8.23.2007

Mmm, Kitten

Mmm, Kitten

Everyone's asleep and I have a warm fuzzy kitten purring atop my chest. Yay.

Fuzzy Kitten Panacea

Two nights ago Ep and Jo and I took our big kids to see Hairspray. Who knew that Cyclops could dance and sing so well? It is an electrifying movie with really talented people singing and dancing their asses off. I can understand why a person might have some technical quibbles with the staging or the movie's history but think that anyone who doesn't enjoy it on a visceral level is a constipated jerkwad. I also think that Elijah Kelley has the potential to be a manly-dancer successor to almost-same-last-named Gene.

Yesterday I took Iz and Mali and Iz's friend Emi to The Exploratorium. Very fun. My favorite part, besides everything, was watching an obviously autistic little boy whose parents let him happily stim like mad with the mallets inside the xylophone enclosure, running back and forth and wiggling them next to his ears ecstatically.

On the way we visited Seymour at work so he could show off his girls. Got to have a nice chat with one of the producers who is researching a story on 2nd Lyfe. I didn't realize there was an Aspergers/Autism-only Island, Brigadoon. Wow. They take field trips to other islands. How cool to talk to an adult about interesting topics in an almost academic way.

Last night got some very bad news about a tragedy in a friend's family. Very sad news. Haven't been able to function much since.

Leelo didn't feel much like pooping yesterday. That made him pretty grumpy. He wouldn't go until he had his nighttime pullup on. He had an accident today too. We have been busier this week than during the past two and it is not helping; he needs lots of calm downtime to relax and do his thing. Where to find it, I don't know. He was not interested in sitting on the potty much at all, when I tried to encourage him with the usual bribes (YouTube, etc.) he got irate and pinched and scratched and hit. I thought I had cut his nails short enough but the scratches all over my face and arms make me think I should try another pass.

This morning I think he was still uncomfortable. Also he didn't like being alone with his mom and sisters all morning (school is ramping up and his team is in schedule flux). Mali still won't sleep until 10 - 11 PM and I think this makes her grumpy and cry easily about things like not getting to sit on the stool she prefers. Which sets Leelo off, so he hits her and she cries harder and you can imagine the escalation.

I tried giving him some decongestant as he said his ears hurt. Didn't seem to help. I am not sure what he needed; usually I can tell in retrospect but this time he was just angry. One time I eventually figured out that my being sad and having sad expressions was the trigger but I wish I'd been quicker as it is difficult to pretend to be happy when someone has grabbed your nose using their nails for anchors and used said nose as a handle to bash your head against the wall.

Iz had her last Aikido session of the summer today; when Leelo and Mali and I came in to pick her up Leelo was very loud/screechy and again violent with me. For now she is blowing it off/not letting his behavior bother her but it's going to start mattering to her soon and/or I'm going to have to either arrange Leelo's schedule so he's not with me for pickup or have her stop going. Not feasible currently.

Supervisor M came over and had some really great thoughts about how to keep Therapist L in Leelo's life, also about how to approach the next few weeks in Leelo's new school system. I asked the local SNK board if anyone had heard of Leelo's new teacher but received no reply. But I am still feeling very positive, very hopeful that Leelo is going to be at a school where all the teachers and staff "get" him. That has never happened before.

Babysitter A, who has been with us since Mali was three months old, might need to be leaving us. I cannot even reply to that email at the moment.

I think about all my friends or web dopplegangers who do so much more than I do with more stress and fewer resources; all I can say is that I am not like you. I don't get how to be like you. I wish I did. Sorry.

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