Whirlwind Wednesday, and 10 Random Facts

Yeah, yeah, I know; the crickets have been back around here. I've been in the midst of a major carpal tunnel flare-up, so typing blog posts isn't exactly the best thing for me to be doing. But it's late, and despite taking two benadryl and two fioricet (I've struggled with severe tension headaches since high school) I'm wide awake all by myself, so tonight I feel like writing.

Labor Day weekend I was excited to have a friend & her family staying the night with us. She and I met through a Catholic homeschoolers FB group, so this was our first time meeting in person. She, her husband, and four kids were such a joy to have in the house! There was definitely some wound up loudness that evening, but it was that happy excitement sound that I love to hear in the house. My disability has turned me into a bit of a homebody, but I love to have my little house full of people and fun.  The only hitch to that visit was that Papa Bear was working out of state, so I was by myself getting the house ready and taking care of all the hosting duties. I may not have been quite as prepared as I would have liked, but sometimes that's a good lesson for me to not insist on perfection.

Sunshine and I started our new homeschool year about a week before Labor Day - 2nd grade! Sometime soon I'll have to post about our curriculum choices for the year. We mostly use a typical textbook approach, but I'm a bit eclectic in that I source all of our books myself rather than buying a full curriculum from one provider. With neither of my kids falling into a typical, age-appropriate behavior range, I can't imagine that sort of thing ever being a good fit for us. We've been a little slow going, but I think we're finally starting to hit our groove again. Her homeschool gymnastics class started about a month ago, 3 weeks ago we started back with Girl Scouts, and just today she started her catechism class and children's choir at church. Now that all of her extracurriculars are in progress, and Fidget's therapy schedule has become pretty routine, hopefully we can firmly decide what times each day work best for her studies, and what balance of subjects works best around our other goings-on.

Speaking of Fidget's therapy, his ABA is continuing to go well. His case worker Miss S came out today to do some parent training with me: teaching me how to run some of their program lessons when he has days off, how to improve his compliance, and how to better manage his attention-seeking behaviors: esp the negative ones, like last weekend's incident where he buttered the cat. Let me tell you, Earth Balance spread is not easy to scrub out of cat fur! S is coming back Monday evening to do the same with Papa Bear, and moving forward we may set up some parent training sessions for going our to eat, as that has been a huge behavioral issue. At home we can work through things, but it's hard to work through a kid throwing bean burrito in a restaurant! But with a trip to WDW in the spring, we very much need to learn how to manage it and help him cope. I have to say, I love that his therapy contract includes coverage for these parent training hours!

Now that we are starting to settle into our new weekday routine, hopefully I can start attending to some of my own personal business again. I've been holding onto a script for wheelchair repairs for over two months now, and I desperately need a new set of tires! I've got some other organizational projects around the house that I really want to tackle as I know the holidays are just around the corner, but I've got to get this CT pain to settle down first. Ironically I'm already scheduled for a nerve conduction study at my next neuro appointment in October so we'll see how things go then. I'm hoping he won't say it is to the point of needing surgery, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does.

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Tonight one of my favorite bloggers, Chrissy from Life with Greyson + Parker posted a list of ten random facts and invited her readers to do the same. So I thought I'd post them here and just link to it in her comments. Some I'm using the same categories she did, others will be my own. So here you go!

1. Favorite TV shows: I very much miss the 80's/90's family sitcoms. My absolute favorite of all time is The Cosby Show. Maybe it's because of watching Bill Cosby do all those Picture Pages on Nickelodeon as a kid, but Cliff Huxtable has always been my favorite TV dad. Aubrey loves to watch Full House with me, and as I have a lot of fond memories of myself watching Nick at Night with my mom (Donna Reed, Patty Duke, Dick Van Dyke, Lucy, Mary Tyler Moore, etc) I'm happy to indulge her and pass that memory on.

2. I've never really been one to struggle with major addictions, thank goodness. Not a smoker, not a daily drinker, never did any illegal drugs. But my one vice, which I know is bad for me but I love, is soft drinks. A can of Dr Pepper Ten is my version of a morning cup of coffee! Esp in the last almost-ten years, one of my medication causes horrible dry mouth so I always feel like the carbonation helps take that dry feeling away. And when I was pregnant, plain water actually made me more nauseous with both kids. Go figure.

3. I've had a big interest in the space program ever since I was a kid. I always wished I could have gone to Space Camp, and have sometimes pondered that if many individuals with paralysis can move better in the water, what would it be like to send a paraplegic into space? The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 are two of my favorite movies.

4. While I try not to overshare TMI details, I fully admit to posting a lot of mundane stuff on FB. I think part of it is that since I'm a stay at home mom, and don't drive, FB is a big source of adult interaction for me. I know it's not the same as being with real people, but at least it gives me a chance to be involved in mature adult conversation.

5. I started covering my head for mass at the beginning of advent last year.  I was always curious why Catholic women quit wearing veils/scarves/hats to church, and when I started researching it I found that I wasn't really satisfied with any of the answers. Nothing I read seemed like enough reason to eliminate a practice that had been in place for hundreds of years. I don't know that I'd say the church should demand it for all, but personally I find a lot of devotional value in it.

6. Like Chrissy, I am almost always running late. DH is more of an early bird though, so I've had to really work hard to overcome that chronic lateness and meet his expectations of at least being on time. The tendency of my family to be running a little late has become a running joke of it's own!

7. While I can be a perfectionist about some things, I'm also work best in a state of organized chaos. My house may look like the clutter is just a big jumbled mess, but I almost always know exactly where things are. When they get lost is when I clean and put them away!

8. Some of the holidays I can take or leave, but I looooove Christmas time! Last year Fidget was only able to participate in opening presents for a short time before he needed to retreat to his sensory safe place, which we affectionately call Fidget's World, so I have to adjust my Christmas morning expectations a bit to meet him where he is, but I really do love the whole season. All the decorations in the stores, songs on the radio, lights on houses, special treats....I just love it all! So many people are going gaga over pumpkin everything in the fall, but I'm just biding time until all the pepperminty things come out.

9. DH and I both like to cook, but despite working a full day DH often comes home and fixes dinner. He's pretty much always got the option, but most days he would rather cook than wrangle kiddos. We're both having to change some of our techniques at the moment though, to allow for Fidget's dietary restrictions.

10. Our cat loves to sleep in my wheelchair at night. Once I've put Sunshine and Fidget to bed, she will often start meowing at me to go to bed as well because she wants my chair! She's always been very protective of Fidget though. When I was pregnant with him she would come lay curled up around my belly (even when I wasn't showing much), and if he is crying she will come and start meow-crying at me to make sure I go attend to whatever is bothering him. And thankfully, as evidenced by the cat-buttering reference I made earlier, she's always been very patient with him and tolerates a lot before she starts batting him away.

And a bonus random fact: I frequently get confused over which is the proper American spelling: gray? grey? I always forget. At the moment I'm pretty sure it's with the "A", but mainly because Sunshine corrected it when I wrote it on the while board. Oops, teacher mama fail!

So there you go! Have a great rest of the week everyone!