Losing brain cells

So here it is. The post I was going to do for Mother's Day but replaced with Shall you never show your face again. If you missed it the first time around you can go back and share in my public humiliation. I bet that sweet love letter is posted on the staff room wall of my daughter's school. If you've shared in my shame already then please continue with this rant about Motherhood.


Life is not always fair to women. Let's all admit that we probably did things during our own childhood's that lost us brain cells. Lots and lots of them. Say maybe something like flipping ourselves over the handle bars of our bright yellow bike because we were trying to show off, or maybe falling down the basement stairs on your new crutches while your best friend watches and thinks your dead, or even having someone in a tree fort high above you try to pass you a chunk of concrete that might just fall on your face knocking your front teeth loose and your parents wonder how they raised someone with so little survival instinct. You know, stuff just like that. What?.....too many details for you to think those are just random examples? It's not like I'm specifically talking about myself here....okay, well maybe I am but just follow me already.

So you make it to your teen years when you ate crap that they have now banned as toxic waste such as the amazing fries and gravy your school cafeteria served that were so addictive you'd almost think they put something like Oxycontin into them, you stayed up way too late listening to music that was way too loud, and some of you may have done other things that exploded brain cells one by one....no further comment. You know what you did. Okay, well if you did enough of that stuff maybe you really don't know. Sorry about that. Maybe you should see a doctor about it. That just might be permanent. Yikes.

Then you make it into your twenties and you might fall in love which anyone whose had the pleasure of listening to two young people talk in baby voices to each other can attest love obviously causes damage to your brain.....I mean why else would you talk to someone like that? You know you aren't 2 right? So you move on in life and have children. Any woman who has been pregnant will know that you become stupid overnight when your brain is flooded with those pregnancy hormones. Take me for example. I locked my keys in the car so many times during my first pregnancy that I was actually cut off from road side assistance with my auto club. I totally blame the pregnancy....couldn't just be me of course......no comments from the lady who lived next door to me when I was 12. Mrs. K you can just keep your stories about having to rescue me to yourself thank you very much. By the way...thanks for letting me in those 87 times. You rock Mrs. K.

Okay, so we can just agree that I already had a locking myself out of stuff problem before I was pregnant. Yah, the hormones apparently didn't help. Eventually your baby arrives and you are so sleep deprived that you can't think straight anyway. You make it through the first year or two as a zombie and find yourself in the wonderful land of toddler TV. If that doesn't make you want to pull your own toenails out. I swear. Then if you think it gets better once your child is a teenager....well think again sister. Now you are stupid no matter how smart you actually are. It's not until your child is old enough to leave home that you actually grow a brain again....and then they aren't even there for you to gloat about it. Awesome. They call it Empty Nest Syndrome but I think it's just that you really want to have them there for the sole purpose of rubbing in how brilliant you actually are.

So here I am in the tiny window of time between the horrors of small children's television and my kids reaching adulthood that I can confidently say I have at least 2 brain cells to rub together. Knowing full well that we are on the downward spiral into the adolescent years and the onset of my shear stupidity. I will admit I was feeling pretty confident. Then the other day Andrew asked me a question. When I answered him he said "Do you mean literally or metaphorically Mom?" Hmm.....well you see......wow, you are only 11 right?.....um.....what was the question again? .....and can you explain it to me usuing little words honey?

I'm so doomed!!

Weathering the storm

It's been a crazy week. Camryn went through assessment for Autism which was emotionally draining to say the least. Andrew had a physio assessment to see if he qualifies for a higher level of intervention. And just because we needed more stress the trailer that I bought just 11 days before had to be moved to higher ground when the nice little river near our campground became a raging torrent of water from days of rain. In the end our camp site was water front property rather than being in the river but it was still pretty close. A huge thanks to the complete stranger who towed my trailer out for me. If anyone tries to tell you that there are no good people left in this world they are wrong. Sometimes those people don't get to shine until the storm clouds move in but they are out there.

So now the weekend is finally here and Camryn was invited to a birthday party today. They had a face painter come in. Well my kid was the only one who didn't have a giant butterfly spread across her face when I came to pick her up. Instead she had this awesome mock tattoo. Way to be an original honey. You brought a smile to my face ye scurvy dog!!

Deja vu

Here I am sitting in the front room of an older unassuming home in a trendy neighborhood of Calgary. Cars are turning up waves of water as they fly through the puddles left by the unrelenting rain. I watch droplets wind slowly down the window pane and drip from the frame outside. It seems like the perfect day to be here and this dreary weather mirrors my mood. "What am I doing here?" you ask. Well I am waiting for Camryn. She is having her ADOS today. For those of you not knee deep in the world of Autism lingo that stands for the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule...."What the heck does that even mean?" you might ask. Basically the ADOS is an Autism test usually administered by a psychologist. It's play based and is often paired with a detailed parent interview. This day has finally come.....again.

As somebody who works in the field of Autism myself I have seen many of these performed. This is actually my third time doing it as a parent.....keeping in mind that I have two children....not three as you may assume. So yes Camryn has been tested before. Two years ago in fact. In my opinion it was a train wreck in every sense of the term. It was heart wrenching, uncomfortable, and in the end I didn't have any confidence in the results anyway. Not that I was unwilling to accept the outcome. It was more that the outcome didn't fit with any of the evidence and nobody even bothered to explain why. We were just shuffled out the door and forgotten. Camryn continued to struggle with the same stuff she always had but now it seemed that nobody was even listening.

Keep in mind how hard it is to go through a process like this even in the best circumstances. It's somewhat like having your insides ripped out.....or at least how I would imagine that would feel. It can be very difficult to face the fact that your child may have a life long developmental condition. For me it was made even harder in that everything that could go wrong along the way did. It's devastating that my first concerns were way back when Camryn was only a few months old and now at 9 years of age I am still waiting for answers. All the programs and services she could have benefited from. The early intervention that the experts say is critical. We missed it all. I find comfort knowing that I did everything I could have. I asked for help and fought hard for what we did get. It wasn't me that dropped the ball but in the end it doesn't really matter because she missed so much help. We can never get those years back. It has been a difficult road to say the least. In many ways the journey has prepared me for this. I guess you'd call this a moment of truth in our lives.

Don't get me wrong Autism has it's gifts. Lots of them as a matter of fact. They are just harder to see when you are in the midst of a tantrum on the floor of the local grocery store or when another mother leans over and asks you why your child is flapping her hands madly at the swimming pool. You have to be tough to have a kid with Autism. It's not for the faint of heart or weak. In the end I couldn't have wished for two sweeter or more amazing kids. I never expected to be part of the wacky world of Autism professionally or personally but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I wouldn't have it any other way.

The results will come in a few weeks but here I sit today in this cold drafty house. After 9 long years I'm patiently waiting to find out if I have one foot in the pool or if I'm already swimming in it. I guess there are worse ways to spend a rainy Thursday morning. I could be having my legs waxed after all.

The May long weekend



Rainy day in the trailer



When you say "May long" here in Calgary most people think of camping. Or at least I imagine they do because that's what I always think of. The problem though is that about 9 times out of 10 we have the crappiest weather you could wish for on this particular weekend. Snow, hail, and rain are standard fair. You'd think at some point people here would just give up on their plans to be in the great outdoors until June. I'd like to say that Canadians are just a hearty bunch and despite our reputation for being quiet and polite we can put up with a lot. I'm not sure if it's as much being hearty or if it's just that the winters can seem so long and that even a 10% chance of not needing to wear a parka is worth the effort to get out to the wilderness. Then again maybe we are just idiots. Any which way our campground was packed this weekend despite the poor weather forecast. For those of you that stayed home thinking "Oh well it's going to rain, maybe next year will be better" I'd like to say you missed your chance for the next decade. The weather was actually pretty good. Sorry that you missed it. Okay, well not really. I just wished I had brought some shorts. Whatever you did was your deal.

The kids were at their dads house this weekend so they didn't get out camping until Sunday night. They were excited and a little bit overwhelmed because not only are we at a new campground this season but I have a new trailer that they aren't used to yet. It smelled different, looked different, and sounds different than the one they are used to sleeping in. I have to admit it took some getting used to for me as well. I was glad to have the dog the first two nights when the kids were away. Not sure that he could really protect me if a crazed axe-wielding maniac broke in but I felt better knowing he could at least bark at them and maybe chew on the jerks ankle while he murdered me.
The kids made it through their one night in the trailer pretty well and are eager to come back next weekend. I was commenting to my family that I was really happy how few spiders or other creepy crawlies I had seen at our new site. That was a critical error in judgement on my part. Never say you are so glad something hasn't happened....because we all knows that it will....just because you said it. It wasn't until we were on our way home.....on the highway in fact....that our little 8 legged friend finally appeared. I'm driving down the road in a pouring rainstorm when suddenly I hear a scream from the back seat. In typical fashion I say "What's wrong?" and I get no answer. I don't know if this is an Autism trait or just a kid trait but it is like I'm talking to myself. I am desperately trying to watch the road as my wiper blades are at full speed and barely keeping the water off the windshield. I hear panicked breathes and shuffling in the back ground. My mind runs wild with whatever this possible emergency could be. Finally after about the fourth time I asked what was happening thinking that somebody is bleeding I hear a whispered "spider" from Andrew. I'm not sure why he whispered. I don't think spiders can hear and even if they do I doubt they understand English.

I manage to maneuver the car across 2 lanes of holiday traffic in the downpour and pull onto the shoulder. I don't know what I was expecting to find but I thought from the reaction that it would probably be a tarantula sized arachnid. I will say that I had to take a deep breath before turning around. First I hate spiders. I don't mean I have a bit of a dislike for them. I have stayed up all night when I saw a spider in my bedroom once and it disappeared before I could catch it. I'm not sure why they scare me so much but if they are in my house.....or in this case car they need to GET OUT. The problem though is that I also hate killing bugs. I even have trouble swatting a mosquito. I know that you think I'm a freak. I accept that. It's not so much that I worry about the mosquitoes feelings or family. I hate bug guts.....a lot!! Then the added fact that mosquitoes have blood and guts makes then extremely unappealing to squish on my arms or legs. Blah.

It wasn't quite the weekend I was expecting but it was fun. Camping season has officially started.

On becoming trailer trash

Our very empty camping spot......with Camryn sweeping dirt in the background

I have only just completed my last blog entry Camping, cleats, and cleaning up nature. However what I didn't mention in that post is that I also started looking to buy my own trailer this weekend. I started by searching for a bunk model so that each of my two kids could have their own dedicated bed. Drew always wants the bottom bunk even though he's the oldest and Camryn loves being up top. At least nobody is fighting over beds. I assumed bunk models would be easy to find and in a way it was. However not in my price range....or era. Seems you can have one or the other but not both. Let's just say I've seen some really run down trailers this weekend. Part of my problem is that I wanted to pay cash for my trailer. The idea was to not end up in debt but to actually pay for it outright so that I owned it free and clear.

So off to the RV dealership the family went. The first model I saw wasn't too bad as far as layout however it wasn't overly clean. By not overly clean I mean there was so much hair in the tub you'd think they had shag carpets. Yah, I'll give you a minute to recover from recoiling....at least you didn't have to see it in person. Be thankful that I didn't bring my camera for that tour. The second trailer I saw was a huge improvement but a bit above my budget. It was also way over priced for the model and year but someone bought both of them before the day was out. Maybe they got the shag carpet thrown in for free. Ewww. Oh well, no matter. The second place I went to was also a dealership. The guy pounced on us as soon as he realized that we were buyers. I told him my budget and he proceeded to tell me the qualities of a brand new model that was more than double what I told him my budget was. Apparently he thinks I was born yesterday. I wish!! I know these guys are probably used to being able to talk people into paying more than they intended but the second he realized that my budget was.....well....my actual budget he showed me two run down trailers and then tried to drop me as fast as he could. The third dealership apparently only had trailers that were a hundred years old. Let's just say I was surprised they didn't have square stone wheels. I don't care how luxurious something used to be.....the key part of that statement is "used to be". The sales guy even joked about being able to play my 8 tracks. It actually had a cassette player but let's just say it was probably a cutting edge prototype when this trailer was built. Mind you I'd have somewhere to play my Bananarama tapes again. "Like totally. Whatever". For the record I don't have any Bananarama tapes......anymore.

After getting a little worn out from visiting dealerships I decided on a trailer that was just parked in the local Canadian Tire parking lot with a big old for sale sign in the window. It's 15 years old but in really good condition. It does not have any bunks but does have beds for the kids. Okay so one child will have to get off the table in the morning so I can have my coffee and the other might have people stepping over them to get out the door but it's pretty perfect for us.....well except that it doesn't come with anywhere to play my 8 tracks. Sigh. I guess I can't have everything.

Camping, cleats, and cleaning up nature

Now that the warmer weather is coming it's time for our family to start thinking about camping season again. It was such a long cold winter that we all wondered if it would ever get here. Well I think it has.

I will say that my kids have come a long way with camping. When I was younger my parents and I would make a few big trips a year and I have wonderful memories from those times. I had high hopes in taking my own kids out to the wilderness. For the record our idea of wilderness includes most major amenities. It's not true roughing it but we like it that way. I envisioned the kids and I sitting around the campfire every night looking up at the stars content with just existing. Well our first season of camping didn't go quite the way I imagined. We learned that it's okay if you forget your provincial health card when you rush into emergency. They can just look you up in the system. We also learned that it was indeed possible to have both children in the ER for two separate things in a 24 hour period. We learned that Camryn and spiders do not mix. And we also learned that 10 weeks of summer holidays is more than enough for all of us to look forward to the start of a new school year.

Luckily the second year brought fewer fingers slammed in trailer doors and luckily no little hands touched hot things that have a big sign saying "Don't touch". Guess that whole reading thing comes in handy.....the only problem is the people who really need to know that stuff couldn't read yet. Our second year had Drew in the trailer only about 50% of the season.....the first year was probably closer to 90% inside. He was so unhappy to have his world turned upside down....living in a strange place, with different food, and none of his usual toys. That second summer was a bit better for him and each year after he enjoyed more and more. By the 5th year he was actually eager to go. The problem is that the campground that we had been going to was sold and we ended up having to find a new place. Now normally this wouldn't be a big deal for most kids but both of mine have difficulty with changes. Camryn had a very hard time last summer as we drove away from the old place for the very last time. She was teary on and off for the next two weeks and then throughout the winter whenever she thought about it. To be honest I wasn't sure camping could ever be quite as much fun again. Drew on the other hand didn't seem to really put it all together that moving to a new campground meant that it would be a new place, with a new layout, different people, and different stuff.

So we headed out to my parents trailer this weekend for our first trip of the season. I really didn't know what to expect from the kids at the new site. Should I assume that it would be a weekend full of emergency room trips again? Was Camryn going to cry when she remembered that we left the old place and how sad that was for her? Would Drew end up back in the trailer for the whole weekend?

Well I will start by saying it was a challenging few days for all. Part of the trouble was that being the first weekend you always have so much set up stuff to do. Then Camryn had soccer on both Saturday and then again today. She wants to be a goalie and so Saturday was technical training. Today she had a game. Did I mention she has a game tomorrow night too? Ugh. When I was little I think we played once or twice a week and nobody had tech training. Now minor sports is half industry and half an elite club full of parents who would pull their own finger nails out just to have their kid be on the "right" team. There are trainers out there whose entire profession is running these high caliber technical training sessions for children starting at age 6 or 7 in hopes that one day they will play on the National team or get scholarships. The kids are doing something related to soccer up to 6 times a week. I kid you not. When I was 7 I think my parents were just happy to find a girls team that wasn't too far a drive from our house. I even remember years when there weren't enough girls in my age group to even have a round robin. We ended up joining other age groups. Now each club has about 10 girls teams in an age group and there are about 10 clubs in Calgary. So this is serious business and regardless of our camping plans we drove Camryn back into the city for training. Luckily our new campground isn't very far away. Before you get the wrong impression I am not one of those parents who would do anything to get my kid on the so called right team. I want her to learn the value of hard work, being part of a team, getting active, and most importantly to have fun doing it. Her division usually only has 2 or 3 things a week and that's fine with me. I think it's still good to be a kid and have free time too.

Back at the campground I could tell both kids had some difficulty with the changes. Drew spent most of the time in the trailer again but he did spend a bit of time playing with the kids next door to us. CamrynCamryn squished into a little corner with headphones on to block the sounds of the other humans around her.

We also discovered some new creatures in this campground. In our old one we had lots of gophers and the odd bat flying overhead when the bugs came out at night. We heard people talking about foxes from time to time and you could hear coyotes at night but otherwise it was mostly the dogs from the campground that made up our "nature" there. This new place definitely seems more wild. There is a family of deer that we saw 3 times in 48 hours. When one sauntered across the road today as we drove back into the area I thought that would make Camryn's whole weekend. She was pretty excited but then as we continued to drive to our spot further into the campground we saw a red winged black bird up close. From the back seat I hear Camryn exclaim "Well slap me twice and call me a hippy!!". Both her Grandpa and I broke out laughing. Let me start by saying that nobody in our family has ever said this phrase to my knowledge and it sounds similar to a line that was used in one of Camryn's favourite cartoons. The actual line is "Well slap me twice and call me Sally". I can only assume that this is where it originated from. I'd bet a hundred bucks that Camryn has no idea what a hippy is but it was still pretty cute.

So overall it was a very busy and wacky weekend. The grown-ups had to shoo the kids outside more than a few times. There is a TV and DVD player but we tend to reserve it for days when it's really rotten weather. The kids spent more than a few hours watching videos this weekend while we attempted to make a bit of progress on getting stuff ready and set up. When they weren't glued to the screen and had been encouraged to go outside the kids were often climbing back in the trailer after just a short period of time. Camryn was able to amuse the adults as well as herself with her new found favourite camping activity as seen below.

I am happy to report that the woods are now a little bit cleaner. Camryn spent at least 3 hours this weekend sweeping the dirt clean from leaves and rocks. When I say dirt I mean full out dirt. Apparently it was too messy. Now we have the cleanest dirt in the entire place. At least it's not a video game. Wild and wacky. Bring on summer!!

Shall you never show you face again

I had already written a post for today in honor of Mother's day. However when I woke up this morning Camryn had a surprise for me for this special day. She explained that she had made it at school and it was even wrapped in purple tissue paper. Inside was a piece of art and a special letter she had written herself.

Here is what it said:

Mom,

I really like it when we go swimming together, watch movies together, watch tv together and read together.

Mom, if I had a wish for you I'd wish that you could live forever!

When I'm scared you always tell me "it's all right"

I like to make you happy by farting or telling a joke.

I love you and you love me!

Love: Camryn

So I have to wonder what the teacher thinks of our family now. Farting? Really honey? And just a few days before the psychologist comes in to assess Camryn. Fantastic. While other moms are getting breakfast in bed we'll be laughing our guts out at Camryn's farts. I hope all the Moms out there have a happy Mother's Day......even if your kids don't love you enough to fart and tell the teacher all about it.

Pushing my baby out of the nest....

This week marked a pretty big milestone for our family. Tuesday Andrew went on an overnight class trip. This was big for him because he's never been to any kind of a sleepover....ever. Sure he goes to his dad's every second weekend and sleeps at grandma and grandpa's house once a week but it's different being away from your family in an unfamiliar place especially for someone with Autism. It was a big step for me as well to be able to let him go. Drew is the kind of kid who could get lost 10 feet away from me. Imagine my horror at the thought of sending him into the woods without me. Worse yet during the presentation at his school before the trip the teachers talked about the bears in the area. Awesome....are you trying to convince me to bail? 

You may assume that I'm just overprotective of him and you might be a little bit right. However there is good reason for being protective of Drew. Despite testing as having a very high IQ he struggles with some basic skills like learning his phone number and address. Recently I had him tested by a speech pathologist as part of our application for Specialized Services (an intervention program). When the speech pathologist asked him his full name he had to really think about it. When she asked him what grade he was in he said "Grade 6" and then turned to me and said "Right Mom?" just to make sure. When he's stressed or upset he has an even harder time remembering basic facts. He just doesn't retain enough of his information to reliably help himself in an emergency. Sure you say but he doesn't need to know his middle names or his phone number when a bear is chasing him through the woods right? While that is probably true the fact still remains that he doesn't always know the stuff he needs to know. So you can understand why I live in mortal fear of him getting lost even at the store.

Both his teacher and his aide are on the trip so he does have familiar people with him. They are amazing ladies and I have no doubt that they care about Drew and will look out for him. In the end I let him go because I know that it's important for him to have this experience. To my surprise he was actually excited to go. Drew doesn't always embrace change so this came as a bit of a shock for me. The morning he was set to leave was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. He woke up absolutely giddy with excitement but the first thing that didn't go quite right brought him to tears. Once he got past that he was giddy again. Then came the nerves as we drove to the school with his 400 pounds of luggage.....for a 3 night trip. In my defence I didn't even pack all the things they told us to send. For instance they had sweaters, light jackets, and sweatshirts on the list. I get the idea of layers but do all these things not serve the same general purpose? I packed as much as I thought he would need and then a bit more just in case. The suitcase probably weighted more than Drew does.

So off he went and I missed him from the second he was out of my sight. The first night was torture for me but despite having the teacher's personal cell phone number I resisted calling or texting her. I rewarded myself with about 14 cookies. That's it Colleen....stuff down the pain. The second day was pretty hard on me too. Then just after dinner I get a call from Drew who is crying on the other end of the line so hard I can't even understand what he's saying. He finally catches his breath and I hear "I'm homesick Mom". Talk about breaking my heart. We chatted for about 15 minutes while he hyperventilated and sobbed. I did everything I could to be reassuring and calming however he just got himself more worked up. Finally I got him settled down enough and told him that I would call in the morning and talk to his teacher. He was still very sad and I knew just how badly he wanted to come home. I briefly talked to his classroom aide and she said that he was having a good time all day. It wasn't until his best friend lost it just after dinner that Drew finally realized just how much he missed me. I felt better knowing that he had been doing well and was enjoying himself for the most part. I spoke to Drew again to tell him that I loved him and that we'd try to figure this all out in the morning. Honestly this was just a stall tactic to give me more time to figure out what to do. I really had no idea what I'd do if the next morning he was still begging to come home. I hung up and took some deep breaths.

By this this point it was now time for me to tuck Camryn into bed for the night. She went upstairs to get changed and climbed into bed for story time. When I walked into the room she looked so sad. I asked her what was wrong and she burst into tears. Then she says "Mommy, Andrew is home sick because he misses our family and now I'm Andrew sick because I miss him so much". I knew that I'd be eating more cookies pretty soon. Lots and lots of cookies.

Thankfully this morning the teacher texted me to say he was doing well and was happy. I didn't get anymore tearful phone calls tonight which is good but of course I still worry. He comes back tomorrow and I'm not sure which one of us is looking to it the most.....me, Camryn, or Drew. Bring on Friday!!

"My brain is like a channel"

Last night as I was tucking Camryn into bed she said "I don't know what to dream about tonight". I'll admit that I was just eager to have her go to sleep. It had been a bit of a tear filled evening and it was now late. I started by giving her a few suggestions such as "Why don't you dream about your birthday party?" or "Try thinking about your favourite animals". Nope. She wasn't buying it. She said "I need to know what channel in my brain to turn on". This comment greatly sparked my interest as someone living and working in the field of Autism. I've read Temple Grandin's book Thinking in Pictures in which she describes being able to hear a word like "dog" and be able to access thousands of pictures of dogs inside her brain. Every new dog that she sees becomes a picture stored in her brain of what "dog" means and she can go back and access all the pictures or just one specific dog at anytime. Then if 10 years down the road she needs to access that image she can pull it up in her brain and tell you with remarkable detail about that exact dog for instance. She also has the ability to kind of replay scenes in her head as if she were rewatching something that happened long ago and she can also run through various scenarios with mechanical systems to see which ones will have the desired outcomes. This has led to quite the career working with livestock and developing better chute systems for slaughter houses. Not the most glamorous of jobs but for her this ability to see pictures and video inside her head has been tremendously helpful. So when Camryn said her brain is like a channel that she can switch I was intrigued.

I have long suspected that Camryn may have this ability too. For starters she loves to quote dialogue from commercials or shows she has seen. Of course she does not have an Autism diagnosis to date however I have met many children who are on the spectrum who also repeat dialogue. For those new to the wonderful world of Autism this is called echolalia. Not all kids on the spectrum have this feature but many do it to some degree. Sometimes it leads to cute moments where they may say something in the exact tone they heard it and end up sounding like a cartoon character. Other times the kids may repeat the same catch phrases over and over again.....which after you've heard it for the 4037th time starts getting old as you can imagine.

Luckily for my mental health, Camryn tends to repeat bits of dialogue from TV that were funny. So it might be the punch line that made us all laugh in the latest kids movie or the silly expression of a character that brings back the memory of that moment in the show. When she was about 3 she would sometimes do things like repeat the entire infomercial for Shamwow as we walked down the cleaning aisle of our local grocery store. You should have seen the looks on people's faces. I might as well have poured beer into her sippy cup because they all thought I was Mother of the Year for letting my toddler watch all the educational programs on TV.

There have also been times when I was blown away with the details that Camryn can remember about something. She can often tell you specific details about a character in a show that most people would ignore such as the setting of the stones in a necklace that was worn by one of the dogs in the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Most kids might remember that the dog had a fancy necklace but Camryn can tell you what it looked like down to the smallest details. This has led to some frustration for her when she's trying to get other people to help her with something. If she asked me to draw the dog with the necklace on I'd probably do it all wrong because what she sees in her mind is not what I would have remembered.

This skill does come in handy. I've learned that whenever anything gets lost at our house the go-to person is Camryn. If she's come across it in the last 2 days she can tell you exactly where it is. It could be a specific pen or piece of paper with something written on it. She's even found a lost book piled in a stack of 30 others for us just because she knew exactly where it was. She even knew which book was sitting on top of it in the pile. Sometimes it feels like we are playing a huge game of Where's Waldo and she's the only one who can find him. How Cam stores this much information I'll never know. Her memory isn't perfect but it has certainly bettered the odds that we'll find the item we are looking for quickly. Now if only I had the remote control for my own brain......