Nephew Talk

Nephew Time, Part I: The Storm


I can explain a bit about the crazy family thing that's been going on, finally. 


Debra had been babysitting a little boy named Keiran, who's 18 months younger than Manny, for about two years, since Keiran's aunt, Aunt Em, gained custody of Keiran from his mother. A few weeks ago Keiran's Aunt Em decided to put him into pre-school, and something went down between Debbie and Aunt Em, but I'm not sure what. Whatever happened, it lead to Aunt Em writing Debbie an email saying that Deb was doing my nephew a disservice by not getting him tested for Asperger syndrome or autism. Debbie went to her family and they were all, "Where would she get that idea?!"


A week or so later (July 28, Storm's Brewing) Debbie dropped off Manny at our house so Deb could go to the doctor, and when Debbie explained to my mother about the email the look on my mother's face said it all. We'd known for a little while but my dad wouldn't let us say anything because we didn't know how Mick and Debbie would take it.  I wish it had gone better than it did, but things are clearing up now. 


Manny's going to be starting school in September just to see how it goes, and while Debbie found a Behavior/Neurodevelopment Specialist she likes (that ended up on the phone with her for 2 hours exchanging information and videos), but there's a 3-4 month waiting period for new patients, and that's kind of rough, but there's really nothing else to do. Debbie showed the therapist a video of Manny and the therapist said it was an absolutely textbook case, but he does need to be formally assessed to find where he exactly he falls on the autism/Asperger's scale so they can figure out a treatment plan for him. 


The current family motto is "One day at a time." 


Also, "Pour me another glass of wine, would you?" 


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The other nephew I haven't talked about yet, but he did something incredibly cute today and I wanted to brag. Mick is actually the younger of my 2 older brothers, but Manny is older than Arthur's son, Sean. Manny will be 5 on Thursday, and Sean will be 2 in October. 


Arthur's wife's name is Janet. Caught up? Good. 


Arthur and Janet decided to try baby sign language with Sean and it's pretty much the greatest thing ever- Sean makes a fist repeatedly when he's hungry, and waves "bye-bye" if he doesn't want something (it started off as being "all done" when he was eating, but it also became "no more" or "stop" when he doesn't like something or something scares him). They recently expanded this to include "tired" or "sleepy" by putting their hands to their forehead when it was Sean's nap time or bedtime. So today my brother was working on the computer and Sean went over to him, made the sign for "tired" and took my brother's hand. Arthur asked if Sean wanted to take a nap, and Sean said yes, then led my brother to his bedroom, picked up his blankie and stood by his crib to be put in. Isn't that adorable?


I've decided to try to end on a positive note more often. And be sure to check out Blanc's Tumblr here -- in addition to his supremely nerdy posts are some great and slightly less nerdy pieces he's written on stand-up comedy, voice acting, and...well...zombie movies. But they're still unique and interesting views on modern pop culture. 


Until next time. 

This Week's Saturday Summary

So, with the family troubles I got a little behind this week on my planned posts. I'll get to them, just not right now.  I may be able to explain the family thing soon, and thank goodness for that because I'm bursting to tell.

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The stress of the family thing is getting to me. I've still got that tension headache and my fibromyalgia pain is out of control. My hands hurt so badly typing this- my fingertips as they hit the keys and the muscles in my hands as I move them to type. Aches run up and down my limbs, my lower back is tied in knots, and the bottoms of my feet are screaming from the knives shoved into them.

Every few minutes a random patch of skin begins to tickle, like there's a bug crawling on me-- an ant, maybe, or spider, but there's never actually anything there. Then every few hours one of the "bugs" "bites" me, a deep, sharp, unrelenting pinch in one random place on my body that doesn't stop until it feels like it. Nothing stops it. I just have to wait. It doesn't matter if I cry out or writhe or try to smack the "bug" away or push on it or brush it away; anything to try to remind the nerve what real sensation is...it doesn't matter.

I can't scratch an itch, change my clothes, or shower because the burning of my skin afterwards...it's like fire. If I forget for a second and try scratch an itch, for example, the patch of skin I scratch burns for minutes afterward.

Can you see why, before my diagnosis, I didn't leave my bed? And doubled in size? Also because this situation makes me crave doughnuts like a fucking lunatic. God, I'd pay...a lot... for a chocolate-frosted cream filled...or a glazed cream filled...or strawberry frosted...or, um, anything, really.

So everything is taking a backseat to that.

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There was fuck all on TV last night so I rewatched The Dark Knight. I forgot how freaking awesome that movie is. Did you know I'm a major Batman fan? Always have been. I used to wake up early every day when I was like, 3, to watch the 60s Batman TV show. My 7th birthday party theme was Batman. I was Catwoman for Halloween one year. The 60s Batman: The Movie was the first DVD I ever bought ($2, baby!). I love Batman. I'm so freaking excited for The Dark Knight Rises, I can't even think about it without smiling, and I feel like hell right now. And I'm smiling.

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Weren't commercials supposed to stop being so loud?

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I need to lay down...more tomorrow, of course.

Storms Brewing

What a terrible day.

I was supposed to hang out with Blanc again today, but I turned off my alarm in my sleep. I should have just stayed in bed, but I didn't.

It's been rainy so I was achey and tired (stupid fibromyalgia...always when the weather's bad), but when I went downstairs to get something to eat my mother informed me that a situation that's been brewing in my family had come to a head after 3 years of waiting.

I wish I could explain, I want to desperately, but I can't just yet on the off-chance that a family member stumbles across this and gets the wrong information because nothing's been resolved yet.

Suffice it to say that the situation is heartbreaking and as soon as my mother told me the new information an iron fist grabbed a hold of the back of my neck and stretched up the back of my head with a killer tension headache.

One day I'll tell the full story, but I just can't right now. Tomorrow I'll have a real post...for right now I'm just going to have another glass of wine and watch some crappy TV.