Depressed

I am officially in a deep funk. Everything ache - I twisted my ankle a week ago, followed by falling down a half a flight of stairs on Wednesday and throwing my back out over the weekend. I am stressed about school, about comps, about everything. I am worried about my sister's health. I still have heard nothing about that job I want so badly. It's officially getting to me. It's just not been my week.

Spiderman

Look who just came through and destroyed my living room. It's Spiderman - alter ego, Jacob Kirkland! You should see what he and his brother did to their bedroom. Mommy is going to have a nervous breakdown.

Autistic Basketball Phenom!

I love this story... little things like this inspire and give hope to me!

This is how you give a presentation in a online class!

Jim went to the movies last night, the night I have class. Maybe he mentioned it to me, maybe not, but it didn't click that it was on a class night. On the night I had a presentation in class. Still, shouldn't be a big deal. Jim wanted to see the movie and I wanted to let him go. That was probably the first mistake. The kids were not cooperative in going to their room, so I had to do the presentation with them on the main level. That was the second mistake.

My presentation partner calls me. Her mic isn't working. So I had to do it solo. Never mind that I had not prepped to do this solo, but I rolled with it. We had a script for God's sake. Should be easy. A discussion on copyright, no sweat. So I start. I have Jimmy stripping naked and I have to ignore it. I have Jake taking apart the papsan chair (cheesy, but the kids love it.) I am getting pissed, but it's not like I can yell at him midpresentation. So I keep going.

We get to the Q&A. If there is a God, no one will have a question. Apparently He has it out for me, because there are three. First question - I have to quietly pause to get Jacob to quit yelling - (we have a text chat in our class - someone asked if I had a hungry cat next to me.) Second question - Jake got himself stuck in that papsan like it was a bamboo prison and is losing his mind. Senator McCain would have been having Viet Cong flashbacks. I had to stop mid answer, extract him from the bamboo, and go back to the question. Can I die now? At the break, I had enough left over Weight Watchers points for several glasses of wine or a brownie. I went with the brownie, but I think I needed the wine.

Comps are on March 31. I will be happy when that day is past and I am in the home stretch!

Survived the Holiday

I had to take yesterday off because the daycare was closed for an in-service day. I had Jake all morning as Jimmy had school. According to the teacher, Jimmy's school day didn't go as well as it normally does because he knew I was at home today. "I want Mommy, Goodbye!" was all he was willing to say in class.

I am trying to get through this semester and having a difficult time of it. I am feeling overwhelmed, so much so that it is almost paralyzing. It isn't because the coursework is particularly hard. I am at the end, dreading comps, and too busy worrying about whether I got the job across the street from the daycare that I seemingly can think of nothing else. I think I am going to call today, so I can quit worrying about it.

Brotherly Love

Jimmy and Jacob have a serious love/hate thing going on. They are playful one minute and fighting the next. Jimmy has no agressive tendencies towards other children, but this child can fight with his brother. It goes both ways - I have seen Jake go after Jimmy with a wooden spoon. Jimmy gets most agressive with his brother when I am not around, either gone running errands or if I am in another part of the house for a protracted amount of time. Their dad seems to think that Jimmy somehow blames Jake for me being gone, but I can't imagine that. I am sort of unsure what to do. I am going to ask his therapist at parent training on Thursday.

The Promised Snow Post

Yes, it snowed over the weekend. I was so busy keeping kids entertain that I didn't take any pictures or post once. Jimmy loved it. He and his daddy went out Saturday evening as it was coming down. Last year, he refused to walk in the snow, seemingly hating the sensation of it. This year, he stomps down on it. Still doesn't want it thrown at him. Sledding still seems a ways off as well. We will get there. Probably to most remarkable thing is that Jimmy himself asked to go out to the snow.

"I want snow goodbye."

Yes, it is a little backwards, but I think almost anyone can understand what he is getting at. It's a wonderful feeling that he can communicate.

Political Glad Handing

I took Jimmy to the townhall meeting with our local congressman the Honorable Frank Wolf. I did my question/concern first and shoot his hand on the way out. He said goodbye to Jimmy and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to see if all of our work on high five would pay off. It did. He did his soft little high five and the rest of the group starting clapping. I am so proud of that boy.

Letting Go of a Dream

Michelle Kwan has been my favorite skater since she placed second in the 1992 Nationals. No one had idea what she would become to the figure skating - the most decorated champion in this sport since Sonia Henjie. An Olympic gold medal seemed to be a given twice, and yet missed the goal on both occassions. I was looking forward to her third try, practically holding my breathe to see if her injuried body would heal in time for her to compete on the 21st. Would she pull it together and pull the biggest upset in the history of the sport. Sadly, I woke up this morning to find it not be.

Some say her exit would have been more graceful if she had never petitioned on to the team, never made the trip to Torino. She wouldn't have been the athlete I have admired for so many years had she not tried. An Olympic dream may have died today, but in my estimation, a graceful hero was born.

Let It Snow

Well, I guess this is better than it happening on a weekday, but we are expecting about a foot of snow this weekend. Fortunately, I will have ample opportunity to horde milk and toilet paper as I am going to be off this afternoon taking Jimmy to the doctor. Wart removal, round 2. Pray for me...

I feel bad for the BFF. Living in the foothills of the Shenendoah Valley, she should be confined to her home with her three kids for several days. I will likely have the weekend with the boys and the option of taking them to daycare on Monday. I am sure there will be at least a 2 hour delay for schools, which means no ECSE class for Jimmy. I am taking all of my homework and comps work home to study between Wiggles episodes and Olympic figure skating (why can't ladies be this weekend, instead of another week or so away...) My house will be trashed by Monday and the boys will have run us in the ground. Ugh.

I will post updates of the coming snowpocalypse throughout the weekend.

Another Weekend

Jimmy talked up a storm this weekend. Mostly I want phrases, but there were many new items labelled. He found a box of candles from Ikea. Those were most tempting. Thank goodness he didn't say "I want matches."

A brief post - I promise more entertainment tomorrow. Right now, I am going to figure out if I went over on my Weight Watchers points and do some reading for Dr. Bill.

Jimmy's New Sentence

I want computer... (sounds like "I want 'puter.)

Not to play videogames, mind you. He likes to type words that he has learned, especially if the narrator function is turned on. That way the computer reads back what he's typed. It's pretty entertaining. If he starts typing "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," I am making a break for it!

I Never Thought That I Would Know Someone on a Reality Show

This is a message from our friend Shawn. Tiff is a great girl and worthy of this opportunity. Vote for Tiffany!!!!

My sister Tiffany is a finalist to be one of 5 hosts on this cool Travel Channel show. They send 5 people to 6 different countries and videotape their differing experiences over 4 months. She's up against 4 other people for the last slot and they're letting the online voters decide who gets it. It's the chance of a lifetime so I'd appreciate you taking a minute to vote for her at the link below.

http://travel.discovery.com/fansites/5takes/poll/viewers_choice.html

Day One of the First Three Month Drive

I saw Shivi yesterday... our schedule is set. We have managed to put together four days a week of therapy for Jimmy, plus an hour a week of in-home parent training. We got two sponsors, one of whom is a colleague from UT (I love the people I go to school with - many of them I have never met, yet they have been a constant sources of support and inspiration), the school system kicked in some funding, as did Jim's parents. Some of the goals for the next three months...

• Increased receptive language, in terms of taking direction and conversation.
• Increased expressive language, including building more sentences.
• Attending through an activity, such as snack time (i.e. sitting still and eating, rather than walking around with his cookie.)
• Respecting physical boundaries and turn taking (sharing, not stealing other people's food, etc...)

It will be interesting to see with this increased effort how much we can do in 90 days. The school evaluates their contribution each 90 days, so I hope to show them a return on their investment in Jimmy. I am excited and a little nervous about the prospect.