A birthday surprise

On the eve of my 31st birthday,  I heard a tiny knock on my bedroom door, followed by excited giggles.
"Come in", I said.
Slowly the door turned and in popped my youngest followed by his brothers, they're faces full of excitement.
Behind them was a surprise for me.

 Their Step-father had taken them to the store and let each of them pick a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me. No hints. No suggestions. Simply, 'whatever flowers you think would be pretty for mommy' was the instructions given.

 

"I love you mommy" my youngest said as he handed me his choice. 

They were beautiful Pink Roses.
 He had told his Step-daddy,"I want to get mommy pretty pink flowers. "
Their sweet scent was wonderful and filled the air.

 ...And they looked beautiful sitting on my piano as I gazed at them daily.

My 2nd oldest quietly chose a Country bouquet. He said they were the prettiest.

Mom would have to agree. They were very beautiful. 

And they cheered her up every morning during breakfast.

" Mother, I love you so so much!" He followed the statement with a big hug and a kiss.

My eldest picked the tulips.

  When questioned, he just kept grabbing them and ignoring all the other flowers.

 "Here. They are tulips", he said to me with a smile. He was very proud.

 So was I.

A sweet highlight in my life and a wonderful way to start another year. 

10 years I had waited and wondered if I would ever experience this sweet moment with my children. I thank my husband for helping make the rare and special gift possible.

What a beautiful way to spend my birthday.

Timeout mommy!

Once upon a time there was a mommy who had 3 little boys. Each one had extra needs that the other little boys didn't have. This made the mommy much busier then she thought she ever would be. Daily she had to make phone calls to set, confirm,cancel and/or reschedule appointments, fire and/or hire new respite and hab. workers and prep everything in the home for the families daily routine so she'd be ready to keep everyone on task when school would be over and especially after the workers arrived. Once the prepping was finished and ready...she could then start on the house work but only if there weren't any appointments during the day for her boys to be kept or errands to be run.
One day, the mommy was very tired. Everything hurt, even her heart and spirit. Not only was it hard physically but also emotionally on her to help her little boys fight their battle of autism.
However, this mommy was lucky. She had a lot of support from a wonderful husband, amazing family and help from the state to ensure everything was being done that could be. She also had learned a wonderful secret from her mommy that every mommy should know and do- *Sometimes mommies need to be put in "timeout". It's important for her to take time for herself, take a break and if the dishes don't get done, oh well.*
So, when evening came and she went to pick up her husband from work, he could tell that she needed to be in "timeout". She wasn't sure if it was the droop of her shoulders or the crazed look in her eyes that gave it away.

Since the boys were out to dinner with their daddy that night, the mommy's treat would be to go out to eat too. There would be NO dinner making for her. Besides, she didn't think she'd be able to pull enough brain power to cook anyways.
Just across the street was her favorite pizza place, Magpies. PERFECT! Some say the mommy was bouncing in her seat and clapping her hands in anticipation. Others say she was impatiently eyeing the traffic that was blocking their car from crossing the intersection and urging her husband to just drive right on top of the cars stating that "it would only tickle a little bit and everyone would understand it was all done for a good cause".
She claims she sat calmly and patiently waited with great anticipation.
If you've ever been to Magpies then you'd understand what the excitement was all about. If you haven't well then, get out your bucket list, dust it off and write, Destination- Tucson.  What- Magpies Pizza.

 Handmade dough that's chewy and melts in your mouth

 Every ingredient is fresh, not canned or frozen (excepting the black olives of course)

 The Marinara sauce is just the right balance of thick and savory. It's so good we love to eat it on it's own with the crust.

 And when we've run out of sauce, we eat the crust by itself. Yes, it's so good that eating the crust is a pleasure.

The mommy happily ate and enjoyed her break. Now feeling rejuvenated and refreshed,  she headed off home to tuck her little ones into bed.

The end

Why mommies love sick days with the sniffles.

Doctors orders: Ben was to stay home for 24 hours due to his ear infection and fever. Although it made me sad that my little boys was sick,I was also excited!Why you ask?

Why mommies loves a sick day with the sniffles...
Reason 1:
It's hard to get quality one on one time with my kids. I spend a LOT of time with them yes- singing songs while riding in the car, hours of hab ( everything we do from chores to running errands is turned into self-help learning sessions for the boys), respite, O.T. ,Speech, Library, play time outside, reading books, watching movies, baking, etc. However, it's rarely one on one time. 

Fortunately, that morning I didn't have anything that couldn't wait to be done until the next day. So, we started out with a nice snuggle session in mommy's bed- a RARE treat. Ben and I watched his favorite cartoon, Iron Man. After a few hours of resting, Ben decided he was feeling better...

Well enough to sit in his new ball tent (something we will use for the boys' sensory integration) and read.

Snuggled on a bean bag with his blankie.

 What ya reading Ben?

Ben shows his dinosaur book.

Reason 2:  He quietly sat there for about an hour. We actually got to finish several books together! A rare feat for someone with ADHD.

Reason 3: When you're sick, there's nothing like hot soup and crackers to bring the warm fuzzies. MmmMmm!

 Veggie and Pasta soup with crackers

My little Ben was so good to sit at the table, even though he wasn't feeling 100%.

My sweet little boy, munching on his soup n crackers.

 In the head of a 5 year old who has Autism, rules are rules. It's a fight to persuade them otherwise. It's for the best however, because it's also "dangerous" to let them have a one time occasion since it literally shakes them up. Also, like I said, to them rules are rules so if you try and change things just once, that new routine becomes the law. So you have to be very careful when those "once in a while times" will be allowed and how they will be introduced. In this case, there is a rule that when you're sick, you can eat in bed. However, Ben insisted he was well enough to eat at the table. Stubborn and oh so sweet, isn't he?
We also have another rule that I had to use recently cause apparently, I wasn't the only one that thinks sick days can be fun.
All 3 boys tried something like this lately...
 "Cough Cough...Moooom, I'm so sick. Look, I cougheded...Cough cough"
 I answer, " Ok, if you need to stay home, you can BUT... that means, NO movies, NO video games, NO snacks. You will have to stay in bed all day. Sick people stay in bed and sleep. Are you sick or are you going to go to school?"
After a few minutes pause... "Ummm I think I'm all better. I'll go to school."
With a grin I reply, "Uh-huh. That's what I thought".

And that's why I love "The sick with sniffles" days.

Hugs, kisses...and toys makes it all better

When I got to the school to pick up the kids today, I was greeted by a tearful Benjamin whose eyes were swollen from crying. He was tugging on his ear and saying, " OUCH OUCH OUCH!!! It hurts mommy, it hurts!" His teacher said he'd been doing this for the last 10-15 minutes of school.
When his autism kicks in, he will mimic verbatim what others say and/or their behaviors. We call it "Echolalia". During my volunteer time in his classroom that morning, one of his classmates started to cry and complain about her ear. I had helped to make sure she went to the nurse and later she went home early. I needed to make sure that this was more then him mimicking the girl in his class.  After examining him for a minute, I could tell that he was definitely in pain. Ben has an extremely high pain tolerance which means that if he's saying ouch...he really means ouch!
His doctor wasn't in today but Mommy's intuition told me that I couldn't wait and to get him somewhere right away. He was inconsolable. It's hard to keep him calm during transitions and times of uncertainty since I can't just explain things to him like I would to another child. It's something we've been working on a lot but this time...I couldn't blame him. There was no time to go home and try to calm him.
I took him to the walk-in at Walgreen's.

 The poor little boy wouldn't let go of me and kept asking where the doctor was and when they would make it better. I just kept repeating over and over that it was ok, mommy had him and that soon the doctor will come and the ear would be better.

We finally got in to be seen. He had a serious ear infection and a fever.
It took a dose of Tylenol (that was bought while waiting for the doctor), the examination and 2 stickers,to help and calm him.

We were then directed to the Pharmacy for the medication and antibiotics. The Pharmacists informed us it would be at least a 30-35 minute wait.

So, off we went to the toy isle to play away the time.

Walgreens had an amazing sale! Lots of their toys were 50-55% off. Wow, great toys for really cheap!
 It was so much fun to finally be able to let my kids pick out a toy for their good behavior while waiting.  I'll definitely go there during birthdays.

The loot- they still have to earn some of it.

Ben chose a stuffed ladybug to snuggle with. The lady bug made it ALL better.

The ladybugs name? Mrs. Ladybug.

James chose a bumble bee. He named it Mr. Fuzzbee because he's " a ball of fuzz".

James with Mr. Fuzzbee

Daniel chose Pixos. They're little beads that you put together in any kind of design you want and then you spray it with water and they kinda "melt" together.

Daniel says this is  a "Kuppa" from Mario Bros. 3

It was worth it, knowing I had done all I could for Ben. He slept well that night, and so did I. :)

Lunch for two

 What do you do when you need some quality time with your best friend but haven't been able to lately?

 Why go to your favorite Restaurant for lunch of course!

 Where? The Shere-e-Punjab. It's serves the most amazing homestyle Indian food.

Steve's best Shere (lion) impression

Chicken, Lamb, Beef, and Potatoes with rice and Nan bread, filled our bellies to the bursting point.

Saffron, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves and other spices teased our taste buds and filled our senses.

Dessert was ripe watermelon and a creamy rice pudding we swear is laced with coke, because it's so good!

Don't forget to top it all off with a Dum-dum sucker!

The ulimate highlight of my Tuesday!

Learning to jump rope.

The boys were so very good at school today! It was welcome news since Ben has had a few hard days this past week,trying out his new medication.
I promised all of them that after homework and chores, their choice for free time could be a movie- GASP! A rare choice on weekdays,they were in shock and very excited. I was excited too because new meds made it a more then usually exhausting weekend, especially without a respite or hab. worker to help me keep them on track. So, relaxing while they watched a movie would be a welcome break.
I worked with them through most of the chores and sat down at the computer to check a few things while waiting for them to finish.
Suddenly, I heard a tiny knock on my bedroom door and saw Ben's little head peek in at me. He smiled and stepped into my room with a shiny new jump rope I had just bought a couple of weeks ago and placed among their toys. Apparently he had found it.
I asked, " What ya got there Ben?" Quietly has asks, " Mommy, will you come play with me?"
How can you refuse that? I was secretly relieved and pleased that he had already finished all that I had asked him to do so I didn't have to tell him no.
 Up I jumped, eager to build the memory with my sweet boy, and headed outside to play with him.
This is the sweet site I was greeted with, when I got to the front porch...

Hi Mom!

 He had the rope in front of him at first ...

 and tried to throw it over himself backwards while he jumped.

 It was hilarious to watch.

Hmmm...Why can't I jump?...darn thing must be broken.

 So, I showed him what to do.

Me trying to remember how to jump rope- compliments of  "James Photography".

30 seconds later...

Ben giving me pointers on how to do it.

He was eager to try again.

and again

and again

and again

Finally, he got it!!!

Ta-dah!

 Big brother comes to join in.

James wants a turn

Prepping for awesomeness

James being embarrassed by missing on his first attempt at awesomeness

 There was laughter, giggles and lots of funny faces made.

Here are some pictures of our awesome "tricks" ...

The sneeze

Marie Antoinette

The Rock Star

Invisible Magic Carpet

Twist and shake the Boot-eh. ( Named after Ben since he loves to say, "shake the Booty")

Invisible Granny Walker

Definitely better then a movie and the highlight of the day!

Weekend fun: M&M's and Marios

The weekend is here, it's time to play! We'll pop some corn and snack away.

Popcorn sprinkled with chocolate chips and M&M's

 

We won't do homework. We won't do chores.We won't do anything that'll be a bore.

 Let's pick a movie, what will it be?.. I know! Toy Story 2...not 3.

And so we ate our special treat and watched the movie we thought was neat and when it was over, we weren't done. Mom said, "Hey boys, lets have some fun!"  ..Wait what's that you say?...Another movie instead of play? Ok, you pick and let me see...wait, you want what??? Mario Brothers 3!??

This is one of the things that is nearly banned from our home and only allowed on rare occasions due to Daniel and Ben's  inclination to over obsess. ...I gave in due to their previous good behavior. One thing led to another and well, the rest is history...

After watching the movie, the boys sat down to draw. I decided to join them and much to my surprise, I was actually able to draw a decent picture to keep with theirs. No seriously, growing up I'd watch my talented siblings amaze with their skilled drawings and I stuck to things like flowers and swirls. I'd had enough of being traumatized by the fact that my people always ended up looking like a mix between pixies and pigs... not a pretty sight.

Can you tell which picture belongs to who?

Our drawings of Mario and the gang

Let's see if you guessed right...

Mine

Daniel- Luigi in a Frog suit

Daniel

James

While James and I were finishing, Daniel decided to take it to the next level...

He put his costume on.

and was SO very happy about it

Iron man joined us at the table to color.

There you are Ben! Hard at work on a Luigi paper hat.

 Then Daniel decided to show off with his fine motor skills he'd been tweaking during his many O.T. sessions...

This little guy puts my picture to shame...What's that? Toad in the background you say?

Yep he's here too...

and Luigi...

and Princess Peach. Poor lady. Heheh.

The gangs all here.

Yes, this was ALL Daniel's doing. He's constantly amazing us with his skills when he gets his hands on a piece of clay, or Play-Doh in this case. It was all a lot of fun. I can't wait for our next weekend together! However next time... Mario won't be invited.