S Club Mama

Usually I've made peace with most things autism-related (besides any vaccine-related comments, ugh). But sometimes it's the small things that Moose can't do that just frustrate me to no end! For example: getting him to look me in the eye when he talks is like getting a tooth pulled without Novocain, getting him to pay attention to you when there are mirrors or reflective surfaces around (he loves to look at himself and watch himself talk), getting him to obey the first time (which goes for both kids), getting him to respond to his own name, getting him to stop repeating (which is his echolalia where he repeats movie/tv scripts over and over and over and over and over....). All small things but they just add up. Tonight, I was trying to get him to learn how to take his temperature the normal way (in the mouth vs. under his arm). We have one of those temporal thermometers but I've never been impressed with the accuracy of it. I showed him how to lift his tongue, I...

Today was Moose's Christmas party and it went pretty well. He's been VERY defiant at school and at home lately. You tell him one thing and he wants the opposite - fairly consistently. But he ended up standing up and singing with his classmates (definitely not as well as he did at church but he could see me today). Overall a really good party. Then I get home and read his planner notes for today. "Kept wanting a gun at school (used a block). I finally had to get really firm (no guns at school - we don't want to hear it again - Mr. G [the principal] says no guns at school). Then [Moose] said, "I'm getting frustrated. I want to go home." He says this quite often when told NO." What do I do? I can't think of where he would pick up guns from. Yes, he watched The Fox and the Hound, but that doesn't sound like a rifle he was wanting if he used a block. And he's never pretended to use a gun at home, ever! I'm scouring my mind to wrap it ar...

Ironic to follow a post titled "blessed" with one titled "discouraged" but that's how I'm feeling today. My sons are terrific - honestly. But gosh, their listening skills are lacking. I feel like they just don't listen. With Moose, I tell him to (for example) sit down to poop. He says, "no pee!" If I tell him to pick up his cars, it's "no play with cars!" It's naptime, "no awake." I tell him no, he says yes. It's so frustrating. I'm only half joking when I say I think Squirt may be a bit deaf. The child honestly acts as if he doesn't hear me much of the time. I would not be surprised if a hearing screening came back with concerns. Today at school, Moose pulled a friend's ears (twice) and knocked over the blocks (twice). His teacher said he was being a bit defiant. They tried a weighted vest to help calm him down and get him to stop sucking his thumb. I read this in his bring home notebook...so s...

Yesterday for Sunday School, we tried Moose out in his age-appropriate room (he had been in with the 2-year-olds still). It seemed to go well; his teacher said he was good and listened to her when they needed to sit down and color or listen to the lesson. When I got there, he was playing with "Thomas" (actually Gordon but whatever, they're both blue). Happy as can be...then another boy took the train - screaming. I go over and the other teacher gives Moose back the train...happy. I tell him we're going to go sit in church - screaming. I told him he could stay and play then. I leave - screaming. I go back and we repeat (go to church - scream, me leave - scream). Once more and then Big A went in and just got him. Huge meltdown. They walk around outside for 10 minutes while Squirt and I go in to worship. Our big duo comes back in and Squirt gets squirmy (not unusual). Big A takes him out and Moose sits beside me. Then he decides he wants his cars...I forgot them at home ...

My boys eat two snacks per day. I'll be honest, they eat a lot of crackers. Ritz, goldfish, graham, saltine. Frankly, I know it's probably not good for them to eat that many crackers. They don't need that many carbs in a day (I'm not trying to put them on a diet or anything but I do want them to eat healthily). So here's my question: what do your kids have for snacks? Do you know any healthy, cheap, and easy snack ideas (preferably ones I don't have to feed the baby)?

My apologies for the lack of posts so far this week. I feel like it's been forever since I posted (although I do realize that it was only last Thursday). Sunday was my first 5 mile run. I even ran it on the treadmill (only stopping once for a potty break)! I've been busy helping Big A enter the world of loving Lord of the Rings. We're all the way through the first and partway into the second. He likes them. He is just very hesitant to watch new (very very long) movies. He's weird. I had my book party last Saturday. A few wonderful ladies showed up and I think we had a good time. Next time though, I need to shove cupcakes in their faces because only one ate one! tsk tsk who passes up a good cupcake? LOL I will post pictures whenever I stop being too lazy to upload pictures onto the computer. They turned out darling and I finally got to use my cupcake stand. Prayers are needed for my family. I don't think I ever got back with you about my mom's test - ever...

On the recommendation of a MOPS mom after hearing that I intend to let Squirt "cry it out" within the next month or so, I checked out "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems" from my local library. I haven't read it all...nor do I intend to. Were there good ideas that probably work? Yes. But I was insulted by her saying that it's cruel to let my child cry it out, like I'm neglecting him. No, I'm not. It's how I teach him to put himself to sleep. And Moose never felt abandoned. He trusts me completely, thank you very much. I'm completely insulted that anyone would claim otherwise. I was also insulted when she said that babies don't know anything about sleeping or eating when they're born. I'm sorry, eating and sleeping are about the only things the poor dears DO know. My son(s) knows when he is tired and when he's hungry. I may not know these things (seriously, his cries sound exactly the same unless he's super upset),...

He's at it again. Moose bit me 3...count them: 1, 2, 3 times. I don't know how to make him stop. I figured today, he bit me because he was frustrated. But I don't know what he wanted at all. He's at that in between age where he just doesn't have a word for what he wants, so I can't understand him all the time. I know it's frustrating for me so I imagine it is for him, too. I can feel it in his body when he's frustrated; it tenses up and he'll give a little shout sometimes. Then he may start crying, too. So I pick him up to try and comfort him and understand him. This often makes him more frustrated because he doesn't like to be held down (like during shots) so he'll lean in. That's when he bites. It's not like a big chunk of my skin but it hurts! I've calmly told him "no." I've hollered "ow." I've grabbed his face & said "no." (don't worry it's not hard...no harder than a squishy f...

Sometimes I feel like I'm ill-equipped (yes, I love Juno , get over it) to be a mother. I love my son and I've done a (pretty) good job with him (I think and so I've been told - thank you dear Mrs. Spiderlegs and my dearest hubby). However, I'm always at a loss to what the next step is. My dilemma now is: weaning from the bottle. Moose does NOT understand the sippy cup. I've even tried different kinds. I don't want to use a sippy anyway (at least not most of the time), but I would like him to know how to use one. But he understands the cup, but is NOT good at it. I'm so afraid that he won't get all of the milk he'll need once we take his bottle away. Plus, he's really attached to the bottle! Our 8 oz bottles are on the fritz (I don't know) and so I've switched to giving him 4 oz in his 6 oz bottles (after I dug them out of the basement). He doesn't even like me to take away the empty one for the full one! Also, when do I stop giving ...