Play!

Parker has really been playing with Macey lately! It's such a great thing. She is becoming a good playmate to him and really teaching him things. They are both learning from eachother and Macey loves him so much. They are so cute together. Who knew they would want to play together with such an age gap. Also, having autism, Parker doesn't like to play that much. He prefers the computer, books and talking about firefighters. It makes me really happy. Parker is also learning to say no to her. He wouldn't and would always give her what she wanted. Now he is toying with saying no and even sticking to his guns. I praise him for it because he used to be afraid to say no or not give her something. He didn't want her to cry. Even when I would tell him not to give her something he would. Or when she would tell him no he would listen even if I said yes. It's a step in the right direction.

Firefighter games

Yesterday Parker and I went to a neighboring town to watch the, "Firefighter games". The firefightes from the county come and have races and relays. Since Parker's obsession is firefighters, we had to go. Now of course I wasn't sure of what Parker's expectations were. I assumed he thought he would get to talk to lots of them and have a great time. I hoped they would have more time for him this year. Last year most of them were so busy they didn't have time to talk. I warned him ahead of time that they might be busy a lot but that we would still have fun. We talked about what he would say and how he could just say Hi instead of just blurting out a bunch of random questions. Lucky enough right away he met a really nice firefighter that talked to him for a while. His wife was an office lady at his old school. They were so nice to him and he had a great time. When he is really happy he hops up and down and kind of snaps his fingers. He was doing that yesterday. He was in heaven. We watched the games, walked around to stalk firefighters and talked about what they were doing a whole bunch. We didn't stay for all of it, which I felt bad about. We stayed for an hour but I was getting tired. He got to talk to at least one person from each firestation so he was happy. When we were leaving we ran into a nice firefighter that let him get in the truck. He was a content boy. We didn't bring the other kids with us, this was just a Parker and I thing. He needs that sometimes. All in all I was happy about how things went and it did live up to his expectations.

Great expectations

That is what I had today. Great expectations. I planned to take the kids to the neighboring towns Rodeo Week events. Today was the penny scramble, stick horse races, bounce houses, rock wall climbing, dunk tanks, and other fun events. I thought for sure Macey would love the penny scramble. I talked it up to her and she seemed all ready to do it. Parker wanted to watch, since he was too old to do it, and also check out the firefighters booth. Molly wanted to check out the boys... When we got there Macey got so excited about the bounce house and snow cone machine that she said she didn't want to do the penny scramble. I took her over by the penny scramble and talked it up again. I got her excited about it and then the announcer says they are doing the stick race first. That did not go over well. She whined and trampled flowers. Parker cringed because Macey was upset. He buried his head and said he wanted to go. I tried to distract her but it wasn't helping. I asked Molly to take her to get a snow cone while we waited. That sounded good to her. They went to get them and they weren't ready to sell yet. Uggg! She came back even more cranky and only wanted to play on the bounce houses. With Parker getting upset about her being upset, and getting annoyed with people saying Hi to him, I decided to just go. I let them bounce a minute but it was obvious that no one was going to have much of a good time with all the crankiness. Molly wanted to leave also because the cranky kids were embarrasing her. Ah, the problems of a teen. When we got home you would have thought they had a blast. They were so happy. Macey even took the time to unravel a whole pack of dental floss. I had expectations of fun but I guess my expectations are not usually going to be met with 3 very different kids and ages. Next time I'm just going to think and say, "We'll see what happens". We'll try again next year. I added to pics from the evening. One is of the 3 kids waiting for the penny scramble and the second is Macey picking up leaves and putting them in her bag as she waited, lol.

My funny girl

You think she has a pacifier problem? (We call them suckys) I just love this girl! She is always doing something to make us laugh. Even Parker thinks she's funny. And would you look at the color of those pacifiers, all boy colors. I so wanted her to pick pink. I even saw pink cammo. No, her favorite color is blue and only blue will do. It's funny, that was Mollys favorite color when she was little. She's girly, but blue wins every time. Now if we could just break her from the bottle, potty train her and those suckys will be the last to go........ Ahhhh, wishful thinking.

My firefighter boy

Dreary days...

Lately the weather has been so dreary and cold. It makes you just want to stay in the house and mope. I guess I shouldn't complain, it's been super hot in other places in the country. I know the sun will come out eventually. My poor boy has a cold or allergies right now. He keeps sneezing and it's really bothering him. I hope he feels well enough to go to excel tomorrow. Even if he does go, he may not like it. They are taking a really long walk. I hope he's up for it. He would probably do anything to get a break from Macey, lol. I think Parker's favorite time of day is when we just get to spend one on one with him. He is relaxed and happy. I will be so glad when Macey is older and Parker is more used to her. He is happy most of the day, but ready to run when she cries or gets upset. The funny thing is, is that you can tell he loves her. He plays with her sometimes or holds her hand. He can be really sweet with her and she loves him to death. I think it will all work out in the end and they will be the best of friends.

I'm going to try and keep updated

Let's see, what's new? Molly graduated 8th grade and is almost 14. Parker is 9 and is moving to a middle school, yet not in middle school. That is where his sdc class is now. Macey is 2 1/2 and is a precious little tazmanian devil, lol. It's summer now and Parker is having a hard time being at home a lot. I think he likes the calm and predictablilty of school. He is going to a summer program but it's just 3 days a week for 4 hours. He doesn't love it because it's alot of art and exercise, but it gets him out of the house. He likes to be away from Macey because she is unpredictable to him and kinda loud, lol. He is doing pretty well though, I think. We have been getting outside a lot and he really enjoys Maceys naptime. Molly is going to be a cheerleader for high school next year and has started already. They are having fundraisers and keeping busy. I'm so proud of her for graduating 8th grade. Macey is my little wild girl. I've gotten completely lax with her. She is my 3rd so I think its kind of normal. She is so funny and sweet and cute though. I am just in love with her. I was holding her tonight and kissing her and tickling her and thinking how lucky I was to have her. It seems like yesterday when I thought I wouldn't survivie, lol. I'm still a stay at home mom. My heart wants to be with my kids. I am going to try and update at least 3 times a week. Here are a few pics of the kids. Molly

Macey with a marker in the backseat, lol.

Parker

Well behaved and differences

I was just thinking yesterday that Parker is very well behaved. He has had behaviourists come to our house since he was going on 5 and he is 9 now. I think it made a world of difference. I was in the grocery store with him yesterday and I was marveling at how good he was doing. We had a long talk about how it's not ok to be loud about people who look different. He seemed to really get it and tried hard not to say anything loud about anyone who looked different. He really liked me explaining it to him. Lately it's been an isssue with him. He asks a lot of questions and is very observant. When he sees anything different he asks about it loudly. I told him that it could hurt peoples feelings and that he could ask me about it quietly or later on. Also, this weekend was the neighboring towns-town yard sale. He loves to ask people if he can use their bathrooms while we are at them. We had a talk about it before hand and he didn't ask anyone to use their bathroom. I think with Parker it just takes a little prep work before hand to prevent behaviours. I am just so proud of him and how far he has oome. I am just in love with that boy! There are some issues that are hard no matter what we do. His anxiety. His fears overtake his behaviours. He almost can't function when confronted with his fears. (Macey crying, dogs barking, getting shocked by someone, really loud noises, snakes, and bugs) That is something we have to work on. His new thing that is hard is his fear of getting shocked. He drags his feet and gets shocked on playgrounds, our trampoline and in stores. That makes him not want to hold my hand when we cross the parkinglot from a store, yell in a store for me to not touch him and not want to play on an indoor playground or our trampoline. The other day we were leaving the grocery store and it was really busy. I wanted him to hold my hand but he was too scared of getting shocked. I finally convinced him to hold onto the shopping cart to cross the street. We need to work on deep breathing and other ways to refocus. Work in progress.