I was sitting in a required department seminar where the speaker started talking about one of the largest medical concerns of parents with autistic kids is that the child's sleep is really messed up, which of course puts even more strain on the parents. She then talked about how similar this was to kids with epilepsy. Of course my ears pricked up at this. She talked about how these kids are sleep resistant, take a long time (1-2 hrs) to go to sleep, often wake up in the night with some anxiety, wake early in the morning, and just generally have a difficult time with sleep. Until that moment it had never occurred to me that ME's strange sleep habits (she is fully awake and actively running around the house as I write at 10:30 pm, and often wakes up once or twice in the middle of the night and then tries to sneak into our bedroom around 5 am) were related to her epilepsy.
The lecturer talked quite a bit about their studies using sleep behavioral therapy rather than using drugs to treat sleep disorders in these kids. We have not done a very good job of keeping constant bedtime routines, which apparently is extremely important. I am going to try to get more info from her to see what we can do.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
More soccer
JP's middle school soccer team has won their last two games, both 5-0. One was against his old middle school. This last game he moved to midfielder and saw more playing time and got more touches. I will try to post some video soon.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
New Dresses
AM has been using the serger and her sewing machine to turn out some new dresses. The green dress is a farewell present for the little girl. Their family moved this week.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Out Like A Lion
The temperature took a big drop this weekend, with lots of rain, just in time for the girls soccer games. EM's game was especially miserable because of the wind. All the girls were cold and most of them didn't want to play, but rather snuggle in their blankets on the sidelines. EM found the muddy field especially challenging because any dirt on her clothes or shoes really bothers her, so she mostly spent her time checking whether she had gotten dirty.
Since the other team seemed less bothered by the cold and mud, mostly they moved the ball directly to their goal without any opposition from our team who were huddled together crying or shivering. After three quarters and the score around 25-0, the other team's coach and the referee tried to talk our coach into calling the game. Now while our coach is normally a friendly and sane person, for some reason she insisted that the game continue to the end. EM refused to go back out on the field for the last quarter. At last the game ended and we could go home for some hot chocolate.
This reminds me of a time many, many years ago when I was teaching swimming lessons. The heater on the pool went out in early spring and the pool temperature was so cold that it was miserable for teacher and students alike. Our management insisted that we still have lessons that day because they didn't want to refund money for a lost day. Some teachers refused to get in the water to teach, but made their students swim anyway (only older ones) and some of us suffered through the four hours of being in the water that day. Whenever I had first aid classes on hypothermia after that, it was easy to name off all the symptoms for second degree hypothermia because of my personal experience with them. The silly thing is that in the end, there were so many complaints from parents, that the managers had to refund anyway. The bottom line for me is that when the kids are shivering and not having fun, its time to call it a day.
A final note on the soccer games. Later in the day the temperature rose a bit. JA's team quickly took a commanding lead and she got to play goalie all of the second half. Most of the girls on her team are also on a travel team with the same coach, but fortunately, as long a JA and the other non-travel girl are playing hard, they still get in playing time.
Since the other team seemed less bothered by the cold and mud, mostly they moved the ball directly to their goal without any opposition from our team who were huddled together crying or shivering. After three quarters and the score around 25-0, the other team's coach and the referee tried to talk our coach into calling the game. Now while our coach is normally a friendly and sane person, for some reason she insisted that the game continue to the end. EM refused to go back out on the field for the last quarter. At last the game ended and we could go home for some hot chocolate.
This reminds me of a time many, many years ago when I was teaching swimming lessons. The heater on the pool went out in early spring and the pool temperature was so cold that it was miserable for teacher and students alike. Our management insisted that we still have lessons that day because they didn't want to refund money for a lost day. Some teachers refused to get in the water to teach, but made their students swim anyway (only older ones) and some of us suffered through the four hours of being in the water that day. Whenever I had first aid classes on hypothermia after that, it was easy to name off all the symptoms for second degree hypothermia because of my personal experience with them. The silly thing is that in the end, there were so many complaints from parents, that the managers had to refund anyway. The bottom line for me is that when the kids are shivering and not having fun, its time to call it a day.
A final note on the soccer games. Later in the day the temperature rose a bit. JA's team quickly took a commanding lead and she got to play goalie all of the second half. Most of the girls on her team are also on a travel team with the same coach, but fortunately, as long a JA and the other non-travel girl are playing hard, they still get in playing time.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Defeat
JP's middle school soccer team went down 3-2 in a hard fought battle. The final score came on a penalty kick with only a few minutes remaining. JP had a shot on goal in the first half, but missed right.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Surprise!
AM hit the big 4-0 this week. To celebrate we visited a local pancake house where "rain, sleet, or shine there is always a line" for breakfast and then for dinner a little italian. Her big over-the-hill birthday present was a serger. Now to non-sewers like myself, a serger and a sewing machine seem like pretty much the same machine, but apparently they are entirely different, sort of like a road bike and a mountain bike, except of course its more obvious why you need two bikes to have fun that two sewing machines...
Then on Saturday, we had a surprise party. I had smuggled decorations and food to our friend's houses and the playhouse for safekeeping. (I even got up in the middle of the night once to transfer things from the wagon to the playhouse because I realized that AM was likely to drive the wagon the next morning and might get suspicious about the towels covering stuff up in the back. Fortunately there was a big windstorm that night so when she asked why I got up, I could say I was checking on our trashcan that had in fact been blown over in the storm.) On Saturday, one of AM's friends invited her to lunch to get her out of the house so I could decorate. I then picked her up directly from the restaurant on our way to a juggling show that we as a family had tickets too. (Which by the way was fantastic.) This provided the cover for people to assemble at our house. Then when we came home, I made sure she was the first to enter the house. She was quite surprised when everyone jumped out. I was trying to follow along with the camera to get video coverage, but my video feed turned out real jumpy, so I won't post it. Anyway it turned out well and was lots of fun. Thanks to any of you out in the blogosphere who participated.
Then on Saturday, we had a surprise party. I had smuggled decorations and food to our friend's houses and the playhouse for safekeeping. (I even got up in the middle of the night once to transfer things from the wagon to the playhouse because I realized that AM was likely to drive the wagon the next morning and might get suspicious about the towels covering stuff up in the back. Fortunately there was a big windstorm that night so when she asked why I got up, I could say I was checking on our trashcan that had in fact been blown over in the storm.) On Saturday, one of AM's friends invited her to lunch to get her out of the house so I could decorate. I then picked her up directly from the restaurant on our way to a juggling show that we as a family had tickets too. (Which by the way was fantastic.) This provided the cover for people to assemble at our house. Then when we came home, I made sure she was the first to enter the house. She was quite surprised when everyone jumped out. I was trying to follow along with the camera to get video coverage, but my video feed turned out real jumpy, so I won't post it. Anyway it turned out well and was lots of fun. Thanks to any of you out in the blogosphere who participated.
Spring Break
AM decided that the kids needed some excitement for spring break, so they visited the Memphis zoo, the Civil Rights museum, and CMOM.
The pandas were on break as well.
Feed the birds, tuppins a bag...
Why trying to outswim a polar bear is a bad idea.
"Early evening April 4, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky, free at last, they took your life, they could not take your pride...in the name of love."
It will be 40 years ago next month that King delivered his mountaintop speech the night before his assassination.
"And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
Ring around the rosies...
The pandas were on break as well.
Feed the birds, tuppins a bag...
Why trying to outswim a polar bear is a bad idea.
"Early evening April 4, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky, free at last, they took your life, they could not take your pride...in the name of love."
It will be 40 years ago next month that King delivered his mountaintop speech the night before his assassination.
"And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
Ring around the rosies...