Just Between Friends

Twice every year in my area I participate in a kids consignment sale. It's that time of year again and all weekend I've been driving myself nuts getting everything ready for the sale. It's a lot of work to gather, clean, price and tag everything before taking it to the sale. I'm hoping that this sale is just as successful as the last and I can get a nice check for all of the stuff that's been cluttering up my house! Zilla is not so much a fan of getting rid of his stuff but eventually he'll understand that I'm not going to keep buying him stuff (or let others do so) if he can't clear out space! So wish me all kinds of luck in getting rid of the car load!!

If Wishes Were Horses, Beggers Would Ride

You gotta love the old English Proverb that goes to prove how ridiculous wishes can be. Sometimes wishes are just things we say out loud but don't really mean.

Today I said one of those things that while nice wouldn't actually be something I wanted. I thought "I wish Zilla was just a little more normal" even though in reality I wouldn't trade him in for a more socially acceptable version ever. I love my munchkin more than life and think he's perfect just the way he is. I'm not one of those parents looking for a "cure" for Autism because to me that's just how my son was made. That being said there are days where I long to not have to think about all the things that swim around in my head. I NEVER once thought when I was planning to have a baby that words and phrases like 'bahavior plans', IEP, 'we need strategies to deal with this issue', 'we'll call in a specialist', and on and on and on would be a part of my daily life. I've thought more about my sons education and schooling than I ever put into my own and he's only in second grade! I wouldn't ever want to change my monkey but it sure would be nice to have a little less contact with his school lol.

What prompted this awesome post is Zilla decided that instead of doing his one on one math with his teacher yesterday he'd destroy his classroom instead. His classmates then had to be cleared from the room and lost 40 minutes of instruction time while they tried to calm my child. I hate that he gets so overwhelmed that he has to lash out like that and I hate that he's the cause of such a problem for others. What I hate the most though is the feeling of helplessness I get when this happens. It'll be all be ok, his school adores him and he'll pull out of his funk like it never happened at all.

Family Of Gamers

Zilla has become a serious gamer of late and loves all things Mario. And because my munchkin never does anything half way he has made us all into a "Family of Gamers". On a daily basis we are forced um I mean asked to play either Mario Bros, Mario Cart or Disney Infinity with him. I even managed to round up another Wii remote so that we can all play at once. I have to say that I'm pretty sure I never played with video games this much even as a kid. Zilla is in his element while playing and he really enjoys beating Mena and I every time we play. There has been plenty of yelling, trash talking and TONS of laughter in our house! As a family we've made it through World 1 and are now trying out (very poorly if I'm being honest) World 2 Level 1 but that's HARD people! I think that secretly Mena and I are hoping Zilla will just pull us through it lol. We are even planning to use our "Family of Gamers" status for our Halloween costumes. I got Zilla the Mario costume and I'm going to be making myself into a Question Mark Box with a 1up and Mena is still deciding. Zilla just adores when we are included in his fun and whats better in life than making your kid happy? Nothing!

Tuesday Tips

On my first day back to blogging after a long hiatus I've decided to start a weekly Tuesday Tips post. Each week I plan to share a tip I found in a book, online or just somewhere I've read that either helps me or would be a good idea to keep in your little bag of tricks!

I've noticed over the last year or so that I've let my normal organization go a little bit and I really need to fix that so here's our tip for today:

Sort items using a five-box method. Have five boxes with the labels: Keep, Toss, Give away, Donate and Trash. When figuring out whether to keep or toss an item, don't ask yourself if an item has any value or if you’ll need it some time, because answer will probably be yes. They say that instead ask yourself “Does this item have enough value? Will this get in the way of finding more important items?” because that will likely be a different answer!

Autism Awareness

April is Autism Awareness Month in case you didn't know. We as a community hope that throughout April people will become more aware of not only the signs and symptoms to look out for but also to just become more aware of the special people living around you. Autism is nothing to be feared and a little education on everyone's part will go a long way in making sure each Autistic person in the US and around the world reaches their full and true potential. Autistic kids are just as awesome (if not more so in Zilla's case) than any other child they just need a little extra. So if you do the responsible thing and get educated because you may not think you know anyone with Autism but I'd bet your wrong!

What has the US come to?

Guess you can't trust even Sears anymore. My mom (Mena) was recently in charge of some recent renovation going on at her workplace and it required some clean-up so she went looking for a place to do the work. Mena was all excited because she had found a good deal with Sears to clean the carpet at her work today. As it turns out they did a VERY crappy job! The office is 5 rooms and apparently they "cleaned" the carpets in those five rooms in about 30 minutes - um yeah it takes longer to do the carpet in just our living room at the house! So I told her I'd let everyone (all 2 of you) who reads my blog that they should probably overlook Sears when they are thinking of getting anything - at least outside of the store! So I've done my daughter duty lol.

I'm Gonna Conquer Mashed Potato Hill!!

That title might confuse a few people but it's my new goal, well one of the many, to work on. I took an online session through my local CARD (Center for Autism and Related Disabilities) location tonight entitled "The Battle of Mashed Potato Hill" and it was all about food related difficulties that some of our kids have. The lady that did the presentation was AWESOME and gave me lots of things to consider and ideas that will (hopefully) help me get Zilla to expand his food horizon. If you haven't taken this session (and you have access to it obviously) then you should! Mashed Potato Hill is gonna be a treacherous and probably a battle of epic proportions considering the kid involved but I'm strong and he's only had 5 years to hone his stubbornness whereas I've had almost 30 years (wow it's almost my birthday) so he hasn't seen anything cause I can totes outlast him! Anyone have any stories to share about their battles? Is anyone even reading this? lol

Why Does the World Weigh So Much?

I'm sure that every mom has moments *or years* where she feels like the world is one heavy mofo just resting on her shoulders. I am no exception to this and often wish I could just dump all of my worries to the ground and never think of them again. But alas I'm not my ex so I can't just forget about everything and since it's just me and Zilla the buck stops here and I get the awesome *cough cough* job of taking on everything alone. I am in no way missing about my marriage but I really do miss having someone else to share the burden. There are so many things you must figure out and decide on when you have an Autistic child and each one is utterly important. I try to remember that I'm not going to "ruin" my kid if I don't put him the 'right' school next year but the truth of the matter is that while I won't ruin him it is completely important and could make his (and mine and the schools) year difficult if I don't choose correctly. I just wish the world didn't weigh so darn much! Okay I guess I'm done being so woe-is-me for today!

Six Word Saturday

*Going to an ESE conference today*

Today the County we live in is hosting an ESE conference where I will hopefully learn something great that will help me with Zilla's future education. They are doing different presentations throughout the day in addition to complimentary breakfast and lunch. I enjoy going to these types of events (there were several held by different organizations last year) because you just never know what you'll walk away with. I also enjoy meeting with other special needs parents because having a good support system is vital. I hope your Saturday is a good one!

Welcome to the Land of DIY Stuff

This morning I was loving introduced to the Land of Inexpensive DIY Stuff (aka Ikea) and it was nice. We've had an Ikea for awhile but I just never really had a reason to go (you know since my storage unit is already furnished) but a friend mentioned it and we spent the day just looking around. They have seriously TONS of stuff there! I really liked that they had little (and I do mean literally little in some cases) rooms staged. I found lots of stuff that I really liked and a bunch of things that I can't figure out why anyone would own them. We had lunch there and it was pretty good and nice to be able to eat in between shopping without having to leave - smart of them! I had hoped that the kid section would be bigger/better since I am a mom and the world revolves around Zilla LOL. I have a feeling that in the future if I need some lamps or kitchen cabinets I will at least give them a chance.

Such a boy!

MomZilla}Okay baby we're here grab your stuff.
Zilla} NOOO Mama close your door don't get out!!!!
MomZilla} Um what? Just get out of the car
Zilla} Oh Man I wanted to be the winner. Well I'll just beat you to the door, don't move.

Umm What? Gotta love it he seems to think that he's got to "win" at everything including getting out of the car! He literally runs to the door everyday just so that he can win but only after either telling me to stay there or just plain cheating by starting "before" me! 

Something on Sunday

I think on Sundays instead of the fanfiction I'm going to post something maybe a Bible Verse or a random thought or quote and my thoughts on it. Who knows what it will be but here goes:

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD. —Hosea 2:19-20

God has given us something wonderful and in return we should not only acknowledge him but in turn give him the respect and devotion that he reflects upon us. Thanks Lord for everything you've put into my life and I can only hope that I have the time to truly appreciate them.

Six Word Saturday

*Still got almost 45 minutes left*

Almost missed six word Saturday but I managed it by almost 45 minutes! I meant to do it this morning but I had to take Zilla to meet his grandparents cause they are keeping him for the long weekend. They are really doing their best to stay in his life and be there for him unlike their spawn who has pretty much fallen off the Earth. Guess out of sight, out of mind applies to his kid - I'm not sure how he could possibly do that to Zilla but guess you just never know about some people.

How did they even get air time?

Ok I just finished watching a show called Pop Shop on HGTV (love me some HGTV) and I have to say it left me wondering what on earth would possess anyone to hire these guys to decorate their home. In this episode They wanted to "bring the outside in" so they proceeded to bring in AstroTurf to cover up their awesome hardwood that they spent $500+ on by the way and a wooden swing that say in the middle of their living room! Did I mention that they had a child that just was learning to walk! Don't get me wrong Zilla would LOVE a swing inside but I can't say I'd share that opinion and I wouldn't want anyone spending MY money to install one and it wasn't even a nice looking swing it looked like a random piece of wood from Home Depot. Oh I forgot their "inspiration" was a merry-go-round horse that they hollowed out to install a light in it and hung over the dining room table! Yep you read that correctly they actually hung an ugly chipped paint horse over their table! I just can't get past the horse and the AstroTurf.

Finding a School

I'm pretty positive that I have thought more about Zilla's school and school programs in the last six months than I EVER did for myself and that includes my college! I guess I had always just assumed that Zilla would go to public school and I'd really only have to worry about his post High School plans but um I was totally WRONG. Having a child with specail needs comes with a multitude of different worries and that includes their schooling.

Now don't get me wrong I would have been an "involved" parent regardless but believe me when I tell you that report cards, parent/teacher meetings and PTA are not even close to the kind of involvement I currently have. I can't say that I would want my kid to be any different than he is but wow it would be super nice to have even one thing to not worry about. Wow that sounds a little selfish but I can't take it back because it's true and I feel like I never really to be selfish so I guess a personal thought (yeah I'm sharing with you but you know what I mean) isn't so bad in the grand scheme of things.

I'm in the process of trying to figure out if I will be keeping Zilla in his current school next year or possibly moving him to a V.E. (varying exceptionalities - slightly more contained with better teacher/student ratio for kids with ASD) or maybe even to a private school. I am gonna have to map them all out with pros and cons and what match them up to what I need. It's just SO much to process and think about. Zilla doesn't do well at all with change so I have to weigh carefully and really make the right choice for him.

Holiday Break

Zilla started his holiday break yesterday and so far so good. Yesterday we relaxed home and just enjoyed a day without any craziness. Today Zilla decided he would really enjoy a day to run around our Science Center. We got a family pass a couple months ago and it was totally worth the money he just LOVES this place and since parkings free and they have free wifi and AC I love it too! He is currently 'burying' his Thomas the Train with some dinosour bones. Everything always comes back to thomas! I was hoping to download the blogger app on my phone so that I could start posting more but apparently the blogger app isn't up to par with the other google apps and won't allow me to sign-in so much for that thought. Oh well have a happy holiday break!

I was never really a fan of Statistics in school

Well as you can see from the title I've never been a fan of statistics but unfortunately you don't have to like them for them to impact your life.

Right after the Christmas holidays Zilla's Pre-K director pulled me aside to talk. Well lets just say that it's funny how one 10 minute conversation can change your perception of life as you know it. She explained to me in that little chat that Zilla wasn't developmentally on the same page as his classmates in addition to some "different" things he was doing (or not doing) like not being able to sustain eye contact with anyone, his total inability to answer "wh" questions like who, where, why, he couldn't seem to go into any real detail about anything, the "one-sided" conversations, his huge problem transitioning between activities and the Thomas obsession that we already knew about. These of course were things that once pointed out to me I could clearly see were not typical for the 4-5 year old kids in his class but I had dismissed them because they could easily be overlooked individually. I then started to REALLY notice a difference when I ate lunch with his class and could see how the other children were readily able to converse with me. So I took him to his Ped and then to a neuropsycologist and LONG story short he was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome (AS) which is under the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) umbrella aka the Autism Spectrum. AS is most notable for the lack of "social graces" but there is a wide range of issues that AS individuals must learn to cope. Nothing has changed with Zilla we just now can explain some of his more 'interesting' characteristics. I'm not really wanting this to be a huge long post since it's my first once since I took a break to deal with first my divorce (which was finalized on our 9th Wedding Anniversary!!) and then all of the fun since then so I'll be posting more on this topic soon.

I'm glad I'm back - it will be nice to be able to talk about this.

Six Word Saturday

YAY My Class Is Finally Done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made out like bandits!!!

We went to a couple yard sales this weekend and while we were looking for one we came acress a sale that had some Thomas stuff and of course we stopped because Zilla is a Thomas freak. I wasn't interested in the train table but they sold us all of the rest for $40! It was certainly A LOT of stuff but once we got home and laid it all out I just realized how great of a deal we actually got! We got a cranky, a fire house, a ski mountain, a train station, the mine shaft, a windmill, the roundhouse, and a TON of tracks and trains!!! Heres a pic of Zilla with all his new stuff!

Six Word Saturday

September 11th - will NEVER be forgotten!!