Our pup . . .

Back in October I was doing some searching in local rescue organizations for another dog. We had adopted a toy fox terrier/pomeranian mix earlier in the year and we decided that Max needed a buddy. I came across a local organization called Pet Jamboree that had recently brought back some dogs from New Orleans. We went to see one particular dog and we ended up adopting Cayenne. She had been horribly sick and had nearly died from pneumonia. She is most likely a chow/shepard mix. She is a fantastic dog. My kids adore her.! I love the fact that my kids are growing up with animals. I'll try to feature our pets more often . . . lord knows we have slew of them . . .

by the way . . . check out more pictures of my beautiful babies over at our Rouse Family Site

I told you so . . .

I had just said yesterday, "If something is gonna happen to someone it's gonna be me."

Well, I told you so. Today I went to the doctor to have my finger rechecked and I said, "Ya know, the tetanus shot hurts almost as much as my finger." She looked at it and said, "Eww, that shouldn't look like that!"

She thinks I have had an allergic reaction to the diptheria portion of the shot. It's huge, red and hot. It is a giant red lump. It is about the diameter as a softball and hurts like heck. She said, "if it gets worse, we may to drain it". HUH? I don't think so.

Anyhoo . . . that's my excitement for today.

UPDATE: Now I have contact dermititis on that finger. I have found out that I am allergic to latex. I have always had issues, but I guess the more your exposed to it the worse it gets. . . only me . . .

I am a clutz . . .

I have the worst luck. If something is gonna happen to someone it's gonna be me. I am the one who gets the rare complications from strep, I get Fifth's disease which only affects children up to 12, I had the windshield of my van broken 3 times last winter due to ice, I am a bad luck magnet. I am also very clutzsy! Together, that's a bad combination.

Yesterday I went to buy a new x-acto knife for a project at work. The blades said, "surgical precision". Here's where everyone already know's the future of this post . . .

I took them back to work, paste my photos on the foam board and began cutting. I was using a very old, very thick hardwood yardstick. I wasn't doing anything irresponsible. I had almost finished when . . . SLICE. The knife went right through the yard stick and up through the top of my index finger. It cut through my nail, through the nail bed and was about 3 cm long. Zoinks!

I grabbed a paper towel and began applying pressure. By the way, I am the American Red Cross trainer, at this point I hoped I had trained the staff well. I refused to look so I had a supervisor tell me if it was bad, and she said "Oh Lord, wrap that up and go get that taken care of." it was cut almost completely through and you could see the bone tip.

I came away with 3 x-rays (since they thought I may have knicked the bone), several stitches, a bag full of additional dressings and some good pain medication. And many "clutz remarks" from friends and family. I can't tell you how many times I heard "Only you Sheri".

It hurts. I'm a baby. I need some medication.

Monday, Monday . . .

Phooey . . . another Monday.

I'm not feeling well and I had a crappy day. The one bright spot to my day was that I had a meeting with a college student who is doing some counseling at my son's school. They offer free counseling services and my son's teacher thought that Dustin would be a prime candidate. I signed him up basically so we could have someone in the classroom observing his behavior.

Anyway, in this meeting the psych student said that basically what she had seen so far and what I had told her about Dustin seemed perfectly normal for children who have been diagnosed with Aspergers. She said that she wasn't going to be able to drastically change any behavior because these behaviors are typical for Asperger Syndrome. I wanted to jump up and down and scream "That's what I have been telling them!" She said she had that very discussion with the teacher.

It's not that my son's teacher isn't willing, I think she is. It is simply that she's never dealt with a child like Dustin before. Not many people have. I hope this allows the teacher to understand which behaviors are typical, which behaviors can be changed, and which cannot be changed. I want her to be able to identify which behaviors are purposeful and which ones are a symptom for the disorder. She is a fabulous MoMh teacher, she just needs to grasp what it is that Dustin's all about.

The biggest component of Dustin's spectrum of Asperger's is that he had poor peer relations. He cannot understand when he is annoying someone. He cannot keep his hands to himself, he picks, pokes and annoys. He doesn't get facial cues and body language. I get daily reports that his hallway behavior is bad. He's blowing on someone's neck or touching a friend, or lifting up a peer's skirt. HELLO! Put him in the back of the line. He will NOT learn that this isn't acceptable. To him this is completely ok. It is interacting the best he knows how. Deal with it, limit the possibilities for the behavior to occur and move on. If there isn't anyone in front of him, he can't blow on their neck - it's not that hard.

On another note:

I saw on Claudia's blog a post last week about object permanence. That is SO Dustin. What it boils down to is one learning stage of children 0-2 is when they learn Object Permanence - the awareness that parents, toys and other objects exist even when they are out of their sight. Kids that are damaged by abuse/neglect or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome miss this learning step. Dustin thinks that if we cannot see him do something that there is NO WAY ever that we could know. For instance, the pudding that was under the tv stand in his room. He stole it when we weren't looking, took it to his room (where he's not suppose to have food) and ate it with a straw. You'd think that if he was sneaky enough to steal it that he would dispose of it properly. Nope. If we didn't see him do it, there's no reason to hide it. To him the deed is done and over with.

As I type he is sitting next to me in time out. His hands are supposed to be on his head since he kept touching something. I have great peripheral vision, I can see every time he takes his hands off his head. He cannot understand how I can see him if I'm not looking directly at him.

Happy Birthday Dustin!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!
(isn't this a cool cake?)

That's my boy . . .

I came home from work the other day to my 3 year old son telling me that he knew the major parts of the eyeball. What followed was an explanation of the pupil, iris and sclera. Later that night he learned that the cornea was the clear "skin" of the eyeball, and the part that his Nannie had operated on recently.

The other night we were watching the olympic snowboarding competition. One guy fell and my son said, "Mommy, gravity pulled down on his body and he fell". Later while watching downhill skiing, the commentator said " . . . now gravity's on his side." My son got all excited and said, "See mommy I told you!"

By the way . . . the sugar is still working it's magic. Much like that little annoying bunny, their still going, and going, and going . . .

Sugar . . . awwwww honey, honey . . .

I hate party days at school. My children have had WAY too much candy at school today. I don't usually play into that "when kids eat suger they are hyper" way of thinking, but *holy cow* my children are running around in circles, screaming, grunting, and laughing all at the same time.

Toddlers should *not* be allowed to eat their weight in sweets in one day . . .

It's gonna be a fun night.

Sharing the love . . .

Just showing my step-father how to get this started.

He's been sprung . . .

Dustin is home! The hospital called this morning and told my husband that he needed to come get Dustin in 45 minutes. The pyschiatrist had been there and said there was no reason for him to be at the hospital any longer. WooHoo!

He has had 2 fantastic-super days. He is currently on 2 medications, for a toal of 7 pills a day. They are spaced out like never before and it seems to be working.

I am so excited to have my boy home.

Respect . . .

Respect . . . working with children for the last 15 years, I have taught about and tried to instill respect in hundreds, if not thousands, of children. I think it is truly important for children to learn to embrace diversity and differences in order to be productive and compassionate human beings.

That being said, I believe that respecting others opinions are paramount to having a well-rounded and healthy outlook on life. It is perfectly fine to disagree with others, that is what opinions are all about, but one must respect that the other "party" (not politically speaking) has to same right as you to hold their opinion. You don't have to agree with it, you simply must respect them for having it.

Once again ( seems to be a common thing lately, I told you it was my new favorite), I will post a small section of Mitch Harper's blog :

What we need is more civility, cordiality and respect. It is entirely possible for persons having widely divergent viewpoints to argue vigorously but to be civil.

It is even possible for such folks to enjoy each others' company.

Nicely said!

And by the way Mitch . . .

We make the assumption that Left of Centrist is her favorite old blog because it is written by her favorite old blogger.

While I enjoy my husbands blog, I enjoyed FWO because of the local news-briefs and the local media information. . . in quick snip-its becuase I am also antsy. I usually don't get too caught up in political blogging. It is interesting and informative, and I enjoy seeing both sides, however I am nosey . . . so I enjoy reading about personal experiences and the like.

However, I must say I do enjoy LOC, the hubby's blog, becuase I see his intended humor and satire. I see his fire and his heart. . . probably the same thing that angers some. I also enjoy seeing Robert having the outlet to make his beliefs known. I think he is a fabulous writer and explains his viewpoint nicely.

Down in the dumps . . .

Man, what a crappy mood I am in.

I was late to work today, I had to drop clothes off at the hospital for my son. (Which by the way he is making progress) I also had to get two toddlers ready for school which sucks. My kids are polar opposties. McCartney jumps right up and as soon as her feet hit the floor she is ready to go. Harrison on the other hand, takes his own sweet time waking up, kinda like his mommy. When I'm in a hurry, it simply makes it worse because I push to hard.

My boss is in a crappy mood also, she was out for almost two weeks having surgery on her eye and then a work related "retreat" so she is knee deep in work. That makes her grumpy and irritable, primarily towards me. See, my boss is my mother, so I get the worst of her moods. Some seem to think that I get *special* treatment and I don't really work that hard. EXCUSE ME, why didn't I get that memo. I work my butt off and I don't get the luxury of tact or pleasantries that the boss gives others. Just once I wish those who thought that could spend one day with me . . . they'd change their tune.

Then there is this nagging feeling of betrayal. It isn't that someone betrayed me intentionally, but an action they took definitely "cut to my core". I don't believe this person meant to hurt me. I don't think this person thought it would be so traumatic. . . but that was the end result. I'm not angry with them, I will not hold it against them. It is after all their decision, but I am disappointed. I'm terribly sad. You see, I am a FIXER and I don't know how to fix this. So it nags at me, and stresses me out. It makes me depressed.

I tell myself, you cannot change this. I tell myself to get over it. I tell myself that you have to stop trying to control everything. That does not stop the pressure I feel. That is part of my Obssessive Compulsive Disorder. I will get through it, it simply takes me some time. There is always the hope that this person will "pony up" and change their thinking.

By the way . . . anyone seen my navy Vera Bradley bag . . . it's still missing. :)

51 . . .

Today is Robert's Birthday!
I love you honey!

I found it . . .

Here is my daddy when he was president of the local IUE963 with Evan Bayh when he was governor of Indiana. Aren't they both handsome??

My dad passed away 10 years ago this summer. Ironically it was his job in the wire factory that probably ultimately gave him his cancer. . . a blog for another time. This picture was actually pre-cancer.