16th February 2010

Sick days

I was down for the count for a good week.  Fever, chills, massive sinus and chest cold, but thankfully no gastro issues.  Doing the low carb thing meant that my usual sickness stand by, chicken noodle soup, was out, so I was in search of something with a similar feel that would be healing.

I ended up taking some chicken/bone broth, a bunch of frozen chopped spinach, several cloves of garlic, then streaming in some eggs at the last minute for some awesome egg drop soup.  This, along with lots of hot tea, an avocodo and some oranges became my menu for the week.  It was a good choice.

I feel much better now.  I do have a lingering cough, but from my understanding it may hang around for a good month or two if it follows the trend of everybody else who got knocked over with this bug.  Last night was my first night back in bed with the rest of the crew and I didn’t have any coughing fits, so I think I am on the mend.

So far, Zach hasn’t gotten sick at all.  Zane was sick the day before I was, never had a fever, and was better in two days.  Zora started coughing earlier this week, but hasn’t progressed to a fever, so she might luck out too.  I am SO glad that it hit me harder than the kids.

posted in Cooking, Health, Me | Comments Off

15th February 2010

Happy Valentine’s Day

Zora’s valentine’s cards

Flowers from Zach and the kids :love2:

The cards Zora handed out.  She wanted the “teasing cards”.  (they change pictures when you move them)  She carefully chose stickers to put on each card and attached each to a little packed of conversation hearts.  (nerdy mom thought “conversation” hearts were a very appropriate gift for a speech therapy preschool.  lol)

The cards Zane handed out.  He also put stickers on his cards and attached conversation hearts.  He deliberately chose the ones that said “You’re a good Fur-iend” for the boys in his Friendship Group (social skills group), and the “You’re a Cool Cat” for Terese.  I think he had the “I smell a Valentine”  for Diane, and I can’t remember what he chose for Rosie any more.  (I probably have pictures of  the actual cards sent out, but they are trapped on the defunct hard drive).  I thought it was interesting that he loved this pack so much…there was no debate, once he saw these, he wouldn’t even consider any others.

posted in Autistic Life, The Kids, Valentines | Comments Off

11th February 2010

Valentine’s Day at Preschool

After we took Zane to his last day at Heartspring, I left Zach and Zane at home to go to Zora’s Valentine Party at school.  She handed out the valentine cards with the conversation hearts (which seemed more appropriate than usual at a “speech-language-hearing” clinic) to all of her friends and the teachers.  Since she can barely write her name, and can’t really write it small enough to put on the cards, I did the writing in a crayon of her choice and then she put stickers on the card.

Then she made a 2 cards from all of the fun supplies.

This is the Clinical Educator and Student ST in charge of her individual therapy.  The valentine’s cards that Zora picked were those hologram ones where there are two pictures that change as you move the card.   In her ST sessions this week they had similar hologram stickers  and called them “teasing” stickers (they were stickers in the session, and they were talking about teasing), and when Zora saw these valentine cards she wanted the “teasing ones”.    Here she is showing them the valentine’s card she bought, plus the one she made (the white paper with the “writing” on it), connected to the baggie of conversation heart packages.

She had fun and it was good to see her at school.

posted in ST, School, Valentines, Zora | Comments Off

11th February 2010

End of an Era. The last day at Heartspring.

We have been at Heartspring since before the autism diagnosis.  The main reason we are leaving is a combination of the services offered and finances.  When it came down to a choice between Heartspring and WSU Speech Language Hearing Clinic, there really wasn’t much of a contest.  Heartspring was 20 minutes at a time, one on one, twice a week.  WSU is an hour at a time, also twice a week, but is a social skills/friendship group, plus coordinating other testing, plus where we have Zora in ST and the preschool for language delays.

It was really hard to tell them we were going to leave, and I have been teary as I have watched the last sessions.  It is a major change in our lives and we will miss the people there.

His good-bye present in hand, he answers Lacy’s question “Who are you here to see?”.  He can answer that now.

First they cut out a snowflake, an exercise in following directions.

Next they practice having a conversation.  Today Zane wanted to talk about the painting.  It was actually very fitting.  Diane’s daughter painted it and he has always loved the painting.

Then they talk about saying goodbye to each other

Then I slip in to get a picture of the two of them together.

Before we leave, Lacy brings out a stuffed Zebra and balloon for Zane, and a pink Teddy Bear for Zora.  (she was at preschool though, so she wasn’t there to get it).

Giving a last “high five” before leaving.

I knew it was coming, but I still can’t believe it.

posted in Autistic Life, ST, Zane | 1 Comment

10th February 2010

Ewww

In another “weird food by Zora” post, here she is enjoying her requested snack.  Sour cream on wheat bread.  Um.  WHY?

posted in Giggle, Zora | Comments Off

9th February 2010

Thank you Grandma

When my mom heard that we pulled the kids from their swimming and gymnastics lessons she offered to pay for it so that they could keep going.  They both love going to the Y, and it is good for both of them, so I happily accepted the offer.

Zane’s hair is long enough that I told him we either needed to cut it, wear it in a ponytail, or he could wear one of my swimming caps.  (the lycra one, so it doesn’t pull the hair so bad).  He chose the cap.  He liked it so much (I would guess the tightness appealed to his love of deep pressure)  that I ordered him one in orange for next week.  (orange is his favorite color, so it was easy to talk him into, but the main reason was because it will help the teacher,the lifeguards, and us to be able to keep track of him easier in this group of kids, and with a 6-1 ratio, I want to give them every advantage I can.  All of the classes are full, so there was nothing with the small class size like I could in the fall.  Usually he towers over his classmates, but this time he “fits in” a lot better, which is really cool, but does make it a bit more challenging to keep track of him.) We had to talk to the Aquatics director to make sure he had the same teacher, because she is SO awesome with him.  I found out that she isn’t available during the day because she is a teacher, which makes total sense as to why she can handle him so well.  I really like her a LOT.  Zora had a different teacher, but that isn’t a big deal for her.

Zane did give us a bit of a scare.  He was so excited to be back in the water again that he started practicing putting his head under water, but he did it in an area where the pool is just a little too deep for him.  He was pushing back up above the surface, but it was clear he was literally over his head as he began to flail.  Fortunately, the alert teacher saw what was happening and got him back to the wall, but it was a bit heart stopping for us watching him.  He did a lot better the rest of the class.  I have a feeling he sort of scared himself too.

(he’s on the far right)

posted in Autistic Life, Swim, YMCA, Zane, Zora | Comments Off

8th February 2010

Getting ready for Valentine’s Day

Last year I was the bad mom who didn’t even think to buy valentine’s cards for the kids to give out, so this year I made sure to get to the store and have the kids pick some out before they were gone.  Zane also picked out a going away/thank you/valentine’s gift for Diane since we are leaving Heartspring this week. (a Reese’s peanut butter heart)

The kids talked us into giant lollipops, something I can’t remember them ever having before, and they relished them, sitting side by side, quietly licking the lollipops.  It was really sweet.

posted in The Kids, Valentines | Comments Off

8th February 2010

Silent, still, magical

It snowed, which isn’t really all that unusual.  What was unusual is that the snow came without wind, and in the middle of the night it was almost startling to step outside and hear such an immense silence, especially considering we live a stone’s throw from a major road.  It was also undisturbed by cars going by, so it was a pristine blanket over everything.  I am glad we took a moment to enjoy it as we headed for bed.

The pictures don’t really do it justice, but it was so light outside from the moon and glow of the street lights that we had to try.

posted in Winter | Comments Off

7th February 2010

Girly things

I have not really worn make-up, except for special occasions, since my last day of work when I was 5 month pregnant with Zane.  I was in hotel management and wearing make-up and being really well put together was a requirement of field, so I spent over a decade having to wear make-up every day, whether I wanted to or not, and when I was finally able to live a life not worrying about being written up for not having on a full face of make-up and pristine clothes, I didn’t wear make-up again and happily settled in to comfortable clothes and Birkenstock shoes.

I hated make-up, partially because I had a bump on my nose and some skin tags near my eyes that made it really difficult to make it look good. (foundation seemed to highlight the things I hated instead of camouflage them).  Well, the same day I had dental hell last week, I also went to the dermatologist and got the nose bump and most of the skin tags taken care of (I just couldn’t take it any more on my eye area…I got the main ones on the edge of my lids that interfered the worst, but I wish I could have handled it and had all of them.  I was just hurting too bad).

Since my nose is healing, and I have felt more like “taking care of myself” than I have since, well, since I was in my early 20s, before/at the beginning of the weight gain, and have actually been looking at things like skin care and make-up and other girly things that I haven’t ever really cared about.  (or, only cared about in my dating years because you were supposed to do those things.)  It was always for external reasons before, and when I was able to, I refused to do it for other people.  However, lately I have been wanting to do it for myself, which feels a little weird, but maybe it is a part of getting older or something.

Anyway, I have been looking into skin care stuff and never realized how much stuff is out there, and how much stuff I can’t fathom spending big money on.  Then I found out about Aldi’s skin care products.  They have a line called “Lacura” that has actually won awards and beaten out the high end stuff in testing in Europe.  It is made in Germany (Aldi’s is a German company) and although it is pushing the budget, it is cheap enough that I decided to give it a try.  So, for the first time since my teens, I went out and bought cleanser, toner, moisturizer, eye cream, skin masks and body lotion from the line.  I also picked up bath gels stuff, which I never get,  and shampoo (I was out of shampoo) while I was there.   Tonight I realized that I haven’t done anything beyond shampoo and soap for nearly 20 years, and it felt really nice to pamper myself.  I’ll let you know how I like the stuff, but I already know that I like how I feel after taking a few minutes after my shower to indulge some girly-ness.

posted in Me | 1 Comment

6th February 2010

ROCKO booty

The kids had a great time at ROCKO today.  We had a relaxing break.  Although we didn’t have the funds to go out, we did come back home and throw some steaks on the grill and Zach took a nap on the couch.  Right before we picked them up we stopped by the Hollywood video, where we had noticed a “going out of business” sign, in search of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” or some games at decent prices.  We didn’t find anything, but we did run into Robert and Alex there, which was pretty funny.  (Robert was coming over later that night).  Zane had a good time, although he had a difficult time with some transistions and took a bit to warm up to the dancing, he did join in and enjoy himself.  He loved the “Uno Attack” game and it had me wishing that we had gotten it for him for Christmas.  (he asked for it, but we thought he just wanted “Uno”.  He was happy with “Uno”, but I guess he really wanted the other version of it more than we realized).  Zora, as usual, joined in and had a ball with everything.

The cookies and crafts they made:

Zane’s heart cookie

Zora’s goodies:

posted in Autistic Life, ROCKO, The Kids | Comments Off

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