What the HELL is an 'Ass Burger'?

That was one of my thoughts tonight as I listened to my boys' stepmom on the phone.

"K" has been diagnosed with 'Asperger Syndrome' which is "... a developmental disorder. It is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of a distinct group of neurological conditions characterized by a greater or lesser degree of impairment in language and communication skills, as well as repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior."

It took awhile before what she was saying sunk in and when it did, the tears began to fall and suddenly I was devastated, terrified and somewhat relieved to finally have an accurate description of what is 'wrong' with my baby boy. The words autism and suicide continue to ring loudly in my head as I try to wrap my brain around what to do next and how I can help my son deal with this. At 14 years old, is he going to be able to reach the potential we know he has inside, or will it be too late to protect him from a grim future?

I'm so mentally tired right now. I'm going to try to sleep on this and hope to awake with a clearer mind and new direction. I shall return, my friends.

Wonderful Wednesday (mostly)

Thank you all for your kind words about the new job and such. It was great to come home and find something other than spam in my inbox.

Day one of the new job went quite well. Everything seemed to go smoothly and it felt good to not be in a room full of kids with immature attitudes. I didn't feel all alone either as there was a friendly face in a new girl I met last week. So at least I had someone to chat with while we waited for our day to begin. Nothing extraordinary about the day; just lots of paperwork and some very basic training. Maybe tomorrow we'll start some individual training specific to each job description. Not really hard work, but instead lots of common sense stuff. I had to laugh at how elementary some of it was. Thursday and Friday promise to be much busier and less boring, so I can't stay up too late.

On a totally unrelated note: I had a very weird "visitor" this evening. Supposedly a new neighbor from around the corner, asking me all kinds of questions about my life, my house, my comings and goings. She began to make me feel very uncomfortable as I began to question what her motive might be. I hate feeling so insecure in my own home, but sometimes you've just gotta trust your gut. So I asked a friend (along with the firemen across the street) to keep an extra watch on the place while we're gone. Hopefully by next week, we'll have a more stable schedule where one of us will almost always be home.

In the meantime, I've got the critters to scare people away.

Did You Signal Before Making That Left Turn?

Those things I said I wanted to talk about yesterday? Gonna have to wait. Wanna know why?

Because my boys may be coming here this weekend for the Team Impact Crusade! I don't want to get overly excited like I did here (too late!) but just in case they do visit, I've got stuff to do and clean! And right now my stomach is all in knots with anticipation and worry. The last time they were here with their stepmom, things ended up going terribly wrong. I'll know for sure by the end of the day and will come back to update y'all.

So I'm off to start my To-Do-List.

And just in case you didn't have enough links in this post, here's another. Kinda freaky considering the past few months, no?

*****UPDATE*****
10:00 P.M.
Boys and stepmom will be leaving tomorrow morning (not sure exactly when yet) and will be here for awhile before we have to go to the crusade thingy. All three will be sleeping HERE (yes, even stepmom) and returning home Sunday. I'm so excited. I still have a few things to clean, but the big stuff is either already done or not gonna get done. Right now, I'm just taking a breather so I don't collapse and end up missing out on a great weekend! Even Lil' Miss is full of energy and ideas for her visit with the brothers! Y'all take care; I'll be back with pictures!!!

Wedding Words

Friday night I was throughly exhausted and enjoying some relaxing time alone on the computer. I was waiting for Lil' Miss to fall asleep, as she had had a very long and busy day and knew she should drop before too long.

So then she came in and asked me to tell her all the words for getting married, and I told her she should try it herself first, especially since I was really tired and not in the mood for dictation. She crawled up on my bed and began to write. I laid down beside her resting my eyes as she finished the vows for her Barbie dolls Annaliesse and Dominick. When she was done she read them to me before she closed her eyes and fell right to sleep.

I was quite impressed so I decided to share with y'all her "wedding words" as she wrote them, punctuation, spelling and capitalization as well.

"We are gatherd Here Today For true Love, if you Have a ring give it to who you are giveing it to Prinsess aniles do you take King dominick to Be your Wedded Husbund? _____ King dominick do you take Prinssess aniles to be your Wedded Wife _____ if anyone thinks these two should not be Married speak NOW you may kiss the bride."

Soon She'll be Cruisin' the Hood

Quick Question for y'all: Have you ever eaten "hummus"? If so, I'd like to know what you thought of it. I was given an entire case of little cans (3 oz./85g) of this stuff and don't have a freaking clue what to do with it. The only info I've found so far had something to do with using it as a spread on pita bread.

Ok, now on to something more exciting!!! Lil' Miss is NOW officially a "two-wheelin' chick!" I'd asked her earlier this week when she thought she might want to give up those training wheels and to my amazement, she said "tomorrow." We'd tried weaning her from them about a year ago, but she was too scared and swore she'd never take them off.

Well "tomorrow" was a school day with other afternoon plans so I told her we'd take the baby wheels off her bike this weekend. Several times a day, every day she'd remind me of her new found excitement to ride like a big kid. (She's dying to ride her bike to school, which I think is the main catalyst here.) Saturday morning came and mom was dead tired and not exactly thrilled to be out running around but I told her we'd do it, so I got her to give me a break until the afternoon. By the time I was almost ready, the boys' stepmom called and then I talked to my big babies for close to two hours. Then the girls (neighborhood teenagers) stopped by to hang out. Lil' Miss was so eager to get out there and practice.

I'd taken the extra wheels off while talking on the phone, so her bike was just sitting there taunting her to get on. I asked her to give me just a few more minutes to relax then we'd go. Finally she picked up the bike and just sat on it, getting the feel of the unbalanced bike. One of the girls told her to just walk around with it for now, picking up her feet (without putting them on the pedals) and try to balance herself. A few laps around the driveway and Lil' Miss gained some confidence to put her feet up on the pedals for just a moment. Then another moment. And another.

Suddenly, she just started pedaling around and without ANY help, she was riding her bike!!! We just sat there in shock at how easy it was for her. I remember lots of crashing, tears and blood from my boys. Her high pitched squeals of joy were unbelievable and I really wished I'd had a camera to capture this rite of passage!!! Daddy sounded very sad to have missed the moment, so by the light of the full moon and our bright orange Halloween lights, she showed him when he came home from work, riding like a (semi) pro.

And we just smiled and felt the warmth inside as we beamed with pride.

(I dread the thought of her falling and getting hurt, as will surely happen soon, but for now her confidence is sky-high!)