I have a book on our bookshelf left over from my college upper-level Psych days called Using Drawings in Assessment and Therapy (A Guide for Mental Health Professionals).
The basic gist of it, is to use drawings as a clinical tool to help patients express fears, traumas, fantasies, and to help professionals in the diagnostic and therapeutic processes. The book helps to explain and interpret drawings, and gives suggestions for using drawings in pscyh therapy.
It's an interesting book...a lot of it makes me roll my eyes, but it IS interesting and has some merits.
One of the most common assessments is the House-Tree-Person Assessment.
About a year ago, Casey was at our house one night and he saw the book and asked about it. So I did one of the "exercises" with him. I told him to draw a simple house, and that I would interpret it. He drew his house, and I told him not to show it to me. Based on what I knew about Casey, I said, "I bet your house has __this thing__ on it" and " Your house probably has __this item__ beside it". Casey was impressed (if I do say so myself) that I basically described many elements of his drawing before I even saw it.
Cool, huh??
Wanna play??
Here's what you need to do.
Get out a piece of paper and draw a house.
That's it. Your only directions.
Draw a house.
Do It right now.
We'll wait.
seriously.....the "assessment" is no fun, unless you do the drawing first.
--------------------
Okay, did you draw your house??
Here's what the book says about the elements of your house:
"The drawing of a house tends to elicit connections regarding the examinee's home and the interpersonal dynamics being experienced within the family setting."
A Chimney
(symbol of warm intimate relations and sometimes associated with phallic symbol of significance)
(a) absence of chimney - lacking psychological warmth or conflicts with significant male figures.
(b) overly large - overephasis on sexual concerns and/or possible exhibitionistic tendencies
(c) smoke in much profusion - inner tension
Door
(a) above baseline, without steps: interpersonal inaccessibility
(b) absence of door: extreme difficulty in allowing accessibility to others
(c) open: strong need to receive warmth from external world
(d) very large: overly dependent on others
(e) with lock or hinges: defensiveness
Fence around house: Need for emotional protection
Gutters: suspciousness
Drawn on the base of paper: basic home or intimate insecurities
Perspective, from below: Either rejection of hoe or feelings of an unattainable desirable home situation
Perspective, from above: Rejection of home situation
Roof
(a) Unidimensional (single line connecting two walls): Unimaginative or emotionally constricted
(b) Overly large: Seeks satisfaction in fantasy
Shutters
(a) closed: extreme defensiveness and withdrawal
(b) open: ability to make sensitive interpersonal adjustment
Walkway
(a) very long: lessened accessibility
(b) narrow at house, broad at end: superficially friendly
Wall (adequacy of)
directly associated to degree of ego strength
Window(s)
(a) absence of windows: hostile or withdrawing
(b) present on ground, absent from upper story: gap between reality and fantasy
(c) with curtains: reserved, controlled
(d) bare: behavior is mostly blunt and direct
-----------------------
So....did any elements of your house drawing portray you or your home life as stated in the book? Do tell!
And if you think this was fun, we can do the person-tree aspect, or other exercises again. :)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
AJ: Lost Deer-ism
On the way to pick up Owen at school yesterday, we were driving through a (sortof) wooded subdivision, when I saw a deer standing in the middle of the road.
I pointed it out to AJ so that he could see it, just as it darted across the road and into someone's yard. We slowed to find it in the bushes.
As we drove away,
AJ: Whoa. That deer is SO lost.
Me: Lost?
AJ: Yeah, Santa is gonna be mad that 'dat deer is here in GEORG-ia instead of at the North Pole.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Lifeku's....Hilarious
I subscribe to this blog called The Daily Lifeku and Friday's entry, while a little bit different than usual, made me laugh out loud. As I'm sure you can well-imagine, it's a blog made up entirely of reader-submitted haiku's....relating to daily life.
Here is today's entry
-------------------------
To celebrate of our first month with Obama and more importantly without Bush in 8 years, today's lifekus are in honor of all the stupid things we'll hopefully never hear from a president again. I dedicate February 20 as "Remember the Bushisms Day" so that we may never forget the dark times where our country was represented by a backwoods yokel, spewing ridiculous disinformation while managing to rape and murder all idioms and expressions. $20 says if you ask him, he thinks an idiom is someone stupid who didn't understand the need for The War on Terror (best title that means nothing, ever!).Moving on, I present to you:
10) "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." —LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000
9) "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." —Greater Nashua, N.H., Jan. 27, 2000
8) "I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft." —second presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004
7) "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." —Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000
6) "You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." —to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005
5) "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." —Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004
4) "They misunderestimated me." —Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000
3) "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000
2) "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
1) "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
Grammar, who needs you?
Proverbs aren’t important
Cause I loves my guns
You know you love it
My nonsensical speeches
Let’s get some oil!
Oh, working mother
I didn’t understand you
Sorry, I’m stupid.
Here is today's entry
-------------------------
To celebrate of our first month with Obama and more importantly without Bush in 8 years, today's lifekus are in honor of all the stupid things we'll hopefully never hear from a president again. I dedicate February 20 as "Remember the Bushisms Day" so that we may never forget the dark times where our country was represented by a backwoods yokel, spewing ridiculous disinformation while managing to rape and murder all idioms and expressions. $20 says if you ask him, he thinks an idiom is someone stupid who didn't understand the need for The War on Terror (best title that means nothing, ever!).Moving on, I present to you:
The Top 10 Bushisms With Accompanying Lifekus
10) "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." —LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000
9) "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." —Greater Nashua, N.H., Jan. 27, 2000
8) "I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft." —second presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004
7) "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." —Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000
6) "You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." —to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005
5) "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." —Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004
4) "They misunderestimated me." —Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000
3) "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000
2) "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
1) "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
Grammar, who needs you?
Proverbs aren’t important
Cause I loves my guns
You know you love it
My nonsensical speeches
Let’s get some oil!
Oh, working mother
I didn’t understand you
Sorry, I’m stupid.
#3
He drives me bonkers sometimes....but I love this little terd. :)
I always marvel at how skinny he is (especially considering how much he eats!). Owen and AJ were fatties...always in the 95th percentile in height and weight. But Ty is just so.....little. :) I kinda like it.
Happy weekend!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Time for a Big Boy Bed
Please tell me that you have some fantastical advice for how to keep your toddler in bed at night.
For about a week now, Ty has been crawling out of his crib. It's made naptime, and bedtime a bit of a .....er....challenge. And by "challenge" I mean a total FREAKING NIGHTMARE.
Well, earlier this week, he cut his eye open on one of his Houdini escape antics, so we're thinking that in the next week or so (whenever we get the time) it'll be time to tear down the crib and move to a big kid bed.
The other day I did our usual regular nighttime routine, put him in his crib, and stood outside his door. He climbed out, opened his door and without saying a word, I picked him up and put him back in bed. I was determined to outlast him.
Well....after we did this little routine TWENTY TIMES (not joking), HE outlasted me. I was about to pull my hair out. And this has become the thing that we do before every nap, and before bed every night. I KNOW he's tired. I KNOW he should go to bed...(it's not like I'm putting him down prematurely) but he will NOT stay in that bed. He's been our best sleeper so far - say goodnight, lay him down and he goes to sleep and stays asleep for 12 hours, so now I'm flustered to say the least.
And it gets worse: The past 3 nights, he's also got in the habit of waking up around midnight, or 1 am and he'll be UP FOR 2 HOURS!!! What can we do??? I put him in bed, over and over and over and over, and he repeatedly climbs out. I don't want to lock him in there (yet) because he can't climb BACK INTO the crib when he finally gets tired, but he won't settle back down. I was even so desperate that I tried to just let him sleep with us (which I was LOATHE to do, but so tired at the moment that I didn't care) and he wouldn't even settle in and lay with us. And it makes for two very tired, cranky parents when we're messing with our 1 year old for 2 hours in the middle of the night. *sigh*
I considered getting one of those net-crib cover thingies to contain him in the crib and night, but I'm not sure how well they work. Right now, we're planning on switching to a big bed in the next week or so, and getting a childproof lock for the door (so he can't open it at night) and then, if he wakes up and climbs out of bed, he'll be awake, but at least contained to his (baby-safe) room.
This is a first time for me.....Owen was in a big boy bed (and staying in it all night) by 15 months, and AJ hardly ever used a crib, so I'm at a total loss as to what to do about this situation.
So if anyone out there has any ideas or suggestions, I'm all ears!!
Right after I go take a nap.
For about a week now, Ty has been crawling out of his crib. It's made naptime, and bedtime a bit of a .....er....challenge. And by "challenge" I mean a total FREAKING NIGHTMARE.
Well, earlier this week, he cut his eye open on one of his Houdini escape antics, so we're thinking that in the next week or so (whenever we get the time) it'll be time to tear down the crib and move to a big kid bed.
The other day I did our usual regular nighttime routine, put him in his crib, and stood outside his door. He climbed out, opened his door and without saying a word, I picked him up and put him back in bed. I was determined to outlast him.
Well....after we did this little routine TWENTY TIMES (not joking), HE outlasted me. I was about to pull my hair out. And this has become the thing that we do before every nap, and before bed every night. I KNOW he's tired. I KNOW he should go to bed...(it's not like I'm putting him down prematurely) but he will NOT stay in that bed. He's been our best sleeper so far - say goodnight, lay him down and he goes to sleep and stays asleep for 12 hours, so now I'm flustered to say the least.
And it gets worse: The past 3 nights, he's also got in the habit of waking up around midnight, or 1 am and he'll be UP FOR 2 HOURS!!! What can we do??? I put him in bed, over and over and over and over, and he repeatedly climbs out. I don't want to lock him in there (yet) because he can't climb BACK INTO the crib when he finally gets tired, but he won't settle back down. I was even so desperate that I tried to just let him sleep with us (which I was LOATHE to do, but so tired at the moment that I didn't care) and he wouldn't even settle in and lay with us. And it makes for two very tired, cranky parents when we're messing with our 1 year old for 2 hours in the middle of the night. *sigh*
I considered getting one of those net-crib cover thingies to contain him in the crib and night, but I'm not sure how well they work. Right now, we're planning on switching to a big bed in the next week or so, and getting a childproof lock for the door (so he can't open it at night) and then, if he wakes up and climbs out of bed, he'll be awake, but at least contained to his (baby-safe) room.
This is a first time for me.....Owen was in a big boy bed (and staying in it all night) by 15 months, and AJ hardly ever used a crib, so I'm at a total loss as to what to do about this situation.
So if anyone out there has any ideas or suggestions, I'm all ears!!
Right after I go take a nap.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Happy Stuff
This little article made me happy.
I grew up watching Mr. Rogers man....HOLLA! if you love good 'ole Fred.
15 REASONS MR. ROGERS WAS THE BEST NEIGHBOR EVER.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Back on Blogger
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to the user-friendlier blog. :) Oh Blogger, how I've missed thee.
Hopefully I'll be a better blogger now that I'm back in my comfort zone.
Drop a comment and let me know that you're still out there....so I don't feel like I'm talking to no one.
Or did I lose you on the 3rd blog change??
Hello?? Hello??
Welcome back to the user-friendlier blog. :) Oh Blogger, how I've missed thee.
Hopefully I'll be a better blogger now that I'm back in my comfort zone.
Drop a comment and let me know that you're still out there....so I don't feel like I'm talking to no one.
Or did I lose you on the 3rd blog change??
Hello?? Hello??
AJ: Cow Milk-ism
Friday nights have become "movie night" in our house for myself and the boys. Steve-0 is typically gone on Friday nights, and somewhere along the way the boys and I have got in a habit of renting a movie, spreading blankets out all over the living room floor, popping popcorn, burning a fire (and sometimes making s'mores) and watching a movie together in the dark.
Tonight after dinner, the boys hurriedly put on their pajamas, and were pulling out blankets into the living room for our movie while I cleaned up dinner. We were letting Tyler watch a Wiggles before he went to bed and the boys were watching with him as I finished the dinner dishes.
As I'm wiping down the counters I hear the "Moo, I'm a Cow" song come on the t.v. It's a cartoon version of the show and it shows the cartoon Wiggle guy milking a cow......none of our kids had ever seen this particular video because we just rented it today. So the song comes on.....and suddenly AJ erupts in moans and loud laughter.
AJ: laughing hysterically and simultaneous incredulity) OH MAN!!!!!!!
Me: (Coming into the living room): WHAT is so funny?!
AJ (yelling): THAT COW IS PEEING ON THAT GUY'S HAND!!!!!!! OH MAN!!!!
Owen (observantly nonchalant): That cow has lots of pee-pee's.
*just at that moment, the song finishes and the Wiggle Cartoon Guy lifts a glass of the milk he's just squeezed from the cow and drinks it.
:::::::RIOTOUS LAUGHTER ensues::::::
Me (laughing): It's not PEE....it's MILK!!
AJ: Oh. Right. I thought it was pee. *And then he grins sheepishly*
That one had me laughing really hard.
Tonight after dinner, the boys hurriedly put on their pajamas, and were pulling out blankets into the living room for our movie while I cleaned up dinner. We were letting Tyler watch a Wiggles before he went to bed and the boys were watching with him as I finished the dinner dishes.
As I'm wiping down the counters I hear the "Moo, I'm a Cow" song come on the t.v. It's a cartoon version of the show and it shows the cartoon Wiggle guy milking a cow......none of our kids had ever seen this particular video because we just rented it today. So the song comes on.....and suddenly AJ erupts in moans and loud laughter.
AJ: laughing hysterically and simultaneous incredulity) OH MAN!!!!!!!
Me: (Coming into the living room): WHAT is so funny?!
AJ (yelling): THAT COW IS PEEING ON THAT GUY'S HAND!!!!!!! OH MAN!!!!
Owen (observantly nonchalant): That cow has lots of pee-pee's.
*just at that moment, the song finishes and the Wiggle Cartoon Guy lifts a glass of the milk he's just squeezed from the cow and drinks it.
:::::::RIOTOUS LAUGHTER ensues::::::
Me (laughing): It's not PEE....it's MILK!!
AJ: Oh. Right. I thought it was pee. *And then he grins sheepishly*
That one had me laughing really hard.
AJ: Spank your Butt-ism
I haven't been blogging much because....I don't like this blog. The font is small...and it's GREEN.....and....it hurts my brain to look at it. I'm planning on switching back over to blogger - clean, white, bright, and LARGE. But I haven't had time. I've been so busy the last 2 weeks...photo shoots come out my ears, photo editing backed up a mile long, and trying to get the senior website set up to launch by the weekend (don't know if that's gonna happen), that I've had no time for much of....anything. I've been staying up until midnight, 1, 2am every night for a week, and getting up at 6 or 7 am with the boys....it's wearing me down, big time. *sigh*
I've enjoyed a relaxing morning with AJ and Tyler. When Ty went down for his nap, AJ and I had a play-doh date and now we're settling in on the couch for some cartoons and a snack. AJ was trying to tell me something about a movie on t.v. AJ frequently makes me laugh because he says things, or begins to talk about things and I'll have no earthly idea what he's talking about. And if you try to ask him questions to figure it out, it makes him so mad and he gets completely exasperated with you. The funny thing about it is that HE IS THE ONE who makes no sense, but if you try to figure out, he treats you like you're a complete moron and all why can't you understand what I'm telling you?? Then, I get to laughing at him, because his exasperation is so hilariously indignant and he gets really mad and usually dismisses me with a "WHATEVER".
(Madagascar 2 Commercial begins to play)
AJ: I want that movie. I liked it.
Me: I liked it too. It was funny. Maybe we could buy it when it comes out on DVD.
AJ: NO. Not THAT one.....the one before that.
Me (thinking of the movie shorts at the beginning of the Madagascar movies): You mean the short penguin movies at the beginning??
AJ: NO. MAMA. You're not LISTEN-IN' to ME.
Me: Sorry! I'm just trying to figure out what you mean.
AJ: (huffing loudly in exasperation). UGHHH. If you keep not listen-in to me, I'm gonna spank your butt. Really. Hard. Five Times. With a spoon.
Well then.
I've enjoyed a relaxing morning with AJ and Tyler. When Ty went down for his nap, AJ and I had a play-doh date and now we're settling in on the couch for some cartoons and a snack. AJ was trying to tell me something about a movie on t.v. AJ frequently makes me laugh because he says things, or begins to talk about things and I'll have no earthly idea what he's talking about. And if you try to ask him questions to figure it out, it makes him so mad and he gets completely exasperated with you. The funny thing about it is that HE IS THE ONE who makes no sense, but if you try to figure out, he treats you like you're a complete moron and all why can't you understand what I'm telling you?? Then, I get to laughing at him, because his exasperation is so hilariously indignant and he gets really mad and usually dismisses me with a "WHATEVER".
(Madagascar 2 Commercial begins to play)
AJ: I want that movie. I liked it.
Me: I liked it too. It was funny. Maybe we could buy it when it comes out on DVD.
AJ: NO. Not THAT one.....the one before that.
Me (thinking of the movie shorts at the beginning of the Madagascar movies): You mean the short penguin movies at the beginning??
AJ: NO. MAMA. You're not LISTEN-IN' to ME.
Me: Sorry! I'm just trying to figure out what you mean.
AJ: (huffing loudly in exasperation). UGHHH. If you keep not listen-in to me, I'm gonna spank your butt. Really. Hard. Five Times. With a spoon.
Well then.
Pretty Much the Coolest Video Ever
This has been moved up into one of my most fav videos ever. It's a masterpiece in creativity. The lyrics are soothing...yet sad. Check it out:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY]
And She fights for her life
As she puts on her coat
And she fights for her life on the train
She looks at the rain
As it pours
And she fights for her life
As she goes in a store
With a thought she has caught
By a thread
She pays for the bread
And She goes...
Nobody knows
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY]
And She fights for her life
As she puts on her coat
And she fights for her life on the train
She looks at the rain
As it pours
And she fights for her life
As she goes in a store
With a thought she has caught
By a thread
She pays for the bread
And She goes...
Nobody knows
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