Some Thoughts on Another Exciting Morning...

...In the Life of Laura

This morning started out relatively well. If you take morning at its literal sense, I started it in a tub of cold water (which had been quite hot at 11 pm, but strangely enough, not so hot at 1 am) with a book. It's a library book that is due at the end of the month, when we won't be in town, and I don't know if I should wound my former reader pride by renewing it at the library. (I won the flippin' "Who Read the Most Books This Year" contest in sixth grade! It was a blow out. Come on, Laura! You can't even read one stinkin' book in a month?) But, the book is long, and I'm finally at the middle and the action is picking up. It's one of those books that spends far too many pages dealing with lots of navel gazing characters, and you don't really know if you like any of them, or care enough to read about them for over 400 pages. But, now, since I'm over 200 pages in, I have to finish. I really hate not finishing books after I've invested at least a chapter, let alone 200 pages. Now, Moby Dick is another case all together. Try as I might, I can't get into that bad boy. I've picked it up three times, and managed to make it about 100 pages last time. Maybe some day. I think the only reason I really want to read it is because it's mentioned in the awesome movie Heathers and it's where my home away from home, Starbucks, got its name.

Anyway, this morning, Hutton came in at 8:30 to wake me the first time, asking for "breastfast" (that's how he pronounces it, which is funny, because I used to call it that when the boys were breastfeeding) then about every ten minutes after until I finally got up. Before my final waking, I had a dream that I moved into an apartment that had an amazing view of the downtown Seattle skyline, yet also a great view of the Statue of Liberty, which for some reason, was in a little black cove of water in Lake Washington. I was sharing this apartment with two roommates I don't know in real life, but was thinking, wow, this will really make it faster getting to Hutton's ABA appointments at the UW. The roommates morphed into two of my college roommates at one point. The apartment (or was it a condo?) had cathedral ceilings, and one of my roommates had hung piles of books from the ceiling. I asked her how she did it in the dream, but she never told me. Did she rent scaffolding to get up there? I remember looking up and seeing a book with an artist rendering of some wild animal on the cover, and really wanting to read it, and wondering how Eva got it all the way up on those beams, and how they stayed without falling, as some were not even resting on beams. In the last part of the dream, I was going back to my car to get something. I had realized I hadn't locked the door, and, jeez, I'd even left the window open, and when I got there, sure enough, a man was leaning into the front seat, and his friend, or accomplice waiting by the car. In my dream, I became a crazy woman protecting her things, and I ran up and grabbed the man by the throat, even though I was thinking, "This is stupid. This guy or his friend could have a gun." But, as dreams often do, it worked, and I was able to get the guy out of my car, without his stealing my things. Strangely enough, I don't think I'll ever attempt that in real life if two big men are ever really stealing things from my car. I do have impressive "guns" but I don't think I could really grab a man by the throat. My dream self is quite the bad ass!

I finally got up and went downstairs. The pleasant surprise of the morning: Fergus had not peed on the rug at the bottom of the stairs. Well, he couldn't pee there unless he'd jumped the baby gate, which is now keeping him in the laundry room at night. He is not quite as skilled at jumping as he was as a younger dog -- just a few years ago, he'd have cleared a baby gate with no problems. He also hadn't soiled his doggy diaper or dog bed. Yippee! I was feeling better about leaving the dogs here with a petsitter for our trip. If Fergus can go overnight without having an accident, things are looking up! Of course, my love and pride in Fergus, due to his old dog bladder pulling through, were short-lived. Fergus came back into the house a few minutes later with some sort of animal poop on his muzzle, and as I scrubbed off his face with a baby wipe, I realized it was all over his feet as well. He'd been doing some snacking in the cat litter pile outside. After giving him a bath and cursing him out (don't worry - he's deaf now and could only guess that I was pissed at him by the way I sprayed him down with the bathtub sprayer in such an angry manner) I felt a little less angry, and still glad that he hadn't peed in the house last night. Plus, I felt guilty for having let the thought pass through my mind that I wouldn't have to do this much longer.

Then, finally, breakfast. And now, as I type this, still in my pajamas, I realize I have to shower and go to the grocery store, and Hutton's ABA home therapist arrives in an hour and a half. Hmm, I can probably wait on the grocery store. I only need hot dogs (still!) and snacks for our trip. I have a huge zit forming between my eyebrows I have to tackle with the arsenal of products I keep on hand for such occasions, and that will probably take all the time before the therapist arrives. I love going home for the holidays with zits. It makes me feel like I'm in college again!

Something on Autism

I haven't posted on the big "A" in a while. Believe me, it's still one of the main focuses of my life!

An hour or so ago, I called a local compounding pharmacy to see if they could make Hutton's Methylcobalamin injections. These are also known as MB12, and he's been getting them for about two months now. In that time, his verbal skills have greatly increased, so I think they're a keeper. The downside - I have to give him a shot every three nights. I do it while he's asleep, and the needles are tiny, so he doesn't feel them. The shots are given subcutaneously, into the fat, at a 30 degree angle. The best spot for this subcutaneous fat? The buttocks. Yes, that's right. Every three nights, I sneak into Harrison's room (where Hutton sleeps, too) and attempt to expose enough of Hutton's booty to get the syringe in at an angle, all without waking him. Needless to say, this is hard to do. Most times, he'll wake up as soon as he senses my presence, or what he probably thinks is the Boogie Man hovering over his bed, and flip from his side onto his back, so I have to wait a few minutes for him to go back to sleep, then try to flip him on his side again and hope he stays asleep. If he hadn't had the huge improvement in language, I don't think I'd bother, but there's undeniable progress there. Even his bus driver noticed, after all!

Anyway, the local pharmacy can prepare the shots, and they'll ship them overnight with no additional charge, plus our insurance covers the shots. Hallelujah! One less thing to pay for. The previous pharmacy, in New Jersey, charged us an additional $34 to ship the shots every month. Thirty-four dollars is just a drop in the bucket of our Autism supplements costs, but I'll take what I can get! The new pharmacy is The Falls Pharmacy, and even though they're about a half hour drive, I consider them local! (That's what happens when you live in the boonies.)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Also going on: I've been reading lots of Autism related books this month.
Completed:
Kenneth Bock, Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders This book was wonderful. Easy to understand, with lots of the science behind the current treatments for Autism. I definitely feel like we're on the right track after reading it.

Jenny McCarthy, Louder Than Words This was a great, fast read, and I love how Jenny has made the world of biomedical treatments for Autism so mainstream! Her appearance on Oprah a couple of weeks ago led my 82-year-old grandmother to call me, excitedly announcing, "Laura! You have to watch Oprah! There's a woman on taking about Autism! She's talking about that diet stuff you've been doing with Hutton!" I LOVE that! If my grandmother is paying attention, who knows how many other grandparents and other family members are out there learning about Autism and that treatment is possible! Fabulous!

I'm still reading:
John Elder Robinson, Look Me in the Eye This is a great story, and I would have finished it already, but I got distracted with the new fall TV season and with my knitting. It's a lot easier to knit and watch TV than it is to knit and read a book!

Bryan Jepson, Changing the Course of Autism This is another book, like the first one, written by a doctor who treats children with Autism. This one has lots of statistics and more complicated scientific writing that my poor little English major brain can handle easily, so I'll be reading this one for a while. Good thing I bought it, rather than checking it out of the library! Oh yeah, I need to return the Kenneth Bock book to the library. It was due yesterday. D'oh!

Off to go to the library and take Hutton for a haircut. It's picture day tomorrow, and he looks like an early era Beatle, but before they'd grown their hair to mop-top perfection. In other words, he looks like he needs a haircut.

Step Away From the Cat!

Yawn. I did it again. I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. reading in the bathtub. But I did read half of Look Me in the Eye, and it's wonderful!

I had a soccer game at 8:45 last night, so didn't get home until 10:30, (we lost, per usual, but played a very good game, if I do say so myself!) and I was cold and wet, so needed a bath. And of course, I had to read in the bath, so I grabbed the new book and it immediately hooked me. Hope to finish it today around my napping.

Harrison is still sick, so will miss another day of preschool. I think we'll have missed most of this month now. Oh well. It's only money, right? He did well with his blood work yesterday. I gave him a lollipop, and the blood-letter -- what's the correct term for that? Oh yeah, phlebotomist -- used a tiny butterfly needle and my big boy's amazing arm vein filled up the two vials in less than a minute. Of course, he whined about his sore arm afterward, but we went and got a treat (chocolate chip banana bread for him, pumpkin spice latte for me) and an extra something (Baby Einstein "On the Go" DVD for him, Look Me in the Eye for me) to make us both happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The title of this post - I've mentioned our two new cats in passing, but I will finally introduce them on the blog. At the end of July, the boys and I went to the Humane Society to look at cats. We decided on two lovely ladies in the "book room" -- a room painted with a mural to resemble a library, with shelves for the kitties to sit on.

We brought home "Lady" and "Kiwi", and I renamed them Nicky and Margene after two of my fave ladies from "Big Love". The names seem to fit their personalities. Nicky is a bitch -- she likes me and Hubby, but hisses at the dogs and Margene.
She stayed hidden behind Hubby's desk for the first month, and finally started coming out during the day and sleeping on the printer. She is getting better, but still not exactly a "shiny happy kitty". I assumed, incorrectly, that since she and Margene were together in the book room, they'd know each other and be fine. So far, Margene just takes her sister's bitchiness in stride.

Margene is a sweetheart, and a great hunter. She managed to get outside a bit, and is like Tully 2. Not only does she look like her predecessor, she acts like her, too. She's left us little rodent offerings on the front walk when she gets out, but also likes to climb on the roof and meow at the bathroom skylight, just like her lost sister. I've been a lot better about keeping her in, though, so she doesn't repeat everything her lost sister did, including "going off to the country" as we call it in these parts. I don't leave the door cracked for the dogs when they go out and watch for her slinking around before I open the door. Plus, now that it's getting cold and rainy, the boys aren't going outside as often during the day, so the door isn't getting opened as much. When we got Margene, her paperwork made it seem like she'd been an indoor cat. But then, a week later, I got some supplemental paperwork mailed to me. Guess who was a stray who showed up at somebody's house pregnant with kittens and was taken to the Humane Society? Yep. Our Margene. Just like Tully, again.

Margene (I'm assuming it was Margene) also caught a big rat in the house. Yikes! Several weeks ago, Harrison was talking about Margene bringing a mouse into his room. Hubby had been up to change Harrison's diaper in the middle of the night, and the next morning, Harrison told me about the mouse, but Hubby didn't say anything about it. Later the morning, I took a diaper out to the diaper pail in the garage, and opened it to reveal a big, dead rat on top of the dirty diapers. Huh. Thanks, Hubby. What a lovely surprise! I was cleaning the boys' bathroom and found some soap that been chewed up by a rodent, so I hope it was the one Margene caught, and there aren't more of them lurking around.

Both boys love the cats, but are a bit too exuberant around them. The cats are pretty good at staying away from the boys (Nicky hides behind Hubby's desk, Margene likes to sleep under our bed), but are getting more adventurous, coming out when the boys are around. Hutton, particularly, likes to look at the cats' furry ears, and tells me that we don't eat the fur in the ears. Very smart, there, Hutton. No, we DON'T eat the fur in the cats' ears. However, late last week, Hutton got a bit too close to Nicky, talking excitedly about the fur in her ears, and got a scratch on his face. I told him we have to be nice to the kitties, and not get too close, as they don't like that and will scratch to protect themselves. Hutton repeated this back to me. Be nice to kitties. Don't get too close. Nicky will scratch you. Blah blah blah. This morning, when Hutton was up at the crack of dawn, and I was still lolling in bed (1:00 a.m. bedtime, remember?), I heard Hutton being giggly and silly, followed by, "Ow!" with a few crying noises. Then back to giggly silliness a few minutes later. I got up, and sure enough, who has a fresh, longer set of scratches on his face? Hutton! So, at the bus stop this morning I went over with him again that Nicky is a mean cat. She doesn't like to be messed with. Don't touch her ears. Don't put your face anywhere near her. The next time she might scratch your eye, and that would be very, very, very bad. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I asked Hutton, "What do we do with Nicky?" Reply: "Stay away from Nicky. She is mean and will scratch you!" I repeated my warnings a few more times, but I'm sure this is not the last time Hutton will be scratched by a cat.

Sigh.

So, here are the new kitties. Guess which one is which.
Don't I look beautiful? Like a fluffier version of Tully?
Don't mess with me. I'll scratch your eyes out. Hiss!

~~~~~~~~~
Oh, I realized we spell Nicky's name differently than the show (Nicki). But, since she's also sort of named for Hutton's former speech therapist, Nichie, I'll stick with my spelling! Nicky definitely acts more like Nicki than Nichie (who is very sweet).

I'll Be Back Soon!

Hi Loyal Readers! (or for those occasional "What the crap is this? Why am I reading this?" readers)

I promise I'll be back to writing more regularly soon. Maybe this afternoon I'll start blogging about some of the crap I put on my desk to blog about. Then again, I may decide to take a nap rather than rely on the six hours of sleep I got last night. Why do I do that to myself? Put down the damn book, get out of the freezing cold bath water and go to bed before midnight, you dumb bitch! Sorry, my other half can get kinda mean.

Anyway, today is the big release of John Elder Robison's book, Look Me in the Eye. I'm not getting to go to any fun NY premiers, but I'll be going to buy it this morning.

Today is also the big launch of Halo 3. I don't know for sure, because he was in bed asleep at 1 a.m., but Hubby was gone when I got up at 7:30 a.m., so he got up early and I'm sure Halo 3 in involved. They're selling it at his place of work, so at least he might get some work done today around waiting in line for the newest installment of his beloved waste of time Xbox game. And no, Hubby doesn't work at 7-11.

Oh, Hubby was also kind enough to buy another Xbox console. You may be thinking, how is that kind? Well, see, our satellite dish got messed up when something or someone ran into it. Didn't see it happen, and the plants around the dish weren't harmed, but the satellite dish no longer works. So, Hubby hooked up the Xbox to the TV to act as our new TiVo. We still get basic cable, but no more movie channels. (I'll miss you, HBO! Larry, I'll watch the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm eventually!) We also have the old Xbox upstairs, so the boys can play Xbox, or more often, play DVDs on it. Hubby told me he didn't want me to miss out on the new fall TV season (and yes, I've reminded him more than once about the importance of TV in my life)
while he would be playing Halo, so he bought a third Xbox to play Halo 3. Isn't he a sweetheart? Yes, and this is the man who just last week was talking about how we're spending too much money and need to budget more. I guess that meant, "Laura, YOU need to budget more. I will continue to spend money on whatever I think we need."

Anyway, this morning I am also taking Harrison to get blood drawn for allergy testing. This will be real fun, I'm sure. Sticking a three year old with needles and drawing blood - what's not to love? Yes, there will be lots of bribery involved and promises of sweets afterwards. Who knows, Harrison may end up on a super strict diet like his brother when we get the results back, so I've got to fill him with junk while we've got the chance. This has actually been occurring the past two weeks. The doctor told me to make sure Harrison eats lots of common allergens before the test, so he's had cow's milk, eggs, cheese, nuts, gluten...a lot of the stuff Hutton can't eat. We'll see how it goes!

Yawn. Now, why did I stay up reading in the bath long after the tub had turned cold? I just had to finish that book, even though I'd read it before. That's the trouble with having mush instead of brains. I can't remember most books I read within 6 months of reading them, and the book I read last night, Never Let Me Go was really good. It was probably really good when I read it last year at this time, but it was the book for this month's book club, so I needed to re-read it. Problem is, the book club meeting was two weeks ago, so I'd already missed it, but by then I was into the book and couldn't just put it away. Oh, and I started two other books while reading it. But I digress.

Time to go get that blood drawn. Fun times!

Yet Another Post in Answer to Allie's Post ...

...Though this one is from Thursday.

It's the blog version of the chain letter, though cooler. This actually serves a purpose, not just to give you bad luck for failing to forward it on. I have bad luck from failing to forward many chain letters, both real letters from back in the day, and email, from the past 10 years. I like to blame bad stuff on not sending stupid jokes along. Better that than on my own failings to use my brain.

So, that said, the premise of this post is to fill in the questions, then choose 6 more readers to carry on the idea. But, since I don't really have 6 readers with blogs to carry it on, I'll choose three. (Hey, it's better than nothing! I could end it right here. I'll do it, too! Don't test me!) So, Carmen, Jennifer and new friend B & Mr. Puddins (is that your real name, by the way?), I pass the torch to you. Don't let me down! Actually, I don't really mind if you let me down. I've already admitted that I am usually the chain breaker.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just copy the below questions and fill in your own answers in a post on your own blog.

A book that changed my life?: The Bible. Well, it did change my life at one point. And then I changed it back.

A book I've read more than once: Lots of things. But that's because I tend to forget a book about a month after I've read it, so I'll pick up a book, think I haven't read it before, but it sounds familiar, so I must have heard good things about it, then get halfway through before I remember it. Book I've read more than once because I really like it and chose to reread it: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

A book I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island:
SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea by John 'Lofty' Wiseman


A book that made me laugh:
An old one is Would You Rather


A book that made me cry:
The last one was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. There are lots of other ones!


A book that I wish had been written:
This is The Last Word and What I Really Think and This Supercedes All Other Religious Books. Please Don't Kill Other People...EVER. I'm Serious. Even in War. By God

A book I wish had never been written:
This is a tough one, because even though I don't like them, there are people out there who are inspired by the Bible and Koran who actually aren't fundies or out to decimate the population. I can't think of a book I really hate enough to wish it unwritten. There's always some freak out there who LOVES the book.


I'm currently reading:
I just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, which I found very good, because it deals with a teenage boy with Autism. Really makes me wonder how Hutton will be as a teenager!

A book I've been meaning to read:
Moby Dick. It's on the list, and I've attempted it a few times, but can't get past the first few pages.


What turned me onto fiction?
I've always loved fiction, too, but I guess The Black Stallion books really got me reading as a child.