Happy 8th Birthday to Amanda!!

Miss Amanda had a not so great day. Her nose was runny, she was rubbing her face with snot and rubbing her eyes, the allergy index was pretty high!  Her mood was grumpy and well, today autism won.   Today she was pulling hair, shoving people over, scratching, crying, and raging. I just want to cry for her and with her.We plan on taking the little girls to The Croods later this week, maybe she will be happier and enjoy that.  I wish she could have had a joyous day today. (sniff)

 I was looking forward to her birthday, she has been making great strides in controlling her impulses, and we thought she would look forward to opening gifts and having a special cake. She did enjoy her cake! She did not care about gifts at all.

Happy Birthday to sweet Amanda! I hope our beloved  girl feels much better tomorrow.

Out and about

We took Meghan, Amanda and Kara to Home Depot today, I know, we must be out of our minds, doing that on a Saturday. Meghan decided to walk alongside her dad, Kara sat in Dad's basket, I put Amanda in a second basket. We needed plants for spring and some fencing for the dogs. 

We started in the plant section, I can spend hours  there, I just love imagining new gardens, and after digging up 7 dead Tea Roses, I have a blank slate.  I was gathering everything I needed for my garden and my empty pots as fast as I could, the place was crowded, not really the best place for our girls, especially Amanda.

I got the flowers I wanted, Kara pulled all the flowers and large leaves off of one of them, she tried throwing a few on the ground. Amanda kicked off her shoe. OK, nothing really terrible there. Amanda was smiling, giggling, and relatively quiet for her. I was feeling relaxed and just happy to not be in pain today, stupid arthritis can really get me down sometimes.

I stopped to look at some red verbena, and a pretty older woman made the mistake of standing near Amanda who proceeded to grab the ladies tee and jerk it and the woman wearing it towards her. Tom removed Amanda's hand, and I apologized to the woman. She seemed totally OK with the interaction, even turning to smile at Amanda. I immediately thought; "She must have someone with special needs in her family". I moved us away from her anyway, for her protection. Once Amanda decides someone needs her attention, she rarely gives up...

We had to go from the garden section to the lumber, which just had to be all the way on the other side of the store. We worry about it, because Kara likes grabbing things off shelves as we walk by, thankfully they are usually unbreakable. Today the aisles were wide enough not to offer her any temptation. We got the usual stares from other shoppers, but most people were intent on their own shopping, and I was glad for that.

We found the temporary fencing for the back yard; we need to spread Diatomaceous earth to combat ticks, the dogs cannot be near the ground, as inhaling the powder could damage their lungs. Amanda and I decided Tom could figure out what kind of fencing to purchase and went back to the garden section. She was in a playful mood so I was goofing around with her, she was making eye contact, smiling, happy, and I wanted to enjoy it.  In her zeal she began to scream, LOUDLY, and of course everyone around us stopped and stared. I just smiled at them and we kept walking.  She did continually try to grab my shirt, but I simply remind her that she needed to use "nice hands" and she would move her hands back. She is getting so much better at listening and pulling back. 

We know the Kara and Amanda can be rowdy, loud, grabby, and are prone to making weird noises, we re-direct them all day for it, but even though we had a couple of 
incidents, I was proud of them today. 

You can tell Meghan is growing up, she calmly walked beside us, only stopping to sit at the patio furniture again, she does this at any store that sells it, telling us; "Look Mom, oh so pretty".  Honestly, a girl who adores lawn furniture? Our Meghan is quirky! Nothing would make her happier than a set added to the back yard. Unfortunately, Lola and Chloe, our "chew it to pieces" Labs would destroy anything but metal furniture, and a place that has 100+ degree summer days cannot have metal furniture, OUCH! Do Lab's ever stop chewing up everything? 

I found the most beautifully done dolls today, they are made to resemble children with Down syndrome, and unlike some very unflattering depictions of previous doll makers, these dolls are simply  gorgeous!

www.dollsfordowns.org

I hope I can get one for each of my girls eventually, though I would love it if she chose different eye colors for some, our Meghan has very blue eyes, but brown hair (just like her big sister), that combination is always so hard to find.