"It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."

~Pablo Picasso

Welcome to Magic Marker Monday! If you haven't heard about Magic Marker Monday yet, click here and then hurry right back…

This week we have lions and tigers and bears …

And penguins, beavers, mice and pink flamingos.

My place has been a bit of a zoo this week — how about yours?

What has your little artist been up to this week? Link up and share!

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Find out more about Michelle
Meet Michelle here each Monday for Magic Marker Monday
Questions? Please feel free to email Michelle at childlif[at]gmail[dot]com or come and visit her at In The Life of a Child

Want to know how it went? Take a look at these photos for some clues:

My wonderful dad

Matthew sharing "Pretty Woman" with his cousins

Dad with his grandchildren

Matthew with his uncle Scott

Me with Andy, Matthew's younger brother

IT WAS SO GREAT!!! Thank you for the good vibes you sent our way.

xoxo LAURA

Have you read my book yet? I think you should.Go to www.laurashumaker.com

to read the first three chapters.

Ashley is my child that needs the most hands-on assistance. She cannot be left alone in the bath or shower. Feeding therapy requires my presence at each meal of the day. Many hours are spent at home trying to fill in what is lacking in her school program. And, I am always working with her with an eye on her future – what skills will she need to live as independently as possible when I am no longer around to care for her?

My other children do not require that intense level of assistance, but I do feel like they need their Mom just as much as Ashley needs me. I wonder if I am filling that need for them?

Jessica and I chat for a while every night during the week, and we have lots more time spent at least in the same room, doing the same activities sometimes on the weekends. . Corey is a bit of a loner, and will spend many hours in his room alone. I’m working on pulling him into the family room more often, but it is slow going. He does run errands with Chip and me on the weekends – giving me time with just the boys in the family.

Corey and Jessica go to bed earlier than Chip each night, and the time when they and Ashley are all tucked in bed is my time to spend with Chip. That’s when we watch movies that would be inappropriate for his siblings, or we chat about things that are important to him and him alone, not just chats about our family unit. He seems to really enjoy that time we spend together each evening, but I still wonder if it is enough.

I’ve never seen even the slightest annoyance on any of my children’s faces when my time is more dedicated to one than the other. I would like to think that all my children are learning patience and compassion from each other, especially because their lives are fairly different than the lives of many of their friends. One thing I have insisted upon for my family, and I strongly believe this has made a huge difference in my children’s lives, is that we all sit down to dinner together at least 5 nights a week. Actually, we usually have dinner together 7 nights a week because my children do seem to enjoy being home. Maybe that is the indicator that things are ok, and that I shouldn’t worry so much.

Deborah can be found writing here at 5MFSN every Wednesday, and can also be found at Pipecleaner Dreams.

He may be special needs

but he is far from disabled.

He has an amazing sense of humour,

an amazing sense of self.

His dream is to become an “American gymnast”. (We live in Australia)

His smile is sunshine on a cloudy day

and somedays, when he slips

and calls me Mum, by accident

my heart quietly sings.

Got something to share?

Why don't you join in this Special Exposure Wednesday.

Please remember your comment love at each link you visit.

Also blogging at Three Ring Circus

Finally Yumi decided to take the issue into her own hands. She spoke with engineers, therapists, doctors and teachers, and all of these people were able to help her create Voice4u.

Voice4u.

Thinking at first that it would be a personal application just for her son with autism, Yumi soon realized that people around the world with disabilities should use Voice4u too, since they all need the support.

Yumi is looking for a few good bloggers who would be interested in trying out Voice4u for themselves and then hosting a review/giveaway on their blogs. It would be a sponsored post, which means you would be compensated for your time. You would also receive a free application for one of your readers to win!

If you are interested in participating, just leave me a comment. Please include your email addy as well as your website addy and I'll get in touch with you with all of the details!

You can find Tammy and Parker over at their other blog: Praying for Parker and on Twitter where they are known as ParkerMama.

I'm at a birthday party with Max at a friend's home. It's really crowded and Max is darting around, uneasily. I'm trotting behind him in case he loses it but keeping a safe distance because I don't want to baby him.

As I follow Max, I notice a few moms staring at him as he passes by. I mean, outright staring. They don't realize I am with him.

I am so annoyed.

I want to say something, but I have Max to look after and it's a birthday party, not a time to make waves. I could say something simple like, "That's my son, Max, he has special needs" but I also feel it's not their business. And so I just keep walking after him.

This happens from time to time; I've written about it before. The staring gets to me. More than the questions and the dumb comments. And it gets to me especially because these women are moms. Shouldn't they know better than to stare at a child?

At times, I've said snippy things like, "You've got a problem?" At times, I've glared. At times, I've stayed silent and simmered. But I'm always unnerved by the stares.

What's your typical response?

Ellen blogs daily at To The Max.

Photo by Bored2much/flickr

"It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."

~Pablo Picasso

Welcome to Magic Marker Monday! If you haven't heard about Magic Marker Monday yet, click here and then hurry right back…

A little WALL-E and EVE doodling to cap off your weekend.

With WALL-E's little cockroach buddy thrown in for giggles.

I bet you have some cute stuff to share too…

What has your little artist been up to this week? Link up and share!

Want the Magic Marker Monday button code? Click Here!

Find out more about Michelle
Meet Michelle here each Monday for Magic Marker Monday
Questions? Please feel free to email Michelle at childlif[at]gmail[dot]com or come and visit her at In The Life of a Child

As many of you know, big family events can be nightmarish with a child with autism–too many people, too much stimulation, and a lot explaining.

"Oh, I'm sorry. He has a thing about candles. He really likes to line them up."

"Oops, are you OK? Matthew, tell Aunt Alice you're sorry. And no more footballs in the house."

"No, he's not having a fit. He just jumps up and down when he's happy."

Matthew is 23 now and my biggest worry is that he'll insist on playing the CD he made-the one of him singing Roy Orbison tunes karaoke style. (I think I have mentioned this CD before-you may be hearing a lot about it for a long time).I applaud Matthew for putting the thing together, but it is really really bad, so bad, in fact, that my husband suggested that it be used in the war on terror instead of water boarding.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I'd love to hear your stories about enduring BIG family events.

Laura

Follow me on twitter and facebook.

I was in shock for a moment, and my weak response to him was “Of all the words I could use to describe Ashley, sad is not one of them.” He soon left my office, but I spent most of the evening and half the night thinking about his comment – that’s probably because I have never really thought about what Ashley will not be able to do, but rather, I celebrate everything she does do, and it’s a very long list.

So, in an effort to make sense of my feelings about my co-worker’s comment, I started thinking about the things in my life that are important, how I am able to do them, and contrasted those things with Ashley’s abilities. My conclusions were interesting.

First, there are not many things I can’t do, and the list of things I can’t do doesn’t really bother me. For example, I can’t change the oil in my car – I can’t go on rollercoasters because they scare me to death – I can’t peacefully coexist with camel crickets in my house – I can’t really do a good job of urinating while standing – I can’t sleep during a car trip – I can’t square dance – I can’t give birth to a litter of kittens – I can’t eat brussel sprouts – I can’t speak Spanish or French or German – I can’t tell a joke without messing it up – I can’t do a cartwheel, and I can’t wear socks while sleeping no matter how cold my feet are. I’m sure there are many other things I can’t do, but overall, I don’t feel my good life is jeopardized by that list of things I can’t do.

So how about Ashley? Well, she can do a lot of the same things I do. She can do her laundry – she can clean house – she can cook – she loves rollercoasters – she can love and express that love quite well – she can be quite opinionated and can argue extremely well – she understands the concept of exchanging money for goods and services – she can bowl – she can roll her tongue into a “V” (I cannot) – she can throw a ball really fast over her head – she can do a marvelous Donald Duck imitation – she can communicate when she is sick or tired or hungry – she can give herself her own medications through her G-tube – she knows which plants are poisonous and which aren’t – she can read and use a computer – she can operate the TV remote control and she can hide it so her brother can’t find it to change the channel from Sponge Bob Square Pants – she can tell the cats to stay off the furniture – and she can eat a pound of spinach leaves.

Actually, I can’t think of anything she can’t do. If she wants to date and marry, she’ll be able to. She can have children if she wants. She will be a very good caretaker for a child, and hopefully she will help care for me when I am old(er).

Oh yes, I did think of something she won’t be able to do – she won’t be able to drive unless there are some major technological changes in transportation. She has epilepsy and in our state that means no driver’s license – well, that and the fact that she is blind. Her brother, Chip, said that just means she will have to live in New York City because nobody there drives. And she can sure raise her arm and whistle for a cab.

Now I wonder just what my co-worker thought Ashley would not be able to do in her life because I can’t come up with much.

Oh, and if you are wondering what disabilities Ashley is tagged with, here is the list:

• Fetal alcohol syndrome
• Deafblindness (profound hearing loss in right ear, severe loss in left ear, totally blind in left eye, 20/2000 in right eye)
• ADHD
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Epilepsy
• Juvenile xanthogranulomas (a rare disorder that causes tumors to form – she currently has three brain tumors, and has had two in the past)
• G-tube for past feeding issues, now used solely for medications

Deborah can be found writing here at 5MFSN every Wednesday, and can also be found at Pipecleaner Dreams.

Here we are saying goodbye to Summer.

The weather is already starting to turn and we are preparing ourselves for the Winter to come

but I will remember this season just gone as one of the best ever for our family

and one of the healthiest.

Got something to share?

Why don't you join in this Special Exposure Wednesday.

Please remember your comment love at each link you visit.

Also blogging at Three Ring Circus