Stress Baker

When I get stressed out I bake. Bread, cookies, granola, crackers, and whatever weird stuff I can make with what I have in my pantry. I have been baking a lot because super kid has had some not so super days. The other day I tried homemade granola bars. My Super kid never gets the kind from the grocery store because they are full of not so healthy stuff for his body. That is exactly how I tell him... he now walks up to me and asks "mommy, is this healthy for my body". He is getting pretty good at realizing that not every food is meant to be eaten by everyone. I try to stay away from stuff that aggravates his ADHD/ODD. Processed food is one trigger.


Anyway, the granola bar recipe was found on Pintrest, of course. Here is the exact recipe I used. I substituted honey for the brown rice syrup because that is what I had on hand. I added just a bit of grated chocolate to the top. They were OK as bars..more like chunks. Crunchy and crumbly, but the Super kid LOVED them. Hooray. my stress was absorbed by mixing and I fed my super kid and super husband a healthy snack. Some of the bits that fell off got dumped into a big container and we are using them to top yogurt and I am using them to top ice cream after the super kid is asleep. Some reviews said they added more binder (honey and peanut butter) but I think mine were OK without that. I just made sure to press really hard and squish it all into the pan, oh and I used parchment paper in the pan.

Here are the results before I cut them.I was to busy eating to take pictures afterwards, sorry. You will just have to trust me. Tomorrow I will post the cheese crackers we made the day before. Yummy.

What do you do to relieve the stress that parenting a super kid brings?

happy stress release.

super mom

Bottle Cap Sentences

What was I thinking?! I set up a bunch of really cool activities for a "summer camp" style home schooling summer. Whoa. What did I get myself into? I found most of my activities for FREE on Pintrest. I love me some Pintrest! Just type in educational activities and voilà more activities than you could ever possibly use. I made a very detailed schedule and calendar of events that we try to follow everyday.

A little bit of fun for a child with a mental disorder is usually a ton of work for the super parent. With a child that is defiant most of the times getting them to do even the simplest things around the house is near torture,  i.e. wash hands, brush teeth, walk.  Get my point? So, capturing super kids excitement about bottle cap sentences was not so super. I thought quick on my feet and suggested he chose the location of his activity. So as the super mom I am I suggested under the table, at the front door, and in the bath tub... bath tub was the winner!

Here is super kid in the bath tub doing bottle cap sentences.

We are doing Space Camp this week so the sentences have a space theme. The beauty of this activity is you can use it how ever you like! One day I challenged him to make as many sight words as possible with some alphabet caps. So fun and some sneaky learning...love it. When super kid thinks it's his idea or it's a race it goes much smoother.

This camp plan is a great idea but I am full time camp director and super mom is getting tired. The routine is totally fabulous for super kid. He checks all day to see what we should be doing and usually catches mom off schedule. I am just glad I have the summer off from nursing school.

here's to a super summer.

Behavior Charts

My Super kid is not bad, his behavior is a result from altered brain wiring. So super mom and dad have to use visuals, incentives and token style rewards to motivate. He lack that internal motivation. Unfortunately, after a few months with something working really good it all of a sudden stops working, Thankfully I am super and can come up with a new plan on the top of my head during a really stressful moment. Can't you? Here are the most recent ones that have worked.

Here are some of our super charts.

Token reward chart. Breaks the day up so he is not deflated after one wrong choice. This is great during the school year because he nine times out of ten  always loses his sticker at school (one sticker for the whole day...don't get me started). So we give super kid other opportunities to be super. Tokens are just a stamped image that says happy that I circle punched. Look in the dinner time you can kinda see it. This one is replaced by our summer method and I will start a fresh chart when school resumes. Any Ideas?

For the summer we are using a simple plain glass jar that super kid can fill with tokens (same tokens from this chart). The ways to earn the tokens are a bit different. Random tokens given for when he is acting super, or we see him trying super hard at something, reading a book, or doing a summer camp activity to completion. He can turn these tokens in for timed computer time, timed Wii, water play in the yard or a trip to the pool, and park time (we live in Texas so spending an hour at the park is a luxury).

Ransom Box

The ADHD kid is sometimes disorganized. I say this word sometimes because he is also hyper organized at times...maybe a touch of OCD coming out. This one works wonders because the super home also stays clean and tidy. Here is the link that will take you to another hot spot so that you, too can be a super parent. The way this works is at the end of the night we give one quick warning about the toys being left in the living room, super kid's usual response is "I know, everything is picked up". Then heads to bed with his normal, I didn't have a drink- get out of bed 5 times, all the while super mom and dad are putting our super powers away and turning a bit muahhaaa evil. Why do we get so much joy over taking his toy to the ransom box I have no idea. But in the end he has only ever lost three items and only having to do three chores to get his toys back. I'll have to say this is a winner. We will expand it to shoes soon because I am tired of walking over them. But, then super dad will also start losing his shoes...hmmm, next blog post:

How to get your super husband to do chores. Take away his shoes.

Overall these charts and routines work well but we have to be really super and stick to them. It is really about us the super parents following through. Super kid thrives with routine, so we do our best to keep it that way.

happy behavior charting.

the super mom

Reading, A down fall for a child who feels he can't.

We spend one day a week (over the summer) at the library. Does he enjoy this, NO, but we do it anyway. The library is having fun activities everyday for the summer and we attend the large group activity. Best part is that it is FREE. Usually a performer or puppet show. We really love the bug guy who is in the record books for having some of the largest bugs. I love the way he freaks out the super kids by pretending to throw bugs on them. Pure joy. It is sometimes torture for super mom and this past Monday it was pure torture for super dad who tagged along because he got home early from work. This week the torture was super kid hiding under the chair and digging in my purse and eventually ending up in my lap (all 62 lbs) all while interrupting the Raffi style singers that were engaging all of the other 40+ children. Did I mention I got hit at one point for singing along, that happened, too. ODD at it's finest.

As well as doing the fun activities I try to teach super kid about the library and how to use it as a resource to learn new things. He endures the non fiction section so we spend a lot of time in that section. We have learned about how to properly find books, hold their place with a place holder, and check them out. This summer super kid applied for his very own library card. Such a big responsibility.

Super kid decided to organize his books today. Yeah, he is touching his books! I guess his experience at the library is working. Super parent success. He decided to arrange them by category and then we alphabetized the categories. I made dividers with labels and he chose what to call each category. We thinned a few books out that we will donate to our super nephew.  To date he has read 4 books. That is a record!

happy readin' in the super home library.

super mom

Day One, a fresh new look on life.

I needed a way to let it all out there. My super kid has begun to show signs of ODD with a touch of ADHD. We are on the edge of a diagnosis, but his pediatrician just retired...so we will come back to this. For those who don't know about ODD here is a great source to check out. Blogging this extreme diagnosis will be my outlet to write and post pictures without necessarily letting my family in on our whole life.

According to the CDC ADHD/ODD children grow up to be among the highest population of jailed adults. Hmmm, my new goal in life to raise my super kid making sure he doesn't end up in jail one day. Did I mention most super kids are super smart?! Oh, yeah super kid can out math me at age six! Super dad just smiles when it takes longer for me to add in my head.. not very nice super dad.

I planned on being a do it all, stay at home mom, who cooked, cleaned, and eventually home schooled. With bumps in the road I am now a full time nursing student who has to make ends meet by pinching pennies and sending my super kid to public school. That's a whole other can o' worms for another post.

My fresh new look on life will be waking up each day looking for triggers and making sure nobody slips my kid sugar, preservatives, or any of the other hundreds of things I have found to set him off. One day at a time.

Hopefully, I can help put a smile on another mom or dads face who is feeling like they have failed their child by this diagnosis. Don't worry we haven't~ we just need to continue to research and make it our new life's goal to make sure they don't end up in jail.

Happy day one.

super mom