Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.....

In addition to sensory processing disorder my sweet Caleb is also OCD - obsessive compulsive disorder - which can create problems in taking medicine. It means you MUST have a schedule or a rhythm to everything. It means you must eliminate any and all clutter which becomes chaos to him (thus overloading the senses). I haven't accomplished all of this yet but I am working on it. Caleb had his rhythm down for taking his medicine and I left to go out of town on business for over a week.....breaking the rhythm for him. Then I left to go on a cruise with my sister, mom, and daughter (along with 3 aunts and a cousin) again breaking the rhythm. So the battle began in trying to establish the routine for taking meds. We fought....every morning. Some days I won. A couple of days he won. But after many trials over the past couple of weeks I think I have found his new rhythm.

a little of this:

medicine inside the reeses peanut butter cup:

the bribe:

and a timer set at 10 minutes.

With the instructions -- you must take both meds before the timer goes off...

at that time you can choose ONE bakugan from the 3 pak for your treat.

Caleb is fixated on bakugans right now (one week it might be legos or cars or the ds).  So I tried the if you take your meds for 5 days straight then you can buy a package of bakugans -- which worked but it was still a tug a war to do this.  So hence the timer and immediate reward.

The first 2 days he didn't make it before the timer went off.  It was sad for both of us that he didn't get to choose the bakugan.  But today -- SUCCESS!!!!

Notice he still has the medicine in his mouth trying to chew it up and swallow -- the taste is hard on him.  I am so PROUD of my little guy for finally beating the clock!!!!

I will probably go broke but some things are just worth it.

For now the doctor is out.....headed to Toys R Us, Target, and WalMart to buy more bakugans!!!

GNO - Indian Style

My friend/colleague, Sri, took me out for my first ever Indian lunch.   She decided to take me to an Indian restaurant in Mid-town Manhattan.  At first I was very apprehensive since I have the funky taste bud issue and I get really nervous when trying new foods.....I mean REALLY nervous!!!  I almost go into panic mode when put in a situation that I have to try something new and am not sure if I will go into the gag reflex.  Since my daughter, Sarah, has been home from her two years in NYC she has done a lot of the cooking (ok, who am I kidding, she has done most of the - umm, no, honestly she has done ALL of the cooking) and she has introduced a lot of new things to my diet....because of this I wasn't as apprehensive as I normally am about trying new foods.....Indian food here I come!!!!!

First, all, I need to say that Sri likes the best of the best and so we didn't just go to any ole Indian restaurant - we went to a very nice one.  They brought out the appetizer (a very flat bread with seeds - I can't remember the name) then we decided to order two different things so that I could try both....chicken and shrimp -- can't go wrong with that!!!   The main course also came with a cabbage dish and lentl soup....and she also ordered the naan (flat bread) which was to die for!!!!  It was soooo good we ordered some more!!!

Appetizer - very flat and crispy and the Balsamic Rice

Naan - served with a small amount of melted butter on it....yummmm!!!

Main course -- Curry Chicken and Scrimp in a tomato and different spices mixture
Both were wonderful!!!!

Dessert - Mango Ice Cream

You can see the ice cream just wasn't any good at all!!!

Later that evening we went to a dinner party at one of her friends' house in Long Island.  This was basically a GNO - Indian style!!!   A couple of the ladies were dressed in their Sari's while others were very casual.  
This was a 6 hour dinner party!!!   I honestly don't think I have ever been to a dinner party that lasted 6 hours - but most of my dinner parties don't include glasses of wine!!! 

When we arrived we were served drinks (diet coke for me!) and appetizers -- oh, my gosh, they were sooo good -- the hosts' mom was here and she cooked her own Indian recipes --- then they drink more wine, talk, eat, drink, talk, eat, and drink.  Then around 9:30 - 10:00 the dinner is actually served --- I could have just had the appetizers and been in heaven!!!  The mom served the typical lamb dish, rice,  a cucumber/tomato/onion salad, curried cauliflower, cauliflower chutney, and the most unusal dish to me was a curried catfish......I did eat some of it but it wasn't my favorite for sure (I mean I am from the south and we FRY catfish - not bake it with spices).  We actually finished the dinner around 11:30!!!

My head bounced back and forth while these ladies spoke Benglish!!!   They had a way of beginning a sentence in Bengali and ending in English....we just laughed because that is how they always talk amongst each other and it was hard for them to curb the Bengali for the non-versed American.  But overall it was a fantastic dinner party/GNO for me!!!  I might have to try something like that at home....(wonder if Sarah could cook up some Indian food for my party)

For now the doctor is out.....contemplating learning to speak Benglish....umm, wonder how long that would take??????

Leaving on a Jet Plane (with crazy wierd people sitting beside me)

When I was a child growing up air travel was not an option for my family....just way too much money for a family of 6.   I was 19 when I flew for the first time which involved saving a ton (in 19 yr old terms) of money so that my sister and I could fly to Utah for spring break.  How cool is that?????  That was also a very uneventful trip (unless you count the kamikaze dive Mimi took over the side of the mountain - not literally but you get the jist).  After that first trip I have since been cursed with the abnormal, sometimes super scary, and craziest flights.

When Sarah was born we lived in California.  At 2 months of age, I decided that Sarah needed to take her first trip back to the south to meet and re-meet grandparents.  And, of course we needed a side trip to visit Mimi in Utah.  Traveling with a baby is like moving -- you have to take everything with you.   So we are loaded up on this plane traveling from LA to Salt Lake City and everything is going great.  We have a seat by a man (who doesn't talk to us- ok by me) and a baby who is doing great on this flight.  However, I notice that we have circled SLC several times -- I mean how many times do you pass the SLC Temple in flight -  once I saw it 5 times I knew something wasn't right.   About that time Sarah is wet and hungry and most definitely not happy - and the flight attendant is making that dreaded announcement "Ladies and gentlemen, there is something wrong with our landing gear.  So we are circling downtown SLC to use up as much fuel as we can.  When we get ready to land we will all need to get into the emergency landing position with your head down on your knee."   Ok, what the heck????   People are trying to stay calm, etc, but tears are coming -- thoughts of death and family, etc., etc.   All I can think of is that I have a baby who wants to be changed RIGHT NOW!!!!   So we circle another 30 minutes or so.  The man sitting next to me is becoming a little agitated with this crying baby beside him.  He gets into the overhead bin to get his coat so that if we crash land he will be warm I guess.   The man behind me sticks his head between the seats and asks if he can help me with anything and tells me that he will get my coat for me and that right now his only concern is for me and my crying baby (my heart melts and the tears flow).   Why couldn't he be my seat partner?????    Needless to say we all got into the crash landing position and made it safely to the ground -- with firetrucks everywhere waiting on us.....the landing gear worked and we landed without incident but I always remember fondly the man behind me who helped me with everything (car seat, bags, etc) de-plane.  

On one flight from Atlanta to LA, Sarah (18 months) and I were bumped up to 1st class!!!   What a wonderful flight ---- and Boss Hog was in the seat right across from us....this was one of those fun exciting trips where crazy weird people aren't sitting next to you but wonderful flight attendants are constantly wanting to know if they can help you with your toddler, bring you something to drink, eat, read, or whatever will make your flight enjoyable.  Boss Hog also had his girlfriend with him and she was very nice to Sarah -- Boss Hog even made goo goo eyes at her.  Ahhh, it would be nice to have more trips like that one.....

It is always that seat next to me that scares me the most about flying....I mean I can agonize over who will be the person I have to sit by for x number of hours....will they want to talk, will they be rude, will they take up all the arm space.     For years, I couldn't read on flights due to motion sickness but now they make these wonderful motion sickness bands that I wear on my wrists so that I can read and if I want to ignore the person next to me I pull out the book.  But before that glorious time I encountered the strangest seat partner.

We were on a family trip to Hawaii:  My dad and mom, Mimi, Sarah, Josh, and me....a lonnnnng 7 hour plane ride.... First thing, on the LR to Dallas leg I am seated next to a rather normal looking guy, until the plane starts to back out of the terminal and head to the run way.....can we say SCARRRRYYYYY!!!!!!    This normal looking man starts talking to his ring!!!!   Then he has this weird hissing laugh after he talks to his ring.  Mind you this was way before 9/11 screenings because I know if it were after I would have pull the flight attendant over and BEGGED her to get rid of the scarry talking to your ring guy.  I mean who talks to their ring and then does a hissing laugh about it.  

So this week I traveled to NYC to visit with my friend/colleague Sri.  As I am going through security I see this sweet looking little Japanese woman in a wheelchair saying goodbye to her family.  My heart is melting - how sweet!!!   As I board the plane I find that I get to sit in the bulkhead seat (hey it isn't 1st class but it is close!) sweet little Japanese lady is in the center seat....oh, good, this will be a nice ride.  Little Japanese lady has a sign around her neck :  I don't speak English and I am disabled.   Oh, this will be a QUIET ride.     About that time aisle seat man boards --- as he is putting his luggage in the overhead compartment, little sweet Japanese lady stands up and points to the middle seat --- does a couple of grunt things, continues to look at man and pointing to the middle seat..... the man then sits in the middle seat looks at me and states that he really wanted to sit on the aisle (I am thinking how sweet of him to actually give up his seat for the now grunting not so sweet Japanese lady  - and I am wondering what did I do to offend not so sweet Japanese lady --- I took my shower that morning).   Oh, well, the man seems rather harmless and we discuss San Francisco where he is going for a week. During the flight he pulls out his coat - yes that would be his winter jacket - and puts it on.  I am dying in the heat with the air vent turned on me and he is putting on his coat!!!   Then he pulls out his printed 12 x 14 page Excel spreadsheet with print so tiny I don't know how in the world he can read it.....yes, I am a little alarmed at the moment....is this the engineering plans of the plane so he can set off the bomb -- he has his coat on ready for something!!!   He would study this sheet for a while and then put it up, then bring it back out.  When the plane landed he jumped up and almost knocked down not so sweet Japanese lady to get off the plane...I am thinking oh, crap he set the bomb to go off for so many minutes after he deplaned!!!!  I know, I know,  I must be demented!!!   

I think I need to look at seat partners with a little more compassion or something or maybe fly 1st class -- I wonder if you get crazy weird people as seat partners in 1st class....ummmm...

For now the doctor is out......hoping she can get bumped to 1st class on the flight home from NYC....that sounds like a plan!!!

The Great Cricket Caper

Caleb spends a lot of time at his aunt Mimi's house He loves spending time with his cousins but sometimes they can get a little tired of entertaining him.   While at Mimi's house, Caleb begs his cousins to go outside with him while he catches crickets for his little bug catcher. Well, the past couple of weeks the heat index has been above 100 degrees here and it is HOT outside.  However, this doesn't  bother Caleb in the least, but his cousins agree it is hot and they try to get him to come inside as much as possible.

The other day I went to pick him up from Mimi's house but he also wanted his cousin, Kristen, to come home and spend the night at his house so they could catch more bugs....um, yeah, that was very enticing to Kristen!!!    So when Caleb asked Mimi if Kristen could come over for the night she said "no not tonight" and then he asked me - of course I agreed  - not tonight.   But that wasn't enough for Caleb....he proceeded to tell Kristen that if she really wanted to come over she could SNEAK into the back of my Explorer to go home with us.   Being the honest person she is Kristen told me of his plan and her own plan which went something like this:


Me: (getting into the driver's seat) "Oh wow, Caleb you are already buckled up and ready to go"

Caleb:  "yep, I have been waiting for you"   as he smiles very big.

Me: (put the truck in reverse and backs out of the drive)....."umm, something is wrong with  my truck....it feels heavier than it normally does...."

Caleb: "no, it doesn't.  just go home"

Me:  "No, something is definitely wrong here.....my truck is heavier that it should be"

Caleb:   (with his worried look)  "no mom, I caught a lot more crickets  - they are in the back - that is why your truck is heavy, just go home"

Me:   "I don't think that is it, maybe I need to look back there to see why it is heavy."

As I climb out of my truck to look in the back Caleb puts his head in the palms of his hands with the defeated look of  oh, crap now I am busted and then says to Sarah "I don't want her to look back there!!!!"     Because at this point he realizes that I am going to find Kristen in the back of my truck (which I do and then go on to play Kristen's game of getting caught in the act).  Kristen meekly looks at Caleb, shrugs her shoulders and says, " Caleb, I am sorry I guess I can't go home with you" as she stifles her huge smile of relief that she doesn't have to go home with him and help him catch crickets for his bug catcher. As Kristen was going inside of the house I asked her if she was worried that I wasn't going to stop (since I did drive out of the drive way and down the road just a little) and she kind of smiled sheepishly and said, yeah I thought maybe you were going to make be walk a ways back up the road.....of course I would never do that to her.....afterall, this was her little plan of getting out of having to catch crickets with Caleb!!!

For now the doctor is out......releasing those poor crickets back into the grass so they can RUN, RUN, RUN,  far away from Caleb!!!!

Summer Reading

One of my favorite hobbies is reading. I LOVE to read!!! I remember being the dork in high school literature/English class who couldn't wait to get the semester reading list. All around me were friends groaning and moaning about having to read this book or that book. Usually those friends would chose the book with the least number of pages (and read several) for thier assignments - not me - I wanted to read what I wanted to read whether it was 100 pages or 1000 pages. I read Gone with the Wind during the summer between 7th and 8th grade - fell in love with Scarlett and Rhett. Then I moved on to the Bronte sisters (Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights), Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Crisco) and other authors/books that I wish I could re-read again and again. But I keep finding new books that NEED my time. When I was in college I would keep lists of books on my refrigerator throughout the semesters that I wanted to read when I had MY time back again and could pick up any book in the world other than a text book. The list grew and grew. I have conquered quite a few books from that long ago list and am working through the 300+ books on my current list here. I also keep a running list on the side of my blog of what I have read, plan to read and am currently reading.....yes, dork queen, I know!!

I like to read good literature books but sometimes I just need to read the no brainer, no thinking books. Put a book in my hand and I usually don't come up for air until I am at least half way through it or finished with it. It is sad that I can't control that strange habit ummm, or is it?

Because I love books so much and want to spend any amount of time reading I decided long ago that I had to teach my own children that same love of books/reading - I succeeded with my daughter, Sarah, who now has her own small library with almost 1,000 books of her own. After all, I did pay her to read classics while we were on road trips (beginning at the age of 10 and is another blog of itself). I am currently working on Caleb's love of reading....which is proving to be a little harder!!!  Caleb loves books - as long as they are about spiders, bugs, fish, frogs, snakes, etc.   He loves going to the library and checking out books - but only books on the above topics.  He will fill his bag with at least 10 to 12 books each time but when I try to steer him towards books that I want him to read problems arise.  Which brings me to the actual reason behind this post.

This is what I am reading this summer:

I am learning how to deal with a child who has sensory processing disorder.  I didn't even know this was a disorder until my pediatrician pointed it out to me at our last visit ("I think Caleb has sensory processing disorder so I am going to write a script/referral for therapy").  With Caleb I am expanding my mind once again.  Learning new things about how to deal with obsessive compulsive disorders and now sensory processing disorders. 

I love my little guy. 
He is absolutely darling -
when he isn't having meltdowns.
He loves to color coordinate our dinner plates in the cupboard.  He wants the red plates on top (so he can easily get them for his meals) then comes the orange, yellows, and greens --
 isn't that sweet of him????

He also doesn't like a change in schedule -
if it is a stay home day (as he calls it) then
I absolutely can't change things up and run errands
(meltdowns pursue).

He also loves to create patterns:
"Mom, how about this (as he is trying to get out of brushing his teeth) I brush my teeth tomorrow,
then I don't brush them the next day, then I brush them, isn't that a great pattern?"

Another thing my sweet guy doesn't like is water in the face. 
Yes, that creates problems with bathing and especially now while we are working
on swimming lessons. 

So until next time, the doctor is out......learning how to be a parent of a child with SPD.....

Just My Luck!!!!!!

I am not really a supersticious person but sometimes things happen to make us question that.

I needed to go to Denver for an Educational Research Conference since I am presenting a paper. I decided that I wanted to drive to Denver instead of fly. I love a good roadtrip and there is so much to see and do on the way there and back. The night before I am supposed to leave my car overheats and sweet hubby comes to rescue me...he checks it out for me and says everything is a-ok. So on Friday morning I am getting everything together and sweet hubby has to run some errands then comes home and decides that the truck needs an oil change along with a few other things he wants to check out. FINALLY, I am able to go pick up my sister, Mimi, and we head out....at 3:00 PM!!!!   We are driving along I-40 minding our own business, laughing, talking and BAMM!!!!   My truck starts overheating - this can't be happening - I HAVE TO GO TO DENVER!!!!  AND, we are only about an hour outside of Little Rock -- so we pull over at the local small town WalMart parking lot.  I call sweet hubby and tell him what is going on.  He tells me to sit still and he will bring me a thermostat for my truck because apparently that was the problem all along...(question to myself --- why didn't he change it out before I left----oh, yeah, I am the wife who is last on the list -- haha).

So we have an hour or so to kill while waiting on sweet hubby.  There is a Bonanza across the street and we decide to go there for a bite to eat -- big mistake -- super yucky food!!!   Then we decide to sit in the parking lot of Wally World and wait.  I decided to go into the store to get a book then went back out to the truck to wait.  While sitting in my truck waiting (Mimi had gone into the store by then) there were some very dark clouds coming in and then the tornado sirens are going off.  I leave the truck for safety in the Wally World.  I find my sister and we go to the back of the store to wait out the tornado (that didn't produce). We are quite awful too - you know more like teens- giggling at the oddly dressed people in Wally World on a Friday night (I mean where else do county people go on a Friday night - that is why there is this).   While waiting out the storm and walking around the back of the store sis tells me she wants me to look at a couple of things for her girls bedroom - one being a pink framed full length mirror.   I reach out to look at it and it slips between my fingers/hand and CRASH on the floor.   People around me are trying to distance themselves from me as fast as their legs will run!!!   They are giving me that Oh, no you didn't look..........oh yeah, I did!!!   That is when the county people of Wally World start laughing at me and telling me I will have 7 years of bad luck....I guess I deserve it for not being very nice to begin with!!!  7 years of bad luck - just my luck if I were supersticious!!!

Oh, yeah, I did make it to Denver and I will be presenting my paper this afternoon and then heading out back home to my sweet family baring no bad luck on the way home......

For now the doctor is out......hoping to avoid running into a black cat or walking under a ladder or opening an umbrella in the house....well you get the picture!!!!

Caleb's Best Friend

I am not a pet person.  There I said it.  But my kids love pets.  

When Sarah was 4 I decided she needed a dog.

Big mistake on my part!! 

I got her a little white puppy.  

She loved that puppy.  I didn't.  

That little puppy was like having 3 kids at the same time.   A LOT OF WORK.  

We didn't keep him long....he found a new home.   

 Then when Sarah was about 14 she brought home a baby kitten from a visit with her cousin. 

It was her birthday. 

She didn't ask me. 

I relented and let her keep him. 

She still has that cat  (Oliver)--- he is the devil, no seriously, he is a crazy cat.  

I DO NOT LIKE THAT CAT!!!  

I honestly believe that Oliver is schizophrenic.  But that is another blog by itself.  

Needless to say I didn't want anymore pets.  

But I have an almost 6 year old boy......he loves animals of all kinds.  

He captured a couple of bugs with his bug catcher and called them his friends.  

Very Sad.

I like pets that don't live at my house:

Aunt Betty's bird lives in Florida -- I don't mind visiting him.

My cousin's dog, Harry.  I don't mind him visiting us.

I think stuffed animals make perfect pets.

No mess.

No fuss.

But Caleb wasn't buying any of this. 

He asked for his own puppy. 

Then he asked for his own kitten.

I explained to him that we could visit Mimi's kittens anytime:

But he wanted his own kitten who would love him.

So what was I to do?

I began the search.  I hoped the thought would go away.

It didn't.

We found his new best friend online and went to pick her up.

On the way to Whitehall to pick up the new friend.

Caleb is demonstrating how we must hold this new friend. 

Very carefully.

Since it was a last minute decision when we found her

I didn't have a carrier ready.

So we used a box.

He named her Ella.

She is 2 months old.

And they love each other already.

Ella follows Caleb everywhere.

I found them here last night:

Cuddled up together in my bed watching TV.

Caleb told me last night - Ella is my new best friend.

I am Ella's daddy now.

We have to be careful when we walk through the house or we here:

SHHH, Ella is sleeping and you will wake her up.

Talk softly so you don't scare Ella.

I have to say Caleb has totally surprised me here - he takes very good care of Ella.

He feeds her.  He makes sure she has water.

He even wanted to give her a bath last night.

Thank goodness Sarah caught him while he was running the bath water.

He hasn't touched the litter box yet....oh, but he will eventually!!!

For now the doctor is out.....praying that Ella is normal....since one crazy cat is enough for me...