Rain Goddess

Wow - Eight days since my last post! Good news, though. I have discovered how to harness the power of rain. You will probably see me on Oprah in the near future, bringing much needed rains to african nations. I have to admit I came upon this simple solution completely by accident. It might work for other individuals, but I am pretty sure it is just us Cunninghams with this unique power. All we have to do is plan any event, at our home, and invite plenty of people. Ideally, said event would center around an outside activity.

Tomorrow is the long awaited "backyard" ice cream social with our state representative. As you might have guessed by my subtle remarks above, the forecast calls for storms tomorrow afternoon. So, it may turn out to be more of a "living room" ice cream social. Should be nice and cozy :-)

Weekend Update

What an eventful weekend! Saturday morning we went to Leeds farm. We have went every year for the last 5 or 6 years and it just gets better every year. http://www.leedsfarm.com/

We got to pet baby goats, and see baby pigs, cows, and bunnies. The older two rode on a huge and extremely tall zip line. Kyle was tall enough, but as they were strapping him into the harness 60 feet off the ground, he had a change of heart. They rolled around in giant hamster wheels, bounced on a massive "pumpkin" pillow, went on a hayride, made their way through a corn maze, and played in a cornbox (think sandbox, only huge and corn instead of sand). We saw lots of friends, some that we hadn't seen in years (it was an autism day at the farm).

I have some great pics that I haven't yet loaded onto my computer. For now, here is a picture of some random guy in our living room. He looks familiar, but I can't quite place him!
Later that day we had bday party #2 for Kyle, with family. Sunday was Dodge ball for Keenan and catching up with one of the girls who used to work with the boys. She just finished Officer's Training in the Coast Gaurd and is getting ready to begin flight training. She already has her pilot's license and has worked on cargo planes for several years. She's such a fascinating individual and excels in most everything she does.

We also managed to make 4 dinners for this week and master the art of bread making, sans the bread maker!!

Five Interesting Things About Keenan

1. He can recite entire spongebob episodes, complete with all the different voices
2. He loves (and I mean LOVES) saltine crackers
3. He can can make amazing things with only a roll of tinfoil
4. He has the most charming sense of humor
5. He has an astounding memory. Here is an example:

GRETYL: I remember Kyle was eating a lunchable right before the fire. After they put the fire out, I finished eating the rest of it.
KEENAN: Yeah, it was a little pizza with a butterfinger and a drinkbox.

The day in question was June 30, 2004. This conversation was a few days ago.

Back to the Grind

The kids finally went back to school tday. After having three bonus days off this week, it was tough for them to transition back in. It was apparent in many areas through the afternoon and evening. Kyle threw up in the car on the way home from school, but he seems to feel fine other than the one puking incident. Thank heavens it was Chris' day to pick them up. I can't imagine that funky smell coming out easily.


Poor Chris spent 2 hours trying to do one worksheet with Keenan. It was math homework and it seemed as though he had no idea how to do it. At least Keenan was not frustrated at all. He reportedly giggled his way through the entire ordeal. Who knew math was so funny. Actually, when he laughs hysterically for no reason like that, it usually means his meds need adjusting. It's kind of funny and amusing, actually. And it sure beats the heck out of an Angry Keenan. Unfortunately, the giggly Keenan usually has no ability to focus. Could be why the math was so hard.


Oh yeah, and I got mad when the boys were fighting Tuesday and took the TVs and Wii away for an undetermined amount of time. They are adjusting and have even stopped complaining about it. Frankly I don't care if they ever watch the stupid thing again.


Another busy weekend on the horizon. Means no sleeping in for me Saturday, but some fun pictures for the blog.

The Bday Bash

How did it go you ask?

Well it has been 4 days since the party ended. I think Chris and I have finally recovered enough to talk about it.

They never stood still for too long, but I think the heacount was 14 plus Kyle. So there were 9 kiddos that weren't able to make it for one reason or another. Those 9 kids were my favorite.
Actually, to be fair, I think the kids all had a good time and there were a couple of really good points in time where they sat nicely and were good. (During the magician and watching Kyle open gifts).

It really was a good party, just not at all the party we had spent so much time planning! To begin with it was a very wet day and it had to be inside. 15 excited kids in one small house is about 10 too many. And as for our really cool games that we had planned...well I don't think we ever imagined some of them stating they simply didn't want to play. I mean who doesn't want to limbo or go on a fun scavenger hunt??

They did sit very nicely for the magician who came. So that was a nice break from the chaos. They also, surprisingly enough, sat very nicely and watched Kyle open up his presents. And this couldn't have been an easy task. Prior to the event I had give him all the good manners reminders. You know, open the card first, be gracious even if you already own 10 of whatever it is you opened, etc.

When I said open the card, however, I really didn't expect him to read every single word of it to his audience of 14 eight-year-olds! One kid gave him a card fillws with birthday riddles. I think it took him 5 minutes to read that one.

And when I said be gracious, I meant a simple "Thanks, I love it". Instead, however, every chid received a hug after he opened their present. A huge hug--whether they wanted one or not. It was pretty sweet, though, and they all took it fairly well (except for the one who hid under the coffee table--but fear not, he got his hug too).

5 Interesting Things About Chris

1. He has always wanted to see B.B. King play live

2. He needs to wear sunglasses even on the shady days

3, When Gretyl was born, he wouldn't let the nurses change her diapers because he said they were too rough with her

4. He pretended to like country music when we were dating because he thought it would impress me.

5. When he drove garbage trucks in Michigan winters, he would buy coats and gloves for jumpers who couldn't afford them. ("Jumpers" are the guys that don't have a commercial driver's license, so all they can do is ride on the back and jump off at the stops and dump the garbage cans)

Things I Love

I love the way that Kyle still mispronounces a couple of words. I should probably make more of a point to correct him, but it's just so darn cute!

opposed ... as in:
You're opposed to eat all your vegetables if you want to get dessert.

fercept... as in:
I ate all my vegetables, fercept half of them that I was too full to eat. Can I have my dessert??

Breaking News!

We have power!!! Yay--clean laundry!!

Hurricane Ike strikes Ohio!

We are very fortunate as we did not sustain any damage to our house, cars, etc. Much of Central Ohio did not fare as well. There was only wind, not actually a storm. It was very weird. There are trees down everywhere and a lot of damage. The Governer has issued a state of emergency here and there are an estimated 1.5 million people without power. It could be up to a week before we have power again, but I tend to think it will be sooner for us. Meanwhile, school was cancelled nearly everywhere and they are already calling off school for tomorrow in some districts. Chris's employer had no electricity, so he gets to stay home with the kids today. I suspect they will have power by tomorrow and it will be back to work for him. No luck for me, however. My work did have electricity. So I scrounged for clean clothes and took my somewhat wrinkled butt to work! (If only I would have done the laundry before we lost power!)

Before we realized it wasn't the best time to play at the park, Gretyl and Kyle and I went to the park. Gretyl and I were loving the wind and thinking it was pretty neat. Kyle was the only smart one who begged us to leave immediately-lol. Wise beyond his years, that one. Before we left, however, I snapped this picture of Gretyl. She was hanging from this tree branch and the wind is blowing her body to the left. You can see her body is at an interesting slant.


We lost power shortly after we returned home. And thankfully, right before we were about to head out for a long overdue grocery shopping trip! Of course, thankful as I am that we didn't stock up on groceries that would go bad, I was at a loss as to what to do for dinner! Right or wrong we left the older two at home while we went out to get some food. With most groceries out of power in our area and all the open restaurants super-busy, we found ourselves at Whole Foods. Before they decided to close and boot everyone out of the store, Kyle discovered the fresh fish display (blegh!!!). He was very interested in them and asked the man if the largest one was a shark.
On a funny note, we were in such a hurry we didn't notice how Kyle had dressed himself. Kyle decided it would be fashionable to wear a sweatshirt with jean shorts and dress shoes--and one sock! Well school has been cancelled for tomorrow. They just called it off. Not shocking.

In less than 24 hours...

I will be surrounded by 8 year olds. Anywhere from 10 to 24 of them-- not many have responded one way or the other. It's so nice to have the exact number of kiddos nailed down like that. Actually, I think it is karma coming around to bite me in the butt. I am probably the worst at RSVP-ing. I usually call the morning of the party and muster up some sad excuse about not seeing the invitation until that morning and is it too late to confirm. So I guess you could say that I am learning a very valuable life lesson here!

Forecast for tomorrow is storms for most of the day. So it looks like we will be having it inside. Should be a long and memorable 2.5 hours :-)

On the docket for tomorrow's party:

limbo

egg and spoon races

scavenger hunt

magician

cake

presents

fishing

twister

Hopefully we have enough to keep them all occupied for the time frame. I think I planned more than will fit, actually. Better to have to many activities than not enough! Shopping for trinkets for gift bags today. Lots of prep to do yet!

Kyle Works On His Roller Blading Skills

Here is a really fun video we took at the park yesterday. Hopefully you will have better luck than I did with the sound. I can watch it, but I can't HEAR it. I think it has something to do with the fact that it is an .avi file and I don't have the right codec. At least that seems to be what all my internet detective work was telling me. I never did figure out how to download the proper codec, though.

The video is hilarious nonetheless. Right before I started filming, Keenan had told Kyle he was going to show him how to roller blade. Kyle, however, was hyper-focused on the set of steps in the background. He is determined to get to those steps so he can climb them and then proceed to roller blade down the hill. He is so determined, in fact, that towards the end you will see he decides that crawling might be easier. I'm not sure what the thoughts were in his head. Maybe something like "I can't move across this flat pavement, but going down the hill will be much easier!" At any rate, enjoy!

Too Tired to Title This One...

Keenan played dodge ball today. The rules are much more complicated than I remember in school. He is an excellent dodger, but we'll have to work on catching the ball and hitting people with the balls. We were able to get one picture before the batteries in my camera died. Here it is, nothing to exciting--but you can at least see him.

After replacing the batteries at home, I couldn't resist snapping a few sleeping pictures of Kyle. I still love to watch him sleep. He not only slept through the handful of photos being snapped, but he slept through me trimming all of his finger and toe nails! I guess he wore himself out at the park playing during Keenan's dodge ball practice.

Up next we have a picture taken only yesterday, of an actual Gretyl--in her natural habitat:

And yes, she was actually on both of them at the same time. Later we had the privilege of dining with this beautiful creature and two of her companions (the two that she was speaking with in this photo). This was after we tracked them through the thick wilderness of Polaris Mall. More on that later.

Chef Keenan!

Keenan made a meal in the crockpot today. I didn't eat any of it because it had meat in it, but it smelled divine and everyone loved it. He did a great job of reading the recipe, finding the appropriate measuring cup that was called for and measuring out the ingredients. And he was so pleased with himself. I am trying to let the boys do more in the kitchen. They love it and it's a great exercise in patience for me:) I would let Gretyl do more, but she doesn't want to. Here is the recipe for Keenan's dinner:

CROCKPOT GARLIC BROWN SUGAR CHICKEN
Chicken pieces-enough to feed your family-legs, thighs etc.

1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon-line soda
2-3 Tbls. minced garlic
2 Tbls. soy sauce 1 tsp. pepper (regular black or cayenne (stage 2))

Place chicken in crockpot. Mix all remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice or noodles. You can thicken the juices after cooking with a little cornstarch. If using cayenne pepper, it gives dish a szchewan flavor.

We also had FUNNEL CAKES for breakfast!! They turned out great and were so easy. I was the best mom in the world for an entire 20 minutes or so. Here is the recipe for those..we will definitely be making these again! A word of caution, I got this recipe off of a blog for a family of 15 (link is at the right), and it makes a TON. You might want to cut the recipe in half.

Funnel Cakes
1. Heat three cups of vegetable oil over medium high heat until it reaches 350-375 degrees.

2. Whisk together 4 cups of flour, 1/3 cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons , 1/2 teaspoon sbaking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well, then add 2 1/2 cups milk 3 large eggs. Whisk until smooth.

3. Put batter in gallon sized bag. Remove excess air, and seal. Cut 1/4 inch wide hole in bag. Carefully squeeze 1 cup of batter back and forth into oil making a free form lacy web. Cook until golden on bottom, about 2 minutes. Using tongs, turn the cake over and cook until golden brown on other side, about 1 more minute. Transfer funnel cake to paper towels to drain.

4. Dust funnel cakes with powdered sugar and serve warm.

The Cunninghams Go to Washington

Okay--not really.

But we did received an exciting, but scary, call today. We have been asked to host a neighborhood ice cream social / meet-n-greet, for our state rep who is running for re-election. He is a republican, and normally that is not the way my votes tend to swing, but he is supportive of "autism-friendly" legislative bills. He actually came knocking at our door last weekend, trying to meet the folks in his district. I was impressed, but not in any shape or mood to do small talk with a local politician. I am pretty sure I was up to my elbows in my umpteenth failed batch of homemade carmel and at Chris's direction, Gretyl politely turned him away.

Chris has signed on to be a part of an advocacy committee that is organized by the boys' school. They are a very politically active group. They write letters, have meetings (and ice cream socials), etc. All in the hopes of putting real stories and more momentum behind the issues that affect those of us in the autism community. Funding sources like the Autism Scholarship, Medicaid Waivers, etc that we have here in Ohio are always at risk of being pulled.

So the advocay committee called us up this evening and asked us to host this shindig in our back yard. As I understand it, this is one of several that the committee is organizing. They try to make sure there is at least one in each of the district. They actually told us we could host either candidate, but they did tend to lean in the incumbent's direction.

I suppose this is how it is supposed to work. The state reps represent the people. And we want to ensure that our group gets heard loud and clear. We host the gathering and give him a podium to meet and talk with more of his constituents...help him in his quest for re-election. Then hopefully he remembers us if he gets re-elected, when we need him to act on our behalf. It's just new territory for us.

I will have to read up and try to at least know where this guy stands on all the issues. Then I need to make the back yard look presentable--We have about 25 days to prepare!! It would be nice if we actually had green grass. Lack of rain has done a number on our yard this year. Not that it was ever a finely manicured lawn. Maybe the leaves will fall before then and no one will notice. Oh my...what if it rains!? Will I have 25 people cramped in my small living room?? Ack...need to stop thinking about this for now.

In other news...the boys went to the dentist today. I have to say neither of the boys are stellar brushers. But if I had to award one of them a medal, it would definitely be Kyle. Although he has an aversion to any toothpaste that tastes remotely like...well...like toothpaste, he does scrub them pretty well and often uses the fluoride rinse that I buy. KEENAN, on the other hand--that child will spend 6 milliseconds in the bathroom and exclaim that he is finished. And prior to the no junky food in the house deal, this child would sniff out and hijack sugary food tucked away in a steel plated box. (okay, so maybe he's only sniffing out the skittles and starburst in my underwear drawer--but still!)
So who won the dental Olympics?



Keenan! No cavities for Keenan and two more for Kyle (makes a total of 4 for him). Wondering if there will be more silver than white in his mouth when they are finished. Thank heavens they are only baby teeth. I still have time to scare the daylights out of him.

Keenan's New School

Prior to this year, Keenan had been enrolled in the local school district. We had to fight them every step of the way to keep him included with his typical peers, but each of the last three years we were able to have him attend school with one of his personal staff from home to assist him.

He only went to school for half of the day, and was homeschooled at home by his home staff for the other half. This was better than the alternative scenario they would have offered us had we not pushed for more. Their solution to his education would be to put him into a classroom with 5 or 6 other kids that had extreme behavior issues. These kids would then do a small amount of academic work that was far beneath his level and watch lots of movies and work on skills like brushing their teeth and hair.

Not a very productive way for him to spend his day. Especially since he is reading chapter books and doing 4th grade level mathematics. Admittedly, he is not at grade level for his age, but he is far beyond the picture symbol math and kindergarten primers that they would have him do.

Of course, what we fought so hard for each year, wasn't ideal either. For most academics he was educated at home--by himself, one-on-one. A sad and lonely existence to say the least...not to mention having to have an aide at his side all day long was driving him nuts and doing little to foster independence!

Kyle goes to a wonderful private school. Half of the kiddos are higher functioning special needs kiddos, and half of them are typically developing. Each classroom has two masters level teachers and one aide teaching 8 typical kids and 8 higher functioning special needs kids. It was a complete fluke that he even ended up going there. I only added him to their mile long waitling list as an after thought--right after I had added Keenan to the waiting list.

To this day, I have no idea how it is that we got a call saying they had an opening for him this past January. The only reason I accepted the invitation to interview for the opening was because I wanted to see and know more about it for Keenan! As it turns out, we enrolled Kyle and it has been one of the greatest things that could ever happen to him. We love the school and the staff.

This school is the only of it's kind in the nation. There are people around the nation on the waiting list and it is something like 300 kids long. And this fall--less than a week before school started--we found out that Keenan was finally going to get in:-)

I still feel the need to pinch myself every morning when I wake up. Keenan is thriving there and has met a few friends that are very much like him. In just two weeks, I can already see his level of independence is increasing. After all, he hasn't attended school without a personal aide in over 4 years! He seems less stressed and more laid back and he loves not having to have "learning sessions" at home. He is not in Kyle's building, he is actually in a middle/high school building. They have a huge building that was donated to them. It used to house an athletic club, so there is a pool and everything there. He is starting a Dodge Ball league through the school on Sunday. He is so excited :):):)

*****CuTe StOrY aHeAd*****

As some of you may or may not know, Autistic individuals tend to take things very literally. Every now and then this happens to Keenan and he will flip out over something that someone says. Well, I was suggesting to him that he trade phone numbers with one of the new friends he made at school. He got very upset with me and said our phone number belong to us and we couldn't just go and trade it away. I had to try not to laugh it was so cute. I tried to explain that he wasn't going to trade phone numbers, he was just going to give his friend his phone number. Of course this made matters even worse. "GIVE him our phone number?? Then we won't have one!" Finally I did get the point across and he did get the phone number. It was such a milestone:-) How truly lucky and blessed I feel lately. So many, many good things happening for our family.

The New Routine

Well, the kids are all back in school now. I must say it is off to a great start :) We have a good schedule in place an everyone has adapted to it better than expected.

The boys get out of school at 3:30 every Monday through Thursday. So on Monday and Wednesdays, I start my workday at 6am and leave at 3pm to go pick them up. Chris does the same thing on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can't say how wonderful this has been.

It's so awesome to pick them up ourselves and bring them home where Gretyl has just gotten home herself. I actually get to talk to them about their days on the trip home and have snack and talk some more. Then there is still time to make dinner and have it ready so we can all eat together as a family by 6ish.

Lunches are made as we clean up the dinner mess and the boys are usually asleep by 8:30. I told Gretyl she doesn't have a bedtime this year and she has been going to bed around 9:30 on her own! Last year her bedtime was 10pm and she rarely made it to bed before 10:30. Of course she didn't have to get up at 6am every morning last year...

Chris and I are usually in bed by 10pm or earlier ourselves, too (It's actually past my bedtime right now!). Unfortunately, our beautiful world will change some after Thanksgiving. Neither of our bosses are thrilled with us leaving at 3pm two days each week. This is supposed to be a temporary measure until we find adequate care for after school. I'm sort of just hoping Thanksgiving comes and goes and no one says anything and we continue as is.

Gretyl says she loves highschool. She says that they treat them more like adults and give them more freedoms and privileges. She was going to go the first home football game last friday with some friends and then walk back to the house. Then it rained, so she played with her two new friends instead: Leonardo Davinci & Victor Paquito. Her pet rats!!!!!!!

I have to admit, I will never touch them, but they are pretty amazing and a teensy weensy bit cute. Especially the hairless one. But I won't go into much about them. She told me she was going to blog about them and put on some pictures. I'm sure that will be right after she cleans her room (hopefully you are recognizing the sarcasm here). She will be joining the swim team this October. She has been taking lessons privately for a year or so. I think it will be a great thing for her and won't look too bad on the ol college applications either.

Well I should write more, there is still so much to catch up on. But I can hear my pillow upstairs calling out to me!