Table for Five

Life According to Kaitlyn Nov. 2009

2009-11-09T01:08:51Z

Me: Let’s go outside in the sunshine and get some fresh air.

K: But I don’t like sunshine. It gets in my eyes.

Chris: If you’re hungry, go get a snack in the kitchen.

K: I can’t do that! I’m too young to use a kitchen.

Me: Time to brush your teeth.

K: I don’t want to brush my teeth. It makes them feel too sparkly.

Me: Let’s head outside! It’s a beautiful sunny day.

K. Let me get my sunglasses. (goes into her room, comes out with two tea set cups over her eyes) Ready! I have my cupglasses on.

****************************************************

For the last three days, she’s been insisting on wearing this crown and veil I bought for her at Disney World.

I’m doing a review for Girls Can’t WHAT?, a website that empowers girls to pursue their dreams no matter what roadblocks they encounter, and they also sell t-shirts. They offered me a shirt for Kaitlyn, so I let her pick. She chose one that says “Girls Can’t WHAT?….Rule the World”. Watch out, world. I think Kaitlyn absolutely could.

Bookmark This Post:

Parenting an ADD-I Kid is HARD

2009-11-09T01:09:36Z

Attention Deficit Disorder: Inattentiveness- difficulty attending or focusing on a specific task. People with Attention Deficit Disorder may become distracted within a matter of minutes. Inattentive behavior may also cause difficulties with staying organized (e.g. losing things), keeping track of time, completing tasks, and making careless errors.

I found out yesterday that Nathan has a book report due Monday, a report he has known about for a MONTH AND A HALF, a report we never heard about until his teacher made him call me from the classroom to tell me he was going to have to spend the weekend doing the report. I decided to get over to the school before dismissal and wait outside the classroom so I could make sure Nathan had all the materials he needed for the project and also apologize to the teacher for not knowing what was going on.

So all the kids leave and I go into the room, and the teacher comes in and asks Nathan how far along he is in the book he chose to read for the project. Nathan opens the book at the front and starts paging through looking for where he left off, and it’s like page 40. Out of a 220 page book. Crap. Now, this teacher is giving Nathan an extension on the assignment, but without any recess so he could work on the project during that time. But he assumed Nathan had the book read and just needed to write the sections of the report. Yeah, no.

I walked over to the book carousel and picked up the slimmest book there, a paperback with 92 pages. I said, Can he do the report on this book isntead? Yes. Then I found out that he was given a checklist outlining the EIGHT SECTIONS of the report that need to be completed, including four illustrations. A vein in my temple started throbbing. Right, I said. Nathan will go home and read this book and his father and I will help him get as much of the report done as possible by Monday.

We came home, I told Nathan to get a snack, and then to go into his room, close the door, get on his bed, and start reading. I told him he could take a break after the first 30 pages. Much to my surprise, when he came out of his room, he had read 50 pages. This morning when he woke up, he stayed in bed and read another 10, then after a break to watch a DVD with Ryan and Kaitlyn, he finished the book. He and Chris went through the checklist and mapped out a strategy. My concern though is that Nathan will have to transport this project back and forth from school, and he’s not known for his ability to successfully move things from home to school and back.

I hope he knows how lucky he is, having a teacher that gives second chances, having parents that care and are available to help. It’s so hard, not understanding his thought processes, not understanding why he hears “project due in a month” and forgets about it, even though every day the teacher was telling them which step of the project they should be on. I wish I could impress upon him the importance of breaking a large job down into manageable pieces. I don’t know if he’s ever going to be able to overcome this, or if he’ll struggle with it forever.

I love him so much and I hate to see him frustrated, upset, hearing his teacher say “I’m disappointed in this choice you made.” I hate the look on his face when he’s standing there, with the teacher expressing his frustration, and I can see on Nathan’s face that he hates how he feels. I wish I could take it away. I wish his face always looked like this:

Bookmark This Post:

Bedding deals from Kohls and SHOP.com

2009-11-09T22:53:06Z

Are you familiar with Shop.com? It’s a comparison shopping site that pulls together information from over 2,000 stores so you can compare prices on what you want to buy before you make your purchase. Before you shop online, check Shop.com for discount codes, special sale prices, and deals on shipping. Once you choose the item and price you want, you are directed to the merchant’s site to checkout. It’s easy! My oldest son desperately needs a new comforter (he’s 13 and using one with race cars on it), and since I know Kohls Bedding is affordable, I went to Shop.com to check for any special sales or deals. I found 31 pages of results!

I started paging through the Kohls Bedding results and found a great deal on a Barclay bedding set that comes with a comforter, bedskirt, pillow sham and sheet sets, for only $46.00. Each listing also has a price drop alert link, click it, enter your desired price and email address, and you’ll be notified if that item becomes available at the price you want! Other great deals on bedding at Kohls include sheets, shams and throw pillows, along with coordinating room accessories like rugs. Freshen up the look of your guest room in time for holiday visitors!

After spending time on the site, my honest opinion is that Shop.com does make online comparison shopping easier. It’s easy to search for multiple items within a category due to the tabs at the top of each page and the links along the sides. If you are shopping online for Kohls Bedding, Christmas decor (there’s a terrific Holiday category!), deals on clothing, baby items, or gifts, take a minute to search SHOP.com to get a great deal!

Bookmark This Post:

Dona Nobis Pacem-2009 Blog Blast For Peace

2009-11-05T23:28:55Z

It started in October 2006 when Mimi from Mimi Writes had an idea based on her memories of 9/11. What if on one day, the entire blogosphere posted the same thing, a call for peace? She posted a few backgrounds of our Earth against a blue background and said, see if you can’t make something from this. Something that will remind your readers that it is possible for there to be Peace on Earth. To say she was on to something would be a vast understatement.

Her idea spread like, well, wildfire. It spread across the blogosphere into nearly every one of the United States as well as 38 countries. It seems that even if for only one day, what bloggers would really like to think about is the idea of world peace. And that includes me. At the end of this post you see the Peace Globe I made last year, using Photobucket. If you would like to make one too, here’s how to start:

Visit Mimi’s blog and grab one of the four blank templates. After saving it to your computer, use Paint or Photoshop or Picnik or Photobucket or whatever you prefer to decorate it however you’d like. Email it to mimiwrites2005@yahoo.com so she can add it to the Peace Globe Gallery. Visit the BlogBlast for Peace page and sign the Linky so others can visit you and see your Peace Globe.

What I learned from browsing through the Peace Globe Gallery is that no matter what state or country someone is from, peace truly is a universal wish, a need, a hope. Help spread Peace today.

Dona Nobis Pacem (mouseasthma.blogspot.com)

Bookmark This Post:

F-Secure Internet Security & Gift Card Winners

2009-11-04T18:22:08Z

I’m so excited for the four people who won this giveaway, they can start their Christmas shopping early with their $100 gift cards plus get their computer protected from malware and viruses! I used Random.org’s Sequence Generator, with 644 (the number of entries) as the top value, and here’s the sequence of winning comments:

The winners, who each get a copy of F-Secure Internet Security 2010 and a randomly chosen $100 Gift Card are:

#377 Eloise, Mommy2TwoGirls

#295 Lindley, a subscriber

#446 Theresa D., a subscriber

#48 from “MU” a subscriber

Congratulations! And thank you so much everyone who entered, tweeted, subscribed, posted my button, and voted up the post. This was one of my most successful giveaways ever!

Bookmark This Post:

Table for Five

Life According to Kaitlyn Nov. 2009

Parenting an ADD-I Kid is HARD

Bedding deals from Kohls and SHOP.com

Dona Nobis Pacem-2009 Blog Blast For Peace

Related articles by Zemanta

F-Secure Internet Security & Gift Card Winners