A successful return

It took 2 days and 750 miles through rain and horrendous holiday traffic, but we got home. ?The children were amazing. And that's with 2 DVD players that quit functioning halfway through. I think the older one may be dead-dead. the newer one just needed a new fuse, which I replaced today.

It was nice to be home, except now I have to deal with the mess and the cranky kids. they have been very good today. The new toys have distracted them, and I rotated toys out of the closet, so there is enough "new" stuff to keep them all mostly happy.

No pictures today. We drove up to Connecticut to have Christmas at my brother's house. SO MUCH fun!! My parents, 5 of 6 of us kids, plus 5 spouses and 12 kids are all here. Talk about crazy fun! It has been a blast. Jonathan has a fabulous house and we've mostly fit fine. The kids are all under the age of 10, and mostly 6 and under, but they have played amazingly well. Today is the first time more than one child has had meltdown issues. Go figure.

Right now Dan and half the grown ups are out to see "National Treasure 2". I'm home with the kiddies. They are enthralled with the "Planet Earth" DVD. Oh, I'm suppose to be helping Isabelle paint her new birdhouse, so I hope that's going well!

I have not run in over a week now. When we got here, there was a lot of snow on the ground. The combo of no sidewalks, no slow traffic areas, and the freezing weather has kept me out of my running gear. Then I decided it was okay to take 2 weeks off. So I'll start up again next Tuesday and work off the accumulation of too much chocolate and tasty treats.

Holiday Craziness!

I love Christmas! I love the songs, I love the sights, I love the smells, and I definitely love the food! We did decorate the house, even though we won't be here for Christmas. The kids have rearranged the ornaments on the tree so many times now. I still have to put bells back on the tree fairly frequently. Their other favorite decorations to remove are the little snowman ornaments that have the kids' names and pictures on them. I find these scattered all over the living room. That's why we have no breakables on the tree.

It was 76 degrees here today. I couldn't decide if I should turn on the AC or not. Not very Christmassy! I also haven't done my usually flurry of holiday baking. I usually attempt to make toffee at least twice before giving up, and I always make several batches of caramels. That's gotta be my favorite! But this year I've only made chocolate pie. A new thing for me, but so very melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

I have a bazillian things on the calender that I have to remember to do, and I have to get everything ready to leave next week. I'm a little worried about fitting everything into the van for our trek north, and I am a little concerned about a 15 hour drive with the kiddies. It should all be worth it though! I love Christmas the most because I love family!

The usual...

The kids were so doggone cute on Sunday! They even cooperated when I asked them to go right into church and sit on the couch so I could get a picture. They all looked good and I knew I'd never get a good shot once we got home, and who has time for a photo shoot BEFORE church?! They were very good. And all 4 pictures were great! That never happens! Usually I take about 15 and there is at least one kid in each shot who is being silly or grumpy, or something!

And then this week, Delaney discovered the toilet. Yep, she followed Marian in there and Marian didn't shut the lid. So I heard splashing and giggling and this was what I found! So pleased with herself about that!

Its late, I'm tired, all the kids are in bed, and I'm up alone and don't want to give up this peace and solitude! Dan has been super-super busy this week, and will be all week. He's working till 9 every night, which is so not normal for us! I don't like it. Tonight was the Little Caesar's Pizza fundraiser for Marian and Callie's preschool. I so wanted to do that and the kids were just rotten. Whining and fussing and complaining! They didn't even want pizza! I couldn't use not going as a threat, because I wanted it more than they did. It worked out okay; after 10 minutes of screaming and crying from 2 of the 3 girls, Marian and Callie sacked out in the car. Callie never did wake up and I just put her to bed at 6:30. So, yeah, everyone is in bed early, which probably means early to rise. So I really ought to get myself to bed too!

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!