Super Bowl Sunday is coming! GO STEELERS!!!!

Our cheering section!

Super Bowl Sunday is on its way!  I have a VERY happy family.  You see, I married into a frenzied mob of ardent Steelers fans.  My husband, his sister, their parents, and the majority of their family are all from Pittsburgh.  And I was born in CLEVELAND.  The things we do for love!

We traveled out of town the other week to stay with Mapman’s parents & watch the Championship games.  It was amazing how my husband’s demeanor changed after the second game began.  He and his parents were SERIOUS.  There was a lot of emotion in the air.  I don’t think I would be able to handle watching the Super Bowl with them (we can’t anyway).  So much tension, so much drama!  Plus I tend to talk too much during sporting events, and serious sports fans don’t usually appreciate that.

 By the way, as serious as my husband is about football, he still fell asleep at the end of the AFC Championship.  FIVE minutes to go, not sure if they can hold off the Ravens, and he is falling asleep.  Cleveland-born little me was yelling at the screen and cheering with HIS parents, and his head was nodding!  *shakes head* What an old man! 

I honor of the Steelers’ AFC Championship win I spent over an hour (when I should have been doing other things) in the attic rummaging through old baby clothes to find the Steelers outfits my 2 boys wore as babies.  *Sniff* Memories!  I then dressed up their Teddy Bears in their old outfits so that they can help cheer for the team on Sunday. 

 

My sons' bears are now wearing their old outfits. AWWW!

I haven’t been able to find our Steelers flag since we moved… THREE YEARS ago!  Maybe I should finally finish unpacking?

In other random (and humorous) news, there is now a Facebook group called “SUPER BOWL SUNDAY SHOULD BE MOVED TO SATURDAY, OR MONDAY SHOULD BE A HOLIDAY”.  Amen to that!

It should be an interesting game.  Too bad it couldn’t be Philly vs Pitt though, that would have been COOL!  Although, *whispers* I actually like Kurt Warner.  Am I allowed to say that?  But I am still rooting for the Iron City.

I am also looking forward to the commercials, of course.

Super Bowl Sunday, HERE WE COME!!!  Go Steelers!   Come on, everybody do the Pittsburgh Steelers Polka!

Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Okay Internets, I need your help.  My 2.5-year-old Percy, who has an Autism Spectrum Disorder, has outgrown his shoes.  His FAVORITE shoes.  The ONLY shoes he will let us place on his feet.  And I CAN’T find any more ANYWHERE!

The shoes of which I write were purchased at ToysRUs.  Until recently they were not only a toy store but also a Kids’RUs and sold older childrens’ clothing.  I had great luck with finding clothes and ESPECIALLY shoes there.  They had these great canvas velcro shoes by Koala Kids that looked adorable, held up great, and were even okay for places like church.  I would buy one pair for play & one for, well, NOT play.  And the price was AWESOME… under $10, and sometimes on sale for $5.  I have been buying those shoes for YEARS and both Thomas and Percy have had them in several sizes.  It’s no wonder Percy thinks that THEY are what shoes are supposed to be!  But alas, ToysRUs has since stopped selling all but BABY clothing items.  When I found out I was officially bummed.  Now that this problem has begun I am beyond bummed, I am DISTRAUGHT!  WE NEED THOSE SHOES!

I tried to google them and could not find anyone who carried these specific Koala Kids shoes.  I looked up Koala Kids and even Koala Baby and couldn’t even find a website for the company.  I called the 800 number for ToysRUs to see if they possibly still carried them online, no luck.  They didn’t even know how to put me in touch with the Koala people.  The operator suggested I try KoalaKids.com, but that was also a dead-end.  I looked at similar types of shoes online, even Keds, but none were close enough to the Beloved.  Plus they were all around $30!!!!  So sorry, I am not spending THIRTY BUCKS on shoes for my rapidly growing preschooler!

Some of you who are unfamiliar with Autism may at this point be saying to yourself, “Just MAKE him wear the new shoes.  He has to learn how to adapt and do what he is told.”  I wish it were that easy.  One of the characteristics of Autism is rigid behavior and EXTREME resistance to change.  The Autism Symptoms Checklist  states that “Children with Autism tend to prefer established behavior patterns and a set environment.”  And my Percy wants his shoes!

LOST is back, baybee!!!

 

The LONG wait is over.  LOST returned to TV this past Wednesday.  It was gooooood.

I am talking about the Season 5 PREMIERE so if you have NOT seen it yet, STOP READING!!!! Here are some of my random thoughts (do I have any other kind?): 

I got dizzy from all the flash-backs, flashforwards, AND present time!  I actually don’t know now which time they are supposed to be in.  I think that was the point… a personification of what the island is experiencing as it jumps through time.

Who else thinks Sawyer & Juliet will hook up?  Sawyer… mmmm.

And anyone else think Daniel Farraday is starting to look kinda sexy as he mans up and is acting all tough & stuff?

I cracked myself up because a few times I actually guessed ahead of time what the next line was about to be.  Like when Charlotte & Daniel were talking about her bloody nose, and she said, “Daniel!?”  I said, “Do you know what is happening to me?”  SCORE!

(HEY!  Don’t stop reading now, or you will miss an AWESOME clip at the end!)

Stuff I hate

Hate is such a strong word, isn’t it?  I wish I could say “dislike”… but there it is, that ugly word.  HATE.  I hate some of the things that Autism has brought into our lives.  Sometimes I just get SO mad!  So over it.  I accept that fact that my son is on the Autism Spectrum.  I celebrate his uniqueness, try to respect his sensory boundaries while pushing him to try new things.  BUT I also get REALLY frustrated sometimes at it all, battle the way Autism disrupts our lives, and I really hate some stuff. 

I hate that we can’t go out to eat at a restaurant as a family.  I hate that I can’t take my boys to the circus.  I hate that I can’t be spontaneous.  I hate that our social opportunities are so limited.   I hate knowing that people are staring at my son & wondering why he seems different.  I hate the feelings of isolation my husband & I get because other parents can’t understand what we are going through.   I hate that our situation makes it harder for my husband and me to spend time together. 

I hate it when people dismiss our struggles because “it could be worse”, or assume it can’t be that bad because Percy is learning how to talk.  I hate it when I tell people that my son has an Autism Spectrum Disorder and they get uncomfortable and change the subject. 

I hate poop painting… and the fact that after I wrote the first draft of this I found my son trying to wedge a nugget of poop into his ear.   I hate meltdowns.  I hate that my son will not eat a grape but he will eat a freaking Lincoln Log.  I HATE worrying about his nutrition all the time because he is such a picky eater!  I hate ALL this worrying.   

History in the making

You have to admit, no matter what your political views, that tomorrow is a REALLY BIG DAY for the United States of America.  The inauguration of the first African-American President.  The air is crackling with excitement.  You can see sparks of it everywhere.

My family had traveled to visit MapMan’s Pittsburgh-born parents (who have since relocated South).  We wanted to be together to watch the Steelers secure their ticket to the Super Bowl… more on that in another post- WOOHOO!!!!!  On the way home we were traveling North-bound on the highway and passed loads of military & police vehicles headed to the inauguration.  There was a full convoy of military vehicles, all of the soldiers dressed in camouflage.  There was also a group of 8 police officers driving motorcycles and traveling in parade formation.  They were already honoring the new President en-route, never breaking formality until they pulled up to a rest stop and heard the order “DIS-MOUNT!”  It was very impressive, very exciting.  Everyone at the rest stop was marveling at them. 

Thomas and I walked over to the line of motorcycles and the officers were VERY friendly.  One was even a WOMAN!  You GO, girl!  They confirmed that they were headed to the Inauguration, and I commented on the poor biking conditions.  “NAH!” the female officer remarked, “This is a walk in the park on a spring day for us!”

As we headed into the restroom I was trying to teach Thomas a little about our country and the significance of tomorrow.  Finally Thomas asked, “When are we gonna see that guy?” 

“Tomorrow,” I replied.

“TOMORROW!?”  Thomas wailed. 

I was very confused as to why he was so upset.  “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“I want him to give us our present NOW!  A present for our United States puzzle!”

“Oh, sweetie, not PRESENT… President.  And the puzzle we have at home shows the place where we live, the United States.  Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.  Not a present of a United States puzzle.” 

I could hear someone giggling behind us, and an elderly African-American lady emerged.  She was beaming and her eyes were twinkling, obviously tickled by our conversation.  We chatted about Thomas’s age and the motorcycles outside.  “This is an exciting time!”  she told us, and was obviously pleased that I had been teaching my child about it. 

Her excitement was contagious.  It made me happy to see her looking so, well, THRILLED.  It IS a thrilling time.  It transcends party lines.  It is HISTORY and it is EXCITING.  The first African-American President.  I pray that this can help create some healing and promote a greater sense of unity in our country.  I also love the juxtaposition of Martin Luther King Day being celebrated just 1 day prior.  How fitting.  How deeply moving. 

When we got home I showed Thomas some pictures on the computer to further explain the Presidents and a little bit about our country.  I found out that Thomas had hoped ”that guy” was going to give us some new pieces to go with our floor puzzle of the United States.  I told him that until something changes we will have to stick to 50 (for the 50 states, I know a lot of you are not American). 

Later that night in the bathtub I heard him telling Percy about “O-barack Obama, our new President tomorrow.”

“BARACK,” my husband corrected him.

“NO, not THAT, silly!”  Thomas laughed, “It’s O-barack!”

 I guess I have a little more to teach him.

 

Postscript- 1/20/2009:   So much for racial healing.  I just heard the prayer by The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery… “that yellow will be mellow, red will get ahead, and white will embrace what is right“.    Did he really need to go there during the Inauguration Ceremony?  I just felt all of the excitement sucked right out of me and I feel sick to my stomach.

Here we go, Steelers… HERE WE GO!!!!

*clap clap*

Quien es mas macho?

Quien es mas macho? –

Mister Roarke… orrrrr… KHAAAANNN!!!!!!!  ?

 

 

I think you know the answer.

Ricardo Montalban, you will be missed.

Oh nuts!

From http://www.nataliedee.com

We just had a huge scare in our house this evening.  Apparently Percy is allergic to tree nuts.  We had NO CLUE.  Food allergies can be terrifying!

I was snacking on some yummy homemade caramel popcorn with cashews and Percy started eating it.  He has never eaten cashews and I was excited that he was trying a new food that involved protein (the boy is a carb-aholic!).  I didn’t think twice about it because he eats peanuts all the time.

Some time passed & he walked up to us, eyes red and puffy, face blotchy and covered in hives, some of them BIG.  I was horrified.  Within 5 minutes I had given him Benadryl, paged the doctor, and called our knight in shining armor to arrange childcare for Thomas yet again…  I was ready for ANOTHER ER trip!  It was a LONG 5 minutes.  I was afraid my son’s throat was going to close up at any second.  When the doctor called back he said that if Percy wasn’t yet having difficulty breathing or vomiting we should be okay and that Benadryl was the best move.

We put Percy in the tub to wash the rest of the cashew oil off his skin and then put him to bed not too long ago.  I had to set my alarm for 1am to give him MORE Benadryl.  The doctor said that the allergen will remain in his system for up to 3 days so we will have to continue medicating for a while.  Scary stuff! 

I asked the doctor why Percy was allergic to cashews if he can eat peanuts… turns out that peanuts are not nuts, but legumes.  Who knew? (you may have, I didn’t).  So now we have to avoid all tree nuts -sigh-.  In the past I had sometimes given Thomas walnuts because they are a great source of good fatty acids & oils.

So now we have officially entered the world of food allergies & label reading.   Something new for me to obsess over.  I am just incredibly thankful that it wasn’t WORSE tonight.

Autism and the ER don’t mix!

The vomit monster came to our house again this week. Oh goody.  This time we had to do one of those dreaded middle-of -the-night ER visits.  THAT was challenging, to say the least.

Rewind to last Friday.  My husband, Mapman, had the day off.  It was rainy and we needed a change of pace so we went across town to the mall with the BIG play area.  36 hours later, Sunday night, little 2-year-old Percy suddenly coughed a couple times while sitting in the computer room and -BLAMMO-  a big mess.  Mapman started to rush him to the bathroom and -SPLADOW-  Percy managed to hit SIX pairs of shoes…  hand-me-down shoes that had JUST been washed and were sitting in the hall to dry, minding their own business.  By the way, this is the SECOND time that specific mall has gifted us with gastrointestinal gore. NEVER again!

Please help me decide- keep or return?- AKA- “I am officially being ridiculous!”

 If you have read my blog you probably know I am a savage, relentless bargain hunter.  I am PASSIONATE about clearance sales.  So yesterday I was exceptionally excited when I thought I got the Playskool Busy Ball Popper for a STEAL.  Turns out I might have been robbed, and I would love your input to help me decide what to do.