PWS and Holidays

Although this time of year can be a fun and exciting time, for those with Prader-Willi Syndrome it can also be even more stressful. Thankfully our Thanksgiving went relatively smooth this year. Last year our son, who was then 13, crawled out his window in the wee hours of the morning and ran away. The whole story of his elopement can be found here. I would be lying if I didn't say that memory has been in the back of my mind for most of the month. Especially after hearing about a 19 year old who had PWS, that ran away recently and was hit by a vehicle.

We were fortunate to have my inlaws here on Wednesday so that is when we had our Thanksgiving meal. As far as food goes, the way my family does Thanksgiving (and Christmas) is a lot different than how we did it growing up. I come from a big family so we would normally have 20-30 people for dinner and there was a huge variety of food. Food was in dishes over every surface of the kitchen and much of it stayed out for hours. You just cannot do it that way with PWS. We keep things very simple. We have about 4 different dishes and a couple of desserts. We can never leave food out as it leaves too much temptation and causes too much anxiety. Even on normal days we do not sit at the table with extra food. We dish up our plates in the kitchen and bring it to the table. (okay I admit sometimes we all go downstairs and watch Netflix while we eat ;)

The major issue we are having right now is even more questions than normal. (and he asks a lot of questions normally) Even more so he asks about the next meal, the next snack, the next time he will get a dessert. With the cooler weather we are getting less exercise so despite the fact our son is slim...we are watching it more than we do when we can walk a few miles a day. Hopefully we can get back swimming soon.

We took last week off from doing schoolwork but will be jumping right back in to it tomorrow. I'm thinking about getting A~man into an art curriculum that Z~girl enjoyed a lot last year. I just signed both kids up for a homeschool matchbox exchange. (I've never heard of it before this week) Each month has a theme and you take a match box and decorate it and fill it with things having to do with the theme. This month the theme is "Famous Artist" so we are going to have all sorts of fun with THAT! I am always on the look out for activities to help out our right brain visual learner and throw some kinesthetic learning in there too! I will definitely be sharing the project in my blog so stay tuned.

The Winter Blahhhhs

January and February are my least favorite months of the year. My fathers birthday and the day he died was in January plus my father in law's birthday was this month. (he passed the same year my father did) February? Instead of the month of LOVE I remember having a miscarriage on Valentines day 20 years ago.  I can't begin to explain the pain that caused plus the years and years of infertility that followed. This is minor compared to all that but I also REALLY miss snow. Yes, we get it on occasion here in WNC but this is the second year it seems to be skipping us. It was at least 60 here today. It just doesn't feel right. I NEED some cold weather even if it is just for a month. Depression just seems to sink into my heart this time of year. Did I mention I believe I have plantar fasciitis so I can't even do my normal walking in this sunny weather??!!

Okay, after reading that paragraph the following song pops into my head so excuse me while I get over myself. < I LOVED HEE HAW WHEN I WAS A CHILD>

On a more positive note both A and Z (and C the hubby) are all doing well! Company is coming in a couple days...that's good and bad as NO the house is not where I want it. A and Z are doing awesome after an almost month long break where they only did some light "schooling". Z in particular is loving her art curriculum and also some new Go Fish art cards she got for Christmas. I love that we both share a love for learning about art! With homeschooling special needs sometimes progress is slow or comes to a halt but I'm happy to say that A~man's reading has had another leap the last couple of months. We have been using Reading Kingdom in addition to Time4Learning and he is doing so well and I can tell he is so proud of himself!

One thing that I would like to start with both...something I have been wanting to do for the last year, is get a creative writing tutor. I feel like this year writing is one of the areas that we are lacking. As creative as both kids are though, I'm sure we will get back up to speed with writing. This school year really is going well and speeding by way too fast!

So I guess, since I cannot currently go hiking in these beautiful mountains I live in, I should sit on the deck and soak up the sun. Maybe I should start planning out our garden for the year that I hope will be much bigger! I should add that the end of February symbolizes new beginnings to me. We were blessed with A~man the last weekend in Feb....we were granted guardianship 5 years later on that same date!

Please send me some snow this way though, before spring!

Homeschool Art

Ever since I was a child art has always been one of my favorite things. As an adult though, I do not take time to enjoy creating often enough. In fact, this summer my mother in law brought some of my old art that she was storing, to give to me. It was so fun to see but I'm not sure I will put it on my walls, lol. Maybe some day I'll get brave and post some pictures of it though. 

I do try to periodically do art with the kids as they both really enjoy it. With soccer and baseball ending for the season we will have a little more time at home. I'm hoping to get Z~girl and possibly A~man involved in an actual art curriculum to go along with the fun art we do. Last week one of the homeschool groups I belong to had a fun arts/crafts festival! It was so much fun. Of course part of the art we were going to bring to it fizzled...and wasn't done in time. So instead we brought some arts and crafts that they had entered in the fair this summer.

Here are two of A~man's creations. The dark spot on the sunflower is a bumble bee! :) I especially LOVE this John Deere tractor painting with the cat beside it. I need to get it framed and put on his wall!

Here are Z~girl's creations. The fabric with the Z on it is actually felt she felted while on a Girl Scout field trip. I would LOVE to make some more of this as it was a lot of fun. The other bottom one is a crocheted dish towel that she received a red ribbon on at the fair. 

Time goes by so fast. I can hardly believe I have two middle school age children! Just like my parents kept my art on their walls,(until a few years ago actually as my mom had to move to somewhere smaller) I hope to keep A and Z's art around me to remind me of this very special chapter in our life. It's always full of ups and downs but I have loved our homeschool journey!!