Happy Thanksgiving all!
Edited: (This was written and not sent on Sat. Since then we lost Lucy, our dog of 16 and 1/2 years. She died early Sunday morning in her sleep. I do not wish to take away from Thanksiving or her memory so I will write about her at a later time, but I did want to mark the day and let you know.)
Although this year has been a wild year, we are very thankful for many, many things. We had the boys home for a turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, green bean casserole, corn, gravy, bisquts, and a stuffing meal. Little homemade cheescakes, cookies and assorted not-so-good from a box desserts. I took shortcuts this year, no one seemed to mind that I didn’t make everything from scratch, it was a sanity move. The girls were delighted that their brothers were home and we all got to relax. And be.
Chris is back at school. The girls and I picked up Thursday and dropped him off yesterday, to the viewing of Christmas movies. We picked out a tree. This is the earliest we have ever chosen and gotten one. It seems like a good idea to get the tree and the decorations and start the season of joy and hope earlier this year. We seemed to need a little inspiration. :-) The boys didn’t balk at going so early, they just piled in and helped us chose one. Sadly, none of our usual haunts were open yet so we had to get our tree at Home Depot. It is a pretty little tree that fits nicely in our dining room area. I decided I wanted it here so we could truly enjoy it for the next month, where we could all see and make it part of our thoughts each day. When it is in the playroom we seem to only enjoy it when we purposefully sit in there and on Christmas. So . . . we have begun.
Alex is thrilled. She shows her baby dolls it—reaching up high so they can see it. Kath plays with some of the decorations that have begun to come up the stairs and she calls Santa “Ho-Ho.” Nick picked out the tree because it has blue tinted branches—it is our first of this kind and it is beautiful with a very perfect shape. Aunt Eileen sent us up with some presents so we have a few presents already under it.
Yesterday, Alex started to open one of her presents. I should have known something was up when she kept asking me which one was hers. She must have had some kind of idea that what she was doing was not exactly right because she didn’t just tear the paper off-she peaked in and said, “It has something to do with princesses!” I looked over and said, “Al . . .we don’t open those until Christmas.” She burst out in tears saying, “I keep forgetting!” Then she sobbed for 5 minutes. I passed her over to Chris and she cried on him too. Poor kid. So much to learn when you are 4.
The girls also played with the manger. Sorry to anyone who feels this was disrespectful. I kind of figured that Jesus would rather kids play with him than approach him with a hands off, eyes only type philosophy. There were Little People in the manger taking roles in the nativity scene. It was cute.
Anyway, we are starting to decorate and make our home and our lives a bit more peaceful and thoughtful. As with most everybody, this year we are unsure how many gifts will be under the tree, but we will not allow this season to pass without reflecting on what it truly means to be in the moment, to be at peace with how one is living one’s life (regardless of religion or beliefs).
This is the time of the year that we will have the first annual evaluation of Katharina’s Early Intervention team. I think we have begun to find our way through this and we seem to have found a little trail to follow. It isn’t as scary as it was (Lord, knows I am not trying to ask for further tests or anything!) a year ago. It is in a different realm now. Things are starting to make a bit more sense with how Kath learns and participates in life and how we can help her. How we can encourage what she knows and does. God, I hope I didn't just jinx myself!
She is playing by herself now. She loves the Little People that she got for her birthday and that Alex’s speech therapist gave her. She likes to put bags—pocket books or apple bags—on her arms and walk around the house saying “Goodbye.” She loves to empty out containers—food, magnets, anything. She loves books; she sits quietly and reads them, turning the pages and absorbing the pictures. She loves anything to do with Alex. And now Chris and Nick. And of course poor Bucca and us. “Poor” Bucca went through a box of dog treats in a couple of days—usually takes two weeks, because little Miss Kath kept feeding her. They are best of pals now. She also likes to do the little air pump that blows up balloons—a couple of weeks ago she couldn’t hold one end and pump with the other, but she is continually building up muscles.
So, Chris is busy working in his thesis and preparing for his girlfriend to come home from Scotland. We are very glad that she is no longer planning on going to India (our thoughts and prayers go to the people of Mumbia). Nick is getting ready to return back to school tomorrow; hoping he misses the snow. Alex will go through brother withdrawal—just as we will. I did get to watch a couple of movies with Chris (Pirates III and Elizabethtown).
Back to out decorating. Going to put on Otmar Leibert 'Poets and Angels' and enjoy the non-monetary aspect of the holiday while the getting is good.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Today Miss Katharina turned 2.
Today is an amazing day. More than it was even a year ago.
Two years ago I had the worst labor of my 4. The scariest. Even now when I think back, it frightens me. My blood pressure dropped to 64-47 at one point and I felt so comfortable with the floating away I was doing, until I realized I wasn't ready to completely float and that a new little one counted on me to help her through what were were doing. They gave me oxygen and then Katharina nearly hanged herself on the cord because she proceeded so quickly down the birth canal. Then she arrive face up and silent.
Apparently as difficult as that day was. It was not even her hardest and it wasn't until last August that I began to even think something else had happened.
But at her one year exam I said, "Something is not right." Luckily I have a great doctor who said, "I am not worried, but I trust my parents." So, with Kath not even pulling herself up, truly reaching for objects, and a few other worries, we were evaluated by Early Intervention. (My apologies for you who are weary of this story--but this is my way of dealing.) After her evaluation, we knew she qualified. She began PT in January--first week. Sue (her PT) said that we seemed to have gotten to Kath just in time--she had been starting to 'give up.' For the first few weeks Kath did not reach for toys--we had to pick her hands up and bring them to the toys. We had to move her muscles through the motions, physically. But she did start to show memory permanence, for when Sue bought a garage with doors, Kath remembered from the previous session that cars go under the door. That was a fantastic sign, since we had no real idea what kind of brain damage she might have had. When she went for the MRI and the diagnosis was given of 'in utero stroke with Cerebral Palsy, possible language and visual issues'--I keyed in on the words I could--CP.
In the past year I have found that as bad as any form of CP is, Kath is pretty lucky. Yes, she runs like a drunken sailor-often bouncing off walls and yes, she struggles to use her right hand without it causing her more grief, but she does have use. She is not clenched and even when she is tight, I can usually massage her muscles out of it. She has mild CP.
It is the stroke part--the part I couldn't consider--that after all is an old person's ailment--that I have now had to reckon with. I have this idea that it is like some fault line that erupted and glitched her wiring. You could see her trying to dig her way out of her silence with her own version of sound repetition, sign language and incredible eye contact. You can see her watch Alex or another person/child do something and then when she gets a chance she is mimicking the action to the best of her ability. Today, when we were at the Pre-K I checked out for Alex, she watched other kids running pell-nell. At first she stayed wrapped around my hip. But I could see her eyes and I knew that she was eventually going to kick out (I think I still remember the FIRST time she did that!) and move me to put her down. She ran like them. Wild and crazy. She, however, has the balance of a drunken sailor, so watching her run takes courage. She falls A LOT. Not just down--but she can't stop herself at all so it is like watching a car stall and crash into a tree. EVERY TIME. The teachers of the program were painfully grimacing and flinching their oohing and ahhing as I seemingly just stood there watching my daughter face plant. Until I finally had no more courage and I picked her up and wouldn't ALLOW her to do it again.
The thing with stroke survivors is that--as most people know from adults--they have to do something over and over and over and over again. It hurts to watch. It hurts to have people think I am callous about the face plants my miracle does. But if I ever want her to be able to push through and succeed, then I have to learn to back up and let her fall. Don't worry, I did put her down to run again, I just needed to slow my heart and take a couple of inhales to stop my panic.
That is one reason it is easier to avoid people. I can allow Kath to try and work through things at home without people who really have no idea--putting in their unwarranted advise. But, I digress.
Kath has had an amazing year. She is a beautiful, smart, funny, energetic, stubborn little girl. It has be an incredible year. I never want to live it over again though. Thank you very much. It was one of the most draining years I had. The months surrounding Nick's accident were tough, but this was a whole year of hanging by my fingernails.
I feel as though my brain being wrapped in cotton has been a good thing. I don't think I could have dealt with it all, full force.
So today. The three of us went to the Round Church to check out the Pre-K program. Kath and I watched as Alex participated. Alex was quiet and shy-but had no real fear of being there or of interacting with anyone. She said she wants to go back, so that is a good sign. Although I asked her later in the day about her favorite part and she said she couldn't remember what they did in school at all. Looks like THAT starts all the way back in Pre-k. Alex also had speech therapy afterward and did well. She works VERY hard to do well by Kate. :-)
After that the girls and I decided to run to ToysRUs. We got Kath the Little People Garage--funny that was the first toy her PT brought over and now 10 months later she can move it, play with it and enjoy it. We had previously picked up some new Little People at Kohls. Alex got a sibling gift of the Little People Airplane-she has not let it out of her hands since it came out of the box. The girls played so long tonight I didn't realize how late it was! Daddy made dinner--vegetarian Shepherd's Pie. He also made an Angel Food cake for her candles. Aunt Eileen and Pepe called to sing (Aunt Eileen ALWAYS sings to whomever's b-day it is-big or little:)). Stacey, Kath's special ed therapist sent her an e-card and many of you sent her cards--which she loved and carried around for days.
More later. Tired for now. Take care.
Two years ago I had the worst labor of my 4. The scariest. Even now when I think back, it frightens me. My blood pressure dropped to 64-47 at one point and I felt so comfortable with the floating away I was doing, until I realized I wasn't ready to completely float and that a new little one counted on me to help her through what were were doing. They gave me oxygen and then Katharina nearly hanged herself on the cord because she proceeded so quickly down the birth canal. Then she arrive face up and silent.
Apparently as difficult as that day was. It was not even her hardest and it wasn't until last August that I began to even think something else had happened.
But at her one year exam I said, "Something is not right." Luckily I have a great doctor who said, "I am not worried, but I trust my parents." So, with Kath not even pulling herself up, truly reaching for objects, and a few other worries, we were evaluated by Early Intervention. (My apologies for you who are weary of this story--but this is my way of dealing.) After her evaluation, we knew she qualified. She began PT in January--first week. Sue (her PT) said that we seemed to have gotten to Kath just in time--she had been starting to 'give up.' For the first few weeks Kath did not reach for toys--we had to pick her hands up and bring them to the toys. We had to move her muscles through the motions, physically. But she did start to show memory permanence, for when Sue bought a garage with doors, Kath remembered from the previous session that cars go under the door. That was a fantastic sign, since we had no real idea what kind of brain damage she might have had. When she went for the MRI and the diagnosis was given of 'in utero stroke with Cerebral Palsy, possible language and visual issues'--I keyed in on the words I could--CP.
In the past year I have found that as bad as any form of CP is, Kath is pretty lucky. Yes, she runs like a drunken sailor-often bouncing off walls and yes, she struggles to use her right hand without it causing her more grief, but she does have use. She is not clenched and even when she is tight, I can usually massage her muscles out of it. She has mild CP.
It is the stroke part--the part I couldn't consider--that after all is an old person's ailment--that I have now had to reckon with. I have this idea that it is like some fault line that erupted and glitched her wiring. You could see her trying to dig her way out of her silence with her own version of sound repetition, sign language and incredible eye contact. You can see her watch Alex or another person/child do something and then when she gets a chance she is mimicking the action to the best of her ability. Today, when we were at the Pre-K I checked out for Alex, she watched other kids running pell-nell. At first she stayed wrapped around my hip. But I could see her eyes and I knew that she was eventually going to kick out (I think I still remember the FIRST time she did that!) and move me to put her down. She ran like them. Wild and crazy. She, however, has the balance of a drunken sailor, so watching her run takes courage. She falls A LOT. Not just down--but she can't stop herself at all so it is like watching a car stall and crash into a tree. EVERY TIME. The teachers of the program were painfully grimacing and flinching their oohing and ahhing as I seemingly just stood there watching my daughter face plant. Until I finally had no more courage and I picked her up and wouldn't ALLOW her to do it again.
The thing with stroke survivors is that--as most people know from adults--they have to do something over and over and over and over again. It hurts to watch. It hurts to have people think I am callous about the face plants my miracle does. But if I ever want her to be able to push through and succeed, then I have to learn to back up and let her fall. Don't worry, I did put her down to run again, I just needed to slow my heart and take a couple of inhales to stop my panic.
That is one reason it is easier to avoid people. I can allow Kath to try and work through things at home without people who really have no idea--putting in their unwarranted advise. But, I digress.
Kath has had an amazing year. She is a beautiful, smart, funny, energetic, stubborn little girl. It has be an incredible year. I never want to live it over again though. Thank you very much. It was one of the most draining years I had. The months surrounding Nick's accident were tough, but this was a whole year of hanging by my fingernails.
I feel as though my brain being wrapped in cotton has been a good thing. I don't think I could have dealt with it all, full force.
So today. The three of us went to the Round Church to check out the Pre-K program. Kath and I watched as Alex participated. Alex was quiet and shy-but had no real fear of being there or of interacting with anyone. She said she wants to go back, so that is a good sign. Although I asked her later in the day about her favorite part and she said she couldn't remember what they did in school at all. Looks like THAT starts all the way back in Pre-k. Alex also had speech therapy afterward and did well. She works VERY hard to do well by Kate. :-)
After that the girls and I decided to run to ToysRUs. We got Kath the Little People Garage--funny that was the first toy her PT brought over and now 10 months later she can move it, play with it and enjoy it. We had previously picked up some new Little People at Kohls. Alex got a sibling gift of the Little People Airplane-she has not let it out of her hands since it came out of the box. The girls played so long tonight I didn't realize how late it was! Daddy made dinner--vegetarian Shepherd's Pie. He also made an Angel Food cake for her candles. Aunt Eileen and Pepe called to sing (Aunt Eileen ALWAYS sings to whomever's b-day it is-big or little:)). Stacey, Kath's special ed therapist sent her an e-card and many of you sent her cards--which she loved and carried around for days.
More later. Tired for now. Take care.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
God doesn't give you . . .
If I hear that one more time . . . .
The kids are doing great. The boys came home to vote (which sounds much easier than it entailed . . .). The girls both have therapies going now so that we are going 6 out of 7 days a week. Alex gets speech therapy now 2x a week. So Monday is OT and special ed for Kath. Tuesday is Alex's speech and Kath's PT. Wed is Kath's speech and once a month the teacher for the visually impaired. Thursday is Kath's PT. Friday is Alex's speech. Sat is Alex's dance (not a therapy) and Kath's hippotherapy.
Grades are due this week so we are both working hard to get it all done.
On the first day/night of snow Roger slid off the road while doing his papers. He called me at 5:30AM to ask me to call AAA. I had let it lapse. So, at 5:30 I was trying to transfer money and have AAA accept payment and send a truck. While I was doing all that the owner of the home he was in front of(one of his customers) came out and called his son-in-law down the street and at the same time a snowplow drove by and all of them got the car out. He has a little car body damage but that was it, he is fine. But a couple of days later we noticed he was leaking oil (might have been from before) and while he was doing the route the exhaust made a racket, so we put the car in the shop this week. The exhaust was an easy fix. But of course the oil issue is massive and will cost close to $1,000. Sigh. Because of this crazy economy a couple--yes more than one-a person and a place (a program Roger work with this summer) owes us money. My district cut the literary magazine I advise-- even though I have more students involved than ever before, that means a cut in my year end pay. So, it seems we are considering me going back to work full-time in September and putting both girls in school. Alex in public kindergarten program and Kath in a special school. Homeschooling ideas are not going to work. We just need to tread water until next Sept. Alex will be checking out a preschool program tomorrow. I want her to be eased into the schooling mode of life. :-) If she (and I)likes it she will go 3 days a week and one of Kath's therapist is trying to move her schedule around to accomodate us.
We think we must have killed someone pretty important in a previous life, since we no sooner feel we are coming out from under and we are walloped. Push that rock up the hill, get run over by rock, regroup, fetch rock, push rock up the hill and repeat countless times.
On a slightly different note, we were able to borrow special glasses from Kath's teacher for the visually impaired. With these goggles we were able to see how Kath MIGHT be seeing. The goggles showed a deficit in her span of vision. For example, she may not be able to see to the full right and to the full left and a spot in the middle may be missing as well. This helps one to understand how difficult walking and scanning the room may be--there isn't a continuous picture of an object--it is interupted. It breaks my heart to think this maybe how she sees. Reading will be quite the chore, and I imagine that driving will be out of the question, when she gets older. We had each of her therapists try them on so they could all see how she MAY be seeing. It amazed them all that although it is highly likely this is all she sees, that she does as well as she does.
I will send this now because I have held it in draft since 11/6 and today is 11/13. Tomorrow is Kath's birthday and I want something positive. :-) Good night.
The kids are doing great. The boys came home to vote (which sounds much easier than it entailed . . .). The girls both have therapies going now so that we are going 6 out of 7 days a week. Alex gets speech therapy now 2x a week. So Monday is OT and special ed for Kath. Tuesday is Alex's speech and Kath's PT. Wed is Kath's speech and once a month the teacher for the visually impaired. Thursday is Kath's PT. Friday is Alex's speech. Sat is Alex's dance (not a therapy) and Kath's hippotherapy.
Grades are due this week so we are both working hard to get it all done.
On the first day/night of snow Roger slid off the road while doing his papers. He called me at 5:30AM to ask me to call AAA. I had let it lapse. So, at 5:30 I was trying to transfer money and have AAA accept payment and send a truck. While I was doing all that the owner of the home he was in front of(one of his customers) came out and called his son-in-law down the street and at the same time a snowplow drove by and all of them got the car out. He has a little car body damage but that was it, he is fine. But a couple of days later we noticed he was leaking oil (might have been from before) and while he was doing the route the exhaust made a racket, so we put the car in the shop this week. The exhaust was an easy fix. But of course the oil issue is massive and will cost close to $1,000. Sigh. Because of this crazy economy a couple--yes more than one-a person and a place (a program Roger work with this summer) owes us money. My district cut the literary magazine I advise-- even though I have more students involved than ever before, that means a cut in my year end pay. So, it seems we are considering me going back to work full-time in September and putting both girls in school. Alex in public kindergarten program and Kath in a special school. Homeschooling ideas are not going to work. We just need to tread water until next Sept. Alex will be checking out a preschool program tomorrow. I want her to be eased into the schooling mode of life. :-) If she (and I)likes it she will go 3 days a week and one of Kath's therapist is trying to move her schedule around to accomodate us.
We think we must have killed someone pretty important in a previous life, since we no sooner feel we are coming out from under and we are walloped. Push that rock up the hill, get run over by rock, regroup, fetch rock, push rock up the hill and repeat countless times.
On a slightly different note, we were able to borrow special glasses from Kath's teacher for the visually impaired. With these goggles we were able to see how Kath MIGHT be seeing. The goggles showed a deficit in her span of vision. For example, she may not be able to see to the full right and to the full left and a spot in the middle may be missing as well. This helps one to understand how difficult walking and scanning the room may be--there isn't a continuous picture of an object--it is interupted. It breaks my heart to think this maybe how she sees. Reading will be quite the chore, and I imagine that driving will be out of the question, when she gets older. We had each of her therapists try them on so they could all see how she MAY be seeing. It amazed them all that although it is highly likely this is all she sees, that she does as well as she does.
I will send this now because I have held it in draft since 11/6 and today is 11/13. Tomorrow is Kath's birthday and I want something positive. :-) Good night.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
My bcakwards girl
So Alex is 4. Yup. She enjoys dressing herself. Usually it is not a big deal since we have no social life. However, every now and then . . . .For example, when we went pumpkin picking she came down the stairs fully dressed -- in layers. She knew she needed layers so that as she became hot, she could peel off her clothes.
What she was confused about was the order of the clothes.
She put her fur-lined leopard print velvet-y shirt on first, which meant it was under everything else. Then a mushroom decorated long sleeve shirt. Then her flowered pink shirt. Then on top of it all was her tank-top t-shirt. Her arms were out a little from her body and she looked a bit like a puffer fish would look if a puffer fish wore layers of clothes for pumpkin picking.
Tomorrow is Alex's CSE meeting up at school and then my meeting with Kath's teacher for the visually impaired. Today we had speech and PT. Discussed was the idea of having Kath attend a preschool program since she is such a social learner, but I still want my baby to be my baby and be home with me. I am selfish, I know. I feel as though I could do the best with her, but I do want her to socialize. I am not ready for her to be away from me for too long, I ache when I have to go to school, any more and I would go crazy.
I also had to bring my car in the shop and it needed a new water pump-other than the time lost driving back and forth-they did give me a borrowed car--it was still under warranty. Whew. Tomorrow I drive down to JFK and pick up Chris from his Scotland trip.
More later.
What she was confused about was the order of the clothes.
She put her fur-lined leopard print velvet-y shirt on first, which meant it was under everything else. Then a mushroom decorated long sleeve shirt. Then her flowered pink shirt. Then on top of it all was her tank-top t-shirt. Her arms were out a little from her body and she looked a bit like a puffer fish would look if a puffer fish wore layers of clothes for pumpkin picking.
Tomorrow is Alex's CSE meeting up at school and then my meeting with Kath's teacher for the visually impaired. Today we had speech and PT. Discussed was the idea of having Kath attend a preschool program since she is such a social learner, but I still want my baby to be my baby and be home with me. I am selfish, I know. I feel as though I could do the best with her, but I do want her to socialize. I am not ready for her to be away from me for too long, I ache when I have to go to school, any more and I would go crazy.
I also had to bring my car in the shop and it needed a new water pump-other than the time lost driving back and forth-they did give me a borrowed car--it was still under warranty. Whew. Tomorrow I drive down to JFK and pick up Chris from his Scotland trip.
More later.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
To the ones I notify by message
I am working on how to send you an automatic email telling you I updated the blog. I see that what it currently does is send you a copy of the text I wrote. I feel like you miss out. :-) Plus I will be updating pics soon and well, you really will miss out. So, feel free to use the email as just a reminder to check the blog and not how you actually read the blog. :-) Enjoy!
Head butting a baby cow
Or at least I don't THINK the cow head butted Kath. Naw, she did it to the cow. Then said, "Owwww!"
We took the girls to Kristy's Barn and went apple picking and pumpkin picking. Alex loved to pick the apples--the higher up the better they were--and Kath loved to take bites out of them--to make sure they were sweet enough. Quite the side show we are. Then we picked pumpkins. That was fun--trying to lift each and every one. I suppose you only know the true value of a pumpkin if you can lift it and its stem doesn't 'bite' you. Coaxing them into walking to the far reaches of the farm, easily reached by hay wagon ride by other parents, we made our kids walk. Alex picked out her favorite bright trees and Kath tripped over every other (getting better) pot hole in the grass. Finally we reached the petting zoo.
At first Alex was a little perturbed by being so close--as in right next to-a calf. But when I reminded her that she rides animals 5 times bigger--and with bigger teeth--she relaxed. Kath had no qualms about going right up to them. As they lay on the ground--probably overfed by kids all day, Kath walked right up them and dumped her whole cup of food in front of the first animal she met. Ah, forgot to explain what we were doing and how to divide up the food so it would last through the whole little paddock. Oh, well. She didn't care that there wasn't anything in her cup. She had a cup and the poor calves didn't know there wasn't anything in it. Might explain why she eventually was head butted, but I will get to that. We saw goslings, ducklings, turkeys, pigmy goats, hens and roosters. We fed (Alex was better at dispersing her fare and getting me to fork over more money for more cups) them all. We also tried to avoid being pecked by terrified turkeys strange little boys chased and cornered. That might explain why THEY (the turkeys, not the boys)took cups of food out of unsuspecting children's hands and then practically wrestled the cups to the ground. This happened to Alex, who looked at me like she was going to cry. She was so amazed at the rudeness of the turkey she stood there stunned and looked at me. A father came over and gave her food for her cup and she snapped out of it. :-D Kath however looked at this and was upset, she started to cry until I made a joke about the turkey being like Bucca when she steals a toy/sneaker/you name it.
We had a lot of fun there. Roger waited outside the fence for us. Not sure if he was hoping to rest (that didn't happen-he was halfway up the fence watching the crazy boys chase the crazy turkeys closer to us) or if he didn't want to try to step gingerly through the assorted animal poop. :-)
As we were leaving the paddock the cows finally decided to get up and walk around. They were bigger than I thought. The girls had to watch out because the cows didn't. Not where they were trodding or where they were pooping. Then one little adorable calf who was chest high on me must have been smelling the food on girls. She nuzzled Alex first, then nuzzled Kath. Then they banged heads.
I am the kind of mother who has belly laughed as Chris puked in my car all the way home from the mall. I laugh when people bang their heads, walk into things, do assorted painful things to themselves. I am a horrible person. I actually feel bad for them, don't get me wrong, but I can't help but see how funny it would look/how funny it looks.
Kath said, "Owwwww" in a bit of an annoyed voice. I started laughing! Then I yelled over to Roger (cuz I am classy too), "Did you see her head butt the cow??" He couldn't because we were behind the ducklings' fence. You will have to take my word for it. It was funny. And the cow walked a little crooked afterward. Kath walked straighter. :-D
Then we walked all the way back, bought our cider donuts and paid for our stuff. The wagon ride was next. And it was free! The girls loved sitting (ahhh) and looking around the whole farm on our hay ride. Alex and I decided we would start a farm in the next few years and have LOTS of animals. I told her she needed to help me take care of the ones we had to get into practice.
The day was great. The boys were missing from it or it would have been perfect. The weather was beautiful. Warm. Blue, blue sky. The leaves look like they were lit from within with the intense reds, oranges, yellows and greens. It was great.
I just wish I had gotten a picture of Kath and the calf bumping heads. :-D
We took the girls to Kristy's Barn and went apple picking and pumpkin picking. Alex loved to pick the apples--the higher up the better they were--and Kath loved to take bites out of them--to make sure they were sweet enough. Quite the side show we are. Then we picked pumpkins. That was fun--trying to lift each and every one. I suppose you only know the true value of a pumpkin if you can lift it and its stem doesn't 'bite' you. Coaxing them into walking to the far reaches of the farm, easily reached by hay wagon ride by other parents, we made our kids walk. Alex picked out her favorite bright trees and Kath tripped over every other (getting better) pot hole in the grass. Finally we reached the petting zoo.
At first Alex was a little perturbed by being so close--as in right next to-a calf. But when I reminded her that she rides animals 5 times bigger--and with bigger teeth--she relaxed. Kath had no qualms about going right up to them. As they lay on the ground--probably overfed by kids all day, Kath walked right up them and dumped her whole cup of food in front of the first animal she met. Ah, forgot to explain what we were doing and how to divide up the food so it would last through the whole little paddock. Oh, well. She didn't care that there wasn't anything in her cup. She had a cup and the poor calves didn't know there wasn't anything in it. Might explain why she eventually was head butted, but I will get to that. We saw goslings, ducklings, turkeys, pigmy goats, hens and roosters. We fed (Alex was better at dispersing her fare and getting me to fork over more money for more cups) them all. We also tried to avoid being pecked by terrified turkeys strange little boys chased and cornered. That might explain why THEY (the turkeys, not the boys)took cups of food out of unsuspecting children's hands and then practically wrestled the cups to the ground. This happened to Alex, who looked at me like she was going to cry. She was so amazed at the rudeness of the turkey she stood there stunned and looked at me. A father came over and gave her food for her cup and she snapped out of it. :-D Kath however looked at this and was upset, she started to cry until I made a joke about the turkey being like Bucca when she steals a toy/sneaker/you name it.
We had a lot of fun there. Roger waited outside the fence for us. Not sure if he was hoping to rest (that didn't happen-he was halfway up the fence watching the crazy boys chase the crazy turkeys closer to us) or if he didn't want to try to step gingerly through the assorted animal poop. :-)
As we were leaving the paddock the cows finally decided to get up and walk around. They were bigger than I thought. The girls had to watch out because the cows didn't. Not where they were trodding or where they were pooping. Then one little adorable calf who was chest high on me must have been smelling the food on girls. She nuzzled Alex first, then nuzzled Kath. Then they banged heads.
I am the kind of mother who has belly laughed as Chris puked in my car all the way home from the mall. I laugh when people bang their heads, walk into things, do assorted painful things to themselves. I am a horrible person. I actually feel bad for them, don't get me wrong, but I can't help but see how funny it would look/how funny it looks.
Kath said, "Owwwww" in a bit of an annoyed voice. I started laughing! Then I yelled over to Roger (cuz I am classy too), "Did you see her head butt the cow??" He couldn't because we were behind the ducklings' fence. You will have to take my word for it. It was funny. And the cow walked a little crooked afterward. Kath walked straighter. :-D
Then we walked all the way back, bought our cider donuts and paid for our stuff. The wagon ride was next. And it was free! The girls loved sitting (ahhh) and looking around the whole farm on our hay ride. Alex and I decided we would start a farm in the next few years and have LOTS of animals. I told her she needed to help me take care of the ones we had to get into practice.
The day was great. The boys were missing from it or it would have been perfect. The weather was beautiful. Warm. Blue, blue sky. The leaves look like they were lit from within with the intense reds, oranges, yellows and greens. It was great.
I just wish I had gotten a picture of Kath and the calf bumping heads. :-D
Saturday, October 11, 2008
"I kissed a girl"
Yup. Got my attention too when my 4 year-old began singing it tonight at dinner, incredibly clearly for a girl who is being considered for speech therapy. I laughed so much, I turned red and she then told me I shouldn't laugh or make her laugh while she was eating. She could choke, ya know. I asked her where she heard that song. On your radio mom. I do have to confess I really like that song, it is sung by Katy Perry. It is a great moving song. I just didn't think it showed. I must have turned it up or sang it myself. :-D Roger just got up and poured himself some more Mountain Dew and tried to keep a straight face as I was bent in half, snorting my food through my nose. Just wasn't what I expected my 4 year-old to be singing at the table. Would have LOVED for the boys to be home. Actually it would have been much more enjoyable--in a mean way--to have a homophobic person hearing it. It was just so fun.
Alex did struggle today at yoga/riding lessons, though. As you know, we have hippotherapy on Saturdays. Yoga is a yoga/healing touch class for Katharina that Alex attends. Mostly because there is no where else for her to go, but she thinks it is her class too and has a blast with Britta. But during the session she tried to tell us something and I could not understand it no matter how many times she repeated it. (I often have to 'interpret' for her since her bigger ideas and vocab get tangled up between her brain and her tongue.) I felt so bad and finally she just broke down crying and curled up in my arms. She was so frustrated. I never did figure it out. We have our CSE meeting next week. Other than that, if you could have seen her eyes so lit up while dancing and riding, she had a great day!
Kath did fantastic too. She has been trying to talk more and more and mimicing what we say. She is growing in leaps and bounds cognitively too. She is amazing. Simply amazing.
Got to see Chris for about 15 minutes today. We began our day by going to dance class, then driving the hour to yoga/healing touch/hippotherapy/lessons. Then we drove two hours to Bennington. We dropped off Chris' passport, new license and a birthday card. We got there just when he had to leave for a film screening for one of his classes. So, the girls and I started to drive back home and ended up in Walmart getting costumes for Halloween. Kath wanted absolutly NOTHING (she kept hitting it away) with the cute witch's costume I chose for her. I thought she would be easy. ha. She ended up agreeing with Tinker Bell. It is a little difficult to shop with someone who doesn't talk and obviously has no idea why on earth we are buying costumes anyway. Alexandra has known since the day she was born that she wanted to be a princess. So she is Cinderella. Then we drove the hour ride back home. Both girls also got slippers and nice warm pjs. We will begin the fireplace tomorrow (I stained the wood behind the fireplace so it is drying still--two years ago it must not have had enough time to dry and it kinda melted in drips, but now it looks great, if I don't say so myself!) and the bedrooms get a little chilly, especially Kath's since we close her bedroom door. With Roger up and about at 1:30AM, we don't want HER up and about at 1:30AM too.
Both girls tried on their costumes while I finished making dinner. So cute to see Kath dressed up , fluttering around with fairy wings and Alex being the Queen Cinderella (or maybe even the evil step-mother Queen)telling Kath what to do. :-) Ah, it's only the beginning . . .
Tomorrow we will be heading out to apple pick and pumpkin pick. I'll take pics!
Enjoy!
Alex did struggle today at yoga/riding lessons, though. As you know, we have hippotherapy on Saturdays. Yoga is a yoga/healing touch class for Katharina that Alex attends. Mostly because there is no where else for her to go, but she thinks it is her class too and has a blast with Britta. But during the session she tried to tell us something and I could not understand it no matter how many times she repeated it. (I often have to 'interpret' for her since her bigger ideas and vocab get tangled up between her brain and her tongue.) I felt so bad and finally she just broke down crying and curled up in my arms. She was so frustrated. I never did figure it out. We have our CSE meeting next week. Other than that, if you could have seen her eyes so lit up while dancing and riding, she had a great day!
Kath did fantastic too. She has been trying to talk more and more and mimicing what we say. She is growing in leaps and bounds cognitively too. She is amazing. Simply amazing.
Got to see Chris for about 15 minutes today. We began our day by going to dance class, then driving the hour to yoga/healing touch/hippotherapy/lessons. Then we drove two hours to Bennington. We dropped off Chris' passport, new license and a birthday card. We got there just when he had to leave for a film screening for one of his classes. So, the girls and I started to drive back home and ended up in Walmart getting costumes for Halloween. Kath wanted absolutly NOTHING (she kept hitting it away) with the cute witch's costume I chose for her. I thought she would be easy. ha. She ended up agreeing with Tinker Bell. It is a little difficult to shop with someone who doesn't talk and obviously has no idea why on earth we are buying costumes anyway. Alexandra has known since the day she was born that she wanted to be a princess. So she is Cinderella. Then we drove the hour ride back home. Both girls also got slippers and nice warm pjs. We will begin the fireplace tomorrow (I stained the wood behind the fireplace so it is drying still--two years ago it must not have had enough time to dry and it kinda melted in drips, but now it looks great, if I don't say so myself!) and the bedrooms get a little chilly, especially Kath's since we close her bedroom door. With Roger up and about at 1:30AM, we don't want HER up and about at 1:30AM too.
Both girls tried on their costumes while I finished making dinner. So cute to see Kath dressed up , fluttering around with fairy wings and Alex being the Queen Cinderella (or maybe even the evil step-mother Queen)telling Kath what to do. :-) Ah, it's only the beginning . . .
Tomorrow we will be heading out to apple pick and pumpkin pick. I'll take pics!
Enjoy!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
When an almost 2 year-old is quiet . . .it's too late.
So . . .I was working on the computer yesterday when I suddenly realized that Kath was quiet. Uh-oh. Too quiet. I ran into the dining room and there she was. A vision of blue. She had opened the blue finger paint top (her Physical Therapist and Occupational Therapist would be proud), found a paint brush and then proceeded to paint the chair cushion (I think she was just trying to move it--with the paint brush, it was on the floor), the potty seat, the chair as well as herself. She was so proud of herself. After I saw her face when I began to reprimand her, I stopped, congratulated her and then cleaned her up so we could get our errands done.
However, I got distracted again. She handled me a bag of marshmellows. So, I opened it and handed her and Alex one. Thanked her for bringing it TO me and then turned around. A few minutes later I realized the whole bag was gone--without the tie, still opened. I didn't have far to look. Kath was sitting around the corner, on the floor, working on hand/eye coordination (ha!!) taking marshmellows out of the bag and licking them. One at a time.
Ah. What a pip.
So, the pumpkin farm was nice. It was terribly expensive though considering I was only there for about 2 hours and the free pumpkin was a really small one. The place is beautiful, it had farm animals and a huge wheel we were able to pretend we were hamsters and roll down a big stretch of farm on. But as I said very expensive--8 dollars for the each of us. Ahh.
I am almost considering starting my own homeschooling group but I don't know anyone who does it. But the group I met showed me how difficult it will be to find people I can fit with. I am so awkward! :-)
Alex is feeling better. She had a second bout with the cold but seems to be healing. The boys are great. Chris turned 21 on Saturday. We drove up and took him, Nick (who came home for the weekend and was at Bennington Friday night), Chris' friend Sean and the girls out to celebrate his day. We then bought a cake, pretended there were candles (his dorm doesn't allow real ones), and sang to him. Can't believe he is 21. Wow. This is harder for me to handle than me turning 40 was. I drove Nick back up to Rochester on Monday. He and I spent Sunday shopping for a new cell phone and sneakers. It was good to have some reconnect time. I miss them both.
I have off today, tomorrow and Monday. Roger had off today, goes to school tomorrow and has off on Monday. So glad. I am so tired again. I actually took a 3 hour nap. Eish. (One night last weekend I slept for 12 hours.) I did get my hair done. Haven't done that since before summer! Feels great! Tonight the girls and I decorated for Halloween. That was hilarious since most of the stuff freaked them both out at first, but then Kath was carrying around, in the crook of her right arm, the Skeleton Man, as if he were her baby doll. Although Alex helped me hang up a spider web she still took wide steps around an oversized spider on the floor.
Katharina is trying to mimic words--she is repeating many, many things. Alex said '13', Kath said '13.' Other words too but if you are not right there to hear it said previously, you wouldn't catch it. But the fact that she is trying to repeat is so amazing! She usually will copy if you ask her, now she is doing it on her own.
Haven't gotten back into writing, but I am hoping tonight. I am working on writing up and sending pictures in for a book a woman on the listerserve is making about kids who had strokes to help new parents get through. I have three book reviews to write for the Canadian Library/Teachers publication and then grading and such.
Hope everyone is great. It is so wonderful to see someone else reads this, though now am nervous about my editing. . . .:-)
However, I got distracted again. She handled me a bag of marshmellows. So, I opened it and handed her and Alex one. Thanked her for bringing it TO me and then turned around. A few minutes later I realized the whole bag was gone--without the tie, still opened. I didn't have far to look. Kath was sitting around the corner, on the floor, working on hand/eye coordination (ha!!) taking marshmellows out of the bag and licking them. One at a time.
Ah. What a pip.
So, the pumpkin farm was nice. It was terribly expensive though considering I was only there for about 2 hours and the free pumpkin was a really small one. The place is beautiful, it had farm animals and a huge wheel we were able to pretend we were hamsters and roll down a big stretch of farm on. But as I said very expensive--8 dollars for the each of us. Ahh.
I am almost considering starting my own homeschooling group but I don't know anyone who does it. But the group I met showed me how difficult it will be to find people I can fit with. I am so awkward! :-)
Alex is feeling better. She had a second bout with the cold but seems to be healing. The boys are great. Chris turned 21 on Saturday. We drove up and took him, Nick (who came home for the weekend and was at Bennington Friday night), Chris' friend Sean and the girls out to celebrate his day. We then bought a cake, pretended there were candles (his dorm doesn't allow real ones), and sang to him. Can't believe he is 21. Wow. This is harder for me to handle than me turning 40 was. I drove Nick back up to Rochester on Monday. He and I spent Sunday shopping for a new cell phone and sneakers. It was good to have some reconnect time. I miss them both.
I have off today, tomorrow and Monday. Roger had off today, goes to school tomorrow and has off on Monday. So glad. I am so tired again. I actually took a 3 hour nap. Eish. (One night last weekend I slept for 12 hours.) I did get my hair done. Haven't done that since before summer! Feels great! Tonight the girls and I decorated for Halloween. That was hilarious since most of the stuff freaked them both out at first, but then Kath was carrying around, in the crook of her right arm, the Skeleton Man, as if he were her baby doll. Although Alex helped me hang up a spider web she still took wide steps around an oversized spider on the floor.
Katharina is trying to mimic words--she is repeating many, many things. Alex said '13', Kath said '13.' Other words too but if you are not right there to hear it said previously, you wouldn't catch it. But the fact that she is trying to repeat is so amazing! She usually will copy if you ask her, now she is doing it on her own.
Haven't gotten back into writing, but I am hoping tonight. I am working on writing up and sending pictures in for a book a woman on the listerserve is making about kids who had strokes to help new parents get through. I have three book reviews to write for the Canadian Library/Teachers publication and then grading and such.
Hope everyone is great. It is so wonderful to see someone else reads this, though now am nervous about my editing. . . .:-)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Nothing clever comes to mind--as a title
Everyone is doing well. We are busily back to school, therapies and living. Chris turns 21 this Saturday. How on earth did that happen? Somehow turning 40 didn't mess with my head-maybe too much worrying with Kath??--but NOW having a 21 year-old!! Give me a chair, I need to sit. Nick is coming home this weekend (yeah!!!) and we are heading out to Benny to watch Chris'soccer game and take him out to dinner.
Alex is slowly getting over her cold and Kath is being amazing. I am homeschooling Alex, but it doesn't really feel like it--most of what we do is fun and sprinkled with some 'book work.' Guess that is why I wanted her homeschooled (one reason) we get to play and learn! We are meeting up with a homeschool group at a local farm tomorrow. Kath is uber-aware and into everything. She gets forks for dinner and we have ALL the forks on the table. She 'reads' books. She hops on one foot---then the other! She sings. She runs everwhere. She is amazing--they ALL are.
Roger is doing well, trying to fight off The Cold and stay focused on his teaching.He still amazes me with his strength --to be able to work a second job--every day. Now if Congress passed a package that would give the taxpayers 700 Billion Dollars!!! He could write. I could concentrate and write. Ugh. sigh.
I am having a wonderful year although they cut the funding to the literary magazine I advise. I wasn't going to tell my students, but I did today. I am still going to advise it. I have 14 kids interested this year . . .how can I not??
As I visited and made goals for this month on my writers'forum, I realized AGAIN how I have allowed myself to get distracted. Don't get me wrong--I know I have good reason, but . . .there is more than one fellow writer, who is now published, who when I first joined the forum, they were plodding through like I was. Now they are published. I am still struggling through my story. sigh.
I did just a great two weeks of reading, which is a good sign (for me) that my brain is on the upswing (what a picture THAT is!). I read three of the Twilight series books by Stephenie Meyers in the last week and a half. At the same time as progress reports were due and well, everything else. It has been so great to be able to slide into the storyworld and escape for a little bit.
Off to go do something--read? grade? write?
Nite!
Alex is slowly getting over her cold and Kath is being amazing. I am homeschooling Alex, but it doesn't really feel like it--most of what we do is fun and sprinkled with some 'book work.' Guess that is why I wanted her homeschooled (one reason) we get to play and learn! We are meeting up with a homeschool group at a local farm tomorrow. Kath is uber-aware and into everything. She gets forks for dinner and we have ALL the forks on the table. She 'reads' books. She hops on one foot---then the other! She sings. She runs everwhere. She is amazing--they ALL are.
Roger is doing well, trying to fight off The Cold and stay focused on his teaching.He still amazes me with his strength --to be able to work a second job--every day. Now if Congress passed a package that would give the taxpayers 700 Billion Dollars!!! He could write. I could concentrate and write. Ugh. sigh.
I am having a wonderful year although they cut the funding to the literary magazine I advise. I wasn't going to tell my students, but I did today. I am still going to advise it. I have 14 kids interested this year . . .how can I not??
As I visited and made goals for this month on my writers'forum, I realized AGAIN how I have allowed myself to get distracted. Don't get me wrong--I know I have good reason, but . . .there is more than one fellow writer, who is now published, who when I first joined the forum, they were plodding through like I was. Now they are published. I am still struggling through my story. sigh.
I did just a great two weeks of reading, which is a good sign (for me) that my brain is on the upswing (what a picture THAT is!). I read three of the Twilight series books by Stephenie Meyers in the last week and a half. At the same time as progress reports were due and well, everything else. It has been so great to be able to slide into the storyworld and escape for a little bit.
Off to go do something--read? grade? write?
Nite!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
This week
Alex was evaluated on Tuesday at Village Preschool. I didn't realize that there would be a psych evaluation too, but whew! that went well. :-) Alex showed that she has some oral motor issues with a forward pushing tongue. She works very hard to get her ideas across, but her IQ is very high. She works very hard to make sure we understand her. All this energy we feel, as fortunately so did they, that with all the energy she takes to get her point across it could inhibit her from a foward progression, and it could slow her down socially. We also don't want to just compare her to other kids her age--not when she is so amazing, it feels like we would be holding her back. They suggest she receives therapy for 6 months. They loved her. Even though she had a cold, she was adorable. She is also someone who works hard at pleasing everyone. She knew that Kath had issues. When asked why Kath has therapists come to the house, she answered, "Stroke, in utero." Immediately. I never discussed this with her, she picked it up. She didn't know what that meant, but she is like a little magpie, collecting info.
We went to Conn yesterday to attend a birthday party for the sibling of one the hemi kids we met at the Sturbridge retreat. The girls had a blast. We played at their house and also at a kid play place. Alex had fun running around with other kids (carrying her baby everywhere) and Kath loved trying herself on all sorts of climbing aparatus.
Things here are going well. I have been obsessed with reading the Twilight Series. I have devoured three of the books in one week--they are all about 500+ pages. Since I don't sleep much they are good company. It would be GREAT if my insomnia-like issues would allow me to clean and correct papers, but I am lazy.
Nick is coming home this week. I can't wait to see him; it has been since August. Chris turns 21 this Sat. Wow. How did I get to be this old?
My writing is stagnant but I feel like when I am done absorbing Twilight I might be able to think/write.
I apologize for this being a short and boring post. I want to go read. :-)
We went to Conn yesterday to attend a birthday party for the sibling of one the hemi kids we met at the Sturbridge retreat. The girls had a blast. We played at their house and also at a kid play place. Alex had fun running around with other kids (carrying her baby everywhere) and Kath loved trying herself on all sorts of climbing aparatus.
Things here are going well. I have been obsessed with reading the Twilight Series. I have devoured three of the books in one week--they are all about 500+ pages. Since I don't sleep much they are good company. It would be GREAT if my insomnia-like issues would allow me to clean and correct papers, but I am lazy.
Nick is coming home this week. I can't wait to see him; it has been since August. Chris turns 21 this Sat. Wow. How did I get to be this old?
My writing is stagnant but I feel like when I am done absorbing Twilight I might be able to think/write.
I apologize for this being a short and boring post. I want to go read. :-)
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