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I Left My Heart In Pennsylvania…

I was looking at Lancaster County Magazine this morning.  The Votes are in and published for the Best in 2006.  What I loved most about reading it was the long list of things available.  Here in Plainview, the only Italian restaurant we have is Pizza Hut.  For seafood, we have all you can eat fried catfish at the Cotton Patch on Friday nights.  (Of course, I do disagree that Red Lobster has the best seafood in Lancaster!  Honestly, they could have come up with ANYTHING else!)

It speaks!

Henry said a three word sentence yesterday!  He came up to me and said, “Ge da gack.”  Translation: Get the snack.  So, at 22 months, Henry is doing great!  After my experience with David and then Daniel, I watch and track milestones like a hawk.  I continually keep track of how many words he has: no, mom, dad, Daniel, cat, dog, cow, girl, boy, batman, car, book, go, this, that, mine, drink, banana, burger, cheese, cracker, cookie, snack, again, bye, night-night, thank you, love you, sweet dreams, come on…  And I’m sure I’m forgetting some.  He follows directions well.  He’s already come to me for help, and I was too busy with dinner or something, and I said, “Take it to Celia; she’ll help you.”  He turns around without so much as a complaint, and goes directly to Celia.

Yet, as proud and as happy as I am, I am still so paranoid.   After David’s autism and Daniel’s hearing problems from his frequent ear infections, I am paranoid that I’m fooling myself and suddenly I’ll realize someday that Henry isn’t doing as well as I thought.  He is a fourth child, though.  That fact alone is a speech inhibitor.  After all, who can get a word in with all that goes on in my house?

Halter Top Finished

I finished it tonight. I had to sew elastic thread into the back, but what do you think?

Dorf on Superheroes

As Daniel “walked” around today on his knees, I suddenly had an urge to put shoes under his knees and take some photos. Especially when he had his Batman mask and blanket cape on. Of course, poor short Daniel, walking around on his knees didn’t give him any advantages. His head was only two inches above the arm of the couch as he went past.

Daniel’s mishap

Daniel and David were playing outside this afternoon. Scott was doing yard work. I was knitting with my sore knee propped up. Daniel came in naked. They were playing in water, and as soon as his clothes become a little wet, he strips! I asked if he was going to get new underwear. No. He had no intention to redress. He had obviously come in only for shoes. He held up his sneakers. “Shoes?” I replied that yes, they were his shoes, and yes, he could wear them. He sat, put them on, and ran back outside. Still buck naked.

About a half-hour later, Scott rushed in carrying Daniel. I heard something about a puncture wound and jumped up. At that moment there was a knock on the door. I was in jammies. There was no way I was opening the door–especially since it was most likely an athlete–and I was in a camisole! I grabbed Daniel and left Scott to the door. (It was an athlete.)

In the bathroom, I put Daniel on the vanity with his feet in the sink. There was small bar of Lever 2000 there (I only put small bars there now. See Toilet Trouble.) I washed his foot a few times. All the while the poor boy screamed. I hollered for Celia to bring my phone. Scott came a moment later with the phone. I then asked for a dark washcloth or towel from the cabinet. He hollered that there were none that were dark colored. There were some old ones that had become purple after I dyed them navy. I said the purple ones would do. I was handed a dark green washcloth.

As I applied pressure to his foot, I called the doctor’s office. They were closed. It was only 4:45! I pressed 1 to get the answering service. He gave his name and asked what I needed. I told him my son stepped on a rusty nail and has a puncture wound on his foot, and I needed to know what to do. He said that he didn’t know because he wasn’t a doctor or nurse. I said I understood that, and could someone call me? He said Dr. Turner was out of town. I asked if there was someone on call. He said yes, there was a clinic. I said Okay. He then gave me the number. I had nothing to write with, so I dipped my finger in Lever and wrote on the mirror. I called the clinic. Their voice mail said their normal business hours were from 8 to 8 Monday to Friday and then special Saturday and Sunday hours. Then it said please call back during normal business hours. It was 4:55 on a Monday!!! Then I was offered the option of pressing 1 for an emergency. I did. I waited a minute, and then was disconnected. I called again. I went through the whole message. I pressed 1. I waited another minute, and then got a person. I went through it all again. Her reply of course was: I’m not a doctor or nurse, I don’t know what you should do. I slowly said, “Can someone call me?” I was at the end of my patience. They’re an answering service after all. When they say what do you want? Aren’t you supposed to tell them what happened? That way they can tell the doctor…

We sat and waited a few minutes, and a woman called back. I don’t think she was a doctor. Probably a nurse practitioner. She went the route of playing the safe side. She said I should take him to the ER so that he wasn’t faced with a nasty infection. So to the ER we went. Daniel screamed when he saw the hospital. He screamed when he saw the triage nurse. He screamed when they wanted to take his temperature. Then we left to fill out paperwork. I had to put Daniel down. Paperwork done we went to sit in the waiting room.

I was just finishing my second stitch on Celia’s halter top when they called his name. I think it was an all time speed record for our ER. They are not noted for speed. (When I had chest pains, I was in the waiting room at least 45 minutes!) They glanced at the spot, and said, “He’s up to date on shots, right?” I said, “Uh, yes…” Not that his shot records were with me. They said he’d be fine. I asked, “Even though it was a rusty nail?” Then the doctor decided to give an antibiotic. So Motrin and Erythromycin. That’s it. We waited another 1/2 hour and then the nurse came with the prescription and discharge papers.

All of that for erythromycin.

The real kicker is that I drove straight to Wal-Mart. It was now 6:25. I then realized that all the screwy doctor’s hours were because today is Memorial Day. I decided to call the pharmacy. Push 1 for English. Push 0 for a pharmacy assistant. Then I heard, “The pharmacy is currently closed. We will reopen tomorrow morning at 8 AM.” So I drove past Wal-Mart and went home.

All of that to wait till tomorrow to start the erythromycin.

…I guess I could’ve just waited till the morning to call Dr. Turner.

Monday is Celia’s favorite day

Celia began school this morning bright and early. I wasn’t ready. She began by bringing me a math curriculum book and telling me to give her ten pages to do. I said we’d start with two. I chose the first page from chapter 9 and from chapter 10. Money and time. Something I don’t think they did this year in public school. The first 8 chapters were unbelievably easy. This was a book they sent home from school with the kids. I guess to keep them remembering their math over the summer. But chapter 1 begins with writing the numbers and counting. This is for kids preparing to enter second grade. Give me a break.

So, after Celia did both sides of the worksheets, she wanted more work. Since I wasn’t ready for school today, I had to rummage to find the next sheets in the A Beka curriculum I had used before. It is labeled 1st grade, but it is new material and harder than what she had at public school. Part of her one sheet was filling in statements. She wrote: My favorite day of the week is Monday. She showed it to me and explained that Monday was her favorite because Mom and Monday both start with M, and one week she and I had a special day just the two of us and it was on a Monday.

The next part of school was baking a banana cake. She read the recipe, and retrieved the ingredients. She also had to find the proper measuring cups and spoons. She counted it all out. Before I added the egg, she got a small taste of it. She did a great job. I really didn’t have to correct her much at all. (I had to show her that the recipe called for 1 and 1/4 cups of sugar, and not just 1/4. The “and” was implied.)

While the cake baked, we played Number Rings (a Discovery Toys) game. Then we finished our novel about Amelia Erhart: First Lady of Flight. It is listed as Juvenile Fiction. As I read, I instructed Celia to draw a picture of her favorite part of the book. Her picture was of Amelia landing on Gardner Island (incidentally, that was not something discussed in the book). After finishing it, I decided to go on the internet and look for more information. I had never known so much about her before. Celia was sad to learn that she had died. She liked to think that she landed on Gardner Island instead of Howland Island and survived. Thing is, no matter what happened, she did die. In 1940, a man found a tall, thin, white woman’s skeleton under a tree on Gardner Island. Nearby was a shoe circa 1930’s that matched the type of shoes seen in photos of Amelia from her round the world trip. Also found was a man’s shoe (presumably her navigator’s). Celia then said she wanted to change her picture. She didn’t like to think of her crashing after that.

After lunch we all got to sample the cake. Delicious!

Then Celia was free. She chose to play on the computer.

And it was David’s turn for school. He did lesson 4 in reading (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons). And then wrote “s”, “a”, and “m”. He couldn’t do an “s” without hand-over-hand help. He attempted an “a” for the first time. And “m” wasn’t even part of school today, but he did it just because he wanted to! And there are some good m’s in there! Then he told me about the picture in his Little Critter reading workbook (ISBN 1577685997BT), and then drew pictures hand-over-hand of Sonic the hedgehog, Shadow, and Knuckles. Math (ISBN 1577685091BT) was putting 4 pictures in order from smallest to biggest. I had him cut them out–and his final cut was 95% on the line!!! Then I put glue stick on a piece of construction paper and let him place them in order. He did great. We had to talk about which was bigger, Litter Critter’s cat or dog, but he was correct with the cricket and the mouse without any help at all.

I was so proud of how great both of them did with school today! It left me feeling elated!

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Strattera is going well!

Well, I’ve had nothing but positive feedback from everyone involved with my kids. I didn’t tell people we’d started Strattera. I just asked how it was going. The librarian said David did really well the last few weeks. At church today they seemed excited how well David did. They said he did excellent. This past Wednesday, Celia’s school walked to the playground. We met them there for some shared playtime. In talking to her teacher, she said Celia finished out the school year very well. I asked if her attention improved. She thought half a moment, and said, “Yes. She did seem to leave her seat less and fidget less.” This was all new to me. She had never mentioned before that there were any issues with leaving her seat and fidgeting. I had asked about chattering back in February, and the teacher had said it’s not too little that we’d have to worry about social issues, and not so much as to be a distraction. That was the same day she casually mentioned that Celia had attention concerns. Of course, I said it first and she agreed. Then I was told that the 3 F’s she received her first week of school were a direct result. I knew that her spelling F was because of it, but she didn’t tell me that Celia stopped mid-reading to ask questions about what sex the horses were and what their names were. That was why Celia scored 27 words per minute instead of closer to the required 40.

Anyway, enough of a vent. School is done. I intend to return to homeschooling. I would take a break, but Celia wants to start up right away. In fact, when we got home from school on Friday, she asked if she could start homeschool right then. She said she’d like 10 sheets of work! I said we’ll see. We ended up doing fun stuff to celebrate the end of school, instead.

Personally I’ve seen growth in Celia’s ability to follow a two-part command. She has also been a bit more trust worthy in getting herself ready for the day. I spent months sitting next to her in the bathroom walking her through each step of how to get ready for school. Things a typical 7 year old should know.

With David, I think it has quelled some of his hyper-activity. Not all mind you, but some. I didn’t want to stop it all anyway. I just wanted a little help.

This morning he sat in his chair at church during praise and worship. During the final song, he came to be held. His legs hung to my knees, but I didn’t care. I was worshiping God and feeling so very thankful for my children. I was praising God for everything that has been going so well. I was thanking Him that my ADD daughter was enjoying holding her Cabbage Patch kids while listening to praise and worship. I was thanking Him that my ASD son was allowing me to hold and cuddle him. I was thanking Him that no matter what we may go through in the upcoming months, I will always have their love and His love.

My afghan is finished!

Here is the finished Spiderman Round Ripple Blanket! As soon as it was done, the kids all posed with it and the Spiderman mask…

Stage 1: The beginning of Celia’s halter top… (This is a truer color:)

Stage 2: Two rounds of eyelets finished…