Monday, July 16, 2007

B on Bike

B has just about mastered riding a 2 wheeler. I'm so proud of him. T took one side of the training wheels off, and B did just fine. He gains speed and keeps his balance. Pays attention to where he's going. And so motivated! Put his helmet on at 7:30am, and his shoes.
Me: What do you want, B?
B: Bah.
Me: Bike?
B: Bah!
Me: Ok, take off your pajamas and put on some pants, and we'll go outside and ride bikes.
Within the blink of an eye, he was dressed and ready to go! Sped down three blocks to the end of our street, and then we turned around and came home, me panting, trying to keep up with him.

I think I need to buy a bicycle for myself, because I surely can't run fast enough.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Reflections on the Past Year

Among the things I realized this past year:
* My children really do have autism. Ok, so I'm still a bit in denial, but almost, almost at the point of acceptance.
* I feel best when I'm working to make positive changes in our community.
* I'm proud of the work of the task force.
* I still don't have as much patience as I need.
* I feel best when I include exercise and meditation as part of my daily/weekly routine.
* Building relationships is key.
* I control my thoughts; I control my life. (I tend to forget this last one too often).

Friday, July 13, 2007

Harry Potter

Spoiler Alert: I am about to reveal the main point of the entire Harry Potter series, including Movie #5, Order of the Phoenix.

Friendship and Love are the most important things in life.

Trust your friends. Look out for them. Follow your heart. Tune in to your instinct. Have confidence in your own abilities, and also recognize that you can't always do it alone.

I think that's why I like the series so much. Plus the fact that it is a total escape from reality, like a mini-vacation from being stuck inside my own mind.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

My good friend Moon came over for a visit today. I adore this child for many reasons, one of which is the fact that he is the only child in the universe who asks to go to A and B's house for playdates. Here's a glimpse at the first 5 minutes of our date:

Moon: I want to watch THIS video!
Me: Moon, do you come over here just to watch videos? (naively thinking this was a good way to seg towards interactive playing)
Moon: Yes!
You've got to love his honesty!
A moment later, he is at the toy shelf, pulling out the box of trains and the box of traintracks. Sorts through, and finds James. Tries sticking a few magnet trains to the back of James, and seems somewhat agitated.
Moon: Where's the t..m...ah?
Me: Where's the what?
Moon: The t...m...ah!
Me: I don't know, let's look in the box.
Moon: I can't find James' t...m...ah
Me: The Thomas train?
Moon: No, the t..m...ah!
Me: Maybe we don't have one.
Moon: James needs a t..m...ah
Me: A timer?
Moon: No, a T...NM...EH.
Me: A movie? A movie about James?
At the mention of movie, Moon takes James and goes back to the living room to watch the video he picked out. A sees Moon with trains, and goes into the front room and continues sorting through the box of trains, lining them up in row. When the video gets boring, Moon joins A, and now spies what he is looking for.
Moon: Here it is! James' tender!
Of course, James always has a tender. Ignorant me, not only do I not pay enough attention to the omnipresent video to realize what was missing from James, I don't have a vocabulary nearly as sophisticated as Moon, who although he has slight articulation issues, sure knows his train parts!!!

We had a lovely playdate. Picked and ate apples from the tree in the backyard. Played hide and seek. Played catch, jumped on the trampoline, water play. A few rounds of the aligator dentist game. Another video and the promise that he could take one home later if he agreed to play outside for a while. Very nice.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Lack of anonymity.
Sense of community.
Which is it?
Both, I guess.
Or maybe just the small town feel of this town.
Where I take my kid downtown to hear some free live music, and we run into his preschool instructional assistant, a colleague from work, and the County autism specialist and her kid, all within about 30 minutes. Luckily I was with A and he was extremely well behaved, actually sat on the edge of the fountain without getting wet at all and enjoyed the music for at least 4 songs, and when he got up and I asked him if he wanted to dance, he DANCED for a moment.