Another Milestone

Nicky has more or less figured out how to work the VCR/DVD combo deck we have. He figured out how to push the tape back in a while ago. But now he knows how to turn on the t.v. put the tape in and put a DVD in. And how to switch from tape to DVD and back again.

Important life skills for sure.

Stability

Tonight Nicky got to standing from kneeling. He's getting so steady on his feet surely he'll be walking soon. He can stand unsupported for minutes at a time (a goal from when he was 18 months old). And walk holding onto one hand. His teacher had him walking holding onto a straw.

Laundry Tip - Not

All summer we've (well mostly I) been having trouble with smelly, mouldy towels. Didn't want to use bleach because these were the kids' towels and they were brightly colored, also bleach seems to leave my towels a bit stiff feeling. After a bit of surfing, ask Dr. Google, I found a suggestion to use white vinegar in the rinse water to get rid of the stink. It works mostly.

But,

Don't accidently add it to the bleach dispenser instead of the fabric softener dispenser.

It adds the vinegar in with the soap, not the rinse water.

Resulting in lots and lots and lots and lots of suds. So much they were coming out the soap dispenser.

Also, don't then add the vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser in addition to vinegar you've already put in.

Three or maybe four cycles later my towels are really clean.

Carrying a little piece of them

Earlier, I read this article about fetal microchimerism perhaps helping to protect women from breast cancer. During pregnancy a small number of fetal cells cross into a woman's bloodstream and take up residence in the mother's body. This is known as fetal michrochimerism. These cells persist for years after pregnancy probably for the rest of the mother's life. Somehow, this idea delights me. I find it comforting that I will always carry small bits of all my children. Just a geek, I guess.

Oh, and maternal cells cross into the fetus, so our children carry little bits of us too.

Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Did you know that October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month?
It is. In honor of it I signed my family up for the Atlanta Buddy Walk.

Oh, and what's with the button? Trish over at Unringing the Bell has issued a challenge to bloggers to blog every day in October in honor of Down Syndrome Awareness. I'll try. We'll see if I make it.

Decluttering and UFOs

I've been busy de-cluttering lately. My house really needs, my life really needs it..

My totals so far:
7 bags to St. Vincent de Paul, my clothes, kid clothes & toys and some household goods
4 bags of trash, broken toys, etc.
2 bags of plastic junk recycled
1 box of clothes to a consignment sale, netted $39.41

In the course of de-cluttering, I came across this:


It was started by my great-grandmother in the 1940s, my grandmother did some of the quilting as did my mom and I was working on it. But, I'm not sure whether to look at it as a family heirloom or a symbol of the inter-generational baggage we all pass down to our kids.

I come from a long line of hoarders. When my grandfather died in 1981, my parents donated chemical engineering journals from the 1950s to the '80s to the college where my grandfather had taught. Don't know if the college actually kept them or were polite. My other grandmother had a story about visiting her prospective in-laws for the first time and having to navigate through piles of old newspapers. Her mother questioned the wisdom of marrying into such a family.

Sigh, sometime I think it's a losing battle.

Next to tackle the basement storeroom, where, not kidding, there is an old furnace we kept because it was only 8 years old and we might someday use it. Now, it's 17 years old and we have to pay to have it hauled away. Scary, really really scary...

A Milestone of Sorts

Came home from to Church to find out that Nicky had managed to lock himself in the powder room while we were gone. Didn't think he had the fine motor skills to turn the lock. Guess the fun is beginning.

Daisy Fenced a Turtle

The other morning Daisy was barking furiously at the fence out back. Nate & I went out to find this poor turtle trying to get through the fence.

She (at least Nate thought she was a she based on eye color) decided to try between the next set of pickets:

No luck there either...

Nate ended up giving her a helping hand

Happy Birthday Nicky!

Blow out the candles

I did it!

What could that be?

Wow! I'm Woody

Yipeee!

Ready for the Gun fight, where's my gun?

Name Calling

The other night we were at our neighborhood pool. There was a father there with three boys, ages roughly 2, 4 & 6. Towards the end of the evening Nicky and the 4 y.o. were on the tennis courts chasing each other around. Nicky was growling and the boy was laughing. The 6 y.o. then joined them and started calling Nicky "idiot" and the 4 y.o. joined in with "poopyhead." As I was about to intervene the father came and grabbed both boys, berated the boys in the tone of voice usually associated with times when your kids have totally mortified you. After a few minutes of lecturing the father bought the boys over and they apologized to both Nicky & me.

Nicky was oblivious and had thought it was all just good fun. I, on the other hand, was very upset, visibly, so that I couldn't do much more than thank the boys for apologizing. If Nicky was a typical kid, the incident probably would have passed without notice or perhaps escalated with Nicky hurling his own insults. But, he's not, and this is the first time, I've experienced unpleasantness on his behalf.

Could the incident have been handled any differently? The boys' father was so furious I'm not sure they understood why their father were so angry. Not having overheard what he said to the, did he explain that Nicky has a disability? Should I have said anything? And, how to prepare for the next unpleasantness of this sort?

What we found in the garden

First Day of School

O.K., so I didn't post this on the first day of school, and it's now been six weeks but, it's my blog.

First Nicky got on his bus:


Then we walked Nate to school:


And M.E. almost missed her bus, or so we thought (it comes around a second time at the specified time)

Vacation

Miles: 2236
Days away: 13
States: 5
Times Nate climbed Mt. Pisgah: 5
Kids: 3
Dogs: 1 (Daisy)
Dead batteries: 1
Strained backs: 1(mine)

Before school started we made our annual trek to Michigan. A few days in Ann Arbor at Grandma's house, a week on Beaver Island and a few more days at Grandma's. Beaver Island is one of my all time favorite places on earth. My father is buried there and we went on our honeymoon there. It's a bit quirky,once home to a colony founded by Mormon, "King" James Strang with a year round population of about 300 which swells to 10 times that in the summer, things definitely operate on island time. Because it is somewhat difficult to get to there is a lot of unspoiled beauty. My family started visiting when I was in college and it's now become the trip my kids look forward to every year.


A family of turkeys strolling accross the front yard


Nate preparing to climb Mt. Pisgah again


We left a treasure in the tree for our friends Katie, Laura, Scott, and Matthew


Enjoying the sun and sand


Even Grandma and Daisy enjoyed the beach

One step forward, two steps back

(or Nothing is as easy as it first seems)

First things I have learned in toilet training Nicky:

1. Nicky can hold his urine for over two hours or until underwear or a diaper are put on.


2. Dogs are good at cleaning up BM and seem to like the taste.


3. While his siblings enjoy potty humor they are grossed out by potty accidents.


4. Warm water on hands really does trigger urination.


5. Staying home most of the day is really boring.

I've been letting Nicky hang out around the house bottom-less most mornings (much to the chagrin of big sis). Then I've been putting him on the potty at intervals. We've had some moderate success and some major failures. This morning started out with a pee accident. Then about an hour later Nicky took his walker into the bathroom. When I went in after him has said "potty". Put him on the potty and he had a BM. Hooray!!! Call Daddy. Give Nicky a cookie

Less than an hour later again he says "potty". Put him on, he sits a while, strains a bit, says "all done". Not five minutes later he had another BM, this time on the porch (this is where the dog comes in.) SIGH. Then about 20 minutes later another BM. SIGH, SIGH.

And, yes he did have three BMs in less than two hours. That's part of the reason I'm pushing for potty training. We are in the midst of a work-up for Celiac. He had the blood work yesterday and I took a stool sample in today. (Had lots of collection opportunities.) Looking over Nicky's record, he hasn't gained any weight in the past 18 months, but has grown almost 2 inches. This is somewhat typical for toddlers but he's at the top of the DS charts for height but falling on the weight charts.

One of these days I will post some knitting. Been doing a fair amount, but lots of startitis.

Fine

"How are you?"

"Fine"

"And the kids?"

"Fine, good, great"

"How's Nicky doing?"

"Great"

Fine, good, great..

Most days I can say it and really mean it. Things are fine, good, great even. Lots of joy. But some days they just aren't and never will be. My child has disability, he's mentally retarded, how can things be really great?

How do you communicate to a casual acquaintance or even a good friend what it's really like? Mostly life's good but the dips in the road can be steep.

Been here before. Seems to be the latter part of the summer. Is it just having more time for reflection? The approach of Nicky's birthday? All the plans for the summer? This is going to be the summer Nicky walks, or has been for the past 3 summers. The approach of school and all the expected changes?

Looking forward to fall.

It's 11:30 and Nicky is still awake

Got to get rid of those naps, darn it.

Summer is Half Over & Pictures

Can't believe it, our summer is half over. We just finished up week 6 and have 5 more weeks left. Starting to get major anxiety about M.E. starting Middle School and Nicky starting at Coralwood.

Here are a bunch of pictures, from before school ended that I've been meaning to post.

All three after Nate's First Communion, they do clean up well


M.E. after Fifth Grade Graduation


10U Softball Champs:


Costal League Champs


Nicky and cousin Jenny

Reactions

Nicky has some stimming behaviors (arching his back, flapping hands, some vocalization) he exhibits when he's in a noisy crowded place, especially when he's tired. For the most part, I'm immune to the slightly lingering stares and the pitying smiles. But, it was the reaction of another child that hurt the most.

We were at a neighborhood Mexican restaurant recently. Nicky and I walked out into the lobby while the others finished their meals. There was a boy about 3 years old sitting on a bench and Nicky crawled over and then climbed up next to the boy. N started stimming. The boy took one look at Nicky, climbed down and hid behind his mother.

Sigh, perhaps I was wrong and the boy wasn't frightened by Nicky. I hope so. I so want him to have friendships with other children and not scare them. He was certainly well liked by the other children at school. They were always glad to see him. And the children in our neighborhood want to play with him.

Yummy!

Ever since the Boston Market near us closed we've been craving rotisserie chicken. My Mother's Day/Birthday gift was a new grill with a rotisserie attachment and rotisserie radiant burner. We've taken it out for a test-drive a few times. This was our result for Independence day dinner. I stuffed two chickens with cut-up lemon, and sage and rosemary from our garden. Rubbed the outsides with Masterpiece bar-b-cue rub. Let the grill do it's thing for nearly two hours and this was the result. Add some slaw and a few veggies. Voila! Dinner. One that everyone will eat. Believe me, that's an accomplishment in this house.

The McMansion Nextdoor

A view from our deck...



Need I say more?