Asperger's Syndrome

Well, its been 2 weeks since the kiddie shrink said Marian had Aspergers. I admit that some of the characteristics of it do fit her. Some do not. She is not focused exclusively on certain subjects. She can make eye contact and she didn't have any delayed motor skills. As a matter of fact, she's not only NOT clumsy, she is actually quite athletic. So that doesn't fit. But the speech part is right on. She has a odd manner of speech. The doc called it monotone, but that's not quite right. She has no inflection in her individual words, but she does in the overall sentence. She also has a huge vocabulary and she does use bigger words. She'll say she wants to "trade humans" at bedtime when she wants me to tuck her in rather than her dad.

Web MD has the best description of the stuff that does actually fit Marian. Some other websites are more broad, but the Web MD list of symptons are a lot clearer. These are the ones that fit Marian to a T (Okay, except for starting a conversation. That she does!):

* Not pick up on social cues and lack inborn social skills, such as being able to read others' body language, start or maintain a conversation, and take turns talking.
*Dislike any changes in routines.
*Appear to lack empathy.
*Be unable to recognize subtle differences in speech tone, pitch, and accent that alter the meaning of others’ speech. Thus, your child may not understand a joke or may take a sarcastic comment literally. Likewise, his or her speech may be flat and difficult to understand because it lacks tone, pitch, and accent.

So, that's my girl. She is a sweetie and she loves to cuddle and to be held. She definately wants attention and enjoys one on one time with me or Dan. She also loves friends and wants to play with other kids. I'm not too worried about her right now. I expect when she gets older, the social lack will stand out more, but she's pretty borderline normal right now. We're going in next week to see a family therapist so we can learn how to work with Marian and be good parents to her specific needs. She does not need therapy, I do, to learn how to raise her! She should be fine and grow into a beautiful, wonderful young woman with a few quirks of personality, which is fine with me!

Just Another Day in Paradise

So, we went to Gatlinburg, TN for Turkey Day. Dan's parents, and his sister Jenny with her family were there too (she has 5 boys and one baby girl, so it was fun!). It went really well. Gatlinburg was great, but way too overcrowded and overpriced. Worth mentioning though is that the Ripley's Aquariums all offer a 90% discount to military. Yep, I said 90%!! Our family of 5 got in for less than the price of one ticket! And it was a good time. The kids loved it. these bubbles were my favorite part. The kids could climb underneath and stand in the center, surrounded by the fish tank. Way cool. Dan loved the sharks, Marian thought the horseshoe crab pool was the best, but that's just because she could get her hands wet and touch them. Callie ran back and forth and thought everything was wonderful. Delaney was along for the ride, and I was happy that they were out having a good time.


The kids had a blast with their cousins, and Callie loved her Grandpa White. She can be such a charmer! Joshua learned to play pool on the pool table in the cabin, and he thought he was hot stuff. It did take him a bit to understand that even though it was more difficult, the pool cues where necessary, and he couldn't use his hands. Oh, and Thanksgiving dinner was tasty. My mother in law made the BEST stuffing! I made the pies, and I do admit they were good.


Did I mention that it was an 8 hour drive to get there? The kids were amazing. I did have to trade places with Joshua, so he sat in front and I kept Delaney entertained. He loved being a big boy in the front seat. It was convenient for me as well, that I could adjust the girls' DVD player and help them get stuff. So that was a good thing. We made it, we survived, and we even had a good time! Am I ready to repeat this for Christmas?!!

Weekend of Horror

It started off with Dan being sick, all night Friday. Very pathetic. He lounged around all day Saturday. Callie was over it all by then and didn't seem affected by her intestinal cleansing at all. I thought maybe it was over, but I was so wrong. Joshua started with a colossal splatter of vomit at 11pm and Marian picked up where he left off. They yaked until 2 in the morning and then I finally got to sleep. I will say that Dan got up and helped clean the barf off the carpet. Joshua only did that once. After that he made it to the bathroom. Marian didn't even make it out of bed. She got a 1am bath to remove the vomit from her hair, and she went through 2 sets of sheets.

Needless to say, we did nothing today. None of the kids napped either, which surprised me. I guess they slept better than I did! They did go to bed very easitly tonight and no one made a peep after they were tucked in, so there was a upside! It is now 9:30 and everyone is in bed. Dan is standing duty, so its just me and I'm going to put myself to bed now too! Whoo-hoo. Joshua hasn't thrown up since this morning, so if he feels well, he's off to school tomorrow! Double whoo-hoo!

Kid conversation

Marian is a hoot. Yesterday I said it was time to get ready to go to Amy's house. (Brook was going to babysit her for me for a bit, and she was also going to be hosting PlayGroup, which would start about 30 minutes before I was done.) I wanted to encourage her to get ready, so I said, "You'll have lots of friends to play with at Amy's house." Marian said "Do they like me because I'm pretty?"

Wow, how did I go so wrong?! I said, "No they like you because you are smart and funny." She said "And I'm a good killer?"

Before I worried over that I asked, "A good killer?" and she said "I'm a good monster killer!"

Oh, well, that clarified things and I felt better. I said "Yes, your friends like you because you are a good monster killer." She was satisfied and hopped up to go. And I laughed and laughed.

I'm not laughing so much now. Dan came home from work and let me take a little nap. then he came upstairs and took a nap. He emerged for 10 minutes to say he felt sick, and went back to bed. Then not to bed, but to worship the porclain goddess. Again and again and again. So, a rotten evening for him. Callie came to the dinner table babbeling something about puke. I became suspicious of the wet mark on her shirt. Upon further questioning, I deduced it was she who had done the puking. Wonderful girl that she is, she'd done it in the sink! And after she finished feasting on oranges and spagetti, she repeated the process. I'm impressed that a 2 year old can climb on the toilet and yak into the sink!

Delaney has moved past the excessive puking part. She's having other end issues. Like I had to change her sheets and outfit after her nap, and again this evening. Unfortunately I also had to change my shirt when I realized why it was damp. Ick!

So its a fun evening for us all! It could be worse, and I'll be thankful that it isn't.

Funny, funny girl!

It was really cold on Saturday. I mean, cold enough that I was wearing socks in the house. Joshua wanted to build a boat because he was bored. That was pretty entertaining, because his materials included a pie pan, 2 plastic cups, long pieces of yarn and a lot of tape. Once he had created this marvelous work of aquatic engineering, he wanted to float it somewhere. I told him he could fill up the plastic kiddie pool and launch his boat. He had a very good time for all of 5 minutes and then squished his soaking wet feet back into the house to complain he was bored again.

After several unsuccessful attempts to get Joshua to entertain himself, I realized I hadn't seen Callie in a bit. I opened the front door and there she was... no shoes, no socks, no pants, struggling to remove the rest of her turtleneck shirt, but it was too tight and she was just running in circles with it covering her face. The silly pickle was getting ready to go swimming in the kiddie pool!! In 40 degree weather! (And yes, thats the shirt, and she loves it because it was Taylors.)

Family Pictures

Well, I finally got us in for family pictures. It was like pulling teeth. Dan complained that we didn't need them. Yeah, our last family picture was summer of 2006, when Delaney was barely even in my tummy. So I dragged everyone in and no one wanted to cooperate. Dan was actualy very good, once he decided to be supportive. Callie didn't want to be in the picture and she refused to smile or even try to be cute. Marian was sweet and cute and did everything she was asked to do. Joshua too, except he's perfected the fake smile grimace and it is not attractive at all. Delaney just wanted to slurp on her thumb, but at least she was content.

After pictures were done, Dan grumbled that it was taking too long to go through them and decide what I wanted and needed. I suggested that he could go return the items that I needed to return. He declined. I suggested that he could take my list and go shop. He grumbled some more and then took 2 kids and did that. I picked out the pictures I wanted and Dan was back before I even got to the paying part. He was cross I wasn't done. I wasn't happy that he'd gotten the wrong wet wipes, but I didn't complain.

We finally got out of there, but without any of the shopping I wanted to do. Later, Dan looked at the credit card statement and yelled about how much the pictures had cost. Sigh. I went to pick up the pictures on Saturday and Dan was unhappy with the family pose I had chosen. Why? Why do I even bother?! Because I wanted family pictures, darn it!! And I liked the family pose. Sure, it wasn't classic, or perfect. It showed each personality very loudly. It was US, and it was cute, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. And we have just enough pictures to send to all the family, so it was good for me! I am quite glad that ordeal is over though.

Marine Corps Ball

Let me first mention Halloween. Dan took the 3 older kids out to trick-or-treat, while I handed out candy at home, and watched the baby. The kids had a fabulous time and came home with piles of loot. Waaaay too much loot. I may actually throw some away.

Tonight was Dan's Marine Corps Ball. There are like 50, but the one he can go to was tonight. He's been in long enough that HE has been to 3 of these Balls, and I have not been to one with him until tonight! So not fair. And still not fair!

I was ready by 5:30. And that was no picnic, let me tell you. The number of layers of clothing involved alone made going to the bathroom a difficult chore! Still, I had 2 inch heels and lipstick. When was the last time I did that? I can't even remember. Dan wasn't ready when the babysitter got here. He did manage to get dressed so she could take a couple pictures. The kids were a hoot- they wanted to be in the pix too.

We got out the door and Dan suddenly realized he didn't have his rank insignia on his uniform. Ug. We had to drive to his work so he could collect them from his office. We drove the 30 minutes to the Convention Center where it would be held. It started at 5, and it was now almost 6:30. Dan had to put his insignias on and put the blouse on, and it was cold and windy and we'd had to park forever away and walk.

We walked in about 2 seconds after they closed the doors to the ballroom where it was all held. We missed the band, the ceremonies, the speeches, the cake cutting... everything! Well, everything but dinner. I was cross about that. We finally got in and found that our table had only one empty chair! Ug. We had to wait until everything was over and then we were able to get a seat. On the plus side, dinner was fantastic and the cake was tasty. We got to mix and mingle and see some of Dan's coworkers and some of our friends. It was fun. We never get dressed up and go places! We met the Major General and he ordered Dan to take me to the dance floor, so we danced. As the imbibers got a little rowdy, I was ready to go. We got home about 10pm and the 3 older kids were sacked out in the hallway. Good enough for me! Delaney is currently wide awake and chatting up a storm and its almost 11pm. I'm so tired and I'm ready for bed!