Anyone want to know what my Pumpkin-boy has been up to lately? He's developed a deep love for all things Lego. Ever since his dad brought home Lego Star Wars and started playing it with Pumpkin, the boy is unstoppable. His treat for giving up his pacifiers was Lego Indiana Jones 2. He's now on his third go-around of beating the entire game. I'm talking 100% completion. That's not easy to do in any game and the kid is 5 years old!

We've had to set up some rules about gaming, though. We've decided to restrict game time to only when his sister is taking her afternoon naps. Usually the nap lasts an hour and a half. Sometimes she'll go for three hours. It all depends on the luck of the draw. I'll usually play with him as it sometimes requires reading to know which characters to use, but for the most part he can play through it on his own. He's amazing.

Not only are Lego video games his current obsession, it's the Legos themselves. (Thank goodness!) Too much video game playing makes him cranky, and me too, but creating things out of Legos seems to calm him down. Whenever he's had too much of us, he'll go to his room and build a Lego ship. After 15 or 20 minutes alone he comes out a happy boy, excited to show me what he's built and what it can do. Sometimes we build ships side-by-side, but the ideas and work are all his. At Christmas last year I bought 15 pounds of Legos off of eBay. It cost me about $20 and was one of the best presents of the year. I'm thinking about getting some more. The cost includes shipping and they just dump a variety of Legos into the box. We have pirate kits and spaceship kits, about 15 lego men and lots of jewels. The diversity of the parts surprised me. Much better than spending $50 at Toys R Us and getting just one ship.

Here's a few pictures of the creations he has built. There are about 35 of the "ships", obviously not all pictured here. But, rest assured that each one has a purpose.


Here are the raw materials that he starts with. Just a pile of Legos on the floor.































Here are most of the finished products. Each piece of each ship is carefully chosen and placed.





This ship has a broken skeleton in it, if you push a button he reassembles and comes to life.

















This ship is a giant robot with laser beams on his belly.














The right ship is a computer terminal.



I wish you could hear him explain every minute detail of his completely functional ships. I swear this boy needs to go into engineering. It's in his blood.











This ship has seats with turrets attached. It's sideways in this picture, so tilt your head.



Jerry, Bob, and Dave are all standing around having a drink. But who's that disturbing guy in the back with the gun?  





This one looks like an actual airplane!





These treasure boxes are full of... you guessed it: treasure! I guess the treasure on the top is to entice treasure hunters.



This is a protector ship. It watches like a guard and sees whenever someone is coming. Or so says its inventor.













And these are just a few of the amazing things he creates.

He also has an "invention book" where he draws robots, candy machines, jet packs...you name it. His inventions are adorable and amazing all at once. The brain on this boy is incredible to watch. The way he works things out, draws and erases, plans and predicts. He definitely came to the right family. I just hope I can get him the experiences and opportunities he needs to flesh out this gift he's been given.

This week I received an email from someone who I love and respect. She expressed concern that I was planning to post private and potentially harmful information in regards to any future employment that D might seek. I can understand why. Employers routinely search the web for the names of prospective employees to find out more about them. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, anything is fair game. I recently read an article where law enforcement personnel were using perpetrators' Facebook pages to find where they were, using tweets to disprove alibis, and identifying accomplices through Facebook friends who post pictures with new expensive toys and electronics after a crime. Smart.

The last thing I want to do is compromise D in any future endeavors. But I still want to get our story out there. I've been thinking about doing this for some time now. I've come up with a workaround that I hope is going to keep him safe and still let us share. I'm setting up a completely separate anonymous blog with a dummy email address. If you would like to read our story, and I hope you will, you can email me at schizo2880@gmail.com . I will email you the website address and a password to access it.

I'm really hoping that people want to read our story. If you know us, great! If you don't, that's great too! I have no problem with anyone reading this series of posts. In fact, I'd be more encouraged if we had lots of interest, so please, don't hesitate to email the above. schizo2880@gmail.com

See you on the other blog!

Driving home from dance class this morning when a little voice pipes up from the back seat:

Princess: "Mommy, can we go back? I threw my shoe out the window."

I look back, and sure enough, she's only got one shoe on. I may or may not have yelled, "WHAT???" before turning around to scour the gutters for a tiny pink shoe. After holding up traffic for a few minutes I finally found it and dodged SUVs and trucks to get it. She got stern talking to and a locked window for her troubles. And I took away her shoes, temporarily.

I've always wondered about the lone shoe on the highway. Now I know exactly how it got there. A bored 2 year old and a neglectful mommy who forgot to keep the windows locked.

Seriously, who throws their shoe out the window for fun?

Several blog forums that I read have been doing symposiums on depression lately. They've had real readers and writers sharing their personal experiences in living with depression. It's been interesting, to say the least. In that vein, I've been thinking about doing a series of posts about living with a depressive schizophrenic. Like the day to day stuff. When people hear about D they say "Oh, I'm so sorry, that must be so hard!" And they're right, it is. But who really knows about the daily ramifications of this illness and how it affects a family? There isn't a lot of literature out there about the experiences of the wives and children of schizophrenics. If there is, I haven't found it.

If someone told me "My husband has Parkinson's" or "We're dealing with OCD in my family", I would be sympathetic and include them in my prayers. But, I'd have no clue how they get from one day to the next and what kind of crap they have to deal with. I have the feeling that lots of people feel that way about us. Even family members who aren't living close are in the dark.

I've asked D's permission and he's agreed that I can share our story online. You may find that our live is easier than you imagined. You may find that it's harder in some ways. You may find that the issues we deal with are common to your family, as well. That'd be great! There's nothing like a little camaraderie among online friends. I'm never sure what aspects of D's character are illness-driven and which are simply his idiosyncrasies, so we'll mostly be dealing in generalities to protect the innocent.

You also must understand that nothing for depressives and schizophrenics is absolute. There will be days when they will feel completely normal. They will laugh and play and joke. They will engage in social activities with grace and charisma. They will, in short, be themselves. I'm going to focus on the illness-ridden days, rather than the illness-free days. D usually puts on his best face around company, so if you know us personally, that's probably the D you know. I'm going to introduce you to the D you don't know.

Feel free to ask questions and offer comments. D has become very open about his illness over the last few years. His philosophy is "If I can help someone else who is struggling by talking about my illness, then I want to help." And, I know it's helped him and me to talk about what we're going through to family and friends.

I'm going to try to post at least one aspect of Life with a Depressive Schizophrenic per week. Check back for our first installment soon!