I had a lot of fun at the mom's retreat last weekend. I did NIA, went swimming in the pool, got in the spa, and that was all before dinner. It was nice to sit and talk with mom's who are dealing with similar issues as me. Dinner was fun too. I actually ate a piece of fried alligator. Everyone at the table told me it tasted like chicken. It actually tasted like fish and I hate fish. Breakfast was relaxing and enjoyable. I stayed and chatted awhile after I was done eating. I can't wait until next year's retreat.
This weekend I am having an end-of-the-school-year party for my daughter and a couple of her friends. Pizza, cake, soda, watching movies, etc...
Next weekend we will be getting ready for autism camp.
I can't wait until it stops raining and we get some warmer weather.

regression and retreat

Amanda has started wetting her pants again. She has not done in quite some time. I also had to hold her down to keep her safe while she threw a huge tantrum a few days ago. Yet another behavior that I haven't seen in a while. This all started last Thursday the day after she met with her therapist. I was only with them for about ten minutes before I met with my therapist. I am looking forward to discussing this with her therapist and her psyciatrist so that we can perhaps shed some light on this behavioral regression. Unfortunately we won't be seeing them until next week. Until then I'll just have to deal with this as best I can. She is currently seeing her therapist every two weeks but I think it needs to increase to every week. I am also going to be looking into getting a family partner who can help with behavior plans, finding resources and services, getting better organized, etc.. I am so glad I bought two bottles of aromatherapy stress relief lotion. Amanda was complaining earlier today that she had too many thoughts in her head. I am just going to keep reminding myself how nice the mothers retreat that I just signed up for is going to be. I will be able to have relaxing kid free time for a whole 20 hours, woooooo hoooooo!!! I am going to enjoy every stress free minute of that retreat, all 1200 of them.

laundry day

I went to the laundromat today with 3 big overflowing baskets and one big trash bag of laundry. I was so busy getting the laundry into the car that I forgot to bring Amanda's schoolwork. I didn't realize that I had forgotten it until we got there. Fortunately Amanda found a Good Housekeeping magazine to look at while I did the laundry. I was taking the laundry out of the dryer when she started running around with a plastic bag on her head. I had to stop what I was doing to chase after her, then explain to her why not to put a plastic bag over head. She is nine years old and I know we have had the plastic bag over the head discussion before. She is just so impulsive that I have to constantly know where she is and what she is doing for her own safety. I used to fold laundry at the laundromat when Amanda was in school but now that I'm homeschooling her I put it all into trash bags and fold it at home. It takes about an hour and a half from the time we get to the laundromat until clothes are dry. She starts getting real antsy toward the end.

It was time for lunch by the time we got home. Then I had to take the trash out, clean the litter box, and sweep living room floor. Finally I got to start folding some laundry on my bed as I always do. I stopped to go into Amanda's room to check on her progress with her schoolwork that she was supposed to be doing. I knew she was hiding something when she suddenly covered up with her blanket. I removed the blanket and found a pink mess behind her on the floor. I asked her what it was and she said "I haven't named it yet." We repeated ourselves back and forth several times before she finally told me that she had mixed cranberry juice with my coconut coffee creamer. We have been over the whole issue of not touching my coffee creamer so many times I have lost count. She used to drink the creamer which I would then have to throw away because it had her spit in it (eeeewwww). I told her to clean it up and she sort-of did. I then went with her to get a paper towel and then watched over her as she cleaned up the rest of her mess.

I now have to go figure out something quick and easy to make for dinner. I know that any moment now she will come in whining that she is hungry. She is always hungry, except when she doesn't finish her meal and wastes it. If only kids came with a hungry meter so parents would know how hungry they really are. Hopefully I can finish getting the laundry folded and put away after dinner. Whatever isn't done by 8 o'clock tonight will have to wait until tomorrow because I am watching House no matter what.

Autism Speaks 400

As a NASCAR fan and the parent of an autistic child I am glad to see the sport is supporting autism research. Thankyou NASCAR and all that attended the golf tournament to support autism research.