What's On Your Mind?

I've gotten this question a lot over the last week. Trust me, if anyone saw the inner workings of THIS mind...it'd be a one-way ticket to the funny farm, I'm sure of it!

Aralynn's surgery is this week. I'm not sure I'm all that prepared for it. We've both had blessings and have been assured that things will be ok. But define "ok"...I know, I know, its the pessimist in me coming out! I dislike this side of me because it causes me worry that's entirely not warranted. I know what to expect, but then again, I don't. I've been through similar situations twice before, but those were such different circumstances on BOTH children that it just seemed pretty "cut and dry" (excuse the unintended pun). With Aralynn, there are so many variables that we just won't know until surgery day. There's only so much that the X-rays show. We DO know that it's one of the easier ones to fix. It attaches just below the knuckle and shouldn't effect the growth plates in the thumb or the "inner workings" of the thumb. They won't know, however, the condition of the ligaments, blood vessels, etc. until they cut into the thumb and start working on the separation of everything. They may or may not have to cut the remaining bone ("fracture" it) and pin it so that it grows back straight. They couldn't get a clear enough X-ray to decide that. If they do, then we're in for another round of procedures to remove the pin after it heals. We also might be looking at physical therapy for her hand to get it working properly. I'm praying that's not the case. Having one child going through therapies is tough enough. I don't envy those parents that have to do this with multiple children! I'm glad for the "normalcies" in my life.

Tyler is improving immensely. People can actually understand a good portion of what he's saying now. He's seeming more and more "normal" in society's eyes, but he's still just different enough to annoy some people. We were in the store the other day and I was trying on things in the dressing room with Aralynn and Chris had the rest of the kids with him. He'd made the comment of "lets go potty" and Tyler took off in the wrong direction, attempting to go through a door. This door happened to be the fire escape door and the alarm was set off. A couple of the kids had to go really bad, so Chris just hurried them off to the bathroom to take care of that problem. Since the dressing rooms were right next to said door, I got to over-hear the conversations between some employees. They were dropping the f-bomb and saying that some punk kids were running loose in the store. This was not true in the least, but people will see what they want to see. I finished up in the dressing room and went to put some things back on the racks and I was approached by one of the employees asking if I had seen anything or knew who did it. I replied "yes" and then the employee went off on another tangent about the "punk kids" again. I simply said, "it was my son." and turned and walked away to find the rest of my family, leaving the employee with his foot in his mouth. He went and got the manager and said that I knew something. When we went up to pay, Chris took the kids and went outside and I was cornered and the interrogation began. I was lectured first about the importance of not letting my children touch such important things in the store as the fire escape and then the questions started coming. Were we trying to leave out that door? What happened? I looked them square in the eyes and said "my son has special needs and doesn't understand things the way that others do." Enlightenment came to their eyes and they backed away slowly...almost like it was a contagious thing they were afraid of catching. I'm sure they'd heard horror stories about other families that have SN children in their family and think that the world owes them everything. This is not something that I believe in, but I will NOT let the world walk all over my child because they think he should "know better", when clearly, he just doesn't/can't understand.

He starts school tomorrow. I'm very excited about this, but I'm also hesitant too. The other kids started last week and it's been a week full of adjustments for everyone, only to have more adjustments happen this week. Anytime you change a child's schedule, it create havoc. Now throw special needs in there. Our house is an assortment of screams, tantrums and complete and utter chaos. This will only get worse before it gets better. There are so many factors that we could throw in this mix just to give a good, clear picture of my life right now, but I'm sure you don't want to hear about the potty training messes, the food aversions to some foods along with the over-indulgence to others....the list could go on. But for now, I think I'll just close this down with the satisfied appreciation that my house will be sparkling by week's end. I need to keep my mind occupied somehow to keep it off the surgery and other bumps in the road that we'll experience this week. I'm also going to have a little shadow in the afternoons. Celeste isn't going to quite know what to do with herself anymore. She depends so heavily on the entertainment of her siblings, that she's just going to be lost! Any and all crafts that are toddler friendly are welcome for suggestion!!! I'm sure I'm going to run out of ideas VERY soon!