Disney World

Well, if you read the last post you heard about Kimmie's book that's all about her. I think I really started something with my choice of pictures.

Evidentally, in looking at this book and talking with the kids and teachers at school, Kimmie has a new understanding of Disney World. And now knows how to sign it.

She tells us regularly now, almost every day, sometimes more than once a day . . . "Go to Disney World."

Hmmmmmm.

She wants to find Aladdin and the Blue Genie and hug them.

--Mom

Kimmie's "Book about Me"

The first week of school, Kimmie's homework was to complete a book about herself and then present it to the class. The pages were already started. "This is a picture of my house." "This is a picture of my family." "My favorite animal is__________." "My hobby is___________." Kimmie was to complete the pages by drawing or pasting pictures.

As is often the case, Kimmie's homework turns into Mom and Dad's homework. I hunted up and printed off several pictures to complete Kimmie's book and then wrote captions for each page. I sat down with Kimmie and we looked at the book together. She really liked it.

Her hobby is horseback riding. Her favorite animal is the Panda. Her favorite food is chocolate pudding and oreos. And her favorite movie is Aladdin.

After she took the book to school, her teacher asked if they could keep it at school for Kimmie to look at during free time.

Kimmie's favorite page seems to be "My favorite memory is _____________." For this page I put in a picture of Kimmie and her sister hugging Eeyore at Disney World. They were 6 and 9 at the time.

When we went to school on Open House night, Kimmie had to get her book and show us her favorite picture.

--Mom (Stay tuned for Part II)

Bringing Back Memories

Last night brought back memories we would rather not relive.

Kimmie has been sick with a cold/sinus stuff. She has started on an antibiotic, one she hasn't been on in years. Last night we gave her the antibiotic a little later than the night before and along with her other medications. The late hour and the combination of medications did not turn out to be a good thing.

It took her longer than usual to go to sleep, and then at about 1:30 this morning she was awake, WIDE awake, and mad, mad, mad. Finally she calmed down, then she was happy, happy, signing a blue streak, but still wide awake. Then out of the blue she was mad and we went through mad fits. Back and forth she went until almost 5:00 AM. Shortly after 5:00 she fell asleep. We get up at 5:00 so it was a very short night--or long, depending on how you look at it.

I let her sleep about an hour and then woke her up, got her ready for school and put her on the bus. It was one of those days when I was glad to get rid of her.

For the first 6 years of her life she hardly ever slept between 1:00 am and 5:00 am. Those are memories we'd rather not relive.

Today we gave her the antibiotic when she came home from school. Fed her supper. Let her play a little while, then gave her the usual medications. We hope she sleeps tonight, although when we asked her at supper if she was going to sleep tonight, she told us no.

--Mom

UPDATE: She slept peacefully all night. I hope this holds for a while, she needs to be rested.

-- Dad

Kimmie's Worrying

Kimmie has been fixated for a long time on all things medical. When she was little the toy doctor kits sent her into hysterics. I remember a little girl trying to listen to Kimmie's heart on the toy stethescope in preschool. Kimmie screamed until they were separated.

For literally years she will talk about having blood drawn or her finger pricked for a blood test. And she can usually tell you what day of the week it was and in what month.

But she has a new phrase she's using a lot now. "Hospital none, hospital none."

Yesterday she climbed off the bus signing to her sister, "Hospital none, hospital none."

Then, yesterday evening, she came out in the kitchen with a worried little forehead, stopped in front of me, and signed with that worried look on her face, "Hospital none, hospital none."

She knows and she's worrying.

--Mom

Men in uniform (by Dad)

Kimmie likes to give hugs. And there are some predictable patterns -- she like to hug men, and she likes uniforms (except nurses and doctors). Military, police, fire fighters, bus drivers -- she seems to be able to pick out a uniform.

Last week we were at church Wednesday night for the usual activities. Kimmie and I went to find her sister after things were finished, since the youth seem to be slow to let out.

One of the young men in the group has started ROTC. You can see what's coming.

He is a freshman, tall and slender. Very proud in his fatigues. He was talking in the crowded hallway with the rest of the youth; Kimmie's hug radar went PING and she just made a beeline.

Suddenly he had a little girl wrapped around his waist. Ambushed. He couldn't decide if he should be embarrassed or pleased. After a few seconds he gave in, as everyone does eventually. Kimmie's hugs are an irresistible force.

Dad.

Grocery Shopping

I actually took Kimmie grocery shopping the other day, and she was very good.

For years we have avoided taking Kimmie to the grocery store because it took longer and sometimes involved a lot of hysteria.

When Kimmie was little she could sit in the seat part of the cart, but we could only buy a few groceries that would fit in the bottom of the cart. If the groceries stacked up within her reach she would start pulling them out and throwing them on the floor.

When her legs were too long for her to sit in the seat, then she would have to walk along with us. This became an adventure because she would randomly grab things off the shelves and drop them in the cart. We might be picking something off a shelf, turn around to put it in the cart and there would be all this extra stuff in the cart as Kimmie grabbed and dropped items in as fast as she could. The items she dropped in the cart were not foods she liked, just random things she could reach and grasp. Fishing all these extra items out of the cart, putting them back on the shelf, and trying to keep her from putting more items in the cart, extended the time it took to shop and made the endeavor feel like an olympic event. Exhausting. This is when we stopped taking her to the grocery store. It was just too much trouble.

Now that the store has these extra long carts with the bench seat in the back, it is easier to take her along. She has also mellowed a little bit and does not jump out of the seat as much as when she was younger. There is still, usually, a little hysteria over Kimmie wanting to buy something and having trouble deciding what she wants to get.

The recent trip to the store with Kimmie came about because everyone else in the family was busy, so there was nobody to stay home with Kimmie. I couldn't put off the trip because we were running out of too many things. My list was long--not the best time to be taking Kimmie, but sometimes you have to do what needs to be done no matter what.

As it happened, Daddy had a bottle cap with "buy one get one free" on the inside. I gave Kimmie that bottle cap and told her to hold it for me. We had a little hysteria over Kimmie picking out a movie to buy. She finally settled on a spiderman cartoon--she does love superheros. She held the DVD for a little while but was taking the plastic off of it so I had to take it away and give her back the bottle cap. She held that bottle cap through almost our whole shopping trip. She put it in her pocket. She took it out. She twiddled and fiddled with it.

She still had it when we checked out. We traded the bottle cap for the movie. She only fussed a little when we left the store without the bottle cap.

She was amazingly good for a long shopping excursion. I was proud of her.

--Mom

Surgery X 2

We've known since the end of May that Kimmie would need surgery. Finally we have some of the details finalized.

Surgery #1 is scheduled for October 6. This is an exploratory surgery to look at the bottom of her spinal cord and determine if it is "tethered". If it is, then the neurosurgeon will "release" the spinal cord. She's had two "tethered spinal cord release" surgeries already, one at age 7 and one at age 13. Hopefully this will be the last, especially since her growth should be complete.

Surgery #2 is to be scheduled about 6 weeks after the first surgery. That will put it around the third week of November, the week before Thanksgiving. We don't have a definite date yet. This surgery is for the scoliosis.

Poor little girl sat on Daddy's lap and sobbed while we talked to the doctor today. Heartbreaking.

When she wasn't sobbing she was hugging the doctor. When he was leaving the room he declared himself to be stocked up on hugs for about a year.

--Mom

Grandma & Grandpa Are Moving

We have been telling Kimmie for several weeks now that Grandma and Grandpa are moving. Her response has always been "no."

On Wednesday they closed on their new place. That evening we went to help them with a few things. We had to take Kimmie with us, but thought maybe she would understand it better if she saw the old place boxed up. And maybe the new place would be a new adventure waiting to be explored.

Well . . . it mostly just got her worked up. At Grandma's house she always goes immediately to the video cabinet and picks a movie to watch. Once the movie starts she might go to the linen closet to get her blanket. Then she might gather the teddy bears to strew across the floor and get her books to open to her favorite pages. Once she has all her "stuff" then she is content to sit for a while.

Well . . . she went to the video cabinet . . . no movies. We told her they were boxed up to go to the new house. She looked around at all the boxes, leaped up and frantically started trying to dig through each box, while I chased her around trying to keep her from unpacking them.

She was mostly worried about where her Aladdin movies were.

Today, while she was at school, we moved everything to their new patio home. The first box I put in my car was the box of her videos. The second thing I loaded was her video cabinet. When we got everything over to the new place, we made sure the TV was hooked up and the videos were in her cabinet next to it.

When I told her tonight that we had her movies in her cabinet, she signed, "Aladdin?" I assured her I put the Aladdin movie in her cabinet.

Tomorrow we will see if she is better about the move.

--Mom

Sobbing for Sister

The other day Kimmie's sister had to go to the doctor. We had to take Kimmie with us. She was visibly anxious even though we kept telling her the doctor was not going to look at her.

We walked down what we call the "hallway of doom" looking at the door to the pediatrician's office at the end. Kimmie was clinging to my arm. Her sister commented that it is an eerie hallway with shadowy lighting.

Kimmie clung some more when it was time to go to a room. She refused to go any where near the examination table.

Kimmie's sister had to have her finger pricked for a blood test. Kimmie sobbed and sobbed for her sister, clutching me and hiding her face. Her sister just laughed because Kimmie was so pitiful.

When the doctor came in Kimmie sobbed some more, then hugged the doctor while she continued to cry.

Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh because she is so funny, or cry because she is so afraid.

--Mom