Breathing a sigh of relief here...
I hadn't even managed to post about this (it didn't seem to fit into
my mostly-good-news post with the pictures, and I think I didn't want to
think about it hard enough to post about it anyway), but because I've
been having back and knee pain that the doctor/PT/chiropractor have been
having trouble getting under control, the doctor sent me for some blood
tests. I was tested for several things, including thyroid (normal),
rheumatoid factor (normal), and antinuclear antibodies (ANA, a test for
an autoimmune disease and NOT nromal). Ack! So the doctor who I've been
seeing (who mostly works on joint stuff) sent me back to my GP for more
testing. They tested me again for ANA, rheumatoid factor, and lupus. I
just found out this morning that they are ALL normal! PHEW!!! Don't know
why I got a positive test the one time, or why we can't get my back and
knee pain to clear up, but although I'm mostly a fan of having a
diagnosis and knowing what's going on, in this case, I'll take the lack
of diagnosis! Phew phew phew phew phew...
We've had fun doing a couple of things with Laurel lately - I wanted to post some pictures...
Thursday night we went to the county fair. Actually, mostly this was not
that fun. Laurel was a little whiny pain-in-the-butt for a lot of it - I
don't know if it was because she had been to the fair with her summer
school class the day before or what. (She had indicated that it had been
too hot and she hadn't enjoyed it, so we thought she might like it
better in the evening when it was cooler. Besides, we wanted to go.) She
did quiet down some when we told her that we wanted to see the exhibits
and we weren't leaving until we saw them and that was that. But we still
kind of rushed through the thing. We left the last tent and Bob said,
"Well, I think that's it, time to go," and I hesitated.
"What?" I'm just sort of standing there looking longingly at
the midway. "Well, speak up!" I figure this has about a
snowball's chance of working, but I finally get out that I wonder how
Laurel would feel about going on the Ferris Wheel. We walk over there so
she can get a good look at it. Then I ask her if she'd like to ride it
and I got the BIGGEST look, like "Heck yeah!". "You
understand, if we're going to ride this, you have to stop whining and be
quiet. Can you do that?" Another big look. "Well, I don't
know, you've been awfully whiny tonight. Are you SURE you can do
this?" Stares me right down. "Well, all right then, we're
going to have to wait till Daddy goes and gets the tickets." So we
got in line and waited for him to come back. It was even a couple of
minutes after that before we could get on. Not a PEEP out of her the
whole time!
Then we got on, and once it started to move, she got scared. She clung
pretty close to Daddy:
But she stayed absolutely quiet the whole time, and gradually relaxed.
When we asked her afterward if she had fun, we got another big look! I
think what made this so cool was that this was the first time we really
let Laurel choose whether to go on a ride (not that we even take her on
them all that often - I guess the last time was last summer at Lakeland
in Altoona, and the time before that had to have been years before), and
she wanted to, and she did what she promised she'd do (I can't tell you
how many times Laurel's told us she wouldn't whine and, well, it didn't
pan out that way), and she held it together even when she got scared,
and ultimately she had fun. We were pretty proud of her.
We're also proud of her because she's decided to give Brownies another
chance. I told her that I would try talking to the other moms to see if
we could have a session with the girls where we talk about what things
are like for Laurel and how to interact with her. I told her that she
didn't have to stay in Brownies all year, but that if I signed her up
I'd like her to try four meetings to see how it goes, otherwise I wasn't
signing her up. I got a good, steady look when I asked if she wanted to
do that. I really have to give her credit for her perseverance!
Today we went up to Skyline Drive (after we made our last weekend visit
to the house before closing - I'll try to get those pictures up
tomorrow, or, well, later today) and had a really nice walk along the
Limberlost Trail. This is the one wheelchair accessible trail in
Shenandoah National Park - it's 1.2 miles which used to be through an
old-growth hemlock forest, but the hemlocks died because of the woolly
adelgids (imported bugs - sort of a gypsy moth for hemlocks, but even
less controllable). The last time we went was years ago, when the
hemlocks were mostly dead but still standing and it was seriously
depressing. By now the hemlocks have mostly fallen/been cut, so it's a
lot more sunlit and a real study in succession. Still sad if you know
what went before, but not sad just to look at, if that makes any sense.
Anyway, it was GORGEOUS up there - 70 degrees and sunny, way nicer than
the mugginess we were having down here - and it was just a really nice
walk. This was taken near the end of the trail:
I needed that so badly...it's really not been a very fun summer...
Well, we closed on the new house this morning! I don't think it feels all that real to me yet - it was only about half an hour of going through papers, and I haven't gotten to go out to the house and try out the key or anything. Bob went out there tonight and took a load of stuff, so that the ceiling fans and blinds wouldn't be sitting around here during the open house. But with all those boxes in the car, we couldn't have all gone. I guess I won't even see it again until we get back from Minnesota. We did go out for the final walk-through on Monday morning, and identified a few last issues - nothing really ma
jor, and since the house is warranteed for a year, I'm confident that
they will all get fixed. The biggest issue was that the blower fan on
the fireplace makes a nasty noise, and it went down from there.
I was going to commemorate the occasion by finally posting pictures from
Saturday, but I can't get to my website right now to post them, so I'll
have to do it later. I didn't want to wait to make the announcement,
though. 
Back from our trip to Minnesota...
It was a bit rough because Laurel was in a whiny mood - I think her
caregiver this summer spoiled her by jumping to every time she made a
peep, and so Laurel got the idea to fuss whenever things weren't going
exactly her way. She was doing better by the end of the trip. Funny
thing is, when I talked to her about it, she indicated she had fun on
most all the trip!
For me, the trip started with spending Saturday and Sunday with my
cousin on my dad's side driving up to see where the family came from in
North Dakota. We went to the towns they came from and the family
graveyard. The most striking thing, though, was the tiny house (now
really a shack - it's been used for storage and not maintained at all)
that our great-grandfather built and our great-grandmother raised her
four children in:
We knocked on the door of the guy who now owns it, and he let us go
inside. We could still see the original floor coverings and curtains
amongst the junk that had been stored in it. I think it was really hard
for my cousin, because she visited a number of times when she was a kid
(we moved away from Minnesota when I was five). Anyway, aside from that
sobering moment, we saw more cornfields than you can imagine, talked
incessantly, and had a really good time, apart from the
probably-inevitable political fight (given that she's a Republican and
I'm a Democrat) the second day. The funny thing is that my cousin and I
believe a lot of the same things, but we reach different conclusions.
But despite our argument, I think we probably had many hours' more
non-inflammatory material that we never even got to, and I was sad to
say goodbye.
Rejoining my immediate family, we left for Duluth on Monday. We took a
boat ride, a train ride, and saw the train museum next to the train ride
and the Great Lakes Aquarium. Surprisingly, I think Laurel's favorite
part of Duluth may have been the waterpark! I realize that this would be
normal for most 7-1/2 year-olds, but with Laurel's sensory issues and
dislike of screaming and splashing, we didn't figure it would go over
big. The only reason we went was that it was included with the room - I
hadn't planned on staying at the waterpark, but the hotel that I had
booked that was owned by the same people and that was listed in the
"Visit Duluth" guide as being completely accessible, proved to
be completely inaccessible, and they gave us a free upgrade to the other
hotel. We couldn't do much with her at the park - the water slides were
of course out of the question and we couldn't get her skinny little butt
to stay in a tube for the lazy river, so we were pretty much limited to
sitting around in pools - but she was very content and relaxed. Go
figure!
After two days in Duluth, we moved up the coast of Lake Superior to a
hotel right on a cliff overlooking the lake. This is what we saw at
night:
The accessibility at the state parks wasn't too bad, and we were able to
walk to Gooseberry Falls, a view of Split Rock Lighthouse (we could have
actually gone to the lighthouse, but it would have been $20 for the
three of us and Laurel wouldn't be able to tour the lighthouse), the
Temperance River gorge, and the High Falls of the Pigeon River (in Grand
Portage State Park, on the Minnesota/Canada border - we got right up by
the border crossing, but since Laurel doesn't have a passport, we didn't
go to Canada). It would have all been very enjoyable and relaxing,
except for the whining! We did figure out partway through that some of
it was about her wanting to sit straight up in her chair instead of
tilted back, which we couldn't do till we fixed the harness that had
apparently come off and been put back on the wrong way. But that wasn't
all of it.
On Friday, we headed back to the Twin Cities for the reunion with Bob's
family for his parents' 50th wedding anniversary. This involved a couple
of dinners together, a cookout, a limo ride to see sites important in
his parents' lives, a trip to the Minnesota Zoo, and a couple of trips
to the Mall of America. These invoked varying degrees of whining, from
minimal to "Laurel Marie, we are here to be with my family, and
that's what we're going to do!" (Bob's speech actually worked
better than my attempt at bribery with an outfit for her Build-a-Bear
dog if she behaved). Laurel really enjoyed the limo ride and the rides
at the Mall of America (we took her on the Ferris Wheel and the Balloon
Race), but I think this part with her cousin Jacob was her hands-down
favorite part of the reunion:
Feeling proud of our girl tonight...
We had a survey sent home asking things about Laurel's learning style
and her favorite subjects. I had some ideas about her favorite subjects,
but decided to ask her. Sure enough, I wasn't surprised when math was
clearly her least favorite subject, or when science was a favorite - she
always seems to be interested to learn about living things in
particular, but has also shown interest in how things work. Social
studies and writing (of course, the "writing" has to mostly
come in response to questions) were somewhere in the middle of the pack.
The big surprise was when she said that reading is her other favorite
subject! I made sure she understood that this meant that SHE read, not
that WE read to her, but she still said yes, she really liked to read.
How cool is that?? I believe that she does read, although I haven't
tested her much on comprehension - but she goes through the motions, she
can distinguish pairs of words from each other, and tonight, when I
asked her if she would prefer that I just read a story to her or if she
would like to read each page first by herself (then I read it to her
after she finishes and looks at me - that's how we did her reading
homework last year), she picked the latter. When you consider that it
wasn't that long ago that her being able to read seemed danged unlikely,
how amazing that she not only does it but likes it!
It's all coming back to me now, why I hate the school year...
So we pick Laurel up from school (school started here last
Wednesday), and I look in her bag to find that my plea to make sure her
homework comes home has been answered (be careful what you wish
for...but dang it, although she doesn't get graded on it, I feel that
it's important for her to do it to stay up with her class, especially as
much as she gets pulled out for therapy). We have to read 15 minutes,
arrange 10 objects two different ways (7 and 3 or 6 and 4, for example),
and the kicker, discuss teamwork and then list two things that members
of a team should do. The homework description has this conversation
being initiated by the kid, but that's obviously not gonna happen, so I
have to figure out how to approach this. Mind is drawing a blank. Look
on the web, come up with lots of stuff about corporate teamwork, not
much relevant to kids. Finally come up with a list of four things team
members ought to do. Make a list of four opposing things to the first
four things. Print everything out on cardstock in large type and cut it
into separate cards. Get this finished just as Bob comes back with
Laurel from speech therapy (thanking goodness that at least he was able
to take her tonight - most Tuesday nights he plays in a string quartet).
Take Laurel downstairs. Laurel is too tired for homework. Decide the
best thing is to let her rest for a while, which she does, while we eat
and then Bob gives her her tube feeding. While she's getting her
tube-feeding, I'm half watching America's Got Talent while cursing the
lack of anything good on television, but mostly, I'm looking through the
Brownie badge handbook for ones that Laurel can do, because the parent
meeting is next week and we're supposed to have talked to our daughters
about what they want to work on. Assuming I can get there - turns out
it's scheduled during an evening meeting I'm supposed to staff. Laurel's
tube feeding ends, and we tackle teamwork first. I talk to her a bit
about it up front, because Laurel indicates that she doesn't remember
covering this in class (always possible she wasn't there, with her
schedule - that's why I always check first). Laurel is not remotely
interested in teamwork. In fact, she chooses every single one of the
wrong answers, which strikes me as kind of unlikely if she really
doesn't get it. But, what can I do, I explain why it's the wrong answer
and go on. In the end, we have our little pile of right answers, and I
ask her to choose two that she thinks are important. I can't get her to
agree that any of them are important. We go over them and over them.
Finally she kind of half-looks at me for two of them, and I take it and
run. So after we write the answers hand-over-hand, we move on to math. I
pull 10 agates out of the box of Lake Superior agates that Laurel bought
on vacation. Laurel is startling a lot (she still has the infant startle
reflex, which is I guess not uncommon among CP kids), so rocks get
replaced numerous times. Bob and I try putting them on a pillow instead
of a slippery surface, but once all 10 are out, Laurel can't move them.
Back on the clipboard. Laurel pulls three off the clipboard. Great, I
say, now we have seven on the clipboard and three off, and that makes
10. Now we need a different grouping. Laurel goes to pull more off the
clipboard. She can't get control of her hand this time, and it is doing
everything but what it needs to be doing. Finally she gets two more off,
but she moves her hand back, and it's clear she wants more. Only, she
can't get them. I keep asking her if we're done, but we're not. After I
don't know, maybe ten minutes of this, I finally tell her that we need
to be done and move on, because I know the clock is ticking on how much
longer she's going to be able to stay awake, and she still needs to do
her reading. Bob puts her in her PJs, and they start on a collection of
Clifford stories. I go upstairs to see about printing out some pictures
of some outfits I found for her on eBay to show her, because she
desperately needs long pants and long-sleeve shirts (I found out in MN
that only about four pairs of jeans fit her now), but I promised her
that she could have more input on her clothes this fall (remember, this
is the kid who decided to use her allowance to buy clothes...). But I've
forgotten that the color cartridge on our inkjet printer is out of ink.
So now I need to remember to buy one on the way to work tomorrow,
assuming I make it with Bob out of town for the day - yesterday I turned
around halfway there because I was so dizzy I was having trouble
focusing on the road, and today I got Bob to drive me. I think I'm
feeling better tonight, though. Laurel and Bob finish their reading, I
watch a few more minutes of mindless TV/Brownie handbook, Laurel goes to
bed, I fill out the notebook we send back and forth to/from school,
realize I've forgotten to put long pants and more wipes in her bag but
too late, they're in her room and so is she, give up and head for the
computer. Where I just got this irresistible urge to rant...it's
suddenly looking like an endless school year... 
Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Finally, these are the last pictures I took before we closed on the
new house. I suspect I won't post
any more until after we've moved in.
Here's the front of the house - they had painted the door to match the
shutters:
The side door was painted too:
The view from the front (this was taken from a living room window) was
also finally missing the port-a-john - the dumpster and pile o'trees
didn't go till a bit later, though:
They had finished painting the rooms - they're an off white but the trim
was left white, which you can kind of see in this picture.
(Unfortunately, they also mar if you look at them cross-eyed, so I
expect that we will need to repaint in the not-too-distant future.) The
fridge in this picture is actually our 4-year-old Maytag that we had
them swap out for the fridge they provided, because the
bottom-of-the-line Kenmore that they provided had so many bad reviews
for being noisy. No kidding - the first few days we had it here, it
messed with my head because it sounds like the microwave. It also throws
off enough heat to be considered a space heater, it's smaller, and the
shelf in the freezer is bowing already. We're looking forward to being
reunited with "our" fridge.
Laurel's bathroom was done - except, it turned out, the tub leaks, which
we've been having them work on - we have a year's warranty on the house.
We got her a wall-hung sink, so she'll finally be able to get right up
to it, and a whirlpool tub, to help relax her stiff muscles. And of
course, unlike our current bathroom, her wheelchair fits through the
door - and there's room to turn it around after you get in there:
Finally, the carpet was installed in the three rooms that are carpeted -
our bedroom, the spare bedroom, and the office. I'm not entirely crazy
about the color, but the choices were pretty limited. This is the master
bedroom:
OK, I think that'll be it for house pictures for a while...thanks for
coming with me on the journey!