Winter weather photo post.

We've have snow, and freezing temps for the last week. This meant NO SCHOOL! Winter break started a week early I guess. So here are a few pictures I took this week.

This first one is titled:

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

(However, The Boy doesn't understand he says he wants

"All the Hottest toys.")

It was almost dark when The Boy finally talked his Dad into taking him outside. Mom had to go out too in order to get the necessary "Snow Day" pictures.

The next day was better, the sun actually came out. We had a great day.

There was some beautiful color in the sunset that evening.

This is a street half a block away from out apartment. We were waiting for the bus to get some shopping done before the next wave of snow and ice was supposed to come.

An old, non functioning water fountain, The Boy thought we should try to take the ice out but it wouldn't come out. It did wiggle around some though.

The Boy and his Dad playing in the snow. The snow ball Dad is making? It hit ME on the shoulder mere moments after I took this shot. It got snow on the camera, luckily it seems the camera is snow resistant.

I'm working again!

After a lot of waiting and worrying, I finally have some Daycare children. They are a family with 5 kids, Ages 2, 4, 6, 7, and 9. They are really good kids, well behaved, interested in learning stuff, and friendly with Aidan. As long as things keep working out for their Mom with her job, and nothing happens to take them away from Salem, I'll be watching them close to full time. The pay rate around here isn't very good, she gets daycare assistance, but the hours I have all 5 together I make pretty good money.

Howard has been home from work for the last week, because of the snow and ice on the roads between here and the casino. They called and told him they changed his schedule. He will never think that me staying home and babysitting is easy ever again. The kids were here for only of the days he was home, they were really well behaved those days, but he felt drained those days when they went home. Plus there were 2 of us! LOL I think he has a greater respect for what I do now.

The next thing I need to do is figure out how much I need to keep out for taxes each month. I don't think I'll make enough to really make much difference for tax purposes, but I'd rather have some money in Savings I can spend in February than have to figure out how to come up with some extra money to pay taxes. With Earned Income Credit, and all the other credits we can usually depend on, we should still have a plus at the end of everything. I guess I'm still worried that we'll end up owing if I don't save, even though we will probably be fine if I don't. It's not a bad thing to get in the habit of saving, right?

Sadness, memories, and Holiday wishes.

I'm feeling sad today. I'll admit to watching all the ABC soaps, every day I'm home to watch them that is. So, today was the funeral for a still born baby girl, born to young parents on One Life to Live. I was reminded of our little Erin Marie. It's been over 10 years since she was still born to my Oldest Son and his fiance, but now and then I think of her and wonder what kind of a girl she would be now, what color of hair would she have? What color would her eyes be? Would she be like her Dad and be into computers? And I tear up missing her.

It helps to think of my Grandson, he turned 10 this year. He's a lot like his Dad, the good and the bad. I miss him too, because he lives all the way across the country from me, but I know that his Mom is taking good care of him. And that his Dad is trying his best to be a good Dad for him. I talked to my Grandson on his birthday, he was a bit distracted as 10 year old boys tend to be when talking to people they don't really know, but he was nice and polite such a good boy.

It's a bit strange thinking about my Grandchildren, who would both be 10 now, while watching my 5 year old son play with his toys. It's not the usual order of things. I'm kind of old to be raising a young child, at least in the eyes of most of society. However, I feel much younger than I really am. Perhaps it's because of the boys. I'm still in touch with some of their friend who still live around here, or maybe it's because of The Boy, he keeps me busy and doesn't let me get too set in my ways. Or it might be because I have really good friends who are younger and they keep me interested in things and more aware.

This time of year always brings memories of family for me. Those who are still here and those who have passed. So now I have to go plan for the Christmas presents I'm going to make for my family this year. I have things I need to remember to get when my Mom comes to take me shopping this Friday. I hope you all have a nice evening, and that the coming days are not too stressful.

Picture Post

Sitting and waiting for the bus.
Do I hear Geese?

Good Moring.

This is how my Spider Boy sleeps.

Pink Apple Butter Bread.

The Boy and I made the Apple Butter Bread yesterday. I think the water was too cold to activate the yeast correctly. I didn't have oil so I used butter but forgot to adjust the amount of salt, so it's a little salty. I didn't have any Whole Wheat flour so I used all unbleached all purpose flour, I know that changes things somewhat, but I already changed it with the butter so ... I also added 4 drops of red food coloring, because The Boy asked me to. Other than a little bit too much salt, The Boy and his Dad didn't seem bothered by the saltiness so maybe it's just me, the taste was nice. It might be because it was Thanksgiving and our minds were preoccupied with all things Thanksgiving, but it tasted and smelled as if it had pumpkin in it. This morning I used it to make french toast, that was really yummy. I'm going to try it again in a few days and see if I can get it to rise better. I want to try Pumpkin Butter too. Maybe for Christmas.

Here's a couple of pictures of the Apple Butter Bread all sliced up and ready to eat.

You can see the slightly pink coloring, maybe next time we will add more drops of color.

Parent Teacher Conference, yesterday.

For some reason I thought our parent/teacher conference was at 1:30, I guess it was actually at 12:30, but we got there early. The Speech teacher happened to see us and took us to the classroom. We had 30 minutes to talk to them, instead of an hour as scheduled, but we covered it all in that time.

The Boy is doing well, he is in a classroom with Kindergarten, First and Second grade kids. All of them have a few different problems. Things like Downs Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Speech Delays and other learning disabilities. We don't know what, if any, disabilities The Boy may have. He is a little delayed, and seems really innocent for boy almost 6 years old. There hasn't been too much in the way of testing to figure it out yet, but we are working on it.

The Boy is in the highest reading group, he is picking up reading pretty quickly. He is still working on some comprehension aspects, sight words, and being able to retell a story sequence.

Speech seems to be going well, he is communicating appropriately, asking good questions, and contributes relevant information during discussions.

He is still having trouble with writing, he really dislikes writing, and won't practice very often, so he isn't dong very well yet. I'll have to keep working with him on it. The teacher wants him to use colors rather than markers when he is drawing or writing, because it will make him work a little harder building up strength in his fingers. He also suggested getting more Playdoh, since the stuff we have has dried out, or clay for more strength building play. Maybe that will help make writing easier for him.

Math is an on going project. He isn't showing them his knowledge of numbers as well at school as he shows us here at home. But for kindergarten he is doing pretty well, or so they told us yesterday. There are a few things that we can work on here at home, now all I have to do is find a way that will be fun enough that he will want to do it.

He needs to learn how to stay on task and finish his work in a reasonable amount of time. He's not too far off an average kindergarten kid in that area.

All in all we are all pleased with his progress this grading period.

Pumpkin stuff.

I have 4 small pumpkins, I'm planning on cooking them up and making some pumpkin butter. I want at least 4 pints of pumpkin butter from them. I'll buy some canned pumpkin to make some pumpkin bread or pumpkin butter bread, because I don't think my little pumpkins will make all that much. I'll probably try to make at least on pumpkin pie, and I want to make pumpkin pancakes too. I wish I had more pumpkins.

I haven't been knitting much this year, at least not like I was last year. I also haven't been taking very many pictures. I guess this year is my non creative year. I've been baking bread though so I'm not feeling totally deprived.

School pictures.

We got The Boy's school pictures back yesterday. They are pretty nice for school pictures, not great, but good for what they are. The photographer obviously told him to show his teeth when he smiled, so his mouth is kind of strange, but that's fine. Now I want to scan he 8x10 to post here for everyone who would like to see it, but don't really want a hard copy of their own. I'm not sure if its okay to do that. Copy right and all. So, what would you do?

Sunshine and rain.

It looks like those of us who live in Oregon are going to get a few days of sunshine. I think it's Aidan's fault. You see he got a new umbrella day before yesterday, and he really wants to use it. So of course the weather will be nice for as long as possible. It's like washing a car is an almost sure way to get it to rain. So we will be enjoying the sun while we have it, and we will enjoy the rain when it comes.

Happy Birthday!

To me and all the other October birthday people out there. My brother Cody had a birthday last week, and a blogger friend had a birthday on the 14th. Both of my Mother's parents had birthdays in October, as well as her sister. (All three are gone now.) My friend Soloman also has a birthday this month, I believe it's the 31st. (Or am I remembering wrong? Hennifer or The Girl, I know you two will know.) I'm 49 today, can you believe it? I feel 29 most of the time. I don't mind my age at all, it's hard to deny it anyway since I have a son who is 29, another son who is 26 and a grandson who will be 10 in December. I'm sure I look fairly close to my age, being over weight helps me look my age. I have several friends who are late 20s or early 30's, and The Boy is 5, which helps keep me feeling younger and looking at the world with a younger set of mind.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY! To anyone who has/had a birthday this month. I hope you all have a wonderful birthday and a great month.

Forgotten birthday.

I had migraines for most of the last week of September. That's the only excuse I have for forgetting that my Grand-nephew had a birthday during that week. I have a gift for him, but forgot to call or send a card. I didn't hear about a party either, so I guess I'll have to keep the gift until I see him next. It's not much, I wish it could be more. Anyway I feel a little guilty for letting it pass and not at least calling. I don't think that his Mom reads my blog, but his Grandpa does. So, Mark I'm sorry I missed your grandchild's birthday. I hope he had a great day, because he is a great kid. Love to all of you.

Baking.

Yesterday I was very busy baking. I made a pizza from scratch. It was a thick crust pizza. I had some frozen leftover pizza sauce, and some inexpensive sausage. I planned for this and got some grated Mozzarella cheese. The Boy likes pineapple, and I like tomatoes so we had that to add as we wanted. It turned out pretty good, except I over cooked the cheese. Next time I'll cook the dough for 20 minutes then add the toppings and finish off the last 5 to 10 minutes.

I also baked 3 loaves of bread. I used a recipe I found on a Cooking for Your Family message board. It's called Amish bread. It's a good basic white bread. (I've made it with some whole wheat flour and it turns out really good. However whole wheat flour is fairly expensive and right now we can't afford it.) I doubled the recipe, it usually makes 2 loaves. I made it into 3 loaves instead of 4 because my loaf pans are a little bit bigger than normal pans. They turned out really well. I was pretty busy for about 3 hours, making the pizza dough, then the bread dough, baking the pizza while the bread did it's last rise, and then baking the bread while we ate dinner. I get a little over heated a lot these days, so I had to spend all down time sitting in front of the fan to cool off. I want to do cookies, but I want chocolate chip and don't have the money for chips. Oh well maybe next payday.

Ramble about financial options.

I haven't found any kids to babysit yet. It would be good to have 2 or 3 full time kids. I want to have a couple hundred dollars to ease up the budget some. So we can get extras once in awhile. H's pay checks pay our bills, and buys food. Sometimes we just barely make ends meet, but they always meet. Thank goodness. So if I can't find some kids soon, I guess I'll have to start looking for something I can do when H is home, something that won't cost much for transportation and that I won't have to spend much for work cloths. Data entry from home would be good, if I could find it. Something online that would allow flexibility? So far I haven't found anything to fit those conditions. I don't think we can afford daycare for The Boy, even part time. Well, if I found something that paid well enough to cover daycare, food at work, transportation, cloths and still let us have 2 or 3 hundred a month after all that, then it would be worth it for me to work outside the home. It's been suggested that we apply for food stamps, we probably qualify, but I'd rather not unless we absolutely have to, and right now we don't have to.

I don't have money to start an on-line business, advertisement and what not is out of our budget right now. I'm not sure that would be the best thing for me anyway.

We have decided that we want to get a house some day. H was impressed when we were looking at M's new house. (They were finishing up the moving in process about 2 weeks ago when we were there for M's birthday.) So, since our typical pay checks pay our bills and get some food, we decided to put at least half of every Tax return check in a savings account. If we can do it, and not dip into it during the year, we should be able to have a decent down payment in 6 to 9 years. We probably should save all of it, but with The Boy's birthday in February, and computer/camera/other electronic stuff we want to get, I don't think it's realistic for us to expect to save more than half. If I get some income myself, we might be able to save more money and be ready quicker than that. I'm not sure we can save anything to tell you the truth. There are always things we need or want to get, cloths or shoes for The Boy, bikes for all three of us, special foods, rented cars to go places with, helping pay for gas so my Mom can come visit, Holiday gifts, and birthday's. But we are going to give it a try.

First Day Of School, with pictures.

Wednesday was The Boy's first day of school. Kindergarten is wonderful so far, so he tells me. He likes his teachers and the other children in his class. And he enjoys playing on the playground. We will see how he does as things progress.

Here are a few pictures I took on the first day of school. I know that every other blogger with kids has probably done this millions of times, but this is OUR first day of Kindergarten. I didn't get to do this with the older boys, the Internet wasn't around for the public when they started Kindergarten.

Kindergarten starts soon.

I'm starting to feel nervous about The Boy starting kindergarten. The first day of school for him will be September 3rd. He is in the morning class, the bus will pick him up at 8:11 AM, school starts at 8:45. The bell rings at 11:15 for him to leave school to come home. I'm not sure what time the bus will drop him off. There will be 11 or 12 children in his class. I talked to his teacher yesterday, I told him about the sensory issues, we discussed an OT coming to watch The Boy in class, and talking to his Doctor about the things I see as problems. I need to get his school supplies, and he needs new shoes. However, it will be at least 2 weeks after the first day of school before we can get shoes. Gotta pay the rent first.

Anyway, I don't know what I'll do all morning without my boy. Even on days like today, when he is pushing his limits and being extra loud, I'm going to miss his sooo much. I'm looking for children to babysit, I sent in an application to get on a referral list through the state. I'm still looking for work at home jobs that are flexible enough to fit in with my life.

Here's two silly pictures I took of The Boy today. He is so cute and can be so sweet.

I'm a Mother-in-law now.

Does that mean I should start being meddlesome or mean? LOL I'm glad that Christopher decided to forgive me for not telling him when we moved to California. (In my defence, I didn't have a phone number to call, not even a message number, to let him know.) Anyway, the Wedding was beautiful. I love my Daughter-in-law and hope we will be able to get to know each other better. Christopher seems so happy, and they fit each other well. I'm not sure what else to say so here are a few pictures that Christopher's Grandma took, his Dad's Mom.

Christopher before the Wedding.

The Bride and Groom.

The Ceremony.

(For those who know, yes that is Colin preforming the ceremony.)

Introducing the Newly Weds.

My Mom and Me.

The bride getting into the cart that will take her and the groom to the reception.

Rambling post about employment.

I'm going to have to find a job. I wanted to wait until The Boy was in First Grade to start looking for a full time job, but with the economy the way it is right now I'm not going to be able to wait. They are cutting Howard's hours at work, and the promises they made him about a management position were just so much fluff as far as I can tell. Everything costs so much these days, even with the pay check we were expecting to be getting by now things would be tight. So I'm looking for some thing that will not only pay for child care, my student loans, but also be able to add something to our account. Howard is looking for something in town, something that will pay what he is making now. He has several skill areas, forklift driver, cook/prep cook, dishwasher, as well as computer skills. There are nearly 3 times the jobs, right now on the Employment Department website, for him as there are for me.

My experience is old, the last job I had was in California driving and doing paperwork for a Mobile Tire Repair business. Working in Schools, well it's been something like 20 years since I did a practicum in a school. (I did have a little bit of substitute work a year or so after the practicum but that's still a long time ago.) Day care doesn't pay much, but if I found one or two kids to babysit I wouldn't have to pay for Day care for Aidan so it might work out okay.

So anyway, I'm looking for a day shift job, or any shift babysitting, here in town that I can get to on the bus and pays well. If Howard stays where he is I won't need insurance, because he has it and we are all covered. But if he changes jobs, we will have to manage insurance somehow.

Graduating to Orange Belt.

The Boy got his Orange Belt today. At his level it's given for improvement, not skill. He has learned quite a bit, but he has a way to go before he is ready to go into the black belt academy where he will be tested on his skill level. Here are a few pictures of him with his belt and medal.

Chah Reot (Sounds like Chariot and means Attention)

Kyeong Nae (sounds like coonyea and means bow)

A punch.

These pictures were taken with a camera phone so the quality is not very good, plus there was a smudge on the lens.

5 and 6 year olds who "tested" or graduated to the next belt.

(The Boy is third from the left including the lady in black)

The Boy with Master Lyon, and two instructors.
Kick!

The Boy is in the middle.

Punch!

High Block!

ONE MA'AM! TWO MA'AM!

Sitting in line watching others test.

He's fourth from the left.

The Boy did really well, he only got distracted a couple of times. He kept wanting to see what the other kids were doing, but tried to keep on track. He still needs to work on his form, looking people in the eye when they are talking to him, and not talking in class. He's really proud of himself and is enjoying the classes.

I'm really proud of him, he has learned quite a bit, and is working on the things he needs to work on. He even spontaneously remembers to say "Yes Mom!" or "Yes Dad!" several times a week!

Baking bread.

I've been baking bread lately. I'm trying to save a little money, however I'm not sure how much I'm actually saving. I know that the cost of flour, yeast, salt, sugar, milk and butter is less per loaf than the cost of a loaf of bread at the store. But I'm not sure how much electricity I use baking bread. It is very yummy bread, H and The Boy seem to really like it. I enjoy making it, and eating it, so maybe that in itself makes it worth the time and electricity it takes to bake bread every two or three days. I'm trying recipes, looking for one that makes a good amount of bread (2 or 3 nice loaves), and has good flavor.

I've tried 2 so far, the first didn't rise very well, I'm not sure why, maybe I miss read the amount of yeast, or the milk was too hot. The second make 2 really huge loaves, they are so big over the top of the bread pan that they tend to crush the bottom portion if left in the normal upright position too long. Next time I'll make 2 smaller loaves and some dinner rolls, or try for 3 loaves.

I have a couple of other recipes I'm going to try eventually, I may have to take the best of the different recipes and make up one that works best for us. I want to make some potato bread, and get some quality whole wheat flour.

I wish that my stand mixer wasn't so old. It was made in the late 1960's into the middle of the 1970's, it's a Kitchen aide model 4-c. I could really use a dough hook for it, and a bowl that is actually made for it would be nice. But it's old enough that the company has no idea where I can get replacement parts. I called them about it last year. Maybe one day I'll have the money to get a new one, or get lucky enough to find the parts on freecycle or at a garage sale or something.

If you have any good recipes for bread, or ideas that might be helpful, I'd love to hear them. Thanks.

Update, and summer plans.

Our computer has been in Texas for the last 3 weeks or so. It had a bit of a break down, and needed a new motherboard. We thought that it would be gone until the 21st of this month, but they got it done faster than expected and it arrived Monday morning! We are all very excited to have our computer back. We didn't know how much we each used it until we couldn't use it any more. Howard has some maintenance to do before all is well again, but it's getting there. I'll be able to do pictures in a few days so you can expect a picture post soon.

The Boy started Taekwondo classes today. We are paying for them with out economic stimulus check, I'm not sure that we would have been able to pay the $595 for 6 months of classes, 2 uniforms, membership in the ATA (American Taekwondo Association) and some other paperwork kind of stuff. He's loving it! We are hoping that he will learn self control, respect, and confidence as well as self defense. I like the school and the teachers there, they are willing to give him some personal help as he learns what he needs to learn in his classes. There are 2 other boys in the class, both are about 5 or 6, they are at different levels in the training. The teacher doesn't stop the class to show The Boy what to do, he asked an other teacher to stand by The Boy and help him with the form, standing still, all the things the other boys know already. It was good, he is learning quickly, and didn't disrupt class any more than the other boys did. In January we will look at how The Boy is doing, what he does best and if he is ready to go into the Black Belt Program, which is a specific program aimed at getting the student trained to Black Belt and beyond. It involves more discipline and has a stricter set of rules. There are different degrees of Black Belt, and once a student reaches a certain degree and is old enough they can teach lower levels to pay for their further training. The Boy may or may not be ready to do that in January, (if he is ready before January we will do what we need to do to change him over to the program) if he isn't he can still continue with the Basic Program as long as he wants to and as long as we can pay for it. In February we usually get our Tax return so we will be able then to pay for the next 6 months or whatever. (The Black Belt program is a 2 or 3 year commitment from what I understand from our introduction class.) Maybe someday we will have enough money to take a family class, although with Howard's schedule it would most likely be just The Boy and me.

I'm planning for August. Christopher is getting married on the 8th, and my Dad turns 70 on the 10th. I need to figure out what to get as a wedding present, and decide if The Boy and I will stay at my parents after the birthday party and help Mom do some canning before The Boy has to start Kindergarten. I'm excited about all of it, my FIRST baby is getting married! My soon to be daughter-in-law is a sweet woman, I'm very happy to welcome her to our family. I wish I had a little bit more time and money to help out with the birthday bash, but I'll do what I can. It's going to be great fun. If all of the FAMILY members who have said that they would like to come to the party actually make it, there will be something like 27 adults and 12 children, 3 of the children are teens, I think the oldest of the other children is 8 or 9, and the youngest will be 1 year old. Of course some of them won't be able to make it, I think that 6 of the adults have cancelled taking 2 of the teens with them. Even if it's only my Dad, Mom, my brothers, their wives, children and grandchildren, Jessica and her boyfriend, Me, Howard and my 3 boys it will be wonderful! I love family!

The weather has been kind of hot, and very muggy. I overheat quickly these days, so I keep water close, and stop at the store to get sports drinks if we are out and about too long. We are enjoying summer so far, and are looking forward to The Boy starting Kindergarten in September.

Concerns of an over protective Mom.

I need to figure out how to teach the boy how to deal with a feeling I don't fully understand. He says that things get to be "Too much." sometimes at school, or when playing with other kids. The noise they make, the way they touch him, and not wanting to play the same games they do. The way he talks about it, it sounds like it builds up and doesn't go away for a long time. Sometimes it's still there from the day before. WE need to figure out a release for him that doesn't involve hitting or screaming.

He has always been fairly easy going. He wouldn't fight back when the cousins in California (Howard's side of the family) would hit him or take the toy he was playing with. He would just move away and do something else. He took the move back to Oregon with little problem. Not long after we got here he started screaming when he didn't get his way, or when he thought he was getting in trouble. Not every time, but often enough that we all noticed it. Maybe that was his age and lack of language to explain how he was feeling, or maybe it was the start of these problems. When we stayed with my niece, he didn't do anything for weeks when her son would bite him. But he finally had enough and began to pinch and sometimes scratch him to stop him from biting. It took less time at school for him to start to push or hit kids that pushed or hit him first.

As far as I can tell the other kids are often the first ones to hit, however I know that he probably has done something else that provokes it. I don't think The Boy means to treat others in a way that would cause others to hit or push him, but he still has trouble with personal space, and he drools quite a bit, which make people uncomfortable. I think he is sometimes too rough with what he thinks are nice touches.

I need to figure out how to teach him about personal space, and how to keep his mouth dry. We need to work on what to do instead of pushing or hitting someone who is irritating him, whether it's hitting, pushing or just bugging him. He is a good kid most of the time.

Any ideas? Anything that has worked with other kids, or things that have helped you control your negative feelings? I could use all the help I can get. Thanks

The problems you can get into when talking to Teens.

We have some friends who have a boy who is 14 or 15. He's a very bright and usually polite young man. His Mom and Dad are divorced. Dad Married a woman with young children, and he adopted them. I think they are 4,5,7 and 8. Mom has 2 kids with her new husband, they are 1 and 2 now.

I've heard rumors that the Teen can be really cruel to his younger siblings. He says mean things, teases them, pushes them down etc. I think he is feeling displaced. He was an only child for a long time, and now he has to share the attention of his parents, who seem to spend much more time and energy with the little ones than they do with the Teen. Ive heard Teen talking about some of the things he does to his brothers and sisters, like stepping on their feet, calling them names, and throwing Lego's at them.

Anyway, we were at a BBQ with Teen, his Dad, Step-Mom and siblings, There were other friends there as well, but none of them were close in age to Teen, leaving Teen pretty much on his own. Eventually Teen started talking to some of the younger people there, they tried to include him in their conversations and tried to be friendly with him. I think they were feeling sorry for him. Eventually Teen started to ask some rather personal questions, he kept pushing for answers even when they didn't want to talk about it. (He asked them how old they were when they had sex for the first time. And about doing drugs. For example.) 2 of the young men thought they would use their experiences to illustrate what not to do. They honestly answered his questions, and told him how they had thought, at the time, that doing those things was cool. They told him that they later regretted what they had done, and knew that they had been wrong. After that Teen and his family went home.

A few days later we heard how the Dad and Step-Mom were very upset with the 2 young men for some of the things Teen said they had told him. He said that they wouldn't stop talking about sex and drugs even when he asked them to. He misrepresented how the subject came up and didn't mention that the young men had told him how much they regretted what they had done when they were younger. His parents wouldn't listen to people who told them the whole story.

We also found out that he had told his parents that Howard had threatened him. Which I suppose was partially correct, Howard did tell him that if he ever saw him throwing rocks at The Boy again he would drag him kicking and screaming to his parents and suggest a rather drastic punishment. Probably not a good thing to say, but Howard had just seen Teen throw a rock that narrowly missed The Boy's Head and was understandably quite angry about it.

This family won't talk to anyone directly involved with the things they have problems with, they won't listen to anyone telling them what they had seen and heard. They are choosing to totally believe their son.

I feel badly for the 2 young men, they were wrong to talk to him about the things they did, they are feeling guilty over the whole thing. One of them says he is going to lie if asked such questions in the future. He feels badly that he will purposely lie to someone, but feels that it may cause less trouble. (I think that talking frankly with a young person you don't know well, is probably not a good idea. Not because I think that young Teens will lie, but because you don't know their maturity level and it may be more than they can handle. Of course I don't think a 14 or 15 year old should be asking adults questions about sex and drugs either, at least not at a back yard party.)

I'm actually rather proud of Howard. He's changed quite a bit since becoming a Daddy. Before The Boy he would have grabbed the Teen and at least shaken him, no warnings given. If the person had been older than 18 he would probably have started a fight. Now he will give warnings if appropriate by his standards. (which usually means someone is young and probably just needs to learn or needs a reminder.) Or he will call the appropriate authorities to deal with the situation. The parents for someone 17 and younger, or the police for someone 18 and older, even though he would prefer not to talk to the police because of his own not so stellar background.) No one gets away with harming or threatening to harm The Boy while his Daddy is around.

So I guess the lesson here is not to talk to young people you don't know very well about things of a very personal nature. You can be friendly with them and talk to them about other things. Just be more careful than these 2 guys were. They were wrong, and they know it. And maybe Howard should have gone directly to the parents instead of talking to the Teen himself. I think he thought he was helping the Teen to keep out of trouble with his parents.

Anyway this has been bothering me for quite awhile, and I decided that I'd rather get it out than keep running through it in my head. Thanks for getting this far.

The Boy, another Update.

We had the meeting with The Boy's school about his kindergarten class room. At this point he will be going to the LRC or Learning Resource Center. There are more adults in that class room, so when a child needs one on one attention they are more likely to be able to get it. It will also be easier for the OT, if there is one involved with him, to visit him in class. It seems to be noise that is his biggest problem right now, so fewer students will also cut down on potential noise in the class room. We do know and understand that even a small number of kids can make huge amounts of noise, so it isn't perfect but probably the best we can do and still keep him in a classroom with other kids. (The Boy wants to GO to school, he wants to be with other kids, and riding the bus is one of his favorite things.)

The OT will be seeing him soon, they want it taken care of before school is out so he can start with everything in place. We are still thinking that he has SID/SPD (Sensory Integration Disorder/Sensory Processing Disorder) mainly because of the problems he has with sounds. He did make a big step forward yesterday, however. We decided to cut his hair, usually this causes screaming and thrashing unless we cut it when he was sleeping. Yesterday he did say that he didn't want his hair cut, but then he sat fairly still and didn't cry or anything until the very last. He said that "It's getting to be too much!" and covered his ears. We quickly finished and talked to him. Thank goodness he is more able to explain what is happening to him! He said that he could "hold it" for a little while, but that the sound and vibration got to be too much. (We were using clippers, scissors are a problem too and take longer.) He says that it's kind of like it hurts, but not really. It's almost scary, but not really. It's just "Too much".

Now we need to focus on finding ways for him to work around the problems he is having. How to walk away when it's getting to be too much. How NOT to hit when someone hurts him, or pushes things too far. It won't be easy, so much of the play I've observed with the boys in the class is rough, loud, and intentionally rude both physically and verbally. It doesn't take long for things to get to be too much. We have to figure out how to modify The Boy's reaction, to these kinds of things. To everyone around him it appears that he is over reacting, to him he's taken all he can and he has to do something to make it stop. Lashing out will usually do that, where talking or asking them to stop won't. He doesn't want to go tell the Teacher, because he doesn't think that's right. There isn't any place he can go to get away either.

Most of the boys he is having problems with also hit, and push. They step on each others toes, and lay down on top of each other. They push and lean on each other, put their legs or arms on each other and other children, The Boy does these some of things too, because he thinks it's fun, because the other boys think it's fun. He leans against other children, he puts his arms or legs on other children. He does these things at the wrong times, with the wrong children, and since he isn't the bully type that some of the others are, he gets a loud reaction that gets the teachers attention and gets him in trouble.

I hate to say anything negative about The Boy's Teacher and her assistants. They are good people and are doing as well as they can, I think. However there are things they should be doing differently, not just to keep The Boy out of trouble, but to keep other kids from getting in trouble as well. The problems happen mostly during free play. During that time, there are usually 2 adults watching the 18 or so kids. One of them might be reading or doing an art project with a few kids, the other will be involved with a few more playing or reading or something. Leaving several children basically unsupervised. Needless to say it's usually the 3 or 4 boys who like to play rough with each other and with others who are left to their own devices. These boys push and hit and trip each other. They are often the ones that The Boy has hit, usually because they hit him first. I just think that one of the official adults should be watching the whole class in general, observing what is happening, and stopping the rough behavior before someone gets hurt. I did mention it at a meeting with the Home Educator, who said he would suggest it to them, however I have been in the class room and nothing has changed. Oh well, there are only a few days, about 22 including weekends and holidays, left until school is out for the summer. I hope his Kindergarten class room will work better for him

Another Update post.

My Step-sister (my Dad and her Mom lived together for several years while she was little. He helped raise her and was probable more of a Dad to her than her bio-dad was) is pregnant. The baby is due November 17. Not big news but it's going to be interesting. She will be 21 November 11, but I'm not sure she is as mature as my niece who will be 21 in December. (She's the mother of 2 now and has always been more mature than my step-sister.)

I found a virtual public school a couple of days ago. It looks interesting, but it's not available in Oregon. It's an on-line school that is free, just like public school. You get all the books, and supplies delivered to the door. The kids get a computer and Internet connection too. I looked at a kindergarten science lesson (I just scanned it I'll have to check it over better later) about life in a pond. It looked like something we would like to do. I want The Boy to actually learn something, but I'm worried that in the special needs class rooms we are considering having him attend he will not get enough actually education. He's smart, but is having problems learning how to deal with other kids. Maybe I'll find something I can afford or another virtual public school that IS in Oregon, to supplement what he will learn in school. Education is very important to me, I worry that his education will suffer while everyone is focusing on his interactions.

I'm still working on getting paid for babysitting The Boy's twin. She doesn't make much money and it seems that most if not all of her money goes to her other bills. I DO understand that she has to pay rent, and get food for her child. I just need to have that money. So I called DHS, because I'd filled out forms to get paid through their program before she moved. They WILL pay me for all the past hours if she calls them and tells them that I did babysit from day X to day X. I'll get a billing form in the mail, and it will take a few days to get the check for the portion they will pay. (something like $171) She will have to pay the rest, which will be something like $114. So now I wait and see if she will do it. (I called her and let her know) I've been stiffed for babysitting before, so I'm not going to hold my breath. We can cover the bills as is, but there won't be enough extra for the things I want to do.

No more twins. And other updates

Well, The Boy's twin moved closer to the Casino over the week-end so we won't be having him around any more. We are going to miss him a lot. I'm hoping that he will come and visit some times.

So I'm looking for something else to do to make some money. I'm not sure what that will be, because I'll need a really flexible schedule. I feel that I need to be available for The Boy. I also need a few extra hundred dollars, to be able to have the things we want to have and to still be able to eat. LOL So, if you know of any work from home opportunities that are for real let me know okay?

In other news, Howard might be getting a better job soon. It's by now means a done deal, but if he gets it he will be making $11 an hour and will be a manager. He's also looking for things here in town, because it would be easier for him to get to work and home again. But so far there hasn't been much that would be worth it at this point.

The Boy has been having a much better week so far this week. I just hope he can keep it up. I don't know what we will do about Kindergarten next year. I'm not sure he is ready for it yet, and I'm not sure Howard will agree to sending him to a Special Education Kindergarten, where he can learn social interactions, in a smaller class room, along with academics. I've considered Homeschooling him, but I'm not sure I have the ability to do it correctly. In smaller groupings, and one one one, he is so sweet and co-operative. (Most of the time, he is a normal little boy who gets antsy some times.) We have meetings with teachers to talk about his situation. If he will stay where he is for the rest of the year (2 months?) or will go to WESD in a special education class. Then we will have a meeting with the school that he will be going to kindergarten in, about if he should be going there or should be going to the WESD Kindergarten class. By the end of May we should have it all figured out. We just need to find out what he needs to help him do the best he can in school. (I told Howard that I want The Boy to be the Nerd who makes One Million dollars every couple of weeks, rather than the Popular guy who flips burgers. I don't think he agrees with me completely. He wants The Boy to be the Popular guy who makes One Million Dollars every couple of weeks. LOL)

Depressing, death related, post feel free to skip.

I'm feeling sad today. I've been thinking about the members of my family who have passed on. There are 4 members of my family who died from Cancer.
My Dad's Mom (Maude Bea) died when he was just a baby, from "cancer of the female organs".
My Great Grandmother (Mom's Dad's Mom) had cervical cancer.
My Mom's youngest brother's wife (My Aunt Gail) died of breast cancer, and her daughter (Theresa) isn't expected to make it much longer because of it.
My Mom's older sister (My Aunt Carline) and her husband (My Uncle Jim) both were diagnosed with lung cancer, he passed away not long ago, and now my Mom thinks her sister isn't going to be around much longer either.

I've spent more time thinking about heart disease and other circulatory problems than I have about cancer. As far as I know 2 family members have passed from heart related disease. My Dad's Dad, (Grandaddy) when I was about 5 or so, and my Mom's Dad (Pa, or Pop), who had circulatory issues and passed from a stroke. My Mom's Mom (Monie) had some circulatory issues as well, but I believe it was complications of Parkinson's for her.

I should go have a cup of coffee, or get a Pepsi, and relax. It's good to remember those who have passed. They were all important to me in their own way. Even the ones who died before I was born. I miss the ones who are gone, and wish I could spend more time with the ones who are going.

Rambling update.

Between hormonal headaches, and allergy headaches, I'm feeling pretty beat up today. Luckily the rain is keeping quite a bit of the allergens down so I'm managing. However having 2 trees in the yard that I'm allergic to guarantees that I'll suffer at least a little bit until they finish flowering.

We are thinking that The Boy's burst of aggression last week was due mostly to the behavior of other kids who were pushing, hitting, and wouldn't let him play. He knows that it was wrong of him to react that way, and we are trying to find things he can do before he gets too frustrated and/or not physical ways to keep himself out of trouble. Things like telling others not to hit or push him, or walking way to be closer to the teacher. (He won't tell on the other kids. He doesn't want them to get in trouble.) It's going to be a balancing act, because none of us want him to be a punching bag for the other kids, but he can't hurt them back either. He loves school, he thinks that all the kids in his class are his friends, and he would be sad if he couldn't go to school any more. He is still 6 months to a year behind other kids his age in his speech and social skills. We are looking at a kindergarten class for kids with developmental delays. If that is decided to be the best placement, we are hoping that he will learn the coping skills he needs, and since it appears that he is closing the gap between what he is doing and what other kids his age are normally doing we are hoping that he will be ready for first grade in the normal school setting. It's hard watching him go through this, he's a really sweet little boy. He really does love going to school, and all the kids. He just doesn't have the skills to understand and prevent himself from over reacting when he gets overwhelmed. I'm not sure he is understanding what we are telling him, the advice people are giving him to deal with things that are normal for a class this size, or the reasons why he can't hurt others if they hurt him first.

I'm rambling and I'm not making any sense so I'll stop for now.

Aggressive behavior.

The Boy has been having a bout of aggression lately. Until we came back to Oregon I worried that he would be too passive. Other kids would bully him and hurt him because they knew he wouldn't do anything about it. (This happened several times with the cousins kids who were all within months of him in age. 1 boys and 2 girl) That's changed now. He pushes back, and he hits and he grabs other kids when they annoy him. (Sigh) I need to find a way to teach him that he doesn't have to just sit there while other kids hurt him, and that it's not okay to hurt other kids even if they hurt him first. He is normally such a sweet kid. Last night he cried when The Other Boy was in trouble. And yet, on Monday he was in trouble for pushing and shoving at school and today at school he hurt another child. According to The Boy this other child (a boy) hit him 2 times in the stomach before he grabbed him . He says he just wanted L (the other child) to stop hitting him. I understand, but he had such an extreme reaction! He's in time out right now because of it and won't get gummy slugs for his snack later. We talked a long time about why it's not okay to hurt someone else. He seems to understand, but does he really understand? What am I going to do if he keeps this up? He isn't aggressive with adults, maybe because they are bigger than he is or because adults don't often show aggression toward him.

It's almost like having twins.

I'm babysitting again. This time we have a 5 year old boy. His Mom works at the Casino at the gas station. His birthday is one day after The Boy's. I didn't realise how well The Boy pronounces words until I met this boy. He is kind of hard to understand, most of the time. But he is a nice kid, and he and The Boy seem to be getting along pretty well. (It's been two days.) The only thing is I watch him from 1:30 PM until she can get here after dropping off her boyfriend. Last night it was 2:30AM, I'm hoping that tonight it will be closer to 1 AM. It's not really a problem, I'm usually awake until about 1 anyway.

The two boys seem to be playing together very well today. Taking turns with the V-Smile, playing with the trains and being good boys. For the most part. There are some struggles, with who gets to play with what toy first, we use a timer when that comes up. Each of them gets a little loud when they get too frustrated (so far no hitting or pushing), luckily they seem to be able to work things out most of the time. We are working on asking nicely if we want something, asking someone to please stop if they are doing something that bothers us, and sharing toys and games. I'm trying to model the way I want them to do things, and they seem to be trying.

Questions.

Do you ever wonder if the people you have the strongest feelings for, not you children or parents, feel for you even half what you feel for them? What would you do if you found out that they didn't or even that they hardly thought of you at all? There are people I think of regularly, people I have a lot of soft feeling for, who probably don't even remember me much at all. That's okay though, I understand. I'm not a very extroverted person, some of them are quite a bit younger than I am as well, so maybe I'm not very memorable to them. I know that when certain people have gotten to know me they find me interesting enough to call me once in awhile, and seem to enjoy my company.

Here's another question: If you were exchanging e-mail with a friend, that you knew to be married, and she kept referring to "Me" and "My" when you expected "We" and "Our" would you ask your friend about their marriage? What if it was someone you had once been very close to, but now you found yourself rather distant, would you ask them then? Or, what if it were an acquaintance, someone you barely knew? Why would you or wouldn't you ask about their marriage?

Cuteness alert!

Just in case you don't want to read cute, sweet, things said by a 5 year old boy you might want to stop reading this post.

Okay, This post is going to be totally a Mommy blogger kind of post. That should be sufficient warning just in case someone came here looking for something less child oriented. (Like that is likely to happen. :P)

A couple of nights ago The Boy and I had a hard time sleeping. At one point we were both laying on the couch. He whispered "Tell me a story Mama." I asked which story he would like to hear.

"The one with the little baby that grew and grew and grew until he was 2 and flushed his Mommy's watch down the potty."
So I told him the story, with my own bits added and some of the original bits left out. Our favorite parts are where the Mommy rocks her boy "back and forth, back and forth, back and forth" and when she sings to him.
After I finished The Boy was quiet and I thought he had fallen asleep. Several minutes later I felt his little arm come up around my neck and he whispered "Mama, I'll rock you back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I love you forever, I love you for always, As long as I'm Something MY Mama you will be." (I have to explain about the Something, it isn't because he forgot the words, although he might have because he doesn't understand what "as long as I'm living" means, it's because he's been telling me "I'm really Something!" lately. I'm not sure where he heard that, because I haven't said it, but to him it's a good thing.)
In a couple of minutes he really was asleep, but my eyes still had tears in them from the sweetness of his comment.

What's black and blue and exhausted? We are.

Not a good day for me.

I didn't sleep well last night.

I couldn't get to sleep quickly and once I did I woke up coughing and choking, and ended up throwing up.

Once that was over I got to sleep for about an hour and The Boy woke up with a bad dream and wanted to snuggle with me.

It took about an hour for him to fall asleep.

Since our bed is on the floor right now I couldn't pick him up to take him to his own bed and it was WAY too crowded for the 3 of us to sleep there together so I got up and slept on the couch for about 30 minutes.

The Boy woke up again and needed me.

So we cuddled on the couch until he was asleep again.

At this point it was 5 AM, so I went back to bed to get all the sleep I could.

At 7 The Boy was awake for the day, Howard didn't even stir so I got up with him.

At 9 Howard woke up and I took a nap until 11.

The Boy had school today, so at 11:40 we went outside to wait for the bus.

One minute before the bus arrived The Boy tripped on the sidewalk and crashed.

He immediately had a huge goose egg bump over his right eye.

He cried, but wanted to go to school anyway.

I wanted to let him go to school.

I needed to keep him home to watch him and make sure he was going to be okay.

He screamed and kicked all the way up the stairs.

He stayed home and I didn't get any sleep.

I think he's going to be fine.

I'm not so sure about me. LOL

Here's some pictures of The Boy showing his bump.

A 5th Birthday Party in pictures.

Here are some pictures from The Boy's birthday party. They are in reverse order, meaning that the first picture posted was taken last. I'll write up something later, maybe. I'm feeling kind of tired and distracted so I won't take it out on you all. I'll just let my photos, unedited for red eye and un-cropped, speak for me.

My Parents with my Beautiful little Niece.

My Beautiful little Niece looking at her Grandaddy.

I think the adults had more fun with the birthday presents than The Boy did.

Aunt Jessica reacting to the race track.

Opening Uncle Mark and Aunt Ellie's present.

Our sweet little girl with frosting on her face.

Blowing out the candles.

The birthday cake.

The train table he got ON his birthday.

Birthdays!

Our computer has a virus, Howard can't seem to make it go away with the usual methods, so we may have to wipe the hard drive and reinstall everything. (sigh) It sounds worse than it will be, because we have an external hard drive that is virus free so we can more the important files and programs over there. So if my posting is even more spotty than normal it's because we are still working on fixing the problem without all the drama of the hard drive wipe.

There are several February Birthday's that I meant to remember, but was too frustrated with this darn computer to actually get done. Sorry everyone.

The first, as far as I can remember and my calendar tells me, was my nephew Caleb, his birthday was the 8th. I think he turned 13, but I'm not sure.

Then Howard's niece, Atlantis. Her birthday was the 9th, I think she turned 12.

And then there was my dear friend, almost a sister ,who had her birthday on the 10th. She turned 33. (I know this one because it's on my calendar. LOL)

I wanted to wish all of my favorite February born people a Very Happy Birthday! I wish I could have spent the day with you.

Of course today is The Boy's 5th birthday. I'll probably write something for that later. He will have his party on Saturday, at noon. He wants to have a pizza party so we are having it at Garlic Jim's which is just up the street from our apartment. They are going to make him his own personal sized pizza, which they don't normally have on their menu but will do it for the Birthday Boy. He wants a pineapple pizza, so they will make it just the way he wants it. I'm going to make some cup cakes, chocolate with blue frosting and blue with chocolate frosting. I'm going to put some of them in ice cream cones for the children, The Boy likes them that way, and decorate them so they look more like an ice cream cone than a cupcake. The rest will be for the adults and to eat later, if we have any left over. They will have sprinkles on them. I don't know if I will put one candle in 5 cupcakes, or 5 in one cupcake, or get a number 5 candle for him to blow out. We will NOT be singing "Happy Birthday" however, because he doesn't like it and it makes him cry.

5 Maddening, and 5 Awesome things about a 5 (almost) year old.

I read an article on "Parent Dish" where the blogger listed 5 maddening and 5 awesome things about her 2.5 year old. I decided to steal her idea and use it here. In less than 3 weeks The Boy will be 5 years old so it seems appropriate at this time to think about 5 Maddening and 5 Awesome things about him.

5 Maddening Things About a 5 (almost) Year Old.

1. He can be very single minded when he has focused on something. (For example: He will say that he wants to watch PBS Kids, no other kids programming will do, not even Sprout which has all the PBS Kids shows. He won't even accept that the shows are over until next time.)

2. He is learning aggression from other kids his age. (I know that some aggression is good, it will help him not to be a door mat. But right now it's a little extreme at times.)

3. He STILL thinks that yelling about what he wants will get it for him.

4. Except for when he goes to school, he thinks he needs to be where ever I am all the time. Not attached or even in the same room, but if I go out he thinks he needs to go with me.

5. He can pick the exactly worst moment to want attention, like when I'm on the phone, or washing dishes or in the middle of a row of knitting that can't be put down until the end.

5 Awesome Things About a 5 (almost) Year Old.

1. He has a wonderful memory for stories.

2. He is starting to learn how to read. He has several sight words and is learning more.

3. He can play by himself for hours with his trains, cars, or blocks.

4. He often remembers to say "Thank you", "You are Welcome", "May I be excused", and "Excuse me" (when he burps or farts), less often he remembers to say "Please".

5. He will still climb up in my lap for a hug and kiss, or just to snuggle for a little while.

Quick Post with photos.

We've been a little busy lately, and I've been a little tired out. On Friday the Eleventh, we met with the EI teacher, a speech therapist, The Boy's teacher, and the "home educator" to discuss any assistance The Boy might need at school to help him work through and learn ways to handle school and it's stresses. The Speech therapist will see him three Thursdays a month, and the EI Teacher will see him for half an hour twice a month. An occupational therapist will come in and observe him while in normal class room activities and do whatever tests he/she feels are needed to determine if The Boy has a Sensory Processing Disorder or anything else that might be behind some of the problems he is having in class.

The week end was normal, which means that not much happened around here. Monday after The Boy got home from school we discovered that he had lost a tooth while in class. No one knows when it happened or what happened to the tooth. There wasn't any blood or a fight or any kind of bump to the mouth that might have hurried it along. It looks normal for a naturally lost tooth. It probably came out while he was eating lunch or snack and he probably swallowed it. Here's a picture of his now slightly toothless grin.

And another one that you can see the empty spot better, but I caught him with his eyes closed and looking kind of silly.

I can't believe that he's lost a tooth already! he isn't even five years old yet! Isn't it more normal for a child to loose his first tooth around six years old? Oh well, I guess we are just lucky.

We did some shopping after school yesterday, because we filed our taxes the day before and got an anticipation loan for our return. We looked at lots of things we were thinking of getting, but decided to wait until next week to make a decision. I did get a sifter and a set of nice knives, not to good professional ones Howard wants but they will do until we can afford the others. And we had a nice dinner out, with a taxi ride home.

Today it's been kind of cold, and foggy. I'm not sure it was freezing fog when we were out waiting for The Boy's school bus to come pick him up but I got these interesting pictures of what appears to be frozen droplets on spider webs.

So that's what's been going on with us for the last few days. I hope that you all are doing good.

Happy New Year!

I know, I'm a bit late. I've been going through some weird illness since the 21st. It started in the afternoon with a sore spot on the left side of my throat. When that got better I got so congested that I felt like I couldn't breath. Then the middle and back of my throat started to really bug me. After that went away I started coughing almost non stop for a couple of days. It got so bad one night that I threw up. Two days of that and then the cough stopped but the right side of my throat started to hurt. Off and on through all of this I had a fever, but there were hours, even days when I felt almost normal. Now I have a little bit of a cough left but other wise I'm feeling normal again.

The Boy was sick on Christmas Eve, and Howard developed some kind of stomach thing that sent him to the bathroom regularly. Both of them got better quickly and were their bright active selves. However, neither of them did on bit of clean up through all of it.

We had a nice Christmas, just the three of us. Howard got a new job and was able to be home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

New Years Eve was quiet, just The Boy and I. He tried to stay up to give me my first kiss of the year but crashed in his bed (He went in and covered himself up) around 11:30. I waited the last 30 minutes and sent out text messages to people I knew were okay with getting text messages. Then I went to bed.

New Years Day The Boy and I made cookies with a mix that my "step" sister Jessica gave us for Christmas. They were good, a bit on the thin side because they spread out all over the pan, but they crisped up nice and we just finished them today.

The Boy is back in school. He wasn't sure he wanted to go back after being home for so long, but decided that the bus ride was worth it and is now happy to be back with his class.

I don't have any resolutions this year, I don't have a good track record of keeping them anyway. I'm way behind on my picture taking for one of my Flickr groups, but that's okay. I've got most of the house cleaned up, just dishes left to get done. Now we can plan for The Boy's birthday, hoping that we will get our tax return in time to get him a few nice bigger tag items, but I've heard that tax returns may be late this year so we will just have to wait and see.

I want to wish all of you who are reading this good things for 2008. Thanks for coming by and checking in on my family.

Updates, or what's been going on around here lately.

I was gently reminded that I haven't had a new informative post in a while. (Thanks little brother) I've had a bit of a cold, it's the kind of cold that makes me feel sluggish. The kind that makes even getting out of bed seem like running a marathon. Other than that, we are doing pretty well.

Aidan really likes going to school. He is doing pretty well, but is having some issues with transitions and controlling himself. The few days I've been at school with him I've noticed that a lot of the kids have similar issues, so maybe he's just a normal 4 year old. We are working on helping him find ways to work through some of it. He also may have some sensory issues. For example he doesn't like having his hair cut, or his fingernails trimmed. He screams as if we were beating him when we try. He has the same problem with brushing his teeth, but he is getting better because he doesn't want to have his teeth pulled out.

I've been knitting hats for Aidan. Trying out some recipes, mostly using lemon because I've developed a craving for lemon flavored foods. The lemon bars turned out okay the first time, but I think I may have over cooked the lemon topping. The second time I didn't cook the cookie part long enough so it was kind of doughy, and the topping was runny. The flavor, however, was wonderful both times.

Aidan would love for it to snow. But so far we've been close but not close enough. He's making his list for Santa. It includes a V-Smile pocket and games, and Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. He also asked for a game for his Daddy, but he wasn't really clear on what kind of game. We saw Santa at the Mall the other day, and Aidan just ran right up to talk to him. Luckily there weren't any other kids in line because he might have ran right past them I got a fairly good picture of him with Santa, and plan to scan it so I can post it here for you all. Other than getting Aidan's presents I have get something for my Dad, and finish up a couple of other presents. I need to get some wrapping paper and ribbon. OH! I need tape too. I'll be done after we go shopping the 18th or 19th. I have to wait until the last moment, partly because of paying the bills and rent and such, but also because if I get things too early I tend to give them early too. LOL Making gifts has helped slow me down some, I just wish I could make more of them. Maybe next year.