Atropa Belladonna~ Raven (a.k.a. Nightshade)'s Weblog ~
These are the ARCHIVES of AUGUST 2004. For more archives, visit the Archives page. For the current Weblog entries, check the Main page.
Atropa Belladonna| Tues, Aug 31, 2004 (4:50pm) News Flash: SuperVillian invents Insane-O-Matic Ray-Gun! Targets Local SuperHeros! The Intrepid Shapiro relaxes in a comfortable chair, basking in the quiet of the evening, and contemplating what to do with tomorrow: the last day before school begins. ***ZAP!*** - From out of nowhere, a blast of technicolor brain-scrambling rays hits our protagonist up-side he head. Shapiro blinks, and says, "I've just had a great idea! I'm going to get up at the unreasonable hour of 7am - even though I don't need to - and practice getting the kids up and ready for school! In fact, I'll even load them all in the van and drive out to Ardrossan so I know where the school is, and we can have fun playing in the schoolyard together! Yeah! It'll be great!!" The next morning, our tired hero arrives in the parking lot of Ardrossan Elementray school, unloads 3 somewhat grumpy kids in the the chilly morning air, and unleashes them upon a wet, sandy playground. Somehow, the idea seems less brilliant, now. But our Hero, having promised the children a romp on the play structure, bravely ventures forth to encourage enthusiasm, clamber up cold metal bars, and chase little kids around slightly damp play equipment (while carrying a babe in arms). Luckily, The Intrepid Shapiro has super-human powers of endurance and agility, and does not manage to slip in any rain puddles, or fall off any play structures, in the interminable length of time which it takes for the kids to tire of this activity. Eventually, Kid Attitude, Autistic Lad, and Banshee Babe are all loaded back in the van, and the IntrepidMobile is homeward bound. A quick swing past the DayHome for the Criminally Insane sees Kid Attitude packed off for a fun-filled morning of crime, while The Intrepid Shapiro brings the younger minions home to give Autistic Lad his therapy time. All seems well. Until... ***ZAPPO!*** The Intrepid Shapiro is hit full in the face by another blast of the Insane-O-Matic RayGun! "Hey! I want to go shopping! It's the last day before school starts, so there's bound to be all kinds of cool Back-to-School sales. I'll load up the kids again and take them to the Mall. I'm sure it won't be too crowded with all the other Moms hitting those same last minute sales! In fact, maybe the Fearless O'Toole would be able to meet me there for a leisurely shopping experience! I'll call her on the Intrep-o-phone and find out!" Somewhere across the City: ***ZAPLORCH!*** The Fearless O'Toole is already seeing the world in Insane-O-Vision! Not only does she want to go shopping, but she actually calls Intrepid first!!! The Dynamic Duo agree that shopping together would be a fabulous idea, and agree to meet at the Mall. ***ZPLAT!*** But wait! Our Hero has another great idea! Banshee Babe is 6 months old and has not yet had his half-year photo taken to record his decent into a Life of Crime. We can call the Portrait Studio at Kingsway and arrange to have darling photos take of our little sweetie! It'll only take a moment or two, and since we're gonna be at the mall anyways... The Daring Duo of O'Toole and Shapiro meet at the mall, and agree on their priorities: First, the Back-to-School Shoe Sale!!! (Buy One Pair, Get One Half Off!) Thus, the shoe store is set upon by two rabid mothers and a flock of minions. Yes - a Flock! Shapiro brings her pair, O'Toole brings hers (The Amazing 'Sana Soprana, and the other half of her Dear Duet: Aria the Supreme!) PLUS her two foster-kids (Kid A, and Kid G - both Undercover Agents of the FosterFiend Network) PLUS Kestrel, a.k.a. "Da Hawk". Yes, folks - SEVEN kids. Two Parents. One Unsuspecting Shoe Store. To save strain on the eyes and ears, we flip ahead a few pages. Here we find The Intrepid Shapiro athletically catching shoes which Autistic Lad is throwing randomly into the air, while in the background The Fearless O'Toole corrals 4 screeching girls and explains that we are here to buy practical shoes for school - Not Sandals, Not Fancy Shoes, and NOT Pink Barbie FlipFlops. Flip ahead a few pages more, and we discover 'Sana Soprana delivering a soliloquey at the top of her lungs, and the top of our hearing range, while attempting to perform a backflip off Shapiro's shoulders, in order to land on Kid G (who is silently stalking a lump of crumpled paper which had previously hidden in the toe of a shoe). Aria the Supreme authoritatively issues orders about who gets to hold which stroller, and is blatantly ignored by "Da Hawk", who has fastened her talons on a pair of Pink Barbie FlipFlops. Intrepid replaces the heinious pink atrocity on the shelves and 'Sana does a nosedive into O'Tooles waiting Arms. Autistic Lad tries to make a break for it. Kid A zooms up and down isles of the shoestore demonstrating the new Shoes Of Fleetness which she has discovered. 'Sana teleports over to Banshee Babe's stroller to steal his socks, and begins screaming when he retaliates by latching onto her hair with the Baby-Death-Grip (a SuperPower which 'Sana herself posesses, but is unaccustomed to having used against her). Intrepid catches the babysocks out of mid-air as Autistic Lad throws them aloft. Kid G hides. O'Toole uses her astounding Powers of Mind Control to summon a Shoe Store Attendant and have the feet of every child present measured - and then continues to hold him in her thrall to fetch shoes and check various fits for width and toe-room. He does so with great forbearance, and actually seems to enjoy providing this valuable service (apparently he, too, was a victim of the Insane-O-Matic RayGun earlier today). To save our own sanity, we flip several pages ahead. At this point in the adventure, it seems that The Intrepid Shapiro has taken Autistic Lad and Banshee Babe into the Portrait Studio to have the MugShots taken (the better for to create Wanted posters, later) and The Fearless O'Toole has removed to the Children'sWear section with her crowd of minions. Many shreaks later, our two Heros reconverge, and decide to hit the Food Court together. They are beginning to fray around the edges, and although they are somewhat cognisant of the amount of time which has been devoured by store line-ups, minor disciplinary actions meted out to minions, and the syrupy-slow travel time which a horde of this size incurrs, somehow the two of them decide that they might be able to enjoy a relaxing lunch together before Kid Attitude must be retrieved from her DayHome. Scene: one crowded foodcourt, seven screaming hungry children, two frazzled SuperHeros, and a variety of food kiosks with long lines. ***ZAP!*** "You wouldn't mind watching these kids for me, just for a moment, so I can buy the kids some fries, would you? It'll only take a moment." ***ZAP*** "Oh, sure! I'd be delighted. The kids will be happier once they're sitting at a table. And then, when you come back, you can watch the kids for me while I buy food, right?" ***ZAP!*** "Of Course! It won't be any trouble at all!" Uh huh. Yep. But somehow our Heros triumph over the fast-food (HAhaHAHAha!) line-ups, and bring nourishment back to the table. A great deal of policing is done to ensure that the minions don't squabble over the kill, and that everyone gets something to eat (with or without smears of ketchup on the side), and that no children run off helter-skelter through the FoodCourt to be stolen away by gypsys (heavens forfend! We'd have one less kid to take care of!!). The Intrepid Shapiro realizes that Kid Attitude is due to be picked up from the DayHome in just a few minutes, but somehow manages to take another 15 mins to extricate herself (plus associated minions) from the Mall. Insane-O-Vision just doesn't let you see straight! Once the IntrepidMobile is loaded with the required compliment of Hero and Minions, it is already 10 past when Kid Attitude should have been picked up. Shapiro calls the DayHome on the Intrep-O-phone to apologize, and give a revised ETA. Enroute to the DayHome, the IntrepidMobile goes "Bing!" and lights up the "Low Fuel" warning. This is not the first time today for that warning to go off. It has, in fact, been attempting to draw our Hero's attention several times in the last couple car trips. Our Hero really ought to go get some Gas, and bloody soon! But is it really that important? I mean, we're already running late...! ***ZPLATCH!*** HAH! Shapiro dodges!!! The Insane-O-Matic Ray fires off harmlessly into the distance. It IS important to get gas! We're already running late, but an empty tank would make things much, much, later. So the IntrepidMobile hits the first gas station into Sherwood Park, and then continues on to the DayHome. Kid Attitude and the Recurring Pants of Sogginess are collected, and all are trundled along home. "Why, why, WHY did you have another accident, Oh soggiferous one? And no - Don't you even think of trying that Attitude on me. Your Powers can not penetrate the Shield of my Maternal Displeasure." "Well, Mommy, it's like this: I thought about it. And I decided... Um, No. And I then I didn't go to the bathroom, and I peed in my pants. It just happened." Well, there's been a lot of that insanity going around, lately. So Kid Attitude is sent to her room for Quiet Time/Nap Time, and Autistic Lad is put down for a nap. And Banshee Babe is given a bottle and put down for his nap. The world is a good and quiet place. The Intrepid Shapiro can finally have a nap of her own. She needs one, with a day like this. ***ZAP!*** But it couldn't hurt to just check my email and update my weblog first, could it? I'll only be online for a moment... |
| Mon, Aug 30, 2004 (10:50am) The Connor Report Did I mention previously that Connor was getting into everything? Well, I was wrong. Back then, he wasn't climbing onto the fishtank (merely sticking his hands into it), and he hadn't decided to sleep in the top drawer of his bedroom dresser, and he didn't open the stack of 4 kitchen drawers in order to climb to the top where he can sit on the steak knives and play with the sharp paring knives. He's gotten so much more adventurous, and able to climb up to make mischief which he didn't before. This is a good thing, I'm sure - although it's hard to remember that when I see him about to stab himself with a knife. My Mom also had a cute anecdote to tell me after she did a brief stint babysitting him. Apparently she'd been tickling him on the ribs, saying "tickle-tickle-tickle!" and then he also said "Ticka-ticka!" and made little tickling-fingers to threaten her midrif with! This is excellent progress for a kid who didn't like to play with others a mere 4 months ago. In the big news, Connor starts chool on Wednesday. This boggles my mind: I'm gonna have a kid in school! And not my oldest, either, but my little Con-man! I get to buy school supplies and everything. Weird. I'm also gonna have to be getting up at 7am to get all the kids up, dressed and fed before driving out to Ardrossan. Blah - I hate getting up early. |
| Thurs, Aug 26, 2004 (11:55pm) Jasen is 6 months old today! Yay! He's able to sit on his own (a little) and is trying to make headway in the crawling department... alas, forward motion continues to elude him. He can roll and slide backwards and flail quite handily though, so crawling can't be that far away. Plus, he's beginning to practice his facial lunge. That's always an amusing prequel to crawling. Connor has an Audiologist appointment for Wed, Sept 11 in Leduc. Must remember to arrange sitting for that. Not much else to say. Oh: Happy B-day, Starling! You looked fabulous. Um... and a warning to all: Beware of Pixies... they'll snatch your nose clean off while you're not looking (especially if you sneak up behind them unawares). S'all. Gonna eagerly await my Purgatory turn, now. |
| Wed, Aug 25, 2004 (6:25pm) Oh, hey - we're back from Gen Con. Got back late Monday (A few hours later than intended: mechanical problems with our plane caused a delayed departure and then we missed our connecting flight in Toronto) and pretty much crashed. Tuesday was spent recovering, unpacking, and trying to repay some of the sleep deficeit racked up over the weekend... unsuccessfully, mind you. Today things are normal-ish. They won't stay that way for long, though. Connor will start going to school next Wednesday. I've got to make day-home arrangements for Kalen which fit my new driving-kid-to-school-in-Ardrossan schedule. Jasen is becoming increasingly mobile and I'll need to re-childproof to the level of a crawling kid. Starting mid September, I'll be going back to work too (weekends only). Hopefully the increased income will pay for some of the spending we did at the Con. S'all for now. Expect some degree of lollyblogging in the next week. |
| Sat, Aug 21, 2004 (3:30am) Dear Mom, I'm sorry I didn't call you tonight. Or last night. I was too busy slaying ogres and undead hordes last night to even think about finding a phone. I would have phoned you this evening, but I had to hang out in the tavern and swap ogre-slaying stories with my adventurer friends. (Life is tough here at Gen-Con.) I hope all is well with you and the kids. Love you lots. Will try to remember to phone in the morning. Or whenever I get up. - Raven the Repentant. |
| Wed, Aug 18, 2004 (11:15am) In less than an hour, Shades and I will be off to Gen Con. 4 days of geeky gamer goodness. If possible, I'll update the weblog remotely, and check email as well. If not, well, don't worry about me. I'll find other things to keep me busy. Things which don't involve diaper changes. |
| Mon, Aug 16, 2004 (2:10pm) Raven: Okay, which video do you want, Kalen? You wanna watch Blue's Clues? 101 Dalmations? Or maybe LarryBoy and the Fib from Outer Space? Kalen: I don't want to watch a video. I want a DVD. Pleeeease? Raven: A DVD, hm? Kay... which one? Kalen: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Mommy, may I watch the musical Buffy? Pleeeease? Raven: Ah.. okay. Music is good. You're pretty good at singing, too, aren't you? (Mommy bursts into song) "I touch the fire and it freezes me... I gaze into it and it's black..." Kalen: Mommy, you're not the Slayer! So just stop singing!!! (Sigh)... everyone's a critic. |
| Fri, Aug 13, 2004 (9:35am) Raven: Not bad. I think, in fact, that this body of mine has recovered pretty well from the last pregnancy. My curves are mine again - nice, low-profile, streamlined. What do ya think, Shades? Do you like this new sports-model version of your wife? Shades: Well, it's certainly better than the delivery truck version. - - - The Connor Report - month 3 in review Well, the biggest change in the last month has been diet related. Since we put Connor on the Casein Free / Gluten Free diet, he's definitely perked up. The autistic tendencies aren't gone by any means, but he's doing better I think. - He makes eye contact more readily. Still 1 - 5 seconds max. He's also making brief eye contact with strangers. - He smiles at people, sometimes (or he glances at them, looks away, and then smiles, but it's the same concept). - He's definitely got "special people" who he is happy to see and smiles at more readily: Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Auntie Ann, Uncle Hjalti, etc. - Frequently responds to his name. Every now and then, he'll even come if you call to him and crouch down with your arms open wide, ready to hug him. - Seems to be listening more actively to casual conversation (even when it's not specifically aimed at him) and sometime repeats words or sounds he hears. - Getting into ALL KINDS of MISCHIEF, now. He's regularly underfoot, or trying to take things which he's not allowed to (the phone, the remotes, the baby's bottle, etc) and constantly getting into my computer area to "type" on the computer and click the mouse and push buttons, and... and... and... well, normal toddler stuff. - Recognizes people as people. When he walks into a room now, the first thing he does is look at the people. Usually its just a quick glance (the sort of thing most adults do - scan the room quickly to see who's in it) and then goes about what he was doing, or comes up to one of his favorite people if they're doing something that looks interesting. This is way better than before, when he would enter a room, not look around, and immediately find the corner with the fewest people in it, so he could hide in it... or he'd just leave the room if there were too many people. - He's playing more, and glazing out less. He still doesn't do much representative play (driving a toy truck cross the floor or bouncing a stuffed rabbit up and down) but he loves piling up cushions to jump on, or taking apart puzzles, or scribbling on paper. - He imitates people a lot! Every day at least he's trying to do something which someone else is doing. Sometimes stuff he's done before, and sometimes it's new & untried stuff, but it is prompted by someone else doing it first. - He doesn't say many more words than before (2 - 5 per day) but he says things without prompting now and then. He asked my aunt for Juice, and said bye bye to a visitor, and announced Uh-oh! after dropping his plate. - Uses signs on rare occasions, still, but not often. He'll sign "up" a couple times a day, but rarely uses any other signs at all. - Sometimes nods Yes for things he wants, or just when he sees something he likes. Rarely shakes his head 'no', but will sometimes shout "No no noo noo no Noooo!" when something he doesn't like is offered or forced on him (diaper changes aren't optional, kid!) or, sometimes, he'll repeat No-no when we remind him not to so something (Connor! No playing with garbage! or Fish are a no-no, Con-man. Get your hand out of the tank.) - We're having less problems with the rash on his cheek. It's still there, but looks more like a small scratch or dot of redness. If we can get him to stop poking it, it'll probably heal up quickly. - He's more physically confident, and less clumsy. This may be just a normal part of growing up, mind you. He's walking more smoothly, manipulating objects more accurately, and even starting to climb things. He does a lot of climbing now, in fact, where he used to do nothing more enthusiastic than use a chair to get to the countertop. Now he's scaling shelves in closets, climbing into his top dresser drawer (aaarg!) and making his way to the top of play structures like the Quadro at Starlin's abode. - - - Accomplishments of Yesterday - Cleaning the fish tank, watering plants, re-arranging basement furniture for better gaming, going swordfighting (despite broken toe), and getting my cell phone number switched to my new phone. My new phone, btw, is exactly like the old phone, but hasn't had any submersion accidents, and thus does not have a malfunctioning recharger. I shall try to prevent the new phone from falling into any sinks. |
| Thurs, Aug 12, 2004 (9:45am) Good Things:
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| Tues, Aug 10, 2004 (12:45pm) Arthur has this Public comment: Comments : ok does your sister live in Humbolt, or Humbold, as you list both, and I believe you're trying to hit "Humboldt", but never actually pull it off? Mea culpa, Mea culpa! It's Humboldt, okay? Humboldt. Humboldt. Humboldt. Bah, Humboldt! I think the problem is that, while I do know how to spell it, my fingers don't. They get to the end of the word and randomly hit most of the final consonants, but sometimes miss a few. That last post was just a bad example. I've typed it correctly often enough before. I've also typed it incorrectly: Humboltd, Humbodlt, Humdolbt, etc. But they all look right to me at a casual glance, so I don't catch them while proof-reading. And, unlike 'remember' (which I constantly mistype as 'rememebr' or 'remebmer') my spellchecker doesn't catch it because it's not in its miniscule dictionary. Thanks, Art, for upholding the honour of my sister's fair town. |
| Mon, Aug 9, 2004 (2:55pm) Back from a weekend in Saskatchewan, sans kids. Shades and I took off Friday night to the cabin, leaving the kids in Grandma's care, so we could do a little repair work out there, and then winterize the place. We slept at the cabin overnight, and took off for Humbolt the next day. My sister's place in Humbold is awesome. I love the colors, and the plants everywhere, and the way that breakable objects are openly displayed on shelves. I'm sure this'll change when she and Damon get around to spawning little mini-vikings, but for now it's the kind of house which is perfect for showing off to out-of-town family & friends. We stayed overnight in Humbolt (playing a couple rounds of Catan before crashing for the night, of course), and went to Church with Jo & Damon Sunday morning. We had brunch together, and parted ways. It was really too short a visit, but the longest we could comfortably arrange without dragging kids along. Perhaps someday a longer visit will be possible, with or without kids. Good to be home again, though. Lots to get done in the next week and a half, before Shades and I take off for Gen-Con. |
| Wed, Aug 4 (uploaded on Thurs, Aug 5, 2004 (4:30pm) The Connor Report - a long entry I had mentioned previously that we've changed Connor's diet on the premise that autistic kids do better without gluten and casein in their system. It hasn't been that difficult to remove dairy products (the source of casein) from his daily routine (the biggest challenge has been to make sure he gets enough calcium through other sources) but removing wheat and other sources of gluten has been... fun. When I first started experimenting with diet, I knew it would be tough to go completely gluten-free. Just talk to anyone with Celiac's disease, and they'll tell you how frustrating it is to try eliminating gluten from your diet - wheat is everywhere! It's in bread and cookies and pastries, sure... but did you know that it's also in soy sauce, and candies, and even in cans of brown beans? Not all candies contain wheat or wheat products, of course, and it's possible to find soy sauce or beans without wheat, but you have to go to specialty shops and pay premium prices. So I decided to go with a dairy-free/gluten-reduced diet. At first, I tried to keep an eye on what I fed Connor - just so I'd be more aware of what contained gluten and what didn't - and choose gluten-free food when available. Then I began to wean it out of his diet by preparing primarily gluten-free foods, and buying (expensive) gluten-free snacks and cereals. I'd still let him eat waffles or cheerios, or other products containing gluten from time to time, but I tried to keep it down to just once per day. We kept that up for a while, and I noticed some changes in Connor's life. He was slightly more responsive to me, made eye-contact more often, and seemed a little more aware of his world. Of course, that could have been because of the therapy we're still doing with him every day - it is making a difference, and I'm very glad about it. But there's other things I noticed about Connor after implementing diet changes, as well. His face is less flushed. His diaper is less likely to contain the sorts of surprises which make you wish you were trained in hazardous waste disposal. He scratches his cheek open less often. All those are things which wouldn't/shouldn't be affected by his therapy time, but are positive changes which I want to encourage. So, about 2 weeks ago, we switched from gluten-reduced to gluten-free-ish. We now do gluten-free cooking, and buy Connor gluten-free this and gluten-free that. We're not quite anti-gluten-nazis to the point of removing all gluten from his diet (there's still a little soy sauce from time to time, and I've seen him sneak the odd Cheerio off the floor when he finds one which missed the broom (ew) and he's allowed to eat a few potato chips which list wheat flour as an ingredient in their flavourings) but the amount of gluten in his diet is pretty negligible now. Having rambled through all that, the question is: Is it making a difference? Well, my Mom just got back from vacation, and she hadn't seen the Con-man for 10 days. Yesterday when she saw him again, she said she could notice the difference. He's so much more... aware of the world around him. He watches people. He listens more. Most of it is small, subtle, stuff, but it's there. From my perspective, it's hard to see the tiny day-to-day changes, but I have noticed that he's been more responsive during Connor-Time. It takes a lot less energy to connect with him, so we get more done during the one-on-one. He said "bubble!" yesterday when he found one sitting on the bookshelf after we'd been blowing bubbles together. That was cool, because it was unprompted, and because he said it in order to draw my attention to his discovery. He wanted to share his world with me. That evening, he did another very cool thing. He'd been climbing on a big pile of pillows which Kalen made in the livingroom, and bouncing on them like his sister had been doing. I was mostly ignoring him, other than to make sure he didn't tip the pile and fall on Jasen, but listend with some amusement to the sing-song noises he made while bouncing. Then there was a change in the noise he was making. It sounded less like random burbling and more like he was trying to say something, or sing something, to someone. I turned to see him, still on the pillows, looking directly at his baby brother, and Jase was watching him, fascinated. Connor kept up his bouncing/rocking in rhythm to his "singing", and then said "Jasem" while smiling right at his brother. So I'm feeling all happy right now. Connor is a long way from "normal" development for a kid of his age, but he keeps making steps in the right direction. He wants to share his world with people, instead of hiding. This is good. Very good. Lots of work (and frustration! Let me tell you about our adventures in gluten-free cooking sometime...) but still very, very good. |
| Mon, Aug 2, 2004 (9:25am) Well. Now I've gone and done it. I was just getting over this whole "being sick" thing, and now I appear to have broken a bone. Luckily, it's just a tiny bone, not one of those big important ones, like a femur or a skull. No, I appear to have fractured the distal phalange of the 4th toe on my right foot. In other words, the little piggy who got no roast beef. Ouch. Amusingly, my first thought (after the initial OUCH!!! and the following "Oooh boy - that hurt more than stubbing a toe ought to, and the angle was kinda odd, I wouldn't have actually broken it, did I? (Twist the toe sideways and see if the bone rotates or stays put - Yiiiiiiiiyeeeouch!) Oh, do I ever feel stupid now.")) was simply this: "Well, I'd better go tell Shades. He'll be glad I had the sense to break a toe instead of a leg. A broken leg would really mess up his day." So, I self-diagnosed and self-treated* my injury. The toe is firmly "buddy-taped" to the toe next to it. I'm also giving myself instructions to try staying off that foot for the next few days, and to take Tylenol q4 for swelling and pain. I'm not a very good patient though, so we'll have to see about compliance with those instructions. * Note that as a member of the medical profession, I do not endorse this sort of behaviour at all. But c'mon, the only thing they would have done differently at a hospital would be to X-ray the toes before saying, "Yep. It's broken. Tape it, and stay off the foot. Take Tylenol." You just can't do much for broken toes. |