Autism

  I’m feeling splendid, even though the rain is BEATING DOWN on my house right now, preventing me from venturing out to Costco. (Maybe I should be thanking the rain! Costco is not that much fun. But neither is being out of lunchbox snacks and salad greens.) I’m feeling pretty marvelous because it seems like a lot of things in my little... [Read more of this review]

I’m feeling all kinds of lame tonight. We spent a couple of hours playing in the driveway this evening, drawing with chalk while watching neighbors come and go. It seems like everyone on our street is heavily into activities, shuttling their kids back and forth to baseball and dance. I keep feeling like such an interloper among this group, while... [Read more of this review]

I wanted to just make a quick notation of this, so I can refer to it later. I started giving Pablo fish oil about a week and a half ago, every day, stirred into his orange juice. So far, he doesn’t seem to notice oily bubbles floating on the surface of his juice! And I’ve noticed a marked improvement in his coping skills, especially in the... [Read more of this review]

You’d never guess that a TOTAL DICK lives here, would you? We were parked in front of his house today, and when the kids and I were heading back to our vehicle today after school, he had just finished mowing that beautifully green lawn. His lawnmower was in the street about six inches in front of my bumper, and he was using a high pressure sprayer... [Read more of this review]

Pablo’s been engaging in some fairly troublesome behavior. And it all started at once, very recently. He’s started HITTING HIMSELF IN THE HEAD. And I have no idea what to do about it. I did a little Googling, and everything I’ve read seems to say pretty much the same thing: he’s frustrated because he’s having trouble communicating,... [Read more of this review]

Have you heard about Autism 151? It’s a site which aims to compile 150 videos about amazing kids living with autism. And one of the videos on the site is about Pablo! Check it out – his video is on the right hand side, in the middle – with a wee, baby Pablo as the thumbnail. So cute! I really enjoyed making it, and even though I’ve... [Read more of this review]

Check out this awesome video from The Swingset Mamas, Lizzie Swan and Marlowe Bechmann – they are a couple of amazing musicians who are raising awareness for autism with their video and its message of tolerance and acceptance. Marlowe’s oldest daughter has autism, which was the inspiration for the song and video, “Take a Walk in Someone... [Read more of this review]

Well, the past few days have pretty much sucked ass. Writing about all of that will really require another blog post. But I wanted to quickly take the time to post this video of Pablo. He’s learning to read! We’re so proud of him! Check it out – here he is reading sentences made of the keywords he’s learning in kindergarten: What... [Read more of this review]

Have you ever heard of Reactive Airway Disease? I hadn’t either, until a year or so ago when our son got this horrific cough that wouldn’t go away. It’s basically just like asthma, except instead of being ongoing, the symptoms come and go and it’s usually triggered by a cold virus. The kids have been passing a cold bug back... [Read more of this review]

My son, adorable child that he is, light of my life, bright and sensitive little soul, child that I’d walk across fire for…is driving up the fucking WALL. He’s in a new screaming phase. Not to be confused with any previous screaming phases, where he would get upset and shriek this bloodcurdling scream that would always scare the crap... [Read more of this review]