Christmas, Christmas, Everywhere!

My house looks as though it's been hit by a tornado...no, perhaps an atomic bomb.  There's Christmas shrapnel everywhere I look, and as I try to find a peaceful spot to rock in the fetal position I am reminded of the fact that it will get bigger and bigger every year as The Princess starts to want things and family members oblige.  So I begin to chant...enjoy it while it's here, this may be the last Christmas without the added wonders of Santa Claus and gift lists.

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday.  On Christmas Eve, The Princess got all gussied up (in the same dress she wore for Christmas day last year - hooray for outfit-repeating...especially at this age!!) and decided she loved ornaments.  Not having had any on the pre-lit tree this year for fear of Destructo doing them in, she was elated when I handed her one. 

After snapping these (most excellent) photos, we took off for Uncle Hambone's house for the festivities.  In keeping with tradition, there was grumbling and bickering, starving and nervous giggling, eating and calming down, and waaaay too many presents!  Dinner was served at about 10:00, after which we dug into the pile of loot.

The Princess, of course, found her big present the moment we got there...considering it would have been hard to wrap.

After checking out the tricycle and getting a tutorial about putting her feet on the pedals and pushing, The Princess decided she really needed to get down and dirty, and figure out how the heck this thing worked.

Happy with the mechanical aspects, The Princess moved on to more presents and lots of paper.  The bubble wrap was an especially big hit.

After presents we decided it was probably time to hit the road, so The Hubbs started bringing our loot to the car.  A couple of minutes after he went out there was a knock on the door...he came in with a look of absolute horror on his face.  The tricycle had self-destructed. 

Turns out it wasn't a big deal - just a grumpy bolt that was easily fixed - and the tricycle is now residing smack dab in the middle of our living room.  The Princess's favorite part is the pedals...they spin so well!

When we got home from Uncle Hambone's house The Princess was sleeping peacefully in her car seat.  I couldn't bring myself to upset her so I took her in her Christmas dress and laid her in her bed for the night.  She didn't budge.

Next morning, we awoke early to make the trek to The Hubbs' folks' place.  His grandpa's birthday is on Christmas day and there's always a big breakfast with that side of the family, chowing home-made crepes and excellent bacon.  Can't miss that!

After breakfast we plopped in the living room to open presents with The Hubbs' folks and JAK.  Unfortunately, I left my BlackBerry at home...so I didn't get to take any pictures.  :(

BUT...Nana kindly sent me three of the best The Princess photos from her camera.  Thanks, Nana!

Here's The Princess with Daddy, yukkin' it up:

And here she is checking out the decorations on the coffee table:

And this one we like to call Princess Babboon Butt...displaying her shiny red bloomers for the world.  K wasn't sure what the heck was going on, and is looking over her shoulder at the crazy people.  :)

After the present extravaganza with Nana and Company, the Reardon Clan started showing up for dinner.  The Princess really enjoyed the turkey and homemade cranberry sauce...not to mention the pumpkin cheesecake.

All in all it was a great Christmas, though we're still trying to find homes for all the new stuff.  This poor little house seems to be shrinking by the minute...time to go through and throw out some old crap to make room!

Here's her big present from Nana and Grampy - the Handy Manny Repair Shop.  Coolest.  Thing.  Ever.  We just couldn't wait to get this thing put together, regardless of the lack of space.  It now lives in the middle of the living room, between the treadmill and the tricycle.

Here's hoping your holiday was as filled with food, family and fun as ours was.

Merry Christmas!

This is always a crazy time, and it seems the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas has a way of speeding up more and more every year.  I find myself surprised, once again, at how quickly Christmas has arrived.

I know there's always lots to do, but let's all do ourselves a favor and take this time to slow down.  Turn off the TV, put away the Nintendo DS, and - God forbid - put the BlackBerry or iPhone in a drawer.  Now look around...what do you see?

I see my two American bulldogs, Dee and Sookie, without whom our lives would be dangerously close to boring.  Never in my life have I known such a protector as Dee.  But fear not...once she gets to know you she's got nothin' but love for ya.  Sookie, on the other hand, falls in love with every human she meets within seconds.  If it wasn't for Dee, any intruders would be greeted by a cutesy little gal rolling onto her back in hopes of a good ol' fashioned belly rub.

I see my husband, the love of my life.  Without him, who knows...I may still be living at home with my mom and dad, singing karaoke at every opportunity.  Not that that would be bad, but I wouldn't be a wife with a house and two loving bulldogs.  This man has made such a difference in my life.

And he's given me the greatest gift of all - a daughter.  This little girl is gorgeous, and so affectionate.  Sure, she poops her pants and cries instead of talking...but I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.  Add to that the fact that I'm finally getting some time with her at home, and I couldn't be happier.

These people, furry or not, are what it's all about.  Now add in my folks, his folks, our siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, and tell me this:

How could life get any better?

From the bottom of my heart, I wish you and your families the merriest of Christmases this year.  Don't forget to slow down and enjoy it.

One Productive Monday

Another busy day here in the Tucky!

This afternoon I took The Princess over to Milestones for her OT with Sakina.  What a difference from last week, when she was all oh-my-gosh-look-at-all-the-stuff-I-must-play-with-everything-right-NOW!  We made our way into the gym and The Princess spent a good amount of time in the swings.  Sakina explained to me how some movements can be stimulating and others can be calming.  I'm excited to put this into practice at home.

After blowing off some steam in the gym we all headed across the hall to the therapy room, where The Princess and Sakina strung beads, put pegs into a pegboard and colored with markers.  The Princess was unbelievably attentive - it's really amazing to see the difference OT can make in her concentration and overall demeanor.

When we were done in the therapy room, Sakina took The Princess into the hall to roll on a little scooter for a bit.  She wasn't sure about it at first, but quickly caught on to the workings of the thing and scooted herself from Sakina to me...earning a great big hug when she got there. 

Before leaving, we stopped off at the ol' potty where The Princess showed off her still-dry Pull-Up and tinkled like a champ.  She was extremely entertained by the sink that turns on when you put your hands under it, and splashed a little more than was completely necessary...but it was cute as a button.  As I was wiping down the counter, The Princess grabbed the diaper bag and dragged it to the door.  When I caught up with her and opened the door, she proceeded to drag the diaper bag down the hall to the door into the waiting room.  So cute!

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

On the way, I called school to find out what the testing center hours are for this week.  They gave me the info and I came home to do a little more reviewing.  I had decided to put math off as long as possible, and took off at about 4:30 to take my English/reading tests.

They said to allow two hours for this test.  Forty minutes after starting, I was very surprised to find I had finished.  I stepped out of the testing center to the desk, and was told I had scored 100%.  Yippee!  Since I had planned to be there longer anyway, I figured what the heck...so I went back in and took the math test.  Not perfect, by any means, but not bad either.

After taking my placement exams I headed down the hall to leave.  I noticed that the admissions office was still open, so I stepped inside to see if there was an advisor around who could help with my course placement.  It just so happened that there was an advisor there with no one else waiting, so I sat down with her and I now have my schedule for the spring semester.  I'll be taking English, Computer Literacy, Biology and MCC101 (college intro) on campus; and psych as a telecourse.

I'm officially a full-time student, starting in January.

Sis-In-Law Is Fine And I'm An Idiot, But I Make Cute Things

Six days and counting until the Christmas madness begins at the in-laws' house!

If you're here because you know me, you are already aware of the fact that my brother's wife went in for surgery yesterday.  The doctors were throwing the big scary C-word around with wild abandon leading up to this procedure, and I am ecstatic to report that THEY WERE WRONG.  There was no cancer - it was endometriosis.  They removed the masses, performed a hystorectomy and removed her appendix.  She's resting on Cloud 9 with her push-button pain relief as you are reading this.

Last week I enrolled at the local county college so I can go back and get my certificate to be a COTA (Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant).  I also picked up a study guide from the school bookstore to refresh my memory on math a bit before I take the placement tests.  Yesterday, between other things, I pulled out the study guide and proceeded to feel dumber by the moment.  We're talking basic math, people!  I used to be good at this stuff - I was in calculus in high school.  And here I was, reduced to a blubbering pile of goo by this blue booklet that was taunting me with things I've long forgotten.  Slowly but surely, it's coming back. 

Since the Christmas Countdown is where it is, well, I figured it was as good a time as any to embark upon a last-minute craft project for the whole family.  I can't tell you what it is here, since most of you are getting one, but I'll post pics after Christmas.  It's a fun project, and it's great to be able to sit down and work on it for a while when my math incompetence gets to be too much to handle.

Now, if I could only find a place to hide all these projects when The Hubbs' fam comes over tomorrow...

The Times, They Are A-Changin'

Hey y'all!

What with all of the recent changes in my life, I figured it was about time to revamp the old blogosphere.  Welcome to my new world, now entitled "One Mom's Journey".

Stay tuned for updates about our adventures, and let me know what ya think about the new layout!

Lunch With The Gals, Play Group, and A Nice Little Surprise

Big day today!

The Princess and I headed down to the old office to meet up with some friends from work and get my last check (more on the check later).  The ride down was uneventful, mostly due to the fact that we left home at about 10:30 so we were blessed with the absence of the usual rush hour idiots.

When we arrived at the office the receptionist called the HR chick, who came up to meet me.  Her face lit up when she saw The Princess and she immediately said she had hoped I'd be bringing her along.  The Princess hasn't been to the office in quite a while, and we all know how fast little ones can change.  In HR Chick's office, we talked for a couple of minutes and played with the greatest thing known to toddlerhood - bubbles!  HR Chick is a grandma and just happened to have little wedding-favour-sized bottles in her file cabinet for such occasions.  Good thinkin'!  HR Chick quickly made her way onto The Princess's list of Grown Ups Who Don't Suck.

After collecting my last check (which should have been dated 12/4) we got permission to go upstairs to surprise our pals.

Up the millions of stairs - hey, to a toddler who has no stairs in her house 20 stairs is a lot! - into the good ole cube farm.  We stopped by my buddy Rick's desk, but he wasn't there.  Bummer.  The Princess made a grand entrance into Rolinda's cube, running in uninvited and undetected for a moment before he turned around to find a 2-year-old staring him in the face.  :)  Rolilnda told us that Ricky Rick Rick was in E's office...E was going to lunch with us so I didn't feel bad interrupting.

We trekked across the cube farm to the wall-o-offices, and I aimed The Princess at E's door...giving her a little push.  Ricky Rick Rick looked down, his eyes got as big as saucers, and then he looked up with this big ol' goofy grin to say hi.  I think the last time he saw The Princess she was just learning to walk.  Time flies!  E had a little Scooby Doo lunch box with a handle that made fantastic sounds, and she even gave The Princess a smiley-face sticker. 

From there we hit the potty and ran into Betts at the sinks - she was the last member of our lunch group that we had yet to see.  Her face lit up and we hugged right there in the bathroom.  Glad no one walked in...might have looked funny to an outsider!

The Princess, Rolinda, E, Betts and I headed out for an upscale lunch at this jazzy place called McDonald's...and had an absolutely fabulous time.  I may not miss the job, but I sure do miss the people.

I am so excited for Betts, who is retiring in January.  Way to go, lady!

Through this whole visit, The Princess was an absolute angel.  All smiles and not a grumpy sound coming out of her.  I'm a lucky momma.

After Happy Meals, we headed back to the car and said goodbye to our pals.  The Princess got comfortably strapped into her car seat with a toy and we took off for home.

About half-way home it occurred to me that I had never looked at my check.  Imagine my surprise as I opened it and found out, while driving, that it was fully three times what I had expected it to be.  Merry Christmas!  I guess it was worth the wait after all, eh?

After stopping at the bank and the post office to deposit that check and send out our Christmas cards, we stopped home to hang out with Daddy for a couple of hours.

Off to play group! 

Those of you who follow this blog are already aware that the last play group did not end well.  I am happy to report that today's play group was a success.  The Princess had fun during free play, helped to clean up when it was over - which was HUGE, actually sat for circle time, and was in on all of the activities...including craft time. 

We didn't make it this far last time, but it was big fun today.  We made a Christmas tree using construction paper, glue, yarn and foam stickers.  Ooh, and we drew stars in the night sky with chalk.  And as an extra added bonus: there's even snow under the tree.

After craft time we had a snack and did a little more circle time before taking off to chill out for the evening. 

I'm very proud of my little girl...this was a lot for anyone to do in a day, and she was a champ through it all.  I love being a mommy. *happy sigh*

I've Found What I Was Meant To Do

Whew...what a day!

This morning started out with a trip to MCC to meet with a recruiter in the admissions office.  I talked to a nice woman named Helen who helped me with what I need to do to get started.  She gave me the FAFSA application, as well as the new student application form for the college.  She also set me up with a printout that outlines the courses included in the Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant (COTA) program, as well as examples of the places where COTAs can work.

Back home to fill out paperwork.  Not too bad, all considered - it took less than an hour for everything I needed to do.  Called the guidance office at my high school to get the application to have my transcript sent over to the college, filled that out, and will be dropping it off within the next day or two.

All of a sudden it was lunch time.  I scarfed a quick peanut butter and honey sandwich, got The Princess out of her jammies and into jeans and a cute little shirt from Nana, and loaded her in the car.  We headed back out to Crystal Lake for The Princess's first occupational therapy appointment at Milestones with Sakina.

Sakina is a wonderfully cheerful, outgoing woman, who was tailor-made to work with kids.  Milestones is a combination playground/classroom setting where she and her COTAs work with differently-abled kids from 0-21 years of age.

Sakina met us in the waiting room (we were half an hour early thanks to my obsessive-compulsive fear of being late!), and was all smiles as we introduced ourselves.  From there, The Princess and I shucked our shoes and headed into the gym to see what kind of thing we were getting ourselves into.

The gym.  When Sakina said we were going to the gym I wasn't sure what to expect.  I mean, this clinic is in a small storefront office in a business park, and it sure didn't seem like there was going to be enough room in this little place for a gym.  Once she led us into the back, I changed my tune.  The gym is a large room with a whole wall of mirrors facing a sea of crash pads, swings, a slide that shoots kids out into a ball pit, a trampoline, a wedge to run up and down (with super-cushy crash pads at the bottom for jumping into), and I'm sure there was more I'm not remembering now.

The Princess had a blast, especially with the ball pit.  She went down the slide a few times, running up the stairs in between to get another turn.  The trampoline was also a hit.  Cutest.  Thing.  Ever.

I told Sakina that I am currently in the process of registering at MCC for the COTA program, and her face lit up.  It turns out that she was on the committee that initiated this program at the college, and she's super-excited that it's coming.  And once she knew I was interested in getting into the profession, she kindly gave me an overview of things from her perspective. 

I'm especially excited to report that COTAs get to do all of the fun stuff OTs do, the main difference being that a COTA can't administer evaluations.  This is done by the OT who leads the staff.  Sakina assured me that my choice to become a COTA is a good one - most people who go into this field take this route, and continue their education while gaining valuable experience working with kiddos who need their help.  Otherwise, it would be six years of full-time school to get the OT qualifications start to finish.

Sakina explained that each session typically starts out with 20-30 minutes in the gym, letting the kids blow off some steam doing their favorite activities.  This helps them to rid themselves of excess energy, preparing them for more one-on-one learning time.

When we finished in the gym, Sakina led The Princess and me across the hall to a small room with kiddo-sized tables and chairs.  The Princess sat with Sakina and strung beads, put pegs into a board (and actually cleaned up when she was done - bonus!), drew on the chalkboard, and made Mommy and Daddy a most excellent picture of a crazy-colored penguin using these gigantic markers.  FYI - the markers didn't taste very good, apparently...and The Princess still has a bright green bottom lip!

All in all, it was a very good first impression.

After having talked with Heather, our service coordinator, and other people who work in industries that help differently-abled people, I've come to know that there's a huge shortage of OTs...specifically those who work with EI (Early Intervention - Illinois' state-funded program for kiddos from 0-3...this is the program The Princess is currently in).  Based on that and the fact that I want to help other kids like The Princess, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be a COTA. 

But I'd never even seen a facility before.  How did I know I was going to like it?  I couldn't possibly know that...I just had a feeling.  A feeling that has now been reinforced with a great experience at a wonderful place with a fantastic OT.

Not only was Sakina great with The Princess, but she helped me to understand what I'll be getting into when I enter the field.  I couldn't be more thankful.

Or excited.  Or hopeful.

I think it's official: I've found what I was meant to do.

After leaving Milestones, we drove across town to turn in my enrollment application at MCC and I picked up the study guide for the placement tests I'll need to take before choosing my courses.

It's all coming together.  Must be a sign.  :)

Everything Happens For A Reason

I've always been a firm believer in signs and that old adage: "Everything happens for a reason".

Losing my job in November was a blow, to say the least.  I'd been with the company for eight and a half years...started there before I was even old enough to drink.  Funny how you can get attached to a job to such an extent that you can start to feel helpless without it. 

For a long time now I've been thinking about what I'd be good at, what I'd like to do professionally.  I always find myself coming back to one thing - I want to be able to do something to help kids like The Princess.

But how can I do that?  I'm a 28-year-old mother of a 2-year-old autistic girl, and we need to support our family.

The Hubbs and I were discussing this very subject earlier this week after a particularly difficult day in the never-ending job search.  Our case worker had called to confirm a few things about upcoming changes in The Princess's services through the state, and I half-jokingly asked her if there were any job openings in her organization.  She said only if I get certified to become an OT (occupational therapist).

Hmm.

So we started musing about the possibility of my going to school to get my degree.  I've never taken any college courses, so I've got to be eligible for grants, etc., right?  How can we work it so we can keep the house?

All the beginnings of a pipe-dream, really.

Yesterday we found out that it is going to happen - and sooner rather than later.  I will be able to go to school to get my certification as an OT assistant, with the possibility of continuing on for the full OT credentials along the way.  I have a meeting on Monday with the admissions office at our community college to get the ball rolling for (hopefully) the spring semester.

I don't know how we've been so lucky, but I am thankful each and every day for everything we've been blessed with since we met five years ago.  When things are right, they're right.

For Jello

It's been a while since I've posted.  I blame this on life...so much going on, so little time for the extras.  The thought of posting a blog has crossed my mind, fleetingly, many times since I last wrote.  It's like when you realize you haven't talked to your mom in two weeks, the thought only ever occuring to you at the most inopportune time, like when you get up to pee at three o'clock in the morning.

Since I've been so lax in my writing lately, I guess it's time for another catch-all session including everything that's happened to me in the last month or so.  Here goes nothin'...

On November twentieth I lost my job.  Yeah.  Happy stinkin' holidays, right?  Since then I've been blasting my resume out to anyone who'll take a look, without success.  I've had a couple of random calls from companies to which I didn't apply (odd, right?) soliciting me for sales positions.  I have all the respect in the world for people who excel at sales...I just don't think I'd be good at this.  Plus, there's the fact that I need to support a family here, and there's no guaranteed salary in these positions.  Just commission.

So on I look.

In the meantime I've applied for unemployment, and will find out in the near future if they've deemed me worthy.  I can't imagine any good reason why they wouldn't, but am kind of freaking out about the unknown.  What if they say no?

There's always the 401k.  I know it's a last resort, but at least it's there if things get bad.

Two days after losing my job I threw out my back.  This is starting to sound like a pity party, I know, but it's not meant that way.  It's just what happened, I kid you not.  I'm still not completely recovered, but at least now I can seem to make it through the day without tears of pain or feeling like I'm gonna pass out.  I see this as a bonus.

The real upside to all of this is that I get to spend time with The Princess.  I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home mommy and I'm getting to play at that a little bit while I'm on the job search.  Though the circumstances are not ideal, I wouldn't trade this time with my daughter for anything in the world.

And the stress of that job is gone, which is another plus.  Things had been going downhill at my previous employer for a couple of years and morale was low, to say the least.  Being home for these few weeks has made me realize I may have been in the wrong position there.  Now that I'm home, I find that I am a better listener and am more relaxed.  My mind isn't constantly racing, trying to figure out how I'm going to put out the next fire at the office.

I think it would be great if I could get a job working with people again...real people, rather than high-powered corporate clients whose sole ambition is to get ahead regardless of who they step on along the way.  I'd love to do something working with people on a personal level.  Child care, patient services at a hospital, that kind of thing.

We'll see how it goes.

For now I'm pounding the pavement and getting my name and credentials out there.  Not much more I can do on this front until I get that magical phone call.

My Christmas lights are up on the outside of the house, and they are adorable.  We got a new set of ceramic multi-color C-9's this year, so the place resembles a gingerbread house in the evening.  We even splurged on a timer so I didn't have to climb to the back of the garage to plug them in and turn them off each day.  Bonus!

Christmas tree is up.  Autistic 2-year-old is enthralled, to say the least.  I'm happy to report we had the foresight to stick with only the pre-lit tree, sans garland and ornaments, this year.  My red and gold angel is perched on top, thankfully out of The Princess's reach.  The night we put it up was trying to say the least...I don't think we went 25 seconds without her grabbing a branch and yanking, resulting in the inevitable "no" and temper tantrum that follow.  She's pretty much used to it now, which is nice...lots less yelling around here.  :)

I've cleared off the back of the piano as well as the entertainment center, and redecorated those areas.  The piano area will stay this way for a while, with the exception of the glittery magic wand in the rubber tree...which is the only themed decoration for Christmas. 

The entertainment center is now the home of our Christmas Stitch, dressed as Santa Claus.  On either side we've put a bowl of ornaments and garland, and the stockings are hung on the wall behind.  It's very cute, but will inevitably need to be replaced with something else after New Year's.

Here's a different view of the entertainment center so you can see the stockings, etc., in all their glory:

Other than that, there are a few small decorations on top of the china cabinet in the kitchen:

Oh, the kitchen!  It's almost done.  Not sure when the counter and backsplash will be completed, but the paint and wainscoting are done (as long as you don't look behind the fridge!).  Pics to come later on that.

I just realized I forgot to mention Thanksgiving in there...we had my family over for dinner here, and handled everything ourselves - even with my aching back.  I baked a 15-lb turkey to perfection (not to toot my own horn or anything, but toot toot!!), and made stuffing, mashed potatoes, scalloped corn and pumpkin cheesecake to go with it.  Mom, Dad and Hambone joined us for dinner, and D and Robert showed up after.  All in all, a nice quiet evening with the fam.

Since I'm going all ADD in this post, let's jump ahead to last week. 

On Wednesday I took The Princess to her first-ever play group.  It was in Crystal Lake, and was run by the non-profit place we work with for The Princess's autism services.  The first half-hour was free play, which she loved (surprise, surprise).  She found a little play hut with balls inside - you know, the kind they put in ball pits for little kids? - and didn't budge.  She played peek-a-boo with me and a lady from NISRA, and was really enjoying herself. 

Then a little boy came into her tent, stood up and took off.  With the tent.  The Princess was all, "No way, dude!", and grabbed a side of the tent to drag back to its original location - prime real estate, you know, with its ball-pittiness and such.  She then proceeded to place the tent on the floor and sit on the side so it couldn't go anywhere.

That's right.  My little girl is just slightly possessive.  But there was no meltdown and no hitting, so I see this as a good thing!

She saved the meltdown for circle time.

Just as free play was getting good, some silly grown-up decided it would be fun (yeah, right!) to put the toys away and go sit quietly in a circle while she read a book.  The Princess?  So not into it.  Squirming, yelling, and getting ready for a full-blown tantrum in the middle of the floor, I scooped her up and took her over to the table for a big ol' glass of Shut Up.  That's what we call anything yummy in a sippy cup - no better way to avert certain jerkitude...believe me, we know from experience.

We watched from the sidelines for a while, but The Princess didn't want anything to do with the group activities.  After about an hour at the play group we snuck out and came home.  Honestly, I hadn't thought she'd last that long, so this was a pretty successful first time.

Two days later we had The Princess's annual evaluation with Early Intervention, and the short synopsis is this: we're keeping speech therapy twice a week at home with Julie, adding occupational once a week at a clinic and twice a month at home, and adding developmental twice a month at home.  It's about to get busier around here!

In some roundabout way, I think I've pretty much covered the last few weeks.  Here's hopin' I remember to post more often from now on so I don't have to do these War-and-Peace-length rants anymore.

But just in case I don't...Merry Christmas, y'all!

Ketchup, or Catch Up...Whatever!

AKA: A Sunday Evening Rambling Written By A Sleepy Mom

Jeez, where does the time go? How could it have been nearly two weeks since my last post? *Shakes her head in sheer amazement*

Lots of catching up to do!

Yesterday we had The Hubbs' birthday party at our place. His folks came up with JAK, who happened to be in from Ohio for the weekend (bonus!), and we headed over to Dusty's for a little bit of what I like to call Dunch (lunch + dinner = Dunch). My folks met us there and we annihilated two extra-large pies like they were nothing.

I love me a laid-back party. Besides the trip down the street for pizza, we basically just sat around and visited for a while. Sooo nice to have a small group like that...I actually felt like we got a chance to chat instead of flitting from relative to relative without ever having a proper conversation.

The Princess was a monster in the morning before everyone showed up, and I was afraid the whole day was going to be cloaked in screaming. Fortunately she got over herself by the time Nana and Grampy arrived with JAK, and there was actually a good amount of smiling going on for the rest of the afternoon.

Shortly after the cherry cheesecake (thanks, Nana...it was fabulous!), The Hubbs' crew had to take off. We hung with my folks for a little bit before they took off with The Princess so we could go to the movies.

What did we see? Robert Zemeckis’s new 3-D animated version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  We both really enjoyed the film, and I'd recommend it for anyone looking to get in the holiday spirit.  I'm happy to report that Zemeckis has done some fine-tuning on the animation of his human characters, and it's paid off.  They no longer look unnatural or fake...there were actually moments that looked like they could have been live-action during this film.  Jim Carrey and cast did a great job with the voices, and the heart of the story definitely shines through.

After the show we headed over to Culvers for a quick dinner, and then to Borders to walk around for a bit.  While we were in Borders I found a DVD copy of Disney's earth documentary and we picked it up for a discounted price.  Narrated by James Earl Jones, this documentary sports some gorgeous photography and top-notch story telling.  Highly recommended. 

By the time we finished watching our new documentary, I'd had all I could takes and I couldn't takes no more.  We hit the hay and didn't get out of bed until 11:00 this morning.  Ahhh...sleeping in.  A luxury we all forget as young parents.  Well, maybe not forget as much as miss out on.  With The Princess at my folks' place, we were left to our own devices when it came to waking up this morning.  Just goes to show we apparently needed to catch up on some rest!

So that was this weekend...let me tell you a little about our adventure last Saturday.

T had stayed the night on Friday so she wouldn't have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to get up here for an appointment early in the am.  After her appointment, she and I were talking in the kitchen when The Hubbs walked in and asked if we could go see her place today.

In the city.

That's right.  Mr. City-Phobe came to this proposition all by himself, with no help from either of us.  I snapped to full attention and announced I'd be out of the shower in five minutes.

The Hubbs, The Princess and I followed T's car to the city and got out in one of the most adorable neighborhoods I've ever seen.  She and her guy took us on a tour of the neighborhood, where we feasted on Roby's pizza at the Riverside Pub (I think that's what it was called anyway...note to self: blog on the day of the event so as to avoid hazy memories!).  The Hubbs and I had our first taste of hummus, and are in lub.

The Princess went tinkle in the potty all day long...I only had to change her Pull-Up either once or twice during the whole trip.  Go Kiddo!

There are all sorts of adorable little shops in Roscoe Village, and it's a very family-friendly place.  If we were to move to the city (not a snowball's chance in hell), this is where we would choose.  I'm just sorry it took us six months after she moved in to get our butts down there to see her place!

Work has been, well, work.  It's not getting any better.  Something's gotta give on that front, but I'm not sure what to do yet.  For the moment I'm just hoping it gets better and doing the best I can.

The Princess's new thing is to grab your hand and lead you where she wants to go.  Lately, it seems to be outside more often than not.  Cute?  Yes.  But annoying after a while.  She'll walk up, no matter what you're doing, grab your hand and yank.  If you don't go with her, she'll hit the floor screaming. 

Drama queen.

I recently heard from our case worker with Options and Advocacy, and The Princess's annual evaluation for Early Intervention will be on Friday, December 4.  This is the yearly meeting where The Princess's therapist comes to the house with our case worker and a couple of other people to assess where she is and what we need to do. 

There's potential for a lot of changes, seeing as how The Princess has recently been diagnosed as autistic.  We'll see how the meeting goes, and take everything else one day at a time.  Not much else we can plan for at this point!

Ooh, I put up my Christmas lights on the house last weekend, too.  We got new lights because I didn't love the ones I used last year - they were the smaller clear (white) lights like you normally see on trees.  Cute, but not much personality.  This year we got a few strands of ceramic multi-color C9 lights that make our place closely resemble a gingerbread house.

They look great, but I don't have pics yet.  I'll try to post some in a couple of weeks when we're turning them on each evening...I've only lit them once so far to make sure they work, and we don't have the extension cords all set up yet. 

Well, dear readers, that's about all I have for now.  It's not even nine o'clock, and I'm ready to fall over and sleep until noon tomorrow.  Too bad it's a work day!

There Must Have Been An Angel On Her Shoulder

Trick or treat!!


Can I just say I love, love LOVE the fact that Halloween was on a Saturday this year? How nice to have my pop around for the festivities, and to be able to hang out for more than an hour or two after work.

This year we decided to continue the newly-discovered practice of Selective Trick-Or-Treating. Last year we found out whose places are worth it and this year we visited those first. A few more were added, seeing as how The Princess's ability to propel herself from house to house has improved...saving Mommy's achin' back.

Here's the skinny on the treats, and tricks, that went down in my old stompin' grounds this weekend:

Mid-afternoon, we headed from our house in The Tucky to my folks' place in unincorporated McHenry County...between a few smaller municipalities...a place that brings Mayberry to mind. Everyone pretty much knows everyone else, and they've all been there for eons.

After The Princess changed out of her Halloween outfit (cute little "Boo" t-shirt and brown pants from Nana and Grampy), it was time to see what this kid had in her.

First stop: Frank's house next door. Frank is a family friend, and I'm sad to say The Princess doesn't get to see him nearly enough. Somehow we manage to go to Grumma and Grumpa's when he's not around so we keep missing him. The Princess was a good sport, though, and took off at a full run toward Frank as soon as she saw him. He crouched down to receive a full-on kisseroonie smack on the lips from my sweet little girl. The kid does not disappoint.

By now, Grumpa and The Hubbs had caught up with us and we all headed inside. Did I mention the reason we hit Frank's first? He gives out Twinkies. And Hostess Cupcakes. One of each, actually, if you're me or my kiddo. :) We hung out for a while, The Princess playing Ricochet Rabbit in his living room, before heading back outside into the crunchy leaves...which, by the way, are a big hit with my little girl.

Out in Frank's driveway we watched The Princess crunch, crunch, crunch some leaves, and realized the pizza lady was just leaving Grumma and Grumpa's house.

Dinner time!

After we polished off the pizza (poor thing never had a chance!), we helped The Princess back into her costume and started pounding the pavement.

At Barb's, across the street, we walked up and hit the doorbell. The Princess stood there like, "What the heck are we all standin' around for??" And then Barb opened the door with her bowl of candy. She crouched down to get a good look at my little girl, who snatched a Kit Kat and ran for all she was worth. Rock on...my kid has been to exactly two houses, and she's got the hang of it!

The Princess dragged us across the street to G&G's other next-door neighbor, Anita. Anita always has great stuff...she invited us in after chucking a sizeable handful into The Princess's basket, and started passing out drinks: a cosmo each for The Hubbs and me, a beer for Grumpa, and a juice box for kiddo. Gotta love it!

Next stop: Aunt Rose's house. For those of you who don't know, I grew up four doors down from Robert Zemeckis's parents (he was already in Hollywood by the time I came around), affectionately known to all of the neighborhood kids as Aunt Rose and Uncle Al. Aunt Rose "the candy lady" used to pass out candy on Saturdays to any kids who would ring her doorbell. No matter that Halloween only comes once a year...at Aunt Rose's house you could get that same special treatment every week! But only once...believe me, we tried everything we could think of to skip over that rule, but she was a stickler. :)

Aunt Rose is getting on in years, so she's not up to answering the door for all of the trick-or-treaters anymore. Two young women were there to help her, and we were led into the living room. There Aunt Rose sat with her hair done beautifully and topped with a sparkly tiara. In her right hand was a magic wand with a star on top and pretty ribbons cascading down over the handle. A lot of things have changed over the years, but her smile can still light up a room.

The Princess was enamored with the jar of eyeballs that was set up on the piano bench...it lit up green and the eyeballs started moving around at the touch of a button. She must have hit that thing seventy-five times during the ten-minute visit to Aunt Rose. Which earned her a dollar, by the way. Apparently the candy lady has become the money lady.

A couple more houses down the road, and The Hubbs was frozen to the core. Losing all that weight sure changed his insulation system and his threshhold for chilly weather! Pop, The Princess and I dropped him off on our way to the last house.

Stacy and Dave's...another beer for Pop, and a Weimereiner for The Princess to play with. She actually did pet him a little, but lost interest pretty quickly. Stacy pointed out a couple of snowmobiles in the back of their (disgustingly clean) garage, and offered The Princess the chance to sit on one.

So now we have a picture of a piggy on a snowmobile. Priceless!

After Stacy and Dave's, we headed back to get out of the costume and back into the cute little outfit. We played for a little while in G&G's living room before heading back over to Anita's for the post-trick-or-treating party.

It was loud and crowded and lots of fun. The Princess met a bunch of new people and doggies and had a ball. Anita's a grandma with a little grandson about her age, so she has all kinds of great stuff that The Princess could play with.

As the night went on, Kiddo decided that the Sesame Street phone was her favorite. She wandered back and forth staring at it and hitting the buttons, watching the lights and listening to the sound effects. This kid was in a zone.

And then she took one too many steps. The stairs. She had walked up to them not thirty seconds earlier, looked up and carefully maneuvered herself in the other direction.

This time, though, her judgment was off. She planted her foot on thin air and went tumbling all the way down to the basement. I think it was fourteen steps, though I couldn't say for sure.

I've never moved so fast in my life.

I was at the bottom of the stairs scooping her up before she even started to cry. Which she did. With gusto. This kid was terrified.

So was I.

I hugged her and rocked her and gently squeezed her all over to see if anything hurt. After about 20 seconds or so, she was silently pushing away from me so I let her down. She stood fine, and walked briskly over to pick up the Sesame Street phone and start hitting buttons again.

She and I walked back up the stairs together and re-joined the party. Not long after that she began to get sleepy, so we took off for home.

When we got back to The Tucky I put The Princess to bed. Within seconds, she was asleep. I don't think I checked on her that many times during the first night after bringing her home from the hospital. I was so sure that she had been hurt, that something would pop up later, and I didn't want any chance of anything else happening on my watch. Bad enough I had let her fall down the stairs...now I was on high alert.

I don't think I slept a wink on Saturday night.

I checked again yesterday. Not a scrape, not a scratch, not a bruise. No marks at all. Not even so much as a bitten lip or tongue.

She's fine. I can hardly believe it, but she's totally fine. There must have been an angel on her shoulder.

Too early. Too dark. Too Monday.

Waking up this morning was not easy.  For any of us, apparently...

Yesterday The Hubbs went fishing with Super-Bro again.  They left in the neighborhood of 9:30, with a promise from Hambone that they'd be back earlier than normal.

After they took off, I showered and got dressed before taking The Princess on a wagon ride/walk through the neighborhood.  On our way back we saw Kristal - one of my friends from back in the day - driving down the street to her house.  I had just found out that she's moved in right down the street from me...small world!

We hung out at home until it started getting hungry in there - time to take The Princess to Burger King in McHenry for lunch!  There didn't seem to be any high chairs, or even booster seats...which seemed odd.  But we did fine sitting together in the booth like a couple of big girls.  The Princess had chicken tenders and shared (okay, hogged) the fries that came with my meal.  We shared our raspberry-tea-monade and watched the bigger kids in the play area while we ate.

We had gone here with the intention of trying out the play area...however, the kids in there were so big, energetic and plentiful that The Princess had no interest.  Worked for me...I was a bit nervy that she'd get up in that thing and start freaking out, and I'm sure I'm over the weight limit (not to mention the Winnie-the-Pooh type images that come to mind when I think of myself attempting to shimmy into/out of one of those kid-sized tunnels!), so I was afraid I wouldn't be able to go in and get her if she needed me to.

From there we headed over to Aldi for a little bit of stocking up.  The Princess has been out of trail mix for over a week now, and that's just a disaster.  Trail mix is her favorite thing in the whole wide world, and everyone's lives are a little less shiny and happy when she doesn't have her fix.  Fortunately, the trail mix is within 10 feet of the door, so I was able to chuck about $20 worth in the cart before getting shopping-induced ADD (a common occurrence for me!).  Unfortunately, though, The Princess recognized the bags and started angling for an in-store snack.  I figured what the heck...I'm buying $20 worth, she can start in on it if it'll keep her happy.  So I ripped the top off of a bag and handed it to her.

She didn't make a peep through the entire store.  You should have seen her, clutching her bag of trail mix like she had found the holy grail and picking all of her favorites out first.  Too cute.

From Aldi we headed to Mobil, where I got a cheapo car wash...The Cab is no longer a filth-pot, though the wash didn't do as good a job as I had hoped.  I guess I should probably start washing the car more than once a season, eh? 

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

Pulling into the driveway I once again noticed the horrible looking dead plants hanging from my house and fence.  Something needed to be done!

In we went to unload the groceries, and I set The Princess up with her very own bowl of the special trail mix (a blend of four different kinds, so you get all the good stuff in one!) in the living room. 

And out I went to start the task of cleaning up the front of the house/yard/driveway.  I took down all of our hanging baskets, which had started slow and painful demises at the first frost.  Walking down the sides of the driveway, I removed all of the plant skeletons from the basket planters and realized there were a ton of leaves and branches on the driveway and in the front yard.

Out comes the leaf blower.

Every so often I'd peek my head inside and check on Kiddo...the bulldogs kept a good eye on her.  :)  After I had cleared the front yard and driveway I realized that the gutters really, really needed a good cleaning.  Actually, they've needed it for months.

Up on the roof with the leaf blower.

That's always fun.  I love to see the looks on people's faces as they drive by, watching me blowing leaves off the roof and out of the gutters!  You try living directly underneath five mature silver maples...you'll jump on that bandwagon soon enough.

Did you know that blowing the leaves off your driveway and front yard is not the best idea if you haven't done the roof yet?  Oops. 

Back down with the leaf blower for some touch-up work.

I'm proud to report that the front of the house looks a lot better now than it did yesterday morning, but it was a lot of work!!

Stinking of gutter sludge, I tip-toed inside and threw my clothes directly into the wash.  Careful not to get any sludge on anything that would hold onto a smell, I maneuvered my way into the shower and rinsed off to kill the odor and that all-over icky feeling you get after a good wallowing.

Feeling a bit more human, I climbed into my jammies and joined The Princess in the living room where we quickly became engrossed in Happy Feet on the Disney Channel.  We both relaxed for a while with the doggies, expecting Daddy to come home any time.

I was surprised to find that I had almost started gnawing on the arm of the couch...time for more food!  Since I had just been grocery shopping, I had my choice of any of the good stuff.  So what do I do?  Make the biggest bowl of cereal possible and share it with my kid.  Someone's got to pass on those traditions, right?

The Disney Channel continued to keep us company as we loafed around the house, waiting for the Mickey Mouse special to come on.  A little over half-way through the special, Daddy finally came home.

That was after 6:30.  A long day on the water, especially considering the fact that they got skunked all day.  Bummer!

The evening went by quickly...we were all in bed at 8:30 and probably asleep by about 8:37.  Hey, it had been a big weekend, and we were tired.

So, imagine my chagrin this morning when the evil alarm clock began stabbing daggers into my brain.  Ugh.  Too early.  Too dark.  Too Monday.

Add to that the fact that The Hubbs had another epic battle with the Tupperware cabinet, and we were a pair this morning.  I called a little while ago to check in, and he has assured me that he will not (as previously threatened) throw away everything in the cabinet today.  I checked...the garbage guys had already been there, so I think I'm safe.  I also made sure to mention the fact that I'd be pretty upset if I came home to a melted glob of used-to-be-Tupperware in the driveway.

When I opened The Princess's bedroom door to wake her this morning, she was splayed on her tummy...dead to the world.  I checked her Pull-Up, decided it wasn't worth a battle (she was in feetie-jammies...the kind you have to basically take completely off to go potty...she had just woken up and was all toasty-warm...definitely not an ideal time to be ripped from bed, stripped and plopped on the cold pot!) and took her directly to the car.  She and Dirt Pink gradually got through the waking-up process in the time it took to get to the train station.

I know this happens every year, the whole being-dark-when-you-wake-up-and-then-again-by-the-time-you-get-home thing.  But I will never - I repeat, NEVER - get used to it.

A Great Day at the Farm

Today The Princess and I headed out to Lemont to visit with Nana and Grampy, and as an extra added bonus, Auntie J and cousin K were in from Ohio so we got to see them too!

We started out with lunch at the grandparents' house, and weren't really sure where the day was going to lead.  The weather was iffy at best, but before long the sun peeked out and we all agreed it would be a great day to go to the pumpkin patch.

So off we went to Bengtson Farm in Homer Glen.

The kiddos started out together in the wagon, though The Princess would protest the injustice of her confinement many times throughout the day...

One of the main attractions was the pig race.  That's right, you heard me.  A pig race.  Here we are with Auntie J, K and Grampy before the race.  Once the festivities started, The Princess and I hightailed it out of there to roam the surrounding area...The Princess is not a fan of loud noises, especially those that come along with large crowds, so we figured it would be in everyone's best interest if we sat this one out.

Here we are roaming as the pigs did their thing.

Next up: pumpkin patch.  The Princess refused, as usual, to look at the camera...but I like this shot anyway.  She had BIG fun running through the pumpkin patch, trailing me behind her.  That monkey backpack kiddo leash is really for me...many times I wouldn't be able to catch her if it wasn't for that handy tail!

And here's a picture of my beautiful, sweet, smiley little camera-loving niece, K.  Isn't she a doll?

Here's K and her mommy, J, enjoying the train ride after we hit the pumpkin patch.  K was so cute, hanging over the front of their little train car, watching the tracks go by underneath them.  Grampy made a comment about it and another mom said it sounded like we had a little scientist on our hands...trying to figure out how it works.  Grampy thinks she was just trying to figure out how to take it apart!

There's one in every crowd...here's the smartass pumpkin dude who thought he was just soooo funny.

After the train ride, we ventured into the petting zoo after a little bit of meandering.  The Princess is not a big fan of petting zoos, thanks to some overzealous goats at the Milwaukee County Zoo.  As I had predicted, she wasn't having a good time here...so we decided to go back to the wagon and wait for everyone else.

When we got outside the petting zoo tent, I headed for the wagon and The Princess headed for the ponies, who were in the tent next door.  She watched intently for a good five minutes before Grampy, Nana, J and K came moseying over.

Nana offered to pay for a pony ride for The Princess, and we decided it was worth a shot.  I figured if she hated it I could just pull her off and get out of the way...no harm, no foul.

Those ponies sure were cool from outside the fence.  Up close and personal, they seemed kinda big and scary...she almost bailed on me before the ride even started.

Once we got moving though, she calmed right down.  It was amazing, really.  She loved the ride and actually seemed a little sad to have to say goodbye to her pony when it was over. 

It was a great time.  Thank you, Nana, Grampy, J and K for letting us crash your Saturday.  We had a blast, and The Princess and I think we all need to get together like this more often.

We've heard bits and pieces about hippotherapy (funny name, I know...it's therapy involving horses), but haven't really known what to think about it.  When you start looking into information for autistic kids it's really easy to get overwhelmed...everyone has an opinion or something that they say is a surefire method.  The hard part is that not all autistic kids have the same issues.  There's a whole spectrum to this disorder, and I'd be very surprised to learn that any two kids are alike in their exact symptoms (for lack of a better term).

This form of therapy helps a lot of autistic kids relax and concentrate on the task at hand.  Up until today I wasn't sure this would work for The Princess...I mean, she's a little ball of energy.  I didn't know how she'd react to being plopped on a horse.

After this pony ride today, though, we're thinking about giving it a shot. 

The Princess's annual evaluation is coming up with Early Intervention, and we'll mention this to our case worker and therapists then.  Maybe we can get on the waiting list somewhere...I've heard it's hard to get into these places, especially the good ones.  The good news is that there's one with a really good reputation less than 20 minutes from home.

All I can say is that we are truly blessed to be members of this family.  Everyone has been so great all along, including everything that's been going on with our little angel.  It would be so much harder to do it without them, and we know how fortunate we are.  It sure does take a village, eh?

Grelvis, the Butt Grind, and Other Assorted Adventures

This weekend was wonderful.  I really needed the time off, though I'm paying dearly for it now. 

T came up for a visit on Saturday and we spent much of the afternoon loafing around the house.  Chinese food was ordered, and consumed, in large quantities.  And when The Hubbs and Hambone came back from fishing, an impressive dent was made in the leftovers.

Neighbor Man came over in the early evening, and the fun commenced.  We all started acting like 21-year-olds, swilling booze in our own unique ways.  The Princess was running around the house being as cute as ever, and the grown-ups were engrossed in good conversations and good food.

Good times.

After I put The Princess to bed, I headed out on the town with T and Neighbor Man. 

First stop: Horizontals.  I love this bar because it's small and for some reason it smells like a roller rink to me.  It was completely dead...odd for a Saturday night, but what do I know?  Last time I was out at this bar was six months ago when we stopped over for a drink after The Princess's birthday party.  We each had two drinks before deciding to move on.

The place to be: Lizzard Lounge.  The entire town was there...apparently this is the new place to hang out since they've redone some things in the old China Girl building.  Continuing the "smell" theme, this place had an odor of Play-Doh and olives...think dirty martini gone terribly wrong. 

And from there it got worse.  Grelvis, I kid you not, was singing in the restaurant side of the place.  If the name doesn't spell it out for you, he's an Elvis impersonator.  Who can't sing.  And uses a karaoke prompter because he can't be bothered to learn the lyrics.  Oh, and who couldn't swivel his hips to save his life.

Naturally, the Tucky Trash was all over this shit.  The place was packed.  I'm talking sardine-style.  And there was this creepy middle-aged broad running around and grinding on people.  I am sad to report that I am one of the many casualties of this particular evening.  I'm not sure I'll ever be the same after having that saggy old butt ground into my hip.

Eeeewwww...I feel so violated!

Each of us a little more emotionally scarred than when we went in, we chugged the dregs of our current drinks and decided to get the hell out of Dodge.  Walking out to Troy's truck, we were giggling like schoolgirls about the whole Grelvis situation.

Wait a minute...

Apparently Grelvis is such a must-see around here that the whole parking lot was full.  So what better idea could a Tuckian have than to start blocking other people in?  Morons.  Fortunately we were parked by the curb, right next to a grassy area that butted up to the road.  Troy popped us up over the curb and we off-roaded slightly on our way out of there.  We'd be damned if we were going to go back inside and be subjected to that again!

Back across town to Horizontals, where we played pool for a couple of hours and generally had a great time.

When we'd had enough of pool we all headed back this way and stopped off at Troy's (did I mention he lives across the street?) to let the doggies out.  I got a tour too...have lived here for four and a half years and this is the first time I've been inside a neighbor's house.  Weird.  But Troy's place is pretty.  And his dogs seem sweet, especially Elsie the border collie mix.  Fifi, the pit bull, can be a little scary at times, but that's her job after all.

When I finally looked at the clock on the stove after we'd been back in my kitchen for a few minutes, I saw it was 1:30.  No wonder I was fading.  Sleepytime!

T took off on Sunday, and we were left with a little chill time before The Hubbs' folks and grandparents got here.  It's been a few weeks since they've seen The Princess and they wanted to take us out to lunch for our anniversary.

For those of you who weren't there, our wedding reception was at the Warsaw Inn in McHenry.  That's right - the Polish buffet.  So that's where we decided to go for our little lunch gathering, not knowing there was a wedding coming in and a rotary club luncheon going on.  And we had a party of seven. 

After waiting for what seemed like forever, The Hubbs did his patented get-up-and-march-out move, and we all followed suit.  We rolled across town to the Village Squire where we were seated immediately.  It was a very nice meal.  I love hanging out with smaller groups - The Hubbs' family is so big that when you get them all together it feels like a revolving door of hello-how-ya-doin's, rather than actual visiting.  So it's really nice when it's just his folks and grandparents.  Thanks, guys!

Back home after lunch, Nana and I decided to dress The Princess up in her Halloween costume and push her into the living room to show everyone.  Here she is trying to rid herself of the velcro-hoodie part:

Our little piggy pranced around the room for everyone, at least for a little while...

...before it got too hot and she had to get into her jammies:

So, all in all it was a wonderful weekend.  We ended up going to bed early on Sunday night, all of us starting our recovery from the last few busy days in a row. 

I love long weekends.

The Princess's Medical Diagnostic

Today was the day we'd been waiting for: The Princess's medical diagnostic.

Last night before bed I went online and printed directions to get to the Pediatric Developmental Center in the Big Scary City.  According to the directions (and a couple of people I'd spoken with), it should take about an hour and twenty minutes to get there for our appointment at 10:30.

We decided to leave at 8:30 to be safe.

Good thing, too.  It was fairly easy to find, and we found parking almost immediately (insert any cheesy version of the Hallelujah Chorus here).  Still, it was almost exactly two hours from our door to theirs.  We arrived a couple of minutes early and sat in the waiting room for half an hour.

At one point I went up to the desk to ask one of the chickies if The Princess and I could use the restroom.  I said "excuse me" about three times with no response before I realized she was asleep.

Honestly.

A minute or so later, a woman poked her head out and said they'd be with us shortly.  She apologized for the wait and said she'd be back to grab us as soon as she could.

This tore Sleeping Beauty from her slumber, and I finally asked if we could use the potty.  She buzzed me through the door and I accompanied The Princess back, armed with a new Pull-Up...it'd been a two hour drive and we'd been in the waiting room for twenty-plus minutes by this point.  Hell, I'd come close to peeing myself...figured she'd need one.

She was dry.

And when I set her on the toilet, she grinned at me and started tinkling.  And tinkling.  And tinkling.  This kid had held it all the way from our house and she was so proud of herself!  When she finally finished I helped her down, pulled up her pants and Pull-Ups and let her flush.

Coming out of the potty, we ran into the nice lady who told us they were ready and apologized again for the wait.  After grabbing The Hubbs from the waiting room we all headed back for The Princess's evaluation.

I know they all told us their names, but I can't remember a single one at this point.  There was a doctor, a speech therapist, a psychologist and a developmental therapist.  They played with The Princess for about 45 minutes to an hour, then left the room to make their assessments.

Can I just say my daughter was a trouper?  She did everything they asked with hardly a whisper of a tantrum.  While they were doing their thing, we set her up with a snack.

Everyone filtered back in the room as they finished their parts, and we were informed that The Princess is autistic.  They are recommending the continuation of speech therapy twice a week, and adding occupational therapy twice a week (once alone and once with the speech therapy as a joint session), physical therapy once a week, and developmental therapy once a week, among other things.

They want us to meet with a social worker who can help us find programs in the area for kids like The Princess and to help us along with the process.

And there was some other stuff I didn't catch.

We have a folder with all sorts of information and web sites they recommended.  The full report will come in about a month, but the short answer is that The Princess could use more help than what she's currently getting. 

And we may decide to switch speech therapists while we're at it, to someone who specializes more in the PECS system and working with autistic kids.  They learn differently...they need teachers who know how to get through to them.  I really like Julie, but I've been wondering for some time now if it's not a barrier between the way Julie teaches and the way The Princess learns that's causing some, if not all, of the tantrums while she's here.

We'll see.

For now, we wait until The Princess's annual evaluation with Early Intervention to find out what our next step will be.  One thing I can say for sure...things are about to change around here.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Yesterday was great.  We got up in the morning when we felt like it, and The Princess had just started stirring.  Nice, peaceful morning.  Can't ask for more than that!

Hambone came over to pick The Hubbs up - paint shopping!  The boys came back from Epco with all of the paint for the walls, wainscoting, trim, chair rail and cabinets.  Oh, and the backsplash.  It's gonna be fantabulously beautiful.  :)

While they were out I decided to bake a pan of banana bread.  I mixed everything up, slopped it in the pan and threw it in the oven.  We didn't have any walnuts or pecans, so I put raisins in the batter.  Ten or so minutes after I put the whole schpiel in the oven, I walked back into the kitchen to get myself a drink.  The display on the microwave was flashing *END*...oh crap!  I had left the butter in there after softening it.

I quickly removed the pan from the oven -- not quite solidified around the edges yet - and put it on the stove top, plopped the butter in, and promptly got the giggles.  You would have too.  It was like this big gelatinous mass of quivering goo with butter smears on top.  I don't care who ya are...that there's funny.

I figured I'd better mix it in, so I grabbed a whisk from the utensil drawer (also known as the Swirling Vortex of Death) and got to it.  If it sucked I could always throw it out.

I threw the pan back into the oven, reset the timer, and went out to the living room to play with The Princess.  The timer went off, I checked the bread, it wasn't done.  I shut off the timer and planned to check again in a few minutes.  About 20-25 minutes later I was still playing with The Princess in the living room and realized I had left the bread in the oven.  Shit!

Ran into the kitchen, flung the oven door open and prepared for the worst.  Out came the most beautiful pan of banana bread I've ever seen.  But would it taste like dirty ape ass?

When the boys came back with the spendy paint, the whole house smelled of banana bread and the pan was cooling on the stove.  The Hubbs marched in, cut a piece and took a big bite.  He didn't hit the floor in body-wracking convulsions so I figured it was probably safe.

Hambone narfed a huge piece, hardly coming up for air.  He was laughing as he wolfed his food, awed by the fact that it was burning his throat but he just couldn't make himself stop eating it.

FYI - if you put the butter in later...like 10 minutes after you start the 9x13 pan...it, like, triples the yum factor.  There's this wonderful buttery crust on top of the bread that is just to die for.

After Hambone took off, we decided to go down by Spring Hill Mall for the day.  It was rainy and kind of all-around blechy, so doing something outside was out of the question but we wanted to walk.

Lunch at Red Lobster: coconut shrimp and clam chowder for me, and some fab looking shrimp fetuccini alfredo for The Hubbs.  The Princess helped us with our food because we hadn't realized there was a childrens' menu right on the table (oops!).  She was a good sport about it, though.

From there we headed to the mall via Barnes & Noble, where we found the Ken Burns JAZZ DVD set for cheaper than we've ever seen it.  Score!  Add to that a trashy novel for me and we were happy kids.

Walking through the mall is always interesting.  You see all sorts of people, doing all sorts of odd things.  Yesterday was rather mild as far as the people-watching goes.  After all, it was Thursday.  The crazies usually don't come out in full force until the weekend.

After a couple hours of cruising the mall we decided we'd had enough and it was time to come home.  Sometimes you just can't beat snuggling up on the couch under a blankie and reading some terrible romance novel until CSI comes on.

All in all: a good day.