La Hurley lo bañaron en el perfume

The title doesn't do this next story justice.

So yesterday, Ryan went hunting and the kids stayed with their grandparents all day and night so that left me ALL ALONE for a while ( insert smiley face )

Well the ONLY problem with this is that I don't sleep when Ryan's not in the house, I just cannot. So I did a lot of painting on our bedroom, did lots of laundry and cleaning til I passed out at 5:00 Am, YES 5:00 am and was woken up at 9:00 am or a little after, the kids were ready to come home.

I got the kids, did some errands and came home at about 11:00am.

We were home for about NOT EVEN 15 minutes and I start smelling this sweet smell. A few minutes later Hurley comes running down the stairs with a pink shirt wrapped around him in which I assuming Ava is trying to dress him for one reason or another. 30 seconds later here comes Ava trompin down the stairs chasing Hurley and shouting " Hold still, we have to do pictures ! "

The craziness has started. So Ava gets distracted by the tv and sits down and I keep smelling this sweet sickly smell. I looked at  Ava and asked " What is that ? "

Ava:  " I put perfume on Hurley, he's having portraits done. "
Me:   " Please don't do that, the WHOLE house smells now and Hurley just had a bath the other day ! "
Ava :  " well mom, you can't have pictures done if you don't smell nice !"


So all that before noon today !

So it's 9:30pm an guess who still smells like a Macy's perfume counter ? YES the DOG !

Over all we had a good day, just me and the kids, had to raise my voice once and one time had to pull the car over, put the flashers on and I didn't say a word to them until they told me they were ready to act like the children I know they can be.

Christmas was good, not as big as last year but Ryan and I decided we would do what's called second chance Santa, that end of January they could get the one thing they wanted that they didn't receive. Logan and Ava assured us everything they got was great, no need for anything else !

It's almost 10:00pm and I am exhausted from all the moving and cleaning, playing and errands today and I even cleaned out the family truckster and vacuumed it today !

I hope you all have a great week coming up, it's a short work week for me !!!!

What would I give for normalcy ? .......................

normal

nor·mal

  [nawr-muhl]  

adjective

1.

conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.

Yeah that word doesn't exist in my life or in our house.

So the kids started school almost a month ago and things have been smooth sailing so far with a couple of hiccups.

I often wonder what it is like to have children that don't have to be reminded EVERYDAY to do the same thing over and over, is it nice to have kids who have learned their routine after 4 yrs ? Cause I wouldn't know.

I have a child who will only eat like 10 food items

What's it like to tell your child 2 or 3 times that a bee won't hurt them and have them just accept it and trust you - instead of 2 years later still running terrified into the house every time anything buzzes by. I wouldn't know

What is it like to not to have to wash your 9 yr olds hair cause of motor skill issues ? I don't know but I feel I need to or he won't get the soap out of his hair.

What's it like to have children who will  NOT sit still or not stop making grunting unhappy noises at any surprising noise  ? wouldn't know

What's it like to have a child who  WILL NOT ASK  his best friend " Are you poor  ? DO you  live in an apartment because you are poor ? " I have NO CLUE what that's like.

BUT THESE are things I do KNOW

Once they get it and learn it they will run with it and I will miss having to guide them.

I do know that I have heard some whopper stories, frustration and all and they will learn in time

I know that him Being terrified of bees will lead him to study them and understand them.

I know I have to let go and just let the soap get in his eyes, he will scream but the water will wash it away

I know that I will always know if he is in distress or unhappy

I know that I have a child who's curious and who will tell the truth and not sugar coat anything

What would I give for normalcy ?

                  NOTHING !

There is rarely  a day where I don't learn something new. I have one child who can do mathematical problems beyond his years and it amazes me. He creates comic books and characters. I have a son who will go and research something without being told or design his own excel spreadsheets to keep track of goals.

Yes he grunts or makes ugly noises if startled or annoyed or interrupted but he also gives the best squishy hugs. Yes he did ask his best friend if they were poor, sigh but with some extra guidance we told him why we don't ask people this and he did ask his friend for forgiveness and told them he was just curious.

I have a son turning into a young man who loves God, our church, family and neighbors. He's on his own path and sometimes it's hard to start letting go. I often worry about the middle school years, those are hell years because he's not so autistic that he doesn't understand popularity because believe me HE KNOWS and UNDERSTANDS IT

I have an almost 10 yr old who will still crawl into our bed every morning to have a good snuggle fest and he tells me of his dreams he had the night before or a new idea for a video game.

I have the greatest son who is smart, kind, loving, funny, quirky, autistic, temperamental, compassionate and learning to spread his wings to fly.

I have a girl who makes me laugh so hard sometimes that I cry. The things that she says and does it hilarious.  She is my social butterfly.

I have a girl who is smart and clever but she is also bouncing off the walls most days, a  body part is moving at all time except tv time and sleep.  There are days that she exasperates me but I love her beyond words and I take deep breaths and say this was you, this was you at this age.

I feel with Ava that when she was younger I put expectations onto her that I shouldn't have to make up for Logan's inability in some areas because of his autism so this has caused her to have some anxiety issues already and for this I feel like a suck parent.

I have this beautiful girl with these BIG brown eyes and people have often said she has Disney princess eyes. She's beautiful also because of  her spirit. Her spirit is so free and kind. I refer it to the wild horse syndrome, she is wild, whacky and carefree but she needs to be reigned in a little more.

I have this girl that is modest and knows right from wrong, she has a passion for Jesus and a heart of gold. She doesn't like violence and will weep even at the site of Moses killing a slave driver ( Bible mini series ). I often wonder if we have done to good of job in NOT letting them be  desensitized to violence but then the that thought goes away. I am glad they respond the way they do to violence, it's not natural to watch something violent and not be affected.

I have this beautiful spirited kind, loving compassionate clever, smart and humorous child that will grow into a young lady who wants to change the world for the better, I know she will be the hands and feet , at the same time in the middle of a conversation she will blurt out " We should not pick our noses in public " ??????

I have a husband who I love , I can't imagine my life without him.

There are days when I was tripping over power wheel parts, tools and other gadgets.  The husband who won't let me throw anything away cause may only use it again every 5 or 6 yrs.

To my husband who stands by me during the days I feel like I am losing my mind or the days I am tired, he's pretty awesome.

To the man who soups up power wheels to have the kids go faster and tree swings that make the kids go higher and screaming with joy or a self propelled lemonade stand, he's a pretty amazing dad.

Don't get me wrong, he does drive me batty but hey we're not normal, NOT by a long shot.

I mean we have a cat that will walk with us like a dog and follow us to the bus stop twice a day for the kids and is NOT afraid of dogs  or cars. 

I have one cat that ACTUALLY DEMANDS my affection, yeah if that's normal than pigs are gonna start flying.

We have a dog that is a nutcase and runs around crazy and can hop like a cricket.

Me ? yeah I'm definitely NOT NORMAL, never have been.

I blurt out things when it has no place, I might ask questions that offend,  I used to be pretty free spirited, growing up and being an adult has taken some of that away.

Logan and Ava are the ones who are teaching me about compassion cause that is something I didn't have much of before having them.  I am a social butterfly but I do miss social ques , which is a mix of Ava and Logan.

I have  a theory of my house is not a showroom yeah so watch out coming in the door you might trip on something ( not really but it's not a spotless house ) I have more important things to do with my family.

I'm not the skinny bouncy girl I was 22 yrs ago but I'm still happy, most of the time. As long as my husband is happy, kids are happy then I'm happy.

So some might say wow SO NOT NORMAL, but it's normal for us !

Teaching children to lie ...

                                                                   

So in my job I do a lot of calling.  Many times a child will answer the phone and I am talking like 4,5 and 6 yr old child age and this is how the conversation goes

Me: Yes may I speak to Mrs. Jones

Little Suzy : Who's this ?

Me: Cija from Bob's Market, can I speak to your mom ?

Little Suzy shouts, " Mom, it's Bob's market, they want to speak with you

Parent in the background whispers " Tell them I am not here " ( and you can hear them say it )

Little Suzy " They aren't here "


So many parent's probably think this is okay, really ? Blatantly telling a lie for your child to repeat.

In our house for years just up until last month, our kids have never answered the phone but not they have been practicing the proper way and can  handle it.

I would never tell my child to tell someone I wasn't there, I might tell them to tell the person to call back because  I am busy but than again, the kids know to look at caller id to see whose calling.

I am trying to think if I have ever intentionally led my children to lie, if I have oops but I really don't think I've done it intentionally.

I am just floored that parents would just teach their kids to lie like it's no big deal, people might think that's a small lie, BUT small lies lead to bigger ones.

A day for conquering !

So today was awesome, this whole weekend has been awesome.

We joined the neighborhood pool and it is awesome, except right now the water is really cold and Logan doesn't agree with that of course. His version of swimming is, inflate the pool and hook the hose to the kitchen and put hot water in the pool !

Saturday Ryan rented a dingo and his parents came over to help. Well Ryan and his dad played with the dingo all morning to move the pile of dirt that had been sitting there almost 1 yr and 2 months and YES I do keep track of projects that don't get done and we now have 2 more feet of back yard and I have the rest of my driveway back ! We had a cool night so we borrowed a neighbor's fire pit, enjoyed a few drinks while the kids played with sticks in the fire and another neighbor came over with her son for a bit.

Sunday was church of course and it's always great going to church ! I wasn't real impressed with the sermon ( our founding pastor is on vacation right now ) but all the same I did learn from it but I finally learned the name of the song we had been singing the last few weeks and I just love it !

After church Ava's best friend from her small group came over and played for a while, they then took me to work ( my car lights were not working  so I couldn't drive myself ) then Ryan took the kids to lunch then to the pool for swimming where they had a blast and the best part when Ava's friends mom picked her girl up, she dropped off a bike for Ava to practice on.

When I returned home Sunday night, the kids wanted to practice on the bike,it had training wheels, it was hard for the kids. I had almost given up that my kids would EVER want to ride a bike. I mean I was like 5 or 6 yrs old when I learned, they are almost 9 and 10 yrs old !  It was frustrating to get them to understand how to operate things so I said NO MORE I am tired BUT right after breakfast we will get the training wheels off and practice.

Monday morning, MEMORIAL DAY ! Right after breakfast, Ava started her I really don't want to pester you routine but I am going to flutter around til you give in. I gave her one warning  " DON"T start, when your father and I finish our breakfast , we will be out, now go outside and  play " Ava slumps off.  Soon as Ryan and I finished breakfast he was out there taking their training wheels off the bike. I did a few chores and joined them outside. Ryan had the training wheels off, had them going down the slight hill into our cul de sac with their legs out on either side of the bike to balance.  Logan's turn was up when I came out, when I saw what they were doing and Logan was headed down the road , his legs on either side and I yelled, " START PEDDLING ! " Logan put his feet on the peddles and there you have it folks. A CONQUEST,  YEARS IN THE MAKING, Logan was off and riding a bike for the first time, I hugged Ryan and cried a little bit,  " he's finally done it. Autism ZERO, Logan 1. "

Then Ava's turn came up next and same thing, I yelled for her to put her feet on the peddles and off she went.  I am so proud of my children and especially proud of my husband for helping them along and knowing how to help them when I can't sometimes.  Our neighbors have two boys, they are awesome, they have 2 old bikes their boys used and they gave one to Logan since the bike they practiced on was a girls bike and gave Logan knee pads and they were oh so encouraging.

Today when I saw my kids riding with the other kids on their bikes, and knowing that they were feeling that feeling you get when you ride your bike,  a great sense of normalcy came over me and I could only smile and then  Logan had a meltdown that he couldn't be perfect at bike riding yet, I mean like learning to ride a bike for the first time in 5 minutes isn't good enough !  I'm still proud of them, I still love them and yes they are still normal , at least in our household =)


Oh well, we survived another weekend, it was great and we are ever grateful for the men and women who served and who do serve.

Why me ? If you have never asked this to yourself I would have to wonder why.

I love Logan and Ava with all my being, they have a love of God and life that is strong and a love for family, friends and teachers that is great but sometimes I ask " why me ? " Am I the ONLY mom that after years of them going to school is STILL telling them what needs to be done in the morning after eating breakfast ? Some would say of course not BUT I feel like I am. I see so many other kids more mature and independent that their parents in the morning turn around their kids are already dressed and at the bus stop,  me ? OH NO  and if you live within ear shot of me you probably know this if you hear me yelling two or three times a week in the morning for them to move their rumps  !

I take ownership of my failing of this with them. I used to think well it's because we had to hold Logan's hand so much in the beginning of his diagnosis with the autism but now I just realize that's not true. It could be like anything else we have trained him to overcome,  I just have to bear down on him and he is actually getting a little better but Ava my super pickle butterfly ( An explanation for that in a later blog ) attention span of that a moving butterfly.  She's constant motion unless the tv is on so there are times when she starts to do something in the right way but wait...... a sound distracts her and she's off to investigate. Sigh, yes maybe ADHD ? We won't know til we find a child psychiatrist to diagnose her, wouldn't surprise me knowing how I was at that age.


I want to work on getting them to mature within themselves and choices, they seem immature sometimes so we are in the process of getting them to some realizations that your childhood is here now but it doesn't last forever and I want them to be prepared for the real world that is coming. 

Next blog about those who think their children are Christians but in fact have an ugly side....

Why such a blog name as Attack Chicken and slug girl ?

If you have very perfect, normal children who have no odd habits or eccentricities, who rarely cry or amaze or flabbergast you, then this blog is not for you, please go away.

I am happy for you, but frankly I've paid a dear price for the experiences I am going to relate here and they are meant for other mothers of exceptional and quirky children, not for you. 


You're not a member of the club you see. To the rest of you, please enjoy these wonderful stories... this is so you know it's not just you =)