Serenity Now!

November 4, 2006

School pictures are in! These are the best we’ve ever had. We’re so happy we could cry.

Halloween was fun. We had some of the kids’ best friends join us for trick-or-treating. They had a blast. Isaak is the Grim Reaper in the middle, and Maggie/Audra is the cute pirate.

Isaak had said he was “too old” to go trick-or-treating, but once Cameron came, I guess he was young enough again! We ended up having a great time, but it was dang cold!

Kids came home with too much candy, the like of which Katie (the dog) got herself into the next day. Glad to see she’s still with us, cuz she ate a TON of candy while we were at work.

I was looking at that ball of rags today, realizing how big she’s getting. Only about 7-8 months, and she’s getting huge. Kids sure love her.

Here she is:

July (when we got her)…

She was shy and skittish and afraid of her own shadow.

September…

Spending time at the dog park helped her out of her shell tremendously. Now, she’s only submissive, but doesn’t pee herself whenever another dog comes near.

Today…

She’s a huge goofball. She loves her family, and LOVES the dog park (which it’s getting too cold to go to!). She may look like she’d make a good police dog, I think the only thing she’d do to a criminal is lick him to death.

Most pictures here curtesy of Audra/Maggie.

If you have a queasy stomach, then don’t read on!

What a fun week we’ve had! Actually, it started great. Monday, we went to the county fair (you do see what’s coming, don’t you?). We had a blast. The kids just went and went and wore me out. They both wanted to go on the roller coaster (which I love). Maggie was all brave and “of course I want to go” and I’m sure would have cried her eyes out if she hadn’t been tall enough, but, alas, they let her on. Let me just say that she did not ask to go on that again! She “said” she loved it, but you could tell it freaked her out pretty bad. Isaak loved it all. He said he didn’t want to go on the ferris wheel, but we talked him into it and he loved it. We did not do any spinny things (those make me sick-sick-sick). Saw some animals, Maggie and I shared an elephant ear, and it was just a great, tiring, hot day.

Next day, Isaak was a bit lethargic and started to complain of his stomach hurting, but it was near piano lesson time, and it sounded like an excuse to get out of doing much. That night, though, it started. 3:30 AM, first diarrhea. 3:45. 4:00. 4:15. You get the picture. By morning, he was in horrible pain. Figured it was a bug and just had to wait it out. No fever, though, which was odd. No vomiting. Only diarrhea and lots of pain. Mid-day he said his diarrhea was pink. Uh-oh. That’s not good. For the next few hours I had him not flush so I could take peeky-peekies. What a fun job mom has! Yup. Blood. But, I know that having lots of diarrhea irritates the colon. It’s happened to me. So, more waiting. Next day (15 minute cha-cha-cha is still going on), I take him in to the doc. They take a lovely stool sample which looks simply like red egg drop soup. Can’t be a good sign. Well, that has to culture for 24-48 hours. They stick him on an antibiotic just in case it’s a bacterial invention that responds to that (they don’t want to wait to find out). They don’t seem that worried, so we wait another night. Next day, more cramps, more ‘rrhea. Call the doc and they say if he seems dehydrated to take him in to the ER to get some fluids. End of day, I do that. So lethargic, sunken eyes. Yes, he’s dehydrated. They take some blood, pop an IV in him (he did not like that, especially cuz they had to poke twice). Bloodwork came back negative, and with the fluids in him and him perking up a bit, they send us home. This morning (third day, no food, little water), he was feeling MUCH better first thing. After 4 Immodium in previous 24 hours, the ‘rrhea had slowed down and wasn’t so bloody. Good sign. We run a few short errands, but he starts feeling down again and falls sleep. I move him to the couch, then his bed, without him waking. He sleeps for 5 hours! In the meantime, I get the call. Stool is now positive for “probable e.coli.” I guess it has to grow some more to be sure. wow. E.coli.

Luckily, looks like we’re over the worst of it. He woke up from his mega-nap and was in a great mood. Said his tummy still hurt, but he hasn’t had any diarrhea at all today. Still peeing. He ate a small dinner (bland pasta and french bread), and put himself to bed on time (thought he’d stay up late after having slept all day; but that’s evidence he’s really sick). They say there’s no treatment except what we’re doing unless he gets dehydrated or his kidneys gets messed up (no signs of that). I guess if there’s a “mild” case of e.coli, he got it!

So, this week was shot. I was supposed to be doing some social skills training up in Seattle and dentist appointments and visiting family. But, alas, the cosmos had something else in store. It’s been alright. I’ve just been really worried about him. Never seen him so sick. I didn’t get much done because I mostly just sat next to him, stroking his face. Poor guy. But, in a way, it was nice. Is that demented? I *really* felt like a Mommy. A wonderful outpouring of love. It was nice to feel that, and to feel him so completely dependent on me, hope *I* could make him better. I don’t often get that from him.

So, we’re just going to take one day at a time. He was 150% better today, so if he’s that much better tomorrow, we may consider heading up to Seattle on Sunday and try to do next week what we had planned this week. But, we’ll just play it by ear and do what he’s ready for. Maggie went ahead up there with Dave (who has Army stuff up there this weekend), and she will play with Grandma for a couple days, then maybe go to her friend’s house in Sultan. It’ll be nice for her to get some quality “fun” time.

I’ll keep you all posted!

Isaak was signed up for a local kids’ camp this week. Got a call Monday, 10 AM that he was freaking out, had been yelling at a leader and was completely out of sorts. He wouldn’t talk. Not even to me (on the phone). So, I got ready to drag my bum down there and take care of it. Dangit! On my way out the door, I thought, “You know, I wonder if he didn’t take his meds this morning.” So, I popped the pills into my pocket and out I went. The staff at the club were super nice and happy to have him and work with him (nice!). First thing I did when I saw him was ask, “Did you take your pills this morning?” Shocked look on his face. Nope. Gave him the pills, sat and talked with him for a while and found out what happened (he was yelling cuz he didn’t want to be done with something and no one wanted to play that particular game, then some kids came by and smacked him on the back, could have been on accident, but Isaak wouldn’t have seen that, so he freaked out more). It took some time to get him de-escalated, but eventually he did, and wanted to stay. I let him (and the staff seemed super willing to have him). I got home and called my friend whose son is Isaak’s buddy (the one who hung with him all last week). I told her I’d pay to have him go to camp the rest of the week with Isaak. He was all to happy to oblige! So, the rest of the week, the two boys went together and had a great time. They both said things were fine and they loved it. Phew! I went ahead and canceled Isaak’s second schedule week of camp later this month. I wanted to make sure he ended on a successful tone for the summer.

We got a bid to get window coverings for the first floor of the house. Wow! If you want decent blinds they’re expensive! I’m not sure what we’re going to decide to do. So much money when you first move into a new house. I’m never moving again, I tell you!

Dave got another call from the police department. He’s moved up again on the list. He’ll be going through more tests and interviews, and the background check will now be started. Long process, for sure, but at least it’s still moving forward! They said it would likely be end of the year before it’s all completed. It’s OK. We need his higher salary now to pay for this move.

I got the files for my new students/class. 9 kids with autism! All high end of the spectrum and will spend most of their days out in regular classrooms, but that’s a lot of management! I’ll have three aides, and they will be in five classrooms, so I’m not sure how that will work. Sounds like some of them have some real behaviors attached, but it’s nothing I’m unfamiliar with–resistance to change, wanting to always win/be picked, argumentative, loud voices, meltdowns. Sounds like my life with Isaak is paying off professionally! Although having 9 of him around all day may stretch me a bit.

Well, happy Sunday to you all. I hear from some of you each week, but some of you never touch base! Our family thinks you’ve fallen off the face of the planet.

I just accidently lost all of what I wrote for the week! Ack! I hate it when that happens.

Let’s see if I can remember. Isaak just finished Scout Camp and Maggie just finished a camp at a local kid’s gym. She did “Weird Science” and blasted off rockets and dropped eggs and all the fun stuff. She continues to make friends and fill her days with playdates and social bliss.

Isaak had a great time at camp this year. A far cry from last year when I was called in to shadow him after a day of his freaking out a bunch of times. This year, he only had one freak out, and it wasn’t a big one (from what I hear). He did great. He’s made a really good friend (finally!) and they buddied up all week. I’m sure that helped.

His den did the old fav of the chair and the gum chewing skit. One guy walks onto the stage and puts his chewed gum on the back of a chair and walks off, another guy comes on and puts his hand on the chair and gets the gum on his hand, grosses out, throws the gum on the floor. Another guys comes on and steps on the gum, grosses out, puts the gum back on the chair. The first guy comes out, finds his old gum on the chair where he left it, picks it up and starts chewing it again. It’s quite funny, especialy to little boys. Well, Isaak was the guy who stepped on the gum. They practiced it a bunch of times and everything was ready to go. When the time for the read skit came, it was going great. When it was Isaak’s turn, he came across the grass “stage” and stopped where he was supposed to, and started looking all around on the grass, apparently searching for the gum. Finally, the “chair” (who was a big kid pretending to be a chair) whispered something to him, and he finally, looking confused, pretended to put something on the chair. The rest of the skit went off without a hitch. After the skit, his friend came up to him and said, “It was supposed to be *pretend* gum, Isaak, not real!” Oh! That explains it! While all the other boys had deduced that even during the “real” skit, they would only be using pretend gum, no one explained that explicitly to Isaak (who would think?), so he was looking for the real gum since this was the real skit. Wow. What fun adventures we enjoy! It was cute, and everyone had a great time. I got a nice chuckle out of it.

This week, Isaak does his first non-church camp at the same place Maggie did hers. I expect it to go well since the theme for his week is game week (Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh, video games, etc.). He’s also back to playing piano (yah!) since we finally got one. I love to hear that. Maggie will be started individual art lessons once school starts. Between that and swim team three times a week and my work starting up soon, we will continue to keep busy!

Audra

Some mediocre pics of their rooms:

We took the plunge. We planned on getting a puppy some time after we moved into a house. Well, we ran across this adorable Shepherd mix at a local shelter, and we just couldn’t resist.

Click here for a picture.

Could she BE any cuter? Her name is Katie and is about 3 months old. She is very shy right now. So shy, in fact, that the moment we brought her into the house, she went directly to our shoe shelf and put her head in it to “hide.” She is so sweet, but a bit freaked out. It’s cute.

Luckily, she came to a home where she will get nothing but love and affection for the next 15 years. I’m sure she’ll be bouncing around and getting into trouble all over the place in no time.

Welcome home, Katie!

Have you seen his recent blog?

Click here for Isaak’s Blog.

Each summer, I have the kids do homework each day just to keep them in the good habit and keep skills up. So, one of his assignments today was to write a story. I gave the title, “The boy who loved bananas TOO much!”, and then he wrote the very bizarre story. It’s not the first time he’s written so cavalierly about death. Maybe it’s just a normal little boy thing to do. I really don’t know. Not sure what to think of it.

Maggie was also asked to write something. She was anxious to go play, so this is all she did, but it’s funny…

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Audra. She was in the classroom, and she was working. A burglar came and took Audra and locked her in chains. She became Super Audra! She grew muscles so she broke out of the chain and beat the burglar up. The End.

While Isaak continues to struggle, he has began blogging, which is truly interesting. I’m finding that his ability to express what’s going on in his brain is much better done on paper (or computer screen!). I’m gaining insights into him that I haven’t gotten by just talking to him. I will encourage him to keep this up. It’s also a good writing assignment.

Click here for Isaak’s Blog.

Today, he had another little outburst in Primary (church). They had to bring him to me because he had thrown himself on the floor when he didn’t get his way. I was feeling very at-my-wits-end. I hate regressions! I know they come sometimes, and his progress is (on an overall view) remarkable, but when we’re in the midst of one of these downturns, it just kills me. We had some great family discussion and guidance/perspective from Dave, and I feel better now.

We had him help write up a behavior contract with an incentive program and consequences for behavior. It’s like 3 pages long! But, he agreed to it and signed it. We’ll see if that helps this week.

He also wants to go off the diet. He doesn’t think it’s helping and is just upsetting him. We told him we’d let him try this upcoming weekend if he has a good week. We’ll see how that goes. Nothing can be worse that these past few days, so it’s worth a shot. I think I gave it a fair shake.

I’ll keep y’all posted.

I will start posting more often. I promise (haven’t heard that before, have you?).

Well, kids and I are off to Vancouver this weekend. We found the area we want to live in, the school we want the kids to go to, and the one apartment complex in the area. We will move into there until we find the right house. That way, we don’t have to feel rushed. It’s in a more affluent area than than is “us” so we want to take our time to make the right housing decision. Lil’ Audra (aka Maggie) will go ahead and start school on the 13th, but the school won’t be ready for Isaak’s services yet. We will meet that day to get that into place and hopefully he can start the next day.

Lil’ Audra is having the hardest time with the move. For some reason, moving from Kent to Bellevue last year wasn’t a big deal. She says it’s because she didn’t have a lot of friends there, but she has made some close friends here, and it’s so hard for her to leave those attachments. She still pines for Bailey out in Sultan from three years ago! This is it, though. We knew that being in Bellevue was temporary (I hate the eastside and am MORE than happy to get out of King County), and I know that this move will be permanent (as much as I can be sure). That was the plan. Find a place and stick with it. The kids need that stability. I used to think it was Isaak that needed it, but I almost think it’s Audra, now. I think Isaak will benefit more from it and it will aid him, but I think Audra desires it more and it will make her happier and more complete.

Dave does not have an official offer yet. We are going on faith! He has turned in the final paperwork and they will be doing the background check. It’s just the waiting game for him right now. He finished Microsoft on the 17th and will either do computer temp work here and come down on the weekends or he’ll find a temp job down there. Either way, he’ll have to temp until the academy starts (probably in summer).

I decided to take the job with birth-to-three. It seems like a good fit for me. They do not have a specific program for their kids with autism and would like to develop one. That’s where I come in! Seems right up my ally. It will be a little trickier than a school district job in that I’ll have to juggle things through the summer, but they seem very flexible, and we’ll make it work. I’m excited about it.

So, life is making a big switch on us, but one we feel good about. I look forward to the new adventure!

I’m so sorry I’ve been falling behind! Things got crazy, but I can feel them calming down. I only have a few more weeks and am even ahead in my classes! I expect in another week or two, I’ll be home free. I can’t believe it!

So, we’re going to check out the Vancouver, WA area next weekend. Dave has a board interview with the police department down there and I have an informational meeting with a birth-to-three center about starting a program for kids with autism. We’re going to look at the area and get a feel. I didn’t know anything about the area, but when I started researching it, I got kinda stoked! They have a bunch of magnet high schools. One of them is a science/math magnet (Isaak?) and another is an Arts magnet (Maggie?) that even starts in 6th grade. How perfect would those be? I’ve heard really good things about both schools and the area so far. We’ll see when we drive around. I’m sure we’ll “feel” it if it’s right for us.

I dragged Dave to a conference this week on RDI (Relationship Development Intervention). It’s the new autism trend. It supposedly gets to the core deficit which is building relationships. I had watched training videos and read books, but going to an interactive conference is something else. I am that much more sold on the philosophy! It’s really cool. While ABA is all about skill-building and is very successful at that (look at Isaak’s progress), the one thing that it has lacked is how to get to that core deficit of understanding, caring about, and knowing how to build relationships with the people around you. We have felt that Isaak has stalled in his progress because he has built all these great skills, but the one thing we haven’t been able to “teach” him in a skills-manner is that relationship building. I wish we had had RDI back then, but it’s a new thing. Anyway, it’s not too late, and I got some great ideas, and TONS of ideas for the little kids I work with. I can see a complete program being this relationship developing stuff coupled with ABA skill-building. A complete circle!

And lastly, my little boy turns 9 this weekend. I can’t believe it. That is getting too close to pre-pubescency! I can’t handle it! Have to say, though, even all these years later, he still is DANG cute!

Then..

And now…

What happened?!?

Alright. Two things interesting happened this week.

#1 I disovered my first gray hairs. On my head. Now plucked. Hair now colored.

#2 Isaak (note which kid this is!) started an interesting conversation with me at dinner last night.

Isaak: Is smoking bad for you?
Me: Yes, it’s really bad for your body.
Isaak: I’ll *never* smoke. —pause— Did you ever smoke?
Me: —pause . thinking quick.— Yes, when I was a teenager I did. I really wish I hadn’t. It made me feel bad and was bad for me. I hope you never make the same mistake I did.
Isaak: Yeah, I’ll never smoke.

Sure, I expected to answer that (and other) questions at some point, but I thought they’d be from Maggie! While I’m sure it’s not the last time we’ll have such discussion, the silver lining is that that is really good thinking from that little guy.