A New Boy

Hallelujah!  Nathan is now in the school mode.  We had an uneventful morning.  He was pleasant ... ate in the kitchen with his family ... walked to the car without assistance :) Disneyland may have been one big OVERLOAD to his senses .. especially being there for two days!  But you can see from the above pic that he enjoyed riding the Casey Jr. train ride ... even sat in the monkey car:)

Donkey Feet Again

Change and Nathan are not a good mix.  Five.  1,2,3,4,5 that's the number of days until he can stay home from school.  Four.  1,2,3,4 .. 4:00 PM is the time he may veg out in his room.  It's going to be a long day for him.  After his bath ... and morning routine ... and thinking he understood about the 1,2,3,4,5 days until the weekend ... he turned into a stubborn donkey ... firmly planting his feet ... and had to be carried out to the car by dad.  I can't wait for Mr. Mac to get back from dropping Nathan off at school ... to see if Nathan 'got it' that vacation mode is over and he's got to switch to 'school mode' ... a hard task for my boy that dances to his own music. 

Hello Sunshine

Another day ends well at Disneyland ... but I'm worn out and in need of  rest. The 'hand raising' pic of Nathan and his BIL Ryan ... is a 'before' pic ... before he got booted off the ride for not wanting to sit down;)  Some things were impossible for him to enjoy.

Top photo:  Ryan & Elizabeth with Nathan & Jacob at the hotel ... bottom left Nathan & Ryan on Big Thunder Rail Road ... bottom right .. Jacob and friends

A Warm Weather Friend

Nathan is having so much fun at his home away from home today.  He's spending the night at Mickey's House ... that's after a day of fun at the happiest place on earth.  We're taking a little break this afternoon at the hotel ... will meet up with my blogger friend, Kathryn from 'This and That From On The Mountain'

A Taste Of Spring

Look ... no snow ... green grass ... another year older .... a plane ride ... short pants weather!

The Happy Home

Here is my little family .. including grandson Jacob ... minus Nathan ... he's with a therapist working on some skills.  Happy at home ... while mom is making dinner nearby.  Engaged with either a book or game .. content!  No TV to distract them while exercising their minds. 

A Good Day ...

... after school.  Nathan came home in his usual fashion yesterday.  From the bus we stopped at the mail box .. he asked if there were any Netflix movies .. sure enough .. one arrived for him.  The afternoon went better than expected.  He was given two extra chores:  1.) Wash a load of his laundry, and 2.) take a bath (and wash his hair), getting himself dried and dressed without help.  Dancing in his room was his choice of down time and a game of ball.  By then it was time for his therapist to work with him .. still no TV mentioned ... seems he had been re-directed enough to forget about viewing a cartoon until after dinner.  This morning he didn't mention TV ... usually this is the first word out of his mouth.  He ate breakfast at the kitchen counter ... again no mention of TV ... until Daddy came in and asked if he wanted a cartoon ... mommy's eye rolled up inside her eye sockets and gave him THE look.

Here's hoping that today goes well.

Help! I've Created a TV Addict

... I'm talking about my son Nathan.  When he was small, I used the TV as a distraction to get him to eat by mouth.  His colon ruptured at birth and he required tube feeding for several years.  I'm also guilty of allowing him to watch too much as a way to escape from some of the stress taking care of him ... only now, I'm thinking I have created a bigger problem.  We have no TV reception.  But he does have a TV/VCR in his bedroom.  We also have a TV/VCR in the great room.  Before you all tell me to just take the TV out of his room, that's not going to happen (yet).  I just need encouragement, prayer, and determination to get his mind in the here and now and not stuck in a re-run movie or cartoon.  Once he's weened from the TV I've got to have plenty of other activities to occupy his time.  Additional chores, games, books .. outside play (we have no snow this winter :)  This is not going to be easy even if he cuts out 1/2 of the TV he watches.  He's got sensitivity issues and aversions to being in rooms with more than two or three family members so he retreats to his room.  This is a complexity of issues.  He does attend school and has developmental therapy six hours a week (at home).  It will be a long drawn out process ... I'm not looking forward to any of it.  Any suggestions WOULD BE APPRECIATED!

Whatever Happened To ...

.....my new over the cooking range (now defunct) microwave/exhaust oven?  It bit the dust after just 2-1/2 years of use.  It seems it just couldn't take the heat from all of the summer canning I do.  And the last time I fried chicken (a once a year ordeal around here) the electrical panel got 'fried'!  Sad at the time, but oh so much happier with my new exhaust fan and the tile back splash repaired .. there is no comparison to the exhaust performance!

And the microwave .. well, I brought in from our front porch a little vintage table Mr. Mac's grandpa made ... put it in our eating area in the kitchen with a small (seldom used) microwave I had stored in the basement. 

Rest Well ... Fare-Thee-Well

... after yesterday's near miss with catching a cold, it dawned on me that the night before was not one of well rest ... making me more susceptible to a weaker immune system .. rest ... or lack of it .. should not be taken lightly.  Lack of sleep, stress and a poor diet all contribute to catching an illness.  Last night I started watching "Gone With The Wind" .. I didn't make it past the first 30 minutes or so ... but did take notice that Scarlett O'Hara, while attending a fine bbq-ball-all-day-affair took time out of the afternoon for a nap at the plantation.  Rest well, fare-thee-well is how I describe the need for quite time .. naps .. a good night sleep .. to ward off illness. While the rest of my family has the sniffles, sneezes, achoos, aches, sore throats ... I will be ever so thankful to  have avoided, once again, their BUGS. 

Two women resting image from here

Mom's Secret Medicine

...well, it won't be a secret much longer, eh?  For the longest time my medicine cabinet has contained the usual stuff:  bandages, antibiotic cream, bubble tickle (peroxide ... ), headache and allergy medicine ... and a small bottle of hooch.  No specific type ... but rather a high proof number.  A bottle lasts FOREVER (really:).  My youngin's were given this special medicine at the first sign of a tickle in their throats.  Straight up .. in a medicine cup to gargle .. then swallowed .. of course I'd make them eat breakfast soon afterward so they wouldn't have 'medicine breath' at school or church;)  Today was my turn.  Some members of my family have been spreading their love (germs) a little too freely in the form of a mild cold.  And ... my throat started feeling all tickly this morning.  It was time to unlock the medicine box and take a little nip (I mean sip).  Three hours have passed ... and the tickle is gone PTL! 

Update:  It's now Saturday morning ... still no tickle ... everyone else is sick.  It took three doses of my special medicine throughout the day;)   ... and plenty of rest.  I'm just a saying .....

Potty Talk

What goes around comes around .. all things potty that is. My little grandson is becoming a big boy now and grandma is enforcing the new rules about not piddling on her wood floors, keeping big boy pants dry, use your words to tell me when 'it's time to go' ... If he wasn't my own flesh and blood, I'd be sending home a little bitty baggy of wet training pants each night.

Socked In - Stuck Inside

Photos taken this morning from my back porch!

Whatever Happened To ...

Mrs. Mac?

I'm still here waiting for something brilliant to say;) Dummmm,deee,dummmm,dummm ... not happening today. Come for a visit at The Thrifty Garden/Home .. that's where I've been hanging out.

You see, without piles of snow and a crisis every other day, I'm rather soft spoken and speechless;)