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Happy 2013! 

I'm sorry, I took an inadvertant bloggy hiatus...  The holidays were sweet and bumpy and memory filled and busy. 

And since then, well, there has been a little detoxing from the holidays going on, but I believe that I'm back now...

Updating:  Elise has been a lot more even-keeled as far as her ADHD ups and downs...  I even opted out of her meds for a little bit between Christmas and school starting back, and it was really not bad at all!  I like to think that our general eating health has had and impact and that Elise is growing up and maturing is making an impact.  I am not a giant fan of medication, except as a necessary fix of something, and so I have held on to the hope that we could pass through this as a stage....and our medication vacation offers this hope as something that may happen sooner than I had even hoped. 

Speaking of medication, post her most recent AFLAC visit, we got a more stable Thyroid than we have in a while, but also that her cholesterol is skyrocketing...and will undoubtedly require intervention, medical or more naturally...but diet and exercise is not fixing it, at all, no matter how drastically we have attempted to wrestle it into submission.  Also, due to a chemical battery, we have discovered that her abrupt need to lick all things metal is entirely sensory and not at all pica triggered by low metal levels (magnesium, iron, etc).  And she is still Cancer Free, which is always worthy of a party!!

I am activily filling out the paperwork for her talk box, and I hope to have a time frame as soon as possible for you (and us!) when that is complete.

And, amazingly, we've been quite illness free so far this winter!!  Elise has had to dig out the inhalers for croup only twice, and it was completely controlled by them!  We've not had to load up on the prednisone!

Thanks to Elise's disabilities and sensory issues, we realized with a shock this fall, that Amelia at 6 cannot ride a bike or swim...and we were horrified.  So, she got a bike for Christmas and we are pursuing bike options for Elise.  Also, we signed her up for swim lessons.  Despite my history as a swimming instructor, between Elise and Charlotte taking turns flipping out at the pool, Amelia didn't get the support she needed.  The swimming lessons have given her confidence and she can already swim and has graduated up to the next level.  She's gone from not swimming at all in October, to swimming the length of the pool on her own.  During her swimming lessons, Elise and Charlotte have gotten the opportunity to work through some of their sensory/pool issues in the shallow end/beach entry.  It has been a surprisingly impactful 45 minutes (2x a week) on all 3 of them.  And they all sleep very hard on those nights!  :)

The funny and interesting thing that I've discovered thanks to the swimming lessons, is that white folks don't go to late swimming lessons.  I mean at all.  We have opted for swimming classes that start after 6:30pm.  And we are the minority.  Like it's just us.  Everyone else is Indian.  My girls are VERY fair.  They have varying shades of blonde hair, and snowy skin...like you can see their capillaries under their skin in the winter.  And everyone else has "pretty skin" according to Charlotte...she's in heaven!  (She adores skin in the chocolate and cinnamon hues!)  Why do I even bring this up?  Because I've also discovered that other than their penchant to swimming in the evening, they are remarkably accepting of Elise.  As a group, they don't blink an eye at her oddities and immaturity.  They play with her in the pool, they answer her questions, with virtually no askance at me.  They smile and talk to her like to any other child.  As I observed this with family after family and group after group when we had to change our swim times... I started thinking back over those of this ethnicity that we have had the pleasure of interacting with, (at the hospital, at the restaurants, at the mall) and I can say with confidence, that this is the rule, rather than the exception.  Such that I even emailed and messaged a few friends that are Indian or who have married in, and asked them if there is a cultural or religious underpinning that could explain this?  So far, I've come up empty on a complex explanation.  The only consistent response that I got was, that Indians value respect very highly.  That simple explanation has wow-ed me even more.  Simple respect of a person has allowed a simple, across the board, acceptance.  Please take notes.  I know I am.  This has, of course, spurred me to start observing more, culturally and in families, to see if this is a clear explanation for all those who accept lightly and love fully...and I am finding it to be a very consistant theme.  I am intrigued by the cultural implications and find myself trying to observe more specifically...to try to tie the values and treasured qualities to personal interactions...and it is fascinating!  (And please don't hesitate to weigh in on this!)

ANYWAY, 2013 is looking good for us.  I hope it has been as good to you.  And I hope that my random posting on this blog's Facebook page has allowed me forgiveness for my hiatus...and I promise to blog with more consistency from here on!