More busy days

Joseph is keeping me pretty busy these days. I won't know what to do with myself once he's in school. Its going to be such a big change for all of us.

The other day I ran into a woman I used to work with that I haven't seen in 4 years or so. She asked where I was working and I said I was a stay at home mom. She laughed and said "Oh gee, that's a real rough life!". I laughed too but when I thought about it later I was a little annoyed. Most of the time if you were to ask someone what they did for a living and then laughed and mocked their career after they told you, it would be considered pretty rude. I'm guessing she wouldn't have liked it if I had said "Oh, and I see you're still working as a cashier! Really using your brain aren't you? Haha!"

Anyway, if she thinks it's so easy all the time I would invite her to come and trade places with me today. So far my day has included a 1 hour tantrum, Joseph stripping off his pants in front of 4 other people, a nose bleed from Elle throwing her head back against my nose and having to clean up a pile of runny poop from all over the bathroom floor. And the toilet. And the stairs.

So, in other news, there may be some news to announce in a little while but I won't really know anything until after September 11th. No, I'm not pregnant nor am I involved in a terrorist plot. I'll go into it further later. But for now I smell something stinky and I'm just praying that this time it's Elle.

The meltdown

We are in the aftermath of a HUGE Joseph meltdown right now. There was spitting and pinching and hitting and kicking. It's like he just lost control and became a totally different kid. I'm at a loss here.

A while back we put him on some medication to try and help with some of his repetative behavior. It seemed to be helping but now I'm worried that the medication is causing some of the tantrums and meltdowns that he's been having. I just talked to a doctor yesterday who suggested splitting his dosage up and giving him half in the morning and half at night. I agreed to give it a try but right now I'm 2 seconds away from tossing all his medication in the trash.

The most frustrating part of all of this is not knowing what's causing all of this. Is it the medication? Is it the Aspergers? Is it just Joseph being a brat? Is he just going through a rough patch because he's nervous about school?

And now he's back to his usual happy self. He's playing so cute with Elle and she's just laughing and loving it. He's such a great kid usually so it's so hard to see him going through this. Augh! Frustrating!

And I'm sure that none of my frustration is caused by the fact that Jesse is at a fantasy football drafting, beer drinking, video game playing, movie watching weekend with his friends and I'm here dealing with this alone. No, I'm sure that's not it.

Don't try this at home

Jesse brought me something from the bakery today and the package it said it (the package) was made of corn. How do they do that? How can they make plastic out of corn? And why is it that if you try to lick it or bite it that it doesn't taste like corn?

No news anyway

Bloggers been acting up lately and not letting me post. That's ok though since nothing is new right now anway. I feel like I've been so busy this week but in reality I've accomplished nothing.

I made a really good white chicken chili last night. That was the highlight of my week I guess.

Mother of the year

Today Joseph told me that I am the best mother that ever lived. Given the day I've had I would be satisfied if I could be sure I was even the best mother in the room whose name is Jennifer. (Yes, I call my living room "Jennifer".)

Joseph's going through some tough stuff right now and as of yet we've not figured out the best way to help him. I'm not sure if it's anxiety over school starting soon or excess energy because sports ended or that a butterfly in Japan flapped it's wings one too many times but something is making him really .... difficult.

Anway, Jesse and I are about to go out to dinner where I am certain I spend the whole evening stressing about Joseph.

Oh, and Elle can nod her head "yes" but sometimes she throws her head back so far that she gets distracted by whatever is on the ceiling.

7 years

As of today Jesse and I have been married for 7 years. That's just crazy. It seems like just yesterday that we got married. Thank goodness we have two screaming children to prove to me that 7 years have, in fact, gone by.

I love you Jesse!

The short of it

It's been a busy week and that is continuing so let me give you the short of it:

We have discovered 4 things that Elle does not like. Dogs, cats, Fig Newtons and spiders. She does like playing "So big!", clapping and shaking her head "no".

Joseph thinks he's treated like a servant but if you take him to Yankee Candle Company all the women in the store will gather around to coo at him because he's so cute as he picks out what candles he wants.

The long of it will follow later.

Big boy bed revisited

Joseph slept in his bed all night last night. This is HUGE for him. I'm so excited for him. He seems to think it's not such a big deal but it really is. I don't even know how long it's been since I woke up without him draped over my legs or hogging my entire pillow.

It's a good thing.

Big boy bed

Joseph got a new bed yesterday. We finally got him a big boy bed. He liked picking it out. He liked picking out the new sheets and blankets. He liked watching the bed be set up. He liked putting the sheets on the bed. He liked adding all his stuffed animals to the bed. He liked staying up all night screaming for Jesse to come in by him. He liked finally ending up in our bed while I slept in his. (What can I say, the kid has a nicer mattress than we do.)

We'll try again tonight. Poor kid is having a hard time with it for some reason. So are Jesse and I since we weren't able to get much sleep.

Joseph's big prize

Yesterday was the last day of Joseph's summer sports and they had a little party to celebrate. They gave ribbons to all the kids who participated. Most of the kids kind of sauntered up to get their ribbons when their name was called but not our Mr Joseph. He ran/skipped up and yelled "Yea!" several times. He was so proud of himself for getting that ribbon. He kept calling it his prize and he wanted to hold it when they did group pictures of all the kids. He's really, really proud of that ribbon.

We got Joseph's school supply list the other day. Cripes! It seems like when I was a kid all we had to have was a backpack, a lunch box and maybe a Trapper-Keeper when you were older. Joseph has a big old list of stuff he needs to bring plus we'll have to take him shopping for school clothes. Man, this kid just keeps getting more and more spendy. Who knew that was going to happen?

On the good news front, we have finally gotten Joseph in to see a behavioral therapist. We'll finally have someone who can work with him on some of his social and behavior issues that his other therapies weren't able to address. He'll see this woman (who looks like she 18) once every 2 weeks but she said that if we think he needs to come more often then we canbump it up to once a week. She seems really nice and Joseph liked her a lot too so we're feeling pretty good about this.

Oh, and quick Elle update, she's now able to crawl a couple of paces at a time before she drops down and scoots. She's scooting so quick that I can't set her down and walk out of the room. She's a demon, getting into everything. It's awesome.

Myspace

I've caved in and gotten myself a myspace page. I'm so hip. Several people that I went to high school with are on there too. The list includes:
- The guy I went to Homecoming with my sophmore year
- The guy I nearly killed in a car accident in a big ice storm
- A girl who I don't remember who now lives about 10 minutes from me. What a small world!
- A girl who once appeared on the old Sally Jesse talk show during the topic "My Parents Don't Accept My Inter-Racial Relationship".

Good times!

Urgent update!

We got a new toilet seat! We've been meaning to do that since we moved in but we just now got around to it. I wish we had the old one back because the new one is uncomfortable and oddly shaped. I don't think you can return a used toilet seat though so I guess we're stuck.

Well, that's all I guess.

My advice

My advice to you is to never see a movie with me. I must have some bad movie going karma or something. No matter what movie I go see it always works out that the most obnoxious people in the entire theater end up sitting right by me. I must give off some kind of scent that attracts idiots or something.

Jesse, Joseph and I went to see Barnyard today (thumbs down by the way) and right behind me was a guy I will refer to as The Pointlessly Loud Laugher. He laughed at everything. A shot of an empty field? HAHAHAHAHA! A man walking? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A dead cow? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And I won't even mention that the guy's wife and daughter seemed totally unable to control the volume of their voices and that when they walked in they spilled popcorn on my head and that when they got up to go to the bathroom the used the back of my chair to pull themselves up and that after the movie was over I went to use the bathroom and the mother and daughter were in there in the two stalls furthest away from each other and they were yelling to each other about how the popcorn they ate gave them such bad gas. Not that I'm bitter.

This happens to me every damn time I see a movie. What is it about me? What did I do to deserve this? How can I rid myself of this curse? I am not making this up! If you've been to a movie with me then post a comment telling people about what rotten luck I have at movies. Let people know how sad my life is and how they should buy me things off my wish list.

Motherboy

I dropped Elle off with her godmother today so that Joseph and I could have some one-on-one time together. I took him to arts and crafts, then to lunch and then home to play some games and read some books and then to the library.

At the library I was humilated when they told me they couldn't allow me to check out books with my card until I paid off my ridiculous fees from nearly 4 years ago when I apparently lost a book that I honestly don't think I ever checked out. Seriously, do I seem like the kind of person who would check out "Trash to Treasure, Inexpensive Holiday Crafts"? I don't think so. Luckily Joseph has a library card of his own so they let him, the ultra-responsible 6 year old check out some stuff while his mother wildly pawed through her purse trying to scrape together the $42! needed to pay the library fee. (You know, I don't mind paying a fee if I owe it, but $42? For something I'm not even sure I had?) I don't know, I paid part of it but I think from here on out I'll always be sure to check books out on Joseph's card.

Anyway, Joseph and I had a really nice time together. It was nice to be able to devote 100% of my attention to him and I think he liked it a lot too. Several times he would say things like "I love you Mommy. I love to spend time with you! You are the best Mommy I ever met. I like to be with just the two of us." The funny thing is that without fail he would follow that up with a big sigh and say "It's just not the same without Elle around." Goofy kid.

Yippee!

Today at soccer Joseph was the goalie for a while and he blocked a shot made by one of the mean kids on his team. He did it all on his own. No one helped him or anything and it wasn't a soft, gentle kick. The coaches cheered and so did several kids on the team. I was so proud of him. I thought for a second I might get weepy but then I realized I couldn't because I had to fight off a swarm of killer bees that were trying to swarm at me and fly into my Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi.