My son has ADHD

"My son has ADHD."

I never know what kind of reaction I will get with those words.  Accusatory looks from people who assume I'm a bad parent.  Looks of sympathy from other ADHD moms.  Misplaced advice that starts with "Have you tried.....?"  Yes, we have and no, it didn't work.

I am actually giving them the shortened version because most people don't want to hear it.  But my son has ADHD, OCD, SPD, gross motor delays, and is possibly gifted.

My life is exhausting some days.

American Girl underwear

I’m sitting here, looking online at underwear for a doll that costs more than the underwear I buy for myself.

Why?  Because it’s an American Girl doll.  And my daughter needed one, because all of her friends have them and she got left out when they play with them.  And I’m a sucker.

But really….why are these dolls so expensive?  And why are their accessories so expensive?  It’s a doll.  You wouldn’t have caught me playing with a doll at 11 years old. 

And….why do these dolls have an almost cult-like following?  Especially among adults?  That’s right, adults.  I was browsing a forum this morning where people were selling dolls and accessories and one person had listed a doll for sale because she had not “bonded” with the doll.  What?!?  This is not a child or a dog.  It’s a doll.

And then….Katrina and I were at Target this weekend and I offered to buy her an outfit for her AG doll.  Of course, the outfits were in the aisle with the knock-off dolls….and she tells me that she would have been happy with one of those.  And then I seriously wanted to kick myself.

I just don’t get it.  At that age I was watching Star Trek and making a to-scale model of the solar system on the ceiling in my bedroom. 

Although I did see someone selling a ST:TOS uniform for these dolls the other day…..

Pee in the Potty

Katrina had her Barbies out tonight...which are one of the very few "toys" she still plays with.  Somewhere along the line she acquired a pink plastic Barbie toilet.  It looks like this.

So...Katrina is in practicing her piano, and I was watching to see how she's doing on a song she's supposed to memorize.  All of a sudden Emmett comes in carrying the Barbie potty...and it's dripping.  

Yep, he peed in it.  He was very proud of that fact too.

Of course, a Barbie toilet only holds so much water, so after he filled it up the pee went all over the floor.

Somebody tell me again why I wanted a little boy?

Bullying response

I recently posted a link to the video of news anchor Jennifer Livingston’s response to a bully on my Facebook page.  This is the response I received from a friend:

“This woman needs to get over it and realize people have opinions she won’t always agree with.  It’s up to her whether or not to share a personal email with the rest of the world.  She could of just deleted it along with the 5000 other spam emails we all get everyday.”

While I am a firm believer that everyone has a right to their own opinion, I wholeheartedly disagree with this one.  As a mother who’s third grader has already been subject to severe bullying at school, I applaud any effort to get the message out that this kind of behavior is unacceptable.  The fact that Ms. Livingston had the courage to publicly address the issue that she is overweight but that this kind of treatment of people is bullying and is not acceptable is to be commended.  I plan on showing this video to my daughter to drive home the point to her that bullying is not to be tolerated and that she can find the courage to stand up and call her tormenters out to the world.

St. Louis Day 3 part one

To start off our third day in St. Louis, we decided to do something more for the adults and less for the kiddos.

Tour Anheuser-Busch!

I didn't think they would...but they actually have Clydesdales at the distillery in St. Louis.  I didn't get any good pictures of the stables, but they're nicer than my house....

  I loved the old architecture.

 Paul and the kiddos in front of an old copper tub.  Notice Emmett's "smile".

 I like this guy.  I bet he'd be cool to drink with, if only I could get up there...

 They make you walk downhill several blocks on the tour, but when you get to the end they bus you back up the hill.  I thought that was a nice touch, especially as hot as it was when we were there.

 At the end of the tour, everyone gets free pop and pretzels...

 ...or the adults can each have 2 beers.  You have to bring your own sleeping toddlers though.

We were there for a couple of hours, so we were able to do something for the adults but it wasn't so long and boring that the kids were climbing the walls.  They did try to drive away in the antique beer truck, though!