The zoo

I went on my very first field trip with Christopher last week.  As you probably guessed from the title, we went to the zoo.  I was excited to go until I realized it would get up to 90 degrees that day.  Ick.

But it was fun.

I was in charge of four cute little boys, including one of Christopher's best friends from school- Bradley.

Apparently at school they are inseparable.

We also had another grown up helper in our group, as both Christopher and Bradley fall into the "special" category.

It was mostly un-eventful, minus the total meltdown Bradley had over popcorn, and the fact that he couldn't have some.

It was fun, we saw a bunch of animals.  When I asked Christopher which animal he wanted to see most, he said "snakes".  Apparently awhile back, they had a special guest come to their class, who brought a bunch of live animals.  I am told Christopher touched a snake, a lizard, and an alligator.

I was okay with Nick liking penguins, Madison liking giraffes and dolphins, and Zach liking cows and zebras, but I am not to thrilled with Christopher and snakes.

I have to mention that two things made me sad that day.  There were two "normal" little boys in our group.  Cute kids.  Really nice and sweet, and good kids. Not a lick of trouble from them.  In fact, one of them seemed to really like Christopher and gave him a couple hugs that day.  Like I said, cute boys.  After Bradley's little meltdown we were walking to go see the komodo dragon, and one of them says to me that he knows why Christopher and Bradley and the other two "special" kids in Christopher's class are the way they are.  It's cause their brains work differently.  It means they are special.  When they were in their mommy's bellies, their bodies didn't grow right, so they aren't as smart as other kids. And sometimes Christopher picks his nose during reading time.

It's true Christopher has no shame about picking his nose in public.  If you tell him to knock it off, he's likely to stick fingers up both nostrils, then in his mouth just cause he knows that will really get a reaction from me. And it's true I don't think Christopher's brain works quite the same as your average 5 year old, but not smart? He's pretty dang smart.  Some days too smart I think.  I've watched him manipulate substitute swim teachers so he won't have to work.   Fortunately his regular Thursday teacher has his number, and as sweet and loving and cute as she is, she doesn't fall for his crap.

It just bothers me when others can't see my kids the way I see them.  Smart, and funny, and awesome, and talented.  I am sure every mother feels that way.

Fortunately I do think Christopher's teachers do see him that way, which leads me to the second thing that made me sad.  During the day Christopher might work with no less than a half a dozen people.  Two different teachers, and various helpers and therapists. I swear each and every one of them came up to me and told me how much they adore Christopher.  How cute he is, how smart he is, how sweet he is, what a great kid he is, and how much they love him.  I had the opportunity to sit next to the regular kindergarten teacher on the bus and I mentioned how I was not looking forward to the end of the year.  Christopher just loves going to school, and I think it will be hard for him when it is over.  I swear her eyes welled up a little bit, and she got a sad look on her face and she said, "I just don't understand why they all can't keep going to [this school].   Don't autistic kids need stability?  What good is shipping them all off to different schools?"  I took that to mean that she was sad that even though she wouldn't be his teacher next year, she was sorry she wouldn't at least see his happy little face in the hallways or on the play ground, and get to watch him grow up over the years.

So yeah, I'm a little sad that in 4 short weeks it will all be over.  The friends he's made, the teachers and therapists he's worked so hard with, even the bus drivers.  He's so excited for that bus every morning, he just stands outside and waits anxiously, and as the bus starts making it's way down our street, he can't stand still, and flaps his arms, and has a big smile on his face, and starts side stepping towards the bus.  The other day he actually got picked up in front of the neighbor's house because sorta made his way that way to meet the bus.

But the zoo was fun.  It was pretty warm, but everyone saw all the animals they wanted to.  Even the snakes.

freebies

John goes to a lot of conventions. I swear at any given time, somewhere in the world, there is a computer convention going on. 

Last week, John went to a "Geek Day" convention in Washington DC, which was actually sponsored by his company.  Of course, I don't know why they call it "Geek Day" when it lasts the better part of a week.

Anyway, John tends to come home with a bunch of crap they were handing out for free.  Sometimes it's free stuff given away by the convention hosts (t-shirts), other times it's stuff given out at various booths.  Most of it being crappy toys I let the kids play with until they break it or forget about it, then it mysteriously disappears into the trash.  (the kids won't let me throw out the biker jacket wearing rubber duckies with the HP logo on their bellies)

And every once in awhile John will win a drawing for something exceptionally cool, like the time he won the Bose alarm clock.  That was super awesome back then (14 years ago) because I am fairly certain the retail cost of that thing was more than John made in a week.

Anyway, this week John brought home something that I was a little surprised I hadn't seen lining the candy shelves at check-outs across America.

Basically pixie sticks for big kids and grown-ups.  Tubes of caffeine laced artificially colored and flavored sugar.  With this society's obsession for caffeine and sugar you'd think it would be a no brainer.  I am sure they were a hit with many of the convention goers. Probably a nice change from all the redbulls the computer geek population supposedly consumes.

Personally, I find them a little intriguing.  Not sure I will be sucking one down any time soon, or spiking my orange juice with one, but I don't want to throw them away either.

Zach asked for one.  The answer was a resounding "NO".  When Nick found out they had caffeine in them he demanded I throw them out.  My response was "And what exactly is one of your favorite sodas?" (Mountain Dew)

To which he responded with. "I see your point.  Well then don't eat them all at once, okay?"  I thought that was a fairly reasonable request.

pop quiz

Time to test your math skills.

What is .2 + .6 + .4 + .8 ?

The answer, of course would be 2.  TWO.  Or more accurately, two teeny tiny pounds lost in the last 4 weeks.

kill me now.

Yes. that does make for a grand total of about 14 pounds since I started, and I have lost each and every week, (even if it is only .2 pounds). And yes, I know, slow and steady wins the race, blah, blah, blah.

But I feel like I've hit a wall and I am a bit cranky about it, so I am going to rant.  Sorry.

I realize that if taking off weight were as easy and as fun as putting it on, I'd look like Kate Moss or Twiggy or whatever famous person these days looks so skinny even the tabloids comment on it.

Yes, I'm following the program.  No, my days don't consist of celery sticks and egg white omelets (although I did have egg whites for breakfast today).  And yes, if I choose to get a 4 point ice-cream cone from McDonalds, (I did the research, McDonald's has the best diet friendly ice-cream out there) then I will count it (or track it as those of program followers call it).  I always hit my daily points allowance.  (you are supposed to, eating too little is bad too)  and I've NEVER used up all of my extra weekly allowance.  (I get an extra 49 points to use or not use during the week as I see fit.  I can use them all in one sitting if I feel like it.)  And I even earn extra points by exercising (going for walks, going to the gym, riding bikes with Christopher) which I never touch as well.

I just to be clear, I'm not looking for any advice, any "Maybe you should..."'s   will most likely be answered with "Maybe you should bite me."

And in the mood I am in, words of encouragement sound fake and patronizing.  (so please don't.  At best I might make a face and stick my tongue out at you.)  Yesterday I had to listen to "point 8!  that's great!" (at which point I made a face) "That's twice as much as last week!"  (Except for .4 sucks, so that's really not that great.) I'd be happy with .8 if the week before were 1.4 or even 2.4,  but when my average is half a pound a week, .8 sucks.

And while we are on the subject, I am coming to the conclusion, that when I gain weight it starts in the middle (butt, stomach) then goes out from there.  Finally ending up in my hands and feet.  In other words, my pants will get tighter long before my wedding ring will.  But when I lose weight, it's the opposite.  Within a month my ring fits perfectly again, but it will be months before my pants feel comfortable when they are clean.  (Isn't that awful? making the decision when I get dressed every day.  Clean? Or comfortable? )

And finally, on a side note, they pass out these little pamphlets at each meeting.  Tips, success stories, etc.  On the back of the one I got last week, there was a story about a lady who decided she needed a little visual reminder always of what she was working for.  She told her group about it, and they gave her a "Bravo Star" (a gold star shaped sticker) and clapped for her, and then she wrote to the company and had her story printed in the little handout. Anyways, she got the company logo tattooed on her wrist as a little motivational reminder.  At first I was a little surprised they printed that story, with a big "Bravo!" star next to her picture, but then it occurred to me that they should be paying her because now she's a walking advertisement. 

Having no tattoos myself, I'm obviously not very big on them.  Mostly because of the permanence of it. (I have seen some pretty cool ones that made me stop and say "now if I were a tattoo kind of person...")  Tramp stamps on 20 year olds with perfect bodies might be all the rage now, but in 40, 50, or even 60 years from now?  Who wants a grandma with a tramp stamp?  But I think the worst has to be a company logo.  When I was going to Catz, there was this guy who got a big Catz logo on his calf.  Couldn't miss it.  Then I'd say less than a year later, there was some big scandal that I never got the whole story, and suddenly it wasn't Catz any more, it was The Pitt.  (Personalized Intensive Training Team or something like that) So, my point is I just want to yell at this lady- "A logo?!?! Really?!?! don't you know it will be outdated in 5 years or less?" 

Or it could be those 2 pounds speaking.

my reason for lack of Easter pics

This year I got the boys somewhat matchy ties for Easter.  Zach's and Christopher's are similar because that's the way it has to be to keep the peace (Christopher has to be Just Like Zach).

Nick is into bow ties, but he only has two.  His black bow tie that he has to wear for orchestra concerts, and his red Doctor Who one.  I thought a little variety was in order.

After checking out stores at the mall, I ended up just ordering one off Amazon.  It was supposed to be here last Friday.   Amazon has always been ridiculously reliable so I wasn't worried.

Friday came and went.  No tie.

Same with Saturday.

The mail doesn't come on Sunday, so I didn't even look.

Monday and Tuesday came and went without the long awaited for delivery.  (yes, I realize we are talking about a bow tie)

I checked, and the website says they had shipped it days ago.  Unfortunately UPS had yet to lay eyes on it.

I figured all hope was lost, talked to customer service, and had another tie on it's way for no charge.

Hallelujah.

Of course the first tie showed up only hours later.

I'm thinking the regular neck ties thought it was too nerdy and beat it up.

5 down, 4 to go

Pinewood Derbies, that is.

Not that we totally hate it, but it's hard with John's travel schedule.  Some years are worse than others. 

In fact one year, during Nick's second year of cub scouts, John got called out of town the week right before the Pinewood Derby, and so on the night of the weigh in, since Nick's car was still sitting in it's unopened box, I had him just grab his car from the year before.  We didn't have high hopes for it since the year before it was definitely in the bottom 10% of all cars, (I don't think it was dead last, but like second to last, or third)  and the poor car had spent the previous year getting knocked off his dresser, and being played with by his 4 year old brother.   Needless to say we were shocked when it took second place overall.

This year it was all about looks.  A fluorescent orange truck with decals all over it. That's what Zach wanted.  Despite the fact that we weren't obsessing over winning, John was a little worried when the body of the car cracked when he put the axles in.  A little glue and it was almost as good as new.  It did have a noticeable wobble as it raced down the track.

Zach was happy with the outcome.  He took 3rd place out of the Bears.  Respectable.  Plus, (and you can't tell from the picture cause his certificate is covering it) the medal around his neck was actually a ding-dong. 

I don't want to brag, but...

Nick doesn't win many awards.

Despite being pretty smart, he hasn't made the honor roll in years. I've never met another kid who has such a positive attitude about school and learning, yet can't manage to turn in his homework. If grades were limited to the work done in the classroom, Nick would be a straight A student. I know this. I have hope that he can perform a miraculous transformation and he can pull off a 4.0 in the very near future, and as a mother I will always bet on my children, but the current state of his science grade doesn't bode well for a 4.0 this particular semester.

He works hard at his viola, but there seems to always be someone else better.  Whether they have more natural talent, or practice more or both, the glory of first chair has never been his.  Besides, the viola isn't really an instrument to play if you are looking for glory and acclaim.  That honor lies with the violins.  The first chair violin is the most coveted spot in the whole orchestra.  And the violins and the cellos tend to get most of the solos.  Violas are pretty much there for support.  They add depth to the music. Important, but if you seek the spotlight, it's not the instrument for you.

He's never been MVP despite the fact that he does his best at whatever sport he is asked to do.  He consistently gets A's in PE (they grade on effort and participation) but when he tried out for baseball the conversation went something like this "Well, you can run, but you can't hit, or throw, or catch..." (he didn't make the team)  Once, he was even on a soccer team where the coach handed out all sorts of awards for most improved, etc, and Nick was one of two kids on the whole team that didn't get any kind of award, except the participation trophy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of rewarding mediocrity, but in cases like the coach giving out special awards to all but a couple just annoyed me. If he had awarded one or two kids, I wouldn't have blinked, but it felt like he was purposely hurting my child so that we wouldn't sign up on his team again. (the parents of the other kid felt the same way)

I'm not saying that an award is any measure of a person's worth.  Awards aren't given for many of the things that Nick is so great at.  On Sundays he shows up early and stays late to do his priesthood duties, and I've never heard him complain.  I don't have to push or prod for him to get ready, he is always ready to go without a single word from me or his father.

He's never too busy to play with Christopher, or help his sister with her homework, even if they aren't being the nicest to him.  (which sadly seems to be more often than not)

And he might not notice when the garbage needs to be taken out, but will always stop whatever he's doing and take it out immediately.  Or if he catches me taking it out, 100% of the time, he will say "Here, mom let me do that for you."

So anyway, Nick doesn't win many awards.  Until this week. He won not one, but two.

He is the Student of the Month at his school. 

They surprised him in science yesterday.  His orchestra teacher put his name in the drawing, and I love what she said-  "THE most helpful and upbeat student I have ever met...."

I guess he has made a pretty big impression over there because he also won Student of the Month for the Performing Arts department as well.   

At first glance you'd think the school wide honor was the better one.  He got a candy bar and a coupon for a free cookie and a fancy certificate.  He will also have his picture on the school website.  (which is kinda funny since he won the award for his positive attitude, but in his school picture he looks pretty angry. )

I'm not sure the Performing Arts award came with any treats or even a certificate.  His picture is on a bulletin board in the hallway outside his orchestra class. 

My favorite line part, "Even though he is a freshman, he shows tremendous initiative.  He also brightens everyone's day with his continuously upbeat and enthusiastic personality!"

But I think it is the greater award because the teachers all got together and decided he was the student who deserved it this month.  With the school wide award, Nick's name was put into a drawing along with other deserving kids, and it was mere chance that his name was drawn.  (At least that's my understanding of the process)

It's touching that although she put him down for the school award, his orchestra teacher ensured he won the departmental award.  (I'm sure his drama teacher had something to do with it too)

Anyway,  Nick is pretty touched and a little blown away by it all. 

And I'm just so glad to see that every once in awhile, nice guys do finish first.

Our little rain man

As of today, next year I will have four kids in four different schools.  Nick will be in high school, Maddie will be in jr high, Zach will go to the neighborhood elementary school, and Christopher will be shipped off to a different elementary school.

There was the chance that he could go to the local elementary school since they have a spice program there (that's what they call the classes for autistic kids) but our school is a Spice 1, which is for kids who need more help, but Christopher will be in Spice 2. (higher functioning)

I went to a meeting with his teachers the other day.  It was really good.  It was great to hear how much they adore him, how smart he is, what a great kid he is, etc.  He does really well in class, finishes his work, respects his neighbors, etc.

He still has issues.  He still doesn't like to be told no or that he is doing something wrong.  He tends to shut down, and they have to work with him to bring him back.  Apparently failure and the fear of failure is a bit paralyzing to him.  That's probably why potty training took so freaking long.  I think what finally worked was watching the other kids use the bathrooms day in and day out until he finally decided that it was something he could do.

Apparently he is an excellent speller.  He likes to memorize his sight words and he is at or pretty dang near the top of his class.  We're working on sounding out words too, and he does pretty well, but he really likes memorizing words.  In fact, all day long we are spelling things.  Sometimes it drives me a little batty, like when I am concentrating on something else, and he is asking me to spell the name of every person he knows (even though he has those all memorized).

The problem though is that while "Spelling Bee Champion" might be in his future, his comprehension of certain things isn't up there with his ability to read them.  He gets nouns and verbs and most adjectives (red, big, soft)  but it's all those other pesky little words that are proving to be difficult.  Take for instance two, to, and too.  I think he thinks they are all acceptable spellings for the number 2.  The End.  The concept of "too" as in "also" seems to be over his head.  (He frequently asks me to point out the "too" in a picture of a book we like to read together.  The line in the book reads "You can, too!")

And lately there are the numbers.  He's becoming very aware of numbers all around us, and he likes to tell me what time it is all the time.  "Six four five!  Mom!  Six four five!"  And then while we are driving, he reads aloud the numbers posted on the front of the houses as we drive by.  Last night he surprised us with this little parlor trick- "Christopher's house is one-three-seven-four.  Braden's house is one-three-eight-four."  I got curious so I started asking about his friends' houses- He got the numbers right every time. (I had to look them up)

I'm very curious to see what the next few years will bring.  It's fun watching these funny little quirks and talents emerge, and while I know that there will be struggles ahead, I feel positive that with the continued help of his teachers we can work through those.  It's amazing to me the progress he has made in these last 7 months already.