Domesticating the Kids

Since Sophie was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, I've been reading and researching every day. I'm always on the lookout for ways to teach her and communicate. What can I do to improve her vocabulary? What games will be the best way to keep her entertained? Let's find more ways to socialize her so that she's surrounded by emotions and facial expressions.

She and her siblings are already attending Sunday School as often as we can. The Month of Sickness kept us from church for a while but we're back and the kids really enjoy their classes. We also send them to a local church for Mother's Day Out on Wednesdays and Fridays. It's there that Sophie made her first real friend. She remembers his name and tells me about their day. The teacher says that she and this little boy chase each other all day, every day. Her Daddy isn't wild about the fact that Sophie is already chasing boys but I just assume she's like her Mama. It was way more fun to play with the boys on the playground. And in the lunch room. And after school. Fine, I was somewhat boy-crazy but not in the romantic sense! (Although, I did fine in that area.)

We've also found another church running a summer camp/MDO program. This one is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sophie's class will be taught by a PPCD teacher. I'm eager to see what she thinks Sophie's next step should be. I would really like some direction for what to do next. Should Sophie start public school? Would a Montessori school be more engaging? Would a private school have the resources she needs? Do we need to do more therapy before enrolling Sophie into school?

Another way to structure Sophie's day is to introduce her to domestic tasks. She's now learned the whole laundry process. She can sort clothes, load the laundry baskets, load clothes into the washer, unload the dryer and hang up her shirts. I talk to her every time about what we're doing, showing her how our clothes get dirty when we wear them and how they get clean and back into our drawers and closets. I'm going to make a social story so that she can see the process.

What is a social story? The way I see it, it's a piece of paper or set of cards with pictures and a simple story telling what happens in a situation from real life. You take the kiddos through the whole process of something, like doing the laundry, to help them understand how to do the individual steps and why they should be done. Routine is a HUGE deal for Sophie. These social stories will help her patiently go though new situations so that she won't get anxious about something she's never encountered.

Today, Sophie is helping with the laundry. She's broken chocolate chip cookies apart and put them on the baking sheet. She's carried dishes to the sink. Domestic chores are good for spectrum kids because it's the same routine every time. It puts order into their lives which is soothing to Sophie's little mind.

It also gets Mama moving to keep up with the laundry.

Mama's Tough but Fun

Taco Soup

Tonight I made taco soup. That sounds simple but I actually had to make quite a few tweaks and adaptations to make it acceptable to my family. I started with Paula Deen's recipe and began fiddling. I ended up with two soups.

Beef Taco Soup

The Stuff:
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
1 15 oz can mexican stewed tomatoes
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with sweet onions
1 10 oz can rotel
1 15 oz can ranch style beans
1 15 oz can corn kernels, drained
1 package of taco seasoning
1 package of ranch salad dressing mix

The Process:
Dump everything into a big stockpot and simmer for about an hour. Put crushed tortilla chips and shredded fiesta cheese in a bowl and ladle your soup over. I topped mine with guacamole.

Chicken Taco Soup

The Stuff:
1 lb chicken breast, roasted and shredded

1 15 oz can mexican stewed tomatoes
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with sweet onions
1 10 oz can rotel
1 15 oz can ranch style beans
1 package of taco seasoning
1 package of ranch salad dressing mix

The Process:
Dump everything into a big stockpot and simmer for about an hour. Put crushed tortilla chips and shredded fiesta cheese in a bowl and ladle your soup over. Basically, I just switched the beef for chicken and eliminated the corn. Ben put sour cream on top because he doesn't like corn or guacamole and he's weird.

Sophie ate half a bowl. Milly ate two bowls and I had trouble snapping her pajamas. Gideon ate chips because he's annoying.

My Babies

We're all still in our pajamas at 12:30 in the afternoon.

There has been so much snuggling, kisses, zerbets and tickling. Or, as Sophie calls it, "chickles".

Milly's curls look like they're made out of cotton candy and they still smell like her lavender baby wash. She smiles around her little thumb in her mouth while she tucks her head under my chin and her body under my arm. She coughs and wails in a scratchy voice because she has her first case of strep throat. Then she burrows onto my shoulder because it's the only place where she feels comforted.

Gideon's giant brown eyes twinkle as he imitates the genie's magic-wish-granting dance on Imagination Movers. He's talking so much more. Yesterday he drank an apple juice box with my help. He knew he that if he squeezed the box then it would go everywhere so I held it. His big eyes crossed as he concentrated on the straw and his grubby little fingers clutched my hand.

Sophie is so used to the potty that she doesn't make a fuss at all. She turns on the overhead fan and takes toys to her siblings. She wants to help with everything so badly and she's very capable. She loves having a task to do. Her favorite is the laundry. She loves filling the washer all by herself.

We're all a little weak from the sickness that has plagued us for weeks. Milly is still the worst. We still take antibiotics every morning and night and there is still coughing. Milly gets a little pain medicine before she lays down to take a nap with her Reveille Pillow Pet. I watch Gideon warily to make sure that the coughing doesn't turn into wheezing. Sophie's eyebrow is almost totally healed and I don't think she'll scar.

Being a mother is so much work. It's a job that lasts 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. There is no sick time or vacation time. There are nights that I fall into bed exhausted at the thought of 3 very energetic kids starting early the next morning. There are times where I long for a day with no one touching me.

I really cannot wait for the day where I never change another poopy diaper.

Today, I feel blessed. I have three incredible children that fill my heart to bursting. I want to remember these moments when they are taller than me, far away from me and I'm not in charge of kissing their hurts.

Today, I will zerbet because I can. I will delight in baby girl curls, little boy gibberish and little girl help. I will let kiddo laughter fill my heart.

Blessings in Trials

Last Friday, the two oldest kids were diagnosed with strep.

On Monday, the baby started running a fever.

On Tuesday, Sophie fell while climbing the chair and hit her head on the doorknob. After 3 hours in the ER, she came home with her eyebrow glued back together.

On Wednesday, Gideon started coughing so hard he was choking. We went to the pediatrician who said that seasonal allergies were making his asthma worse. He's now taking a low dose of steroids and 2 inhalers 4 times a day.

The house is a wreck. I have a deep chest cough that's connected to seasonal allergies and my sinus infection leaving my body. I was up with Gideon at 4 AM last night while he and I coughed.

We're still blessed.

Right now, my children are in bed. They are all napping soundly. Modern appliances are cleaning my clothes and my dishes. I have bags of chicken marinating in the fridge and freezer ready to be turned into easy meals over the next few weeks. I have the Internet to connect me to friends I rarely get to see and some that I have never met. I have a bazillion TV channels, a DVR, Netflix, library books and my Kindle to entertain me.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing me beyond measure. Thank you for reminding me of these blessings even when things look dark.

Mama's Summer Look

In Sickness and in Health...

On Thursday, Sophie and Gideon both started running fevers. Sophie ran faster and got up to 103. Gideon sounded like he was going to cough up a lung. We drugged them and got them to sleep. My beloved mother came over on Friday when I woke up with a fever and sore throat, too. After two doctor appointments, the verdicts were in:

Sophie - Strep throat

Gideon - Strep throat, double ear infection

Mama - Sinus infection, seasonal allergies

Since Milly was not showing any signs of being sick, my mother whisked her away to Camp Grandparents where she would be plied with toys, food, individual cuddles and anything else her little heart desired. My parents are pretty much softies when it comes to their grandchildren. That child is going to come back as rotten as a black banana. BUT! She probably won't get sick.

Ben came home with all of our medicines and we started the rounds of sitting on chests and prying their mouths open to pour strawberry flavored caulk down their throats. I really should put sympathy cards in our neighbors' mailboxes after Gideon's fit that caused half of the shingles to come loose and fly through the windows.

I'm assuming that this strep came from them going back to Mother's Day Out. Anytime kids get social they always share something more than their toys.

It also made me giggle because I remembered my funniest strep story. I had strep all of the time when I was younger until my tonsils were voted out of the tribe when I was 19. When I was a senior in high school, I got strep at the beginning of the year. I started feeling sick at a school kick-off thing held in the cafeteria one evening. I was with the band sitting on the floor when I started feeling hot and dizzy. I suddenly didn't care what was on that disgusting floor and only cared that the tile was cool against my cheek. Things weren't getting better when it was time to go home. I drove my boyfriend, who said he was also feeling funny, in my mom's Chevy Lumina minivan. (I was just that cool.) I got home and mom took me to urgent care. They told us that my wimpy tonsils had once again given up against the strep bug. When I got home, I remembered that my boyfriend had been feeling gross too.

Yeah.

First I had to tell my mother that my boyfriend was sick with probably the same thing which meant basically telling her that I had been swapping spit with a boy. Then I had to call and tell him that I had strep and that's probably why his throat was closing up. Of course, his throat hurt so I talked to his mother instead. How do you call your boyfriend's mother and tell her that you know why her son is feeling sick because you're the diseased harlot that infected him? I tried to soften the blow by offering to bring ice cream. We were teased for WEEKS because we were both out sick at the same time with a disease that you can get from KISSING, OMG THEY WERE KISSING! Even the band directors gave us a hard time.

So now I look at my strep-diseased Sophie and wonder...just how close is that boy in her MDO class?