Lately my mood and energy have been pretty low. I've been slacking off on a lot of things, including things involving the kids. I haven't done Tot School or any type of themed activities in weeks... Its lucky if I can muster up the attention span to do an art project with them or take them to the park! There's been a lot of Dora and Diego filled mornings for Pufferfish lately!
But today, for some reason, I rallied! I woke up feeling good! I made Pufferfish breakfast, took a shower and changed clothes (no small victory, for me!), did Pufferfish's hair and got her dressed, took her to Petsmart to look at supplies for our new turtles and then to Cici's Pizza for lunch. I came home and let Pufferfish watch just half an hour of TV (I set a timer so she would know when her time was up, because I was being such an awesome parental figure), and then brought up her baby dolls from the basement so she could play on the floor on her own (she really needs to practice entertaining herself! For her, her only choices seem to be to watch TV or have an adult amuse her!) During that time, I washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen and straightened the rest of the house. Then I thought that a fun activity for Pufferfish would be to go outside and "paint" the side of the house with a big paint brush and a cup of water!
So we went outside and started painting the house. Pufferfish was so excited!
But seconds later, Jimmy came home and shouted, "You didn't get Little Bear and Rafael from school?"
Oops.
I had forgotten that the kids had Early Dismissal from school and got out forty-five minutes earlier than usual. By then it was two o'clock and I was already fifteen minutes late, and I had to drive to two different schools!
I tossed Pufferfish in the car, sped to get Little Bear from her school a few blocks away, and then sped to get a very disgruntled Rafael from his school ten minutes away!
To make matters worse... after we'd been at the park for about half an hour, I noticed I had my T-shirt on inside out!
Oh well... I tried!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
What I Did Today...
Today I did all my laundry, renewed my driver's license, cleaned up the house, took the kids to the playground, did some blogging on my review blog, and donated 250 grains of rice to starving children.
Pretty productive day, don't you think?
If you're wondering about the rice thing, all I did was go to this website, Free Rice. You play a simple game where you have to guess what obscure words mean. (You can also change the subject to math, geography, chemistry, art, or another language.) Whenever you get one right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program! Plus, when you get one wrong, they tell you the answer, and then offer you the same question again later. So you're not only playing an amusing game, and helping give food to hungry people, but you're improving your vocabulary as well!
I saw this on a blog called Fat Lazy Soccer Mom Gets Healthy, and I thought some of you might be interested!
Alright, thats all for now! Go back to what you were doing!
Pretty productive day, don't you think?
If you're wondering about the rice thing, all I did was go to this website, Free Rice. You play a simple game where you have to guess what obscure words mean. (You can also change the subject to math, geography, chemistry, art, or another language.) Whenever you get one right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program! Plus, when you get one wrong, they tell you the answer, and then offer you the same question again later. So you're not only playing an amusing game, and helping give food to hungry people, but you're improving your vocabulary as well!
I saw this on a blog called Fat Lazy Soccer Mom Gets Healthy, and I thought some of you might be interested!
Alright, thats all for now! Go back to what you were doing!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
A Story About How I Tried To Volunteer And It Didn't Go So Well!
We got my dog Trixie (the dog at my mom's house, not to be confused with Clover and Lily at Diana's house) from this place called Almost Home Foundation. They go to different high kill shelters, mostly in Illinois but also all across the USA, and rescue dogs and cats who are about to be put to sleep. Then they put them in "foster homes" where people work at getting them readapted to living in a household, and they try to find new homes for the animals.
Every weekend you'll find them at Petsmart stores, letting people interact with the animals and sharing information about them, in hopes that someone will want to take them home.
My school has this day called New Deal Day where everyone is supposed to do volunteer work. One of the options this year was to go volunteer with Almost Home for an afternoon. So I did, along with about ten other people from my school, and it went pretty well... so well that I signed up to volunteer on a regular basis! I got an email from someone telling me to go to the Petsmart near where I live.
So the next weekend, I showed up at Petsmart, ready to volunteer. When I told somebody that I was there to volunteer, he said, "Great! Stick with this girl!" and paired me with a girl who was about twelve years old. She was a pesky little girl who liked pretending that she was in charge, although she pretty much was getting in the way a lot. It was kind of odd, because the girl was supposed to be showing me the ropes, but she didn't really have anything to do, you know? That day I ended up helping one of the regular volunteers with a dog named Evan, and it turned out well.The young girl disappeared somewhere, although she'd occasionally reappear to tell me things like, "Thanks, I'll take over now!" and "Don't take any dogs outside. You're new, so I'll have to go with to supervise you." It was kind of strange.
That was last weekend.
This weekend I showed up there again. This time the little girl wasn't around, and the lady I had helped the week before wasn't there either. Everyone seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing, taking dogs and finding places to sit. I went up to the guy who was in charge and tried to get his attention, but he ignored me, talking to other people. I walked around a little bit, trying to figure out what to do, and then went back to the guy in charge. He was done talking to the one person, but as I walked up to him, someone else came up and loudly got his attention. I stood there for a long time. I started to feel so anxious, I felt dizzy and thought I might faint!
Someone came up to him and handed him the leash of a little dog, saying he (the person, not the dog) had to leave for a minute. I bent down and petted the little dog. The guy in charge yelled to someone, "Sharon! (Not the person's actual name... I just made that up...) Find me a handler to take this dog!"
I stood up and said, "I can take him!" and reached out for the leash.
The guy ignored me, and continued to yell for Shannon, until she came to take the dog.
Crestfallen, I went outside and sat down on a bench. I was thinking of just going home. I would go home and find Diana and tell her the story, and she would make me feel better. But I really wanted to volunteer!
Then I heard someone say that the van full of dogs being transported had arrived. This is when the van that picks up dogs from high-kill shelters drives to no-kill shelters in the area and delivers the dogs to safety. Some of the dogs on the van were going to be getting off here, to get picked up by new foster families.
I walked over to the van, approached the first lady I saw, and said, "I'm a volunteer! I can help, but I don't know what to do!"
"Great," said the lady, "you can help unload the van!" So I helped a few people unload dogs, in crates, onto a grassy area. The dogs were all barking and crying, so I tried to calm a few down, by putting my hand near the bars of the crate and talking to them.
Then another lady walked by and said, "Honey, please don't touch the dogs, okay?" She joked with another woman, "I'm like, don't contaminate my animals!"
Crestfallen again, I stood up and backed away.
Other people from Almost Home were coming over and getting dogs out of the crates, to bring them in. I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Everyone knew exactly what was going on, and nobody looked at me or spoke to me.
Finally a lady who had to go in and use the bathroom asked if I'd hold the leash of a dog named Nash. Nash made it all worth while! As soon as he saw that someone new was holding his leash, he jumped up to lick me, then flopped on the ground for a belly rub, wagging all of his big paws in the air. I spent about twenty minutes playing with Nash, until the lady came and took him back.
Then I stood there awkwardly for a while, until someone told me, "We're all done!"
I went back into the store, and just walked around petting the dogs for a while, and was mostly ignored by everyone.
This happens to me a lot... I tend to be invisible, or I appear so nervous and so awkward that people try to avoid me. It also doesn't help that I look so young for my age. Sometimes people mistake me for a kid.
Anyways, I always have an odd way of tackling problems. I still want to go back and volunteer, but I don't want to be ignored, and I know I will again have trouble knowing what to do. So I decided to make some T-shirts on Cafe Press that I can wear to call attention to the fact that there is a reason why I appear to be acting strangely.
I'm hoping that when I wear these T-shirts, people will maybe recognize that I've been there every Saturday, and they'll realize that I might need a little help getting started, and maybe they'll actually, like, give me a specific job to do, or let me handle a dog.
You can view, or even order, the T-shirts I made, if you want! Here are the links to them!
The first T-shirt is the one I made first and the one I'm going to order for myself first.
This one is a nod to all of my awkward moments.
I also made a couple ADHD T-shirts.... This one and this one.
Let me know how you like them!
I'm going to order the first one this week, after I put some money on my debit card, and I'll wear it proudly!
Every weekend you'll find them at Petsmart stores, letting people interact with the animals and sharing information about them, in hopes that someone will want to take them home.
My school has this day called New Deal Day where everyone is supposed to do volunteer work. One of the options this year was to go volunteer with Almost Home for an afternoon. So I did, along with about ten other people from my school, and it went pretty well... so well that I signed up to volunteer on a regular basis! I got an email from someone telling me to go to the Petsmart near where I live.
So the next weekend, I showed up at Petsmart, ready to volunteer. When I told somebody that I was there to volunteer, he said, "Great! Stick with this girl!" and paired me with a girl who was about twelve years old. She was a pesky little girl who liked pretending that she was in charge, although she pretty much was getting in the way a lot. It was kind of odd, because the girl was supposed to be showing me the ropes, but she didn't really have anything to do, you know? That day I ended up helping one of the regular volunteers with a dog named Evan, and it turned out well.The young girl disappeared somewhere, although she'd occasionally reappear to tell me things like, "Thanks, I'll take over now!" and "Don't take any dogs outside. You're new, so I'll have to go with to supervise you." It was kind of strange.
That was last weekend.
This weekend I showed up there again. This time the little girl wasn't around, and the lady I had helped the week before wasn't there either. Everyone seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing, taking dogs and finding places to sit. I went up to the guy who was in charge and tried to get his attention, but he ignored me, talking to other people. I walked around a little bit, trying to figure out what to do, and then went back to the guy in charge. He was done talking to the one person, but as I walked up to him, someone else came up and loudly got his attention. I stood there for a long time. I started to feel so anxious, I felt dizzy and thought I might faint!
Someone came up to him and handed him the leash of a little dog, saying he (the person, not the dog) had to leave for a minute. I bent down and petted the little dog. The guy in charge yelled to someone, "Sharon! (Not the person's actual name... I just made that up...) Find me a handler to take this dog!"
I stood up and said, "I can take him!" and reached out for the leash.
The guy ignored me, and continued to yell for Shannon, until she came to take the dog.
Crestfallen, I went outside and sat down on a bench. I was thinking of just going home. I would go home and find Diana and tell her the story, and she would make me feel better. But I really wanted to volunteer!
Then I heard someone say that the van full of dogs being transported had arrived. This is when the van that picks up dogs from high-kill shelters drives to no-kill shelters in the area and delivers the dogs to safety. Some of the dogs on the van were going to be getting off here, to get picked up by new foster families.
I walked over to the van, approached the first lady I saw, and said, "I'm a volunteer! I can help, but I don't know what to do!"
"Great," said the lady, "you can help unload the van!" So I helped a few people unload dogs, in crates, onto a grassy area. The dogs were all barking and crying, so I tried to calm a few down, by putting my hand near the bars of the crate and talking to them.
Then another lady walked by and said, "Honey, please don't touch the dogs, okay?" She joked with another woman, "I'm like, don't contaminate my animals!"
Crestfallen again, I stood up and backed away.
Other people from Almost Home were coming over and getting dogs out of the crates, to bring them in. I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Everyone knew exactly what was going on, and nobody looked at me or spoke to me.
Finally a lady who had to go in and use the bathroom asked if I'd hold the leash of a dog named Nash. Nash made it all worth while! As soon as he saw that someone new was holding his leash, he jumped up to lick me, then flopped on the ground for a belly rub, wagging all of his big paws in the air. I spent about twenty minutes playing with Nash, until the lady came and took him back.
Then I stood there awkwardly for a while, until someone told me, "We're all done!"
I went back into the store, and just walked around petting the dogs for a while, and was mostly ignored by everyone.
This happens to me a lot... I tend to be invisible, or I appear so nervous and so awkward that people try to avoid me. It also doesn't help that I look so young for my age. Sometimes people mistake me for a kid.
Anyways, I always have an odd way of tackling problems. I still want to go back and volunteer, but I don't want to be ignored, and I know I will again have trouble knowing what to do. So I decided to make some T-shirts on Cafe Press that I can wear to call attention to the fact that there is a reason why I appear to be acting strangely.
I'm hoping that when I wear these T-shirts, people will maybe recognize that I've been there every Saturday, and they'll realize that I might need a little help getting started, and maybe they'll actually, like, give me a specific job to do, or let me handle a dog.
You can view, or even order, the T-shirts I made, if you want! Here are the links to them!
The first T-shirt is the one I made first and the one I'm going to order for myself first.
This one is a nod to all of my awkward moments.
I also made a couple ADHD T-shirts.... This one and this one.
Let me know how you like them!
I'm going to order the first one this week, after I put some money on my debit card, and I'll wear it proudly!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday Minute
While reading blogs I found this meme, Monday Minute, which has been changed to Mission Monkey Minute for mysterious reasons I don't fully understand yet. So here are my answers for Mission Monkey Minute!
1 - How old do you act?
Most people say I act about thirteen, sometimes younger. On the other hand, I have a lot of family responsibilities, so sometimes I act much older! Having ADHD and Aspergers contributes to my being immature a lot of the time.
2 - As far back as you can remember, what did you want to be when you grew up?
An author! My mom says I started "writing" as soon as I could talk! I would scribble on sheets of paper and "read" my stories to her. I still want to be an author... and I have self-published a few books on Lulu.com.
3 - If you were to write a book based on your life, what would the title be?
Crazy Eyes!
4 - What's something that you do that's considered "childish" by most?
Cry easily, I get very emotional. Also I love to color with Crayolas.
5 - The last question isn't a question. Write a story of a time of when you or someone you know overcame great adversity.
I suppose I have overcome great adversity, although not as well as I wish I have! I was homeless when I was a teenager. I have lived on the streets, in shelters, in motels, in crashpads, in cars, in crackhouses, and more. I was generally always surrounded by people who used lots of drugs, drank a lot, were violent. One of my problems was that I was always able to see the good in people, and I trusted people a lot. Most of the people I knew who did bad things were not, at heart, bad people... They just didn't make very good choices. They had a lot of anger inside them. But even though I was around ex-convicts and gang bangers, most people were very kind to me... with only a few exceptions! My major triumph, although it isn't much, is that I have managed to survive, without hurting myself or anyone else. Although I was always around people who did drugs, and I even lived in two crackhouses, I never did drugs. I saw what they did to people, how they robbed people of their souls, and I never wanted to do that to myself. I took care of the children of drug addicts, and raised a couple of them for a few years. When I was homeless as a teenager, I kept my wits about me. A lot of homeless teens turn to drugs to cope, and turn to prostitution or crime to survive, but I refused to do these things. I preferred to go to soup kitchens or ask for food in restaurants. I kept myself reasonably safe, and once even tricked a near-rapist into letting me go, by telling him I was very thirsty and needed to go to the store to buy a Seven-Up and that I'd be right back. Another huge triumph for me is that, although I have been hurt a lot, physically and emotionally, by people, I have kept love in my heart. I still see the good in people. Because of that, I still often get hurt by people who make poor choices. But I would rather love than hate.
Your turn! If you'd like to join this meme (although I guess Monday is already over) visit Dose Of Reality.
1 - How old do you act?
Most people say I act about thirteen, sometimes younger. On the other hand, I have a lot of family responsibilities, so sometimes I act much older! Having ADHD and Aspergers contributes to my being immature a lot of the time.
2 - As far back as you can remember, what did you want to be when you grew up?
An author! My mom says I started "writing" as soon as I could talk! I would scribble on sheets of paper and "read" my stories to her. I still want to be an author... and I have self-published a few books on Lulu.com.
3 - If you were to write a book based on your life, what would the title be?
Crazy Eyes!
4 - What's something that you do that's considered "childish" by most?
Cry easily, I get very emotional. Also I love to color with Crayolas.
5 - The last question isn't a question. Write a story of a time of when you or someone you know overcame great adversity.
I suppose I have overcome great adversity, although not as well as I wish I have! I was homeless when I was a teenager. I have lived on the streets, in shelters, in motels, in crashpads, in cars, in crackhouses, and more. I was generally always surrounded by people who used lots of drugs, drank a lot, were violent. One of my problems was that I was always able to see the good in people, and I trusted people a lot. Most of the people I knew who did bad things were not, at heart, bad people... They just didn't make very good choices. They had a lot of anger inside them. But even though I was around ex-convicts and gang bangers, most people were very kind to me... with only a few exceptions! My major triumph, although it isn't much, is that I have managed to survive, without hurting myself or anyone else. Although I was always around people who did drugs, and I even lived in two crackhouses, I never did drugs. I saw what they did to people, how they robbed people of their souls, and I never wanted to do that to myself. I took care of the children of drug addicts, and raised a couple of them for a few years. When I was homeless as a teenager, I kept my wits about me. A lot of homeless teens turn to drugs to cope, and turn to prostitution or crime to survive, but I refused to do these things. I preferred to go to soup kitchens or ask for food in restaurants. I kept myself reasonably safe, and once even tricked a near-rapist into letting me go, by telling him I was very thirsty and needed to go to the store to buy a Seven-Up and that I'd be right back. Another huge triumph for me is that, although I have been hurt a lot, physically and emotionally, by people, I have kept love in my heart. I still see the good in people. Because of that, I still often get hurt by people who make poor choices. But I would rather love than hate.
Your turn! If you'd like to join this meme (although I guess Monday is already over) visit Dose Of Reality.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Happy Mother's Day Weekend!
I hope all you mamas have great weekends planned! I am writing now because I don't know if I'll be anywhere near a computer before Sunday... I've got another crazy weekend ahead of me! My weekend will include celebrating Mother's Day/my little cousin's birthday with my birth (aka not Diana, Jimmy, the kids, etc) family.
I made this as a present for my mom.
Its a flower pot, which I painted, but the flowers are actually pens! You've probably seen those in st ores and stuff. I learned how to make them in my social club for crazy people, and I thought it would be cool to make! So I did one for my mom, and one for my Nona. (I didn't take a picture of the one for Nona.) The problem is, now that I think about it, I'm afraid they're going to think, "What a stupid gift!" I keep imagining my Nona telling someone that her granddaughter made it for her, and the other person saying, "Which granddaughter? The eight year old?"
Oh well, wish me luck!
Little Bear is driving me completely crazy right now! I took the kids to the library after school for a Mother's Day gift making event, and apparently I completely used up their capacity for good behavior! Little Bear and Rafael darted out into the parking lot and nearly got hit by a car afs we left the library, and then when they got home they immediately started jumping on the couch! (Thats what happens on rainy days when they can't get on the trampoline or play at the playground.) Now Little Bear and Pufferfish won't stop arguing. Ugh! Calgon, take me away!
I made this as a present for my mom.
Its a flower pot, which I painted, but the flowers are actually pens! You've probably seen those in st ores and stuff. I learned how to make them in my social club for crazy people, and I thought it would be cool to make! So I did one for my mom, and one for my Nona. (I didn't take a picture of the one for Nona.) The problem is, now that I think about it, I'm afraid they're going to think, "What a stupid gift!" I keep imagining my Nona telling someone that her granddaughter made it for her, and the other person saying, "Which granddaughter? The eight year old?"
Oh well, wish me luck!
Little Bear is driving me completely crazy right now! I took the kids to the library after school for a Mother's Day gift making event, and apparently I completely used up their capacity for good behavior! Little Bear and Rafael darted out into the parking lot and nearly got hit by a car afs we left the library, and then when they got home they immediately started jumping on the couch! (Thats what happens on rainy days when they can't get on the trampoline or play at the playground.) Now Little Bear and Pufferfish won't stop arguing. Ugh! Calgon, take me away!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
How Many Little Kids Can You Squeeze Into One House?
You probably know that I take care of Rafael every day before and after school, giving me a total of three kids under seven in my care. You may also know that I do extra babysitting in the community, for other families, to make money. One of the families I babysit for, the Joneses, have two little girls named Miranda and Eloise who are five and two. Miranda has ADHD and Aspergers Syndrome. I usually watch the girls every other Saturday night.
However, the Joneses had to go to an IEP meeting for Miranda today. They wanted to be able to go together, for moral support, because their daughter is entering kindergarten and this was their first IEP meeting for her. So, they asked if they could drop Miranda and Eloise off at my house after school today!
I was a little nervous, because that would bring me to a total of five kids under seven years old to keep track of... including three with ADHD, one with Aspergers, and two with the Terrible Two's! Talk about a wild bunch!
But the trampoline saved the day! Every family with sensory seekers needs one of these!
I also orchestrated an art project, I had the kids decorate fun foam picture frames. Tomorrow I'm going to print out photos of each of them, paste them into the frames, and let the kids give them to their moms for Mother's Day! Look at the little art class I have here!
After art, we went inside for a snack, and then down to the playroom for some dress-up fun. The afternoon was a total success! When Mrs. Jones came to pick up the girls, Miranda and Eloise were both chattering about all the fun they had had!
One somewhat related thing that is frustrating me right now is something about Little Bear's upcoming birthday party. Her birthday is in July, but she's having a party for the kids in her class at the end of May, at a lazer tag place. She's invited every kid in her class... except for three.
The three she didn't give invitations to were the kids who come to her class from the special education class for parts of the day.
When Diana asked Little Bear why she had crossed out the names of these three kids, Little Bear explained that they didn't have "mailboxes" in her classroom so they hadn't been able to get invitations. Diana offered to call the teacher and ask the teacher to make sure these three kids got invitations. Little Bear balked! She protested that the three kids "don't know how to play" and "can't even really talk." Diana persisted, saying Little Bear should invite them, and that even if they didn't play lazer tag, they might enjoy just coming and eating pizza with us, and they'd probably feel good about being invited. Little Bear still protested, saying she didn't want to invite them. Then Diana got distracted by Pufferfish getting out of the bathtub, so the conversation never finished.
I am frustrated because I definitely don't want Little Bear to be one of those kids who excludes others because of their special needs. I try very hard to get her to accept everyone. That was one reason why I was glad to have her play with Miranda today, and why I encourage her to play with Billy at the park. I want her to get used to seeing and playing with kids who act in ways that are different from what she is used to.
One day at the park a girl was pushing Billy on the swing, and Billy fell off. The girl and Rafael laughted and exchanged high fives. I was about ready to strangle Rafael! I dragged him and Little Bear aside and lectured them that, first of all, it is never okay to laugh when someone else is hurt or being made fun of, and second of all, that since they knew Billy, they should stick up for him against other kids. They seemed to understand, and Little Bear was adnamant that she had not laughed when Billy fell off the swing.
But she doesn't want to include the kids from the special ed class in her birthday party.
If it was my choice, I would make her invite them, and then if they came to the party I would make sure they were included as much as possible. But its not my choice, its up to Diana, so I'm sort of nervous to see how that turns out!
What would you do, how would you feel, if you were on either side of this story? (Either the parent of the child having the birthday, or the parent of the child from the special education class?)
However, the Joneses had to go to an IEP meeting for Miranda today. They wanted to be able to go together, for moral support, because their daughter is entering kindergarten and this was their first IEP meeting for her. So, they asked if they could drop Miranda and Eloise off at my house after school today!
I was a little nervous, because that would bring me to a total of five kids under seven years old to keep track of... including three with ADHD, one with Aspergers, and two with the Terrible Two's! Talk about a wild bunch!
But the trampoline saved the day! Every family with sensory seekers needs one of these!
I also orchestrated an art project, I had the kids decorate fun foam picture frames. Tomorrow I'm going to print out photos of each of them, paste them into the frames, and let the kids give them to their moms for Mother's Day! Look at the little art class I have here!
After art, we went inside for a snack, and then down to the playroom for some dress-up fun. The afternoon was a total success! When Mrs. Jones came to pick up the girls, Miranda and Eloise were both chattering about all the fun they had had!
One somewhat related thing that is frustrating me right now is something about Little Bear's upcoming birthday party. Her birthday is in July, but she's having a party for the kids in her class at the end of May, at a lazer tag place. She's invited every kid in her class... except for three.
The three she didn't give invitations to were the kids who come to her class from the special education class for parts of the day.
When Diana asked Little Bear why she had crossed out the names of these three kids, Little Bear explained that they didn't have "mailboxes" in her classroom so they hadn't been able to get invitations. Diana offered to call the teacher and ask the teacher to make sure these three kids got invitations. Little Bear balked! She protested that the three kids "don't know how to play" and "can't even really talk." Diana persisted, saying Little Bear should invite them, and that even if they didn't play lazer tag, they might enjoy just coming and eating pizza with us, and they'd probably feel good about being invited. Little Bear still protested, saying she didn't want to invite them. Then Diana got distracted by Pufferfish getting out of the bathtub, so the conversation never finished.
I am frustrated because I definitely don't want Little Bear to be one of those kids who excludes others because of their special needs. I try very hard to get her to accept everyone. That was one reason why I was glad to have her play with Miranda today, and why I encourage her to play with Billy at the park. I want her to get used to seeing and playing with kids who act in ways that are different from what she is used to.
One day at the park a girl was pushing Billy on the swing, and Billy fell off. The girl and Rafael laughted and exchanged high fives. I was about ready to strangle Rafael! I dragged him and Little Bear aside and lectured them that, first of all, it is never okay to laugh when someone else is hurt or being made fun of, and second of all, that since they knew Billy, they should stick up for him against other kids. They seemed to understand, and Little Bear was adnamant that she had not laughed when Billy fell off the swing.
But she doesn't want to include the kids from the special ed class in her birthday party.
If it was my choice, I would make her invite them, and then if they came to the party I would make sure they were included as much as possible. But its not my choice, its up to Diana, so I'm sort of nervous to see how that turns out!
What would you do, how would you feel, if you were on either side of this story? (Either the parent of the child having the birthday, or the parent of the child from the special education class?)
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Where You'll Find Us Any Given Day...
One of my favorite things about the warm weather (when it finally does come, which seems to take forever here in Chicago) is that I can keep the kids out of the house. During the winter I had them on a strict routineof getting home, eating snack at the table, doing homework and reading, and then getting to play for a while before dinner. This was partly just to keep some structure to things, to keep the very wild Little Bear and Rafael from destroying the house!
But now that it is spring, I have a new theory... I try to let them play as much as possible!
At around 2:30 Pufferfish and I go to pick Rafael up at his school, and then we all drive to Little Bear's school. I park the car behind the school and let Little Bear, Pufferfish and Rafael play for as long as they want... usually about an hour until all of the other kids are gone. This has worked out very well for me because, at the beginning of the year, it seemed like Little Bear didn't really have any friends at school. But being able to watch her play at her school playground everyday after school gave me a chance to see that she really does have a lot of friends and play well with other kids! One week I helped her exchange phone numbers with some of the other kids she played with the most. She even had an afterschool play date at another kid's house once!
Its also been good for Rafael, I think. He doesn't really have many friends at his school, but at Little Bear's school everyone wants to be his friend because he's new and exciting there!
Anyway, after the school playground has been abandoned, we all get into the car and head over to a large park that is about two blocks away from the school and two blocks away from the house. That park is kind of a gathering place for the neighborhood. Little Bear and Rafael often run into kids from Little Bear's school there, and they've also made friends from other schools who go to that park. We often even see Sarah and her friends there, or Monkeyboy! The ice cream truck usually goes there, and every Monday I let them buy an ice cream. (The other days they have to suffer without it!)
When we're at that park, I check the kids' backpacks to see how much homework they have, and that helps me determine how long we stay at the park. If they have little or no homework, we can stay until five, which is right around the time that Rafael's mom comes to get him. If they have some homework, we leave about twenty minutes early to go get that done, and then they have a little bit of play time and relaxation time at home before dinner.
I think it works out a lot better for them! The sunshine, fresh air, socialization and exercise is much better for them than sitting in the house playing with toys in the playroom, or even sitting at the table doing homework. Don't you think?
My plan for this summer is going to be similar... keep them out as much as possible! I'm thinking we can even have lunch, read, and do our art projects outside a lot of the time!
Here are some pics we took on a recent day at the park.
Rafael swinging...
This was on a Monday, I guess, because we had ice cream! Look how gross it made his mouth!
You can see that Pufferfish had some ice cream too! She looks like a vampire baby with her black lips!
Sarah taking a picture of me taking a picture of her taking a picture of me taking a picture of her...
This is our little friend Billy who also frequents the park. He knows everyone who has ever set foot in the park, and possibly everyone in our town! He's a very friendly little dude!
Billy took this picture of Sarah, right before she disappeared into a ball of bright light! ;)
Pufferfish is proud that she finished all of her icecream! (Usually most of it ends up falling on the ground.)
Another photo taken by Billy!
Sarah pushing Billy on the swings. He loves underdogs!
Rafael and Billy, on the swings, obviously!
Maybe Rafael just stayed on the swing that whole day?
Little Bear going wild on the swing! (This is a swing for kids who have trouble holding themselves upright in a regular swing, but Little Bear, Rafael, and the others like to twist the chains up and then spin around like crazy in it!)
What about you? What do you do after school to keep your little ones from driving you nuts?
But now that it is spring, I have a new theory... I try to let them play as much as possible!
At around 2:30 Pufferfish and I go to pick Rafael up at his school, and then we all drive to Little Bear's school. I park the car behind the school and let Little Bear, Pufferfish and Rafael play for as long as they want... usually about an hour until all of the other kids are gone. This has worked out very well for me because, at the beginning of the year, it seemed like Little Bear didn't really have any friends at school. But being able to watch her play at her school playground everyday after school gave me a chance to see that she really does have a lot of friends and play well with other kids! One week I helped her exchange phone numbers with some of the other kids she played with the most. She even had an afterschool play date at another kid's house once!
Its also been good for Rafael, I think. He doesn't really have many friends at his school, but at Little Bear's school everyone wants to be his friend because he's new and exciting there!
Anyway, after the school playground has been abandoned, we all get into the car and head over to a large park that is about two blocks away from the school and two blocks away from the house. That park is kind of a gathering place for the neighborhood. Little Bear and Rafael often run into kids from Little Bear's school there, and they've also made friends from other schools who go to that park. We often even see Sarah and her friends there, or Monkeyboy! The ice cream truck usually goes there, and every Monday I let them buy an ice cream. (The other days they have to suffer without it!)
When we're at that park, I check the kids' backpacks to see how much homework they have, and that helps me determine how long we stay at the park. If they have little or no homework, we can stay until five, which is right around the time that Rafael's mom comes to get him. If they have some homework, we leave about twenty minutes early to go get that done, and then they have a little bit of play time and relaxation time at home before dinner.
I think it works out a lot better for them! The sunshine, fresh air, socialization and exercise is much better for them than sitting in the house playing with toys in the playroom, or even sitting at the table doing homework. Don't you think?
My plan for this summer is going to be similar... keep them out as much as possible! I'm thinking we can even have lunch, read, and do our art projects outside a lot of the time!
Here are some pics we took on a recent day at the park.
Rafael swinging...
This was on a Monday, I guess, because we had ice cream! Look how gross it made his mouth!
You can see that Pufferfish had some ice cream too! She looks like a vampire baby with her black lips!
Sarah taking a picture of me taking a picture of her taking a picture of me taking a picture of her...
This is our little friend Billy who also frequents the park. He knows everyone who has ever set foot in the park, and possibly everyone in our town! He's a very friendly little dude!
Billy took this picture of Sarah, right before she disappeared into a ball of bright light! ;)
Pufferfish is proud that she finished all of her icecream! (Usually most of it ends up falling on the ground.)
Another photo taken by Billy!
Sarah pushing Billy on the swings. He loves underdogs!
Rafael and Billy, on the swings, obviously!
Maybe Rafael just stayed on the swing that whole day?
Little Bear going wild on the swing! (This is a swing for kids who have trouble holding themselves upright in a regular swing, but Little Bear, Rafael, and the others like to twist the chains up and then spin around like crazy in it!)
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What about you? What do you do after school to keep your little ones from driving you nuts?
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Exhausting NIght!
This has been an exhausting couple of days! I'm not going to write exactly why, because I may or may not still have stalker issues. But its just a matter of trying to juggle a bunch of things. Last night I slept at my mom's house, then went at about two to pick up all of the little kids in DuPage, and brought them back to my mom's house. I kept them there until about eight, and then brought them back to DuPage, where I will stay with them until about midnight, and then I will go back to my mom's house for the night. Does that sound complicated?
Its even more complicated because of the fact that Little Bear and Pufferfish were sort of sick.
We stopped at this little chocolate festival near my mom's house, which I thought would be fun for them. I envisioned it involving free samples of chocolate at every booth. No such luck! It was booth after booth of expensive food, nothing free, and a few rinky dink kiddie rides that were also expensive! I spent about twelve bucks on tickets so Rafael and Pufferfish could go on three rides each. Little Bear was saying she wasn't feeling good and didn't want to go on any rides. By the time the other kids got done riding their three rides and getting their faces painted, Little Bear was hollering up a storm! So I told them we would start heading for my mom's.
By the time we were almost to the car, Little Bear broke the news to me that she had to pee... bad! Of course she waited to tell me about it until it was nearly dribbling down her legs... and the only porta potty was way back on the other side of the fest, where we had just spent ten minutes walking from!
I told Little Bear to just hold it a few minutes until we got to my mom's. Little Bear started hollering even more, and then she bumped her head trying to get into the car, and it was a disaster for all involved! She gets like that when she's overtired... she's just one big blob of misfortune!
Finally we got to my mom's, and I left the others in the car so I could rush Little Bear into the bathroom. I showed her where it was, then went back for Rafael and Pufferfish, who had asked me about a bajillion times, "Why do we gotta wait in the car?" ("Because I gotta take Little Bear to the bathroom, I don't have time to get Pufferfish outta the car seat, and I don't want to leave her alone, so just STAY HERE FOR ONE MINUTE PLEASE!")
Unfortunately Little Bear had made it not quite on time to the potty and was hollering that she was cold, so I rifled around my mom's house for some little kid clothes. All I could find was a pair of Sarah -Jo's undies from when she was about six. (Back when they used to spend weekends with me, their dad never remembered to pack them clean clothes, so I started buying underwear and socks and stuff to keep at my house for when they were there.) I gave Little Bear the undies and one of my jammie T-shirts. Problem solved! Little Bear sort of looked like a ghost in the T-shirt that went down to her ankles, but what can ya do?
The rest of the night actually went better. The kids played with my doggie Trixie and visited with my less than enthusiastic kitty Sammy-Joe, and they played with the toys that my mom keeps there for my little cousins. Then they watched some cartoons. I fed them PBJ sandwiches.
You know your parents' lives have changed a lot when you have to scrounge around in their house for things to make PBJ! It was like, "Hmmm, here is some organic peanut butter! Here is some red strawberry marmalade! Here is some Country White Bread! Close enough, I guess!"
Anyway, I finally told them to clean up and we headed for home. Miraculously, all three stayed awake in the car! I got them inside, gave the girls some Motrin, let them lay down, etc. I took their temperatures and found out Pufferfish was 105.8 and Little Bear was 104.7! The rest of the night was spent just trying to cool them down and get them to sleep peacefully!
Its weird because they never had any other symptoms... no sore throats, stuffy noses, nothing!
Anyway, now I am just waiting for Rafael's mom to come get him so I can go back to my mom's for the night! Rafael, by the way, is still up and going strong, watching the old Chipmunks movie (the cartoon version from back in the day) for the second time tonight!
Ugh! I wish I never had to wake up again!
(UPDATE: Rafael's mom ended up coming to get him at about 1:00 in the morning! She was a little tipsy from the party she had been at, so me and Jimmy ended up driving her home, and I didn't get back to my mom's until 2:30! At least I got to sleep in late!)
Its even more complicated because of the fact that Little Bear and Pufferfish were sort of sick.
We stopped at this little chocolate festival near my mom's house, which I thought would be fun for them. I envisioned it involving free samples of chocolate at every booth. No such luck! It was booth after booth of expensive food, nothing free, and a few rinky dink kiddie rides that were also expensive! I spent about twelve bucks on tickets so Rafael and Pufferfish could go on three rides each. Little Bear was saying she wasn't feeling good and didn't want to go on any rides. By the time the other kids got done riding their three rides and getting their faces painted, Little Bear was hollering up a storm! So I told them we would start heading for my mom's.
By the time we were almost to the car, Little Bear broke the news to me that she had to pee... bad! Of course she waited to tell me about it until it was nearly dribbling down her legs... and the only porta potty was way back on the other side of the fest, where we had just spent ten minutes walking from!
I told Little Bear to just hold it a few minutes until we got to my mom's. Little Bear started hollering even more, and then she bumped her head trying to get into the car, and it was a disaster for all involved! She gets like that when she's overtired... she's just one big blob of misfortune!
Finally we got to my mom's, and I left the others in the car so I could rush Little Bear into the bathroom. I showed her where it was, then went back for Rafael and Pufferfish, who had asked me about a bajillion times, "Why do we gotta wait in the car?" ("Because I gotta take Little Bear to the bathroom, I don't have time to get Pufferfish outta the car seat, and I don't want to leave her alone, so just STAY HERE FOR ONE MINUTE PLEASE!")
Unfortunately Little Bear had made it not quite on time to the potty and was hollering that she was cold, so I rifled around my mom's house for some little kid clothes. All I could find was a pair of Sarah -Jo's undies from when she was about six. (Back when they used to spend weekends with me, their dad never remembered to pack them clean clothes, so I started buying underwear and socks and stuff to keep at my house for when they were there.) I gave Little Bear the undies and one of my jammie T-shirts. Problem solved! Little Bear sort of looked like a ghost in the T-shirt that went down to her ankles, but what can ya do?
The rest of the night actually went better. The kids played with my doggie Trixie and visited with my less than enthusiastic kitty Sammy-Joe, and they played with the toys that my mom keeps there for my little cousins. Then they watched some cartoons. I fed them PBJ sandwiches.
You know your parents' lives have changed a lot when you have to scrounge around in their house for things to make PBJ! It was like, "Hmmm, here is some organic peanut butter! Here is some red strawberry marmalade! Here is some Country White Bread! Close enough, I guess!"
Anyway, I finally told them to clean up and we headed for home. Miraculously, all three stayed awake in the car! I got them inside, gave the girls some Motrin, let them lay down, etc. I took their temperatures and found out Pufferfish was 105.8 and Little Bear was 104.7! The rest of the night was spent just trying to cool them down and get them to sleep peacefully!
Its weird because they never had any other symptoms... no sore throats, stuffy noses, nothing!
Anyway, now I am just waiting for Rafael's mom to come get him so I can go back to my mom's for the night! Rafael, by the way, is still up and going strong, watching the old Chipmunks movie (the cartoon version from back in the day) for the second time tonight!
Ugh! I wish I never had to wake up again!
(UPDATE: Rafael's mom ended up coming to get him at about 1:00 in the morning! She was a little tipsy from the party she had been at, so me and Jimmy ended up driving her home, and I didn't get back to my mom's until 2:30! At least I got to sleep in late!)
