Another Week Comes to a Close

This week was a fairly typical week. I went to the gym Monday and Wednesday mornings, I went to my therapist and started EMDR on Tuesday, I had class Wednesday night. I played WoW Tues-Thurs nights for about 2-3 hours each night (raiding), and I spent Friday being as lazy as I could possibly manage while Ceili was home because there's no school on Fridays. This morning, I woke up early to go to the salon and get my roots touched up and my bangs cut.

I had Starbucks four or five times this week, including this morning. I stuck to my diet 3 days, cheated on dinner the 4th day, and cheated outright yesterday, although it IS a flex plan with two days off per week, so it just means I have to get back on the diet tomorrow instead of waiting until Monday.

I spent three days on the phone with our pediatrician's office trying to get follow-up X-rays on the coin(?) in C's throat that showed up in her X-rays on the 22nd, which the doctor felt needed foll-up X-rays to see if it was still lodged in her throat and/or needed surgical removal. That battle to get someone on the phone and to get a phone call returned resolved in them calling me after closing on Friday to tell me I could pick up the X-ray order on Monday morning, so I guess I'll be going by there while C is at school and taking her for X-rays when she gets home. It makes me nervous knowing there was something in her throat and that it's taking this long to verify whether it's still there and whether it needs removing.

I also spoke several times with the company that will be making C's custom wheelchair, as ordered by the orthopedist at Shriner's. Things seem to be progressing well so far. They're going to talk to C's PT at the school on Monday and schedule a time to go down and evaluate C, measure her, etc to determine exactly what kind of chair and cushions she needs. That will be done before they can get authorization from our insurance company, but it seems our insurance company has a good track record of approving mobility assistive devices from that company when a doctor orders them (no small miracle there!). The insurance company typically covers $3,500 of the cost of the chair, which should be enough, unless it's determined that she needs custom molded cushions as opposed to just regular cushions that are cut to size and placed strategically for her needs, so there's a chance this new chair could cost us nothing, which would be an enormous miracle. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that there's any chance we could get the chair before we leave for the holidays on Dec. 20, because we use our current wheelchair heavily while traveling, and it would just be fantastic to have the new one ready in time for our trip!

I foolishly bought "one last" gift for my husband for Christmas, even though I couldn't afford it. It's something I know he wants, though, so it'll be worth it when he opens it and bursts with childlike excitement over the silly thing. I'm having all of his gifts shipped to my parents' house in Texas, which is where we'll be spending Christmas. His anniversary and birthday presents are going there, too, as we'll still be visiting there when those special days roll around.

For our anniversary, which happens to fall on New Year's Eve, we'll be staying at the same hotel we stayed on our wedding night, with the same view of the river and the fireworks that are set off over the river at midnight. My mom is babysitting C overnight, so we'll get to go out to dinner and/or drinks if we like, have a romantic night in a luxurious room, and try to remember what it's like to be a couple instead of just parents. Sometimes it's difficult to be both, and parenting always seems to come first, so it should be a really good night off for us. I can't wait! Plus, the next morning is his birthday, so he can open anniversary and birthday presents all in the hotel room, and I won't have my mom looking over shoulders grumbling about how I spent too much money on gifts. ;)

Ceili's school didn't send home any art projects this week, which was a bit of a disappointment. Some weeks, they send home a few things on Thursdays, and then other times, they wait a few weeks and send home a whole bag of stuff all at once. I guess they'll be sending a bag one of these weeks, so I can at least look forward to that, but I just burst with pride when those things come home from school, especially since she's doing more and more of the work by herself, and I can see her influence expressed in the art. Looking at her fingerpaintings, I can see her in my mind, hands covered in paint, smearing the page and squealing with utter delight. That's half the joy of getting her work.

I missed the post-Thanksgiving weekend 60% off custom framing at Michaels, so I'm going to have to wait for their next framing special to get a favorite fingerpainting and her first completely solo watercolor done with a paintbrush framed to hang in the hallway. I intend to turn the hall walls into a C museum with all of my favorite works. She's getting watercolors for Christmas this year, so she'll even have some homemade works to hang on the wall. (I need the hallway because, let's face it, a refrigerator door just isn't big enough to showcase all of the artistic masterpieces made by an only child with special needs!)

I've been plugging LakeshoreLearning.com on Twitter lately, and with good reason. They have an amazing array of toys and furniture that are perfect for parents or educators of children with a variety of special needs, and many of C's Christmas presents are coming from there. The biggie was the sand and water table I ordered on Nov. 28 that arrived at my door just FOUR DAYS later, on Dec. 2. I'm not going to set it up in her room until after we get home from Texas, but she is going to LOVE that. The water table is her favorite station at school, so I know it's the perfect Christmas gift for her. I'm going to have to get creative about covering the carpet in her room, though, or I'll never be able to get the sand out of it! ;)

Speaking of Christmas Shopping...

It's Plug Time!

Two super crafty and multi-talented friends of mine have online shops full of beautiful handmade jewelry.

http://www.zibbet.com/Polkadotbandit for all your silver needs, and Maoiliosa for Japanese-inspired chiyogami jewelry and goods.  Get your holiday shopping out of the way with handmade items from hard-working crafters and support small business!

Both of these girls are sweethearts, and I want things from both of their shops.  Feel free to shop for me at either.  I wear a size 6 ring, and I like necklaces a lot.  ;)

Christmas Shopping

Christmas shopping for a four-year-old should be easy.  You pick up the latest Dora toy, or the latest Yo Gabba Gabba whatever, or a Leapster LeapPad and some games.  Done.  Game over.

Shopping for a four-year-old with the cognitive abilities of an 18-month-old is a little tougher.  She doesn't watch Dora or Yo Gabba Gabba (I'm really not even sure what that is) or anything else for that matter.  Whether it's because she's legally blind and gets limited satisfaction from visual cues on the television or because her attention span is too short for things she doesn't understand, I don't know or care.  The fact is, she only recently discovered the tv, and all she wants to do is touch it and bang against it.  She might watch for a minute or two if there's something colorful and pretty going on, but that's about it.  So we can knock all the show-related toys off our Christmas list.

This year, I wanted to get her a LeapPad.  She loves playing with my iPhone because of the touch screen, so why not give her something of her own with a touch screen and educational games?  The problem, of course, is that she won't understand the games.  It will be just like anything else where she touches it and something either happens or it doesn't, and she'll enjoy tapping her finger against it for as long as things happen or for five minutes, whichever comes first.  So perhaps my best-yet idea isn't such a great one.

It's difficult to buy developmentally appropriate toys for a child with disabilities.  You want to buy them toys that challenge them so they grow and develop, but the toys have to be within their cognitive grasp.  You can't just sit them down with a computer and toddler computer games and expect them to learn how to spell when they still have very little receptive language and no spoken language.  It's a real challenge...  So I have no idea what Ceili is getting for Christmas this year.  I've got a 3' tent shaped like a castle for her to play in (although the castle significance will be lost on her), some stacking cups because we're working on putting things in and stacking, and butterfly magnets because she likes to play with the magnets on the fridge.  That's the best I've come up with so far.  Maybe I'll go by the teachers' store in Reno tomorrow and see what sorts of educational/developmental toys they have there...  Because when you have a child with delays, you don't buy toys that are just toys.  Everything is a learning opportunity, and you don't waste time on things that won't help them grow.

I also need to find Ceili about 20 new board books, because she's tired of her current books and has started tearing them up.  (This is why we buy board books and not paper books--tougher to tear.)  Surely the teachers' supply store can help me out with that one, too...