Brother-Sister Cuteness

My son recently has been saying “happy!” trying to ensure my daughter and I are happy…all the time, in the cutest way! If he thinks either of us are sad, he simply says “Happy”. If we don’t tell him that we are happy, or look happy after that, he says “Happy please.” If that doesn’t work, he’ll say “Mommy happy please” and give me a huge smile. His smile just lights up the room!

Yesterday my daughter was home from school because she wasn’t feeling well. In the evening, she was looking very unhappy because the tylenol I had given her had run out. Poor thing. My son noticed, went over and told her “Happy”. She couldn’t even fake it. So he said “Happy please” and then leaned over and gave her a kiss to help her feel better. I also gave her the next dose of tylenol.

Shortly thereafter, my daughter mentioned that she was starting to feel a bit better. I told her that was good, and that the tylenol must have started working. She said it was getting a kiss from her brother.

So much cuteness!!

Why Dirty Dishes are Good

A great reminder, that I found on Pinterest. May type it up and hang in our kitchen…

12 Things Happy People Do Differently

Thought this was appropriate seeing as today is Canadian Thanksgiving:

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s the Little Things

In our home, I have “my chair”.  The kids know that when I come back into the living room and they are sitting in “my chair”, that they have to move.  They can just move temporarily to just give me space to sit down, and then come back for our wonderful cuddles but I’m sitting in “my chair”.  It’s where I can block out the sounds from the kids’ programming while I read, surf the internet, write, etc.

 

What drove me crazy though is that so much garbage collects on the table right beside “my chair”.  When we all caught a cold a couple months ago, I put a plastic bag beside my chair to collect used Kleenex because I was too lazy to get up each time I blew my nose to throw it out.  When I got better, I realized how much I loved having a pseudo-garbage right beside my chair so I got an actual plastic garbage can and it now stays beside my chair.

 

It’s strange but this little garbage can makes me happy – happy that I don’t have to get up to throw things out in the kitchen or bathroom garbage cans; happy that I was so “brilliant” to finally figure out this little tidbit.  It really is the little things in life that make me happy.

Motivational Monday – Relationships

Considering tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be appropriate to post something about relationships.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Be sure to celebrate your most precious relationship…the one with yourself.

 

Motivational Monday – Surround Yourself with True Friends

As with any major change in life, my marriage separation helped me determine who my true friends are, and for that, I feel truly blessed.  Some thoughts about the people we call friends…

 

Fill In The Blank Friday – 11/04

1.   My favorite thing about this week was/is  still to come…I’m not sure what relationship we are to eachother now but she’s still and will always be part of our family…my ex’s older daughter (and therefore my kids’ older sister) is coming to visit just us, for the first time since her father and I split up almost 2 years ago. We are REALLY looking forward to the visit!

2.   Colder weather makes me pull out the slow cooker and start cooking “properly” again.  Gotta love harvest time!

3.  Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are

• The constant improvement in development my son is experiencing in IBI
• My daughter’s excitement in being in French Immersion and joining lots of clubs at school
• My man – sappy, I know but it’s true

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I’d choose  my slip-on runners…but I would properly and forever mourn my 3” heels, desperately wishing I could wear them again but, when I have 6 year old twins to chase after, runners it is. Ugh, this question hurts.

5.  My personality type is ENTP, through and through, however there were some years where I seemed to flip between ENTP and ENTJ. At least the “ENT” part remained the same.  

6.  I have a serious problem resisting my Starbucks chai latter, and also leaving Jalapeno Cheddar Doritos in the store. I’m getting better but they just call my name when I walk by them in the grocery store.  I must be strong…

7.  My favorite colour to wear is  black shirt and dark blue jeans…very depressing I know, and it’s such a “mom uniform”. I also like wearing browns and greens too – look great on redheads.

 

Fill in the Blanks Friday – 09/30

1.   My current obsession is talking about my son starting IBI! Really, is there anything else happening in the world?  Who cares! He’s in IBI!!

 

2.  My kids make me happy, except for when my daughter and I are battling it out for who is the more stubborn redhead.

 

3.  My greatest strength is putting others at ease, and treating everyone equally.

 

4.  My ability to get “stuck” when a task doesn’t go the way I planned it would is my greatest weakness.

 

5.  My life is chaotic and calm at the same time, filled with:

• 2 different school bus routes, with 3 busses total
• 2 schools
• 2 Parent Councils
• appointments
• play dates
• approx 1 hour of paperwork and/or reading every night for the kids’ schools and IBI
• not eating until 2pm hen I forget to pack my own lunch
• laundry is constant, and right now I have a mountain of clean clothes to fold and put away
• helping my parents in the family business
• looking for part time work outside the home a field I haven’t worked in since I was a teenager
• rebuilding our social network since we moved in July
• still changing diapers…6 years and counting

Despite the chaos though, I find time EVERY DAY to have quiet cuddles with each of my kids, one-on-one conversations with them, and quiet snuggles for bedtime.

 
6.  In high school, I was an A student AND a band geek…even worse, I’m a redhead that played flute (NO, I didn’t go to band camp).  Before you judge my band geek-ness, were you able to go travel throughoutOntario, plus go to Montreal, Quebec City, England, Denmark and Sweden while you were in highschool?  I did…because I was in the band and those were our trips to perform worldwide!

 

7. When I’m super tired, I have almost perfected the ability to fall asleep sitting up.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

My Son Started!

My son FINALLY started IBI yesterday!  Even better, he loves it!  IBI is the “be all and end all” of therapy for children with Autism.  Unfortunately, not all children qualify for IBI but my son met all the requirements to qualify, so then we were placed on the standard waitlist in the Autism field.  The technical definition of IBI (according to KidsAbility) is a program that…

• uses systematic behavioural teaching methods
• has clearly defined strategies & goals
• is individualized to the needs of each child
• incorporates changes based upon direct measurement of each child’s learning

Basically, this means that my son will benefit from 21 hours PER WEEK for at least a YEAR of a combination of one-on-one and small group interactions with speech therapy, behavioural therapy, and occupational therapy.  When he finishes the program (ie: he’s met all the markers along the way to continue his developmental progress), there is a 6-month reintegration program in full-time school.  This means, he is now attending IBI 3 days per week in the nearby city, and is at school 2 days per week for Grade 1.  IBI is considered by the Board of Education to be his primary instruction so he will receive a special code instead of being “absent” from class.

InOntario, IBI is offered as a Direct Service Option or Direct Funding Option.  Because I don’t have the $70,000 extra to select the DFO option that was offered to him in May (the government does reimburse a small percentage of that but still…), moving back to my small town meant that my son was moved up the waitlist for the DSO option as his diagnosis date was in 2007, and in the new region, they were working with children with diagnosis dates in 2009.

Waitlists are “normal” in this field.  Ironically, when he qualified for IBI 3 years ago, I just *knew* that he would be starting IBI at the beginning of Grade 1 and, thankfully, that is exactly what happened.  He’s “ready” for it now.  His verbal and written (via his iPad) communication has been cascading since we moved. He’s become even more aware of what’s going on around him, and the routines that are natural to others…and therefore are starting to become more natural to him too.  He’s using echolalia now, and is mimicking things and people around him.

Even better, he gets excited whenever I mention KidsAbility, which is where he receives IBI. 

In fact, last night, my daughter even said:

Daughter:    “Mommy, I wish I had Autism.”

Me:             “Pardon?  Why hunny?”

Daughter:    “Because then I could go play at KidsAbility too.”

I’m so happy that BOTH of my kids are excited about my son starting IBI.  He’s ready, he’s willing, and he’s excited!  Can’t get much better than that!

 

PS – I would love to hear about your journey with getting services for your child with Autism, positive AND negative. If there are enough people who would like to share, I would love to start a guest post series on my blog. Message me at imamomtoo.meghan@gmail.com if you are interested. We all have different stories to offer, and I want to help facilitate communication.

 

Fill in the Blanks Friday – 08-26

 

1.  One of life’s most simple pleasures is getting a full night’s sleep PLUS sleeping in past 7am.

 

2.   Waiting on hold for a billion years when I call to make a doctor’s appointment sometimes bothers me, depending on whether I have other little things to do while waiting BUT, if the kids are demanding my attention, I hang up and try to remember to call back later. Operative word: “try”.

 

3.  I like knitting because, it stops me from emotional eating…which reminds me, I need to start a new knitting project.

 

4.  Inherently is a funny word. Not sure why, but I find it weird.

 

5.  If I had to choose one beauty product to use for the rest of eternity it would be moisturizer.  Not sure if it’s a beauty product, but sunscreen and aloe vera gel would be next on the list.  Redhead. ‘Nuff said.

 

6.  I’m happy that we moved back to my hometown.  We are all very happy here.

 

7.  I would never get married again…even though people say “just give it time”.  I can’t afford another “ex”, whether financially or emotionally.