Another Keely-ism

We went to a restaurant for dinner last night. Colin really enjoys this place because he can eat "a hamburger and french fries and ketchup." Plus, there always seems to be someone having a birthday when we go. They clap and sing while the birthday person rides a saddle waving a napkin over their heads (which we did for his birthday last November). Well, this time nobody had a birthday so Colin decided that it should be his birthday. We had the greatest server of all time on this visit, so when she came to clear the table, Colin asked if it could be his birthday with the clappers. She went in the back and out they came singing and clapping for Colin while he rode the saddle. After all the commotion and singing, we realized that Keely was crying. When we asked what was wrong, she informed us, "YOU LIED TO THEM! IT'S NOT COLIN'S BIRTHDAY AND HE SAID IT WAS AND THAT IS A LIE AND THAT'S VERY NAUGHTY!!!" We tried to explain that they knew it wasn't his birthday but they did it anyway because he behaved really well during dinner and they said they could do it as a reward. Well, she wasn't convinced and told everyone who passed that we were liars and naughty because it wasn't Colin's real birthday. *sigh* Who would have ever thought that she would come up with something so obscure as that!!!

My Cell Phone Holder

I sat and designed myself a cell phone cozy. I like how it turned out. It makes me giggle when I look at it. I'm making one for someone I know, also. She and I are united together against the evil forces of food. This, I think, will become our bond to one another :)

Ode to My Grandpa

I wasn't going to post this. For some reason, I feel compelled to, though. I wrote this within 30 minutes of my Grandpa dieing. I haven't read it since I wrote it. It's stream of conscious and I haven't corrected any typos... the punctuation is all off... it was everything I felt and thought at the exact moment I typed it... well, as quickly as my hands could keep up to my brain (and I do boast myself to be a quick typer). To anyone who becomes offended by the contents... sorry. I guess everyone "loved Mr.D" he was so thoughtful and friendly and always blah blah blah... yes, he did help me on a few occasions, but it always came with some backhanded remark or some strings attached. This was the Phil Damiano that I knew...

So, it happened. My grandpa died. All these years I thought that he was a vampire who would live forever. Apparently I was wrong. The man has escaped death more times than I can remember. I guess I knew it would happen one day... I just didn't realize that it would happen now. Last weekend was my weekend to call him. I got busy with mowing Nana & Papa's lawn... doing this and that... and I thought I would just call him the next weekend. Then on Tuesday I received a call from my Uncle saying that he took Grandpa to the emergency room due to kidney failure. This wasn't a surprise since he has been on a diaphoretic for almost 2 years to drain his body of obsessive water retention. I called him that day. He sounded horrible. I was only able to talk to him for 2 minutes before he asked if we could hang up. My Dad left today to drive to Milwaukee to see him and help his brother. He got the call around 9pm as he was pulling into a hotel for the night. He told Mom. Mom told me. I sat quiet once I hung up the phone with thoughts and emotions swirling inside of me. I always thought that the day he died I would feel happy... however that wasn't the feeling I had.... it was confusing... it wasn't sadness or happiness... it was pity. Pity for the man. He had a really rough start to life. He lived through the depression. His brother died in the war. He lost his eye quite young. He was considered a cripple. Maybe it was because he was considered a cripple that he drew up such a cold exterior.... maybe it was the person he always was... I don't know... I wasn't there. Great Grandma D sure as heck didn't raise him that way! He held the Italian Community Center on such a pedestal... he donated thousands of dollars to them because they were so important to him... not on plane tickets to fly to California to see his grandkids. He boasted about the church people and how they all loved him so much more than his own son and grandkids... As he became older, he became much more cantankerous. Much more bitter. Much more insulting. And yet, I called him at least once a month.... not because I was obligated to... not because I was guilted into it... because I wanted to. There were times in our conversations that I really enjoyed our talks. He seemed to really want to know and understand my kids and the Autism that would be with them for the rest of their lives. He wanted to learn as much as he could about Autism... that meant a lot to me. There are some in my family that still have it ass-backwards because they believe all the crap that they see on TV. When he talked about my Grandma... when they were newlyweds... when they were young... he wasn't the same man I had grown to know. He was... nice. And now he's gone. And I feel pitty for the man he had become and the life that he had made for himself. It was all along, his choice not to visit us when we were kids. It was his choice not to call me... and always wait for me to call him. It was his choice to always be angry and talk negatively about my parents, myself, my brothers. It was his choice to always tell me that my cousin was more a grandddaughter than I was because she was so wonderful and so smart and so perfect... Whether or not he knew it, it was his choice to have me distance myself from him. And now he's gone. He lived the last of his life as a lonely old man with nobody to talk to except my uncle who lives with him, his sister who recently lost her husband... and wait for my phonecalls. The Italian Community Center forgot all about Phil. A few of the church people still called upon him... but it was just token visits and conversations. I feel pity that a man who could have been my grandpa ended up dieing today. I wonder if on his deathbed he actually realized what he missed out on.

Colin's Request

I made this a while back... Colin lost it right away. Well, we found it again and he's been wearing it for about an hour now. So... I figured I would post a picture of Colin's Nose Warmer!!!!

My Newest Creation

I whipped up a little hat for my new friend, Wendy. She's pregnant with a girl and her theme will be cherries. I thought it came out awfully adorable with the little ruffle brim.
It is modeled by my Cabbage Patch Kid, Desmond, with Colin giggling.

My Dad's Birthday Party

Keely decided she wanted to throw Gramps a birthday party. So, it was up to me to do the cake. I started out with a 2-layer chocolate cake that had a banana filling with rings of banana in it. I was going to frost the top, but decided to go potty first. Colin wanted to help with the cake, so while I was out of the room, he dumped the cake on the floor. Oooppppssssss.
Quickly, I grabbed another box of cake mix and whipped up cake #2. Simple devil's food cake with chocolate frosting. In an effort to jazz it up, I grabbed a bag of mini marshmallows (meant for a batch of colourful Marshmallow Fluff for this week) and improvised. This was the result :)I made Dad a beanie (during the winter he complained his ears were cold) in hopes of the kids carrying on the tradition of stealing his beanie and wearing it every time he tried to move :) Colin asked for a matching one to Gramps. (This is the Birthday boy with his gift. He rolled it up due to it being a rather warm evening). I'm pretty sure that the highlight of the party was the fact that a super scary Thunderstorm was in the Dallas area. Luckily, we got a weak strand of it, but other areas had some pretty nasty weather. There was ping pong sized hail, massive lightening strikes, tornadoes, massive winds that devastated areas... We watched it all on the news.

Easter

Well, Easter is over. It's scary to realize that the year is already 1/3 over. It seems like only last month we were back in California playing with our friends and family... going to Disneyland... trying to get Colin to stop having a meltdown on the airplane... *sigh*

This year we hid plastic eggs and inside there was either one piece of candy or a folded piece of paper with the picture of a game on it. They got

• Whack-A-Mole
• Hullabaloo
• Cooties
• Cookin' Cookies Card Game
• Peanut Butter & Jelly Card Game
• a kids version of Uno
• Hi Ho Cherry-O!
• Chutes & Ladders
  
• a Disney plug into the TV video game

I really wanted to start incorporating taking turns with games into our routine, so this was the opportune time to buy all of them. So, that was our Easter. We played games most of the day. (I did sneak out and go up to visit Nana in the hospital for a few hours when the kids were busy playing with Christian)

Our Playdate

I met someone online (Wendy) recently in a Mommy's Group. She lives in Plano (about 30 minute drive from here) and has a 2 year old son named Xander. I've been talking to her for a few weeks and today she came to our house for a playdate. Colin did SO well. She was here over 5 hours which is a record for Colin playing with someone. Colin cried when they left calling, "McXander, come back to Colin!" as they drove away. Keely also liked them, but she was in one of her moods so she played by herself with her big girl activities that she can only do when Colin isn't around.

Wendy is a very nice person who I got along with very well. We are quite similar in parenting style and personality. In the future, I foresee us getting together often. Hopefully I will finally have a friend in Texas!!!!

The Start of Something New...

Alright, I started a Blog. It's going to be random. There is no telling what you will end up reading on this. I have no idea who will actually read this. Why am I doing this, you ask? Because I have been REALLY HORRIBLE about updating people back in CA. I started out sending pictures and updates to everyone... then I dropped off the face of the earth. If I have a blog, maybe I will be more driven to use it.
Without further ado...

So the kids went to the doctor two weeks ago. Here is the update on my offspring:

KeelyMonster - Now 41" tall and in the 8 %tile. She now weighs 39 LBS and is in the 32 %tile. With her little round watermelon shelf belly (you know what I'm talking about), her body mass is in the 77 %tile. The Doctor feels that she has some behavior issues (like that should surprise any of us) and would like to make an appointment to have her screened for ADHD. He also wants her to see a Urologist based on her potty issues. Again, no surprise on that one. All in all, she's healthy and growing!

ColinUly - A whopping 43 1/2" tall and in the 88 %tile. He weighs 38 LBS and is in the 54 %tile. His body mass is a mere 10 %tile. The Doctor also feels that he has behavior issues and feels that he should also be screened for ADHD. He has fallen behind on his development and they want us to get him involved in Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy and Physical Therapy again. They told us to go back after the county to see if we can get him reinstated in special ed. If we get turned away again, they want us to get through our insurance. He also has a referral to the EarNoseThroat Doctor due to his constant nose bleeds.

Lots of fun for the coming month or two. I can't wait to have all these apointments and see what they find!!!

Things in Texas are starting to come back to life. Spring is in the air; it's a warm welcome from the dormant winter months. The weather is warming up, so the kids and I are spending as much time as possible outside before the summer heats things up. I do miss the cold, though. I really enjoyed the winter weather a lot more than I thought I would. I guess I enjoyed the brisk air. The two times it snowed (okay, it was a dusting more than a snow) was rather wonderful. I took TONS of pictures. Now that life is coming back to the area, I will be making a DVD entitled, "A Day in the Life of The Fied's." I will travel around and film our area, Keely's school, our overly exciting city, our home (everyone has been asking for pictures now that the furniture is in, yet I have none), the community playground.... I'll keep everyone posted on my new blog of the status.

I have been pretty dang busy lately with my gardening. I have gone crazy for the new and exciting things that I can plant here. I'm going to post pictures as soon as I get everything in the ground. When I'm not gardening, I am sitting in the backyard on the swing watching the kids play or reading to them outside. It's been really enjoyable. At nights, I have taken to my knitting/crochet. I have actually sold one of these hats!! Well, that's all for now. I will try my best to keep this updated... even if it is with random stories, thoughts or useless information!!!

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