The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Christmas season is upon us. With it comes hope, joy and constant worry. I start to worry about what to get Mitchell for gifts. He can't tell us what he wants or write a letter to Santa which leads to the unhealthy worrying about the future and if he will ever be able to tell me what he wants for Chtistmas which leads to will he ever be able to tell me when he's hurt or how he's feeling which leads to will he know what's going on when Steve & I die and what happens if he developes cancer or some other major health problem and so on. See how out of hand this gets? I know I should just worry about the 2 weeks school is out for the holiday but that makes my stomach drop so I try up think of other things and my kind just goes crazy. As for the school holiday , and all school holidays of the future, we have hired 2 of Mitchell's aides from school for a few hours on weekdays w/o school. This will be a huge relief for all of us. Mitchell will have someone to play with, who won't leave him alone as much as he'll try to ditch them and I can take a shower everyday before Steve comes home for dinner. There is winter camp again this year but only for 1 of the 2 weeks he is off school. My heart rate increases when a day off school approaches, a couple weeks might go me in. So glad we found found some help. We got so used to having therapy everyday that when we condensed our 6 hrs into 3 days it left us with a lot of free time. It is nice not having to drive to therapy on Thursday & Friday but it makes for a long weekend for Mitchell. So this Saturday we are going to a free social group I found for 2-6 yr olds about 30 minutes away. Hopefully it will be a good fit and can turn into a regular activity. For some reason all the cool things for Autufm are not far south like we are but I don't mind driving because that fills time too. We are looking into Aquatic therapy at the same place, sounds like fun. Glad I got that of my chest, I might be able to sleep a little tonight and have nice thoughts.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish I had a working camera to capture all the new memories we created today. The Iveys have officially taken over the Steele family Thanksgving this year and although the Aunts, Uncles & cousins went out of town for the holiday, it was still a festive event. It kinda felt like any other day with Jim, Amy, the kids and my folks over but with better food. We managed to eat within 30 minutes of my schedule time and everything was super yummy. I put the turkey in the oven exactly when I had planned and was so proud of myself for stuffing it with my homemade stuffing. The was an issue with the ham because when I figured out the cooking time I was looking at the cost per pound number instead of the weight so we needed to adjust for the ham. It was all good though and forgotten about when I turned the mixer up instead of off as I took it out of the mashed potatoes and shot it all over myself. I ended up with 3 burns by the time it was over and Steve squirted himself with turkey juice while making the gravy. Mitchell was on his best behavior today...ya right. He was stripping down and peeing everywhere he could when not being watched. Downstairs on new stair rail, throughh window of doll house. Then he bit Steven & Andrew leaving a nasty markon each. He was sent to his room both times and did stay in there quietly for his punishment. Both times he was mad they were trying to prevent him from climbing. He also decided he wasn't going to eat with us and took his bacon upstairs. By the time dessert was served we could barely move off the couch. I made my famous chocolate eclaire cake and uncle Jimmy taught Grace how to scrape the chocolate off the top without getting pudding on the spoon. Now our guests have left. Steve has gone to Jack's with Caroline & Grace, Steven is playing on computer and Mitchell is finishing ff a box of rice rusks. Thinking its going to be an early night for all.

The Ivey Show

I think I am going to start selling tickets for the Adventures In Ivey show. Kind of like the Big Top at tgr circus. The greatest show on earth. In the past week we have gone from climbing kitchen cabinets to waking at 3am to climbing 2nd story railings to launching every object from the 2nd floor almost including a half gallon of paint. Don't think a little thing like double ear infection will hold Mitchell back. I kept him home from School today to make sure he gets all his medicine in him and this is how he thanks me. I am going to lose my mind pretty soon I think. I will become delirious rather than angry about what we have going on. We've also added a 7ft ladder to the family room decor for climbing and of course Grace loves it. She wants us to move it closer to the TV though so she can see Mickey better. Grace also started dance class this morning. The other moms commented on how well she was doing her first week and her teacher said she did amazing as if she had been coming for weeks. This might be her thing. They don't wear tutus to class and she accepted that rather well. As we were leaving she said "goodbye friends, see you next time" I was worried about her cooperating but apparently it's only people she know that she doesn't listen to. Thanksgiving break is next week and I'm not sure how that's gonna go. I might find that dark closet & a ...... Wait I was interupted by mitchell's therapist. Looks like he has pink eye & now we need to go home. Serenity now serenity now. There goes school, MOPS & bowling. Taking deep breaths.

Cabinets

We thought we came up with a perfect way to keep Mitchell off the tip of the cabinets. We used his aversion to mushy things and lined the cabinet and top of fridge with Vaseline. At first he was disgusted when he touched it but soon learned to wipe his hands all over the cabinet. We were out for the evening and when we returned we found he had taken a dish towel and lined his entry pint with the towel and just climbed right over it. Back to square one. I wish my camera was working, it could show you all what is going on in our house

Ear Infection

It turns out Mitchell's clumsiness on the counter may have been caused by a "severe" ear infection he was diagnosed with last night at the immediate care. This would also explain the 1am-4am play time the night before. I returned from a wonderful day of shopping to find him crying & pushing on his ear. When we looked into it with a flashlight he kept grabbing the flashlight & aiming it at his ear as if to say "please find out what is wrong.". Poor guy. I took him to the immediate care since it was 4pm on Saturday. Not my first choice, I have found the dr on duty is somewhat of a nitwit & doesn't really know children at all but I was stuck. We were only able to look in one ear before he started losing his mind but it looked awful so we got our script and went home. Wait I also want to mention how Dr Nitwit commented on how we wouldn't look into his other ear so we don't get him all upset and loud with the other patients coming in and all. Anyhow, after we get home I have to get ready to go out with Steve and we attempt to give Mitchell his antibiotics. Steve looks at the dropper I have filled and says " he has to take all of this?". Yep 7ML 2x day. Ths is gonna be fun. My mom & I ended up spotted with pink. I was picking through my hair all night. I don't think Mitchell swallowed any of it, now it is being put in his juice. Today he is back to himself and is actually drinking the juice. Next time I will just ask for a shot of antibiotics, it's the okay way to guarantee he'll get the full dosage. Oh and he is still limping but we couldn't stand one more minute at the immediate care. Well work on that next.

Eye Doctor

I took Mitchell to the eye doctor today for his school exam. I was hoping the school wouldn't notice he was missing it but no such luck. Obviously I was very skeptical of it being a successful appointment but I was pleasantly surprised. I decided to ask my eye doctor, Dr Bury, at my last appointment if she would see Mitchell. Dr Bury has an adult brother who is mentally challenged so I figured she would be a good fit for a child with special needs. Turns out she is an awesome fit! Mitchell was not apprehensive around her at all & cooperated a bit too. It's amazing how much they can tell about someone's eyesight with a few flashes of light & shapes on a stick. Mitchell even showed off by pointing to the star and calling it by name too. We discovered Mitchell has slight Astigmatism and great tracking ability. He also has exceptional (her word) near sightedness for his age. She wants to see him every year and try to someday get him to sight for a glaucoma test & eye measurements. Insert laugh. I've decided he's like a super hero with Spidey senses & agility, Superman's vision & a pain threshold of say Thor.

Climbing -ugh!

Ok how awful am I? I am relieved a bit that Mitchell jumped off the counter top and hurt his foot. I don't think he broke it. He is limping and doesn't let me touch it, I think he'll be fine. I am just happy for a reprieve from the climbing on the counter tops, top of fridge & top of cabinets. 1:00am he was up & up & up. Back to bed at 2 then up again til 4:00. If he would sit & watch TV or play iPad it would be fine but to have to stand in kitchen to keep him from climbing through the ceiling for 3 hrs during e middle of the night wears on me a bit. So yes if this keeps him on the ground for even 20 minutes it will help my day. This seems to be a cold weather energy worker outer or maybe it's sensory. In warmer weather he crawls across the top of the monkey bars in the backyard, much less nerve racking. It is going to be a long winter if we don't find something else for him to climb. In my mind I visual like a cat tower but for a 35lb boy. Or scaffolding in the family room where he can perch and see what's going on. Maybe I'll find a tall dark tower to hang out in, that would solve the problem, right?. I'm scouring the Internet for the right playset or climber and will not stop until I find it. Good thing we are getting rid of the train table, we'll need the space.