A few pics

I haven't had any time for blogging. We've been sick and busy and now that spring is teasing us with a preview, every spare minute we've been outside playing in the park or out for a saunter. Here's a couple of visuals:

Happy St. Patties!

We are growing a giant

I hope that she likes basketball. During our trip to the doctor today, I learned that Naomi is now 15 pounds, and 26 inches long. That puts her roughly at the height of a 6 month old. No wonder we had to start her on cereal last week! Yeeps!

 

Weird question

To all you mommies with kids in daycare or school: I've noticed that since Ben started daycare, he no longer smells the same and I find it kind of disturbing. He smells like the daycare, a combination of tempra paint and toddler sweat. I find it kind of sad that he doesn't smell the way he used to. Is that just strange? Has anyone else felt like this?

quiet days

Ben's now been in daycare a whole week. On the whole, it's been going very well. He still cries when Steve drops him off, but it's been getting steadily shorter. He loves going outside to the park most mornings, as well as the gym-time when it's too cold. He's totally charmed his teacher and a few other teachers with kisses and hugs. His classmates know that he doesn't talk, and they watch out for him like 7 tiny mothers, making sure that he hasn't lost Buddy and being super sweet. He's taking his naps there now, which is going very well. The only thing he's not doing is eating their delicious lunches, he's such a picky eater. I've been giving him lunch when we get home at 3, but I hope that he'll start to eat more than a few crackers and a muffin there soon. Today was minestrone soup, which I know he won't have touched.

I have had to deal with quiet mornings with the little lady. So far we have amused ourselves running errands and having extra long stretches of floor time. I still go to playgroup, but it's weird being there without Ben, I miss him. We are already starting to see some changes for the better though. He seems more responsive and quicker to learn new words. He's also started putting himself to bed, which we think is hilarious and convenient.

Being the calm, cool, and collected coward that I always am

Today was Ben's first day of daycare, and I of course sent Steve to drop him off because a) I am a big chicken and b) I would have broken down into tears and scared Ben and his entire class away from daycare forever. No, really. Instead, I chose to play the hero and pick him up before lunch, we're doing half days this week to break him in slowly. He was fine at the drop off, he found a toy fishing rod and hardly noticed when Steve left. I called at 10 to find out that he had had periods of crying, which is good considering that most kids cry non-stop on their first day. When I went to get him he didn't even notice that I had walked in, but almost all the other kids noticed the carseat I was carrying and came to investigate Naomi. She was a bit stunned by the five little faces bending over her. When Ben did see me, he ran over into my arms and was very happy. They had a good morning of playing in the gym (it was too cold to go outside today) and colouring and playing with dinosaurs and blocks. He was also very free with the hugs, so his teacher, Linda, is now attached, that kid really knows how to work a room. He was so tired that he barely made it through lunch at home before he collapsed into bed. All in all, a good day. Tomorrow will no doubt be a bit harder because Ben knows that we're leaving him there. Hopefully it won't be too bad.

Conversation with a stuffed crinkly chicken

Happy Birthday Steve!

My wonderful husband just got a little older today, but I love him anyway!

Ugh

As a Canadian, I am completely appalled by this family, they make us look bad. When you read this, you'll wonder what planet these people come from and what the hell they are teaching their kid. I hope they get what's coming to them and learn that finding something and not returning it is theft.

daycare

I must have a golden horseshoe implanted somewhere (no guesses please), because we have found Ben a place in what looks like a good daycare with little effort and no hanging around for a year on waiting lists. They had an immediate opening, so Ben can start March 1. I hope that he likes it, the facility looks good, clean, and organized. The providers seem very nice and competant, they have a good program with lots of activities, and the kids all seem very happy. They even have a speech therapist, so if he needs therapy, he could start in September. I got a bit teary during the meeting (I really wish I had better control of my eyes leaking), but Ben went from room to room playing with the various toys and art projects. He was a bit out of sorts today, very tired. We had a lot of activity this weekend.

Kuan and Alex came up and we had a great visit and a wonderful time at Lynda's bridal shower. It was so nice to be together with old friends. Maggie and her crew came over Saturday morning for brunch, Saturday night, Kuan's dad and step-mom came over for supper, Sunday morning Melanie came over for a quick visit, then the shower. We got home at 9 last night and collapsed. This week we have appointments for Ben, and I have to organize the craft for playgroup and make the goodie. Busy, busy! And next Wednesday, Ben starts daycare, sigh, I know that it's probably the right thing to do, but I'm not sure how I'm going to drop him off that first day and manage to not cry.

A few things

I have a few things brewing in my head and no time to write! Before they get stale or lost:

• I love the olympics! Especially the winter ones, you get all the great nordic names (Dordi, Antti, Jaako, Hedwig, Erben), and let me just say that I'm enjoying the event names too: Oval Lingotto (mr. robotto) and Sauze D'oulx (pronounced sozay dukes). There's also the amazing athletes in stretch garb, but because it's winter, you don't see them sweating all over the place. I also find winter sports more interesting on the whole, much faster and more dangerous, even the cross-country relay was fun to watch.
• Why is Roots doing the US outfits and Canada gets The Bay this year? We look like we're trying to be hip, but failing badly.
• Emanuel Sandhu and Johnny Weir are spoiled girlie-men. Buy a pair and stop whining and making excuses that blame everyone but you for screwing up. No one cares if you couldn't find your auras or you were upset about not going to the olympics in 98, you divas. Zang Dan fell so badly on a throw jump that I thought she'd broken something and she got up and skated the rest of her program perfectly-that's an athlete with heart!
• Ben said 'Momma' for the first time last week and I have a whole teary post in my head that may or may not see the light of day.
• My friend Kuan is coming up with her baby, Alex, today for the weekend and I can't wait to see her.
• We may have found a daycare spot for Ben in March, but I don't want to jinx it, it would be a miracle if it's true.

 

like a fish

My creation
Originally uploaded by dina the m and o.

Ben loves his swimming lessons

Pictures!

An evening session trying to get a valentine's photo for the grandparents:

Cauliflower soup and fresh rolls!

soup!
Originally uploaded by dina the m and o.

This is what happens when the kids' naps overlap by an hour.

The shower dilemma

If you're not a mommy, then you'll have a hard time relating to this one. When you are at home with small children, your own personal hygiene tends to take a backseat. You find yourself rubbing your tongue over your teeth at 2pm trying to remember if you brushed, wearing yesterday's socks and sweatpants because they were next to the bed when you woke up at 5am, and wondering if you'll ever be able to actually 'do' your hair again instead of just throwing it up in a ponytail. Your baby doesn't want you clean either. The minute one of your toes hits the inside of the bathtub, she immediately awakes from that deep nap she was in and demands that your smelly body come and pick her up before she bursts into flames.

It's at this crossroad that you have to make a decision - remain sweat-encrusted, or attempt to shower before your neighbour calls child services. Welcome to the mommy shower, the ability for moms the world-over to clean themselves in under two minutes. Long gone are the luxurious 15 minute showers using shampoo and conditioner. Mommy showers are direct, get straight to it affairs involving a flurry of activity with a bar of soap as you longingly gaze upon the lovely scrubs and loofahs, body washes, lotions, and face cleansers that remain untouched on the shelf since your baby was born. Never mind the foot soaking beads you got as a baby present from some thoughtful friend when your little treasure arrived, your feet will remain unsoaked until they hit puberty.

On days when I am completely out of the mommy shower zone, I shower after supper when there is another adult for my children to torture while I stand under the water trying not to hear the baby screaming while the toddler rattles the bathroom doorknob, anxious to run in and whip open the shower curtain and babble and  point at the water and shampoo now stinging my eyes. During one recent experience, I remembered the Jetsons. Do you remember George Jetson's conveyor belt morning ritual? Why hasn't anyone invented that yet? What are you smartypants people out there waiting for? What I wouldn't give to push a button and in minutes be washed, dressed, and styled with a cup of coffee and a paper in my hand! One thing's for certain, when it does happen, it will probably be invented by a woman.

Sink in

I haven't had a lot of time to think about writing a follow-up to my last post, and I certainly haven't had a lot of time for writing. I've spent some time looking at the list of web sites that the psychiatrist gave us - some sites talk about completely debilitating autism and scare me by saying things like most kids won't learn to talk or go to normal schools, some suggest that with prompt treatment Ben can be just like any normal kid. Until we go through the next series of evaluations, we don't know where he is on the 'spectrum'. We should be finished testing for the hospital on the 16 of this month, then we wait for a social worker for our neighbourhood to contact us, then another evaluation, then that social worker meets with the social workers from our area's adaptation centre to approve and decide on treatment. In the meantime, I'm looking for daycares and looking into my work insurance to see if private services are covered so that we can get started as soon as possible while we inch our way up the public waiting list. We are also on track to start a parent training program, part of a study by our psychiatrist, that will begin either April or September, depending on which group we're in. It's great living on a city that seems to conduct so much research because there are lots of extras we can get in on. Maybe it will help Ben, if it doesn't, it certainly can't hurt.

We're trying to push Ben a bit harder at home. We've always tried to get him to speak, but we've also tried to stand back a bit and let him develop at his own pace. Now, we're being more insistent, and it seems to be paying off. Yesterday, I got him to say 'juice' and Steve ran around the house with him touching walls and doors and saying 'wall' and 'door'. We hope that this means that he will respond well and fairly quickly to therapy. Speaking of therapy, he has an appointment with an occupational therapist in a couple of weeks.

The news was a shock, both Steve and I fully expected the doctor to say that he wasn't autistic in any way. I was pretty upset for a few days, but I know what a wonderful, beautiful, sweet, smart little boy he is and just how lucky we are to have him. This will undoubtedly be a minor blip on his way to great things and I'm happy that it's been diagnosed so early so that he can be treated before it becomes a problem.

Results

We had an appointment with a child psychiatrist today about Ben's lack of speech, and he's now been diagnosed with a mild autism. It's not so bad, but part of me is just shattered. Apparently, he should do very well with the right treatment (he really charmed the doctor), so now we wait for further evaluations and a mountain of meetings and appointments. The doctor said that daycare would be a good idea, ironic considering that we specifically wanted to avoid daycare because we thought that it would be better for our kids. Now we have to figure out how we manage to do meetings and appointments and afford (and find) the daycare and still take care of the baby and give her what she needs. I'm a little overwhelmed right now, I'm sure that it will sink in soon.

Speech impediment

I was watching a cooking segment on some talk show today and remembered just how much I hate it when people use the words "actually" and "literally". I'm guessing that how-to people on tv get paid for every one that they utter, "... then you actually just stir in the rice blah, blah ...", "you literally paint the wall purple and then you're done", ick! They bloat up a perfectly good sentence. I've been trying to listen to myself lately to discover what annoying speech ticks I have. I use "you know" wayyyyy too much, and I also say "so" a lot, probably because usually I'm halfway through a sentence and I forget what the heck I was saying. I may have conquered "like" and "um", although I'm not positive. It's embarrassing to realise that you sound like that annoying 13-year old you heard on the bus talking on her cell phone. When did this happen? I'm sure I used to speak like an adult. What I need is a device that whacks me in the back of the head when I screw up. Any ideas?

Another cute pic of my daughter