Saturday, October 25, 2008

Max Blak


This is Max practicing for King of the Groms. In case you're totally out of it, that's a skateboarding competition. I don't go to the Skatepark because if I saw him doing this in person I would probably faint. As he was walking out of the skateboard park today, a kid stopped him and said " Are you Max Blak?" and Max said " yes" and he said "I saw your videos on Youtube, dude, you rule". When we named him Max Blak it was out of nostalgia for my Danish heritage.  Turns out it's quite useful as a skateboarding name. 

Friday, October 24, 2008

old timey minnesot-ey apple orchard

Some friends of ours took Max and Maddie to an apple orchard. Here's the video: http://gallery.me.com/the studio5/100006


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Girl Scouts of America


There are a lot of things I never pictured myself as. A midwesterner, a mother of a special needs child, an expat...perhaps the most surprising though is my latest metamorphosis. Yes people, you heard it here, I am an adult Girl Scout of America. I signed the papers tonite! Maddie wants to be a girl scout and there was no one to lead the troop, so I went to my first training tonight. I learned the Girl Scout pledge and the hand signal. Those of you who have known me for a long time probably could have seen this coming, with my high moral standards and my burning desire to be a role model for young women everywhere. And, of course my love of Thin mints. I'm pretty sure we get a discount on the cookies. 

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Russell


What do you call Oskar laying in a pile of leaves?

Saturday, October 11, 2008

enigma


This is a picture of the tree in our front yard. In the last few days it has turned all brown and orange and now the leaves are starting to fall off. I think it must be some kind of disease. What freaks me out is that the last time this happened, about a month later it got really cold and there was this white stuff all over everything for months... I'm not sure what to do about it. 

Friday, October 10, 2008

Maddie's religious education

Maddie was looking through a catalog today for things she might want for Christmas. She got really excited when she saw this and yelled "Look Mom, a Jesus boat!" 

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Successful baby


This is Oskar with Jim Reed, his physical therapist from the Edina school system. Oskar just had his yearly review and I don't mean to brag, but phrases like "substantial progress" were thrown around like confetti at a New Years party. Really,  it was mostly the people who know Oskar, his O.T Joan, his P.T Jim and his teacher Kate and me sitting around telling funny Oskie stories. They have become like my family here in a weird way and I am so grateful for them. I think so many people look at Oskar and only see the things he can't do, and I can't tell you how nice it is for me to sit around for an hour and talk about all the things he CAN do. Things like pass a toy from one hand to another, or choose a toy with his eye gaze, or be attentive to a toy for 3 minutes ( his new goal is 5!) These things we so take for granted with our "typically" developing kids. They are like precious gems to me now, when Oskie does them. They give me hope. 

Thursday, October 2, 2008

The Dark side of Al Roker


Oskar and I like to watch the Today show in the mornings as we drink our tea and ease into our day. Today, Al Roker interviewed this woman ( turns out she was a friend of his) about a novel she wrote based on an incident in her childhood. It turns out that when she was six, her best friend's mother committed suicide and killed both of her children by locking them in the car with her in the garage with the engine running. Very sad. So one of Al's follow up questions was what it was like for the author to imagine herself as that mother. She explained that her own children saw her personality change as she got more inside the character. She then joked that her daughter even asked her one day " Mommy, are you going to do what the lady in the book did?" Al Roker and this author then proceeded to joke for the next few minutes about this scenario. "get in the car!" " No mommy, dont make me!" Then they laughed and laughed and laughed. Oskar and I agreed it was totally F 'ed up. 

On a side note, it has not gone without our notice that Meredith Viera makes ALOT of jokes about drinking cocktails in the morning. I'm not saying she has a problem, but they might want to double check that cooking sherry after the kitchen segments, if you know what I mean....

 Anne Curry seems to be the only one with a modicum of decorum on that show these days.  Oskar thinks we might have to switch to Good Morning America.  

Bargaining with God


I find myself spending a lot of time lately thinking about deals I would be willing to make with God. What I would give to have him take Oskar's seizures away, for instance. My car, my home, all my material possessions. That's a no brainer. In my head though, it's never a deal where I have to sell my car and use the funds to have some medical procedure done, it's more like I get a contract in the mail, fill out some paperwork and a celestial repo man comes and takes it away. That morning, miraculously, Oskar wakes up and his seizures are gone. I would also be willing to drop it off in some kind of lot. Even if I had to drive a substantial distance. I could have Al follow me or I guess I would be willing to take the bus home. These are details I'm still working out. From there, the deals get more involved. Would I give an arm? A leg? Yes. Would I kill a stranger? No. But I can't see why God would want a deal like that anyway. I mean, my car has resale value at least. Then there is the toughest question. Would I give my life for Oskar's? Or would I take his seizures myself so he could have a normal life. I waver on this one, not because I am scared of the pain, but because if I was sick, who would take care of Max and Maddie and Oskar? So far I've netted out that I would be willing  to alternate days with him, or we could work out a 3 day on, three day off schedule. Whatever it is, hopefully it would be organized enough that I could arrange childcare for my afflicted days. 

And Hannah. What would I give for Hannah to not have to go through what she is going through? I'm working on it. I think I've come up with some deals God won't be able to refuse, but I'm not ready to divulge the details just yet. 

Does anyone know where I submit these offers?