That's Entertainment

This weekend we entertained...a lot. Fun was had by all. Friday night Joe and I were able to go out for dinner alone at The Outback.

We stopped by the mall to ride the carousel. Maizie has been talking about it ever since.Saturday we had our neighbor Michael over for dinner. He is a talented local artist who works mainly in oil pastels. Michael has lived in California, came back and has lived in West Central for ten years. Seems like just when you think you are out of West Central they pull you back in! John and Cindy joined us and we all sat around talking and talking, eating and eating. Our typical wild get togethers.

On Sunday we went to the zoo at nine in the morning. The best time to go. All the animals are playful and you almost have the place to yourself. We went to Lyra and Chet's (Angie's kids from the Learning Garden) birthday party later in the day. Joe and some other dads tried to make animal balloons. Lets just say that did not go to well and the kids all kinda looked at the creations with a mixture of confused awe and disappointment. We all had fun trying despite the results.

After the party Mike, Beth and the girls came over for a hot dog cook out. Our first out door meal of the season was a relaxing good time. We may not have the fanciest set up but when the company is good it does not matter.

Today Maizie and I went to tutoring. Before we went I had my car washed and vacuumed it out on our side of town. We drove to the North side for tutoring. Downtown was sunny and beautiful, out north was rainy with hail. It never fails that it rains after I wash my car. It never did rain in our neighborhood. My car was shiny and clean for about fifteen minutes. Money well spent.

We Are 'Country' Now

Joe has been working till around two or three in the morning preparing for and teaching a CISCO class. Today was the last day of teaching so he might actually get to go to bed at a decent time. He is meeting our pastor and some guys from church for coffee tonight. He finally gets to leave the house!

We are going to make a stop and go sign to put on the basement door. Maizie takes every opportunity to sneak down to see Joe when he is working. This would be okay except for when he is in the middle of teaching or handling a crisis situation. The idea is Maizie will see the red sign and know dad is not available. Green will let her know dad is ready for a visit. People from Radvision seem to enjoy "conferencing" with Maizie. Some have even admitted to becoming addicted to Maizie's blog. Hopefully the stop and go sign will put an end to Maizie wondering if she can make her way downstairs or disregarding having just been told she should stay upstairs.
Tuesday Christian spent the night. We went to the zoo for the first time this year. They had a blast riding on the train. They were both in bed early and sound asleep within seconds. It was great.

It has been nice trading play dates with Beth whenever possible. She had Maizie to her house a few hours on Tuesday and I had her girls here today. This time has enabled me to get homework done without interruption. My class ends this week! Yes! Too bad I go right into an American History class next.

Maizie had tutoring today. I am trying to get caught up on reading the On Cloud Nine manual. After getting Maizie's test results back we know she has problems with visualizing. Difficulty in this area makes math and comprehension pretty difficult. We ordered the Lindamood Bell V/V program for Visualization and Verbalization.

Country music is Maizie's latest interest. She loves Dolly Parton's song Jolene. Belts it out in the car and begs me to play it over and over again. Joe and I bought her a classic country mix CD to find out what country singers she likes. We discovered this interest because she would beg me to stop on all the country stations. We know her birth mother listened to country music all the time when she was pregnant. It must have soaked in since Joe and I are country illiterate. We would be more into the White Stripes cover of Jolene. I have to admit that a few of the songs are growing on me, including Dolly's.

Sunny Sunday

Sunday was a beautiful day. Maizie and Darwin were relaxing at the park. Beth, Mike and the girls met us there to play. At home we set out the patio furniture. Jim, our new friend from church joined us for dinner. John and Cindy were waltzing around the hood and stopped in for a visit. A nice, lazy, sunny day. Yes!

"Are There Killers in America?"

Tonight during dinner Maizie asked, "Are there killers in America?" Maizie does not have much access to news or the Internet. She must have heard me or someone discussing something about the Virginia killings. That sucks. Or it could be that we took her to see Night At The Museum today where there was some miniature fighting taking place.

Joe and I were both pretty shocked. Unprepared. I tried to avoid the question until she said, "You did not answer my question! Are there killers in America?"

We have had discussions on safety many times. Talks about strangers and how adults don't always have to be obeyed. But, this question brought a new depth of concern for Maizie. She kept pushing the conversation. Why are people bad? Where are the bad people? Will they shoot me?

We did not make the world seem all rosy but tried our best to explain that there are good and bad people in the world. It is hard to explain this without terrifying a kid.

I know we have fewer fears compared to where some families live. We are truly fortunate. Part of me wished that Maizie did not need to know about bad people killing other people. I don't think totally shielding her from the evil in the world would do her any favors in life though.

Children need to know the truth about our world, in a way that they can understand it. This is difficult since I have a hard time understanding evil myself.

What a relief it is to be able to tell her that God is always with us. Even in this broken world he continues loving us. God will protect us through good and bad. If I did not have this to fall back on I don't know how I would comfort her through her new found fears.

On Cloud Nine

Maizie and I are starting the Lindamood Bell math program. We are fortunate to have Maizie's tutor guiding and teaching us.

Math has been a constant struggle for Maizie. It has taken us years just to help her understand that six pieces of candy is representative of the number six. On a good day she gets it, on a bad day it seems we go back to square one.

It was the same way with recognizing the alphabet. We started with looking at drawings of mouths making a letter sound. She copied the face and practiced the sound. Then, we put the sound with it's letter. Soon, the sounds worked together to make words. Before we knew it Maizie was reading and talking with a bit more confidence. It sounds simple but it took a whole lot of practice.

With Lindamood Bell we are helping her develop a concrete visual image of a number in her mind. It seems way back to basics but she is "air writing". She writes the number really big in the air in front of her. The goal is to get the number's image to "stick" in the "mind's eye". She closes her eyes and sees the number in a color. We also use cubes or objects to represent the number, she looks at them and then air writes the number. This should help her "have the concept or reality of what a given numeral represents."

We are also working on visualizing and verbalizing the number line. This goal is to "establish an imaged number line for both the gestalt and parts of number relationships." Maizie gets easily confused moving along the imaginary number line but she enjoys the process.

Maizie can add up to three digits quite well on paper. But, conceptually she is slow to understand what number is more or less or that when we add we are going up. One digit subtraction is doable but more complicated for her than addition. We have been working on simple addition and subtraction, number recognition and counting since Maizie was a toddler. Now that reading is solid we will devote more time to using Lindamood Bell for math. I am really excited about this.

Organizing and Fun With Friends

We had a nice weekend. Especially once the sun came out! Joe and I went on an organizational frenzy Saturday morning. I was feeling the weight of messy shelves with all of our new homeschooling stuff and paperwork was piling up. Joe took on the kitchen...again. He threw out utensils we never use and several other kitchen gadgets that have never seen the light of day. It was great. We both felt a bit lighter afterwards.

Saturday night Rod, Rhonda and Madelyn came over for dinner. Maizie and Madelyn had fun playing dress us up. We watched the new show Notes From the Underbelly with them. It is really quite funny. I am hoping it gets better and better. It has been so long since a new show has made us laugh that much. Joe and Rod used to work together and have been friends ever since. Sunday Maizie woke up happy and we went to church. Maizie went home with Marie to spend the night. Joe and I went out with John and Cindy to Smokey Bones. We talked for over two hours. Time flies when you're having fun.

Today I had to pick up Maizie at Christian's eye doctor so Marie could get his broken glasses dropped off. Maizie accidentally stepped on them last night. Maizie was so tired when we came home. She said when she was at Marie's her eyes kept opening and just would not stay closed. I could tell we were in for a rough day. She slept for about an hour and woke up feeling much better.

We ended up having to miss tutoring so Maizie could sleep. Luckily, Jeannie can meet with her tomorrow. But, that means we have to miss going to The Learning Garden...again. I am still trying to get Maizie on a schedule that keeps working. Every day I just don't know how she will do. I am a very planned person. One thing Maizie is teaching me is how to be more flexible.

La De Da Day

I am trying not to get frustrated with this weather....but.....make it stop! Please! My nephew Christian drew a picture today with dark gray clouds hovering over his little stick person drawing. Maizie and Christian were going stir crazy tonight. They need to be outside playing! It was so windy, wet and cold out all day.

Maizie and I made a tent this morning, complete with her television and Groovy Girl dolls. She was in her tent up until tutoring. Nothing brightens a gloomy day like an indoor tent. Cozy.

Joe sent me out searching for skirt steak. No luck at Fresh Market. He called Jamison's Meats and they had a couple pounds. I picked that up after Maizie's tutoring. He then ordered two more pounds from another Jamison's store it town. He has big plans for the skirt steak dinner he is planning for Saturday night. I hope it is good! We have never bought skirt steak before. While at Jamison's I could not resist picking up some lamb.

Tonight we had chicken tacos for dinner. This morning I had thrown some frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot with a can of chicken broth and a taco seasoning packet. Shredded the meat at dinner time and Joe sauteed some red pepper and sweet onion. Christian would not even try them. They were really good and our house smelled like Mi Pueblo all day. Talk about easy. I love my crock pot.

Sleepy Easter and a Better Monday

Easter was a bit of a mess for me. I was in pain from my endometriosis. So...I had to resort to some vicodin which pretty much knocked me out for the day. Thankfully. Between that and my Interstitial Cystitis (IC) I was not a happy camper. Today is better. When it gets this bad I begin to worry that I will need surgery again. I think I was on the verge of panic Sunday. I am so thankful I am on medications now to make the IC way better. Once this week is over I will be feeling all better for a few more months. At least I have that to look forward to!

Joe and Maizie went to Aunt Julie's without me. They had a nice time and Maizie came home with an adorable Easter basket from Julie and Maizie's Grandma got her a Magic of the Rainbow Barbie. I can not believe I missed Easter. Bummer.

Saturday night Maizie did sleep through the night but woke us up early to see if the Easter Bunny came. The Easter Bunny had brought Maizie a book to collect the state coins in and hid eggs all over the house with quarters. Maizie had fun putting the quarters in the book. The Easter Bunny also brought her an Easter Egg outfit for her Build A Bear Cat and some candies.
Today Maizie began working with her tutor Jeannie at Specialty Tutoring. Maizie was so excited to see Jeannie. Maizie has been waiting to work with Jeannie all year. Every time we passed her building she would insist we had to start tutoring right away! I think she could barely contain herself during the session. Jeannie always has creative ways to help Maizie learn. The first couple of sessions she is testing Maizie to see where she is at. It will be interesting to see the results.

Joe had the idea to get Maizie a Gameboy. Maizie has been showing an interest in playing the X Box and does okay with the few kid appropriate games we have. We tried finding some kid X Box games and could not find any Maizie was interested in. The Gameboy has fun, nice games. I was amazed with how good the screen looks. I thought it would have more pixilation. Maizie is really excited to try it out and I am praying that she will get the hang of it.

I really need to get to bed. Good night!

One White Pixel

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Just Another Snowy April Day

It snowed today! Amazing. Bummer. I want to go back to wearing flip flops!

I went early to Wal Mart for food fixings. Came home and began cooking for Easter Sunday and put together a salad for our dinner at Beth's house. The entire time Maizie is starting to act nervous and I am worrying we will have to cancel our dinner date.

Maizie was not having a good day this morning. She woke up seeming tired and pale. Before we knew it she was in melt down mode and said, "I can't stop thinking about wanting pumpkin bread." The obsession changes throughout the melt down, her demands don't make a whole lot of sense. Lately, she has been using her increasing vocabulary. She says, "I really don't like this situation!" We are happy she is using more words to try and communicate what is going on when she gets so upset. This is great progress for her.

After a while she calmed down enough to color Easter eggs. This may not have been the best egg coloring experience since by this time Joe and I were both tired and frustrated. Maizie was having a difficult time focusing. Her eyes were red with tears and she looked exhausted. We wanted to go out to lunch, get Joe out of the house! No luck.

Later, Joe went to The Food Coop and then picked us up Subway. Maizie went on to build a tent, play a computer game and was in a pretty good mood most of the day.

We walked down to Beth and Mike's for dinner. Maizie was very happy to see her friends. She had a great time playing at Beth's house. Onika and Moreah made us lots of beautiful hearts that hang from red fuzzy pipe cleaners. It was great to get out of the house and have good conversation. Maizie and the girls, including Azriel were all dancing to princess music. A house full of ballerinas!

Once home we got Maizie ready for bed. She asked me to lay with her for a while. We cuddled and she leaned over, kissed me and said, "You are the bestest mom Jesus ever made." So sweet. Then she said, "Nose kiss." We rubbed noses. She makes my heart sing! We talked about why we celebrate Easter. She asked me if God made the Easter Bunny. I tried not to bring up the Easter Bunny for the last few days. Any kind of holiday excitement leads to night time wakings and increased melt downs. Our holidays are usually very low key. I was hoping she would have forgotten about the bunny visiting. No luck. I told her the Easter Bunny needs her to sleep ALL night long. I do too!

April is Autism Awareness Month

Today's Oprah was all about Autism. I am glad they pointed out the range of autism that children can have. Doctors and the community should be aware of the wide range of skills and health difficulties these children have. Parents know their children and should be taken seriously.

Check out the Autism Speaks video Oprah referenced here. Maizie still meets the criteria for high functioning autism. It is amazing that we know her exact cause of behavioral and seizure problems. An extra chromosome 6. This makes Maizie's autism different. Which explains why some autism supports have helped Maizie and why many don't.

April is Autism Awareness month. I would like to encourage everyone to be less judgemental and more supportive when you see a child throwing a tantrum or exhibiting "different" behavior at a store or restaurant.

Children like Maizie have so much to teach us. They have a capacity for love that is amazing.

My Day of Play

Today Maizie went to Christian's and spent the night. I was on my own for the day! First, I met Mindy for lunch at Cosmos. We had a great time laughing over her teenage twin daughter's inquiry into her past. She told her girls that I did way worse things when I was a teen than she did! Too funny!

Next, I went shopping for Joe's birthday gift. That went well. No peeking Joe!

Once home Darwin and I went for a forty five minute power walk down town. At one point Darwin was on my left and he seemingly jumped straight up to the top of a retainer wall and walked along it as if he had done it a million times. The wall was about four feet tall. It was so funny. I swear he jumped like a bunny. We saw lots of adorable puppies in the neighborhood. You can tell it is Spring!

After the walk Darwin and I took a long uninterrupted nap. Yeah!

At five Joe finished work and came up from the dungeon. We wanted to try the restaurant Toscani downtown. Our original plan was to walk there but it began raining. The pizza was quite yummy and we liked the warm atmosphere.

Before movie time we bought Darwin a new crate. He suffers from crate anxiety but gets into trouble when left home alone. I guess he has separation anxiety. Poor guy. We went for a plastic one this time. It looks a lot less obnoxious in the house than our old metal one.

Later when we went outside to take Darwin out we noticed a transformer on fire in our alley. We watched as the fire men watched. They were waiting for the fire to burn itself out. You could see the pole burning in one spot down to nothing. On the weekend the same thing happened to a different pole in the alley. Apparently, the squirrels are getting a little too frisky. We knew it was only a matter of time before our electricity would go out and the movie we had started would go unfinished.

We jumped in the car and saw the 9:45 showing of Blades of Glory. We had so much fun. The movie was silly and full of laughs. There is a story line of an adoptive parent throwing his grown adopted son out into the street and the father talks about reversing the adoption. So, I would not let Maizie watch it until she is older. I think it would freak her out. I don't like story lines like that. They seem a bit unnecessary. Oh, well.

When we got home the clocks were flashing and all was well.

Making Easter Cookies

Today we went to church, Community Christian Reformed. Everyone there wanted to know about Maizie's diagnosis. They have all been a huge support for us. We took Maizie's cousin Christian home with us and made Easter sugar cookies. They had a great time. Check out Maizie's blog for more cookie pictures.