All of Us

Today I thought I'd mention what we've all been up to. We are a family of seven, and that keeps us pretty busy.

My husband- trying to figure out what to do for Valentine's Day. I told him to skip the flowers and candy. I'd really like a professional foot massage/reflexology.

Me- getting into a new routine. I started scrapbooking and quilting again. I told a friend she'd have her baby quilts last month (I'm cringing at how tardy I am). I just got back to working on them this week. I've been walking/running almost every day. I work out for 20-25 minutes. A brisk workout, and every other day I encorporate running. I'm up to running for six minutes. I found a fostering/adopting website for our local area, which lists all sorts of conferences and training. I'm going to seriously check into all of this. Today I made petit fours for Valentines Day. This was a new project, and they turned out cute. I got the idea from Parents Magazine (could have been an old issue).

12yr old son- Enjoying wrestling. Got his chipped tooth fixed (from when he broke it during wrestling practice). Dieting to lose 3-4 pounds to "make weight". I really hate the thought of a 12yr old dieting. His weight is fine, but everyone drops down a weight class in wrestling to be competative. He's got 1/2 a pound to go so he can wrestle this week. He's taking me up on my running offer, and will start running with me this weekend. Also our 12yr old got asked out ON A DATE! Can you believe it? I told the girl's parents "no, our children need to be in the 9th or 10th grade to date". Sheesh. I mean seriously, who would drive? Who would pay? How dumb....

11yr old son- Having a great time antagonizing everyone, and doting on his 2yr old sister every waking minute of the day. Last week he hid the 12yr old's church shoes. No one noticed until it was time to go to church. They were never found, until we drove past them sitting in our bark in the front yard.

9yr old son- Busy making a "Valentine's Box" for his school Valentines party tomorrow. I bought him Sponge Bob valentines (same for 11 yr old also). He's been working on this valentines box since last Friday. I guess he thinks it's pretty important.

4yr old girl- Busy planning her 5th bday party, which is in a few weeks. She is also busy making herself puke when she's not happy. I have her clean it up and say, "that's a bummer you're throwing up. You'll need to have toast and applesauce for the rest of the day. I'm sad for you that you will miss out on Valentine's Cake tonight." She cried for quite some time over this. We already had a standing playdate this morning. When we called all the kids for snack time, she said "I'm hungry!". I gave her applesauce. The other kids had cheeseburgers & fries. It's just too damn early to start Bulemia.

2yr old -Has learned to say the phrase "Bad Choice" and tells her sister that multiple times a day. It's quite funny. She is now out of her crib and in a big girl bed.

Yesterday the girls both had part of their developmental exams at Childrens Hospital. We were disappointed because of the three appts each that they need, only the PT and OT where scheduled for yesterday. We still have to wait months for the Neurological/Cognitive/Processing/BirthDefects appt, which is where our great concern lies. Oh well. In good news, both girls test in the normal range for Fine Motor Skills, Gross Motor skills, and Occupational Therapy. As a sidenote, we mentioned the girls background, behaviors, delays, etc. while we were there. So the topic of Sensory Integration came up. The OT said two of her three daughters went to SI therapy, and she thought it did not help. She said her girls just had to outgrow their issues. Um, not really encouraging. Anyway, the therapists said our 4yr old definately needs to be seen by UW-FAS/FAE center for her issues. She has countless red flags for FAE. So they are working on that referral for us, to add to the load of our SW asking for that workup as well. In good news, Childrens Hospital says they notice NO ADD behaviors. So, that means she is selectively participating in those behaviors when it works well for her. We feel better that we can help her thru this, knowing she doesn't have full blown ADD on top of everything else she's got going on. By the way, our 4yr old is still peeing her pants at school, stayed dry at home all weekend, and peed her pants at the hospital yesterday during testing (me scratching my head). The hospital did have a great idea for us, seeing as we are stumped on if we should enroll her in kindergarten. They said to enroll her to save the spot. We can always cancel in August if she's not ready. That will take some pressure off. Now, if we can just inspire her to make better choices...........................