Furmaggedon.  Charlie sheds in the fall, which is now, according to his body.  He's pacing a lot because he wants to go for a walk, but it's too cold for his feet.  I could buy him booties I suppose, and maybe I will, but today I'm playing catch-up on housework and making a nice supper.  I'm vacuuming up dog hair and washing dog blankets, then I'll wash all the dog footprints off the floors.  I sense a theme here:)

The cat is pissed.  She wants to go outside but every time I open the door for her, there's still snow and cold.  She meows, very loudly, goes away, and then comes back a few minutes later.  We play this game for most of the day;  it's great!  

Jack is feeling better and is back to school.  He's sleeping through the night again, which means I'm sleeping through the night again.  Yay!  I'm not good without my sleep.  I worked yesterday and it was busy as hell (another theme), so I was grumpy after work.  Jack had a field trip yesterday and a busy day at school, so he was grumpy too.  We bumped heads when it came time for a bath and I just walked away and let him cry.  He didn't really know what he wanted and I was just too tired to deal with it.  When I came back, I explained to him that we were both really tired and that people often get grumpy when they're tired.  We decided he would not have a bath, but rather just put on his pajamas and go to bed.  He was sound asleep by 6:30pm.  I went to bed at 8pm, and we both slept until 6am, both of us much happier this morning.

Off to vacuum up Charlie's dog glitter (fur).  Christmas decorations will have to wait for another day, but not too long.  Christmas is coming up fast and Jack asks everyday when Christmas is, because everytime he asks for a new toy, we tell him Christmas is coming.  He did point out that last year Santa's gifts did not meet expectations (do better Santa).  He'll end up as a lawyer or hostage negotiator.

It's been a rough week.  Jack has been sick off and on, sleeping in my bed off and on (loosely translated as lots of coughing, kicking, and general tossing and turning).  Jack visited his grandma and mom yesterday; they took him to see Disney on ice, even with a fever and a cough.  He had a good time while there, but wouldn't eat when he came home and then vomited.  If I had said no, I would have been the bad guy, again.

I took Katie to Southgate Mall on Sunday and they had a light installation there.  Overall it was too crowded and noisy for her but they did have some massive, handpainted, ornaments that were beautiful.  I'll go back with Jack before Christmas.  He likes lights and he can visit Santa as well.  Katie saw Santa walking through the mall, going to work, and she LOVED it!  She even got a hug from Santa and I told him how much it meant to her.  He's a very kind man.

It snowed a lot over the weekend, 19 cm, and winter is definitely here.  The temperature dropped too and now the cat won't go outside, she's been complaining about it, a lot.  It's too cold for Charlie's feet to spend more than a few minutes outside.  Heidi is made of tougher stuff and will sit out on the deck for awhile.

And me?  I'm just tired, between work on Friday, depression (which is lifting), and Jack keeping me awake half the night.  I made some Christmas cookies yesterday and will make more today, with Jack's help (god help me).  

I'm also becoming much less willing to put up with patriarchy and general bullshit.  A bunch of entitled white men (because they're white and male) bitching and complaining about how hard they have it.

I worked yesterday and we were busy as hell.  By the end of the shift, I was done.  We came home, I made a very easy, frozen food supper, got Jack ready for bed and then I went to bed at 7:10pm.  I thought I would have an amazing sleep but that was not to be.  At 11pm, Jack crawled into bed with me, not sure why, and then proceeded to toss and turn until 5am when he got up.  When I say toss and turn, I mean he would sit bolt upright, make a noise and then lay back down.  I didn't get much sleep and I'm hopeful that tonight I will have a good sleep.

I'm dragging my ass today, mostly fatigue, but also cold weather, and the general dumbfuckery in the world.  I did manage to make it to the dog park but even that was unpleasant.  I'm not used to the cold yet and even with my long johns on, it was cold.  The dogs however had a great time and everything was covered in hoar frost, which always makes the world look beautiful.

I need to get up and make a stew for supper and vacuum because roomba seems unable to charge.  Sigh.  My life is so difficult:)

The soon to be trump administration, AKA a goat rodeo.

I took the dogs to the dog park early this morning, after dropping Jack off at daycare.  Jack was happy to go, they're riding the double decker bus into Edmonton today.  Very exciting.  Yesterday, they went to Sherwood Park Mall and all the kids got to buy themselves lunch.  Also, very exciting.  I got gas at Costco after I dropped Jack off at daycare, also exciting?

This afternoon I have to pick Katie up and take her to see her family doctor.  Katie has been having a very hard time this past month, months. We tried putting her on birth control pills to stop her periods and perhaps stop her PMS which seems to be getting worse as she gets older.  Her periods didn't stop and her behaviors have gotten worse, which I'm guessing means the PMS is worse for her.  It's hard to tell, she doesn't understand and can't tell us, except with her behavior.

Katie has been evicted from two group homes because of her behaviors, so an escalation in behaviors makes me worry.  I don't really know what to do.  I'm going to talk to the doctor about other options like depo-provera, an implant, or even a total hysterectomy.  All of the options have their own side effects and down sides, and I feel torn about what to do.  Mostly, I don't want to see Katie suffer, or have to move again.

When Katie's upset she attacks other people, pulling their hair, or in one instance last month, bashing somebody at the gym with her wheelchair.  She also breaks things, strips off her clothes, urinates on the floor, and bangs her head against the wall or floor.  The staff try to stop her as quickly as possible but Katie has permanent scars on her forehead from banging it against things.  

So, what now?  I don't know.  I just really don't know.  

On the upside, Jack's behavior has improved radically with less screen time and more exercise.  I'm trying to play more games with him, to help him learn concepts like turn taking, counting, waiting, impulse control, and not being a asshole when you lose or win.  He spent a night last weekend at his grandma's house, saw his mama, and came home with a fair bit of attitude, but I told him that wasn't going to work with us.  He settled down pretty quickly.

There is also a ten week course being offered through AHS which teaches kids and parents/guardians, new skills such as making friends (for the kids I'm hoping) and dealing with ADHD issues (for the parents I'm hoping).  So we'll sign up for that, and Jack and I will go to it.

I saw this on Margaret's blog and loved it, so I stole it.  Thanks Margaret.

I'm avoiding the news as best I can, trying to get fresh air and exercise, and even worked for five hours yesterday.  

Update.  Katie saw the doctor, we've stopped her birth control pills for now and will wait to see if her behavior changes.  Katie sees her psychiatrist next Friday and her family doctor suggested we talk to him about medication changes.  Depo-Provera is a hard no because of osteoporosis and weight gain.  She also didn't like the idea of a hysterectomy at all.  I think I'm just scared of her being evicted but the staff last night assured me that Katie's behavior is far from the worst they've seen and she will not be evicted.  I want a quick fix, when there are no quick fixes.  Sigh.  Sixty-two and still learning that one:)

 RIP dad.  I'm so sorry you had to go to war, and even sorrier that we still have wars in which young men and women will be forever changed.

 

Jack had an appointment yesterday, to see a pediatrician who is connected to the ADHD clinic at the Mis hospital.  The appointment took two hours and was comprehensive.  At the end of the two hours, yes, Jack has ADHD.  No surprise there.  He also has a peditrician now, which was a surprise.  Jack has seen a doctor maybe five times in his life.  His mom wasn't concerned with stuff like that, and then it was hard to find a doctor taking patients.  Fortunately, he is a relatively health child but it's so much nicer knowing you have someone who has your back.

There are things we can do to help him.  When the doc asked how much milk he drank a day, she was shocked when I told her a litre a day.  She told me that he shouldn't have more have 500 ml/day, otherwise it suppresses his appetite too much, and she was concerned he might be anemic.  Less milk and a blood req to test for anemia and ferritin stores.

She also told us to not allow him to have more than 2 hours of screen time a day.  He usually has more than that, because life.  He also needs 2 hours more sleep daily.  Lately Jack's been waking up between 4 and 5am because of Halloween excitement and the fucking time change.  No TV in the morning when he wakes up, so no reward for waking up early, hopefully equals longer sleeping.

The biggest and probably the hardest thing is 90 minutes of activity a day, preferrably outside.  So this morning Jack and I went to Capilano Park, someplace I'd never been.  There is a pedestrian bridge across the river.  We went early and saw four people.  Jack pretended the Siren Heads had killed just about everybody, we were avoiding Siren Heads, and looking for survivors.  Not creepy at all but he had a great time running and chatting away.  He warned two men on bicycles to watch out for Siren Heads.

The city looked very pretty in the morning light.

That's it.  More exercise, less TV, for everyone.  

And one last shot, an homage to Steve's street photos.

And just like that, the snow has mostly melted.  It's warm today and supposed to be even warmer tomorrow, which means I have more time to work in the garden.

I raked and poop scooped the backyard, until the compost bin was full.  Now I wait until my neighbor is home so that I can ask her if I can put some leaves in her bin as well.  As I was standing on the deck, surveying my yard, two little nuthatches flew down to the suet feeder and chattered away to themselves as they fed. 

I had a bad, awful day yesterday.  I snapped at Jack and the dogs, then I cried, and I screamed (I was alone for that).  I know it's not my country but people are going to die because of the election.  Women will die, having miscarriages or back street abortions.  Illegal immigrants will die.  More people will die in Ukraine and Gaza.  I'm not too sensitive, I just give a shit about humans and their suffering.

Today is a better day.