Posted in parenting on April 8, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
For just a few minutes, my house is quiet. The television is off. The music is off. The cats are sleeping. No phones ringing or buzzing for attention. The girls will soon be on the way home from school. My husband should be on his way home from work. It’s so quiet that I can hear an owl softly hooting outside. I can hear the blood rushing in my head.
“Quiet” is a very strange sound. I’m not so sure I like it.
Posted in ADD, advocate, ASD, autism, Classic Autism, daughters, motherhood, parenting, Sensory Integration Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, SID, silliness, SPD, Working Mom, tagged Dance, YouTube on February 24, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
So sweet, this girl of mine. Gracie is looking for songs on YouTube on my phone that she can dance to. One song was completely annoying, but it got her going and she loved it so much that she starting hopping. Pretty soon, she was flapping her hands in the air as fast as she could.
Here she was, bouncing and flapping to a song that I suddenly no longer found annoying, and I said,
“You sure look like you’re having fun! How flappy!”
While still bouncing and flapping, she smiled and said,
“It feels so weird! It is WEIRD!”
“Weird is awesome, huh?”
“It is WEIRD!” ::giggles::
And she kept on flapping.
Posted in autism, cooking, daughters, food, foodie, parenting, tagged Baking and Confections, Cake, Chocolate chip, Cooking, Gracie, Ice cream, Mug, Whipped cream on February 18, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
I heard about these in passing, and then yesterday at my mother’s house one of my brothers mentioned that his mother-in-law makes them all the time for her grandchildren (did you get all of that?). Word on the street is that the children love them, and they can be made in countless flavors. They can be made using boxed cake or from scratch. They can be served with whipped cream or ice cream or topped with chocolate chips.
In my research I’ve seen them referred to as “breakfast.”
I found this recipe and decided to try it because it’s from scratch, I can make it lactose-free, it’s chocolate, and it’s easy. It also seems to get rave reviews wherever I’ve found it being referred to online. Other blogs go so far as to try to make copycats of this recipe.
2 Stews: 1-2-3 Chocolate Microwave Mug Cake.
So here it goes. Gracie was skeptical, so of course she’s going to be my little guinea pig.
Okay, I made it and here’s the verdict. Grace likes it but when I asked if she wanted more than a bite she said,
“I brushed my teeth.”
It needs a pinch of salt and some leavening. It just… does. It’s tasty but flat, so it definitely needs the salt. And it needs leavening to help it rise better and not feel like paste in the mouth. With those additions I’m thinking it would be fabulous.
Posted in parenting, advocate, family, daughters, cooking, tagged Carbon monoxide poisoning, Conditions and Diseases, Facebook, Furnace, Gracie, Headache, Health, Migraine, Neurological Disorders, Saturday on February 16, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
It’s Saturday, and I don’t have anywhere to be. Strike that, my friends. It’s Saturday and I don’t have anywhere to be THAT I CAN RECALL. I blame it on the fresh snow and my need for coffee to help dispel this new migraine. I’ve been awake since 7:00 AM because that’s when my noisy children started waking up and moving around. That’s when I noticed we got a couple of extra inches of snow overnight rather than a “dusting.” It’s also when I figured out why I was waking up with a headache that I was ready to blame on my children.
Although I count myself very lucky this morning that it’s a migraine and not carbon monoxide poisoning. One of the first Facebook statuses I read this morning was that of a dear friend who said she woke up with a headache that turned out to be from her furnace spewing out smoke and was leaking. They had to call the fire department and get some emergency service done to their furnace. I’m so very grateful that they woke up this morning. And selfishly, I’m grateful to still have my friend and her family. It’s a good reminder to get your furnace checked and serviced every single year on schedule no matter how old or young your furnace is, okay? Please? I know that it’s a good reminder for me and The Mister.
And on that note, I’m going to get my butt up and make some coffee and indulge Gracie by making the Cinnamon Roll Cake that is her new favorite treat. I pinned it a few weeks ago but I’ll share the recipe shortly.
Posted in daughters, introspective, parenting, sisters, Vegetarian, women, Working Mom, tagged Christmas, Gratitude journal, Home, Nail polish, New Year, Ricola, Shopping on January 16, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Today, I’m truly grateful for…
Posted in parenting, tagged Berlin, Easter, Hasbro, Holidays, My Little Pony, My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, Pinkie Pie, Pinky Pie, S-Bahn, Wii, YouTube on January 12, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
More Pinky! (Photo credit: Mooshuu)
Oh my gosh. I hate the My Little Ponies Pinky Pie. She seems to have a cult following on YouTube. Please, make it stop. I would do almost anything to make it stop. The girls pull that shit up on the Wii and my phone and when I let them use the computer. My brain is going to explode from the insanity of it all. They love the show itself and can’t get enough of it. So they look it up on YouTube and get all of the fan stuff, which I have to keep an eye on since some users like to insert little f*bomb Easter eggs into the homemade video remakes of the songs.
Pinky Pie in particular has a special sort of evil. She’s like a pony on crack even in the TV show. Then on YouTube they jack it up by a billion.
Someone has to make the insanity stop. This is why you shouldn’t teach your children to use technology or, like, read and type.
Posted in American Tradition, parenting, women, tagged Holiday, January, New Year, New Year Resolution on January 4, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to get back into doing my Gratitude Journal frequently. I still take stock in my head and say my thanks for my blessings to God, but it’s amazing how much putting it down in writing helps keep up an attitude of positivity.
One of my other New Year’s Resolutions is to maintain positivity in my life. As I’ve done in the past, that’s going to include using as positive language as possible. I haven’t always succeeded, but that’s why it’s a resolution and that’s why I try to back it up with taking account of all of the things I’m grateful for.
And for those with long memories who remember that another past resolution was to stop cussing… this year I’ve tailored it somewhat to “stop cussing when the children are around.” So far so good. It’s 8:48 AM on January 4th and I haven’t cussed at all this year, let alone in front of the children. Unless you count cussing that’s in your head. I haven’t cussed out loud. And I haven’t cussed in print either… at least not written while the children were in the room… that I recall…
I’m screwed.
Posted in ASD, autism, CFS, Chronic Fatigue, cooking, daughters, family, fibromyalgia, Lactose Free Cooking, life, marriage, migraines, motherhood, parenting, Sensory Integration Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, SID, tagged Cooking, Duct tape, Food, Gracie, Holidays, Home, New Year, New Years Eve, Pinterest, Shopping, WalMart on December 31, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
A steamed tail-on shrimp. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Here it is, New Year’s Eve, and I’m home with my family. We’re just relaxing and ticking down time until the ball drops. Well, the girls are. The Mister is napping and one girl is starting a bath. Another is watching a movie on a mini DVD player while the eldest girl makes something with colored duct tape. Who knew that was a thing? There’s even an after school cluster that teaches middle schoolers how to make usable things out of colored duct tape. That’s a Pinterest category I hadn’t seen yet, so I’ll have to search for it. She’d love that. She had a lot of fun using the duct tape to make a pyramid for a class earlier today. She’s making bricks out of purple duct tape and applying it to the box she’s supposed to use… but the tape is also being used for practical uses to help hold the thing together too. I think. She has little clay canopic jars she made that she has to put apple seeds into, and an apple slice that she mummified in salt last week.
We had a nice dinner, poor man’s version of shrimp scampi ha ha. It was simple and the shrimp was mini frozen shrimp from WalMart. I had to use powdered garlic since it’s not a Super WalMart yet and they didn’t have fresh garlic. :-) It was filling and pretty good. Gracie didn’t say a single word during dinner because her mouth was stuffed the entire time. That’s the biggest compliment on a meal, let me tell you. The girl who won’t eat anything sitting with a stuffed mouth saying nothing, but humming while she eats and not even caring if butter drips on her chin? Best compliment on a meal. Truly. When she finished, she said that her tummy hurt and asked what that meant. I told her it meant her tummy was full of food and she over-ate. She scrunched her eyebrows and said, “Hmmm. Oh.” That tells you how often she stuffs herself. :-)
I completely forgot to put out salad. I even bought banana pepper rings and olives, which Anna now wants to simply eat in a bowl next to chips and salsa.
Me… I’m ready for some Advil Cold & Sinus, green tea, a book, and bed. Maybe some chips and salsa first. Or maybe green tea and ice cream. After all of the snow these past several days, I’m achy and still dealing with a headache with the remnants of the laryngitis. My body still feels all beat up. Sleep will be welcome.
Oh, don’t pity me for being home on New Year‘s Eve. You’re home too. :-) But if you go out tonight, please be safe. Don’t drink and drive. If you’re buzzed, then you’re drunk. So don’t drive buzzed.
Posted in ADD, advocate, ASD, autism, Classic Autism, daughters, family, life, motherhood, ODD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, parenting, Sensory Integration Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, tagged ASD, autism, Christmas, Family, Gracie, Mommy, Mother, parenting, Sensory processing disorder on December 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Cottingly Fairy topped with Christmas hats because Gracie loves fairies
This morning it’s very clear that the vacation “routine” (or lack thereof) is getting to Gracie. She’s overly sensitive, agitated, moody, grumpy, argumentative, bouncy, and flappy.
It’s always difficult for her when she’s out of the school routine even though she would almost always rather be home. This time is more difficult because I’ve been sick since the middle of the night on Christmas. At least it waited, right?
She’s testing her sisters’ patience this morning, so they’re going back and forth between having some fun at her expense and trying to teach her life lessons. In the life lessons they go back and forth between taking a hard tack and being gentle. No matter the angle they take, they get the same result: screeches and shouting and nothing for their efforts.
Anneliese finally simply said, “Gracie when we make you mad no matter what even when we aren’t trying you just have to ignore us.”
Gracie: “No I do not.”
Anna: “Gracie, you just have to learn to ignore us.”
Gracie, clearly disgusted and incredulous: “That is not something you can ‘just LEARN!’ You can not ‘learn’ to ignore! That is hard!”
Anna: “I don’t know what to tell you. You just have to.”
Gracie: “Brat!”
Now the trick will be getting her to allow me to get her to do some sensory activities. She hasn’t been receptive so far. I got a kick in a shins and a swat toward the face for my efforts several minutes ago.
It’s time to go re-teach the sisters that when their sister is on the verge of a meltdown, you back away. It’s the whole Burning Building comparison. If a building is on fire, would you run into it? No? Well, when your sister has days like this she’s a burning building. Move away from the burning building. You likely won’t teach her anything, because it will just burn up. Wait until the fire is out and it’s been rebuilt. And she stops using the very literal, “Wwaah” to get across the point that she’s upset and to start her wailing.
I probably should have said, “It’s time to go rescue the sisters…” and I said, “re-teach” instead ha ha. It’s because they really are so good about teaching her. They’re wondering teachers for her, and she pays exceptional attention to them. Most of the time they actually can calm her down without using sensory tools. She doesn’t want to be upset with them, and she doesn’t want to hurt them. When things like this morning happen she comes away from it feeling like a bad sister. In fact, yesterday she accidentally-on-purpose-but-really-accidentally ruined something Anna had set up. It could easily be redone with some patience, but the look of hurt and annoyance on Anna’s face made it clear to Gracie that she had done something wrong even though Anna told her that it was all right.
Gracie: “I feel like I must be a bad sister.”
Anna: “No, Gracie, you’re not.”
Gracie: “I feel like I must be always doing the bad thing. I am a bad sister.”
Anna: “No, Gracie, you’re not.”
Gracie: “But… I feel like I always hurting my sister! I not acting like loving my sister!”
Anna: “Gracie, I know you love me. I love you.”
Mom: “Awww, girls, why don’t you hug and make up?”
Anna: “Mommy, I’m just not ready to hug Gracie yet. She did upset me. Gracie, you need to help me fix this.”
Gracie, sniffling: “Okay.”
