Valentine's Day

Ah, Valentine's Day. I think after a few years of being married, Valentine's Day gets to be a little pointless. We didn't/couldn't get a sitter, and honestly, we really didn't care. Dave got me a great big box of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory chocolates, some bubbly, and a funny card that was incredibly accurate.

I made Dave a whole bunch of chocolate covered strawberries made with Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips and a card.

 

 

The boys both had great Valentine's parties. Unfortunately, I could not attend Jett's class party as I had to do Cruise's class party. But both turned out great and we sent the kids home all sugared up. Cruise gave his girlfriend, Claire, a giant Hershey's chocolate heart and a card, and Jett got his girlfriend, Camry, a small box of chocolates and a card. 

And the boys were really cute and made some Valentine's for us:

And...that was our very uneventful Valentine's Day. Just the way I like it.

A Cruise Update

There have a been a few happenings of note in the world of Cruise, so I thought I'd do an update post:

No More Santa
I blame Claire. Apparently Claire told Cruise there was no Santa at recess last week. And, of course, he went to class and broke the news to all his classmates. Thanks a lot, Claire. Cruise came home and that evening started going off on how there is no Santa in ear-shot of Jett. So naturally we denied everything. That evening, he had a guitar lesson, so I drove him myself and after his lesson, I pulled over and gave him the low-down. We talked about how Mom & Dad aren't Santa, that Santa was a real person and that we all get to be like Santa by giving gifts and spreading the spirit of Christmas. He was psyched that he gets to be in on a secret now. He took it really well and agreed that he wouldn't tell anyone else for there on out. Whew!

Lego Robot Camp
I had signed Cruise up for a Lego robotics Super Saturday camp at Thanksgiving Point and he finally got to go last week! He was really excited to go and couldn't wait to learn how to make these robots! The camp went from 9-3 and included building the Lego robots and learning how to program them. At about 1:45 I got a text from one of the teachers saying that Cruise wanted to go home. I had him call me and this is what he said to me: "Mom, I'm all done. I learned how to build the robots, I learned how to program, so now I know everything and I want to come home." I couldn't talk him into staying any longer, so I loaded up the kids and drove to pick him up. He really enjoyed himself, but was done. 9-3 is a long time any way.

Lab Assistant
Saturday morning I walked past a sign pinned to the wall that Cruise put up earlier, so of course I had to get a picture:

"Help wanted I need a lab assistant. Free job."

Jett ended up getting the job and was "helping" Cruise for a while in the lab, but wouldn't follow directions. Ultimately, Jett quit mostly because he figured out that "free job" meant no pay. So the position is still open if you know anyone.

A Conversation
I had an interesting and enlightening conversation with Cruise today. At bedtime, he erupted into tears and started rambling and making no sense. So I sent him to my room to wait for me while I put the other two boys to bed. I joined him on my bed and he unloaded.

One of the struggles of having a child with autism is watching the struggle within themselves knowing they have autism, seeing it as a strength and yet also struggling with the opposite emotion of seeing it as a weakness.

Being in a class of all students with autism, he knows that everyone is like him, yet totally different. Feeling like he doesn't fit in there and yet knowing he does all at the same time. He attends the mainstream class for a few subjects and that has made him realize that those same feelings exist there as well. He's in a class of his own, which has the possibility of being incredibly lonely.

Such conflicting feelings are so draining and overwhelming for an 8 year old boy. And I realized, as he spoke through such sincere tears, that all he wanted was to be understood. He wasn't looking for a solution or even for me to wave a magic wand, He just needed what we all crave: to be listened to, validated, and understood.

A day doesn't go by that I don't look at Cruise and am in awe of how far he has come, the struggles he's overcome, and the expectations he's exceeded. I've always tried my best to be his advocate and the mom he needs, I just don't think it ever occurred to me that all this time, I wasn't just pushing for speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral therapy, and autism services, but I was also advocating for his need, his desire, and his right to be understood.

There was a time I thought I would never be able to have a conversation like this with Cruise. In fact, I was prepared to not expect it. And so, as I hung onto every word, every facial expression, every gesture, I couldn't help but feel such gratitude to not just hear words, to not just understand, but to really get him. To feel what he was feeling and to know where those tears came from. I am so grateful and honored to be the one to be sad with him, to wipe away his tears and to see him look at me with those big brown eyes, acknowledging that he finally feels understood.

Miles is Always Sick

Since the science fair, my parents came to town for a few days and the boys had a blast going to the movies with them, going out to dinner with them, and swimming at their hotel. They LOVE having Grandma & Papa Greer come to town! And they're always bummed they have to leave. The night before they left, we all went out to eat at Sizzler and Miles was acting a little sleepy and wouldn't eat dinner. That night he got a fever of about 101, so we gave him so Tylenol and had him sleep in our bed. We gave him more in the middle of the night, and then again in the morning. But by the time we were to give him his next dose, his fever reached 103.5 degrees and the Tylenol wasn't working. By this time, Dave was at work, Jett was at school, and I was home with Miles. I called the doctor and spoke with the nurse who suggested I try giving him ibuprofen since it was too early to give him another dose of Tylenol and if that didn't work, to bring him in.

I decided to give the ibuprofen a try but found that we were all out. I had a neighbor bring some over and as soon as I gave it to him, he threw it all up. By this time, the bus had dropped the boys off at home and it was about 4:25, 5 minutes before the doctor's office closes. I quickly called and got them to squeeze Miles in if I could get there in 15 minutes, so I rounded up the boys like a mad-lady not realizing that Jett was only in his long underwear and that Cruise didn't bring a coat. I was just trying to get Miles out as quickly yet gently as possible. He was the sickest I've seen him in a long time and he was burning up. Cruise wouldn't stop complaining (loudly) about having to leave home and so I looked at him and sternly said, "Cruise. Come here and feel your brother's forehead." He walked over, put his hand on Miles' head, looked up at me looking concerned and didn't complain after that. In fact, he was a big help after that. I rushed to the office building, pulled Miles out of the car and ran to the office with a coatless 8 year old behind me and a 6 year old trying to look discreet in head-to-toe grey camo long underwear and snow boots. I, of course, was still wearing my pajamas.

As I waited for his name to be called, Miles laid in my arms in a blanket, going in and out of sleep, hotter than hot. They quickly got us in a room and the nurse took his temperature: 104.5 degrees. The poor kid was burning up. He also appeared to have red dots all over his face, which made the nurse decide to swab him for strep. I requested some Tylenol so I could try to get him to take something again. Luckily he was able to keep it down. The doctor came in, chatted with me and looked at Miles. He looked into his ears and found one ear was infected. As he told me this, he heard Miles cough as he cried and then said, "Aaaand, he has croup." Then as he started discussing treatment for that, he glanced at his laptop where the results from the strep test popped up and he looked up at me and said, "Aaaand, he has strep too." At first I thought he was joking. No wonder this poor kid was so miserable! 

The doctor ordered a steroid shot for the croup. That kind of put the cherry on top of an overall crappy day for the poor kid. He was not happy. An antibiotic was also ordered for the ear infection and strep. For the next two days, Miles and I hung out in bed, snuggling, watching obnoxious cartoons and shoving antibiotics, tylenol, ibuprofen, and cough syrup down his throat. The dishes piled up, the laundry was neglected, and meals were either picked up or cooked by Dave. My awesome neighbor brought us some banana bread and took a load of towels to wash since we were all sharing 2 towels between the 5 of us. I kind of have some amazing neighbors. 

Luckily by day 4, Miles was starting to walk around and play, eat food, and generally started feeling better. Let's hope that's the last major illness for this winter.

Our Science Fair Winners!

Last week was the science fair at the boys' school. It was our first year participating and I am not a fan of all the work parents have to put into it, but I do love the fact that the boys wanted to be a part of it and learn more about an aspect of science. How can I say "no" to that? The school only gave us less than a month's notice, which I think was the most stressful, especially since we had to do two projects, but obviously it's possible!

Cruise came home from school one day and said he learned about the science fair from his science class and that he really wanted to do it. When I asked him what he wanted to do it on, he wasn't sure at first, but then said he learned about Galileo in science and that he didn't agree with his theory of falling objects, so he chose to do his project on that.

Jett learned about the science fair from Cruise and of course had to be like his big brother and get in on that action. Jett, being six, still has a habit of questioning literally everything, so we weren't lacking in ideas. He finally decided on how tornados work.

I started out with the boys finding their topics, doing a little research, and helping them come up with their hypotheses. Dave took it from there and helped them come up with experiments, helped them build and run them, record data, and decide upon a conclusion. So really, he did the bulk of the work. Once that was all figured out, Dave and I spent two separate evenings up until 1 AM typing out everything and preparing all the stuff to put on their posters. I spent two other evenings up until about 11 or 12 cutting, rearranging, and gluing everything onto their boards. The boys helped as much as they could until they had to go to bed, but then I did the rest.

Cruise's project tested falling objects, so he did marble vs. marble, marble vs. steel ball bearing, and marble vs. feather. Dave and Cruise made a dropper out of Legos so they were sure the objects would drop from the same height at the same time. I was able to capture the falling objects on my camera and then they also recorded them with another camera. Cruise, despite all the evidence, refused to believe the marbles and ball bearing hit the ground at the same time. But after reminding him about the scientific method and stating observations vs. opinions, he had to conclude that they did, in fact, fall at the same rate. But if you ask him today, he will still tell you that they really don't. Maybe he will prove Galileo, Newton and Einstein all wrong some day.

Jett's project seemed simple at first, but then we realized how on earth we were going to do an experiment that reproduces a tornado! We looked on-line, saw a few versions, and then came up with our own with the help of my brother-in-law's fog machine. Dave designed the fog machine to fog up into a cardboard box, and had a small fan attached to the top. From there they were able to come up with some tests about sheer wind and updraft. We also made one of those water tornado things and they timed how fast it takes for water to go from one side to the other with and without the vortex. Jett really got into it and enjoyed doing all the tests with his dad.

The day finally came and we all showed up to the school to set up their projects. I was so nervous that one of the boys would get a ribbon and another wouldn't. I'm pretty sure I was stressed over it all morning.

That same day, I was to go help in Jett's class in the afternoon, so I showed up a few minutes early so I could check out if the judging was done. I snuck into the gym and saw immediately that Jett had gotten 2nd place in the Kindergarten (I still think he should've gotten 1st)! Then I walked over to the 3rd grade table and I walked past the first side, each display had a ribbon of a different placement. I made my way over to the other side: 5th place, 2nd place, 1st place and then...nothing. Cruise's was the only one that didn't have a ribbon or a certificate. Not even a participation ribbon! I immediately went into panic mode. I went from confused, to angry, to panic, wondering how I was going to get to the store to buy a ribbon before school got out!

I had all of this going through my mind as I walked (and texted Dave) down the hall to the front office to sign in. As I entered the office, I noticed Cruise's teacher, Mr. Middleton, going through some papers and I couldn't keep my mouth shut: "So, I went and peeked at the science projects and Cruise is the ONLY one in the 3rd grade who did not get ANYTHING. I don't know what I'm going to do. I feel so bad!" He quickly stopped me and said, "Yes! There is a reason for that! It's because he's getting an even BIGGER prize! I was notified that they were really impressed with Cruise's project so he will be getting his ribbon tomorrow morning." Talk about relief! After that, I, of course, had to text Dave again and tell him everything was going to be fine. And then I was on to my volunteer commitments without concern.

I kept it a secret from Cruise so he could find out the next day at school. They awarded him 1st Place of all K-4th graders! His teacher told me that on that same day after getting the award, he walked into his mainstream science class and the whole class started clapping for him! He replied with his eyes wide open, "Ummm...so do you guys know I won the science fair?" Ha ha! Too cute.

Jett was really proud of himself but a little bummed that he didn't get 1st place, but I told him 2nd place is still super awesome and that everyone loved his science project. It really as pretty cool and he put a lot of work into it.

With all the positive reinforcement, the boys, of course, want to do it again next year, so I decided from now on we're doing science projects in the summer and saving them until next January.