Today would have been my Mom's 81st birthday

She was 42 the year she and my Dad got me as a foster child (and then they adopted me 6 yrs later).

My Mom was also a big fan of the royal family.  OK, not Charles or really any of the males (other than Prince William) but she loved the Queen, the late Queen mother and the late and beloved of the world, Diana.

The fact that Prince William married Kate Middleton today - on what would have been my Mom's birthday, choked me up this morning.

Right now my son is having yet another meltdown upstairs.

I am really frustrated with this.  But again, he was playing video games a bit today and his meltdown was because I decided that he was not going to play additional video games today.

I think I really need to try a visual timer.  No playing until save points, no anything else.  Maybe if he can visually SEE the time he gets to play he'll understand.

Alternatively, I could just say the hell with it - give his father the Game Cube and any games he provided back and then sell the games we bought leaving only the Wii in the house.

*shrug*

All I can say is that this attitude is hard to deal with.  It seems like the medication is helping Son control his impulses at school but then he is having major freak-outs at home after 5 p.m. almost daily.

Had to switch Son's follow-up appointment with the DR to Fri the 6th at 11:00 a.m.

Wondering if there will be any matinees of Thor that day?

On a rainy day

Good morning, my friends!

It's raining like crazy here but Baby Girl and I are going to be hanging out with S-girl this morning.  Hubs has his DR appt and Son is at school.

Tomorrow, you will be treated to the first ever guest-blogger post on my blog.  And it will be from my friend, Ellen from Fat Girl Wearing Thin.

Yesterday Son had one of his scary meltdowns and he actually jumped up on my back and hit me. 

It's times like this where I really worry about what will happen as he gets older...

What else has been going on?

I was out yesterday morning for a bit.  Oh and I signed up for a dealfind.com deal yesterday... $39 for 4 Sixty Minute Personal Training Sessions and a Fitness Consultation at GreenFit Health & Fitness ($375 Value)

For that price, I thought it was worth trying in the hopes that some of the things I do/learn are ones I can then continue to do at home without any personal trainer.

My calf is slowly feeling better and I hope to resume C25K with K training this week.  Even if it's just walking or stairs for me while she gets some actual running done.

What else?

I just had a total mind blank.

OK I'm posting this entry.  Sorry I'm a bit scattered.

a sort of random post

Yesterday we went to the Farmer's Market and in one of the buildings they sell models and stuff and I had to take a picture of this one, simply because "Clara May" was almost my first name when my parents were choosing a name for me when I was adopted.

It had nothing to do with the ship -- it was because my social worker's first name was Clara and my parents really liked her (and so did I apparently, though I do not remember my "Auntie Clara").

Now this morning, Son had an appointment with his pediatrician and we are going to be trying him on a low dose of medication.

It is called "biphentin" and is typically prescribed to ADD/ADHD patients.

I tend to be very anti-medication when it comes to autism, so this is a big thing for us to try it but I really have a lot of faith in Son's pediatrician.

I was cautioned that it could impact Son's sleeping and that, if that occurs, that I should pick up some over-the-counter melatonin in such a circumstance.

In 3 wks, I am supposed to have his teacher fill out a Snap-IV assessment and I'll be filling one out re: his behaviour at home and then in a month, we go back to the pediatrician with the information to assess how it's working for Son.

Upcoming medical appointments are:

April 26th @ 10:50 a.m. - Hubs goes in to find out if the Big V was successful and if he is "swimmer-free" or not.

May 3rd @ 10 a.m. I go in to my DR for my physical (btw, my DR mentioned my weight loss when I had Baby Girl in yesterday).

May 11th @ 11 a.m. I have to take Son back to the pediatrician.

June 27th @1:40 p.m. Baby Girl goes in for her 15 month appt.

Still no luck on the job front for Hubs... he followed up with one place and was told they aren't choosing potential applicants for interviews until after April 21st.

He did get a pre-screening call from a warehouse but he won't know if he made it past the pre-screen for at least a week.

So please keep sending good vibes :>

Thank you, Stan Lee

*Edited to add: I'd really like Stan Lee to know what an impact he had on Son - so I am hoping that if you read this - you'll Tweet this to @TheRealStanLee in the hopes that he actually gets to know how much gratitude we feel towards him...

OK, so you all know that this blog is mostly about my personal journey into health and wellness for myself and my family.

Most of you have been around long enough to see pics of Step-Daughter, Son and Baby Girl.

And some of you may even remember that Son has high-functioning autism.

Well what you may not know is that the key for me first really getting through to Son was all thanks to Stan Lee because that magical key was SPIDERMAN.

Some children under the autism spectrum disorder "umbrella" fixate on things like trains or cars or dinosaurs but Son fixated very early on, on Spiderman.

Yes, I mean the movie with Tobey Maguire.

Son actually kind of ruined that movie for me because we had to watch it SO MANY TIMES!!!

You see, Son was diagnosed in Dec 2004, about a month after my Mom died and about a month before I finally called it quits on my marriage to Son's father.

Son would get caught up in things, lost in his own world a LOT more before he was diagnosed and even early on but he was so fascinated and fixated on Spiderman that it always gave me an "in" to his world.

I got Son Spiderman posters, games, cuddly toys and action figures. We had the movie and some of the cartoons on DVD. He wore Spiderman shoes, clothes (especially hats) and received Spiderman stickers when I *finally* got him potty-trained.

As he eventually learned to communicate better - I started to introduce more of the Marvel heroes to him. The Incredible Hulk (via the old TV show), the X-Men (via cartoons and then the movies), Ironman (via the cartoon and then the movies) as well as some of my DC faves... Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman but Marvel was always Son's favourite.

We have Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters and Marvels DVD and he loves to watch that too.

Well, last summer, Hubs, Son, Baby Girl and I attended FanExpo in Toronto with S-girl and Jeebus. (Step-Daughter was with her mother).

Why did we go?

Because Stan Lee was going to be there.

Son thought that it was one of the most awesome things in his entire life (to date).

We had Deluxe passes and that enabled us to attend the Stan Lee Q & A.

To ensure we got in, I sat in a large line and ended up breast-feeding Baby Girl while I was sitting there since Hubs and Son were out checking out the rest of the Expo.

Well, I have to say that listening to Stan Lee was a highlight for Hubs and I also because he is so engaging and personable.

The coolest part of the Q&A was when Stan was taking questions from the crowd and Son actually got to ask him a question.

(His question was: "Was Spiderman the first character you ever created?")

We had no idea what Son was going to ask - but I was tearing up when Son was about to speak because when he was first diagnosed, I had no idea on what his capacity and ability to communicate with others would be.

I tended to understand him fairly well but most people couldn't. He didn't even have many words.

So seeing him get to ask Stan Lee a question, that Son thought of on his very own was incredible to me.

It reminded me how thankful I am that Stan Lee created Spiderman because without that character - who knows how accessible Son's world would have been to me?

And the fact that superheroes are still a large part of his world really works for me because I can understand the joy that they can bring into a person's life (not just a child's).

Ever since I attended FanExpo, I have thought about writing a post about the experience - and especially to thank Stan Lee but I am a procrastinator so I thought I would do it today.

Thank you, Stan Lee for creating so many heroes that I began to enjoy in my childhood and that helped me and the world relate to and communicate with my son.

Here's Son before he was diagnosed, having a freak out (Sept 21, 2004).

July 10, 2004 - Spiderman shirt

This is one of the items Stan signed via mail (not at FanExpo)

Myself & Son wearing 2 of his Spiderman hats in '09

Son at FanExpo Toronto 2010

And a very short video of Stan Lee...