Brain Dump

I just dumped the contents of my brain onto this blank page before me. The contents consist of ten words. But I will expand on them.

All the kids are sick again, but it doesn't seem as bad as their illness a few weeks ago. It seems that when Adel is sick, she reverts to her jerking fits. (Watch the video at the end of that post.) They had all but stopped, and I had forgotten about them. Then when Adel was sick on Pesach, she started having these fits randomly throughout the night. This time is no different. On Shabbos morning, Adel would throw herself onto her stomach and convulse. Her whole body was shaking, and it was much worse than the video in the old post. It was too bad it happened on Shabbos, because I would have loved to video it for the neurologist and geneticist. I hope she doesn't have it again.

All the kids have been going to sleep SO late these days! Go to sleep late, wake up late. Late, late, late. One day I should just put them to bed at six and leave it at that. Maybe they will get back on a normal schedule.

Adel wakes up close to 10:00 AM these days, which is unfortunate, since she has therapy before ten two days a week. She didn't always have that. It's recent. I'll write about how that came to be in the next post. She missed half the session on Thursday and I have a feeling she will oversleep tomorrow. I kinda wish she would, because I requested to change to a different teacher for this therapy, and scheduling difficulties would be a great non-personal excuse.
Adel's sleep schedule looks something like this:

9:00-10:00 AM - wake up
anywhere between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM- nap
wake up from nap 20-45 minutes later
10:00-11:00 PM - bedtime
awaken every hour or two to nurse
9:00-10:00 AM - up for the day again

Less than 12 interrupted hours. Maybe I should talk to her doctors about melatonin.

I bought reusable water bottles for me and the kids. We have a million sippies, but to cheider Zusha needs to take something less babyish. I normally get mini plastic bottles, but now we got reusable ones. They don't look childish, so I hope Zusha won't get teased. Adel got one as well. The speech therapist said she needs a Rubbermaid straw cup and that she will get one for her. She didn't get one for a long time, so I got one myself. I guess I will have to teach her to use it myself, because the therapist seems to have forgotten.

We bought marshmallows and bamboo skewers so that we can roast them over our stove's fire!

I also want to try to make sugar crystal candy on these skewers.

Talk about sweet stuff to make, I also bought several bags of REAL chocolate chips (not cocoa flavored hydrogenated fat, like all the baking bars sadly are) and chocolate molds. I am fully prepared to get down and messy with the boys and make our own chocolate shapes!
We'll also attempt chocolate covered bananas, and maybe chocolate covered marshmallows as well. Hey! We have graham crackers! Maybe we can make smores in the toaster oven. Pictures should be expected, of course!

Today the boys saw little American flags in a store and asked me to buy them. They are planning to make sand castles at the ocean this year, and want the castles to have flags.


Poor Adi has been working on making the same poopy all week. She manages to get a little bit out, but for an entire week her colon is stuffed! I cooked up some flax seeds and gave her the water and some seeds on Friday. On Shabbos I had to change her about five times, but it was just a little each time. I think she got a lot out, but not everything. And her tushie is raw again. Last week I went to a support group for mothers of special needs kids (it was very nice!) and someone there suggested Pedia-Lax glycerin suppositories. A few people suggested them, actually. I ordered a pack and am looking forward to trying it out!

I bought myself an MP3 player (my old one conked out), and now I'm waiting for the skin/case to arrive.

I haven't really tried it out properly because of Sefira, but I recorded the boys singing some songs for Adel because that girl really needs her music! She really loves to listen to the boys' songs.

Adel's hair is funny. It's straight and kinda curling up at the ends, and it's really growing longer. This picture is a couple months old, and by now Adel's hair reaches the collar of the shirt.

Well, as you can see, it's not awfully neat, her hair. I have to keep brushing it down throughout the day or else it looks like this. The top-most layer all around the back of her head looks like it's been heat damaged. It hasn't, but I don't know of a better way to describe it. It's very textured and does not lay on her head. It constantly hovers over her head like a little cloud.
Today Zusha said, "Adel's hair is messed." And I replied, "I think you mean Adel's hair is nest."
So I am thinking of cutting it so that it may grow back more normally. I've been Googling baby girl hairstyles to get ideas, but there is really nothing out there. I want to know how to cut the bangs- how far to the ear should they go? What about the hair by the ear. Leave it? Cut it so that it's all above the ear? Trim it slightly? I feel silly going to a stylist with an eighteen month old with short wispy hair, but I really want Adel to look her best. It's something I want for all my kids, obviously, but I feel that a kid with special needs needs to look put together and as neat as possible at all times. So, should I take her to a hair stylist?

My friend's sister cuts hair, so maybe I'll talk to my friend about it (hiiii if you are reading this! )