Five Things Wednesday

Since I was so busy yesterday, here are five random things happening here I am thankful for from the past week:

1. Son#2 cut his finger on a greenbean can in the trash last Wed night. It was bad. The house looked like a crime scene, wouldn't stop bleeding for an hour & an ambulance came. I'm thankful he is better & I'm almost done with stain treating the huge pile of crime scene laundry.

2. I convinced my friend to leave me her letter stamps when she visited & I can't wait to go hog wild with them. Scrapbook pages, cards, Christmas cards--maybe you'll even see my use them to sign my name on checks. Although this would be rather interesting since they are about 2 inches high.

3. My house is clean after about a week of not being up to my standards. Shout out to my main man Hubbo who stepped up to the plate on that.

4. I have a new cell phone. All I care about is that it can be charged with it's charger & the battery lasts for more than a few hours. Oh and I have a QWERTY keyboard to text now.

5. The Swaim boys ALL have costumes and are ALL going trick-or-treating Friday. Son#1 is Indiana Jones, son#2 is G.I.Joe and the baby is going as Elmo. Pictures to follow.

Ten Things Tuesday

1. I'm thankful for the older Christian gentleman that stopped & found my son in the road today when he was able to defeat the gate & get out of the yard. I'm so thankful God watched out for him & that it wasn't a bad person that found him. Lord am I thankful about that. I'm thankful I didn't have a complete meltdown after the police & neighbors saw me pre-shower & freaking out. I'm thankful that the police didn't just deem me a bad mommy right there & take me away.

2. I'm thankful son#2's field trip got cancelled for tomorrow. *I know I sound like the Grinch--but one that would be exhausting.*

3. I'm thankful for my friends with true listening, friendship ears & hearts.

4. I'm thankful I got to have a meal alone with my husband for our anniversary Saturday & that my kids were wonderful for my mother.

5. I'm thankful I FINALLY get to get a new cell phone because mine hasn't kept a charge in the battery since June.

6. I'm thankful that I got a shower today. Mother to mother: 'nuff said.

7. I'm thankful Curious George is visiting our house this week & we're doing a photo op tonight with him. *more on that later*

8. I'm thankful Pizza Hut cooked our dinner last night.

9. I'm thankful that I think we can repair the computer cabinet door son#2 (a.k.a. Bam-Bam) ripped off the hinge last night in his hissy fit meltdown.

10. And I'm thankful my bestest girlfriends are coming up from Texas this weekend so we can PAR-TAY non-mommy style!!!!!!!!

Countdown

TEN random things about me:

10. I can play piano, although not as well anymore.

9. When I feel nausous, I eat dill pickles.

8. I have a pretty good collection of baseball cards.

7. I love to ask questions & learn.

6. I drink unsweet tea just like my dad did.

5. I like having all boys & no girls. Honest. Sorry mom.

4. I have a scar on my face from falling on the fireplace when I was little.

3. I have been to several NFL games & two MLB games.

2. I like the smell of Coast soap. A lot.

1. I clean when I'm mad.

NINE ways to win my heart:

9. Look me in the eyes

8. Offer to get me something if I just sat down

7. Enjoy reading

6. Remember my birthday

5. Be willing to tell me when I need to be told something

4. Know how to have fun wherever you, whatever you're doing

3. Be willing to talk about ANYTHING

2. Make me laugh

1. Be a Godly man

EIGHT things I want to do before I die:

8. Have a weekly tennis game with my husband

7. Lead someone's life to Christ

6. Speak at a woman's conference on the role of faith & God in my life

5. Own my dream house equipped just the way we want it

4. Own my dream car--a yellow Jeep Cherokee Wagoneer

3. Swim in the ocean

2. Go to England & tour the countryside

1. Take a trip with my family

SEVEN ways to annoy me:

7. Roll your eyes

6. Be closed-minded

5. Have to talk about yourself a lot

4. Talk to me like I'm dumb

3. Hate dogs

2. Splash me or get me wet

1. LIE

SIX things I like:

6. dogs

5. home cookin

4. books

3. television (escape)

2. my friends

1. my kids learning

FIVE things I'm afraid of:

5. snakes

4. burglars/kidnappers

3. flying

2. cancer

1. Matt or the kids dying

FOUR favorite items in my room:

4. books

3. computer

2. yarn/knitting stuff

1. pillows

THREE things I do everyday:

3. have a Dr. Pepper

2. email my friends

1. kiss my family

TWO things I want to do right now:

2. knit

1. scrapbook

ONE person I really want to see right now:

1. my dad

Random Fun

So instead of telling you things I'm thankful for today, I'm going to give you random fun things the kids have done or said to make you smile, snort & possibly laugh out loud.

** It was bathtime & the baby was already naked. I told him to go get his toys & put them in the tub. When I came back, this is how I found son#3.

This does nothing for my argument that not everyone in Oklahoma wears a cowboy hat.

** Son#1 came home with student of the month, which is picked out of the whole school. We were very proud of him & excited at his accomplishments. I was already thinking up scrapbook layouts in my head when I found something else in his take-home folder.

In case you can't read it, it's a little booklet on not getting your way & inside the story says:

"Mr. Peterman is handing out lollipops. Heather says she wants a red one. Mr. Peterman says that Rochelle got the last red lollipop."

Then you are supposed to draw and/or write what happens next.

And MY student of the month, draws Darth Vader killing Mr. Peterman & Heather says, "Thank you Vader!" --"Vader says no, Vader kills Peterman, Heather says thanks"

Good thing he got the Student of the Month award BEFORE this drawing. I expect the counselor to call me soon. I wonder if this fits in with the Twinkie defense?

** And last butt not least....this is a picture of son#3 being creative in his climbing endeavors again. Hubbo & I walk in the room to find this. We just stand there. Son#1 looks up from the computer & says with a completely straight face, " How did the baby's butt get that big crack?"

Son #1 was a little unerved when I explained his looked like that too.

Ten Things Tuesday

Here we are again! I have to say since starting this happy Tuesday thing, my weeks are flying by. Okay, here we go... I am thankful for:

1. Son#2 is feeling pretty darn good now! And he went to school yesterday and had a good day. He's even eating better which makes me happy. Now we are supposed to go in for a check-up on Wednesday, but honestly, I'm thinking they may be smoking something to think he'll lay in a chair & let them check out his mouth.

2. Book club last night was so fun. We had a great time discussing a good read called "The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love" by Joan Medlicott. *I will add a disclaimer here: I don't often read things that take major brain cells as many of mine were all lost in childbirth years ago.* I loved how this book is about ladies in their 60's still learning life lessons that I can learn from. We had a new "groupie" join us last night. She is from Venezula and is using this as one way to English. I applaud that intention & appreciate it a lot. Of course, she probably thinks we're a bunch of nutters since one lady introduced herself as, "Hi, I'm Judy. I guess that's Hoodie to you." hahahahahaha! I loved that because of course then I'm Hoolie!

3. I have a scrapbooking crop coming up this Friday night with no kids allowed! After son#2 being home most of last week & being bored all through the weekend, I'm ready to escape the asylum. And when I learned that the kids are out for Fall Break next Wed/Thurs/Fri, I signed up to crop Saturday too. Mommy gets a weekend pass from the looney bin!

4. My windows are open today with a nice crisp cool breeze blowing steadily. This is quite a feat since they are the oldest windows & VERY hard to get up. I can count on one hand how many times they've been open in the almost 6 years we've lived here. (Thought I wasn't gonna do a weather one didn't ya!?)

5. I am thankful for my sons' doctor & nurse. I know people who can't get same day appointments, can't get them to return phone calls and we are just so blessed to have caring, genuine people that will call us personally to check on the kids & really listen to us about what is going on. They truly "get" my kids. Thank you Cyndi & Gina!!!!

6. I went to a garage sale Saturday held inside at a retirement community. Everything you could fit into a sack was a dollar. I got two bags & a suitcase. The suitcase reminded me of an old one we had when I was a kid. It was marked $1, this old guy comes by & says I can have it for $.25. I tell him, it's fine, I can pay the dollar. Nope, $.25 he says. I mean, this money is all going to this retirement center, I wanted to spend & help out. So when I went to pay my $2.25 total, I gave her a $5 and told her to keep the change. That'll teach him!;)

7. I found the perfect costume that son#1 actually wanted for Halloween! Can't wait till I take it back tonight & get the pants someone ripped off the one I took home. He's already wanting to wear it day & night.

8. The crockpot is making dinner tonight. Whoo hoo!

9. Gas went down to $2.98 around these parts.

10. And this little guy is saying a new word every day, which I will in no way take for granted.

The Education of A Literal Thinker

Son#1 is in 5th grade this year and came home with a stack of graded papers this weekend. As I weeded through them to find ones to keep, I came across a few that made me chuckle.

**On one paper he had to read a one paragraph story about a treehouse & answer questions afterwards. When asked, "What are two things you can pretend to be in a treehouse?"
son #1 answered: "Harrison Ford & a squirrel"
His teacher cross them out & put "pirate or explorer".

**Further down on the same page it asks, "What might you do with a friend in your treehouse?"
And son #1 answered: "Play video games"
His teacher put: "With a very long extension cord."

**On spelling homework the kids get to add in two words each week of their chosing. This particular week son#1 added in the words, father & son.On tests they have to pick one of the words & write out a sentence using the word. Son#1 had been practicing using BOTH words in a sentence. A Star Wars sentence. Something to do with Luke being Darth Vaders son and Vader being his father. When test time came, apparently he forgot which sentence he wanted to use. So he wrote: "Star Wars is next on t.v."
His teacher corrected it: "Luke you are my son!" I think we're rubbing off on her.

**There was a worksheet where you answered questions about your community. Whether or not you lived near an ocean, a big city or small town, etc.
Here are a couple of questions & answers from son#1:

"What fun things are there to do in your community?"
Son#1: "golfing" He's never golfed except on the Wii!

"How do you get to school each day?"
Son#1: "Bush (the name of his bus shuttle--they each have a Presidential name)

And my favorite:
"Name three things you think make a community a good place to live."
Son#1: "Arrowhead (his school), playground & Arby's "

**One spelling test he states his two extra words as "Mario & Luigi".

Sometimes even we forget how literal his mind is and how often he's consumed with his fun things in his mind. Like this exchange this morning:

me: "Just a second hon, I have to finish this first."

son#1: "Actually a second is a very short amount of time. I don't think you can finish that in a second."

me: "*sigh*"

Wednesday

Wednesday morning at 5am Hubbo & I got up, dressed & ready for taking son#2 to the surgery center to see the dentist. He did well & wasn't freaked out or anything. They didn't make him put the bracelet on, they decided they could do that after he was out. Along with the IV. They didn't even make him change into a gown. He went back in what he wore there. The nurses were flexible once again, and son#2 didn't even mind the pre-op room we were waiting in. We weighed him which took some doing. Hubbo holding him up, me hold his feet on the scale. Son#2 came in at a whopping 110lbs!!

The anesthesiologist worried me some. He was a small man. So small I think I could take him. All I could think was, "THIS is the man that's supposed to hold the gas mask to my son's face?!" I was pretty sure son#2 could snap this man in half if he wanted to.

One of the things about having Autistic children is, you can peg people pretty quickly.
I can sum up someone on the phone, in person or walking by, on how they are viewing my child & their Autism. This doctor wasn't hearing us. He wasn't listening *in that special way wives mean when referring to their husbands* when I told him about son#2 pulling a large television down onto his leg and breaking it at age 2. And how it took a double dose of morphine to knock him out to set the leg. And even then, when the intern picked up his leg to set it, son#2 sat up & looked him. Then laid back down. That intern was freaked out.

I could just tell this guy wasn't going to believe me about how strong son#2 is. Well, he did LATER. He could see son#2 acting pleasant and personable. So what if he couldn't talk? Remember those cute, tiny, little dinosaurs on Jurassic Park? All cute, cocking their head to the side, almost smiling at you and then BAM! They all jump all over you wanting to eat you like a t-bone steak! That's son#2 if you hold him down. And that's the path this thing was traveling down, so I just waited.

The anesthesiologist was really bent on trying to get the "happy juice" down son#2. We tried cherry first, in a syringe. He was curious, but wouldn't go for it. Apparently he wasn't that hungry. I accidentally had some on my finger and licked it. (cooking habit) Then the doctor insisted we try another * this is where the nurse & I look at each other & roll our eyes like wives do about husbands when they aren't looking* relaxing cocktail, and this one was grape. Hubbo tasted the grape to see if it was horrible. We both agreed, it had a definite medicinal taste & a metallic after taste like you'd been licking a penny for 20 minutes. No wonder kids hate that stuff. That takes the happy out of it for sure.

Finally we were ready to go back & this is where Hubbo donned his surgical cap (blackmail picture was taken) and walked son#2 back to the OR. I waited for screams but didn't hear any. In my head I played out the dinosaurs eating the anesthesiologist, smiled & made my way to the waiting room. Hubbo's account is that son#2 was fine with being back there, even got on the gurney. Then they all jumped on him like on the Crocodile Hunter takes down a croc. One nurse had an arm (she ended up getting pinched), the dentist had one leg, another nurse had another leg and then Hubbo had one arm & was trying to help hold son#2's head still for the anesthesiologist. It took one full minute *really think about how long that would seem* before son#2 was under. Even then as they all took a step back to breathe, the anesthesiologist asked that they not leave the room yet, son#2 still felt tense. Ahem.;)

It took almost three hours. After eight years of non-brushing and no dental visits, son#2 had a lot of work that needed to be done. He had 5 teeth pulled. Two were abscess & puss filled. (that should give you an idea of his pain tolerance, another topic people tend not to believe me on)The rest they pulled were decayed. Then he had 8 fillings and 4 crowns. The dentist also fixed son#2's two front teeth. He no longer looks like Bunnicula. They did some cleaning, but I think they were all tired and it had taken longer than they thought it would.

We did convince the two male nurses we had in recovery to take the IV out of his foot (another good thought planned out by our awesome team) & the bracelet off before he woke up & started ripping at them. When son#2 started coming around he started screeching. We hurried him (this really involved Hubbo carrying him) out to the car when he could sit up because we knew the other people there in recovery wouldn't want to be listening to that. He was very cranky when home. I got the impression he wanted us to be quiet. He wanted to sleep, yet wouldn't let himself. Followed Hubbo around & sat with him everywhere he went. And just growled at us every so often. Then he'd kiss us. He maybe napped 30-45 min. But he didn't sleep the rest of the day. He was very, very mellow. Dr. Evan called to check on the "little" guy and complimented Hubbo on his agility in the OR with keeping son#2's hand from attacking as well as being able to keep the head still for the gas mask. We love our Dr. Evan---what a good Christian, caring man. God has called him to great things and we've been blessed to have him in our boys lives with his patience, and understanding.

Thursday son#2 got up at 3am, 4am & then stayed up at 6am. Between that & the previous day's roll call at 5am, we were beat. Son#2 did not have a good Thursday. He melted down more of the day than not. I think he was very frustrated at not being able to eat at the Michael Phelps pace he's used to. But today was much, much better. He's healing & was able to eat much more reasonable things today. Which just like in animals, means my carnivore is on the way to recovery.