha was Buddha, and Hermes was just plain cute.

Wet

Hubby, myself, and a few friends went to Fest yeasterday. We left half an hour before the closed it down for the weekend. The weather was deamed so bad, they closed fest. This happens maybe once every ten years or so. They've kept it open through tornado warnings, lighning strikes, and most all other weather...What is the weather that closed site then? Flash flood high warning. Fest is smack dab in the middle of a flood zone, and that's something they won't mess with. The powers that be even evacuated the campgrounds and buildings, making sure the circiut people had safe places to be.
We only spent a few hours out there, but thanks to a BIL who traded in all of his promo points for comp tickits, we will be able to head out at least two more times, if not three, depending on who all comes with, and if they charge for Hermes or not.

Now posting that we will be looking for people to take some kids coming up here soon!

they are amazing

School is starting soon. This has Hermes all sorts of excited. He knows we are going shopping in a while (read: after payday) to get all knew things! We need a new backpack for him, as last years barely survived through the last day of school, new supplies-which lists for were conveniently mailed out, maybe some new uniform clothes, but I won't know that till I go through all of his old uniforms, to see what still fits, and pre-shrink his new uniform pants to see if they can be worn yet, even with a belt, or if they have to wait. Hermes is surprisingly short, but he is also lean, and has long legs. This gives him the illusion of being tall. This also makes buying pants and jeans a bitch. I will be soooo happy when he is finally big enough to go by waist and leg as opposed to the mystery sizes of 5, 6, slim, long, tall, boys XS and the like.
He has been practicing his Chinese daily, and as school gets closer, is working in his workbook regularly. I am unsure if this is because he wants to learn, or if it's because he wants an award and his name mentioned at the fall assembly.

Buddha is once again living up to his name. Not that those horrid teeth all have at least a corner through, he is once again all serene and gigantic smiles. He loves to sit cross-legged on the couch and just beam at you. Something about it seriously wants to make you rub his belly, and give him exotic gifts. There are days where I am certain he is actually a secret evil overlord, but most days, he is just an eerily, studiously normal, 16 month old.

Thor is talking more and more every day. On top of that, he is using his words correctly. He also overpronounces them in the most endearing of manners. There are times when we can tell that it is hard for him to talk-he will turn his head in a manner to block out as much noise as possible, shut his eyes, wrap himself up tightly in a blanket, and then get four, very determined, words out. Then there are times when he is just Chatty Cathy.
Now that he is moving farther off the autism spectrum,, the Sensory Integration Dysfunction is becoming much more obvious. Thankfully, this should be our biggest challenge, and through the right "sensory diet" it will be controllable. This may mean that he wears heavy bracelets, shoes, and necklaces. Or that we squish him into a little ball every now and then. We still do the gentle deep pressure massages, but they are becoming less effective. I will be making him a new weighted vest soon. One of his favorite things is being roughly toweled down. Give him a bath or a shower, and when he is down, dry him off with a soft towel, but using the amount of pressure you would to...oh...sand granite? Something about that feeling just brings him to the here and now, and gives him something to focus on that seems to last.

The more that Buddha does, the more that Thor does, and th more that Hermes either helps, or whines.
All said and done, they are fairly amazing.

when good ankles go bad!

I have tendonitis. I have been dealing with it for a good twelve years now. It's the Achilles tendon, to be precise, and it has it's good friend Plantar Fasciitis running around with it. They are both chrinic conditions, which means the chances of them deciding to go away are slim to none. Normally, they are well behaved, only one acts up at a time, and it's generally not bad, but every now and then, I will get an acute flair up. Acute means sharp, sudden, out of the blue, hurts like hell.
Once again, though, they generally decide that only one of them needs to be bad at any given time. Generally, I live with a constant low, dull, easily ignorable pain.
For some inexplicable reason, they ganged up on me. i guess they were conspiring against me when I was taking walks in sandals instead of my good tennis shoes, and not wearing any of my ankle braces, which I should be doing most of the time. The tendon decided it would swell, and constrict, the facii decided it would tense up. The end result is a rather unique, rather painful, pain.
I am gleefully counting down the time till my next big ol round of ibuprofin, and Hubby is out finding an ankle brace that will not pinch with the swelling.
Tennis shoes are my friend. My braces are my friend.
My foot right now? not so much my friend.

Butter tastes good.

that is all, carry on.

Thor intensive post.

Generally, I try very hard to mention at least something small about all of the Pantheon in each post. This isn't going to be like that, this is going to be a very Thor intensive post.

Sometime in the last week or so, a part of Thor's brain unlocked itself, or came out of hibernation, or woke up, or whatever you want to call it. We have been getting new words, in context, left and right, we have been getting appropriate, pretend play, unprompted, and we have been getting helping/showing/doing behaviour.

Normally, a breakthrough like this can be traced to something, a change in diet, schedule, routine, or medication. There haven't been many changes in Thor's world, so we are all at a loss.

Last night, when I told him it was bed time, he grabbed a blanket, climbed into my lap, and pretended to sleep, complete with fake snoring noises. I didn't tell him it was play sleep time, he did it on his own, completely unprompted. You could have heard a pin drop in the room, if not for the "kwaagh-shooo" noise Thor decided was snoring. Whn I have asked him to hand Buddha a sippy cup, he does, making a HUGE production out of it, but the cup gets directly to Buddha. If I ask Thor to go get Hermes for me, he does. Thor will try to say Hermes name, and if that doesn't work, he grabs his hand and says 'come'. He has also been telling us good job, calling us by names or titles, playing nice with the WonderDog, and letting me know that Butter is 'sure good, yep". Thor likes to try and eat sticks of butter-he likes the flavor and the texture, I guess.

Parts of me are thrilled, parts aprehensive, and parts scared. I am thrilled that all of a sudden, something is happening. He still isn't on par with other kids his age yet for speech and reactive listening, but it is getting closer. It is happening in leaps and bounds, almost all at once, a little overwhelming.
The aprehensive part is worried I will toss too much at him at once, and that he will shut down.
The scared part understands that, statistically, this won't last. He might not progress further, but then he might.
Autism spectrum disorders are one of the few disorders that people can sometimes 'snap out of'. It doesn't happen often, but every now and then, the affected person will just...well...be mostly normal. They still have to catch up from where they were, but they no longer have stimming, repetition, and are no longer vacant.
Thor was only two when he was diagnosed. This gave us a much larger 'what if' zone than if he were diagnosed at three. We never really knew where he was on the spectrum, other than at the higher end. We know he has sensory integration issues, and will probably have them his whole life, but as he gets older, we and he will learn more coping techniques. It may be as easy as tinted glasses, and heavy, thick bracelets-He may be forced to be trandy-Oh noes!!!!1 We know he is PDD/NOS-Pervasive developmental disorder-this is because, frankly, he has developed in the wrong order-and is continueing to do so. Things he should have been doing a year ago, he is just starting, heck, somethings that should have happened 18-24 months ago are just starting, but at the same time, his fine motor skills are off the charts, always have been, and when he uses is, his orginazation and labeling skill are off the charts. PDD will eventually even itself out, with a few really awkward periods. It's the NOS part that has always niggled at us. Not Otherwise Specified. They know he is different, they don't know why. He isn't autistic enough to be have autism, but he is to autistic to not have autism.
The doctors have always been honest with me-it could get better, or it could get worse-with his age it wouldn't be stable. I must be ever vigilant for signs of depression, bipolar disorder, and even schizophrenia as he gets older, as no one knows how his brain will protect itself from the sensory issues, and being trapped in itself until the speech develops.
I was cationed, time and again, to not hope for him to get better, because if e didn't, it could be crushing. And even if it is getting better, to look for 'lost' words and activities. If he is gaining at the loss of things he already possesed, it isn't any better.

It seems, right now, that it is getting better. He is starting to seem more and more like a 'normal' kid every day. It'll take time, and lots of work, and we will need to get him into a physical activity-probably gymnastics and martial arts-so he realizes he is stronger than most, and hyper flexible, but also learn control and restraint.
There is a chance that he may lead a somewhat normal life, and I can let myself honestly embrace that hope now.

I know it will get old fast, but...

One of the bain of any parent-of-a-toddler's life is the word 'No!' or the expression 'No! Mine!'
for the last,mmmm, just about year now, I have been praying for those words. Personal pronouns are very important, and many kids on the autism spectrum do not have them. Thor did not have them, recently they would flit in and out of his vocabulary, but never anything concrete, and we never knew that he realized that mine and me meant that this belongs to me, and me is the person who is talking.
In the last few days, no has become a part of the vocabulary, even the crowning phrase, no mine! followed by grabbing the contested item, and holding it to one's chest.
I verified today that Thor understands that no is not affermative, that it is the oppisite of yes, a word he understands, and says, well. We tested this when I was getting Buddha a sippy cup. I asked Thor is he wanted one, and he gayly stomped around the kitchen singing "No nonono No" So I told him I was putting the milk away. He said NO! I asked if he did want a sippy to drink, and he said yes, brought me the sippy, and the lid. I asked if I should give the Sippy to Hermes, he said no, and I asked if Thor wanted it, he held out his hands and said yes.

This exchange is huge. We were on one topic for over a minute. He only used to words, but he had the appropriate actions to go with them. He responded when asked something, and when he didn't have the words he needed, he showed me, and brought me, what he wanted.
We are working on 'Please' and 'Thank you' as well. Thank you is pretty good. It comes out more like sank uu, but it is good. We are realizing, though, that by having him say please. apple. plant, and pineapple and pan and pot that Thor has an issue with the "PL" sound. He can do the 'puh' p noise fine, but the 'pl' feels wrong in his mouth. As much as I don't want him to say the words wrong, I am debating teaching him words the wrong way, and working on the pl combination after he has more practice. He is pleased to say pease for please and be understood. He is frustrated to go pl pl pl, and not be understood.

As happy as I am for new words, I am certain that in about two weeks, I will be sick of No! and Mine!, but for now, they are pure heavenly music.

Cereal in the washer.

As any parent of small children know, odd things will appear in random areas, and no one knows how they got there. Sandwich under the bed? Must be the monsters are hungry again. Spiderman in the toilet? His web must have broke. Hotwheels in the kitchen sink? They must need to be washed. Anything whatsoever in the vacuum? Just wanted to see what it would and wouldn't eat.
No one knows how this happens. Apparently, there are imps whose sole purpose in life are to put things where they don't belong.
Knowing this, I should have checked the washing machine this morning before I put in laundry. I figured, at worse, a toy would be tunbled with the towels and kids clothes. It could be worse, really. Kix cereal has this amazing ability to disintegrate, then reform into some type of super cement. Kix cereal in the washer, with clothes, that I had sincerely hoped would come out cleaner than they went in? Forget it. The clothes and towels are now on their third pass through. I am fairly certain that all the sloppy, wet, the spin dried ceral has been removed, and that this might be the pass it takes for the clothes to get clean. Otherwise, I will have to dry, then shave, everything.

Note to self-always check the washer.

The somewhat spiffy slowly shrinking woman

I have been on my "eating plan" for two and a half weeks, now. I haven't weighed myself yet, so I don't know how much weight, if any I've lost. What I do know, however, is that I own a fabulous broen summer top, a top that I bought at a sale for plus-sized woman, that didn't quite fit right. I am wearing the shirt now, and am looking fabulous! WOOT. I am wearing smaller jeans, belting things, and just feeling better! YAY ME!!!

excitement

Today, when I went out to bring the garbage can to the curb, I almost tripped over a box that was stratigically placed right inside my fron porch door. I was rahter upset, because, honestly, who in their right mind would place a box right inside the front door! Why, the UPS man, of course! Hermes summer activity book arived today! YAY!!! I've looked through it, and my innitial thoughts on the book were correct. Unless I ration the pages and science activities to him, he will have it completed in near record time. It is a good refresher of what he learned in Kindergarten, and more importantly, it will hemmer home some english reading and writing skills. I figure we will start in on Monday. Monday we will also start at the Better Chinese website, so he will have daily review of his Mandarin...cannot send him back to school rusty now, can we?

We will be waiting until Monday to start, because we have much activity and excitement in the house right now. On friday, Hermes leaves for a two night camping trip with the FIL. Getting ready to go camping is taking much time and energy. We must pack just the right clothing for any possible weather conditions, swim trunks, fishing clothes-and how those differ from jeans and a t-shirt is beyond me. Light weight pyjammies, heavier weight pajammers-just in case it's cool out, you know. And yes, Hermes does differentiate between pyjammies and pajammers-I have no clue the difference, again.

Depending on the weather, and since Hermes is doing something fun, the MIL, myself, Hubby, and our friend NavyBoy might take our combined kids to Como or the Children's Museum. Frankly, I would be content to just sit around the house and watch the Toddler Death Match Royale, but, no...if one is doing something fun, they all must do something fun...damn fairness.
Possibly, a trip to the drive-in might happen. With Hermes gone, it will leave us with just the younger kids...the kids who don't need to use the potty every fifteen minutes if the movie gets a little scary, the kids who wil be asleep shortly after the movie starts, if not before. Devious, quite possibly, the only way I get to see movies, affordably, without rangling child-care? Most definitely.

Behold, information from the Palace of Learning.

We recieved Hermes report card late last week. No surprises there, he's smart. I am hoping we will be sent out a copy of his test results, but i won't frest it if they don't. He is doing well enough that they felt the need to tell us he is doing very well.
In the mail today, we recieved a CD of all the songs he learned in kindergarten, so he can review them over the summer. They also let s know that they set up a "homeowrk" account with "Better Chinese Books"-one of the best litteral translations of a company name...EVAH! This will allow us to access the 32 'first words' books, online, that he did over the school year. It will also allow us access to the "beginner story library". I am really excited about this. The program has chinese stories, read in Mandarin, with the words in the caligraphy characters, as well as english, so I can actually know what is going on.
They also suggested that we get the "Summer Bridges Activities" workbook. It is designed to give schoolkids something to do over summerbreak, to remind them of what they already learned, and introduce them to concepts they will be learning. Any student who completes all of their summer "homework" will be given a little award and recognition at the fall assembly. The k-1 bridge book is 150 pages, so if I'm lucky and smart about how I give him the work, I might maybe get a full months worht of work out of him. If I give it to him all at once, it'll be done in no time. I am rather pleased that the book is in english, as it's geared towards any student, not just those in a chinese immersion school, and there appear to be workbooks from the preschool level on up.

I would just like to take a moment to state that I ordered the book today from Amazon.com
How did I do that, you may ask?
I went to www.jazzpolice.com and clicked on their link to Amazon. Why did I do it that way, you may ask? Because when anyone clicks to Amazon or itunes through Jazzpolice, CoolJazzDad'a business makes a wee, tiny bit more money, and I'm all for that!

I should have Hermes workbook mud-next week. I figure I'll wat till July 1 to start on anything, being that's when we'll have access to the Better Chinese Books site, as well.
Thankfully, I now have a plan on what to do with Hermes, other than tie him to the tree in the backyard.

whole-wheat cinnamon rolls

so, yeah.
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls, though tasty, just are not a fitting substiture for 'standard' cinnamon rolls. Then again, I wouldprobably like them more if I could frost them, but that would ad an entire net carb to the works...this sucks.

subjectivity

Serving sizes must have been figured out by the densest person on earth!
They are entirely subjective. A serving of small, easy to measure croutons? 2 tablespoons. A serving of large, hard to measure croutons? 2tablespoons.
Rice, pasta, and the like is roughly 1/3 of a cup. A serving of popcorn is 3 cups popped. Everyone keeps telling me, rather cheerilly, that 3 cups of popcorn is a lot...no...it isn't.
A serving of salad greens/babyspinach/and the like is TADAAA 3cups. People keep trying to tell me that even though 3 cups of popcorn is a lot, that three cups of greens isn't a lot. WRONG!!! Three cups of baby spring lattuces and baby spinach is a shite-ton of food!!!