I just read the first sentence of this story and it sent me running back to cuttingschool. I may need time to process. Perhaps I'll have something passionate and vitriolic to say. But for now I want to say that these children require and deserve the kind of love, patience, and understanding that is a rarity in this world, for they didn't ask to be different or difficult, and how sad it makes me that his young classmates were taught such an inhuman lesson by somebody they were supposed to trust.
Here's the petition.
Here's more thoughts on the matter. I think all of these children need an aid to help them, and this aid must be fully trained. For that child's sake and the other children in the classroom.
Here's the report from the school's police officer. So many things in this report remind me of things Josie did while she was in school. Laying under the desk, chewing shoelaces (she chewed her shirt), calling out. Damn teachers always thought she was doing it to get attention, they had no clue about sensory needs, and when I tried to explain it, I was treated as if I was coddling her. They refused to be educated about her particular triggers. When things would blow up in the classroom, or gym, or music, the principal would call me to come and get her. Usually she was in a situation I had advised them would be trouble for her, and suggested they give her an alternate activity. What a frustrating mess!
Wow. I think I'll make a sweeping and irrational declaration: I hate public school.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Monday, February 04, 2008
Show Some Restraint part 2
This isn't a local story. But I personally know a local mom whose son was handcuffed. He was 5 at the time. Her story is not newsworthy because these kinds of atrocities happen very often around here. If we could get together some people to actually document these cases something may get done, but there are plenty of parents that are at their wits end and tired of fighting and end up complicit. In my case, I will admit that pulling my kids out of school kind of let the system off the hook.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Show Some Restraint
Sheesh. How do you defend restraint techniques that result in the deaths of two teenagers? Why wasn't the story all over the news?I guess they figured that our society doesn't need those kinds of teenagers anyway, so their lives are of less consequence.
My kid had to be restrained a few times, but her former elementary had strict rules about it, and they were pretty civil with her as far as restraint goes. That doesn't mean she wasn't traumatized. The whole school experience was traumatic enough for her without four adults crowding around her, gripping her arms and telling her to calm down. Once she got under the principal's desk, she felt much better, and they let her stay there until I could come. I always knew when it happened.
I have an acquaintance who's non-verbal son came home from school with a bruise on his chest when he was about 5. His behavior had deteriorated in dramatic ways after he began public school. One day the principal called his mother in to explain to her that the special ed teacher had hit her son so hard on the back of his head that his chin had bruised his chest. His mother believes that this kind of abuse had gone on for a while, but because her son couldn't say anything, nobody knew. She homeschools now.
My kid had to be restrained a few times, but her former elementary had strict rules about it, and they were pretty civil with her as far as restraint goes. That doesn't mean she wasn't traumatized. The whole school experience was traumatic enough for her without four adults crowding around her, gripping her arms and telling her to calm down. Once she got under the principal's desk, she felt much better, and they let her stay there until I could come. I always knew when it happened.
I have an acquaintance who's non-verbal son came home from school with a bruise on his chest when he was about 5. His behavior had deteriorated in dramatic ways after he began public school. One day the principal called his mother in to explain to her that the special ed teacher had hit her son so hard on the back of his head that his chin had bruised his chest. His mother believes that this kind of abuse had gone on for a while, but because her son couldn't say anything, nobody knew. She homeschools now.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
My New Music Blog
Okay, my new music blog is up. It's called The Music Chamber. I've written my first post to introduce you to it, and today I'm going to make sure to personally invite everybody I can think of. It's an audience participation blog...all about the comments...so you can't be Mr. Lurkey. You can be MRlurkey23 if you'd like, though.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Awake
There is a reason a body is attached to my head, and I'm just beginning to figure it out.
I seem to be coming out of a long fog. For the past couple of months, I would say that I have not been "present". But the way things are going lately it seems like that I may have been cocooning. I didn't feel depressed. I felt like a thousand dreams and fantasies were floating about in my head non-stop, while I tried to engage myself in housework and homeschooling. I wanted to be somewhere else mentally. That's my default setting. I've walked into a few doors in my life. I wasn't clumsy, just looking for a higher plane and forgetting the actual one in front of me.
Now I'm singing, writing, drawing, getting to the gym and starting up a new music related blog. I've changed my reading material and can happily say I really don't know much about day to day politics, except that Mitt Romney makes me think of a character from a Hanna Barbera Cartoon. I've stopped trying to know everything, and now I'm actually doing stuff. On top of that, the housework is done, the food is ready. I went to the store at 6am this morning just to get a head start! What is very strange about this change of events is that I'm not rushing around manically to be everywhere at once and get everything done, and yet my closet is organized for the first time in years.
My dreams have been very strange lately. In one of them, I met a lady who had a set of sextuplets, and a set of octuplets. She also had many cats. She wanted me to babysit her tiniest, sickly baby. So I carried her with me through the dream, while I walked around the house I grew up in.
Last night I dreamed I was outside in a field with my kids. Again there were many cats. All running around a rabbit hutch. Inside the hutch was a rabbit giving birth. It had two babies while we watched.
My inner Joseph says this will be a productive year. I'll let you know if I dream of any starving cattle.
I seem to be coming out of a long fog. For the past couple of months, I would say that I have not been "present". But the way things are going lately it seems like that I may have been cocooning. I didn't feel depressed. I felt like a thousand dreams and fantasies were floating about in my head non-stop, while I tried to engage myself in housework and homeschooling. I wanted to be somewhere else mentally. That's my default setting. I've walked into a few doors in my life. I wasn't clumsy, just looking for a higher plane and forgetting the actual one in front of me.
Now I'm singing, writing, drawing, getting to the gym and starting up a new music related blog. I've changed my reading material and can happily say I really don't know much about day to day politics, except that Mitt Romney makes me think of a character from a Hanna Barbera Cartoon. I've stopped trying to know everything, and now I'm actually doing stuff. On top of that, the housework is done, the food is ready. I went to the store at 6am this morning just to get a head start! What is very strange about this change of events is that I'm not rushing around manically to be everywhere at once and get everything done, and yet my closet is organized for the first time in years.
My dreams have been very strange lately. In one of them, I met a lady who had a set of sextuplets, and a set of octuplets. She also had many cats. She wanted me to babysit her tiniest, sickly baby. So I carried her with me through the dream, while I walked around the house I grew up in.
Last night I dreamed I was outside in a field with my kids. Again there were many cats. All running around a rabbit hutch. Inside the hutch was a rabbit giving birth. It had two babies while we watched.
My inner Joseph says this will be a productive year. I'll let you know if I dream of any starving cattle.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
The VERY Last Dance With Mary Jane
As my love would say, "There are just some things you can't un-see." He noticed the camera just about the time we'd used up the memory. Things got really "good" at that point too. Oh well. Here's a taste.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Did I Write that?
Got up this morning at 4 am with a song in my head. This is one of the rare occasions that I just get up and write it. I liked it very much and have been singing it all day. Now I'm a bit worried that it's actually an Allison Krauss song. Oh well. It's happened before, with pretty good results. So sue me.
Update: Hubby says he doesn't know why I ever thought it sounded like an Allison Krauss song, and that it sounds like a Michele song. Also, it's been 12 years since I've written anything. At this rate, I'll have a CD in 120 years. Stick around okay?
Update: Hubby says he doesn't know why I ever thought it sounded like an Allison Krauss song, and that it sounds like a Michele song. Also, it's been 12 years since I've written anything. At this rate, I'll have a CD in 120 years. Stick around okay?
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Gitcher Geetars...
As many of you know, I plays me a little music. I used to play more back in the old days before kids and hubby and homeschooling etc. When I was in college there was an open mic that I frequented on Tuesday nights at a little bar near my apartment. I was a regular, and it seemed I wrote a new song a week and got up there and sang it. I usually sang it well, I can't say much for my guitar playing though, but I had to have backup, so I did the best I could with what little guitar talent I had. They called me "Bottom of the Bucket Newton" because the host would draw names out of a bucket to order the performers, and I was almost always chosen last. Usually the morose heroin addict with his battered notebook full of disturbing poetry was at the top of the list. He usually traded places with me, so that I could go on early. Most people were leaving as he was bloviating at 2 am. I guess he didn't mind, he wasn't really there at that point either.
After a couple of years I stopped playing open mics. Many things came together at that point to send me in a different direction. The first was meeting Hubby. I would take him with me to the open mics and he would sit there with a matchbook in his hand lighting one match after the other, watching them flame up and burn down. I thought he was trying to be all rebel-without- a-cause for me. You know, bad boy, leather jacket, fire.... Really it was a thing with crowds. Hubby doesn't like them, and he bore it in silence for me. He also had to deal with an ex-boyfriend of mine who would sit at the bar and glare at him. Not that Hubby couldn't kick his butt, it's just that the ex-boyfriend usually started crying at some point. That was just too weird. So he threw me over his shoulder and dragged me out of it all. It was all okay with me, cause he was sexy and stuff.
Funny little side story:
When I was still jailbait, and Hubby didn't know me, I used to sing in a band. We played a local club called Planet Earth fairly frequently. The bands would play upstairs, afterwards there was usually an industrial dance night downstairs. One night we were playing and began to smell smoke. We lost our crowd, but were never told to evacuate. Later we found out some moron downstairs had set a couch on fire behind the building.
Many years later, when Hubby and I were still new, he told me about his Planet Earth days. He used to frequent the Industrial Dance nights. He could put up with a crowd if he was stomping and pushing people around for fun. He also had a thing for girls who lined their eyes thickly and wore a lot of black. He told me one night, before the "music" started pumping, he was hanging out with one of those goth-girls in the back stairwell. Maybe the smell of leather and cloves made him anxious, because he was lighting matches and throwing them out the window unaware of the highly flammable couch below. Good thing I didn't meet him then. Not because I was supposed to think he was a moron, but because I was just 16 he was really cute.
Yes, it's a long story, but it's prelude to something else. I have this crazy idea about starting another blog (great way to treat an internet addiction, huh?). It will be a Tuesday Night Open Mic where folks can submit their own audio or video files for me to post. It needs a name first, then I can take some time and figure out the details.
So why Tuesday nights? Well that's just selfish I guess. I used to play the open mics on Tuesdays. Oh, and TV sucks on Tuesday night.
There were a lot of things I didn't like about open mics. Many would agree with me that you had to sit through a lot of crap before someone would get on and actually entertain you. That wouldn't happen in the blog world. I think people would spend their time adjusting the mic before they press record, and if you happen to dislike what they were playing, there's a little button you can push to shut them up. Then you can go to your own free bar, pour yourself a Sam Adams and fire up the next one.
Let me add something here. There are also a great deal of unexpected little gems at open mics. I remember Mindy Smith played at the one I did. She was very shy and unassuming and she wouldn't play her guitar. She used it as a cane. The first time I saw her, I thought, "oh no, here comes another asthmatic squeaker to sing a Janis Ian song." Then she started to sing. She did sing cautiously and quietly, but that was fine because the crowd had a good dose of the shut-up as soon as she had her first word out. That was probably another reason I stopped playing the open mics. I didn't want to be anywhere near her on the list.
Okay, my open mic blog needs a name. If you have any name ideas or suggestions on how to put the thing together, just leave them in the comments section.
After a couple of years I stopped playing open mics. Many things came together at that point to send me in a different direction. The first was meeting Hubby. I would take him with me to the open mics and he would sit there with a matchbook in his hand lighting one match after the other, watching them flame up and burn down. I thought he was trying to be all rebel-without- a-cause for me. You know, bad boy, leather jacket, fire.... Really it was a thing with crowds. Hubby doesn't like them, and he bore it in silence for me. He also had to deal with an ex-boyfriend of mine who would sit at the bar and glare at him. Not that Hubby couldn't kick his butt, it's just that the ex-boyfriend usually started crying at some point. That was just too weird. So he threw me over his shoulder and dragged me out of it all. It was all okay with me, cause he was sexy and stuff.
Funny little side story:
When I was still jailbait, and Hubby didn't know me, I used to sing in a band. We played a local club called Planet Earth fairly frequently. The bands would play upstairs, afterwards there was usually an industrial dance night downstairs. One night we were playing and began to smell smoke. We lost our crowd, but were never told to evacuate. Later we found out some moron downstairs had set a couch on fire behind the building.
Many years later, when Hubby and I were still new, he told me about his Planet Earth days. He used to frequent the Industrial Dance nights. He could put up with a crowd if he was stomping and pushing people around for fun. He also had a thing for girls who lined their eyes thickly and wore a lot of black. He told me one night, before the "music" started pumping, he was hanging out with one of those goth-girls in the back stairwell. Maybe the smell of leather and cloves made him anxious, because he was lighting matches and throwing them out the window unaware of the highly flammable couch below. Good thing I didn't meet him then. Not because I was supposed to think he was a moron, but because I was just 16 he was really cute.
Yes, it's a long story, but it's prelude to something else. I have this crazy idea about starting another blog (great way to treat an internet addiction, huh?). It will be a Tuesday Night Open Mic where folks can submit their own audio or video files for me to post. It needs a name first, then I can take some time and figure out the details.
So why Tuesday nights? Well that's just selfish I guess. I used to play the open mics on Tuesdays. Oh, and TV sucks on Tuesday night.
There were a lot of things I didn't like about open mics. Many would agree with me that you had to sit through a lot of crap before someone would get on and actually entertain you. That wouldn't happen in the blog world. I think people would spend their time adjusting the mic before they press record, and if you happen to dislike what they were playing, there's a little button you can push to shut them up. Then you can go to your own free bar, pour yourself a Sam Adams and fire up the next one.
Let me add something here. There are also a great deal of unexpected little gems at open mics. I remember Mindy Smith played at the one I did. She was very shy and unassuming and she wouldn't play her guitar. She used it as a cane. The first time I saw her, I thought, "oh no, here comes another asthmatic squeaker to sing a Janis Ian song." Then she started to sing. She did sing cautiously and quietly, but that was fine because the crowd had a good dose of the shut-up as soon as she had her first word out. That was probably another reason I stopped playing the open mics. I didn't want to be anywhere near her on the list.
Okay, my open mic blog needs a name. If you have any name ideas or suggestions on how to put the thing together, just leave them in the comments section.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Homeschool Family
The comedian who made this is a homeschooler. Most of the kids are his neighbors. Funny.
Happy Birthday Josie!
This is Josie at about 4 months. (Yes, you could put it in a ponytail on top of her head.)
Daddy asked her this morning if she would please turn 8 today instead of 10. She said that she would actually prefer to turn 10, but inquired of her father why he would want her to stay a baby. He told her he was afraid that maybe they didn't play enough or have enough fun yet. She said that she thought they had a lot of fun. So he's going to let her be 10 today.
Sing Along!
Friday, December 21, 2007
I Like this Quote
Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
~ Earl Nightingale
~ Earl Nightingale
Say This Ten Times Fast
Obligate Siblicide. Obligate Siblicide. Obligate Siblicide.
Heard it on Jeff Corwin, and though the words struck me as funny, the act did not.
Heard it on Jeff Corwin, and though the words struck me as funny, the act did not.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Fire!
Betcha didn't get a side patio performance like this at your Christmas party. Sorry my camera couldn't capture the whole spectacle, but the fire is the most important part anyway.
If you're a friend and you're wondering why you weren't invited, it was actually a party for hubby's aikido dojo.
If you're a friend and you're wondering why you weren't invited, it was actually a party for hubby's aikido dojo.
A Meme for Me?
So Sam tagged me, and I must answer these questions. He says he's a bit tagophobic, well, I'm a bit meme-o-phobic. Let's see how I do.
1) Post a note about a blogger you would like to see something wonderful happen for. Maybe one whose posts have touched your heart in one way or another. Include details as to why you admire them and what you wish for them. Be as supporting and affirming as you can.
2) Post your favorite memory around selflessness, giving, or doing for others. Something that has actually changed you.
3) As a postscript, name one thing you will actually do for someone in your life before December 31 that is born out of joy.
4) Tag 3 other bloggers who will play the game and find the spirit. Don't forget to leave a comment on their blog so they continue to share the good feelings.
1) Well, I guess I'd like something wonderful to happen for Sam and his family. Maybe because his post did touch my heart, but more likely because he and his family would be the folks I would think of for this question anyway.
I admire Sam's honesty, even when he's saying something others may view as unpleasant. Recently Sam's penchant for honesty has sparked some very enlightening conversations in my household.
I admire "Momma's" grace. She is above all things petty. I strive to be like that. She has also shown me that strength and vulnerability can co-exist, that darkness and laughter can be friends, that you can spend your evening kicking girl's asses on the roller derby rink, then come home and bake a honey cake for your kid.
I admire their kids first because they like my kids, secondly because they are very human. There's not a malicious bone in "Big Brother's" body. That is a rarity among children. I see him as a little genius, but I can tell his parents never have told him that because he's very humble and uncomplicated.
What do I wish for them? I wish for them to have the mental and emotional clarity they will need to face the things life throws at them. I also really wish they would win the lottery and "Momma" would use the money to open a sushi restaurant nearer to my house, and Sam could start a charter school stocked with books, pillows, and kids reading at lunchtime. I'd send my daughter there for sure.
2) My favorite memory of selflessness? I had a friend that I worked with while I was in college, his good character was only equaled by his fine set of teeth. Someone told me that he would put quarters in expired parking meters to save some citizen a parking fine. He did it for others, because he would have liked others to do that for him. The golden rule in action. He's a dentist now. I bet he's a good one with plenty of Novocaine. I won't go to him now though. I don't want anyone I actually like digging around in my neglected teeth. How embarrassing. But if you're from around here, I bet he'd do a great job of digging around in your neglected teeth.
3) What would I do for someone before Dec. 31st that is born out of joy? Maybe I'll drag my kids by the legs of their pants all over the hardwood floor, just to watch them squeal. This is purely selfless I'll add, because I will have to clean a good bit of dog hair off the backs of their shirts when this little adventure is over. Maybe if I drag them around long enough, the floor will actually get clean, then it will only be halfway selfless, but that's good enough for me.
4) I only have one blogger to tag and she's a fine old friend of mine. Merry Christmas MyGirlsMom2. You've been tagged.
1) Post a note about a blogger you would like to see something wonderful happen for. Maybe one whose posts have touched your heart in one way or another. Include details as to why you admire them and what you wish for them. Be as supporting and affirming as you can.
2) Post your favorite memory around selflessness, giving, or doing for others. Something that has actually changed you.
3) As a postscript, name one thing you will actually do for someone in your life before December 31 that is born out of joy.
4) Tag 3 other bloggers who will play the game and find the spirit. Don't forget to leave a comment on their blog so they continue to share the good feelings.
1) Well, I guess I'd like something wonderful to happen for Sam and his family. Maybe because his post did touch my heart, but more likely because he and his family would be the folks I would think of for this question anyway.
I admire Sam's honesty, even when he's saying something others may view as unpleasant. Recently Sam's penchant for honesty has sparked some very enlightening conversations in my household.
I admire "Momma's" grace. She is above all things petty. I strive to be like that. She has also shown me that strength and vulnerability can co-exist, that darkness and laughter can be friends, that you can spend your evening kicking girl's asses on the roller derby rink, then come home and bake a honey cake for your kid.
I admire their kids first because they like my kids, secondly because they are very human. There's not a malicious bone in "Big Brother's" body. That is a rarity among children. I see him as a little genius, but I can tell his parents never have told him that because he's very humble and uncomplicated.
What do I wish for them? I wish for them to have the mental and emotional clarity they will need to face the things life throws at them. I also really wish they would win the lottery and "Momma" would use the money to open a sushi restaurant nearer to my house, and Sam could start a charter school stocked with books, pillows, and kids reading at lunchtime. I'd send my daughter there for sure.
2) My favorite memory of selflessness? I had a friend that I worked with while I was in college, his good character was only equaled by his fine set of teeth. Someone told me that he would put quarters in expired parking meters to save some citizen a parking fine. He did it for others, because he would have liked others to do that for him. The golden rule in action. He's a dentist now. I bet he's a good one with plenty of Novocaine. I won't go to him now though. I don't want anyone I actually like digging around in my neglected teeth. How embarrassing. But if you're from around here, I bet he'd do a great job of digging around in your neglected teeth.
3) What would I do for someone before Dec. 31st that is born out of joy? Maybe I'll drag my kids by the legs of their pants all over the hardwood floor, just to watch them squeal. This is purely selfless I'll add, because I will have to clean a good bit of dog hair off the backs of their shirts when this little adventure is over. Maybe if I drag them around long enough, the floor will actually get clean, then it will only be halfway selfless, but that's good enough for me.
4) I only have one blogger to tag and she's a fine old friend of mine. Merry Christmas MyGirlsMom2. You've been tagged.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra.....
A conversation at lunch today:"So Jake, what are you going to ask Santa for this year."
He licks his lips hopefully. Takes a deep breath and says "I want Dragonball Z Ultimate Battle 22 for Gameboy Advanced SP! "
What's my response?
"You'll shoot yer eye out kid!"
Here's a little Christmas Story clip for parents of kids on The Spectrum. No that's not my kid in the aviator glasses. She wouldn't be caught dead in a get up like that. She wears the red bellied woodpecker costume when she's waiting in line for Santa Claus.
Wizard of Oz is so passe in the Aspie community. This is what you're likely to hear from mine while she stands too close and stares too hard:
"I found a turtle. It was a Peninsula Cooter. They're rare. Turtles are my favorite."
Hi, my name is Michele....
and I'm a blog addict.
My 12 Steps
1. First, admit I have a problem. My dog is whining, my kids are fighting, and the laundry is getting sour, and I don't know what time it is (or day for that matter) but I can tell you the results of Mike Huckabee's last colonoscopy, and how many speeches Fred Thompson has given since declaring his candidacy (14). That's not good, especially compared to Romney's 78, who had a religious colonoscopy live on the air last week. And how I think it's creepy that Ron Paul is the new Ross Perot. RP. I wonder what their middle names are. Irwin? Ivan? Why do I care? Cause I'm a blog addict. I just admitted it. Step one, folks. Keep up.
2. Find a method to control the problem. Today I closed the computer up in the armoire. Then Josie wanted to play a game. So I opened it up. I knew she would be on it for a while, so I made sure to check my email before she started just in case Jesus came down from the heavens and the only way he could contact me was through Mozilla Thunderbird. I noticed there was a message from somebody from one of my old yahoo groups, who was not actually Jesus, but who got me thinking anyway. Not about my salvation but about yahoo groups in general. I set out looking for one for homeschooling mothers with daughters with aspergers who have brother's with bizarre habits and like to make up crap. I found it. Shadowkids. It's a group for parents of kids with syndromes that are as of yet unnamed, are mild, and look like other things. You know like Funkychickenosis, Dorkilococcus Borius, and my favorite Spastic Hypertyrantism (usually first appears at the age of 2. There's no cure until they get their first apartment.)
3. Next get my ass away from the bedroom, where lurks said computer, like a pusher and a drug all at the same time. I decided my new center of operation should be the kitchen. I got it very clean and mopped the floor. I thought about things I could cook and wondered if there were any good recipes on the web I hadn't checked out. Fortunately my kids were on the computer at the time, and the urge passed before I forcibly removed them from the chair, claiming that screens melt your brain. My kids are very lucky that I really don't like to follow recipes.
4. Play guitar. Of course this could be a problem, since it is another thing I do obsessively, and I like to surf for tabs online.
5. Draw. Could be a problem too, for the same reason of obsession as stated above. I look for material from which to draw on Google image searches.
6. Delete all my favorite blogs from the drop down menu. After I've booted the kids off RollerCoaster Tycoon and checked these blogs of course. But now it's like my favorite blogs are on a high shelf, and I have to stand on a chair in order to reach them. Typing is such a bitch, you know. And if I have to type in the name of the blog, then that's total premeditation.
7. Blissfully ignore the fact that I have a blogroll over there. That makes my favorite blogs pretty easy to access, but it would hurt the blogs' feelings if I deleted them. Add to that the fact that when the bloggers I visit online check their traffic tomorrow, they will find their visits from Knoxville have gone down significantly. Losing my traffic alone could drop them down a tier. I shouldn't say that.
8. Ask for forgiveness. For dropping you guys from my drop-down menu.
9. Realize nobody really gives a crap.
10. Breathe deep. Sit up straight in a proud Posture of Self-Reliance. It's good that no one gives a crap. They won't miss me. I am free.
11. Breathe out slowly, and gradually fall into the Slouch of Despondency, because no one gives a crap, and they won't miss me. I am inconsequential.
12. Replace my blog addiction with Crystal Lite and Vodka.
13. Big problem. There are 13 steps in my 12 step program. I must check in daily to see if anyone has sent me comments of support, or mixed drink recipes, or invited me to a yahoo group, or has any advice on breaking the habit, or wants to tell me that they give a crap, or to discuss Mike Huckabee's acid reflux.....
(Hey. I was just kidding about the Crystal Lite and vodka thing. I think Crystal Lite is terrible.)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Taking the Kids Here
One of the joys of homeschooling is that I can probably take the kids to see this on a weekday. Maybe we can meet Grandpa there.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Autism and Fever
And I'm not really ashamed that I used to like it when my daughter was sick. Now, she communicates in a much more back and forth way than she used to, but when she was under 6, people would have to listen to her make statements and try to reply with her talking over them about any subject she chose. Once, when she had pneumonia (at 5), she became a different kid. She would say things that made sense in the context of the situation. I could sit next to her and chat about what was on TV.
When I had her evaluated for Asperger's when she was 7, the psychologist asked me if my child seemed to communicate better when she had a fever. BING! YES! Can we give her a fever?!!! This fever/communication connection has been anecdotal in the autism community for a while, but now there's been a study done.
Bring on the Cytokines!
When I had her evaluated for Asperger's when she was 7, the psychologist asked me if my child seemed to communicate better when she had a fever. BING! YES! Can we give her a fever?!!! This fever/communication connection has been anecdotal in the autism community for a while, but now there's been a study done.
Bring on the Cytokines!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Addam's Family Homeschool
Can we come?
The first Addam's Family Episode. From 6 minutes in are all the reasons I homeschool, down to the box of spiders, unfortunately ours aren't thoroughbred.
I know it sounds crazy, but my gorgeous happy little sprite of a daughter would just adore the Addam's family house-- the ravens, the two-headed tortoise, Pugsly's octopus, the snake candles....
And if Jake had an uncle Fester who could power a lightbulb by sticking it in his mouth, my son would never leave his side.
The first Addam's Family Episode. From 6 minutes in are all the reasons I homeschool, down to the box of spiders, unfortunately ours aren't thoroughbred.
I know it sounds crazy, but my gorgeous happy little sprite of a daughter would just adore the Addam's family house-- the ravens, the two-headed tortoise, Pugsly's octopus, the snake candles....
And if Jake had an uncle Fester who could power a lightbulb by sticking it in his mouth, my son would never leave his side.
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