Well it's official - summer vacation has begun. The kids and I are getting ready to leave to go to Mom's for a week or so.

Have a great Memorial Day!

School's out, School's out, Teachers let the monkeys out!

I can't remember the rest. Yesterday was the last day of school for the kids. I now have a 6th grader, a 4th grader, and a 1st grader. Where does the time go? We've had a busy month, but I'll try to catch up on everything.

Being the room mom for my son's class I wanted to do something special for the parents this year. I always worked when my girls were little and really missed a lot of things in their first years of school. Hayleigh's kindergarten teacher put together a little scrapbook for the kids and I thought that was really cool. I thought, "How hard can it be? I'll do the same for my son's class." Unfortunately, I'm a huge procrastinator and waited until this last month to really work hard on them. I had pictures printed up from different activities they've done, put the pages together, laminated the pages, and prepared to bind them. The laminated sheets were too thick for my binding machine - figures! Plan B - 3-hole punch them and put them into folders. Not a bad plan unless, of course, the laminated pages are too big for the hole puncher and have to be trimmed down on each side. Let's see, there are approximately 11 pages per book (give/take a couple on some) and 18 in the class including the teacher, so that means trimming down nearly 200 pages - individually. Ok - here we go... now they've been trimmed and we're punching holes in them. Again, not a bad plan unless... after the first couple of dozen your page gets stuck and won't come loose from the hole punch. This requires a trip to the store to exchange the puncher and re-doing the page that got torn up. OK - here we go again... mind you, I'm punching nearly 200 pages INDIVIDUALLY because of the thickness. I'm down to the next to last day of school and didn't get finished cutting and punching til nearly 11:30. I put about six into the folders, realizing how difficult it is and how they really BARELY fit the folders but it's too late now to really change things. When I finally quit about midnight I still had several to put into folders but that was ok because it was almost over. I even took my extra pictures and sorted them out and sent home to the mothers in case they keep memory books too. Then I thought, so it's not perfect but who cares? I volunteered to do this and only the teacher (who's been helping provide pictures to me) and myself know that I'm doing this. The parents will probably just be happy to even have anything from their kid's kindergarten year - especially those who work like I did when my girls were that age. I took them to school and handed them out to the kids. And you know what? I no longer cared what the parents thought because the kids absolutely loved them!

(Time out here for life with the kids)
(Ok, time in several hours later)

My girls are "girl-fighting" right now. They turn their heads away from each other, flail their hands and smack at each other, until one yells "Ow, I broke a nail!" They're just playing of course. Now Hayleigh is on top of Kodi and Kodi is laughing so hard she's snorting like a pig. We're having fun now! LOL

Back to the past month...
We had field days - days because two of my kids go to one school and the third goes to a different school. Next year they'll all be in 3 different schools. Anyway, on the first field day (and I only did the afternoons because of Deklan being home in the mornings) it was a beautiful day. Sunny but a bit cool and breezy; sunblock did not even enter my mind because it was so cool. I burned to a crisp. The next day was overcast and hot. I used sun block the second day. I burned some more - especially my forehead (no bangs to protect). The kids had fun though. That was Monday and Tuesday (12th & 13th). Wednesday was great - other than being burned. I went and worked out at the gym; I took my daughter to her monthly doctor's appointment (ADHD). Thursday I woke up and could barely walk. My back and hip hurt so bad. Every time I took a step I had a jarring pain in my lower back. I had a throbbing pain from the lower back all the way down to my leg right above the back of my knee. I don't have medical insurance right now so, no, I did not go to the doctor. Friday, barely walking.

Did I mention I'm co-leader of my daughter's Girl Scout troop? Guess when their surprise outing was? Yep, Saturday. We went to one of those sports entertainment type places - mini golf, go-carts, laser tag, bowling, and all kinds of video games in between. I half limped, half dragged my foot. Real fun. Sunday I had to go to the store - I try to go on Sunday afternoon because I know by then what I need for the week - milk, bread, etc. Kodi went with me. She thought it was a riot the way I was walking. Igore, I believe is what she called me, and she even mimicked the way I walked. How dare she! LOL

By Sunday evening I could barely walk again. As a stay-at-home mom I sometimes get the last minute chances to volunteer at the schools. I.E. we just realized we're short volunteers and since you don't really have a job... Anyway, for Monday I had already volunteered my services at the school to help with inflatables that they brought in for the kids. Inflatables being the large castle that you jump in, large inflatable slide, and an inflatable obstacle course with a slide at the end. Anyway, my job was to stand and tell the kids when it was their turn to go into the obstacle course. It was only an hour and a half so I don't know why I'm complaining. :) Anyway, it wasn't until yesterday that I could actually walk without too much of a limp.

So, in May I had to finish 18 scrapbooks, couldn't walk for nearly a week, volunteered several days at the kids' schools, took the GS troop on an outing. What else? Oh yes, helped the GS troop with a dinner that they put on for all the parents, went to my daughter's chimes recital (twice - once during the day and once in evening), was voted in as VP of the PTA at the middle school where Kodi will be in 6th grade, and became an AVON rep. Not to mention that Monday I'll be taking the kids to my mom's in Oklahoma for a couple of weeks. Wow, I was busy - I'll use all this as an excuse for my house being extremely neglected. Now that's funny - my house always looks neglected. :)

Ok - I know it's been awhile and I have a lot to catch up on but things have been so busy around here. Right now I only want to say that you are reading the blog of a new AVON representative. I know it's weird. But it was so easy and didn't cost much (only $10) to become a rep and AVON can sometimes sell itself it's such a known and trusted product. Did you know that AVON doesn't just sell makeup? AVON also sells jewelry - not cheap imitation, but really nice (fully guaranteed) jewelry. AVON also sells children's products, men's products (it's almost Father's day), skin care products, as well as a huge selection of makeup. Anyway, please feel free to visit my online store at www.youravon.com/marshellapeterson. Ordering is easy - either order online or contact me directly. If you would like to order AVON products from me I would be truly grateful, and if not, don't worry you're still welcome to read my blog (as soon as I have time to catch up). :)

Deklan was clapping his hands.
He said, "My claps are full of love."
I said, "Full of love? Just like you?"
He said, "Yep."
Then he said, "My hugs and kisses are full of love too. My hugs are way up high (raising his hands to indicate) and my kisses are down low (lowering his hands to indicate). My kisses have to come up and blow out of my mouth. The kisses circle around. Sometimes I send love cards to Heaven. When I send my love cards to Heaven they're invisible and only the angels and me can see them."

Today was a good day.

It was an extremely rough afternoon. I was detoured through the subdivision by our apartments this afternoon. I noticed that someone had put out a box of books for the trash. Being cheap, and loving books, and not above going through someone else's trash I might add, I stopped to browse the books. Anyway, I found a book that my daughter likes (Wishbone) and a kid's book about trains. I was pretty sure that my son would like the train book. I was Wrong!! He took a look at it and decided he didn't want the book. That was fine with me. However, he also decided that we had to return the book immediately. He didn't just want to return the book but also pick a different book. Remember it was trash day so finding the house after the trash was removed would have been impossible even if I was going to return it. I told him where I got the book. He first wanted to go to the house. When I told him that it was trash day and the books would already have been picked up, he insisted we go to the dump. I have never seen him quite like I did today. I'm used to the screaming. Today he screamed; he climbed up on me; he swung his fist at my arms and tummy; he tried to bite me - I caught his mouth just in time; he put his hands over my mouth when I tried telling him no; I removed him to his room and he immediately grabbed my legs nearly tripping me and then he crawled into the hall; he grabbed my computer chair (while I anchored myself with my feet) and moved me around. I've never seen him so violent. I just wanted to cry - and did when my husband came home from work. Is this what I'm going to have to deal with? Is this normal for a child on the spectrum?

Well we made it back Sunday afternoon from the funeral. The family seems to be dealing pretty well with the loss.

While in Colorado my daughter's glasses broke. We're not talking about a lens falling out or losing a screw. No, these glasses broke right down the center of the nose piece so that her glasses were literally split in half. She had cataracts as a newborn and had her lenses removed at a few weeks old. So, because they broke on Saturday and we didn't get home until Sunday, my little girl had to go practically blind for nearly 2 days. I felt bad for her but she adjusted and coped really well. She wore an older pair (I think they were actually Deklan's but their prescriptions are fairly close) Sunday afternoon and yesterday to school. I took her this morning to the eye doctor - she has to go through the eye doctor's office because of the prescription of her lenses. Amazingly, they had an identical pair in stock and were able to switch the lenses straight across without sending them out to a lab for 3 weeks. Thank God.

I haven't really told about Deklan's ASD so I'll do it now. Let me start with some history. Deklan is the youngest in a family of five. He has two older sisters, Dakota (Kodi) and Hayleigh (Hays). He is currently five years old. He's a good boy; very attached to mommy. He weighed 10 pounds and 1 ounce at birth which required an emergency C-section after nearly 17 hours of labor (water broken for about 14 hours) because his head was too big for the birth canal. No, there was nothing abnormal in the pregnancy - no diabetes or anything. The only thing that did happen was that I had a bladder infection at 22 weeks and had serious contractions until the docs got me on antibiotics (about 3 days). Other than that, I retained fluid like crazy. Thank goodness he was born in August because I couldn't wear shoes for the last three months of the pregnancy - not even to work (gotta love my boss letting me go without shoes, but I did wear socks). Deklan was a little blue and had to have oxygen for about 10 minutes - maybe less, I was pretty out of it by then. Deklan and Hays were both born with cataracts. They each had eye surgeries to remove the cataracts - this is removing the lenses, not laser removal. First, the right eye; two weeks later, the left eye. Hayleigh had to have a 3rd eye surgery to remove some filming of the right eye. All these surgeries were done by the time they were 8 weeks old. So of course he has vision problems.

It seemed like he never slept unless someone was holding him. My mom lived with us for awhile when my dad passed away (same time as the bladder infection). Mom moved to Oklahoma, where she and my dad were going to retire, when Deklan was one. She was a blessing. She would spend hours rocking Deklan because he would only sleep about 6 hours a night and only took a couple of 5-15 minute naps during the day. By the time he was one and 1/2 he wasn't napping at all anymore.

Anyway, we've had some difficult things happen since his birth. One being that, due to finances, we could not afford a day care/babysitter while my husband and I both worked - which we had to do in order to pay bills. We lived in Colorado at the time; we live in Kansas now. Anyway, due to the circumstances, he and my youngest daughter went to Oklahoma to live with my mom during Hays' kindergarten year. He was only 1 and 1/2 at the time. (And do you know that he even still remembers being at Nana's? Details that I sometimes have to ask Nana about so she can confirm them, which she does.) When he was two, almost three, we had to bring him back to Colorado for a third eye surgery. This time his eyes were crossing and needed surgery in order to relax the muscle of the eyes. He stayed with me after that. We were already planning on moving to Kansas by this time. That's not what set Deklan apart, that's just to let you know his background which I will probably refer to during the rest of this.

Here's where Deklan shows signs of being different... We sometimes thought he had a hearing problem because he wouldn't respond when we would call his name. He explored everything and loved to climb. There were many times we would have to pull him out of the window or down from the couch. He started pulling up and walking with use of the furniture when he was 7 months old. He wanted to touch everything. (We assumed this was due to his vision problems. We had experienced that with Hayleigh, but not to that great degree.) When feeding, Deklan would grab our faces and pull us to him. Again, assumed vision problems. (I should say that, due to his size at birth and difficulties after my C, he was bottle fed. He was always hungry - he ate 6 ounces in one setting when he was only three days old.) Anyway, he started baby babbling from the time I can remember. I remember his first word was DA-DA, but can't remember his age. Although he did eventually develop a very good vocabulary, the babbling continues on. He did and still does sit and talk to himself for hours - sometimes just making sounds that don't make sense to anyone but himself. He was a great little one. He didn't require any entertainment. He could do that himself for hours at a time and we'd never hear a cry from him (babbling yes, crying no). I thought he would never be potty trained. He still has accidents but we've learned to deal. He always wets the bed and has to wear pull-ups at night. It's the bowel accidents that are the hardest to deal with. Now, at this point, I have to clarify something. I had no idea that anything was wrong with him. I knew he was different but I only had girls to compare him with. My family started referring to his "quirks" as "Deklanisms". The only thing that irritated me was when I'd talk to him and he'd seem to ignore me. When I got his attention - usually by walking in front of him or getting down eye to eye - he always had an answer for me. There was no need to even repeat the question.

"Deklan, do you want some milk?"
No answer/acknowledgement.
"Deklan?"
"Deklan?"
Getting down to eye level in front of his face, "Deklan, I asked you a question."
"No Mother, I do not want milk." or "Yes Mother, I do want milk."

(For two years I was always Mother. Now it's usually Mother but sometimes he slips in with Mom and, on rare occasions, Mommy.) One other thing that irritated me... if I was busy doing something else and he wanted to talk to me, he would grab my face with his hands and bring my face to his to talk. I don't know if he was just mimicking me - I didn't grab his face, but I did get in his face so he had to look at me when he was ignoring.

This pretty much brings us to last year. We had moved to Kansas and Deklan went to Head Start. He was in a pre-K program and went from 8:00 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. Monday through Friday. He loved it really. Anyway, like I said, I never realized Deklan was different from the majority, just different from his sisters. I knew that Deklan had difficulties adjusting to certain things. I knew that he didn't care for unexpected things/events. I did realize he had what I always referred to as minor meltdowns. I didn't realize that was a very real term for a lot of other mothers. I also knew that Deklan was slow. Slow making decisions; slow getting in line; slow to finish eating; slow. His teachers were awesome. They pulled me aside one day and said,
"you know, we would like to have someone from the educational co-op come in and evaluate Deklan. Some of the behaviors he exhibits is not really normal for a child his age."
"OK - what do you think it is?" I knew he was very intelligent for a 4 year old, a little eccentric maybe, so I didn't think there was a mental problem to worry about.
"We think he may have Asperger's syndrome. It's a form of Autism."
Sound of a mother's breaking heart here.
"Autism? Isn't that a severe mental/emotional disorder?" Forgive me here. My only insight into Autism was the movie Rain Man years before.
"No, it actually cover a large range of spectrum disorders. Asperger's, for example, is a very high-functioning form."
"Ok - what do I need to do?"

Thus began our journey. Since this is such a long post already, I will pause at this point and continue at a later date.