"The Confessional - Edition Sleeping In"

So, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to add a few new little features to the blog these days.

One that you might have noticed is "Five Favorites", in which I list five of my current favorite things.  You know, important things like special needs books, special diet cookbooks, and summer shoes.  OK, maybe not every five favorites post is filled with important stuff but you can certainly count on it to be filled with fun and hopefully helpful stuff.

The other feature I'd like to start is "The Confessional", in which we come clean about the areas of our lives that don't show up on Pinterest.  Or we bare it all about how hard raising a special needs child can be.  Or we rant and rave about important real-world issues, like why Chick-fil-a stopped making the Southwest Char-grilled Chicken Salad (I'm looking at you, Ashley!) or how hard it is to find good make-up once you hit the big 4-0.  Or the big 4-4, in my case.

I've got some other fun things in mind that I think you'll enjoy as well.

But I can't reveal them all at once.  Y'all would just die from the excitement.  I'm taking things slow for your health and safety.  You're welcome.

Sometime, I'd love to re-do the blog just a bit and add some tabs so you can easily access these new features.  But that's a project for another day.  Or never.  We'll see.

Any-who, here's the topic for today's "The Confessional - Edition Sleeping In".

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.  Sometimes, I let my school-age child sleep in on school mornings.  Meaning they will be tardy for school.  And I don't really even care.

OK - I've only done this twice in an entire year of kindergarten.

Which I personally think deserves a medal of some kind but whatever.

Sometimes, our kiddos, special needs or not, just need a few extra zzzz's.  Maybe they had a hard time falling asleep and were still awake at midnight.  Maybe they had a rough night and woke up for a couple of hours and couldn't fall back asleep.  Or maybe they woke up at 5 AM in their cold and lonely bed, got into Mom and Dad's bed, and fell back asleep, all cozied up and snuggly.  And were sleeping so soundly and peacefully, you just couldn't bear to wake them up.  So you gave them an extra 30 minutes, understanding that one tardy is typically not the first step to more serious crimes.

Actually, I don't know that for sure.  I've never interviewed prisoners and asked them if their lives of crime all began with a single tardy in kindergarten.

Maybe it did.

But it's a risk I'm just going to take.

Every now and then.

Because really, what person couldn't excuse the occasional tardy from a kid this dang cute??

Now it's your turn.  Got a "sleeping in confession" of your own?  Do tell.  Your secret is safe here.

Five Favorites: Special Diet Cookbooks

One thing that often accompanies a special needs diagnosis is the recommendation of some type of special diet.  It seems like Bird has been on some kind of dietary regimen since the age of three.  We started with the gluten-free/casein-free diet, then moved to a modified Feingold diet, and now we are on the paleo diet.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% sure that any of these diets have given us the kind of results that many people claim to witness in their kids.  But I will say a couple of things regarding diets:

1.  The one positive change I know I saw in Lily that was totally the result of a food restriction was when we removed dyes from her diet.  I saw a marked difference in her behavior.  She was more calm and focused on tasks.  I highly recommend that if you do nothing else, you consider eliminating dyes and see if you get the same results.

2.  Since beginning the paleo diet about eight months ago now, I know that I myself feel better.  Ryan has lost about 40 pounds and has kept the weight off without starving or feeling deprived.  While neither of us has celiac disease, I don't think we realized how wheat and whole grains were affecting us, from feeling bloated around the midsection to the ups and downs in our energy levels.  I'm going to assume that if the both of us feel better, than Lily must, too.

3.  Lastly, while I may not be seeing miraculous results like removing wheat then hearing my child speak her first word, I am confident that I am healing her from the inside out by making smart food choices that will set her up for a healthy life.

Now, on to the cookbooks.

Cooking for Isaiah by Silvana Nardone is one of those unique cookbooks where not one of the recipes I've made has been bad.  Filled with lots of gluten-free/casein-free treats, this is one cookbook that you won't regret purchasing.

Special Diets for Special Kids - Volumes 1 & 2 by Lisa Lewis was the first cookbook I purchased when we decided to try the gluten-free/casein-free diet for the Bird.  Not only does it have good recipes, it also thoroughly explains why the GFCF diet works for well for so many special needs kids.

Well Fed by Melissa Joulwan is a great book for those embarking on the Paleo diet.  In the first few pages of the cookbook, Melissa explains her time saving "weekly cook-ups" and that alone is worth the cost of the book.  

The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam is another good option for "paleo people".  While there are recipes for entrees, my favorites are the baked goods.

If you'd like to try a special diet but are a little confused on where to begin, this book just might be the perfect starting point.  Eating for Autism - The 10 Step Nutrition Plan to Help Treat Your Child's Autism, Asperger's, or ADHD by Elizabeth Strickland lays it all out in an easy to follow format, allowing time between steps so you determine what works and what doesn't work for your child.

So what about you?  Do you have a cookbook that you turn to over and over again to help with a special diet of some kind?  Please share!  I'm always on the lookout for great recipes.

Beyond the Sippie Cup

Lily has been using a traditional sippie cup for quite some time now.  

I've also known for quite some time now that she needs to start using a regular cup.

But since I spend a large part of my life trying to avoid unnecessary messes, I've been dragging my feet on this one.

 But it's time. 

Thanks to a sweet church member blessing us with a gift card, we had lunch at Saltgrass Steakhouse last week.

And Bird was only too happy to show off her cup skills.

Making sure that Dad is watching.

Feeling quite proud of herself.

Good to the last drop.

She thought she was such hot stuff.

So yeah.  I'm thinking it's probably time to loosen the reins just a bit and buy a few extra rolls of Bounty. 

At home, cleaning up spilled cups of juice won't be that big of a deal.  

But at school, cleaning up spills several times a day is going to get old pretty quick.

So I'm thinking of getting a couple of these awesome cups for Bird to use at school and church:

They're called Reflo Smart Cups and I think they're pretty genius.  It's a regular cup but with that snazzy little insert that just controls the flow so if the cup spills, it's not an instant gusher.  Click here to read more and watch a video about the Reflo cup.

Another good option is the Tervis tumbler that you see all over the place now.  We have a couple of the slightly smaller kid size cups like this:

And we use these travel lids that have an open/close slider for drinking...

as well as these thick, flexible straws:

It's funny how I can remember wondering if Lily Bird would ever learn to use a straw.  Or if she would ever be able to drink from a good old-fashioned cup without always pouring it all over herself.

And now that day has come.

It's the little things - little things, that in the life of a special needs parent, are actually big things.  

Can I get an amen?

Have a lovely weekend, my dear readers, and I'll see you Tuesday.

Make Your Own Stylus

I think I've pretty much established that Lily Bird is a whiz with electronics.

We were in Target a couple of weeks ago and she spotted the Nook on display.  She has never touched a Nook in her life.  Within 30 seconds, she had it up and running and was playing an app.

I don't know why it continues to surprises me how quickly she takes to electronics.  Maybe because I am such a dunce when it comes to electronics and still need a handwritten checklist to remember how to upload photos to the blog.

Oh well.

Let's move on to something I actually do know how to do.

So Lily has been working on spelling and writing her name.  

And between home and school, that child has written her name one thousand different ways - with stickers, filling in bubble letters, in shaving cream, with torn bits of paper, on a dry erase board, in fingerpaints, on an easel, with bottle caps, even the steam from her breath on a window.  

Of course, the ultimate goal is to have her write her name on paper while holding a pencil with the proper grip.

And we're about to get one step closer to that goal.

Since Lily is so motivated by all things electronic, her teacher wants to introduce her to a stylus.  But most styluses... styli.... or whatever the plural of stylus is, are quite pricey.  And many of them are thin and slick; not something that lends itself to easy use by a kindergartener.

Enter Pinterest.  

And the do-it-yourself stylus.

And just a little bit of a closer look....

I am here to tell you that these little babies work.  And they are cheap.  And they are easy to make.  Even an electronic dunce like me can make them.  Probably because there is nothing electronic involved in crafting them.

But before I send you off to the website that shows you how to make them, I offer a few little tips that might help those of us non-sciency types, such as myself: 

1.  When you buy the wire, do not buy memory wire.  You will spend lots of time getting frustrated and wanting to curse trying to get that wire to wrap around that marker while it keeps springing back to its original larger shape.  Not that I have any first-hand experience with this....  Just don't buy the memory wire, ok?

2.  The directions will tell you to wrap the wire about halfway up the marker, leaving it exposed in the middle.  Again, I have no first-hand knowledge but someone thought it might be nice to just cover all that wire up with that colored duct tape so the kids wouldn't pick at it.  Turns out your fingers must come in direct contact with the wire in order for the stylus to work.  Who knew?  Sciency stuff and all that.

3.  After finishing a stylus, I attempted to use it on my i-Phone to see if it worked.  It didn't.  

I watched the tutorial again for the gazillionth time.  I really had done everything right.  Tears were about to be shed.  Then a thought came to me.  I was making these Monday morning.  I had successfully made one stylus on Sunday night.  What was different?  Well, I remembered that when I opened the package of sponges Sunday night, they were ever so slightly damp.  And now, Monday morning, they were bone dry.  Feeling like a total dork for even trying this, I wet my fingertip and dampened the sponge tip.  And eureka!  It worked!  And then I still wanted to cry because why, why, why does science have to be so hard??

Despite the fact that I am clearly not a science girl, I have now made four of these.  If I can do it, anyone can. 

I'm so excited to see all the ways we can use this stylus to encourage Lily to write.  And maybe one day, we'll actually get to good old-fashioned pen and paper.

Now.  

Ready to make one yourself?  

Digital Kindergarten has step-by-step directions, as well as two different video tutorials.  Click here to get started.

Have a great week, sweet friends, and I'll see you Friday.

Are You a "Word Nerd"?

I don't know about you but I love words.

There's just so many ways to enjoy words:  reading, speaking, writing, listening, singing.

I love how different words mean different things depending on where you live.  For example, "boot" in England means the trunk of a car while in Texas, it's pretty much required footwear.  In the UK, "bum" is a polite way of saying "booty" and in the US, it's a vagrant or someone who's lazy.

I love listening to different dialects.

And finding that perfect word at just the right moment?  There's something so satisfying about it.

image via http://celaeno.soup.io/tag/book?since=196971013

So it may come as no surprise that I'm a total sucker for almost any type of quiz that tests my vocabulary.  Somehow, if I'm doing an online vocabulary quiz, it feels so much more productive than browsing Facebook or Pinterest.  I mean, I'm engaging in lifelong learning, am I right??

If you happen to share my love of words, then you might enjoy the following websites:

www.freeerice.com  For every correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated through the World Food Program to help end hunger.  Also, each correct answer leads to progressively more difficult words.  Feeding hungry people while testing your vocabulary?  A total win.

vocabulary.com Word challenges complete with Leaderboards if you want to get real serious.

Merriam-Webster Online has several fun word games -

Vocabulary Quiz

Name That Thing - a visual vocab quiz

Spell It

True or False

Looking for more word fun?

Click here to discover the most annoying words of 2012 according to the Marist Poll.

And here are the 10 Best Words the Internet has Given English.

image via Busy Teacher

Have a happy weekend, friends - and thanks for reading all my words!

Rush Family News

What time is it?

Well, it's past time for a post, I'll tell you that.

How about a little update on the Rush house happenings?

1.  Remember our newest addition, Prada, the precious German Shepherd puppy?  Click here if you missed it.  Well, it turns out that I am allergic to dogs.  And Reagan is allergic to dogs - as in, with prolonged exposure, severely, EpiPen allergic.  We had to say good-bye to our sweet puppy and return her to the breeder who has since found another family that loves her and can breathe around her, too.  Thankfully, Lily never really bonded with Prada so I didn't have to pry the dog away from her.  That would have made it even more heartbreaking.

2.  The Roomba.  Also mentioned in the previous post link above.

Even though an indoor dog was the reason we purchased the Roomba, I didn't have to take it back, too.  Which makes me really happy because I love this vacuum.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see that little thing running around my house, keeping my floors clean.  It does my tile, my rugs, my carpet, and my wood flooring.  And it changes to those surfaces without a hitch.  I do have to get a few things out of its path, like plants and a couple of electrical cords.  But moving those things is easier than dragging out my vacuum.   Roomba vacuums.  I mop.  And that is sweet.  It gets my stamp of approval.  Plus bonus?  Lily likes it, too.  Probably more than she liked the dog.

3.  Ryley comes home from college on May 9th.  Happy mom.

4.  Reagan got her driver's license Monday.  Happy, happy mom.

5.  We had a great ARD meeting last week.  And Lily will be attending what I think is going to be an awesome summer day camp that should be both fun and beneficial for her needs.  Happy, happy, happy mom.

6.  For the fourth summer in a row, the Rush family will be headed to Aspen in June.



Oh Aspen - how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways:  Hiking, biking, swimming, reading, mindless television watching, wandering around town, window shopping, eating oatmeal pancakes and Paradise Bakery cookies, browsing the bookstore.... rest, relaxation, and good family time.  Is it June yet??

 So what about you?  Any big (or little) news going on?  I love keeping up with you!

Have a great Wednesday, friends.