CRAZINESS - how time flies.

The girls,now.  B on the left, 4, D on the right, 8.

isn't it INSANE that you blink and years go by?  I mean, last time I posted here was 2011.  TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN!!!  It's not that I haven't planned on posting.. I have the blogger app, lots of good photos of activities, menu choices, new kitten, creative spells...I even regularly compose blog posts in my head!  Like about our now one year old new kitten-boy...the only y-chromosome in our household...and how he's grown up since 6 weeks old here thinking that  he's a human child.  He even goes outside and plays with the girls - IN THE SNOW - every time they're out there!  He's even learned how to jump on the enclosed trampoline in the backyard.  No, I'm not kidding.  I'll take a video this summer and show you.

Mokey, before he became a giant

Speaking of snow - has anyone else spent time appreciating the beauty that is wet snow stuck to all of the tree branches the last few days?

As I'm typing this, I'm realizing why I haven't written in a while.  KIDS.  How is it that every time I sit down to do this, there's a kid who needs something?  I mean...they're 4 and 8....can't they do ANYTHING for 10 minutes on their own?

Oh yeah.  it's been that long.  i have 2 school-aged kids.  Okay, one and a half.  B is still part time, in Junior Kindergarten.  Which is why today, as I'm actually trying to successfully type out a blog post for the first time in beep knows how long, B is interrupting every 3 minutes.. which leads to this disjointed, multiple-topic rambling of ideas... right now I'm the "babysitter" of baby stella (the doll) as B goes "shopping".  it was the only way to have her think I'm playing with her while I get anything done!

Mokey the cat making a snowman with D

pdate on B - (said in a slightly more serious tone).  Over the last two years we have noticed that she acts a little, shall we say, "differently" than other kids.  Very reactive and physical, often without any recognizable "cause and effect", speech issues, EXTREME clinginess (like, she had to quit gymnastics when she was over a year older than the oldest kid in the mom and tot group because she couldn't function without me beside her)..Inability to focus on any one thing for more than a minute or two, inability to retain information (more extreme than the average.  example - eats mouthful of dirt.  hates it.  cries.  gets cleaned up.  goes outside.  eats mouthful of dirt.  repeat.)  Well, after countless specialist appointments, work groups, and finally an UBER expensive trip to a private occupational therapist, we have a tentative diagnosis - Sensory Processing Disorder.  and MAN, is it an accurate description...I won't go into too many details, follow the link if you're curious.  Basically, her brain doesn't connect properly to her 7 senses (I know, we were only taught 5 at school...but there are 7).  As a result she needs to overstimulate or shut down, depending on what her brain can handle at any given time.  For example, most kids are satisfied with the comfort of a hug from mom.  Some days B doesn't "feel" the hug enough.  As a result, she will BASH into me full force, just to get that feeling of a hug.  it stinks.  it hurts.  it causes bruises.  but all she wants is the comfort of a hug.....OTHER days however, she'll put on her socks, and her touch sense will be SO sensitive that the sock feels like it's crushing her, the seam literally hurts her toes.  she screams and throws the sock, and sinks into "I'm never wearing socks again!!!!!!"   And we never know what is what.  And this isn't just for touch.  Some moments it is volume, temperature, the feeling of gravity, sometimes even thoughts in her own head overwhelm her.  Let's just say it is a learning process.

D the day after her 8th Birthday.

B..her hair isn't brushed.  Shocking.

okay, enough seriousness. We've had birthdays, Christmases, Chanukahs, beginnings, and endings since I wrote last.  I will write more.  AND find time to finish my new website (COMING SOON-ish), and find time to make more product for BaBaZOoBEe! and find students to learn crochet.  Yes, I got my certification from the Craft Yarn Council of America (who knew THAT existed?!!) and am a qualified crochet instructor now.  If you're in Southern Ontario, check out THAT Facebook page!  And go to "parenting-kids-with-issues" class.  And work at the big box craft store at the end of the street (been there over a year now.  VERY part time).  And take B to more OT appointments.  And interact with my children.  And be a parent/housewife.  And succeed at this diet.  THIS time.  (by the way, the my fitness pal app for android ROCKS)  And excercise more.  And maybe, just maybe, go on a date with my wife.  Even end up in bed at the same time for once.

A bientot!