Jason's Friend Paula

Paula came to the house to visit with us about Jason. I brought her up to speed about seeing the new Therapist, and what his thoughts are. We had a good talk about starting over from square one. He hasn't wanted to wear his hearing aid for the last few days. I can't tell you how many times I've put the thing back together. So far he hasn't broken it so that's good.

I am a bit teary eyed, because Paula seems to be really upset by this turn of events. It's hard to deal with, especially when other people see the same things I do. Especially when you really don't want to admit that you see them. The speech therapist that visited us last week called Paula to get more background detail on him. She wanted to know if there had been any signs of more going on. Paula was concerned she missed something. Which of course she didn't miss anything that I know of.

She's so sweet, she loves my baby boy. It's amazing how many people love my kids. It's amazing to me how much people want to help my family.

Next week there will be an army at my house to assess my baby and see what he's doing. Paula's going to do all the research that is possible to find out what we need to do to help my boy. She'll be going to Africa in a few weeks so we'll be seeing her every week for a while and then she will be checking in on us through email, my blog, and phone calls.

The other important thing we are going to have to do is start going on dates! Brett and I haven't done much "dating" since we had Duncan. We are going to have to also learn to take care of us and our relationship. This is a stressful time, we need to grow closer not farther apart.

I love my family so much! I am grateful for the support they provide, for our friends, and for people who don't even know us but still want to help my family.

Am I just numb? Or am I OK?

Yesterday's visit to the doctor wasn't really a surprise. I've been fighting Jason for a while now, so it wasn't really a shocker. I had a momentary mental collapse and needed a nap. But that seems to be all that I've needed.

Brett keeps asking me how I'm doing, and I keep saying "Fine". Which he totally doesn't buy. But it's really weird. I'm really calm, and collected today.

I did a bit of a Fast on Sunday. Something I'm not very good about unless there is an emergency. I prayed for help to make it through this week, and be able to function and take care of my family better then I have been. I hope that I'm not just temporarily numb and will wake up to a complete melt down one day. I think it will be OK, and that Jason has a lot of options. I'm optimistic about his future.

We'll see. I am ME after all. If the meltdown does come, it will be fairly expected. =0)

Tired but ready for the day

Yesterday after Jason's Doctor's appointment, I crashed. I put Jason down for a nap and had a bit of a nap. I knew it would be better for all who had to see me yesterday if I had a mental break.

Today is going to be work filled. I'm a little beat, because Jason got me up at 6:00am, but once I get a little caffeine in me I'll be doing much better.

Jason Update

I went to Dr. Hermann Peine today. He seems like a great guy, who focuses on the whole families needs. He seems like a very concerned and helpful doctor. I found this online that explains his credentials.

Ψ - Hermann Peine, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, Autism Specialist

Dr. Peine earned his doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Utah with a minor in special education. He completed his pre-doctoral internship at the Hospital for Sick Children Great Ormond Street in London, England – Department of Psychiatry. Since that time Dr. Peine has taught at the University level and worked at an administrative and teaching level in community mental health agencies, the Utah State Developmental Center and for Children with Special Health Care Needs at the Utah Department of Health.

Dr. Peine’s doctoral research and clinical expertise is with the Design and Treatment of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). ABA is an in-depth analysis of antecedents and consequences to behavior that impacts the probability of learning new behaviors or strengthening desired behaviors using empirically based procedures incorporating a functional analysis of behavior. Dr. Peine continues to train parents and program specialists in ABA and has a particular interest in home and class room environment and how they impact children’s behaviors.

Dr. Peine is also a Marriage and Family Counselor. He specializes in treating clients of all ages, as young as 2 years old, with an emphasis on accessing and intervening with the individuals and families struggling with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental problems in childhood.

He watched Jason as he tried to tear his office apart, spoke to both Brett and I about our concerns, and tried to interact with my boy. He asked whether we were involved with Early Intervention, and what they have expressed about Jason. He also asked what it is that we would like to see happen with Dr. Peine's help.

We told him that we are just wanting to help Jason, like the rest of our kids, be the best person they can be. We want to give him the tools and know how to take care of his own individual needs.

Dr. Peine definitely sees a whole lot that is a concern. He does have things that fall in the Autism Spectrum. He could be ADHD, OCD, Autistic, or PDD-NOS. Dr. Peine doesn't like to label kids, unless it will give them help with their needs. So we are going to go back next week with some evaluations that we and some others will be filling out.

His suggestions were to get him off Dairy, and to get him on whole grains. Less sugar. He needs routine, routine, routine. We knew that already. We also need to find things to reward him with. He wants us to make sure to reward him for eye contact. He wants everyone to make sure, to not just give into him. To make sure that he works for his treats.

He also suggested to completely ignore his bad behavior. Unless it is causing harm to himself, others or property. We'll see how well that goes.

Busy Weekend

This weekend turned out insane! I'm wondering when we are going to have a mellow, house cleaning weekend again. Yes, I said it. Cleaning the house would be MELLOW!!

Saturday we got up and headed grocery shopping as soon as everyone was ready.

Then my Nephew is getting married. So I had a Wedding Shower to attend. She is a very sweet lady, with a very cute 5 year old. She's a doll!!!

Next we had a Baptism to attend. Brett's Cousins Grandson was getting Baptized. Yes, that does seem like a far away relationship to be attending the baptism. However, we live a block away from Brett's Cousin and a block away from his kids. His wife is the kids Nurse Practitioner, and I'm now the Grandsons Cub Scout leader. So not so weird after all.

Then Duncan had a soccer game. They were wasted. We seem to be in the wrong league or something. I'll have to have Brett explain it to me so I can post what's going on.

After that my folks wanted us to come and visit, since there wasn't anyone else there and Jason needs to have a little more isolated time. So we stayed over there way too late!!!

Sunday of course there is church. Jason took a nap and then we headed up to the in-laws. It's always nice to have a little more adult contact. So as you can see not one ounce of house work got done this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to stay on top of things anyway.

Early morning for me

I woke up at 6:00am with Jason. Back to this routine since he actually had a nap yesterday. So I got up and ran to the store.

I got 2 new pillows for my bed shams, 1 pill splitter, and reading glasses.

Tori has been struggling with her eyes focusing while reading. So I was looking for a cheap magnifier and of course they were the tiny Sherlock Holmes type magnifying glass. So I went up to the pharmacy and grabbed some cute reading glasses. I'm hoping these help her, but I'm not 100% if they will.

I emailed her teacher yesterday to have her keep an eye on Tori's headaches. She emailed me back and said she would be very watchful of her. I'm doubting this. But, we've decided to give Mr. Holmes a week to see if there are any improvements for Tori. At this point my mind is set on transfering her. However, the class sizes in the 4th grade are insane. So I'm not sure it would make too much of a difference. Except for maybe Tori would feel like we tried.......and we care about her..........

Does it make me a nerd if I had fun?

Tonight was the first Stake Play rehearsal. It was mainly a bunch of the teenage youth. Brett and I have a little bigger part then I thought. Duncan has a reading part that has quite a bit to memorize for my little man. Tori is bummed because she doesn't have a speaking part. Samantha couldn't sit still for 2 hours, so she will be left with Grandma Siddoway next week.

Brett says he is taking his part as King, from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You know, the "Huge Tracks of Land" guy. Me, I'm the Queen of my castle so I'm just playing myself. When the "Director" was helping us with a part she didn't direct Brett or I once. She just picked on the poor little 15 year old with braces, who is supposed to be playing a 27 year old. It's ok. It will work.

Yes, I had fun. It might be because I'm with my family. However, it might be because I'm a cheesy person. Either way, it will be fun.

Talking to Mr. Holmes

Too many posts in one day, I know.......

I called and spoke to Mr. Holmes the kids Principal. He's a good guy!!

I told him that I was concerned about my daughter in her current class and was wondering about a transfer. I explained that Tori has vision problems and has been struggling since the beginning of the school year. I told him about her teacher telling her that she knew Tori probably couldn't see her dictionary because she couldn't see it either. I told him that the kids Nurse Practioners kids went to their school and that as soon as I told her who the teacher was she said, "Get her out of that class." I told him that Tori has started bringing home 42%-50% papers. This isn't like Tori, I can tell she's struggling. I told him that she comes home with a migraine everyday.

I told him that I'm willing to work with whatever he thinks will work out. I said that I will try and get the supplies Tori will need. I will try and stay on top of everything that I can. But, I can't worry about Tori at school. I need a teacher who is willing to pay attention to my girl, and anticipate her needs. She needs a teacher who will say, "What will I need to do for Tori to help her." Instead of waiting for Tori to come up with a solution to the problem. She's 9 years old for heavens sake!

Having said all this, Mr. Holmes is going to speak with Tori's teacher. He is also going to pull her IEP and 504 and have Marcia sit down with her teacher and make sure that Tori's needs are met. If I dont' start seeing a difference in a week I'm to call Mr. Holmes.

Hopefully it will make a difference. I've got enough on my plate lately.

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!

He's Asleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to give him the Melatonin tomorrow, and then see if he will nap on his own on Saturday. I don't want him to become dependent on a sleep aid, but oh...............I can't tell you how relieved I am. I went to the store to get his nasal spray and Melatonin and he was collapsing on my shoulder. He so needed a nap!!!!!!

My Retail Therapy

Does it count as Retail Therapy if you've been planning on it for a while? Does it count if you've been looking through the adds and found a ridiculous deal?

Well, I'm counting it. I feel much better. I was going to sew a quilt, which means I'd have a bedspread in 12 years. I saw this bedding on sale in the adds this week. It was 1/3 of it's regular price. I'm so excited!!! Here's my awesome new bed!!!

Work, work, and more work

Well today will see how things work out. I've got a lot of work to do. I've got to measure, QC, and start working on some new projects.

Next, Jason. I've got to figure out how to get my baby boy to LET me work. He is a handful. Not only that but yesterday I had Lisa look in his sinus's to see if there is anything that is keeping him from napping and they are a little swollen. So I've got to get him his nose drops as well as some melatonin. This was suggested by a few people, most importantly my kids nurse practitioner. Hopefully we can get my boy to take a nap again.

At his appointment yesterday it was very obvious we was exhausted. I told her that as soon as I got home I would put him down to take a nap and he would take about a 10 minute break and be up and going again. She could see, as well as I, that this boy still needs to take a nap. So hopefully we'll be able to see what happens. If the Melatonin doesn't work then I'll accept nap-time is over.

Lastly, the kids have suckered Brett and I into being in the Stake play. So we have Play Rehearsal this evening.

Never a dull moment at the Lutz House!!!

Jason Update

Well.......where to begin.

Jason had a visit from Jean the speech therapist today. He was pretty good......she did pull him out of his comfort zone. She pulled out the "test" and almost immediately put it away. Jason doesn't usually fall within the bounds of "tests".

She basically played with him. Made him take turns. She would hold onto the puzzle piece and not let him have it because it was "stuck". He threw 3 or 4 fits while she was there. She took him and played with him. She did some real physical jumping games which he got a kick out of. She said that he for sure needs more intervention. She also wants to have him seen by an occupational therapist. So that another appointment that I'm going to have to make.

Brett was home between work and a school visit, so he went and picked up Duncan for me and ran him up to a well check. Duncan is doing wonderful! He's 50% in height, and 95% in weight. Which makes me laugh because that seems like a big ball, but Duncan is a solid buff little bugger. No worries with this one.....yet. =)

Then after that was time for Jason's well check. So as soon as I was done with the speech therapist I went up to the doctor too.

That was a really long appt. I handed her the list of things the speech therapist had just given me. Now I have to take Jason to a regular Therapist to see if we can find out if there is anything more to worry about, IE: Autism. Do I think there is something more? No. Do I see signs of something more? Yes. The problem is he's a 2 year old, who can't talk and doesn't want to talk. He's a two year old that is the youngest of 4, who happens to have a hearing loss. He's a two year old that never stops running.

It's the non-eyecontact. It's the anti-social, It's the non-communication that is a problem. One more thing. One more concern.

Do I think he is ok? Yes. Do I think that he will not have problems? No. Am I in denial? Most certainly. Am I in tears? Very Close!!! Lets see what the world will drop on us next.

*sigh*

If it wasn't true before, it is now!

I'm in big trouble!! I heard a thunk upstairs when I was working at "Nap-time" today. I ran upstairs to this sight. Believe it or not he was dressed when I put him down to sleep. *sigh* What am I going to do???????? He's such an overwhelming little punk!!!

Tori's my tough girl

Tori talked to Marcia about getting her a bigger dictionary and about the chapter books. Marcia called me and we had a nice chat.

She is going to get Tori a bigger dictionary from the school for the blind, as well as a domed magnifier that she can bring back and forth from school. We are already registered with the State Library for the Blind so I'm going to start using this resource more.

I dont' expect Tori to take care of all her problems at the age of 9, but she did awesome! She was brave and spoke up about what she needed. That is what I'm trying to encourage in her. She's too much of a people pleaser, so I worry she will stop voicing her issues in the future. I'm proud of her!!!

Birthday Wishes

Grandpa and Grandma Lutz always send the kids a Birthday card. Since Jason is too little to appreciate it I thought I would add it here. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!

He's asleep.

Most of my posts seem to be about Jason's sleep schedule. Gees, I must be obsessing!

The funny thing is I remember dreaming last night, that the girls got up at 2am and wouldn't go back to sleep. I kept freaking out telling them to go to sleep, but they wouldn't!!

Crazy what your mind keeps going on with when your asleep.

I brought Jason upstairs so I could finish up some work when Brett got home. He was laying down with Jason in my bed, and got up for a minute. When he came back Jason was asleep, at 6:00pm. I just hope he will stay asleep for the night.

Day 9, No Nap

Today is the 9th day Jason hasn't taken a nap. I don't know what to do.....he's just barely 2 years old. If you saw his exhausted face by the end of the day I think you would understand my anxiety. He's tired!!! Why won't he sleep?

Everyday I change his diaper, take off his hearing aid, give him his bottle, and put him to bed. He looks all happy and snuggles under his blanket. He always looks like he's going to fall asleep. Without fail he starts screaming and playing about 30 minutes later. When I go to check on him he's poopy. So I change him, put him back in his crib, but he never goes to sleep.......*sigh*

I've tried changing his routine; earlier bedtime, later bedtime, different lunch time, running him around in the van, taking him for a walk, wearing him out outside. Nothing is working. I even tried benadryl to see if maybe I could coax him back into a routine. It didn't even phase him. He never got drowsy or groggy.......Ugh. What to do, what to do?

More Birthday Pics

Here are some more Jason Birthday Pics. He's such a cute baby boy!!

Happy Birthday Jason

I found this on Youtube and thought it worked for my boy! No his name isn't Jeffrey...=0). However, we sign the J for his name too.

The day Jason was born was such a happy day! He is my sweet little thing, and I'm happy that we got such a wonderful boy. I'll tell you, if Tori's eyes had started having the problems they did before I got pregnant I don't think he would be here. So he was meant to come join our family!

He's such a whirlwind of action and emotion. He never stops, and he keeps me running. He is a smart little bugger, that has figured out how to get anything he wants. I hope to be able to have a full conversation with this little devil soon, but either way I'm just glad to be his Mom.

My Baby is 2!

Jason will be turning 2 years old tomorrow. I can't believe it has been that long. He's such a sweet boy, and with him not speaking yet it seems like he's still a baby.

We spent the day swimming and having cake and ice cream up at Grandma and Grandpa Siddoways house. We had a lot of fun. Here's the pictures from this party, and then tomorrow we should have some more pictures from my parents house.

How did this happen?????

We woke up this morning, Saturday might I remind you, to be at the church by 9:00am. We are having a Stake Play and the kids wanted to audition. I'm cool with that! If the kids want to be in a play, GREAT!!!

Well.............one of the lovely ladies in my ward suggested I audition for a part. I advised her that I wasn't much of an actor and that we were here just for the kids. Then all the kids piped in and begged me to audition. So, whatever!!! Then we all went into the room together and took pictures of the kids doing their audition and then I read. To which they turned around and asked Brett if he would come read the part of the King while I read the part of the Queen.

HUH?

Yes! We are all going to be in the play. Brett is the King, I am the Queen, Duncan is Pinocchio and the girls are Royal Children. Jason will probably be spending every rehearsal night with my mother-in-law. I'm not sure how this happened. Why are we so nice??????

Tori's school issue

My girl was so big, and so brave on Friday. She told her teacher that she needed to get a larger print dictionary and maybe some larger print chapter books. To which her teacher replied, "I knew you probably couldn't read them, because I have trouble reading the print in those dictionaries. I really can't afford to get anymore dictionaries though, so if you can talk to your Mom about getting those for you that would be great." (This was what Tori said when she got home, so I'm not sure how accurate it is.) The awesome thing is Tori said, "OK, I'll talk to Marcia on Monday."

Marcia, of course, is the VIT teacher for the girls. I will tell you right now that she is one of the nicest, sweetest teachers I've met. She is so awesome with my girls, and works with them on stuff that their other teachers gave up on long ago. For example Tori still writes her numbers and letters backwards. I don't know why this is, but Marcia helps her to get these corrected and she has been doing much better this year. Having said this, she is also one of the most no-nonsense people I've met. In the girls IEP's last year she was very direct and to the point. She doesn't give anyone any room to budge. With the girls testing she found things that I wouldn't have even known to look for, and let the teachers know what the girls need to help with their education. One of the teachers was questioning something, and she just put her down so fast it made my head spin. I almost wanted to apologize to the teacher and say, "I just want the girls to learn Braille......Sorry!" So we'll see how Marcia feels about Tori's teachers comments on Monday...

Hopefully its nothing that can't be fixed

I'm currently laying in Duncan's bed waiting for Jason to try to climb out of his bed. Today it will be a week without a nap if I can't get him to go to sleep.

Yesterday Brett got home from work and Jason was still in his crib, not taking a nap. I was downstairs trying to get some work done, because my energizer devil was locked in his cage and I knew at least he couldn't do any damage from his crib. All of a sudden I heard a very distinct giggle and the pitter-patter of little feet. I couldn't believe that Brett had let him out of his crib! But I figured that he must have decided it was too late for him to go to sleep so I just let him deal with my crazy boy.

Turns out Brett didn't let him out of his crib. The other kids didn't either. Jason has learned to escape. Dang It!!!!!

I'm hoping that there is something I can do to contain this booger. I NEED naptime! Jason still needs it too, because by 6:00PM he's ready for bed. He still needs a lot more sleep then he's currently getting, but I don't know how to make this happen. Oh well, lets see who falls asleep first, him or me.

I took some video of my Monkey as he was supposed to be taking a nap. I was pretending to "ignore" him so I could see how he got out yesterday. Ya, I'm in trouble!

Pretty crazy clouds

I had a meeting in the office tonight, and on the way this was looming over the mountains. It's pretty cool, but I did take the pictures with my phone so it doesn't do it justice.

Visiting Teaching

I actually went Visiting Teaching this month. I know, I'm shocked too!!! I give the lesson every time we go because I can't remember to set up that appointment for anything. It is just not in my brain. So my partner makes sure to get us there, and then I give the message. This months message hit a chord with me so I thought I would share it.

Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “We must live the gospel in such a way that we will have the Spirit to ever be with us. If we live worthily, the Spirit will always be with us. We can then teach by the Spirit. … The reason we pray, study the scriptures, have good friends, and live the gospel through obedience to the commandments is so that when—not if, but when—the trials come, we are ready” (“Teaching by Faith,” Liahona, Sept. 2003, 10, 14–15; Ensign, Sept. 2003, 20, 24–25).

I feel like we have our share of challenges. I feel like we do pretty good, but I also know we have improvements to make. Doesn't everyone?

My boy is clean

I had to have proof!! I'm sure it will only last about 5 minutes!!!

Tori's gotta have some strength........

******Warning******Really Long Post!!!!

Duncan and Brett were at soccer practice this evening, and the girls were eating their dinner. I was looking in Samantha's backpack for homework and the little stinker hasn't turned in homework from Monday!! She did this last year, and she's continuing the habit. I'm going to have to come down hard an this little Monkey...

Now for the explanation for the title of this post, I grabbed Tori's backpack to clean hers out. Yesterday she opened it and papers busted out, so I was going to empty it of all the unnecessary stuff. Her backpack was actually pretty clean. I had told her it was too full last night, but didn't expect her to actually clean it out! So I was going to zip it back up, but decided to see what homework she had as well. She only had a word search from Braille class, but she had an assignment that she got 42% on.

I called her over and said, "What is with the 42%?" She was very upset, and himmmmed and haaahhed for a while. It was about syllables and I looked at it and I could tell she was really confused about the assignment. The example was Titanic=Ti-tan-ic. One of the words she got wrong was huge, she put h-u-ge. So we covered the subject, and made sure that she understood what the assignment was supposed to teach her. She was able to tell me all the right answers.

So, we talked about not getting so frustrated, and to take deep breaths when she's feeling overwhelmed. I also told her that if she is confused about an assignment she needs to ask her teacher to explain it one more time, because she isn't understanding it. She said, "Well the teacher said we could use a dictionary to help with the assignment, but I couldn't find the words." My motherly instinct kicked in at this point. I asked her how big the dictionary was. She held up her hands and showed about the size of a regular paper back, which my guess is about 4"X6".

I asked her if she had let the teacher know she was having trouble reading the dictionary. She said no, but she was having trouble reading the dictionary and the Magic Tree House books. If you don't know the Magic Tree House books are what they start reading with in 1st and 2nd grade. At this point I felt a little sick, because nobody wants there babies to struggle.

I told her that she needs to be brave and tell her teacher her problems with her vision. To which she replied, "We're not supposed to get up or talk during testing or quizzes." I let her know that this wasn't an option. If she was having trouble seeing, she needed to let the teacher know. She seems intimedated by this teacher. I've heard she can be really strict, and yells quite a bit. I advised her that I want her to learn to take care of her issues so tomorrow I want her to tell her teacher about these problems. I also told her to tell her Braille teacher these things, since she will probably have more access to larger print books. I let her know that if her teacher gives her a hard time, she will have a very angry Momma to deal with who knows what the teacher can and can't do to help her. If neccessary I will go into her teacher and make a big stink. I'm sure Marcia, the girls Braille teacher will get real ornery too!

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those Mom's who think there kids are perfect. I let Tori know that if she is misbehaving, not doing her work, or any other number of things she would be in trouble! However, if this problems are caused by not being able to see the words on a page. That is were I am going to get huffy. All kids should have the same opportunity to learn, we just need to figure out how to make that work for Tori.

When I told Tori this she giggled. Not only did she giggle then, but she giggled and chattered non-stop through her bath. And she wouldn't stop talking when I was helping her with her word search. I think this is something that has been bothering my poor girl for a while. I hope the next few days will prove to have had the weight lifted from my babies shoulders.

Jason has a sleep disorder......he's confused

Jason hasn't taken a nap in 5 days. He has been running insane since Saturday. Yes, he has been sleeping through the night which is why I haven't been too worried about him. However, he's been so tired, so I don't understand why he won't sleep.

I went to drop Tori off at dance and when I got back my husband told me to go look behind the couch. As you can see he's FILTHY!!! He's also BEHIND THE COUCH!!!!

I was going to come home and give him a bath, but obviously that's out of the question. I will have to bathe him in the morning. I actually had to call my Mom and Dad to go pick Tori up from dance, because Brett went to soccer practice. I'm hoping they can find the school........*grin*

Jason was still sleeping

Last night I put Jason in bed all went immediately quiet. This boy was tired. Then when Duncan went to bed he called me into his room to check out the monkey. The above pictures is how I found him. Out cold!! I had to wrestle his right leg out of the crib. I don't know how he got it into the bars so far.

Right as I was going to sleep Jason woke up screaming. Not just the normal I'm awake scream, it was very reminiscent of Duncan's night terrors. So I scooped him out of bed and brought him into my room where he promptly fell back to sleep. It has been so nice to have him sleeping through the night, and not in my bed that I had forgotten how big he is and how much he wiggles. I woke up with him in the crook of my knees almost falling off the bed. He is a bit of a pill.

The funny thing is, he was still asleep at 8:30 this morning. That never happens!!! This boy wakes up as soon as the sun is up, so I took advantage, got up and got the kids to school.

He's now awake but he really hasn't moved much. He's still in his waking up mode. So I thought I would add it to my blog while my crazy boy is sitting still.........=0)

Signing "All Done"!

I've been trying to get my baby boy to show some interest in communicating. He's such a stubborn little thing that I think it's going to be a bit of a long haul.

I finally got him to copy my with the "All Done" sign. It's more of a quick spastic flap of his cute little hands, but he is imitating me and so I know that's what he's doing. So for the first time this evening at dinner he signed "All Done" before anyone else was finished with dinner. I of course rewarded his communication with getting him out of his highchair. He gave me a sweet hug, and said "Mama".

I'm pretty sure that he was talking about me. Sometimes I'm not 100% on this, because he just seems to be babbling. He's such a sweet, sweet baby boy!!!

Jason's friend Paula

Jason's friend Paula came to our house yesterday. I almost missed her because for some reason I had decided she was coming at 7:00 and not 6:00. We started discusing the Aural/Oral method of communication that will probably be how Jason communicates, eventually. Since he has the unilateral hearing loss he will speak, someday.

She is so accommodating with my family, she's sweet! I'll explain.

My Dad has been so sweet and concerned about my boy since our trip to Yellowstone/Jackson Hole/Bear Lake. That was really our first experience with my Parents alone. Since my family is so close nit we are always together, which for Jason can be a bad thing. He gets overwhelmed with all 5 of our families, and the noise that is created. My sweet parents of course don't deal with this whirlwind on a daily basis, so trying to explain what Jason needs has proved a little bit on the complex side.

My cousin on my Dad's side was adopted from Columbia when he was a baby and proved to have some communication problems. My Aunt and Uncle went through some of the same things that we have been going through with Jason, so my Dad ask Lorraine about his concerns.

So he voiced what he had learned from Lorraine, which by the way isn't much different then what I've been trying to tell him all along. (smile) So I invited them to the session last night with Paula. She is awesome!! She answered their questions, calmed their concerns, and told them how they could help him.

Basically Jason just needs some one on one time. If my folks want to get closer to the little monkey they need to be ALONE with him. I know, this could prove scary considering the liettle booger's track record. But he sat on Papa's lap, and sang songs with Grandma, while Paula was at my house. It was really encouraging.

So we'll see what happens. He is my sweet little baby boy. He makes me smile. I love him for who he is, his sweet personality, and most of the time his energetic ways.

Reading Braille

I can't tell you how excited I was last night when helping the girls with their Braille homework. Marcia put on the tracking page READ, in Braille and handwritten above for my benefit. So I had explained that the teacher wanted Samantha to read the words that are associated with the letters that have been Brailled. Samantha looked straight ahead and read me every word. I was so excited for her I had to get Brett in the kitchen to have her do it again.

Of course I made a huge deal out of Samantha's reading, but Tori had 3 or 4 more letters/words and she read everyone of them without hesitation. So of course I had to try it. I missed 3, but Tori enjoyed being the Teacher for a minute. I can't believe how well they are doing!!!

Neither one looked at the page, big step for Sam. Tori has always been really good at sitting straight and looking straight ahead. Sam has always wanted to learn the Braille visually which is not the point. They are both doing amazing and I can't believe how much they have learned with Marcia! Thanks, Marcia!!!

Tori's Daily Mantra

Everyday I ask the kids, "So, how was school?" at dinner time.

Everyday is usually the same.

Duncan: Good.
Sam: Good.
Tori: Good, except.........

This is my list Monday-Friday of how school went for Tori.

Monday: Good, except a boy pushed me down at recess. It was an accident, but still.

Tuesday: Good, my teacher wants us to do the Reflections contest for our art project. We don't have to enter if we don't want to, but I want to. (This is one of the rare, non-negative statements. I'm so proud of her!)

Wednesday: Good, one of the kids in my class got in trouble though. You know, Anthony.

Thursday: (I didn't ask the question at dinner, but she's had a rough day.) Mom, I got frustrated today at recess. When we were playing 4 square this other boy kept doing Cherry bombs and we had told him he couldn't do it anymore. So I did a huge Cherry Bomb back at him. He didn't like it very much.

(sorry didn't mean to publish this yet. I'll add more to it as the week progresses.)

Hip-Hop and Flylady

The girls started Dance class yesterday. Samantha came home and said she LOVED Hip-Hop! I figured she would, the style is more like my girl then ballet. She's not much of a girlie girl.

I also got a couple of things from FlyLady in the mail yesterday. FlyLady is an awesome on-line group that gives you house cleaning tips. Can you tell what my life is about? I can always tell what as worried me that day by my dreams. I seem to always remember them and the sad thing is most of the time I dream about work and cleaning. Hopefully my motivation and enjoyment of cleaning will come, someday. I'm not going to hold my breath though.

Fish for dinner

I'm so glad that Brett is a better cook then me. He cooked the Trout that the boys caught the other day for dinner. I'm not a big fish eater. I like Halibut quite a bit, but that's about all I've been brave enough to try.

Since the boys caught the fish, I had to try it to be a good example to the big fisherman. Duncan likes to fish, but doesn't like to actually EAT them. So I had some so that he would eat it too. Brett did a great job with the fish. I really enjoyed it.

He used fresh pepper, salt, garlic powder, fresh sage, fresh rosemary, and lemon slices inside the fish. Then he wrapped it in tin foil and put them on the grill. It was really good!!!!!

Maybe I'll be ok with this fishing obsession after all.

Now Brett says he might be going hunting in the next few years........AAAAAA!!!!! A little Trout is one thing but what the heck to do with a great big Deer or Elk???????

I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Salsa

I bet you didn't know that Salsa is a type of stew that you eat with your fingers......

Jason loves Salsa, but if you give him a chip with Salsa on it he takes it off with his fingers. He takes handfuls of it and chows down.

He just makes me laugh!! I could just sit him in his highchair with a bowl of salsa and he would just eat that for lunch. He's just so darn cute!

Fishing, Again!

Brett and Duncan left the house at 7:00 this morning. Grandpa Siddoway decided that Duncan needed to go fishing in the Uintah's. They drove 1.5 hours to get to Scout Lake, and then hiked another 20 minutes to get just to the right spot. They were fishing at about 11,000 feet sea level. Duncan invited his fishing buddy James to go along and as you can see they had a pretty good day. It's a dang good thing that Brett knows how to cook fish, or I'm not sure what we'd be having for dinner tomorrow. Chowder?

Samantha

I think she is going to be the death of me. My sweet Sam...........

Yesterday, I can't tell you how many times I told her no. She has been so obstinate and stubborn lately I don't know what to do with her. The first time she got sent to her room, I was doing the dishes. I just wanted to get them done, I didn't want to have a big mess with water all over the ground. I just wanted to finish the bloody dishes. As you can tell I hate washing dishes. So I've got my hands in the soapy water, and she comes in and asks if she can help. I told her that I would like to just get the dishes done, and I would prefer her to go outside and play.

I'm ruthless, huh?

Well, she got up and stood on the stool and asked if she could watch. I said, "Fine but keep your hands out of the water." She proceeds to try and stick her hands in my rinse water, which is always scalding hot when I do the dishes. So I told her not to put her hands in the water, especially that water because it's really hot. Then she says, "Well this dish that is poking out of the water isn't hot." This is how she does things. She pushes and pushes and pushes until she either gets what she wants or she gets in trouble.

The second time she got in trouble was at Pack Meeting. The meeting was over and all the kids were going crazy in the church Gym. They were all playing on and off the stage. I told my kids it was time to go and that I didn't want them on the stage anyway, because there were too many things up there that could break. I took Samantha's face and said, "Don't go back on the stage, K?" Within 2 minutes she was back up there. So I told her she would be in her room when she got home.

Today, she walked home without her brother and sister. I cannot tell you how many times I have told her to stay with them. She runs ahead with a couple of her buddys. I told her she needs to stay with Duncan and Tori and she needs to tell her friends this so that maybe they will walk with the group instead of way ahead of everyone.

The thing that drives me crazy is she knows she isn't supposed to do this. She hid in our front yard until the other two made it home so that they could all walk in the house together. So she has now been in her room for about an hour. What else can I do with this monkey?????

Yesterday's Goings on

Yesterday was a pretty normal, crazy day for us.

The kids had school of course. Jason and I stayed home all day while I worked and he was Jason. I got the dishes caught up and 5 loads of laundry done. If you get behind with laundry it seems to never end!! Especially when you have 6 people needing clean clothes everyday......*sigh*.

Duncan had Pack Meeting and Brett had Soccer Practice. I'm hoping that Brett can change soccer practice to another day of the week, because if not we will have to do all the scouting stuff from home. What is the benefit of being the coach if you can't decide your own schedule?

I also called about dance for the girls. I've been procrastinating this because it has been so nice to not have to worry about this aspect of our lives. Tori wants to do Hip-Hop, Jazz, and Ballet&Tap. Samantha wants to do Jazz, Ballet&Tap. I thought it would be fun for them both to do Hip-Hop because they won't really ever be able to do anything together, because of there age difference. Tori will be starting in Hip-Hop 1 so I thought it would be a good opportunity for the girls to bond. Samantha doesn't want to, so I'm going to make her try it once. She is so much more the unstructured child I think she will like it. But if she doesn't, she will not have to. It's not like it will affect my taxi schedule any, since Tori has her heart set on Hip-Hop. This means 4 days a week at the dance studio.......*sigh*, again!

I seem to be sighing a lot lately.....I've also set up a schedule for the speech therapist to come to our house for Jason. That will be a week from Wednesday, and then we'll be seeing where we go from there. Back to checking my schedule every night to see what the next day will bring.

Back to real life

Well, we aren't quite back to real life yet. I need to get back into my routine of laundry and dishes.

*Sigh*

Will it ever get easy for me to stay motivated? My sisters are major anal-retentive and get everything done, everyday. Why can't I be like that???????

Oh well, here goes!

Braille Homework

The girls have Braille homework 4 days a week. It's not too hard. It goes pretty quick, but my Sam has been a little bit of a pill about the homework. Until I got her Multi-colored card stock for the Brailler. Now she loves it!!!!

Soccer

Duncan has started soccer again. They got royally spanked!!! The boy has a tendency to not run, he must take after his Mother. Brett told him he would leave him back in defense until he started running, after that he did really well!! We'll see how long we keep doing soccer. We have at least one more year though, because Brett is the coach.

Of course there was a playground there. Thank goodness!!!!

Happy Labor Day!!

A lot of Labor.

We're trying to make a flower bed along the retaining wall. It gets so hot along there that the grass won't grow. It will look good when it's all finished. We've also been fighting a leak in the sprinkler line all summer, so Brett set the kids to digging a great big hole!


A lot of fun!! Slip-n-Slide at the Child Family Reunion. It was a last minute throw together that was a lot of fun!