Thirteen things about Marj's Day

1. SIL is here with her son and we are having a nice visit.
2. We are supposed to be away on vacation right now, but due to Bugaboo's current medical issues we did not feel it was a good time for us to go.
3. We spent the week being lazy and sleeping late but got more housework done in two days then I usually get done all month. Having Darling home is good, in some ways. He takes over with the kids when I need to, I get naps and they love having him home.
4. It was a great day to take the kids to a local farm/orchard where they have a phat playground. It wasn't busy, it wasn't hot and the kids had a blast. We were there for two hours.
5. We had a nice lunch at Panera's. All three kids were ready to fall asleep at lunch.
6. Only one kid slept when we got home. Not my kids.
7. I mad a kick-ass, though easy, dinner tonight. MIL came over and she was in good form and was helpful with the kids. We had grilled pork tenderloin, fried green tomatoes, salad caprese and grilled pineapple. It rocked!
8. After dinner we took a family walk with everyone, including the dog. It was a beautiful walk! We even had to wear jackets!
9. When we finished our walk we got the kids ready for bed, they really didn't fight it much. Darling built a fire outside and Darling, SIL and myself had some wine and talked for a few hours.
10. I stink of Eau de Campfire.
11. SIL might rush home tomorrow ahead of the storm.
12. We are trying to talk SIL into staying an extra day or two, no reason to drive home in the rain to try to beat the storm home.
13. I don't want to go to bed right now because it is so quiet!

I am hormonal. Having my normal nephew here is difficult. He is chatty, a charmer, generally pleasant and cute. He also eats. I can't help but watch Bugaboo and cringe. At the playground it was tough, too. Bugaboo did his normal circle (he finds a loop, like up the ramp, down the slide, around the back and back up the ramp, and does it over and over) for the whole two hours. At panera he stared at the ceiling fan and stimmed on the stroller with his feet. And Bug Boy's anxiety about school next week is making it loads of fun here. And my in-laws, and most other people, don't think there is anything "wrong" with him since he seems so normal. They have no idea.

Gotta stop feeling sorry for myself. This is my life. I can handle it, I can do it. I have been doing it. Don't compare to others. Keep finding more moms and dads with kids with ASDs to hang with. And find some time to see my friends. THAT is killing me. I need some girl time, badly.

Five days a week Sept 11. Can't wait, but I know I'll miss them both!

Hair, there and everywhere

I finally made the decision.

Today at 1:15 I have an appointment to chop off my hair. It is currently down to past my bra in the back and the longest layers have grown out to past my shoulders. It is a wavy mess. The color has grown out and the greys are showing again. And as much as I love having long, sexy hair, I AM SICK OF MY HAIR!

I have had this style or a variation of it for over fifteen years. It has always been a bob, a layered bob, a long layered bob or long layers. Basically the same cut, shorter, longer or in between. And the same hairstylist has been itching to cut my hair funky and sexy for ten of those fifteen years.

Twice in fifteen years I have had the guts to do something more drastic. Once I went to a new stylist and I HATED IT. I just had a baby and did the stupid thing and got a modified mom cut. BLECH! It was awful. I felt ugly and frumpy. I want to avoid that so I am going to my regular stylist. She is the kind of person you can trust, she knows exactly how to make you look good! She owns her own salon.

So, wish me luck. I have a ton of anxiey over this. It is the story of my life, keep it safe and don't take chances. Just maintain the status quo and don't rock the boat. Be boring and plain. WELL NO LONGER! MARJ has left the building and is being replaced by MAR-J. So there. And, let's hope she ain't boring a plain, 'cause Lord knows we don't need that around here.

It'll grow back, right?

We have an answer!

Two weeks ago Bugaboo had an EEG (24 hour hospital stay, loads of fun!). Yesterday the Neurologist called us with the results and it was very interesting news. We aren't sure if we should be happy or worried but we feel so much relief. Relief because we finally have an answer to the question that has been plaguing us for months: Why is Bugaboo heading down hill with his skills and behavior and is there anythign we can do to stop it?

The Neurologist (who could have spent 5 minutes on the phone with me, giving me a diagnosis and a prescription) actually talked to me for over forty-five minutes explaining exactly what they were looking for, what they found, which areas of the brain are affected, what it causes and how to treat it. He was very thorough and patient and answered all of my questions. He was also very supportive and calmed my fears. So this is what he said (very abridged version!):

Ian currently has "multiple abnormal misifirings" of the brain in his frontal and temporal lobes. In other words, he is having tons of teeny seizures all day long, every day. Like, possible one hundred or more a day, and that was just the day they did the EEG. And they have no idea how much damage these little seizures have done or how long he has had them. We know it has been at least a year judging by the behavioral changes we have seen in him.

Now, this is sort of good news. It can be controlled with meds. We will have to monitor him monthly to be certain the meds don't do damage to his liver or kidneys. But he has to start meds before it does more damage and turns into epilepsy, which would be much more difficult to control. Once the medication levels are attained and they feel the seizures are stopping, it is a matter of time to see how he rebounds, if he rebounds or if we see any improvement in his behavior.

The doctor feels that most of his behaviors can be attributed to the seizures. The poor kid has auras and headaches constantly. That is why he is banging his head on the couch, biting his hand, having temper tantrums and mood swings, running around like a spinning top and spacing out so much. He also is having short-term memory problems and committing things to long term memory (since much of the time he can't remember five minutes ago!). He can't remember eating a few minutes after he does it so he asks for more. He can't remember he just polished off a full cup of juice. He can't remember that he learned how to drink out of a straw. At the playground he tends to find a circle and stick to it, like going down the slide, walking in a circle and then going back down the slide again. And he will do that for an hour if no one interrupts him or until he snaps out of it. It is a bizarre thing to watch.

We are very hopeful that once things are under control we will see the real Bugaboo emerge. We have felt so strongly that there just isn't something right about our son, that he is in there somewhere. And we were right. The doctor said all along that he didn't feel Ian has the severe autism we thought he had, he kept looking for something else when everyone else blamed it on autism. I'd like to kiss that doctor (but he is married and so am I! But he is really cute!). So now we wait to see what happens. They expect significant changes and we pray for them. There is even a good chance he may regain some speech! If only!

Stay tuned, I will update with more info later...

Oh Husband, wherefore art thou?

Darling works very hard to provide all that we need around here. He has a decent job with awesome pay and amazing benefits. Except when it comes to therapy for autism-related services, but I digress. Darling typically leaves at 7 am and returns home about 5 or so. Not too shabby.

Recently his job has gone through some major restructuring. They changed the name of his department and are now under a slightly different umbrella, although owned by the same parent company, J&J. He still works in the same building at the same desk, with the same people, but with a different E-mail address and a different business card. It is a little strange.

Since the "reorganization" occurred it became apparent that layoffs were imminent and outsourcing was in the near future. He had been working on it for five years and had no idea. He also slowly climbed the ladder into management by that time. And recently when the restructuring commenced, the management was squashed sort of horizontally and vertically, meaning that the five managers became three (and he had to reapply for his OWN JOB) and the associate directors were also cut down, some directors above that were removed entirely and the main director given more responsibility. Still with me? Basically they were trying to give more responsibility to less people for more accountability less pay and more stress. Ha.

Darling retained his position. No, he did better than that, he received yet another promotion, bringing him over three figures. His promotion was more money than I could get back at teaching. But the extra money comes at a price.

Darling is now gone from 7 to 7 at minimum. His laptop comes home with him seven days a week. Most evenings and a good part of the weekend is spent with his laptop out, snapping at the kids for bothering him, with me getting absolutely no break from the kids. The household chores are piling up and we are stressed out and exhausted. Add in the extra stress of two very active boys with special needs and we are about at the end of our proverbial ropes. It is making for a difficult time at Chez Happy Family.

And, if you thought things were at their worst for us, add in Bugaboo's newer health and feeding issues, Darling's recent return to depression, Bug Boy's newly reformed bathrooming difficulties and anxiety and momma's lack of sleep and there is a (metaphorically speaking) time bomb about to go off.

I know it is only a matter of time before things crash and come to a grinding halt. It will happen, I am bracing myself for it. The only way things will change around here is if it all explodes. For some reason we tend to be on the dramatic side and need the drama in our lives. It will, believe it or not, make things better around here. It happens every year at this time. Darling has some issues from childhood that I SWARE have everything to do with it. Swear, too.

I almost want to toss our vacation out the window and just stay home and focus on getting walls painted, sleeping in, getting the kids ready for school. But I think Darling needs to go to the camp to get back to nature and simplify his life. No TV or phone. No cable modem. No washer and dryer, no dishwasher. Dirt roads, no traffic, creamery ice cream. YUM! A few days of that and he will be much more capable of dealing with the day-to-day grind. Either that or he will start looking for jobs up there (again) and driving us around to look at houses in the area.

Weekends are too short

This weekend was one of the most relaxing on record. Evar.

I barely did a thing. This new self-imposed laziness of mine is turning out quite nicely. I keep up with a few basic routines and make sure everyone is fed and the house is picked up and that is the extent of my housework. It isn't horrible around here, but it isn't great either.

Darling is on vacation starting this Friday at 5 pm. I can't wait! We plan on getting some painting done and then going to the camp for a few days. We shall see. I kinda don't want to go to the camp at all, but he insists. Maybe I will send him up with Bug Boy by himself for a few days. I just wanna stay here (with Bugaboo) and do nothing.

Saturday I stayed in Jammies for hours and then finally got ready to go to a BBQ. Darling stayed home with Bugaboo and I took Bug Boy with me. Since Bugaboo is a bit off (to say the least) we felt it was a bad idea to drag him to a BBQ. I am glad I went without him, he would not have been happy! No fence to contain him and a beautiful house that looked like a museum. Not the place for him. He has also been up quite a bit the past few nights with what we think are night terrors. Not fun. Little sleep for Momma!

Saturday Dear Sister (Dino Boy's Mommy) invited us to the pool. Darling was going to stay home but decided he was taking the day off from housework, too. So we all went to the pool for a few hours and it was heavenly. We had a nice lunch, the kids had a blast and I actually sat down for a while. Fences! WOOHOO! Bugaboo can do his thing. Of course, he did try to climb over it a few times and was vigilant in case someone forgot to close the gate. After the pool we headed to dear sister's to cookout. Darling helped her Darling put light kits on a few ceiling fans. We had a nice simple dinner and ate outside, it was breezy and warm. Nice!

We headed home last evening and the boys were still awake when we arrived home, surprise! They usually doze off after swimming. We fed Bugaboo again and tried to put him to bed, to no avail. Darling had to take him for a ride to get him to doze off.

I was able to go to bed before nine. Why did I have so much trouble falling asleep when I was going on eight hours total for the entire weekend? GRRRR!!!! But, i still had a decent night's sleep.

This morning I headed to the gym, the boys went to the child watch room. Bugaboo isn't too fond of it, he made it about 45 minutes. I still got a good workout in, but didn't completely finish it. I may have to get a sitter for him this week to go again!

Ok, time to shower. I stink. Good thing that blogs don't contain smells.

Several replies

A few people have e-mailed and commented that they want to know what happened in cyberspace that would provoke me to post the entry I posted yesterday in my blog. Without going into gory, horrific detail, here is the shortest version:

I belong to a few forums (online chat-type things). I also belong to two newsgroups, kinda like Flylady where you get e-mail type things or can just read them online. The forum pages are set up more like chat. There are also news items and such to comment on. And, of course, you have a profile you can create, like in Yahoo or Blogger. I have info in the profile (used to, not now) that I was a SAHM of two boys with Autism.

Needless to say, when I commented on a few news items (one of them about children with disabilities, another about a girl with autism) people commented back in not-so-nice ways. There are people out there in the real world, who don't matter a hill-of-beans to me, that think they know the answer to EVERY problem, that their opinions are the only ones that matter, that they have the answer for everything, yada, yada, yada. You know the type. Immature, short sighted, Black-and-White, still live with their parents and sit in front of their computers all day?

And, these same people make assumptions based on the fact that; 1) I am a stay-at-home mom so I must be __________(fill in your answer here). and 2) My kids have autism, so I must be blaming the gov't and mercury contamination, I shove my kids out the door all day so I don't have to do anything but sit on my butt and eat bon-bons (which I don't even like) and watch Soap Operas (which I don't like) and the reason they act the way they do is because I don't pay any attention to them and I really just need to parent them. You know. 'Cause these people have no kids and they can tell me that stuff!

Now, there are people out there like that. I ain't one of 'em. Y'all know that. There was a gal in our group a while back who at the time had no kids (because of choice, would cramp her style, you see) and never passed up an opportunity to tell us that when she had kids they wouldn't DREAM of disobeying her, when she had kids she'd NEVER parent that way, they'd never watch tv, blah, blah, blah. She was a piece of work to begin with, so this mind set did not surprise me. Basically she thought that everything she did was God's gift to mankind. I didn't know her well personally, but trust me, I didn't want to get to know her, just based on the types of e-mails she sent. You know?

I digress. I think you get my drift. I don't care about these people, I don't know them. The people I care about I see and talk to and I take their opinions into consideration. They know me (even the ones without kids) and care about me. I listen to them.

Cyberspace is a funky place

The world is your oyster and the information highway (which Al Gore apparently created) is an ocean full of wonders. With a simple Google search and the click of the mouse one can find people all across the globe sharing similar backgrounds and stories. I have "met" some fairly interesting people, have stumbled upon some fantastically entertaining Web sites and have found my soul sisters at Flylady. At a time when I was a house-bound SAHM with mono, depression and two kids with special needs I found an outlet and a group of friends. And I am glad I did because I don't know where I'd be today.

I need funky toys and stuff for my boys and their therapies. Where do I go? E-bay. I need to find out who that actor was in the latest B-movie. Imdb, of course! Can't find that no-longer-manufactured cleaning product? Google it, and you can buy a case that will last a long time. Amazon.com, blogger, flylady, the list goes on. Without the internet things would be much simpler. Which may or may not be a good thing.

Unfortunately the internets also bring all of the scary people in the world to the surface. You might think you are totally anonymous when you sign into such-and-such a Web site, but you'd be surprised at how easily strangers can fund you. You make a comment or contribution on a site and they can find your blog, your E-mail, you name it. I have had people in cyberspace tell me I am worthless, a loser, a no-talent hack, a biatch, a c-word, a bad parent and an attention whore. And yet I started out with the simplest of notions, just to contact people. Just to find someone out there like me, who appreciates a decent "conversation" or someone who can answer questions or provide information when I haven't a clue what I am doing with my kids.

Blogs, forums, sites are fun. So is shopping. But some people out there take themselves WAYYYYYY too seriously. I mean, it is the internet. It ain't real, folks. You're staring at a machine! Emotions and facial expressions don't transmit unless you have a Web cam. That is why it is important not to believe everything you read, not to take anything too seriously and not to expose too much of yourself if you can't take harsh comments and criticism from folks you don't know about subjects you hold near and dear.

So, while I kinda keep this blog so other people read it and understand where I am coming from, part of me keeps it as a diary. Something out there to reflect on. But I don't think of it as anything more. I am not trying to write the next great novel, I don't care if I have fans and I am not just saying things to get people to read it. I am just being me.

And for those of you out there who don't have nice things to say, there is always the delete button. I have enough crap in my life, thankyouverymuch!

Wordless Wednesday

Your moment of zen, A morph of Gene and Jean Simmons:

When life hands you lemons

We are making gallons of lemonade in our humble abode. Or, limeade, as Darling likes to jest. He has a very dry sense of humor. When life hands you lemons, he says, "Make limeade." Ha. Ha. Ha.

I think last week I was having major hormonal surges. This has been known to happen from time to time. Or from month to month, if you get my drift. I hate to blame it on that, but it is almost like I am viewing a movie from the inside and I am out of my body. Difficult to explain, but it is true. Every thought that comes out of my head, every word that comes out of my mouth, every action I take is purely out of my control. When I was a kid they said I had a problem with self control. These days they call it ADD and prescribe Ritalin. Except I am an adult and I am supposed to know better!

Bug Boy has been off for three days now. Camp ended last week and he is enjoying being lazy around the house, having unstructured time and eating hot lunches (his ONLY complaint about camp was that he had to eat a cold lunch!). I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, because when Bug Boy has unstructured time he tends to lose control and melt down. He has had two or three meltdowns this week, which is a huge improvement over the up to ten a day he had before camp! I'll take it and run! WOOHOO! Camp truly was a gift for our family, we are all so much happier!

Yesterday Bug Boy wanted to play with CP next door. CP is the little boy (seven) who lives next to us. CP also has two sisters, 6 and 5. They are all around Luke's age and he likes playing with all three, but mostly CP. So, I coached him on what to say, since it was his first time "knocking up" for the kid next door. He was anxious about knowing what to do. In the past we usually just wait until they come out to ask them to come over, or they see us outside and invite us to play.

Me: Ok Bug Boy, you are going to go over and knock on the door. Hard enough so they can hear you. And when S. opens the door, you ask in your best manners, "Can CP please come over to play for a little while? My mom says it is ok!"

Bug Boy: Ok. I will say, "Chris! Come play! But not MP or KP because they fight with each other and it hurts my ears, so I only want CP to play! Just CP, not MP or KP! "

Me: Well, that might hurt their feelings if you say it like that. How would you feel if they came over and did that? If they said, "We only want to play with Bugaboo, not you, Bug Boy!"

Bug Boy: I wouldn't like that! That is NOT nice! That makes me angry!

Me: Ok, then I want you to ask, "Could CP please come out to play?" And if they girls ask, tell them that mommy said that when their mommy gets home we can all go out in the backyard together and play a game.

Bug Boy: Ok! Got it!

So, I peek out the door, watch Bug Boy climb the steps with apprehension, and wait for their door to open. He rang the doorbell, which doesn't work, so I told him to knock as hard as he could.

tap.tap.tap.

Me: Louder!

TAP.TAP.

They answer the door (all three kids, the babysitter and the two dogs!) and Bug Boy blurts out, "I need Chris to come out to play, not the girls, just Chris. My mom said so."

Oh dear.

So, we have a teensy bit of work to do on the social interaction. But at least he went over and knocked by himself, which he normally refuses to do. Social stories are really coming in handy, with Bug Boy, we just need to do more coaching.

Crazy weekend

We made extremely last minute plans to head to the shore this weekend to visit Darling's sister and her family. It was a lovely low-stress weekend (besides the fact that Bugaboo cried nearly the whole time). The only problem is that I forgot I had responded to go to a few social events and TOTALLY screwed up. I was sitting on the beach thinking about absotively NOTHING (for a change) and watching the boys laugh and play and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Oh sh.... I hate it when I do that! I have a calendar for crying out loud! You'd think I'd consult it once in a while!

I mean, I generally look at it in the beginning of the week. I used to check it every morning but this summer I have gotten off track and lazy. I haven't done much of anything around the house other than the basics. I have gone out to breakfast, done laundry, gone to the Y to workout and have taken many naps. Basically, I did whatever the heck I wanted. And it felt great.

Now is the time to get my butt in gear and get back to work. Bug Boy is finished camp and Bugaboo will be finished with school Thursday. If I don't get back to the routines the next three weeks will be hell for me. They don't do well with spontaneity. Neither do I, come to think of it. I tend to get anxious when there are too many unknowns. I like to know what is going on and I absotively HATE surprises.

I did end up with a sand rash and bad sunburn from this weekend. I put sunblock on several times but missed one area on my shoulder. So it is burnt to a crisp and it huuuurrrtttsss. I can't sit back or get comfy in bed. And the rash around my bikini area is excruciating. It happens every time I go to the beach. Those little sand flies are awful. And after I went to bed early and told Darling how I was feeling he tried to proposition me for knowing each other in the biblical sense. I mean, HUHLOOOO!!!!! Yeah, I can't have anything touch my back or bikini area. Let's just jump in bed and get jiggy with it, shall we? I mean, poor guy has gone like four days without it, don't you feel sorry for him?

Sorry about that tangent. Not something I usually discuss in public but it has been on my mind. He doesn't talk to me for days at a time (not a big conversationalist) and expects me to just turn on and off like a light switch. Let's just say he needs a little work in the foreplay department.

Roller Coaster

You know that movie, Parenthood? The one with Steve Martin, etal, about how life is like a roller coaster with a series of ups and downs? Yup, I get it now. Up, down, up, down. It seems like we get more of our fair share around here!

This week was difficult for us. Ian wasn't feeling well, then Luke had some bowel issues (a common side effect of his anxiety). Darling had a stressful couple of weeks at work. Ever since his promotion a few weeks ago (more money, but increased hours) he has been moody, distant and generally miserable and unavailable. It all came to a head on Wednesday.

Darling heard yet another "scare the pants off of parents" report about Autism on the radio so he called me in a tizzy as soon as he got in. Mind you, it was less than ten minutes before the kids had to be on the bus to go to camp for the day. I was running around like a chicken with no head. Darling started in on how he has had it at work, he wants me to look into new schools for Bugaboo, we need to move, yadda, yadda, yadda. Talk about ripping the carpet out from under out feet! I mean, we just got settled here, the kids are FINALLY happy, finally getting the services they need, and he wants to MOVE? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKIN' MIND???? Needless to say, the conversation did not go well. When he arrived home that evening, we ate dinner in stoney silence and you could cut the tension with a knife. We put the boys to bed and talked.

Darling is under pressure at work, but what we finally arrived at (after many questions) is that he is depressed. He did not say he was depressed, but after he told me how he doesn't understand why he is happy, he doesn't want to get out of bed in the morning, he has so much to be thankful for and can't even appreciate it, it all made sense. Then the real truth came out. My husband has been strangely calm and accepting about the boys and their diagnoses. It finally hit him. Our kids have some significant challenges. Yes, they can reach their potential with work, work, WORK. But I think it finally dawned on him that there is a chance Ian may never talk. There is a chance that he won't live independently. And while I want to believe that he will be a functioning adult, we have to be prepared for the alternative. So Darling was stressing about it.

It is very frustrating that our beautiful gift-from-God cannot speak. He refuses to communicate. He has good affect with us and is loving and affectionate. He even plays little "tricks" or "jokes" on us, and smiles and laughs. A more pleasant child I have never met. But we've never heard his voice call us "mama" or "Dada". He has never said "I love you." He hasn't sung his ABCs. He barely eats, holds his ears in public when there is crowd noise and screeches in places with high ceilings to hear his voice echo. We wonder if we will ever know what it is like to see him write his name or to play a board game with him. We don't know if he will ever learn to ride his bike. The majority of children with his type of autism are pretty much written off by society, viewed as a drain. Treated like caged monkeys in low-paying, low-functioning jobs. Expected to become janitors or dishwashers.

We want so much more for him, not because of the lack of prestige in those positions, but because we know how intelligent he is. We know he has a smile that lights up the room and causes little old ladies to comment on what a beautiful little boy he is. We know that he is motivated, strong-willed and energetic. We know how much he can focus when he really wants to, playing with something for over two hours. I've never seen another little boy play with things the way he does.

I keep praying for all of this to be revealed to me. I want to know what I am supposed to be doing. I need to know how I can help him, I am being as patient as I can possibly be. I know the answers will come soon but at the same time I am exhausted from playing damage control around here. There are days where I feel like the luckiest woman alive, with two beautiful and happy boys, a fabulous husband who works twelve hour days so I can stay home with my boys, a cozy home and a spoiled doggie. I'm just waiting for the next "up" on the roller coaster, we sure could use it!

(Please don't view this as a "feeling sorry for myself" post, for I certainly do not feel sorry for myself. I know no other life, this is all NORMAL for me. It is just difficult to see other children the same age as mine who are doing so much more...)

Bug Boy is at it again

Bug Boy has always been a bit precocious. We used to refer to him as Rain Man, which we no longer do, since he has a diagnosis on the spectrum (self-fulfilling prophesy?). Anywho, he can say some very interesting things. The kid is a tape recorder, you really need to watch what you say around him.
Most of the time, I have to say, we tend to tune him out after the first 20 minutes of incessant chatter. You know, the "uh huh, uh huh" thing? He is learning to be very creative and comes up with things off the top of his head that keeps us in stitches. Except when we laugh at him he gets angry, so we usually bite our tongues. Lately he has been carrying around little pieces of paper with Roman Numerals on them. Not for him to refer to (because he has them memorized. Yes, at five years of age) but to show other people, in case you haven't heard of them. He sneaks them into his pockets for sleep-overs with his cousins or in the morning when he is getting ready to go to camp. The other night I mentioned "Numero Uno" and he said,"Did you say Roman Numerals?" and proceeded to pull them out of his pocket. In the car. On the way to the pool.
Yesterday takes the cake. Since he has what is termed a social delay, we are doing everything in our capabilities to encourage and foster emotional growth. One of his therapists suggested a doll house, with dolls to represent mommy, daddy and the boys. He loved the idea! He set it up in his room, almost like a shrine. And there it say for two weeks, until I sent him to his room to straighten up. "Surprise me!" I said. He LOVES to surprise us by cleaning up or getting dressed without being asked. Ten minutes later it was very quiet up there. I could hear him having a dialogue with the dolls. I only heard snippets, but it sounded like he had the dolls interacting and the parents were asking the kids to use their manners. Sounds like it is working! The next thing I hear is THUD! THUD! THUD! And then a series of loud noises that sounded like his bookcases were falling over. The dollhouse is set up in a bookcase (stole the idea from IKEA). We went running upstairs thinking he was hurt from climbing bookcases (forbidden to do it, but still is tempted). He was sitting on the floor smiling at the chaotic mess of dolls and furniture and little rugs and such. We asked him what happened (rather breathlessly, from running upstairs to quickly) and his calm reply was, "Well, the house blew up! And so do everyone inside." Uh. This kid has issues.