Why is this such a hassle???

Why does getting help for my son have to be such a hassle??! I called our new case manager just now to ask if there is any program we can get Nicholas into while we are on a never-ending waiting list for UW. She asked me what level his self-help skills are at. I will tell you where they are at....NOWHERE!! His language is at best at a 12 month level. I just cannot fathom waiting anymore. I have been patient,and accomodating-it is not getting us anywhere fast. I must hound and hound if I want anything for him. She told me "Well,there is not many things out there for him" WHAT???!!! That cannot be!! If I must, I will call these people in charge of programs directly. He is covered through the state disabilities program, he is covered through the military-he is on at least 3 different programs for disabilities.
I got her to agree to a meeting at home with us next week. That is a start at least.

A little upset and disappointed

I was watching the Larry King show last week and they had a show on autism. I thought it might be good to watch,so me and Mike watched it together. I came away feeling upset and kind of angry. They had celebrities on there whose kids were diagnosed with autism, and they were talking about how much therapy they were doing. I heard someone say something like their kid was getting 80 hours per week. THEY are getting 80 hours per week and here WE are, barely getting 10 hours through pre-school. I am getting frustrated with being on waiting lists. As we wait, time is ticking by. Precious time. The next day, I made some phone calls. I called Nick's Dr,our case manager,and UW. I also wrote an e-mail to our local Autism Society chapter. That was last Monday. The ONLY person I heard back from (two days later) was Nick's Dr. I asked him if he had recieved the referral from Nick's last appt with the nutritionist. No. You can bet I will be calling everyone again and again until I get an answer. It is frustrating. It is sad. I came away from the show thinking "What makes their kid MORE special than mine??" We are the lucky ones. Our therapies are covered through the military. MOST insurance companies do NOT cover ABA therapy, or things like RDI therapy, some wont even cover Speech or they treat kids with autism as being "speech delayed" only. Most parents go into dept just trying to help their kid. It is outrageous! A "regular" person cannot afford 80 hours of therapy-yet don't our kids deserve it as well?? 1 in 166 kids is diagnosed with ASD. Insurance companies need to get on the ball and cover programs for our kids! April is Autism Awareness month-so please get informed about this! We have had to learn everything for ourselves, and we are still trying to navigate through all this.

One more thing I need to do is get Nick tested for Fragile X. 2-6% of kids with autism also have Fragile X. I have gone back and forth with getting him tested-will it make a difference in his therapies? Probably not. But I need to know. Just to put my mind at peace. I am almost 100% sure he does not have it, but you just never know. I want to get the test so that I can say for sure. Wish us Luck!

If you go to http://www.autism-help.org and click on "Personal Stories" you will see parts of our blog!

Spring has sprung!!!

Enjoying better days!


Today was a day for chores. We started the morning with a few tears over yogurt. Nick saw the yogurt in the fridge and decided he wanted some. But, he could not get the words out. He got frustrated, but I continued to work with him to get him to say "yogurt". He started talking in jibberish,but I just told him "I don't understand jibberish...use your words". A few frustrating moments later he finally said "yogurt". I praised him and he of course got a container of his favorite pink Dora yogurt.

After that, I got him dressed and we practiced brushing his teeth with his new toothbrush. Michael also got a new toothbrush yesterday. Nick seemed to do a little better if I let him hold the toothbrush and he helps brush his teeth. He still hates it, but did not object too much(afterall, it is a "rule" that we brush). This afternoon, Mike and Michael did the yardwork. Boy is it easier now that Michael can help out with things!! Michael swept up the clippings and helped daddy with the pressure-wash. I am looking forward to summer time. Taking the kids to Wild Waves and to the zoo when the days are nice and warm! We had such a good time last summer. Michael is going to soccer camp again in August. This time he gets the option of going a full day-we will see. We might even make it over to Spokane this summer and see what we can do there!

More pictures on the picture blog!

Ready for his closeup!!

Nice to see him SMILE!

This is what I usually get from him...

We have had lots of good days with Nick this week! He has been his usual UN-usual self; and we are happy to see that. Not very many tantrums this week. In fact, we have had some what of a language explosion recently. Nick has learned through echoing-the use of the word "Goodnight". He will say this everynight after I say "Goodnight Nick"..he says "Goodnight". He has also answered a few questions recently. Nothing too extravagant; one word answers that have to be thought of heavily by him, but it is progress. I think pre-school has done wonders for him. I don't know what we will do when he is out for the summer. I am hoping his ABA and Speech through UW will have started by then. It is frustrating to play this waiting game. Don't have much to write tonight; I will write more tomorrow. Now, I think I will just go check on my babes and turn in for the night!

Requesting what he wants...A work in progress

This is what we have been working on with Nick during dinnertime:

We started out with just one word "more" and through the past few months we have now gone up to two-sometimes three words.

Under Seige

That is what best described yesterday with Nick. It was horrible. His tantrums are getting more frequent-and they last---for hours. He throws things, screams at the top of his lungs, and bangs his head on anything around. He banged it so hard yesterday that Mike was worried he would knock himself out. Mike was literally at breaking point. He has no idea of how to handle this. It breaks his heart to see his son hurt himself. It breaks my heart too. I have never felt as hopeless as I did yesterday. How do you parent a kid like this? We had a long talk yesterday about how to handle his meltdowns. Mike was mad that I put him in his room and shut the door-why? Because he just screamed even more and banged his head even harder. Mike did end up spanking him-a fact that neither of us are proud of. We talked yesterday about how we should deal with this-this is different than when Michael would throw a tantrum(remember those doozies??!)This has really put our marriage to the test, and I can see how couples would divorce over such issues. I know Mike loves Nick with all his heart, and it is just breaking over this. We had so many dreams for him, and now we dont even know if he will ever reach them. It seems like such a long shot from where we are at now.

We had our appt. with the nutritionist yesterday. Nick was his peachy little self-after having screamed the entire morning. He has managed to gain weight and height despite his many issues with food. He weighs 30lbs and is 38" tall. The nutritionist IS going to recommend he get therapy for eating!!! THANK YOU LORD!!! She said that we are doing a wonderful job with the babyfoods we are giving him,as well as the vitamins and pediasure. She said that technically he is "Too healthy" for their clinic,but she did see that we are just frustrated and in need of some outside help. It is just one more therapy for us to add to our list.

New video

Video I shot tonight of Nick.

He looks so....well, autistic

Some days Nick could almost pass as a "normal" toddler-so long as he does not speak-to the outside world. Then, there are days like this weekend. Friday I took him out to the Commissary and all he said throughout our whole journey was "Aya,aya,aya", complimented by him rubbing his hands across the cart the entire time. He even removed my hands from the cart so he could do this. After we checked out, I let him watch the bagger put the bags in the car. Only he was not interested in watching her in the slightest...he was pressing his face against the tail lights of the car. He did this with both lights-walking right in front of the bagger as if she was not even there. Well,according to Nick...she wasn't. He has also seemed to regress a little bit with regards to food. Did not think this was possible??? Well, he no longer eats even crackers. Instead,he takes a bite and screams. At the soccer field,he is "typical"...spinning himself, inspecting the turf, and crawling around on the ground. Just a few minutes ago he was licking the windowsill. If only we could see what is going on in his mind. Somedays he is amazing...playing little tunes on the keyboard, he is a perfect mimic. I could have sworn I heard him play a couple of lines from "Twinkle,Twinkle,Little Star" the other day. I cannot wait to see what the nutritionist says this week at our appt. I am hoping they recommend a therapy for him to help him eat...we are just at the end of our rope. He just does so many "odd" things, it is getting harder and harder to see his behavior as something any 3yr old would do.

The group Five for Fighting(their song is on this page) is raising money for autism,as well as many other charities. Just go to http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com and view their videos. That's all you have to do! Everytime a video is viewed, up to .49 goes to that charity. It is pretty awesome.

Michael is doing good. Yesterday he was the goalie during the whole game-he only let in two goals,and they tied the game at 2-2. Pictures are on myspace at www.myspace.com/autiekid (yes, I have a myspace! More or less for Michael)

Things I have learned since having children....

1. You CAN love the second child just as much as the first.

2. A small lizard can fit inside of a matchbox car--and live.

3. A small lizard inside a matchbox car cannot be taken out of car.

4. Lizards cannot swim

5. Toilets do not like to flush when you unroll a whole roll of toilet paper in them.

6. Toilets are a good place to store your sippy cup if you are two years old. You can also store the TV remotes and your older brothers toys here.

7. It is possible to get shoe polish off walls

8. Milk Bones ARE nutritious

9. If you take a mouthful of Gravy Train you will have brown "gravy" coming from your mouth

10. Gravy Train IS nutritous

11. Toddler will eat dog food with no problems, but will refuse to eat any food you make.

12. The REAL ER at 3am looks nothing like the TV ER

14. They really can glue your childs' forehead back together

15. They will not give you a tube of this skin glue,no matter how many times you beg

16. You probably DON'T want to know what that sound was!

Nick clapped!!!!!

This is an old photo of him clapping at around 15mos. It was the last photo I have of him doing this, and I know he has not clapped in at least a year. It was one of the skills that he lost before being diagnosed. Today, at Michaels' game he clapped and said "YEAH!" I was so shocked that I just stood there looking at him. He was watching the game,shouting "yeah" and "Michael!" After saying his "peace" he went back to his happy shoe-less self,but for that moment,he was cheering on his big brother with the other parents and siblings. He spent most of the game like this though:

No shoes,no socks and absolutely loving it! I did put them back on at one point(just so you all know) but within seconds they came off again and then I just thought what is the point?? He merely tolerates shoes/socks out of necessity. He has gotten better about keeping them on in public places,but we still have times where we see him plop down in an aisle and begin taking them off.

Pre-school is going well. (Hmmmm,wonder if they have the same shoe episodes that we have?) I cleaned off Michaels very first backpack(a Dr Seuss one that is red,blue,and yellow) that he used for daycare(it is a tiny one!) and wrote Nicholas Weger on the outside. His name is right next to Michaels' faded out one. Michael was glad to hand down his old backpack to his little brother and just smiled at Nick. Thursday was the first day that he took the bus. Mike said he cried while he was getting on in the morning-he told me he felt very bad about doing this and even shed a little tear himself as he put Nick on the bus. He got very worried when 11am came and there was no sign of the bus to drop Nick off at home. We made a frantic call to the school to find out what time we should expect Nick as it was now almost 11:30. I pictured him crying,and being terrified and not being able to say anything. I was on the phone with the transportation people and they were trying to find out where his bus was. I can only imagine what I sounded like to these people! They told me "She is on Birch St. now, you might want to go outside" We went outside,and sure enough,his bus was right down the street. She pulled up and opened her doors and there,in the front seat, was Nick. He was just sitting there enjoying himself,completely unaware of our plight! Friday went much better for all of us!

Michael is doing better in soccer. Since Mike also took on an older team of kids, he has been practicing with them as well. He has even scored on them and stole the ball from them a few times-and they are at least a foot taller than him! He told me he gets bored playing with his age group and likes to play with the big kids. Which should not come as a shock to me since he has been that way since he was like 3 years old. He has always liked hanging out with the bigger kids. The big kids run the full field(8 and younger run half the field)and Michael does a good job of keeping up with them. His skill has improved drastically from last year and I have to admit,he is one of the best on his team with regards to controlling the ball. His main problem is that he is not aggressive,and we are trying to work on that. In other news,he has another loose tooth!

Night Shift

I am adjusting to life as a vampire quicker than I thought I would. In fact, I think I really like this shift. I get off around 7 or 7:20 and have enough time to drive Nick to school. By the time I get home Mike is up and both boys are pretty much ready to go. This morning Michael was eating cereal at the counter,and the hunt was on for Nicks other shoe. Daddy had found one, and when I came in he was in the process of looking for #2. I found it in the playroom, and we got jackets on,sippy cup,a change of clothes, and we were off. I got a good word from Nicks teacher this morning. He feels safe enough to go to her when he gets uncomfortable. He holds her hand, and squeezes it when he feels the need to. Today he did not even cry when I left!!! At daycare I always had to leave him there screaming for me. I think he is going to do well in this school! It was good news to hear!!

I get home around 8:30 and then sleep until around 3pm. So, I am able to see the boys before they leave for school, and I tuck them in bed at night. As for work, we just all seem to work well together. Last night we were steadily busy until 5:30am. At that point, we were rather tired, and I just had the guys do a clean up, and get ready for day shift to come in. I am just hoping that we are allowed to continue with this shift schedule-it stinks when you get started on one shift,and then stop it after a few days. We are doing as much as we can do until we get too tired. Then it can become a question of safety, and we need to take a break for a while.

Mike and Michael are at soccer practice now. Mike has taken on coaching an additional team, and NO,I am not the Team Parent for both teams...I can barely keep up with our own team! Nicholas is here with me having fun playing with the blinds. Well, I am gonna get dinner finished and get the boys to bed. We are doing well this week.

Piano Man

We caught Nicholas playing this little piano tonight! He really likes this toy-it is one of the only toys that he plays with appropriately. Not totally surprising since he just loves music. Tonight while he was playing the piano, he did not mind daddy taking his hand and playing a little melody...usually he hates it when you try this and pulls his hand away. Daddy joined him and Nick looked right at him-not to the side,up,or down,but AT him. He would listen to the muffled notes through a blanket,take it off and then listen again. He put the piano to his ear and listened that way, then he would put it back down and copy with his voice what was played. He would also lay flat on the bed and play the keyes. He wanted to hear the music in every way that he could-and hear the way it sounded in different ways. He must have done this for at least 45min. I think one of our next gifts to him will be a little piano that he can sit at. He just seems to totally "get" music. He learns everything if you put it to song-he hums and sings these little diddies all the time. Who knows??


Here is a GREAT site to check out!!
http://www.autism-help.org/

Please check them out! It is a great site about living with autism!!

We had Michael's first game today. It was bad! They lost 7-0. We have quite a few first time players, so they need more practice. The team we played today was "stacked"-meaning they put all the best players on that one team. Knowing this,we don't feel so bad. Our kids are good,they just need more playing time together. The problem is that we normally only have about 5-6 of them show up for practices! I think that is upsetting to Mike as he knows they need more drills and more knowledge of positions,etc.,but he can only do so much when they fail to show up for practices. Here are some pics from the game today.

Big Changes on the way

Nicholas starts preschool on Monday! We had his IEP meeting on Tuesday, and he will be going to Evergreen Elementary School. He will go from 8am-10:30 am. They will teach him ways to communicate like signing and PECS, how to play with toys, and learn social things like taking turns. Two days a week, he will also get Speech therapy while at school. He seemed to like the classroom after he spent a few minutes adjusting. The school itself is very nice looking, and decorated in a Disney theme. We put it in his IEP that he will need transportation,but until we get a call from the school saying it is good to go for the bus,he will be driven to class. They said it could take two weeks for them to call us. I guess they have to get everything in order to be able to transport him. We are anxious to see what improvements this new chapter brings.

I am also starting a different shift on Monday. I will be working from 11pm-7am Sun-Thurs. I am not sure how this will affect my schedule as far as sleeping, but we will see. I will be home when the boys are getting ready for school, and here all day until after they go to bed, so maybe it will work out just fine.

Why ask for opinions????

When you don't want to hear them?? I am perplexed by this. About a year ago, I went to a bulletin board after doing some research on the internet regarding Nicholas. I laid it all out, what he was doing,what he was not, and asked for people's opinions--not just any person,but parents of kids with autism. They told me what in a sense I already knew. Based from their experience and what I posted,it sounded like Nick in fact had autism. They told me what I should do next, and offered support. I have even met with some of these ladies face to face. I went there,asking their opinions on my son, and was ready to face the cold, hard, truth.

Fast forward to a year later, and a similiar post from a mother shows up again. She is asking about her daughter,asking what we think. Her daughter has many delays, but she says that she meets the milestones "eventually". She sounded a lot like Nicholas. We offered our opinions, and said that it does sound like an autism spectrum disorder. A couple of people also told her that it sounded like she was in denial about her daughter--which in truth, it did. The mother ended up being very upset and got mad that our opinions suggested autism. My question is WHY did they even ask in the first place?? Obviously they were concerned,but mention something of a disorder,and they go crazy. I guess I just dont get it. By the time I went to that board, I had already had a sneaking suspicion that we were dealing with either ASD or some sort of sensory disorder. Maybe I was just never in that "denial" phase. I am glad I was not-because it would have delayed Nicholas getting the help he needs so much. Maybe we had learned from Michael's whole ordeal, that not knowing what is wrong is just more worrisome, and more stressful. I would rather know what is wrong,so that we can learn how to help our kids. Maybe I am just "wired" that way!

One of those days...

We are having a rough start here this morning. The boys were awake at 7am which is not all that unusual. Nick was fine through breakfast,eating like a champ. He actually ate one pop-tart. After that though, things have gone downhill. Nick is currently in his room having a meltdown. I dont even know what started all of this,but he is screaming. He is just in one of his funky moods where nothing goes right. All is quiet now, until the next time!

At our last appointment, the Dr. put in a referral to a nutritionist for help on his eating issues. Well, Mike got a call yesterday and they are full until next month. I also called the Clover Park school system yesterday to tell them we had not recieved a call from Evergreen Elementary to meet with Nick's teachers so we can discuss goals for him. As my luck would have it, that person was out of the office for the weekend and I had to leave a message. I just wish people would actually call when they are supposed to!

As for us, we are managing. Somedays Nick's autism is very noticeable-he just has those behaviors that are "classic", and those are some of the hard days with him. He has taken to licking himself when either frustrated or to calm himself-I cannot really tell just yet when or why he does this. It is just one of those things that has suddenly come about within the last couple of weeks. He has started to bite himself as well. Michael also bit himself quite a bit on his arms or hands. He would actually leave teeth imprints on himself! I think it is just one of those days where everything Nick does seems "pathological" versus normal three yr old behavior. Sometimes I have to take a moment and put aside his diagnosis and see his behavior as a typical three yr old. Those lines can be very grey at times, and you really wonder how much of his behavior is due to autism and how much is "normal" on any given day.

Michael is doing great at soccer! His skills along with his physical growth are really coming together. He is closing the height gap by leaps and bounds, and can now at least blend in with some 7yr olds on his team. His footwork with the ball is ahead of his peers I would say. He can weave himself past the bigger kids and one of his greatest things is his speed. He can really cover some ground very quickly when he wants to. He is doing well in school too. Aside from his antics this week, which I dont think he will do again anytime soon...he is moving right along.

Nothing much planned for today. I need to take Michael and get him some new cleats. He outgrew his ones from last season. He also needs bigger shin guards. Yesterday at practice he got kicked just below his old guards and it kind of put him out for a few minutes. He was a good sport about it though. He sat down for a few minutes, then "walked it off" and got right back on the field.

I am the Team Mom again this season. I learned quite a bit from last season and have my contacts now, so hopefully it will be less stressful! One can only hope right??

Happy Birthday Nicholas!!!

As you can now see, I have figured out how to do slideshows! The newest slides are from today. We had Nicks birthday party today, and from what I can tell he had a pretty good time. Only one of our friends ended up coming,but it was just enough really for Nick. Corey from across the street ended up coming over, so there was one more kid for Michael to play with.

Yesterday we were quite busy with shopping. We went to Wal-mart and bought all the party necessities. Treat bags,prizes,tablecloth,candle,ribbon, and also his presents. We got him a Spiderman that sings and dances, and a little rocking horse that makes noises too. After Wal-mart,we were off to Safeway to get the cake. We also picked up some chips and dip, and some sodas. Today was a mad house with setting up, and cleaning up the house before everyone showed up. I was not sure how Nick would act because he was pretty mad this morning-screaming,arching his back,head banging..etc. He has started that in earnest now. He falls to the floor,stiffens like a board, and just screams at the top of his lungs! Then, if he is still not satisfied, he finds a wall and BAM!

Tomorrow is his last day at the Birth to three center. It is kind of bittersweet..it is the ending of the first chapter and now we are beginning another one. But,Nick has outgrown the center in a way. He needs more. He will start pre-school later this month, and hopefully in a couple of months we will get a call from UW saying they can start ABA and speech. I am really looking forward to seeing what pre-school does for him. We are hoping it gets him talking more, and learning to deal with other people.

Another Evaluation report....

A couple of weeks ago we had another evaluation done on Nicholas to determine his eligibility for special ed. services. The evaluation itself was pretty short,only lasting about an hour,as compared to his other eval at the peds office which was 3 hours. It is not surprising to us that Nick has significant delays in communication, cognitive, and social development; so I am not in the least bit shocked...but part of me still is. To see everything written down on paper is just emotional sometimes. I am usually just pretty numb when going over the results; it takes time to sink in that this is life for us, and more importantly for HIM. I guess it just reminds me that even though Nick has made huge progress in the last year, we still have a long road ahead of us. His total language score was the age equivalent to a 10 month old. In auditory comprehension he scored at a 7 month level. His expressive language was a bit better because he uses a lot of echolalia-and that was at a 14 month old level. I just feel so lost sometimes. The world of special ed. seems so daunting-we have to develop an education plan for him with goals of what we would like him to accomplish. Simple things such as being able to function in classroom activities,playing with toys appropriately, requesting food items, and cleaning up. I know he will accomplish this and so much more,but it just seems overwhelming.

They are sending copies of this report to Evergreen Preschool, and we are supposed to get a call from his team of teachers next week. We will set up yet another meeting to develop his IEP. He will attend half-day preschool, and I suppose the other half we will have to coordinate with home therapies. He is now on the waiting list to receive ABA and speech therapies in our home from the University of Wa. We have another evaluation on the 8th of Feb. with Dr. Flake at Developmental Ped. I am going to see if we can get Nick in with a feeding specialist to do something about all his issues with eating. It never ends!

Weekend News....

This weekend I was officially another year older. Friday I had the day off of work, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I took Nick to therapy, and Michael to school. We came home from therapy around 11:30 am and basically just relaxed until it was time to pick up Michael. I picked him up from school, and then him and I headed to our new Wal-mart to spend my gift card. I went and bought picture frames(yes, that IS what I wanted) so that I could hang up all the pictures we had of the kids. I still need to get a couple more to hang up the ones of Taylor and Michael and some other family pictures,but I got a good start.

Saturday we just hung around the house and did mountains of laundry. I am not sure if some of you have seen the chore chart we made for Michael,but here it is:

The chart is a lifesaver for me!! I no longer have to "nag" him to do chores, I just ask "Have you done your chores today?" and Michael looks at the chart and does them!! Four loads of laundry goes by really quick with extra hands to help folding and putting away!! How did I ever live without my chart???

Now, if we could only get him to listen to me when I say "be home at _____"! Last night I got around to making a cake and I let Michael help for most of it. He was grounded for the last part for not listening, and told to go to bed early. He did not like that at all. In fact,both of them went to bed early because they were just being "pills".

Today was more relaxing than yesterday since most of the chores were already done as was the bulk of the laundry. I spent more this weekend than ever on food though. $186.00!!! The grocery bill just keeps creeping upwards as these boys grow upwards. Michael is in a size 1 shoe already, and Nick is not too far behind him. I also bought Nicholas a sticker board for his stickers. Since that is a big motivator for him I am going to start teaching him the alphabet with stickers. We have already done a couple of letters,and even items such as "apple" or "car" with the stickers. I am hoping it will work well for him!

Nick at his sticker board.


Both boys recieved haircuts last week!

He LOVES Michaels' swim goggles!!! :)

Another year older

I am another year older today. Wow. Big Whoop. I am not even counting anymore,it is getting too depressing and actually I would rather not even think about it. In my mind, I am still 20 years old and that is all that counts. I wont even get into what age my body actually is. I am forever trying to take that back since Things 1 and 2 happened. Things in that area have not progressed much.

Today was a good day. No, it was a GREAT day. I had the day off from work,and I was able to just do the mom thing. I took Michael to school at 8am,then came back home to get Nick ready for therapy. We arrived there about 5-10 minutes early and I started chatting with another mom who is new since I was last there. Her son,Tristan, is another "autie" and we hit it off right off the bat. I loved watching Tristan doing his own little "happy dance". His body movements are so similair to Nicks it just made me fall in love with the kid. I have grown very fond of these little flapper guys,and sometimes I think the world needs more of them.
We got to talking and comparing notes, and I asked her a few questions. Tristan as it turns out, is also a very picky eater and she told me that she has to put his food in a blender--which of course is similiar to our situation. She also has to put Tristan on a child leash due to the fact that he is a runner. She was saying she gets LOTS of stares from people, and I told her that we get them too. Especially at the grocery store. One lady made the comment "Isn't he too old for baby food?!" I dont go into detail with WHY we are buying babyfood for a 3yr old,all I say is "he has food issues". People have no idea of a certain parents situation,so why cant they just leave the comments and stares to themselves? I dont go around asking strangers in the store "why do you let your child eat that?". It is none of my business, so I stay out of it. I dont stare at your kid having a tantrum or make comments on your parenting skills, so dont do that to me!

It amazes me that in a couple of weeks my baby will be three years old. These are the days that I feel just a little sad for Nick. He does not get the immense joy of opening presents, or even understand the whys of getting them. I assume that he does like what we choose for him,based upon the amount of time he plays with the toy once it is out of the box; but it is hard to know what he TRULY likes. He has the same expression if given a Buzz Lightyear or a Spiderman. He has not the faintest idea of who these characters even are; much less have a favorite. He would be happy with a tv remote or a lightswitch. I think he would have a marvelous time if we just let him flick the switches all day long. But, regardless, he will always get a birthday party. I simply cannot choose to ignore it just because he could not care less. I would feel like the worst mother in the world. We are planning his party for Feb 11th, and am even thinking of getting a pinata....he just loves them so!

Retail therapy

Sam has come to Lakewood!!



Ok, so we finally all get out of the house around 3pm and took a family trip to our brand new Wal-Mart,only to find out it does not open until Monday!! We were feeling quite stupid and a little embarassed as we thought we were the only people to show up, but then there were others who drove up and were all set to go in the store, when I said "They don't open until Monday!" Apparently,the general public did not get this message. Michael was visibly upset and even started crying-he wanted so bad to spend his newly given allowance that he had worked all week for! Not ones to just go home-we opted to go to Target and give them some of our money. We went into the store and decided to not get a cart and plop Nicholas in;giving him zero chance to practice taking direction from us. To my amazement,Nicholas followed our commands like a good little soldier-trying to play with toys still in boxes,and basically just enjoying himself. He looked just like any other toddler in a toy store-running up to toys within his reach and exploring the lights and sounds that they made. Michael got some good practice at managing money,and staying within his budget. He learned the hard lesson that things can be expensive and you cannot always get everything you see. He learned to look at prices, and make the decision of whether to save money or buy something else. I was amazed that Nick was very tolerant and patient while Michael browsed up and down each aisle for about an hour. That is why I referred to this as "retail therapy"-both of them will need to learn this as a life skill. Nick was practicing how to act in public,follow directions,and move through a crowd of people without going into hysterics. Michael finally decided on a bag of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups,and we headed to the check-out. Michael was anxious as how to know how much money his item cost without having to speak to the cashier. We told him it would show up on the register,and not to worry,he would know. When it came time to hand over the money,he got a little nervous and I had to tell him what to put on the counter. I also told him to hold his hand out for his change,and he did that although I dont think he even looked at the cashier the whole time! We will need to practice up on these little social skills in the future-he has a habit of completely clamming up around even people he knows. Nick on the other hand had a great time following lines,and feeling the floor tiles. Ahhh,my odd little children!