Woodstone Prairie

Mar 12th, 2010 by woodstone

Hmm… Friday already… it looks like another week has gotten away from me.

Today was a good day for, and with, M. He didn’t throw up once and was able to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner! The exclamation mark at the end of that sentence gives some idea as to how rare that is lately. Actually, as I think about it, today was the only day this week he was able to eat all three meals. After hopelessly confusing and conflicting advice from the pediatrician, M’s former psychiatrist (who I called for an unrelated matter), and the pharmacist, I’ve reluctantly started M on some over-the-counter stomach medication. I really hate giving him another med, and there are many he can’t take because of the other meds he’s on, but he can’t just continue throwing up all the time! Hopefully this will settle things back down again…

Outside of M being sick so much of the time, it’s been a decent week. He’s still up a lot at night, but during the day he’s doing pretty well. We got a full week of school done, and both kids said it felt really good to have our school routine back again. It’s been so sunny and springlike this week that there is no place in the house nicer to be in than our little sunroom/classroom. The geraniums and impatiens (that winter there) are blooming, the maple tree outside the window is showing the first tiny beginnings of it’s spring buds, and the sun streaming through the windows is warm… but not too hot, the way it is in the summer. It was the perfect week to get back into our school routine…

R has been riding Murphy every day, and has been gaining confidence and doing some new things. The other afternoon I was biting my fingernails and saying my prayers when she rode him on the road… alone… for the first time.

She didn’t go far… she just next door to return some movies the neighbors lent us… but it was hard to watch her riding up the road and having to trust Murphy to bring her safely home again.

She’s been riding Murphy up to the mailbox each day to get the mail too… Today’s mail run turned into another nail biter when the big brown UPS truck came down the road while she and Murphy were at the box. She doesn’t dismount when she gets the mail, she just inches him over very close to the mailbox, then leans down, opens the box, and grabs out the mail. She’d just finished reaching in for the mail when the UPS guy came over the hill. She didn’t have time to get Murphy back across the road to the driveway, and there is a steep hill on the other side of the mailbox… so they were pretty well trapped where they were. She said later that she was scared but knew she couldn’t show it, because then Murphy might get scared too… So she just kept a tight rein, tried to stay loose, and even waved to the UPS guy (who almost put the truck into the ditch trying to keep as far away from her as possible!). She was proud of herself when she got back to the house, and Murphy got an apple for being such a good, calm, boy!

I took this picture of Tilly and Tucker today…

I don’t think there is anything cuter than Tucker, enjoying the sunshine, cuddled up by his mama.

I’ve been spring cleaning this week too, tossing things out heartlessly… in one of the “purges” that seem to possess me every few months. I filled the entire minivan with bags and boxes of things for Goodwill today, and M felt well enough for the drive up to drop them off. I could barely fit his wheelchair into the car with all the donations, but I’m glad I did. We went into the store for a few minutes after dropping everything off and I found this…