Miscellaneous

We attended a birthday party for our friends' 1-year-old girl yesterday, and Erik did very well in a very crowded, noisy setting. In fact, I felt relaxed when we left and could honestly report he had a great time. He even smiled and greeted the other children. The only time I felt like screaming was when an older boy insisted on staring at Erik as I held him in my lap and fed him during the party. Now that I think about it, I'm sure Erik is beginning to look a little strange being spoon fed while we are in a noisy setting. He will not eat in this type of environment otherwise, and I take the opportunity to cram as much food in him as possible while he is distracted! He dove into the quiche and fruit salad! He does just fine feeding himself at home, although he is maddeningly picky about what he puts in his mouth.

There are eight inches of snow on the ground now. Finally. It is supposed to snow all week, and I am hoping the school district keeps things open for Erik.

Church Update: I received two voice mails from the deacon trying to assist me over the last week. The first explained that she had not received an answer back from the person she thought could help us, and the second was that she was unable to arrange anything at this point but would continue to try. I am getting the feeling that the high school girl declined to watch Erik during Sunday school. This is exactly why I feel like a problem that needs to be addressed. I spoke with Brian about accompanying Erik to Sunday school myself, but I predict I would leave church more depressed and more stressed out than ever. I have no desire to sit in that type of environment trying to be a soothing, calming presence when I am need soothing and calming (and perhaps some Jack Daniels) myself. I'm sure that once Erik attends more typical classrooms and events, I'll be more acclimated to it all, but right now it's an overwhelming, depressing challenge I am not ready to try. I am happy being immersed in just special ed for now. One step at a time. So far, this is not worth the trouble. We can teach Erik what we think is important in the comfort of our own home.

Our big screen television went on the fritz, and my best friend's husband, who is an electronics expert with his own shop, came to do surgery on it today while I played with his children. The parts we need will take a couple of weeks to arrive, so my BBC America afternoons are on hold. To entertain myself, I retrieved my copy of the recipe book called the Sneaky Chef in the hopes I can hide more vegetables in Erik's diet. I spent the morning whirling blueberries and spinach in my food processor, incorporating them into brownies (also whole wheat flour and wheat germ). I felt like dry heaving while I stirred melted chocolate and butter into the spinach mixture, but the house smells of nothing but chocolate now as they cool on a wire rack, looking like any innocent batch of brownies. I attempted the peanut butter and jelly muffins made with yam and carrot puree this weekend. Erik ate them but was less than excited about them, making the amount of work that went into them questionable. We'll see how these go over.