Where to start..hmmm...
After loads and loads of laundry...just kidding, I won't go that into detail on the grind of life. Although, on average how many loads do you have a week? How do you separate your clothes? Does grey go in your lights pile or darks? It can be interesting...
We are definitely moving forward with our little Em. She has been accepted into our school district's special education preschool. She will start Monday(!!) and go from 9-12:30. Be still my heart. Not just that, but they prefer her to ride a bus to school. Being the pansy mama I am, I balked. "Oh, that is alright. I don't mind taking her..." I trailed off as I noticed their glances and grins to each other. They had a feeling I might say that. After explaining the benefits of bus riding for prepping Em for school time and an easier more productive start for the teacher, I acquiesced. "You can follow the bus in your own vehicle and peek in to see how she's doing, if you want." What? No, sheesh. I'm not that crazy/desperate/lonely/empty-nester of a mama. (ok, ok, maybe just once in awhile won't label me too cray of a mama, right??). She's just a baby...
Another improvement has been having Jessica from ABA services come. We are starting to overhaul Emme's every day life. No more are her one word shouts considered a correct request. Emmeline has the ability to use proper words, it is just too hard/uncomfortable for her to pull them out of her head to utilize them. But, for her to grow and develop properly, it is something she must learn to do. So, in order to watch Dora, she must request by saying, "I want Dora". The same for bananas, drinks, La la loopsies. Be still my pansy mama heart. I know she can do it, but change is never easy. Tantrums are becoming quite frequent. It is definitely harder before it gets easier...and this is day 1!! We had to explain many, MANY times to the beasty brothers that we weren't being deliberately cruel by not just giving Emmeline her strawberry milk when she was reaching for it. The protective Gavin showed his claws last night at dinner. Josiah had to leave the room with tears in his big brown eyes and Gunnison shoved the drink to Em when I wasn't paying attention. Yep. Definitely gonna have to work to see the efforts aren't sabotaged.
Meanwhile, happy Halloween-ish things have been happening. Our ward had our Trunk -or- Treat on Friday. The youth were in charge of it, however a lot of delegation came into play. The YM and YW totally rocked a haunted maze! They worked crazy hard and were actually kinda crazy scary. They thoroughly enjoyed me walking through. I'm the biggest goober...here I knew the ins and outs of the stinkin' thing and I still squealed like a piggie. They loved me, let me tell you! Our beasties and beastette loved the party. Josiah was an army man (no facial paint at all, thanks), Gavin was a vampire (yes, lots of scary facial paint, thanks) and Gunnison was a Doom Shroom from Plants vs. Zombies. His daddy rocked his costume. Seriously, when Kit decides to get creative, he is so awesome! Little miss was a Pirate. She ran around saying "Arrrr, I pirate!" It was pretty darn cute. I would post pics, but I
I'll leave now...gotta get back to my 6 loads of laundry. Light greys go in with my lights, dark greys go in with my darks and I hate washing sheets on my beds. I'm disgusting, I know...bedding is not a weekly washing.
9 comments:
I decided a couple years ago to simplify laundry. I used to subdivide into whites, darks-jeans and heavy stuff, darks-shirts, lights-heavy, lights-light, light towels, dark towels, and pink/orange. That was partly because our stinkin' washer tried to explode if you put something heavy with something light. Unfortunately, all 27 loads went from half to full on the same day some how.
When we got our front loader, and the instructions said you could put as much in as you want if the door still closes, I decided it was time to rethink my sorting. I now have whites, lights, and darks. Towels sometimes go in either lights or darks, sometimes are a load of their own. Most of our towels we have had for years, so I throw all the colors together and nothing has changed colors.
If I thought about it, I would wash my sheets more often, but I choose to ignore the reality of what is actually on them. Eww. I do make sure the guest bed gets clean sheets when someone comes.
Good luck with the transitions for E. It is a challenge to not just give your kids whatever they want, but they, and you, will be better people for the restraint now.
Sheets and towels get washed weekly. My sheets and towels all fit in to one load and the kids combine their sheets and towels into one full load. We separate our undies and socks into one load, jeans and other pants that have zippers/snaps on them in 1 load, and then everything else goes into the final load. I can usually get away with 6-7 loads of laundry per week.
Our school district does the same thing with the developmental preschool: the kids all get picked up on the school bus. It's funny to see a 3-year-old riding the bus with a huge backpack, but I've never seen one complain getting on the bus!
When Cara was 18 months old she was in a speech program because if she wanted something it was screaming or it and she was lacking in overall expressive communication. The speech lady told us to do the same thing and wait until Cara actually voiced he requests. She threw fits too but it did work eventually. She didn't have the difficulty of autism to work through but I suppose the training is similar.
Laundry is laundry. I am probably the laziest laundry person ever. I have whites/lights, darks, towels(and basically anything else). Sheets get done if someone gets sick or their bed is already in shambles. The girls clothes are all washed together and not seperated. Holland's is washed seperately, not sorted either. No clothing is so nice or expensive that I would cry if it were ruined.
My laundry is basically the same as yours. Me thinks we were taught by the same teacher ;)
Oh, and as for sheets...other than the guest room we're lucky if they get washed every 6 month *cough* a year *cough* super-ewww, but I just don't think about it! Rest assure, however, that my two oldest bed-wetters get their sheets washed regularly ;)
yay! yay! for progress on the Em front, however painful it might be. You should send her to Auntie Whit...I'd probably let the homeless guy on the corner keep an eye on her until the bus comes to pick her up :P
I hate changing sheets too. My mother has always been super anal with laundry. So I do piles one for each color... although my mom would gasp if she knew I didn't wash white tee-shirts separate from other white shirts. So yeah, grays and blacks go together, whites only, purples/pinks/reds, orange/brown/yellow, greens, dark blues, and light blues. It takes all day!!!
Glad your baby girl is improving. I should use that technique on my Cole. He is super hard to understand when he talks. I've been thinking of enrolling him in some early childhood intervention programs to help him with his speech too. But if more tantrums come in addition to the already hellion two-year-old ones we have daily I will go crazy!
For years, I got away with 4 loads a week. There were whites, lights, darks, and reds. Now I still sort into the same 4 piles, but the piles have grown and now some piles are two loads worth of clothes. I keep thinking that I am still lucky that the boys clothes are so small, but as they grow so will the # of loads. :(
So happy for Emme! I know things will get better soon. We all try to buck change at first. But she will adapt!! Good luck to you and your boys!!
I know laundry is a chore, but for some reason I don't mind doing it. Whites, darks, lights, towels together, sheets together, no towels washed with socks. I turn jeans inside out (:. I can remember I would do anything to stop a screaming child! I did almost everything you can think of to attain results! My heart goes out to all of you. It might be easier if she wasn't so darn cute! You get double prayers from me! You are always in our thoughts and prayers. We love you soooo very much (:
Laundry is a daily chore when you have 6 people, so naturally you are thinking about it. I used to wash my sheets every once in a while but now I wash them weekly. I was surprised what a difference I felt when I started doing it.
Anna was delayed in speech so she began going to special needs preschool at age 3. She rode the bus and LOVED it! She couldn't wait to ride on it. I hope that Emme will be the same.
As for daily battles...they happen here with Iryna. It is TOUGH when you hear screaming and crying and it sounds like it's a big adjustment for your children as well. Try to be patient and gentle with yourself. There is a quote that I like to remind myself of and perhaps it will help you: "I CAN DO HARD THINGS." And you can, Liberty. You can do hard things. (((HUGS)))
Ummm - I separate the whites. That's good right? And I'll pull jeans out of all the other darks... most of the time.
Hang-in there. It's so overwhelming at first with all the therapies, appointments, doctors, and opinions (both professional and not) but you get into a routine and the pay-off is well worth the reward. Also, a good cry every night after the kids are in bed and your husband can hold you helps.
Just take it one day at a time, you can do it - no you will do it!
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