You can't handle the tooth

Nateman- you are growing up! Our lil guy lost his first tooth today while at school. His aide saw him "chewing" on something so she made him spit it out- sure enough...a tooth! No blood or anything and he hasn't seemed to notice. Maybe the two top big ones will have a bigger impact and he will notice. We are just so glad he didn't swallow it! I have been worried for awhile. He is 5 yrs and 8 months old (or 68 months for you freak moms out there.ha!) so we have been waiting for the teeth to start falling out. I am sure he's on track time wise- we just have so many friends with kids his same age and they have lost so many teeth already!

Meet Mr. & Mrs. Toothie. The top opens to put your tooth inside. Neve was so excited about her brother's big tooth adventure that she got one too..just in case. ;)

Happy as a clam. lol. He wanted nothing to do with my tooth taking picture time. (and please excuse his eye we had an "allergy thing" at school today).

Neve insisted on taking a bath with Nate tonight and he perked up by then and didn't mind my pictures so I happily snapped away.

Now let's hope the Tooth Fairy brings him a big ol' box of raisins.... :)

Whatcha wadin' for?

FIELD TRIP! Today, Neve's school headed to Riparian Preserve, for a water filled field day. Yay! ( I think). Hahahah..no it was tons of fun- just hot as hell. I am not cut out for the heat and get super cranky. (I know, what's new, right?)
At least EVERY kid had to have a guardian stay so I wasn't stuff being the sole chaperon or anything.

First up was bubble blowing and then duck feeding.

Then mural painting...

Then chillin with her homegirls..

...and of course, hugging. It's what little girls do best.

They went exploring in the creek..Neve is pointing out the ducks downstream..

..Then the bucket brigade..

..and water fights.

..and chasing your teacher down!!

Storytime and then...

a mean game of Duck Duck Goose.

Fun in the sun for sure..and now I am ready to hibernate for the rest of the dang summer.

Ok- I am off to bed. busy week. Nateman's (first round-ha!) IEP is on Friday morning so I will be prepping for that. Hopefully there won't be too many surprises and I certainly do love their faces when I tell them I won't sign until I have time to "reflect". :)

I will update after the meeting. Wish me luck!

Hangin' with my PEEPS

Happy Easter! I thought we were gonna skip visiting "The Bunny" this year, but Neve seemed excited for it so I took just her. Nate went with Dad to get a haircut- which is probably the best thing since he would NOT dig the Bunny. Just not his thing and that's cool. :)
She did really well and sat on his lap just fine...and then when they took her picture she did this scrunched up neck thing. lol. Funny. She liked it though and wondered why he wore glasses like her Grandma and Magenta from Blues Clues. Well I suppose one would THINK his vision would be superb after eating all those carrots...

I am going to load the rest of the pics (probably tomorrow) here if you want to check them out...

Portnoy Pictures

Today we headed out to my mom's house which is on the other side of Phoenix- about an hour drive with no traffic.

Mom was in charge on the egg hunt- which is hilarious in itself. My only REAL Easter memory I have from my childhood involved a botched egg hunt at my parent's house. They hid chocolate filled eggs all over the yard before church and when we got home it was time to find them. Instead we came home from church to find a gazillion black squirrels in our backyard nibbling on a buffet of chocolates. The yard was full of  Easter carnage- bright colored eggs and tin foil chocolate wrappers galore. I'm sure Brett just shrugged and went inside, where I am scarred to this day. I guess that explains a lot. ha! Anyway, I digress....back to the hunt. Mom, Aunt Cindy and Uncle Steve, and mom's friend Susan, were there and the kids found eggs on mom's back patio and then followed a trail of eggs down to the neighbors yard. They found their Easter baskets and goodies there. Nate's favorite was his Handy Dandy Notebook (from Blues Clues) that I made him, and Neve's favorite was her new big girl bike (complete with seat on the back for her Easter Bunny).

It's Friday, Friday, Gotta get down on Friday

No school today. Grrr. I love my kids but no school days are so rough when I am running a one man show while Apo is working. I decided to take my kiddos to the park super early so we could stay as cool as possible. I am limited as to which parks we can go to becasue they need to A) be covered, and B) be small-ish so I can dart after Nateman as needed while not losing site of Neve. I took some pics on my phone while we were there because they were being so good and actually staying together!!

This girl really is the sweetest thing when she wants to be. This was totally unprompted- she just loves Nate so much! I can see why. :) Poor Nateman is like, "GET OUTTA MY SPACE, GIRL!"..hahahha. He is actually fairly tolerant of all her huggin and kissin.

Then is was off to Jamba Juice for smoothies. They have awesome all juice smoothies now with veggies too. woo-hoo! I have a feeling we will be consuming MANY fruit and veggie smoothies over this insanely hot summer.

...And then he kissed me

Ok. Our little tartlet had her first kiss today on the playground at school. Hilarious. Neve and her boyfriend, Logan, have apparently taken things to the next level. hahahha. I showed up today to hang with her class a bit and help out. They were out on the playground and I found Neve in the wooden playhouse with some boys.
ME: "Neve- what are you doing in there?". NEVE: "kissing Logan and doing laundry."

Um, ok. lol. So darn funny. They then lined up along the fence to get ready to head back into the school and I saw Logan kissing on Neve's cheek and they were giggling so I ran over with my camera to try and catch the moment..

so sweet, right? Well then my little Lolita decides to up the game and pins Logan against the fence and lays one on him. I was rolling. The boys don't stand a chance.

So are 3 year olds going to first base these days???? geesh. Moms, hide your sons. I can't contain her forever. :)

The Portnoy Family Vacation- Wally World or Bust!

The time has come. It's time to attempt planning our first ever .......DRUMROLL PLEASE!.....Family vacation! I am sure our family is not alone in the special needs community for never having taken a vacation. Of course there is the financial aspect of it all- do you choose Hyperbaric therapy or the beach? Vitamins and expensive doctors/meds or a cruise? Our family choice has ALWAYS been in favor of therapy needs for Nate. Always. Then there is Nate- a VERY rigid child in regards to changes in structure and environment. Moving to Arizona this time was brutal. We had to stay in a hotel for one night before we flew here and it was so hard on the little guy. He was up a lot and crying. Confused to pieces as to where the heck he was. Ugh. We hated it but we knew it was necessary to the moving process. Then there was our rental house when we got here in August. Nate ended up sharing a room with Neve which proved to be difficult on many levels, but it worked out (somewhat) after he finally got slightly comfortable.
So how do we afford it? What do we sacrifice to make it happen? What if Nate doesn't sleep? What if he has a seizure while we are there or has an allergic reaction? The "Hows?" and What-ifs?" keep mounting.

Well, screw it. Sometimes you need to step out of your comfort zone and just go for it. (this is me talking myself into this..ha!) Disneyland is a 6+ hour drive from here- totally doable, they both are fine in the car (well as fine as any 3 and 6 yr old are--annoying, but fine). Aaron and I both know that Nate will love the actual parks. He loves rides and we are able to get a disability pass to cut down somewhat on the "waiting in line" part. Nate actually doesn't mind the noise or crowds so much- although I know he will be in sensory input overload with all the lights and sounds. The chefs at Disneyland are capable of creating special meals to accommodate our dietary needs (gluten, dairy, soy, corn, nut, rice, FREE)- even allowing Neve to have special made mickey ear shaped waffles and pancakes for the character breakfast and fruit and meats for Nate. The resort is able to bring a large refrigerator into our room for our stay for our refrigerated medications and special foods. My kids love raw fruits and veggies so we are able to pack our bag with broccoli, cauliflower, apples, carrots, bananas, and the like for portable munching in the parks (so we can avoid the churros and ginormous turkey legs-well Aaron will sneak off for those I am sure-hehe).

We have been mulling this over for awhile and the kids will be 3 and 6 in the Fall- so we are planning for during Fall Break in October (yes, the kids get a week off here in AZ for "Fall Break" - so dumb if you ask me). ...and now we believe Nate's grandparents are on board to come meet us there to help. Hallelujah!

So let the planning begin. I just heard back from Medieval Times as well and they are able to accommodate all of our dietary needs as well. Yay!
It will be nothing short of a Griswald debacle I am quite sure, but we are going for it. Wally World or Bust!!

Easy listening with Neve

Now if your heart doesn't just melt from my lispy tone deaf 3 year old's version of James Taylor, your soul is black. Really, it is.

Portnoy's Complaint

Not too much progress in regards to the rabid biting child at Nate's school. Surprisingly, it's not so much the fact that it is happening that bothers me(ok, well that bothers me too)..it's that poor Nateman has NO CLUE how to tell me. He supposedly didn't cry or "tell" anyone at school either. UGH! Makes me wanna throw up. ...and  then I have to dodge disapproving comments about my strong stand on NEVER placing Nateman on a bus as long as I live. Are you kidding me? I will NEVER place my non-verbal Autistic child on a bus so help me Jebus. It's bad enough that he can't tell me what happens at school where there is required (and I say that loosely) supervision...and I don't want him "with an aide" or on a "small van" or any of that BS. He is five. He is my baby. I quit working long ago to care for him 24/7. If I ever bitch about driving him to school, Lil' Lestat comes along and reminds me of what happens to kids like Nate that are alone. I am lucky that this is ALL that is happening without my knowledge so far.

I found out that an autistic high school student, at the same high school I went to, was allegedly recorded on some pint size high school Douchebag's phone while using the bathroom. The demented loser thought it was hilarious the way the special needs kid would talk to himself and script things while using the bathroom. The jackass then posted this video on Facebook. Just because he thought it was funny. HIGHlarious, Dude. Makes me want actually harm you.

The Autistic victim is my relative. His mother is an educated INVOLVED parent that has done everything in her power and beyond to protect her kiddo and then this happens. Makes me sick.

So what will happen to Nate? I have no clue what the cards hold for him. BUT, I know that protecting him myself, and insuring that others around him are required to as well, is something I can do at all costs. AND I will hold those accountable that fail. period. It starst with dropping Nate off everyday at his school, watching him enter teh building..and then watching him exit it when I pick him up. I drive my own short bus and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Look, I don't write this blog to impress anyone. You won't see any cutesy ads or contests or any of that BS on here. This is record for ME. Life is messy. Life is dirty. I don't care if I air my dirty laundry. I CHOOSE to. I don't give plastic answers when someone asks how I am. Well, I might make a gazillion sarcastic comments..but I am always real. I love my kids- to the moon and back. ..and this blog is written in reference to real life. One post is UP, the next is DOWN..because that's how life really is.

Ok, that feels better. This Portnoy just had to air her complaint. Thanks for listening. Puppies and rainbows. Puppies and rainbows. Puppies and rainbows.

Happy as a pig in WHAT did you say, Mom???

Yep- it was my day to volunteer at preschool with Neve. The theme? Mud Pie Kitchen. Ha! I had a blast with the kiddos helping them be, well, KIDS. It was great fun. I think EVERY parent said they pitied me for "having" to help. um, wha??? I love watching the kids! I am forever aware of how lucky I am to have a smart, happy, playful daughter that LOVES having her mom at school. I am going to turn around and she will be 16 and telling me how uncool I am and crying because the Mormon boy next door won't kiss her and she's pissed that the fake ID I made her won't work. Bahahaha!

Could she be any happier at preschool? I think not. :)

Neve was picked to be Fish Feeder today so she got to feed "Bubbles" the class fish.

Painting with chocolate pudding with her friend, Addison.

...showing off her counting skills.

BRING ON THE MUD!

...and of course some little delinquent busted out the hose on the slide.

This little piggy needs a bath.

Great day of fun at preschool...now if only my mind wasn't on Nate being attacked by Johnny Bites-a-Lot at HIS school. ((Sigh))...more to come on that later. Deciding which can of whoop-ass I am planning on unleashing on the district. Decisions, decisions...