A Celebration of Our Journey

I'm still here!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:41:00 +0000

I've been very busy these past couple of days! Phew! This is hard work!! We're being serious with homeschool this week, though I'm still considering it a practice week. I'm SO glad we did things together over the summer or I would have been in for a huge shock. Things are going well, but it's challenging. I'll probably describe our days in more detail sometime in the future, but tonight I'm just going to share a few pictures and links. I think my days of being able to relax and wind down by blogging are over! At least for awhile!

I need to focus on developing more lessons and getting organized and for all the work I did and all the planning, I'm still behind...

Anyway, I'm really excited about this picture! Daniel is eating fruit!!! That is baby food, yes, but I don't care! Bananas and mixed berries! I'm thrilled!

We've been talking about Noah's Ark and coloring pictures. Daniel also listened to the Arky, Arky song I have on CD. That is huge, since he won't usually tolerate anything except for Baby Einstein's Traveling Melodies. Maybe it helped that I called it The Noah Song?? I'm starting by using things that Daniel is interested in. Honestly, he's not that interested in Noah, but thinks animals are cool. We'll start there. He hates rain, so I've told him the story, but I haven't pushed too much. I'm just happy that he's let me read him a story at all. I have more crafts and ideas for the coming days, so we'll see how that goes. We've also started the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom stuff. Daniel's not too interested (so, over that book, it seems!), but we'll spend some time on each letter and the sound it makes. I have many ideas for that! I hope we can find something fun that works for him.

I'd love to break down the past two days, but I'm too tired. Here's all you need to know: It was hard, but really good. :)

Some pictures for you...

And some links we're using:
Letter Aa
Noah's Ark paper craft
Noah's Ark lesson plan activities
Noah's Ark mini book
Noah Coloring Pages
another Ark Craft

Goodnight!

Try This Tuesday- Identifying Emotions

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:00:00 +0000

We have been working with Daniel for a long, long time with identifying emotions. I'm pretty sure he understands happy, sad, mad, but it's hard to tell because when I ask him, "Are you happy or sad?", when he's clearly upset, he tells me, "Happy face". I've been meaning to buy one of those emotions posters, but it's extra money and I've been putting it off because we can live without it. We have this Spectrum Connections- Connecting Emotions DVD, but Daniel hasn't been interested in watching it. When I put it on, he leaves the room. It finally came to me last week that since Daniel IS a visual learner that I could make little faces and label them. He LOVES labels. I got him to help me trace 10 circles. Then I drew the faces on them, labeled them on the back and cut them out. To make them more durable I laminated them with clear contact paper. (Could have brought them to Staples to have them professionally done- but that costs money!) Then I also made labels on white strips of paper.

To introduce these to Daniel, I set them up and left them on his table. I watched him but just left him alone. Later on, he got upset when I started to put them away, so we're leaving them out- which is good because they're readily available. When he's having a problem with something, I'll go get 3 or 4 of the faces with their labels to show him. He's almost always able to tell me which one he's feeling. So far he's pointed out and expressed that he's been grumpy, silly and happy. Today he just came out and told me, "I'm Silly!" This has been so helpful in just a few days. You can make whatever emotions you want to go on these!

This week, we'll expand on this by using one of the faces and emotions with a sentence strip with the words: I feel (fill in the blank) .

To find out more about Try This Tuesday, go here. To read the other entries for this week, go here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Magic Marker Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:00:00 +0000

Daniel has been as busy as ever with his drawing these days. The only way I know how to describe it, is that he can't contain it! He's always drawing! We've been enjoying seeing everything that he comes up with. Here is Daniel last week drawing the doodles that I used to make my blog header!

I love the concentration in this one as he draws a paw print. I think it's a bear's? I'll have to ask him!

Go here for more artwork from this week's Magic Marker Monday!

Some thoughts on Education

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:50:00 +0000

I found this video encouraging because it reinforces my belief that Daniel needs a specialized education that just wasn't going to happen in public school. I'm sure that statement will raise some eyebrows, but it's true. Yes, I know we have rights. I know the school wasn't doing what they were supposed to. I also know that I'm not willing to sacrifice another year waiting for them to get it right.

I'm reading Sensory Secrets: How to Jump-Start Learning in Children. It stresses how important movement and physical activity is. And that learning happens best when those needs are satisfied. In the video above, Sir Ken Robinson places emphasis on creativity. Did you know that at Daniel's school, they cut all Specials for the Special Ed Pre-K kids last year? I didn't even know that until almost the end of the school year. The children did get to go outside for a little while, but had no art and no music. I think it's tragic.

Each child is different, so I can't speak for all kids, but I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what Daniel's needs are. He needs music and art. He needs to move and experience the world with his body. He needs a sensory diet. That's not going to happen for him in a classroom.

Now, at the beginning of our homeschool adventure, I see the world as our classroom. Sure, we'll do some worksheets, we'll do lots of learning, but we'll also do many fun projects and I'll encourage Daniel's creativity and we'll go places and someway, somehow, Daniel will get the education he deserves.

I've found this article about Michael Phelps and his mother, linked to from this post. You know, Michael Phelps? The Olympic swimmer? 8 gold medals? Yeah, that one. Did you know that he struggled with ADHD as a child? Had trouble in school? I didn't know that. My inspiration came not so much from Michael's accomplishments (though I'm not intending to dismiss them), but from his mother, Deborah, for recognizing her son's strengths and then supporting him in those things- not forcing him to try to fit into a mold that he just didn't fit into. I loved the last part of the article:

"Too many adults looked at Ms. Phelps’s boy and saw what he couldn’t do. This week, the world will be tuned to the Beijing Olympics to see what he can do."

Amen.

Here's to helping our kids find what they can do.

Children's Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:00:00 +0000

When Ellie (Steve's mom, Daniel's Grammy, etc.) was visiting, we decided to go do something fun, so we took Daniel to the Children's Museum!

Are you coming, Mom?

You can follow the path and go inside the whale. It's hollow! Every 4 minutes it sprays water out the blow hole. Daniel didn't like it!

One thing I've learned (still working on it!) is that when we go places, I should have no expectations of my own. It makes it easier to skip things that I would otherwise think are really interesting, if I'm simply there for Daniel.

Daniel didn't like the dinosaur room. It was too loud...

...so, we found a fun room for kids 4 and under. Daniel was still (barely!) 4!! I figured he was 4 until 10:34 that night! Daniel enjoyed that room! It was quiet and had beautiful murals painted on the walls, some play centers...

...a house...

...reading nook with a cute jungle theme and a mountain with a slide.

Actually, there was a chinchilla living in the mountain, but the exhibit was boring and I don't think Daniel even noticed it. I felt kind of bad for the poor little thing. I hope it likes to nap, because that's about all there was to do in there.

Daniel loved the bearded dragon! He watched it and went back to it many times.

...I don't remember what was in here...

Back in the museum, we looked at the fish tanks and other animal exhibits.

...there were a lot of goldfish swimming around in the water under the platform the alligator was on!

Daniel liked the lynx. There was a doorway so that it could go to an outside exhibit. I didn't even notice the outside part until we were leaving. I guess it didn't matter because all the animals were inside anyway! I love this picture because Daniel was looking at the lynx and the other boy came over and was talking about it. Daniel didn't say anything back, but he seemed happy that they were looking at it together.

I was thrilled to find out that we were going to be there during a meet the animals program. Here's one of those Have-no-Expectations moments. Daniel sat on my lap for maybe 30 seconds. And that's being generous! We stayed for some of the program and I let Daniel just look at the other animal exhibits in the room. (He's not pictured!)

When he used his words to tell me what he wanted to do next, we moved on. Places like this are great for speech therapy- Daniel now understands that he can go see anything he wants to, but he needs to hold my hand when we move to the next thing and he must use his words.

The gift shop was as much of an attraction as the rest of the place. I'm sure that's what's intended...except that Daniel just likes to look and play- he doesn't understand to pick something. Not that I'm complaining! I ended up buying him a little wooden plane that I pieced together and we can fly. More on that some other time!

Have I ever mentioned how hard it is to take clear, bright pictures, inside, without a flash? I hate the washed out look the flash gives and I haven't figured out how to get good ones inside. Sometimes the Night Scene setting helps (I don't know why, I just found that out by experimenting), but I'm still working on these inside photos! I know a couple of you out there are into this stuff...any tips? (FYI- I don't like the Auto setting because it takes about 10 seconds for the camera to actually take the picture. SO annoying.)

And the picture that caused me to get sidetracked:

Blur Boy!

Daniel liked watching Grammy inside the bubble, but he didn't want to go near it himself!

Grammy helped Daniel play with the bubble window. He loved that!!!

Figuring out how it all works...

I loved watching his face as he discovered this!

Let's do that again!

I got to get in on the fun too!

We spent a lot of time playing with the bubble window! Finally, Daniel was ready to move on to something else. He liked this next thing:

You push the button and then air blows up through the pipe and the ping pong ball hovers there. Daniel pushed the button a few times and then discovered that it was fun to snatch the ball out of the air!

Daniel also did a great deal of bouncing around. No one was around, so I let him!

If there had been a lot of people around, it would have been time to leave. We were hungry and Daniel was on the verge of over-stimulation. When he's like that, it would be very easy for him to slip through a crowd, which is one of the reasons we use his "monkey backpack". I almost never have to hold onto the tail, but I like that it's there, just in case. And if anyone is wondering, Daniel loves to wear his backpack. He knows we only use it when we go somewhere fun, so he's always eager to put it on. I have a little bag of rice in there to make it slightly weighted. It's helpful for him to have that weight on him too.

Here is Daniel watching the golf balls come down the "ramps". We played a nice turn taking game with this. We're working on that (turn taking) as much as possible.

We went through everything one more time. We almost always have to do that, just so the good-bye is real and to savor every last little bit. In the kid's room, Daniel had fun jumping off the slide. I don't remember what setting I used, but the flash fired in this picture.

Do you see what I mean about what the flash does to the picture? This was taken around 3pm, I think, but it looks like it's 8:30 outside. Anyways!

In the turtle room:

I can't remember if we were in there previously or not, but we spent a long time there before we left!

We were all really hungry, so we stopped for a late lunch on the way home. That was a treat because we rarely eat out, although we did a few times last month. I keep thinking that I should take Daniel to restaurants more often. Daniel got mad when I took his picture, so I put the camera away right after this:

I have to tell you something. This might be almost my #1 pet peeve: I can't stand it when they bring out my food before they bring out Daniel's. That should be against the law or something. If you're wondering, we waited for Daniel's (reheated) slice of pizza to come before we ate! That sandwich there, is a Grilled Chicken Panini. (It was good!)

_____________________________________
Thank you, Ellie, for such a fun day!! If there are any pictures here that you want, that I didn't put on your camera card, let me know which ones and I'll email them to you. :)

Preparing for Homeschool

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Summer is almost over and I have been trying to get myself organized and ready to start officially homeschooling Daniel! We've been working on things all summer, but I've mostly been taking advantage of "teachable moments", integrating therapy into everyday life and trying to figure out which approach will work for us. I'm still doing all of that, but I'm going to try to have more focus. There are so many great sites online and I've been searching and sifting through those. I've added a few more links to my sidebar, but I'm really excited to share this one. It's a fantastic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom unit and I plan to use some of the ideas there with other ones that I've collected.

I made a new Blog Header! Like it? I used Adobe Photoshop Elements to copy and paste some of Daniel's Doodles. Daniel has been drawing a lot and we love to see what he comes up with. He also is interested in animal footprints! I'll probably be showing you more evidence of that soon!

Go check it out!!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:40:00 +0000

The promised Artisan Bread recipe is up over on my recipe blog. I'm on the laptop, so I don't have that program to make a cute little thumbnail for my sidebar...so if you're interested, head on over! Bring some butter. Or jam!

An Award!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:46:00 +0000

Before we went away, I was given an award! Frog's Mom @ 4 Green and Speckled Frogs gave it to me! Thank you! It's always a fun surprise to wake up in the morning and find out that someone sent some love your way!

Here are the "rules":

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you’ve nominated.

Wow! Now it's my turn! I'm going to nominate...

1. My brother's blog! I don't know if he wants it to be public and since he's my little brother, I'm gonna play the big sister role and be all protective...So I'm giving this award to Tim, but I'm not leaving a link! I'm no fun, I know!
2. Joanna @ Worth It All. I love her photography- especially since she got her new camera! Joanna takes great pictures and her daughter is a beautiful subject! I love it!
3. Rachel @ Crumbs in My Couch. I love her blog- the photography, the fun activities and things she does with her son...and her sense of humor. I get a kick out of it! :)
4. Shannon @ Mother Hubbard's Cupboards. Right now she's taking a little blogging break, but she's a great blogging buddy: She offers almost daily encouragement, advice and hugs! Love her!
5. Bobbi @ Mixed Blessings. It's so nice to have another mom out there to talk to, who knows exactly what I'm going through!
6. Tereza @ Celebrating Life and Motherhood (private blog). I've just got to check her blog everyday! She's real about the ups and downs of motherhood and homemaking. I feel like I get to visit each time I check in!
7. Trish @ Another Piece of the Puzzle. Wonderful mom to her son with Autism. I've gotten so much help from reading her blog- tips or just snippets of wisdom thrown in here and there! Thanks!

Home Sweet Home

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:56:00 +0000

We're back! We had a really good time, but it's good to be home! I have a ton of things to do, things to share (recipes, photos and an award), the school room to put back together, laundry and unpacking to do, grocery shopping, bills to send out...but I wanted to stop in and say hi! (I'm going to be playing catch-up all week!)

__________________________________________

Today is also Special Exposure Wednesday and I have a photo to share! Yesterday was a special day for kids and Daniel loved the pony rides. He had been looking forward to it all week. I wasn't sure if he would get on a horse since he hasn't wanted to for the past two years when we tried it.

He wanted to and he loved it! The look on his face was priceless- wish I could have captured it better than I did. Once I got him settled in the saddle, he was fine on his own, but I walked next to him.

I've thought about therapeutic riding for him, but I didn't pursue it because I thought it was just me that liked the idea and that he wouldn't enjoy it. Guess it's time to learn more about it!! Click here to participate or to see all the other entries.

Tap, tap, tap...

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:03:00 +0000

You in there? Is this thing on? Can you see me?

...My reflection looks funny...

(I'll be back soon!)

I can't wait...

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:11:00 +0000

...to share the recipe for this bread when I get back. It's really easy and yummy. Mama, I thought of you when I found this recipe! Don't let me forget! :D

"Pretend to be Rooster"

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:54:00 +0000

More play inspired by Mixed-up Rooster! Daniel loves to draw these guys and he likes to put himself in their positions too!

I love little feet!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:31:00 +0000

Yes, my floors need to be washed...but his feet are still so darn cute!

Going Away...

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:14:00 +0000

We're going away for a few days! I won't have access to a computer while I'm gone, but I have some things that I still want to share. That means I'm going to go into total dork mode and schedule some posts, so you'll still be seeing some things from me, but I won't be around...til I get back. Duh! lol! Feel free to make fun of me. I can't defend myself until Tuesday night or Wednesday!!

Have a great week,
Julie

"Cows Goin' Crazy"

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:00:00 +0000

I have a little secret. I love bull-riding. Let me rephrase. I love to watch bull-riding. I've got Steve watching it too! One day he sat and watched it with me. Before I knew it, he was reminding me of when it was going to be on and, now, I can depend on him to give me injury reports and tell me what happened. It's addictive, I tell you!

Sunday night, I was cleaning up the kitchen and I heard giggling coming from the living room. Daniel was sitting on the couch with Steve, laughing and giggling, gasping for breath, "Cows Goin' Crazy!"

Last night when we went upstairs at bedtime, Daniel sat on my back and said, "More cows goin' crazy". I told him to hang on tight and then I sort of bounced and bucked around before throwing him off onto his crash pad. We had so much fun doing that!!! I loved that he enjoyed it, he was getting the sensory input he craves, he was pretending and interacting!! Awesome!

Not sure I like being called a cow...or a bull, either!

Special Exposure Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:47:00 +0000

I took this picture of Daniel on Monday. We went to the Children's Museum with Ellie. Daniel loved the bubble window!! We had a great time and it was fun to see the things that he was drawn to and how his eyes widened ever so slightly when he saw something he thought was really cool!

More photos from our trip to the museum are coming soon!

Click here to participate or to see all the other entries!

Happy Birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:34:00 +0000

Today is Daniel's 5th birthday. I can't believe it's been five years already. These past days have been too busy for me to write a heartfelt post like I wanted to. I have so much to say...and I don't know how to say it. I'm really sad tonight, because these 5 years have gone by so fast.

A Kenny Chesney song keeps playing in my head today. It's called Don't Blink. Inside I'm screaming, "Shut up, Kenny, I hate you!" Except that I don't. But I also don't like that song very much because I know it's true.

Am I cherishing all these special moments? Am I making the most of our time? Will I remember any of this? Will Daniel look back fondly on his childhood? Can we somehow slow down more and enjoy all of this?

Right now, I can't imagine where we'll be in 5 years. I'm not ready to think about that yet. But it will be here before I know it. And I'm scared to blink.

Help!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:38:00 +0000

On Tuesdays, over at 5 Minutes For Special Needs, they have a wonderful Try This Tuesday blog carnival thingy. I don't have a tip...but I do need some help and it can't wait until someone happens to post about it, so if you have any suggestions- please help! I hope it's ok to do this, since you're supposed to share a tip and here I am ASKING for them...

Here is the problem. Daniel hardly ever lets me read to him. He loves books. He can even read a little on his own. But he won't let me read to him. Sometimes I can sit and read a story aloud "to myself" and Daniel will come over and look at it. But usually he gets really upset. I'm thinking this is related to the control issues that his therapist was talking about. I don't know how to give him choices here, though, because if he doesn't want me to read to him, that's IT-- he doesn't want me to read to him. We've been able to manage some "picture reading", but that's all. Is that a good enough start? Am I expecting too much? What should I do? What would you do?

Thanks,
A Desperate Mommy

P.S. We're officially starting homeschool this fall, so this is pretty important.

"I want fork."

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Now that a couple of days have gone by, I don't have as much to say about Daniel's party! I should have written about it that night! I thought that it went well even though it did rain during lunchtime and our decorations wilted. We had to eat inside and hardly anyone ate the chicken because it's hard to eat chicken thighs while standing! (Making a mental note to remember that for next time.) Most of my plans for the kids activities depended on it being nice outside, but we had a good time anyway! Here are some pictures...

Here is Steve making the food! He grilled hotdogs and chicken.

Daniel and Ethan exchanged a couple of words. I don't remember what was asked or what Daniel said...

It looked like it was going to rain...and it did!

It was okay, though. We crowded into the house and had lunch and then the kids played.

I feel like I don't even know what happened because I was busy getting food ready or setting things up. I think (I hope!) everyone had a nice time! After visiting for awhile and putting some finishing touches on the cake, it was time to eat it!!! I'll post the recipe on my recipe blog when I get the chance. I was really happy with how it turned out. Daniel loves Nemo, so I made him an ocean cake. I brought it outside...

...we admired Nemo and Dory...

...and Daniel refused to come outside, so I went back in, with the cake, so we could say (not sing!) Happy Birthday. Daniel didn't want me to sing, he didn't want candles...he wanted a fork!

Because of the rain, and Daniel's issues with being wet, he didn't come outside until it dried out a little.

He spent most of the time looking at books, playing with balloons and taking pictures with his Grammy's camera.

He saw this Baby Einstein Neighborhood Animals book at a friend's house a few weeks ago. I decided to get it for him for this birthday. I like that it has "facts" in it and Daniel likes the realistic photos and illustrations. These are some pictures that he took:

The bouncy house was a hit! We rented it for the day and I was really happy that the kids got to play in it. I think it was a bit wet for a little while, but we dried it off as best as we could. Daniel jumped along with the rest of the kids. I love it when he's right there in the mix.

I couldn't resist taking this photo of Isaac's foot! I'm not sharing most pictures of the kids, because they aren't mine, so I'm not going to go sticking their faces on here without permission...but I think a cute little foot is okay!

I loved seeing messes spread out here and there. That means the kids were having a good time!

Even though Daniel did just fine during the party, he had the most fun, in the bouncy house, after everyone went home. I joined him and we jumped around together!

So much fun!!

My brother wasn't able to make it for the party, but he came later and had some dinner and cake. It was nice to see him. Thank you everyone for coming and spending a fun afternoon with us!

During the party, we didn't do presents. Daniel wouldn't have wanted to do it and it would have been awful to try to get him to. I took pictures of Daniel opening his gifts that evening. I'll send those out with the Thank You notes.

For a few weeks, I had been thinking about Daniel's birthday and that I wanted to do something nice for him. I wasn't sure how much he'd understand or be able to communicate to tell me what he wanted. I thought it would be nice to have some people over, I wanted our guests to have a nice time, and didn't want Daniel to feel overwhelmed and hate it.

How did I throw a party for my child in the spectrum? Here are some things I kept in mind:

1. Board the dog at the kennel for the day.
2. Have no expectations where said child is concerned. None.
3. Have lots of snacks available and don't expect child to eat anything.
4. Have enough balloons to go around.
5. Have a quiet room where child can retreat to. Let him stay there if he wants to.
6. No demands.
7. No expectations.
8. No Birthday Song. (He hates it.)
9. No presents (in front of everyone).
10. Leave out lots of toys that child doesn't care about (for other kids to play with!)
11. Invite a few families with children and limit the rest of the guests to family and older friends.

Worked for us! Daniel mingled, though he was busy looking at books and playing. He didn't eat much. He ate his cake in the house while everyone else was outside, but he was a happy boy all day. I hope we can do it again!

Magic Marker Monday: Roosters

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:04:00 +0000

It's Magic Marker Monday, again! Click on the link if you'd like to go visit all the other entries!

This drawing is inspired by illustrations in The Mixed Up Rooster, by Pamela Duncan Edwards and Meghan Lloyd. Daniel loves that book! He has been very interested in chickens since we've been buying local free range eggs and he got to see the chickens. (We thought of getting our own chickens, but in our town we don't have enough land....) I think Daniel is also looking forward to some local agricultural fairs that he knows we will be going to. Don't know if he'll be able to tolerate the noise in a poultry barn (he's fascinated but can't usually bring himself to go in), but we can bring his headphones and give it a try!

I believe that this one is inspired by an illustration in The Very Busy Spider, by Eric Carle.

Thanks for visiting!!

Hi!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:01:00 +0000

Just stopping in for a quick hello!

A Birthday Party!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:07:00 +0000

We had Daniel's Birthday Party today!! More on that later!

I'm sitting back on the couch....keeping one eye on the bull riding, the other on the computer. I've peeked at some of the pictures I took today (just on the camera screen), but I'm looking forward to seeing them on the computer. Right now, I'm just too tired to move! Today was a wonderful day, though, and I'll share some pictures soon. Hopefully tomorrow, but I don't know if I'll get the chance. Steve's mom is visiting us until Tuesday, so we'll be visiting and keeping busy! :)

New Moon

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:30:00 +0000

Yesterday was a New Moon. It was an Autie day, for lack of a better term for it. That's what I call it, anyway. Daniel was "off". For the first time in 3 weeks, he woke up wet. It was 5:40am when I heard him kicking his wall. I went in there, got him into dry clothes, stripped his bed and settled him on his crash pad with a pillow and clean blanket...

7:30am- Daniel ate breakfast. (A very rare thing. He even asked for more.)

9:17am- Daniel was busy drawing Baby Einstein puppets with his markers.

10:03am- Daniel couldn't find me, because I was in the garden. He tried to get dirty underwear off. At least he was in the bathroom- there was poop. A lot. At least he was in the bathroom.

11:00am- Daniel asked Grandma for chocolate pudding. He had a great time jumping on her couch and watching Noggin. He used his words fairly well. He was a good boy. He was happy.

He had at least 6 accidents today...

I am telling you- The New Moon affects him. I've been noticing this pattern for several months, now. I've known about the Full Moon since Daniel was an infant, but this New Moon thing is more recent. Sounds wacky, but for Daniel, at least- absolutely true.

I'm not into weird philosophies, but this Moon thing has me puzzled. I've done some research (just online) and I can't find anything or anyone that confirms what I see. Most of what I find says that the Full Moon doesn't have much of an affect on things. Maybe not in their "studies", but I know my son and I beg to differ- there's something going on there.

The night after a Full Moon, Daniel will have a really hard time falling asleep. If he sleeps much at all. When it's a New Moon, Daniel has repeated accidents...all day long. This wasn't the first time it's happened, but it's happened enough that I know it's not just in my head.

I'm especially interested if there is any relationship between the moon and kids with autism. Is it a sensory thing?? If you have any thoughts or experience, even if your kids are NOT on the spectrum, I'd love to hear from you!!

(And if you just think I'm weird, that's ok too!)

I've been tagged!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:14:00 +0000

Bobbi, over at Mixed Blessings tagged me. I'm supposed to list 5 songs that I'm embarrassed to admit that I love. haha! Here goes- Remember: you asked for it!

(In no particular order)
A Boy Named Sue- Johnny Cash
Numa Numa and this version, too- hilarious!
California Girls- Gretchen Wilson
There's A Tear In My Beer- Hank Williams & Hank Jr.
Colors Of the Wind (from Disney's Pocahontas)

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to play along, leave a link the comments section and I'll come see your songs! :)

"Most Wombats wiv in Stway-yuh"

noreply@blogger.com (Julie) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:46:00 +0000

Daniel and I were playing in his room before bed, the other night. We took turns jumping off the back of the chair onto his crash pad and each time we pretended to be a different animal. I tried to think of a fact to talk about with each animal. I didn't know what to say about wombats...so Daniel told me that most wombats live in Australia. Turns out, he's right!!! I looked it up! :)

We've been busy these past few days. On Tuesday we went blueberry picking at the farm. Daniel was wonderfully patient and let me pick for an hour. We went to the play area for a little while...

...and then we crossed the street to look at the animals.

Tuesday night, Michelle called and invited us to go blueberry picking with them on Wednesday. I'm trying to accept every invitation, so we went again on Wednesday before Story Time! (I'm hoping to get to make some jam and then I'll either dehydrate or freeze the rest.)

Daniel pretty much freaked out when we pulled into the library parking lot. I'm not sure why, but he doesn't like Story Time. I told him that we'd stay for 2 stories and then go home. He fussed and protested and flopped on the floor...and I let him. We finally made our way into the Story Time room and he threw himself on the floor. I'm thinking that his OT is right and that he's having some control issues. I'm wondering if instead of sensory issues (in the library) it's simply a control issue. He doesn't want to do it. I wonder if it's too much like school and he just doesn't wanna do it! If he was really loud, I would have carried him out, but since he was simply being dramatic, I let him. Seriously, we needed a stage...

When Jackie tried to talk to him, Daniel backed up against the wall, balled fists pressed into his eyes and started silently crying. He mustered bravely before falling on the floor again in a pathetic heap, body racked with heartrending, artificial sobs. I left him alone during the first story and then when the second story was being read, I made Daniel look at me. Well, I was holding him and looking at his neck because he flopped backwards and squeezed his eyes closed and refused to look and when I asked him to talk to me he said, "no". Kind of like, If I make this awful enough, maybe we can go home. I finally got Daniel to look at me and say, "I want to go home". When he did that, I gave him a high-five and we left. Composure was instantly restored and he talked about going home to see the puppy (Dixie) on our way to the car.

Control issues, indeed! I don't mind giving Daniel more choices- that is something I'm working on, but he needs to learn that words will get him what he wants and we're going to keep going to Story Time, even if we only stay for two stories...he can throw himself on the floor all he likes!