An ASD question for those in the know

Hi guys,

I will probably take this down but at the moment I'm stumped.

Majorly sensory ASD child.  Has done the colour thing with food btu it's mostly abotu textures and  look now. Last night he decided food (or maybe just dinner) needs to be shapes.  Last night was circles.  Tonight is supposed to be quadralatrals (so he can have rectangles and squares).

How the hell do I find out if he is joking without setting up the whole this gets a good response let's keep going with it?  What if it's real?  Camp is coming up soon.  I cna;t see them cuttign sandwiches into cicles for him!

Help!  And we don't have a psychologist either!

A good, eventful weekend

Mr E. was away interstate doing some nerd boy thing so we had the house to ourselves.  We did exciting things like go to Bunnings to check out lawnmowers and then ended up buying a new mower from the mower place.  The guys at the mower place had told me on Friday that ours was on it’s last legs.  Which was very true.  I got it home after it little trip to hospital and it ran for about 2 minutes and then refused to start again.

The new mower meant I could mow some lawn and now the children can play in that yard.

The grass may or may not have looked remarkably like this shot from www.helptourism.com although it would be slightly more realistic without the elephant!

Saturday's Highlight was Earth Hour.  If you don’t want to check out the link it’s basically an hour where people, business etc turn off their lights for an hour (it was 8.30 to 8.30pm on Saturday 27 March 2010) to raise awareness about Climate Change.

We played Upwords by candle light.  It was fun and we had drinks and popcorn ready to go.  Of course nothing at our place seems to go smoothly so there were a few issues.  While I will leave these events to your imagination they mostly involved bodily fluids as well as going to the toilet by torchlight. Once the lights came back on it was time for bed.  No long after Mr E came home.  Children got up again. Eventually everyone was in bed.

Today was pancakes for breakfast and then we all went to see How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. Considering I had no clue what it was about I liked it. Girl Child did get scared a few times but she scares easily. 

Today’s big excitement was that Girl Child lost her first tooth!

With Girl Child’s help, of course.  The adult tooth has been behind this tooth for quite a while and so we had been getting her to wiggle it but it seemed that sometimes a week went by without it getting even the slightest bit looser.  But it is finally out and so the tooth fairy will visit tonight, I hope as Boy child lost a tooth today as well. Might be a busy night for the Tooth Fairy, i think.

Given the eventfulness of the weekend I haven’t read many blogs but will be playing catch up tomorrow.

How was everyone else’s weekend?  What did you get up to? Did anyone else participate in Earth hour?

100th Post – 100 Things about me

To celebrate my 100th blog post, here are 100 things about me.  I stole the idea from Melissa over at Suger Coat It.  Her answers are here.

So here is my list. Some you my know, some you may know.  And as Melissa did I will try to keep the answers short.

1. Wife
2. Mother
3. Chocoholic
4. Insecure
5. Tired
6. Friend
7. Procrastinator
8. Messy
9. Insular
10. Wear Glasses
11. Jeans, T-shirt and sneakers wearer
12. No domestic goddess
13. Business Manager
14. P&C Treasurer
15. On School Board
16. Class room helper
17. Children’s chauffeur
18. Romance reader
19. Tea Drinker
20. Coffee Drinker
21. Pepsi Max Drinker
22. Coke Zero Drinker
23. Adult Orphan
24. Incompetent Form Completer
25. Occasional Sibling
26. Complicated
27. Non-Photogenic
28. Worrier
29. Brown haired
30. So not a girly girl
31. Serial volunteer
32. Boy Child and Girl Child’s Advocate
33. Supportive parent and partner
34. Self deprecating
35. Coeliac
36. Apparently good head for numbers
37. Love to sleep
38. Enjoy takeaway
39. Dog Owner
40. Rabbit Owner
41. Blogger since 25 October 2009
42. Overweight
43. IT incompetent
44. Love Lord of the Rings (book and movies)
45. Defender of the weak
46. Wishes life was fair
47. Play too many games on Facebook
48. Appear tough but in reality am very soft
49. Sucker
50. Sometimes think about taking up drinking alcohol
51. Sometime student (got to finish that course!)
52. Can be passive aggressive
53. Frustrated
54. Miss having time out with Mr E.
55. Stressed / stress head
56. Grateful
57. Wistful
58. Supportive
59. Alone
60. Sad
61. Hopeful
62. Hoping to learn how to make cards
63. Granddaughter
64. Niece
65. Cousin
66. Private (Why am I doing this list?)
67. Intense
68. Miss Mr E. already and he is only away for a night
69. Determined
70. Stubborn
71. Sensitive
72. Empathetic
73. Aloof
74. Still wondering what I’m going to do with my life
75. Glad I have my family
76. Dream of escape
77. Lonely
78. Sometimes Angry at the world
79. Hoarder
80. HATE Filing
81. Worry constantly about screwing my kids up
82. Watch the Biggest Loser hoping it will inspire me to get fit
83. Enjoy music
84. Enjoy reading not just romance
85. Always hope for a Happy ending
86. So very proud of my children
87. Love my family very, very much
88. Impressed by Mr E.
89. Uncoordinated
90. Want to be loved
91. Survivor
92. Smartarse
93. Currently listening to Pink
94. In awe of so many people
95. Strive to be a better person
96. Still wonder what Mr E saw in me
97. Wish I was normal (and not the setting on the dryer!)
98. Hungry as it’s almost lunchtime
99. Wanted to be a writer
100. So very glad this list is done!

So there you have it my 100th post and 100 random things about me.  I hope you managed to make it to the end.

 

Happy 100th post to me.

Been busy… back now

Have you missed me?  I’ve been out having a life.  Scary really.  Normally in the weekends we don’t do much but on the weekend just past I had things to attend Friday evening, Saturday evening  and two events on Sunday.  And I had coffee this morning.  One of the Sunday events was a party plan party so I was sort of relieved when I had other plans.

You see I’m one of those people… I think SUCKER is the correct word.  I often buy something (generally it appeals at the time) which I don’t need and may not use. Then I have to restrain myself from having a party just because if the host of the party I’m at doesn’t have enough sales and bookings then they won’t get their cheap or even free item!  It’s quite bizarre really because I’m not that good at having people in my house let alone a bunch of people in my house.  I spend the entire time from knowing date of the party stressing about cleaning the house and I end up throwing stuff into boxes or rooms with closed doors on the morning of whatever Party Plan event I have managed to talk myself in to or been talked into.

Friday evening was a farewell for someone moving to Western Australia.  It was one of those things scheduled to run all night so Boy Child, Girl Child and I showed up for the pre dinner drinks portion of the evening.  Mr E was at work later than expected so never made it.  It was weird seeing people I only see in one forum / aspect of my life in an different setting.

Saturday night was Fireworks! 20 minutes of pyrotechnics to music. Our family doesn’t ‘do’ crowds so instead of sitting in area with thousands of other people, we forego proximity and the ability to see the lower fireworks and go to a much quieter place.  There we park, have dinner and watch the sky light up surrounded by a few other families who aren't willing to brave the crowds either.  This particular night we were also sharing the space with cattle.  The area we go to was surrounded by cattle.  There was lowing and mooing to accompany the musical soundtrack to the fireworks.  The cattle odour which also added to the experience.  But a fun time was had by all, in our family at least.

I didn’t go to the Party plan event.  Instead I met up with some old family friends from interstate at a picnic. It was nice to catch up but strangely surreal as well.  I spent a lot of time with these people as a young child but as an adult don't have much contact with them.  Mostly because I am slack and don't write letters.

We do the catch up thing generally for weddings (my one and only), the birth of children (both of mine) and funerals (mum’s).  So there was also the whole ‘last time I saw you my life was a complicated mess’ from my point of view. 

It was interesting weekend.  With people leaving and people from the past visiting, I have been doing quite a bit of contemplation.  Why do some people have a major impact on our lives and others don’t?  What makes the difference? Is it us or them?

There is that poem about people being in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.  Maybe that really is how life works.  I wonder… What do you think?

Honest Scrap Award

The very lovely Lucy from Diminishing Lucy passed this award on just over two weeks ago.

Now I have been extremely remiss in not acknowledging this earlier so to Lucy – Thank you very much.  I love getting awards and have had this one before but I absolutely love getting awards.  So again: Thank you!

Honest Scrap Award Rules

1. You must brag about the award.

2. You must include the name of the blogger who gave you the award and link back to that blogger.

3. You must choose a selection of blogs that you find brilliant in honest content.

4. Show their names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with this award.

5. List at least ten honest things about yourself.

.........then pass it on with the instructions!

So honest things about myself. I suppose they have to be different to last times too.  Ummmm….okay here goes:

1. I only have 23 followers and some days this saddens me. I have to remind myself that I have only been blogging for a little while and I’m not very interesting.

2. Mr E has been blogging for way longer than I have but hardly has any followers.  Would it be bad to admit I really want to do a happy dance and say “I have have more followers than you Nerd Boy!”?

3. On Face book I now play Cafe world.  I think this has actually made me want to be a better cook in real life.  How sad is that?

4. While I did say last time I did this that I had no desire to read or see past the Twilight book and movie, I did just read The Host by Stephenie Meyer.  If she does write the possible follow ups to that I will probably read them, regardless of how many people I know who will tease me.

5. I am a talented vomiter.  Being Coeliac I have had quite a bit of practice after accidently ingesting gluten but I also threw up for all bar 2 weeks of both my pregnancies.  Yes way too much information.

6. I was going to put number 5 in at number 4 but then thought people would think it related to my cooking.

7. It appears that I have a black thumb when it comes to growing edible things.  I have killed the chives and parsley I was given (and they apparently grow like a weed) and the only potatoes we have harvested so far were tiny and appear inedible.

8. We only have made it to school before the first bell twice so far this year.  It’s on my 101 list to make it every day for a week a certain number of times.

9. I have only told 2 people I know if real life that I blog.  And I’m not planning on telling anyone else.  Mr E., Boy Child and Girl Child know as well but that is it.

10. I am embarrassed to admit some (or maybe most) of these things.  But I’m not going to tell you which one/s aren't embarrassing!

And now for the recipients.  These are some honest blogs I have discovered fairly recently and I apologise if you don’t do awards!:

Katrina from Little Tassie Terrors

Amy over at New Adventures in Dreamworld

and Lulu at Unperfect Life

And on that note, Goodnight All. I’m going to bed.

Hello People….

Well it’s been almost a week since I posted.  And I have missed at least one possibly two of the Muse Challenges!  Darn it!

On the plus side, I got:

• to eat all my blueberry muffins myself,
• had a celebratory coffee with W. when Girl Child made it back to school after attending 1.5 days out of 8.  These days consisted high temperatures, 3 doctors visits with the diagnosis of two different viruses and a double ear infection.  Poor kid.  She has finished her antibiotics but she her ear hurts the majority of times when she sneezes (any ideas anyone?). It supposedly it wasn't ruptured but I wouldn't be surprised if it did as gunk came out of that ear for 3 days.
• I finally got to see my friend and Baby E.  And I got to touch his foot.  It’s funny how small babies are even almost 4.5 kg ones… until you look around and see the tiny, tiny babies.
• I gave J some magazines to read while she is visiting Baby E. or expressing or whatever, some singlets for Baby E. and I drove her to the hospital and probably will next week at least once too.  It was so good to actually be germ free and able to catch up with her.

On the negative side I:

• dumped a vaguely edited life story on W. because I was trying to explain why I was frustrated by something.  Oops sorry W.  Luckily she seemed okay before and after I did it which was good but I don’t normally discuss it with people.
• still have my second job.  It’s only casual and about 2 hours a week that I do at home but I was kind of hoping someone would volunteer to do it instead.
• am getting a cold again.  Sore throat, headache, stuffed nose etc.  Very very annoying!

So did anyone miss me?  Did you think I had fallen off the face of the earth?  Yeah okay, I’m sick and feeling needy….so my abandonment issues are showing.  You would think I would get over it eventually.  Unfortunately I think it’s like chocolate in my life… it’s always going to there but not always acknowledged or entertained.

What’s your issue today?  Or your vice of choice at the moment?

Email me if you like!

Culinary Fail – Blueberry muffins

Recently Boy child was given a blueberry muffin at school.  He not only ate it but he liked it!  It’s rare that he attempts new foods let alone eats them and tells me about it.  For him it is an ASD thing.

I bought some from the shops pre-packaged muffin bars, not the some brand but thankfully they went down well, and he was happy with them.  So I thought: Okay I like muffins and blueberries let’s buy some blueberries and make some Gluten free ones so I can eat them as well.  And they might be healthier too. Mr E.doesn't like blueberries so his thoughts didn’t come into it.

I had all the stuff out to make them and Boy Child suddenly suggests that we use the packet butter cake mix in the cupboard and add the blueberries to that.  His theory is that he really likes the cake so adding blueberries should work. I thought about it and decided I wanted to do it from scratch.

Well I made them.  They look like this:

We ended up with 12 small / medium size muffins and 6 mini muffins. No nice regular shapes here but I thought they looked okay.

The verdict?

Boy Child: No offense Mum, I like the blueberries but the rest tastes like hotdog buns.

Girl Child: Yuck.  I don’t like them. The blueberries are burnt.

So it appears that I have a lot of muffins to eat. I did reduce the sugar and oil a little in order to try to make them healthier.  Girl Child has been sick for 10 days and it seems her sense of taste is a little affected.  Maybe when she is better she will like them… I hope.

Next time I will be just adding blueberries to a packet cake mix as Boy Child  wanted.  Wish me luck!  I don’t think my culinary ego can take another battering too soon.

Missing Muse Challenge

Melissa from The Things I’d Tell You posted this challenge.

I'm issuing a blog challenge to my writing friends.  I know that our blogging mojo has been on an extended hiatus, and that I'm not the only one struggling to coax her back.

So - a pictorial challenge.  I love people watching, as I'm sure most writers do. Imagining their stories, wondering who they're meeting, where they're going, where they've been.   I've selected the above photo.

You have 48 hours to tell me about this woman.  Where she is going, or where she has come from.  Is she meeting someone?  Fleeing something?  500 words or less.

I haven't written fiction for a long time so please be nice.  It’s got no title at the moment.  I purposely haven’t read any other entries because I didn't want those influence me. For some reason I had the Beatles song ‘She’s leaving home’ running through my head after looking at the picture. Anyway here it is and I made it with one word to spare.

 

Right, she thought looking around. That’s it. There’s nothing left. The suitcase was filled with her belongings was half empty. But she had her good dress and shoes on.

Tap, tap, tap. Her heels marked her progress as she pulled her bag across the black and white tiles. She took a final look around before heading out. The house was silent and empty.

Out the door, down the few stairs and to the street. The cracked pavement made it difficult to walk quickly but she was eager to get away. She reached the bus stop. She hoped she hadn’t missed the bus but there had been no timetable in the house. And getting out had taken longer than she had expected. But she was on her way now and it didn’t matter how long it took for the bus to arrive.

The bench was wooden and narrow but more than adequate to sit and rest while waiting for the bus. And rest she did. After the events of the last few days she was very tired. She shut her eyes and let the past wash over her. Scenes flashed through her head. The man, the blood, the ambulance, the police.

Thankfully, the bus arrived and stopped the scenes running through her head. She climbed on board with her suitcase. She could finally look to the future.

The rhythmic swaying of the bus was comforting. The trip was a few hours and hers was the last stop. She got off the bus and walked. Her destination wasn’t far. She walked slowly but her speed picked up as she neared her destination. Another house, similar to the one she had left but this one was filled with life. The excitement quickened not only her steps, but her pulse as well.

Walking faster and faster, her heels staccato on the pavement. Almost there. Rounding the corner she stopped. She touched her hands to her hair to check it was still neat and grasped the suitcase handle again. Taking a deep breath she walked more sedately. Finally, she had made it!

She pushed open the little gate and walked up the path to the doorway. She raised the knocker and let it fall. She heard footsteps coming from the back of the house. Her breathing quickened with anticipation. The door swung open.

“I’m back!” she said with a smile in her voice. Strong arms reached out to hold her. She sighed and relaxed into them. Little footsteps came up the hallway.

“Mummy, mummy.” A little voice greeted her.

“Hi Sweetie, I’ve missed you.” She reached out to the child. “How have you been?”

“I been good. Haven’t I, Daddy?” Little hands tugged strong arms.

She looked up into the man’s eyes and smiled. He asked gently, “How did it go?”

“It’s done,” she said. “I’ve packed up the house. The police came. The funeral will be next week.”

She sighed. “It’s for the best. Dad didn’t want to live there without her anyway.”

My younger self – Blog This challenge

What would you tell yourself?  Would you give advice?  What advice would that be? Ask about your perception of the world?  Give us an idea of who you think you were or who you think you'll be in the future...

If I could go back and meet myself I think I would give advice.  Like many of the others who have entered this challenge I’m not sure I would want my younger self to change things.  Well at least not too many because I am who I am due to the life I have led.  I’m not saying there are things I wouldn’t change if I had the choice but if I did would I be the same person I am today?  Would I have my husband (would I even be married? To the same guy?) Would I have my children? What would I be doing with my life?

To my high school self:

Please accept when asked to dance by your gorgeous and lovely PE teacher at your Year 10 formal.  To this day this is one of my great regrets.

To me living away from home:

Living pretty much only on 2 minutes noodles with frozen vegetables for months while trying to save for a house deposit is a really, REALLY silly idea!

To my newly married self:

Enjoy the the time you have with your husband.  Once you have children there’s a lot less time for just the two of you.

To me after the birth of Boy child:

This year is going to be tough.  Take lots of photos to help you remember things.  When the Dr says ‘possible hysterectomy’ it will be okay. In the next 5.5 months spend lots of time with your Dad.  And maybe when you have that conversation with your mother…make sure you tell your dad how much you love him.

To me as the mother of two children:

I know almost all photos of Girl Child are digital, but you should print some and make an album for her.  She loves looking at Boy Child's album so please do one for her and update his as well. Remember to spend time with them as they grow up so fast.

To me as a wife:

When Mr E. gives you flowers out of the blue one day please don't burst into tears and ask him what he has done wrong.  Not all men only give flowers to apologise for something.  Say thank you and you might actually keep getting them occasionally. This is another thing I really regret.

To me as a daughter:

Your relationship with your mother is always going to be turbulent. Enjoy the good bits when you have them.  Nurture your children’s relationship with her so they have happy memories of her.

Most of all

Try to learn to like yourself.  Like everyone, you have flaws but they don’t make you a bad person or unlikable.

If you choose to go against your instincts there will be consequences.  Think about that.

And finally, Chocolate is good in moderation.  3 chocolate bars in a work day is NOT moderation.

Why do I bother? aka My hypocrisy…

Now this is the post I started last week before I found out about Baby E.  Now for those who are interested, Baby E. is doing well and is awake and breathing on his own at 5 days old!  Go Baby E. !!! This is for you because I can’t come near you.

 

Here it is warts and all. With probably way more angst than it should have because all the little things at the moment feel like an overwhelming tide of things that are going to drown me.  Feel free to leave now before the pity party begins.

 

 

You are still here?  Right then, lets get on with it.

I’m a slob and I’m always generally late.  Which are things that annoy the rest of the world.  Due to the first reason we don't have people over.  I don’t feel comfortable with people in my space and I think (but don’t quote me on this) at least part of the reason I can’t manage to clean up is because I really don't want to have people over.  Which is bad as far as friendships go.  Especially for Boy Child who needs to reciprocate the very few play dates he is actually asked on.

The second is the reason on of my 101 in 1001 things is to be at school before the first bell for some period of time I don't remember.  Every day for 5 weeks or something I think it is but hey that brings me to another point I’m too damn lazy to look it up.

So having acknowledged some of my many flaws I will now let you know where the hypocrisy comes in.  Now the events below all occurred in a 1 or 2 day period and I did have a cold or perhaps I have what Girl child has so that always makes me more negative.

I had missed something I was interested in and was texting someone with the information to find out what had happened.  The response I got was “Fill you in tomorrow. Come early!!!!” Yes, there were 4 exclamation marks.  So I took that to mean that there was something I needed to know and I should be there early.  Arrived early - 20 minutes early in fact and was greeted by no one.

When the person did arrive, they said hi to me and they spent the next 10 minutes talking to people who had been at the meeting about other things. Apparently there was nothing to talk to me about.  I just found that rude.  Me – the slack late and antisocial person finding that situation rude seems more than a little hypocritical to me.

Then there was the whole applying for volunteer positions at two different places.  One was by email.  Which I did after discussions with Mr E.  No response. I know, I know emails do get lost and maybe they were swamped.  But it was just another Why did I bother? moment for me.

Of course it didn't stop me from applying for the next voluntary position.  I nominated with 30 minutes to go.  I’d had over a week to decide and still hadn’t quite made up my mind.  But I bit the bullet and nominated.  Over a week later there was still no response.  No ‘thank you for your interest’ (and this one was on paper in a box so no email getting lost this time around), no ‘we had lots of nominations and will need to go to a vote’ (which I expected).  Nothing, not a word.  And again I think why did I bother?

I know I’m late, and a slob but I really try hard to be polite and acknowledge people.  Maybe my flaws just overshadow the good points I think I have.

So does anyone else (aside from me) think I’m being hypocritical?

I’ve got chocolate in the house today so I can take it!