My Blog

Where the Sunny Don't Shine

2010-06-16T17:57:00.000-07:00

Sunny is still in pullups. Sunny loves her pullups. Sunny really really loves to pull them down, and kick them as far into the air and as far across two rooms as she can. This morning, the game began, and as always, one of us runs up to her yelling SUNNNYYYY--- YOU"RE NAKED!!!! and Sunny laughs. Christine came running in to do the usual as stated above, and little Sunny sat down on the floor, pulled her pullup pant gently up under her arm and tenderly hugged it while whispering and stroking it. For crying out loud, she was trying to convince us her pullup was her FRIEND!! We could not stop laughing.....which only makes the thing likely to be a long-term fun habit:))

-- mom

2010-04-30T00:24:00.000-07:00

Here is an absolutely hysterical Facebook group for families of autistic children - a definite must read!!

You Know You Have an Autistic Child When.......

Welcome to the family, Tigger!

2010-04-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

At any given time of day, you will find us siblings or mom carrying around a well-loved stuffed Barney, a Pluto dog, and a dragon Sunny named Johann (the rocking horse was Winnipeg, the dragon Johann...).

These are Sunny's favorite lovies, and she prefers that we 'babysit' them 24/7. It has gotten to the point where we jump in horror at the sight of a Barney alone, or a Pluto left on the counter.
The worst sign of (our?!) separation anxiety is when one of us will start to head out to the mail box, only to jerk back at the door and surreptitiously tuck a stuffed animal behind the bananas. Sometimes, we catch ourselves only too late...

As of yesterday, a new member was added to the lovies; a plushy, stuffed Tigger with the requisite open-and-close mouth. This one quickly became a part of the family, far more so the than the larger, plushy-er Pluto we are still encouraging Sunny to initiate (for 'big-and-small' potential).

Full recognition of a stuffed animal becoming a lovey occurs when it is thrust into our arms, while Sunny runs off to pursue greater endeavors. like the bubbles...:)

~C.a.e.l.i

Bubbles above, bubbles below...bubbles everywhere we go!

2010-04-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

At this moment, Sunny is sitting in her bubble-and-ball-filled bath, having a great time. She loves watching the bubbles float down like rain--yes, I said float down like rain. You see, the current trend during bath time is to have the nifty new 'bubble gun' send out rapid streams of bubbles, to float down lazily onto her outstretched arms, creating a kind of bubble 'sleeve'. Oh yes, and the soap reservoir for said toy holds about half a cup of soap. And Sunny likes long baths. So every few minutes, the current bubble gun operator calls,
"Refill!"
4 minutes pass: "Refill!"
3 minutes, 30 seconds pass (no break this time): "Refill!"
I think I just heard it again...

Luckily, we have at least 3 large bottles of bubbles, and numerous small ones, due to Sunny's impulsive purchases, the latest of which was yesterday. Last week, the little toddler (or is she more of a kindergartner at 5??) attempted to cajole us into buying a small blue water bottle, because of the striking similarity the to blue bubble bottle (say that three times fast!) she had just scored.
And so the spring is filled with bubbles in the bath, bubbles in the living room, bubbles blown through the open window late at night...not by Sunny of course. oh, now and then she takes the wand and blows a few (she is quite good at it now!) but more often than not she likes to eat the contents on the wand. So, we siblings will continue to perfect our bubbles, all summer long...

~C.a.e.l.i

2010-04-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

Almost had a broken toe situation with the little Ice Cream Cookie Monster here! Sunny was scavenging around in the freezer a couple days ago looking for ice cream (she's getting quite tall, apparently...) and before anyone could make it to her to help, she tugged on the bag containing 2 lbs of solid ground beef....and it landed squarely on her chubby foot. We couldn't tell right away if it was bruised, fractured, or broken, but it was definitely hurting her. So, we wrapped it up temporarily with tape and a sock (!), which of course she had to yank off again...and again... But, she was still walking on it, so we decided to wait and see how it was doing the next morning.

Next morning: blue and purple, swollen at the base, and a limping toddler. We took her down to the doctor's office, discovered the doctor was not in and that they couldn't do anything for it anyway, but the nurse recommended we take her to the ER. So we took her down for X-Rays - she wasn't letting us wrap it in ANYTHING, and if it was broken, we were going to have to get some kind of boot for her that she couldn't remove or it would never heal! Tape can only do so much, and it does even less when the toddler doesn't want it there. :-/

She was quite confused about the whole situation once we got there, but she seemed to notice that it was all the foot's doing. Nonverbal --> Verbal toddler occured when the nurse put the blood pressure cuff on her arm, and Sunny found out that trying to yank her arm away form the cuff only made it tighten. She took one look at the cuff and started yelling "ESCAPE! ESCAAAAPE!" all through until it was removed! She's verbal after all! OK, so maybe that doesn't count, but it totally fit the situation. It was an expression! Now that I think about it, her emotional verbalizations tend to come out exceptionally coherent....?

So, as it turns out, the toe wasn't actually broken, but it's incredibly bruised halfway up the arch of her foot, and she's still limping a little on it. :( Luckily, we already had foam squares covering the living room floor which are visibly a lot more comfortable for her than the hardwood floor in the dining room. Now it'll be just about a week to heal, instead of 6-8! And, alas, the freezer is ALWAYS locked now, so she has to bring one of us over to open it for her. Highly recommend installing the child proof refrigerator locks, because if it wasn't for the foam packaging on that meat that fell out, she would be in a cast right now, howling every time it got itchy.~

Sunny and BALLET!!

2010-03-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Yep, I can already see it coming....seven identical ballerina outfits for summer, complete with tutus and slippers. Her two new ballet DVDs and ballet costume came in only...last week?...and she's ALREADY copying the dance steps and wearing the outfit! She prefers to wear the ballet costume while doing the tap dance, though...

There's one instructional vide with tiny little kids in tiny little outfits, and another children's DVD with Swan Lake (which she really likes, I think it has something to do with all the straight lines of dancers doing the exact same thing - i think she's a little disappointed that we havn't followed suit yet, though :-/). I'm really surprised she took to it so fast, considering it usually takes her longer to warm up to a new idea - but I suppose learning to use the bathroom isn't as much fun as dancing...

Yesterday she unveiled a new interesting, albeit peculiar, spelling skill: "Peg The Hen" is actually spelled P T H - e h e - g e n; in other words,
Peg The Hen - Peg The Hen - Peg The Hen. I know. Cryptic. My thoughts precisely. And I have no idea how she learned that, but she was very careful about it.

Well, I'll be back with more updates tomorrow...particularly her new idea about the jelly bean bowl replacing the breakfast bowl... :)

Sunny tsunamis and the watery ball pit

2010-03-13T22:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight, we stumbled upon a cheap idea for bath time inspiration! Sunny Rose gets iffy about the bath if we cannot creatively entice her. Voila! I have two bags of completely sealed ball pit balls. 200 total. lots of bath bubbles. Tonight, she has not stopped squealing and shrieking with laughter over how the balls move and make noises and bounce in the water when she makes Sunny tsunamis.........our spontaneous inspiration of a watery ball pit was an instant hit. Cost was 12.99 for a bag of 100 balls, of which I already own two......and they get nice and clean as a bonus. I wonder that this could be a hit with just about any child! Perhaps even young babies who can sit up......what a sensory experience for them!

Sunny and the Banquet

2010-02-10T23:30:00.000-08:00

Recently we had the opportunity to take Sunny on an unusual outing, a banquet for the winners of the VFW Voice of Democracy essay contest; my sister, founder of SAY, was our district's winner (1 in 21 out of 3,400 across New Jersey!)
For this event, my mom made a stunning ice blue, snowflake-sprinkled dress for Sunny, complete with puff sleeves and ribbon sash. The icy color made her glow, and we envisioned Sunny sitting at the table, with bouncy dark curls and red leather-clad feet swinging merrily.
The day before the banquet, snow began to fall.
A lot of snow.
The hour-long drive was doubled. The highway was peppered with vehicles unable to make it through the heavy snow. We eventually made it to the hotel where the banquet was being held, and we rushed in through the icy winds. Barely in time, mom and I braided Sunny's hair and went into the dining area.
Sunny was very interested in all the artfully arranged fruit in the first course...just not her own. She also preferred to stand, and would not hear of such a thing as sitting.
Then Sunny discovered ice water. What fun! The neat little stem fit her in her chubby hand perfectly. It was much more fun to stick her tongue in the water, rather than sip it, apparently. This occupied her all through dinner (this, and a handy box of her favorite mints). We attempted to get Sunny to try some food, but she would not.
Until dessert, of course.
When the waitress brought out the chocolate frosted chocolate cake, she could do no wrong in Sunny's starry eyes. In between bites, our little snowflake confection of a sibling was whizzing around the table, up and down the back of the room; repeat. The pattern on the carpet was a twisting array of swirls, and the space to run was unmatched elsewhere. During the ceremony, we took turns keeping an eye on our little snowflake fairy, who took the opportunity during standing ovations to run in circles between and around the adult attendees. Sunny adored all of the applause, and even participated, too--although I suspect she believed the applause was directed at herself :).
At one moment, during a speech, Sunny had decided that one elderly gentleman's gray hair was in need of the same treatment she gives to her stuffed ponies' manes: pluck, pluck, pluck. Her little fingers were a half-inch from said hair when she was whisked back to the tables and enveloped in a distracting hug :).
Just before we left, a waitress was cleaning up the nearby tables, and had placed a few vodka glasses on her tray. Seeing a straw, Sunny flew over and took a sip of the leftover drink inside. As we came after her, the waitress-who didn't see it was a vodka glass-chirped, "Oh, it's alright, she can have it!"
By now Sunny had finished the last few sips, much to the amusement of another waiter who had appeared only to chuckle at the spectacle; and to the horror of the waitress who had dismissed our calls of "Nooo Sunny!"
And so we drove back home amid the snow, with Sunny sleeping quite soundly during the ride... how much vodka was in that glass, anyway?
~~ Caeli, the middle sister

When your autistic toddler eats weird things

2010-01-24T23:50:00.000-08:00

Sunny is not yet willing to potty-train, though we continue to try to train her. This also means that she encounters occasional irritation from her pullups. I made nearly 2 dozen organic cloth pullups of the cushiest fleeces and velours last year (read that previous post!) but to date, Sunny will still ONLY wear paper. So, I use diaper cream at night on her. On hot summer days, I use baby powder under her arms and wherever else she gets sweaty and uncomfortable. And I am so very glad that I stay with those earthy natural organicals......Sunny today squirted half a tube of Burts Bees Baby Bee Diaper Cream into her mouth, swallowed it, to our horror, and complained when we snatched the tube and refused to allow her more of that coveted morsel. Wow. I have never heard of a 4 year old who liked the taste of Baby Bee diaper cream. JUst a word of wisdom, to new moms of newly diagnosed autistic babies --- they might eat anything EXCEPT what you offer at dinner.
~Mom

2010-01-14T17:37:00.001-08:00

.....Just had a terrific idea involving SAY expanding accross the country and eventually branching out offline, as well, into brick-and-mortar sensory play centers for autistic children. In addition to parents and/or trained staff, each child could be aided by - guess who- SIBLINGS! OMG! I can see it now! Lots of color. Like the Imagination Stations, with an autism-centered spin. Tumble-Bees style mats to walk on everywhere, for tiny runners. Also Tumble-Bees style foam block pits to jump in! I went in one of those, they are SO FUN and safe. All the fun sensory toys and products, like bubble columns, swings, fiber optic tunnels.....Of course, sibling aides would be for after school and mostly summer play. Wow. Fun!....must gather siblings.....I'll be back.....

The Phenomena of the Angelic Beauty of Autism

2010-01-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

As a mother, I can relate so well to the adage of "my children are beautiful". But I must note here, that of my four, the autistic one has always baffled and amazed me, my other three children, neighbors, friends, and strangers alike, with her unusual ethereal, angelic, beauty. She seems to glow with some strange other-world kind of emanation. And the beauty of her eyes, I cannot even explain. And it isn't just Sunny Rose. Every time I chance upon a mom with an autistic child, it is the same look, the same heavenly eyes, the same cherubic peace and ..... wow......I just dont know how to explain it. But it makes me melt every time! I found this article to post for you all!

http://www.paains.org.uk/articles/beautiful.htm

No One Knows Why Autistic Children Are Often So Beautiful

But it can be a great comfort to their parents. The recent suicide of Helen Rogan received considerable media attention. Her body was found below the Hounds Ghyll viaduct, in Consett, Co Durham, with that of her 11-year-old son Mark. Mrs Rogan was a single mother; Mark was autistic. I have no intention of commenting on Helen Rogan's despair. It's not something I've experienced. But one comment from their neighbour struck a chord: "Mark was a beautiful little boy. To look at him, nobody would have known he was suffering any illness."

It is a surprising fact that many - though by no means all - autistic children are exceptionally good-looking. Of course, every mother believes her children to be the most beautiful on Earth, but anyone who knows my sons would agree: George and Sam are extremely physically attractive. Hans Asperger, who published a pioneering account of autism in 1944, remarked on the ethereal beauty of his patients almost as if it were a diagnostic symptom. No one, so far as I know, has yet advanced a hypothesis to explain this. Is it the absence of the more disfiguring human emotions - guile, malice, greed - that keeps the autistic face characteristically beatific?
The eyes are large and bright, the smile undirected and serene. The autist often gives the impression either of concentrating on an inner world, or of looking through and beyond us to something out of reach.

For us ordinary mortals, does beauty have to contain an element of inaccessibility? One thinks of the beauties of fairy tales, untouchable in rose briars or glass coffins; the handsome prince whose face can only be glimpsed at midnight, and who then vanishes. Then again, John Wyndham's Midwich cuckoos were beautiful, brilliant children planted by aliens among ordinary families in an English village. In Autism: Explaining the Enigma, Uta Frith writes: "Parents of autistic children find this story deeply evocative of.... their own experiences."

Certainly, we struggle to associate beauty with impaired intelligence. Asperger writes of the autist's "strikingly intelligent physiognomy"; such an appearance can be misleading. While IQs of every level can be found on the autistic spectrum, in the majority of cases there is some mental retardation, and the handicap is often profound. Yet it is hard to believe that a truly handsome child is not withholding some hidden intelligence. One mother I know, whose three-year-old is undergoing the diagnostic process, was told by a health professional, "He's so beautiful. What are you worrying about?

It's ironic that these children are, typically, devoid of vanity. George and Sam do not consider themselves handsome, because they have no objective means of considering themselves at all. They react to other people's looks, but only according to their own criteria - George likes blond hair; he doesn't like beards, especially black ones. They have no notion of fashion, but wear their eccentrically assembled clothes with grace.

Some parents report that their children's good looks cause them to be unfairly judged. The kind of in-supermarket behaviour that would be overlooked in a child with a visible condition, like Down's, provokes disapproving comments. "It's so sad, she's such a pretty child." I've often heard this said. But why is it sad? My children's beauty has always been a source of solace to me. When you've had a terrible night with a small baby, you can restore your affection for the child by dressing it up and making it look really sweet. Similarly, I can rise above some of the more "challenging" behaviours of George and Sam through the simple satisfaction of gazing at their perfect faces.

It means, too, that there is always something positive for other people to say about them. People want to like attractive children, and that is a good start. It can't be sad for the child. It can only be sad for the parent who still clings to the fantasy of what they hoped their child would be, and that is a fantasy that you really do have to get rid of. For me, their appearance comes under the heading of "Reasons to be Cheerful".

I never tire of being told how beautiful my children are because, unlike most aspects of this baffling condition, it is something certain.

Yes, they are gorgeous, aren't they? Thank you very much

© Copyright Paains 2001-2004

New Plan for Sunny Rose

2010-01-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

Based on the article below, and the advice of my nurse practitioner whose own ( year old boy is autistic), Christine, Caeli and I are embarking on a new adventure. We will train ourselves to utilize sign language developments for autistic and special needs children, and we will keep you all updated regularly as to how it is going. To those who say it will only further isolate the child, I say NO! All communication is freedom. There is no right or wrong way, as long as it frees you to express your soul, your needs, your self. How can that be anything bad? I cannot subscribe to the theory that there is only one way for these children to express themselves, and that it MUST BE THE SAME WAY AS EVERYONE ELSE. No, I cannot accept that. Maybe we would all be better off having less restrictive standards on our own conceptions of what communication is supposed to be, supposed to accomplish, and how it is supposed to feel. Teaching a special needs child to free themselves through many forms of communication is a nice way of also freeing ourselves from unnecessary restrictions of expression. Give it a whirl!

Sign Language and Autismn

2010-01-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.theautismnews.com/2009/05/28/sign-language-and-autism-perfect-together/

By Louise Masin Sattler, NCSP | Nationally Certified School Psychologist | Owner of Signing Families

I have taught sign language for more than two decades to children and adults. My students have been as varied in age, occupation, and background as the flowers in a botanical garden. Their reasons for taking sign language workshops or courses also have been different. I have taught new parents with infants who were excited to learn “baby sign”, college students who wanted to fulfill their “foreign” language credit requirements, business owners who wished to communicate with deaf employees and yes; parents, teachers and caregivers who worked with individuals with special needs, such as Autism. I have been asked on numerous occasions if sign language “works” with autistic children. Just like flowers in the garden not being exactly alike, neither are children with Autism. However, after working for most of my career within the field of special education, it is my opinion that sign language can help autistic children with language development.

There has been much research conducted regarding the use of signing and a child’s development of language skills. Signing to a child can be wonderful for promoting verbal language skills for young children who are typically developing or who face challenges. Sign language also involves manual movements, something that many autistic children seek. Facial expressions that accompany sign language help to create the “mood” or relay intent, thus providing a plethora of visual information to facilitate communication. Signing also is interactive and for some that enhances the possibility for language development. Cuing a child with sign to help promote social interactions or giving signals for caution if there is a potentially dangerous situation are other valuable advantages to learning sign.

Now not all sign languages are the same. Sign language is not universal. American Sign Language (ASL) is actually more akin to French in word order and syntax. Thus, most special educators who work with hearing children recommend a form of signed English or Pidgin Signed English (PSE) in public school programs. This enables the voice and signs to match with more fluidity than if ASL is used. Also, signing does not need to be word for spoken word. A teacher or parent can say a whole phrase but simply sign key words to reinforce or emphasize a concept. When I give educator and parent workshops for my company, Signing Families, I prefer to discuss this method of sign language to exceptional individuals as “Functional Sign Language”. Thus, this form of communication is a modality that augments verbal language and perhaps other systems, as well. (Such as picture exchange.)

Sunny is learning to run!

2010-01-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

It might not seem like big big news, but Sunny is learning how to run and walk up and down stairs. Just out of the blue, just like that! It is always a beautiful day when she "gets" how to do something, and her little face is just glowing with the pleasure of her achievement. She will be five in February, and She is working so hard on these skills, and is maneuvering her way through the complexities of how to make word connections. She started recently opening books that are of a similar size to whatever one of us is reading, and she will put herself next to us and look at her book. I brought home a new bedtime story book for her, and she was so thrilled. i forget how complex these little things are, until i see how much work it is for Sunny.
~~ Mom

2009-12-22T00:03:00.000-08:00

Sunny's asleep. 3am now! I have no idea why I'm still on here - the longer I stay up, the more likely she is to somehow manage for the next 24 hours on four hours of sleep. Of course, if I went to sleep at the exact same time, she wouldn't wake up for 13 hours, I just know it....
She was interested in watching me while I was knitting yesterday, which was very encouraging and made me start automatically thinking of chubby knitting needles and fuzzy yarn in tiny hands. Left finished knitting alone, went to make coffee, came back and spent 10 minutes searching for missing knitting. Baby turned up first, much too innocent-looking, I think. Found knitting tucked behind Baby's violin nestled between books and stairs. Her sudden fascination with knitting ceased to exist when said knitting was constantly monitored. Sigh.
Mounds of snow in the yard (ok, that was an understatement - in the REGION) means that some small person can finally try out the sled we got for her last year, unfortunately after the final snow of the season, which, by the way, consisted of approximately three inches. This sounds so toddler-ish in theory that the flashes of images of sweating big people tugging a living-room-on-plastic over snow dunes is almost blurring.... :-D
Well, going to bed now; i'll be back with more info on post-sledding baby! I'll try to put pictures in too, and don't laugh, but we have a leg-less chair to put in her sled tomorrow.........

~Christine

from zero to 60 ......

2009-12-20T20:27:00.001-08:00

It has been quite a month. Sunny is terrified of Santas, has developed a new fear of the 32" TV, and has sprouted a vocabulary that rivals mine. So, no mall santa visits, we are giving away the big TV, and a friend happily gave up her old 19" TV (I think she suspects we are out of our minds) so that Sunny could watch her videos on a small screen. And now the living room is so much more ..... open! Thank you Sunny Rose, for bringing the beauty of feng shui and simplicity into our lives!

Baby Brains Are Wired For Math

2009-12-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

Baby Brains are Wired For Math

By Sara Goudarzi, LiveScience Staff Writer

posted: 08 August 2006 04:04 pm ET

Next time someone complains about arithmetic being hard, math lovers can defend themselves by saying "even a six-month-old can do it."

Through monitoring the brains of infants, researchers confirmed that infants as early as six months in age can detect mathematical errors, putting to rest a debate that has been ongoing for over a decade.

A team of scientists from the United States and Israel exposed 24 infants to a videotaped puppet show. They used the puppets for addition and subtraction while observing the reaction of the babies.

For example, they started the show with two dolls. Before the show ended, a doll was removed and then the infant's vision was blocked with a screen. When the screen was taken away, either one doll was left, as expected, or two dolls, which would not be mathematically correct.

The infants looked at the screen longer (8.04 seconds) when the number of dolls was two, which did not agree with the solution of 2 – 1 = 1.

On average, they gazed at the screen for 6.94 seconds when the correct number of dolls was on the screen.

During the tests, the babies wore a special head net containing 128 sensors that monitored their brain activity. Analysis illustrated that babies have similar brain activity to that of adults when served with correct and incorrect mathematical solutions.

This shows that the same anatomy exists in infants as in adults, said Michael Posner, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. The finding, detailed in the Aug. 15 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, goes against the idea that basic changes in brain anatomy occur between infancy and adulthood.

“A bigger consequence for us is that the origin of the executive attention system must go back to infancy.” Previous research indicated that this system, related to decision-making and task switching, does not develop until a child is 2.5 years of age.

Other research has shown that math skills develop early. One study showed that babies have the ability to recognize and match numbers. When they heard two voices, the gazed at an image with two faces. And when they heard three voices, they looked at an image with three faces. Another study illustrated that five-year-olds can perform relatively complex math operations such as figuring out if the sum of two numbers is greater than or less than a third number.

SunnySpeak

2009-12-06T16:13:00.001-08:00

This might be a long stretch, but we have noticed lately that Sunny Rose understands a lot of what we say.....let me re-phrase.....Sunny Rose understands all of what we say and a whole lot more of what we DON'T say than we realize......but her attempts to pronounce things are sketchy. We have also noticed that autistic children often do not look at faces of people who are speaking, and when Sunny actually does look at a face, she settles almost exclusively on the eyes. It seems that maybe, just maybe, she has trouble with speech because she sees the mouth moving, and she hears the sounds, but she does not connect specific movements with specific sounds. Makes sense anyway. I have not yet chanced upon the time to further look into any research done on this. But we are trying to teach ehr to speak from this viewpoint, for right now, and we will see how it goes!

Home Sweet Sensory Home

2009-12-06T16:10:00.000-08:00

No decorator would survive the onslaught of a sensory melange such as my living room offers. Wild varieties of glowing colors of LED light strings, four bunches of LED lit grapes, huge foamy cushions I made that take up half the living room floor, and foam tiles instead of carpet over the floor itself. Curtains in wild sherbet colors, sheer, so that Sunny can make them flutter and watch the play of those LED's through the sheer colors.....enough stuffed creatures to start a zoo....all of them have a big-and-small combo and sometimes there are three different sizes! She has hand puppets, people puppets, a shark, and a ton of various big-and-small people dolls with which to role-play. There is a tv, a dvd player, a cd mini stereo, a HUGE clear earth ball, a giant rubber exercisor ball that has a dip in the middle, and Sunny loves to sit on it and bounce.....we have a giant rolled up jelly-rool of foam, covered by a homemade sleeve, and is as long as the living room, and Sunny likes ot sit on that too, and sometimes even lay down across the top of that roll. She has a violin, harmonicas, a drum, and little percussion things, and her books.......it's my living room after all. I can do whatever I want with it! I have noticed though, that visitors are rare, as this is sometimes more than they can chew on, maybe, or they just feel too "hippy" sitting on a giant cushion on the floor. It's really kind of nice, once you get used to it, though!

Did I mention that I tossed out all of my living room furniture so Sunny could be near us all day, and still have her Sunny the Phantom "cave" room?!

Autism Study Could Find Answers in Magic

2009-11-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

The magician placed a coin atop an airtight rubber seal on a cup and -- abracadabra -- the shiny piece fell to the bottom of the cup. But he didn't fool 8-year-old Stephen Shore, who was the only one among his fellow Boy Scouts who saw through the magic trick.

Click HERE for more...

Mom, the Amazing Stunt Driver

2009-09-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, just as the rain began, I was about 14 miles out in the boonies, with the kids, in my old car, at a friends log cabin (no, really! she has this lovely little log cabin in the woods, out in the Jersey Pine Barrens!), and anyway, I went to close the moon roof. Nothing. Wide open, no closing. I duct taped a garbage bag over it. That worked great, until I hit 48 mph. The speed limit to get home is a bit higher than that - you get pulled over on Tuckahoe Road if you don't keep up with the traffic. So, Caeli and I grabbed a chunk each of that garbage bag, as it ripped loose from it's duct tape moorings, the rain was pouring down in buckets, the wind was howling, lightning, thunder, blackened sky, pine trees swaying in forms I never thought possible for a tree, flash flooding swept up closer and closer to the edge of the road, and I was now driving 56 mph with one hand, the other hand in a white-knuckled death grip on a corner of the plastic while Caeli had all her weight nearly pulled up off the seat holding the middle and the other side of that plastic. (see? seatbelts ARE useful!) Meanwhile, all through this ride, there was a tornado watch, a flash flood watch, a flash flood WARNING, and the wind was knocking my huge old '86 lincoln town car around as if it were a bath toy. Sunny Rose was ecstatic. she had never ever had so much fun or seen so much AMBITION from her favorite people (us!) during ANY car ride, before!!!

Family Fiction Reading Choice!

2009-09-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

Autism: A Sister's Story

discover an inspirational journey written for children about children...

A little sister gives a heartfelt account of how her brother is just like any brother...how she loves him...how he loves her...and what it is like for both of them to live with his autism.

A thoughtful, informative, and tender look into a child’s world of autism, this book is a great resource for teachers and parents, at school and at home.

teaching understanding and acceptance...

It’s difficult to explain differences among people to young children. This book is the perfect guide to helping preschool and elementary school aged children understand and accept that children with autism are children first, just like them.

With a clear and sweet explanation of common behaviors they might see in an autistic child, this book walks through a typical sibling relationship that just happens to also include an autistic child. Written informatively and lovingly, this book is interesting for adults and children alike, and contains important and educational facts and resources in the back, as well as a heart-warming letter from the author, explaining why she wrote the book.

This book can be purchased at the following link:

http://artfulmediagroup.com/

Sunny the Shopper

2009-09-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hi, it's me .... Caeli-the-middle-sister! Today we took Sunny out walking, to her favorite grocery store. While in there, she picked up a bag of bubblegum pink candies (wintergreen flavor) and handed them to us. We were puzzled; Sunny doesn't usually go for that rack of candy. But now, as she stood there smiling, we realized the horrible truth: The candies looked like super-sized versions of her 'Feel-Betters'!-(commonly known as bubblegum-flavored acetaminophen tablets)- Her pupils were practically heart-shaped as she stared lovingly at them. We had to think fast.
Solution? Go to the checkout line, have one person stand there, the other chased Sunny as she dodged the oncoming carts (and while she made sure everyone's shoes were tied), and the third one of us ran to put the candies back.

Mission accomplished.

But wait---how did those wafers and crackers and cookies and that balloon get into the basket?!

Nekked to Layered in 0 - 60

2009-09-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

One entire year of nekky baby, a never-ending fight to remain vaguely clothed. Undergarments at least. Or maybe when it is just 32 degrees or below. Please? And then, today, after a nice long hot spell, and a temperature of only 88 degrees this fine morning....and Sunny Rose is wearing 2.5 layers of clothing. The tank top, the undergarments, the bloomer style batiste knicker shorts, and the long toasty knit yoga pants. She is cruising around right now seeking more lonely layers to adopt. I am a mother, not a psychic.....how was I to predict this turn of events? My sewing machine will be humming like mad again today.....maybe in reverse, I don't know anymore!

Alternative keyboard for autistic children

2009-09-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting concept...Sunny uses the computer very well, but actually typing is something that's a little more complicated for her. Neat idea to remove the overwhelming options...I wonder how it's going to work out?

Children With Autism Use Alternative Keyboard To Communicate With Their Families And Their World

ScienceDaily (Sep. 1, 2009) — Autism can build a wall of poor communication between those struggling with the condition and their families. While a personal computer can help bridge the divide, the distraction and complexity of a keyboard can be an insurmountable obstacle.

Using a unique keyboard with only two "keys" and a novel curriculum, teachers with Project Blue Skies are giving children with autism the ability to both communicate and to explore the online world.

At the heart of the project is a device called the OrbiTouch. Human-factors engineer Pete McAlindon of BlueOrb in Maitland, Fl., conceived of the concept behind the OrbiTouch more than a decade ago as a way to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and provide computer access to people with limited or no use of their fingers.

Developed with the support of two National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research awards (9661259 and 9801506), the concept of representing keyboard strokes with paired movements was critical to the design from the start....

ABC Don't Make Meeee!

2009-08-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

Today, Sunny's idea of avoiding going to the dentist was to plead, very fast, mind you: "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz-now-i-know-my-abc's-next-time-won't-you-sing-with-meeeeeee!'

A Flashback

2009-08-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

While watching a movie on the computer in the dining room, a flash of curly hair whizzes by from the kitchen and a thump a second later announces Sunny is on the couch in the living room.
A moment of silence, followed an odd sound.
That sounds like a gumball machine, we think collectively, but--
We don't have a gumball machine!
On racing into the living room, the curly head of hair is barely visible under a pile of goldfish, quivering with muffled giggles. Sunny won.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

2009-08-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Blogger number three here, bringing you Thoughts for the Day.

Having an autistic sibling can change one's perspective on things.

With a few alterations, 'One, Two, Buckle My Shoe' becomes a time line for trying to get Sunny outside to play:

1pm-2pm, we buckled her shoe
3-4, she shut the door
5-6, the clock still ticks
7-8, it's getting late
9-10, begin again.

Mom's bit

2009-08-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

Did Christine mention that it was a squillion degrees outside......and the car windows are stuck.....CLOSED? It's true. And that we had to wait in the sunshine at the side of the road for that hour of begging and listening to answering machines on the prepaid (10 cents a minute!) cell with the dying battery. And that I could not find the prescription card for Sunny's amazingly expensive antibiotic? How about when we had her in the pediatrician's office, and the darling and patient doctor tried to convince Sunny that she could indeed leave the office....as soon as she opened her mouth....and little Sunny simply refused to open her little mouth.....until she left the office. Did Christine mention that our beautiful little Sunny will need oral surgery to cap 4 lovely little teeth after the infection is cleared.......and to ease her pain, little Sunny would ONLY eat .... MILKY WAY BARS. Someone must have planted little crop circles over our heads today.

A Series of Unfortunate Events......

2009-08-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Abscessesed tooth, dentist unavailable, pediatrician who has to resort to bribing a four year old for cooperation, car breaks down on side of road, friends avoid "Help me!" phone calls for gas for said car, and a toddler that tosses so many things in the shopping cart while running through the store that we forget to get our own dinner. In other words: Wednesday, August 26th.

It started off as any other day; Sunny woke up, giggled smiled, wooed us, and then we saw it: an abscessed tooth. Every parent's (and now, sibling's) nightmare!! We immediately phoned the dentist, and Unfortunate Event Number I occurred: dentist was operating today, and not in the office.

So, we called the pediatrician, and luckily were able to get an appointment in one hour. Unfortunate Event Number II: couldn't get Sunny out the door easily, almost couldn't get her out at all, so we were an hour late. That's right. An hour.

Made it down to the pediatrician's office (they saw her, anyway!). Spongebob was on the TV in there, a show which I expected, by the time I was 10, to diminish as a fad; now 7 years later, it's still unavoidable and just as unappealing. Volume on any TVs, computers, etc, is Sunny's latest pet peeve and is completely intolerable, so the nurse at the counter turned it off for her (we were the only ones waiting for an appointment in there). Unfortunate Event Number III: Sunny decided that the office itself was just splendid, but an exam? Can't we postpone?

Went to the food store, let Sunny pick out some beanie babies and wafers - a food store tradition for her. Unfortunate Event Number IV: we forgot to get something for our own dinner.

Got home, made Sunny comfortable, put her TV and computer on, and made coffee. Phone rings. Dentist offers to see her right now. This very minute. So we dress baby again, pop her shoes on amid very loud, prominent protests, and put her in the car. She can't believe our latest injustice. Unfortunate Event Number V: can't remember where dentists office is. Have to call. Approx. 15 minutes late.

Get into dentists, go practically straight in to be seen as, again, we're the only ones there (I'm beginning to suspect they schedule people around us....?). Unfortunate Event Number VI: Sunny decided the office itself was just splendid, but an exam? Can't we postpone? (See Unfortunate Event Number III - similar circumstance).

Everything's now settled and scheduled, so we head on out to the food store again to get something for dinner this time. Unfortunate Event Number VII: car breaks down halfway. Out of gas. The gas gage doesn't work. Figures.

Unfortunate Event Number VIII: all friends avoid "Help me, I'm stranded!" calls. Eventually find someone to bring one gallon of gas to get us to a gas station....an hour later.
And so, we finally made it to the food store, which appeared to have a suspiciously large population of cars that passed us on their way there, and then home!

This concludes our Series of Unfortunate Events.

2009-08-25T23:46:00.000-07:00

According to the Sibling Support Project (that I just listed in the last post!), April 10th is the (unofficial) National Siblings Day!!

See site:

National Siblings Day Celebration!

I never knew! :)

2009-08-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting articles my mom found about, and for, siblings (and parents too).

Interesting article Number One:

Siblings Perspective: Some Guidelines For Parents

There is little doubt that those of us raised with siblings have been influenced by that relationship. Living with a brother or sister with an autism spectrum disorder adds more significant and unique experiences to that relationship. Throughout numerous accounts of parents and siblings of children with disabilities it becomes very clear; when a child in the family has a disability, it affects the whole family. Also clear is that families and each member can be both strengthened and stressed from this situation. It is the degree of these conflicting effects that seem to vary from family to family and person to person. There are some factors that have been found to help strengthen families and minimize the stressors. This brief article is meant to arm you with important information and practical suggestions for helping and supporting siblings.

Though limited research has been done, a child’s response to growing up with a brother or sister with a disability is influenced by many factors such as age, temperament, personality, birth order, gender, parental attitudes and modeling, and informal and formal supports and resources available. Certainly parents have little control over many of these factors. However, parents do have charge of their attitudes and the examples they set. Research by Debra Lobato found that siblings describing their own experiences consistently mentioned their parents’ reactions, acceptance and adjustment as the most significant influence on their experience of having a brother or sister with a disability (Lobato, 1990).

Read more here!

Interesting article Number Two:

Selected Resources For Understanding And Supporting Siblings

This site has articles, books, resources, and websites to support siblings - like my site!

Interesting Website:

Sibling Support Project
http://www.siblingsupport.org/

(My) website neglect, addressed!!

2009-08-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.....
I am seriously going to start posting on the blog section at least every 4 days or so. The events section is in drastic need of updating, i know, and i should really add more to the DIY...there's definitely a neglect issue here! :( I've been working on my new Homeschool Hangout Zone website an awful lot lately, and I've been neglecting this one too much. Unfortunately, I just got another idea for an entire business today; creating customized emoticons for websites, forums, and chats. Everyone does customized webpages and logos, but who does emoticons?! The sad part of this is that I have a bad habit of showering less attention on older projects while I'm in the start-up stage of a new project...but, now that I've noticed this issue, I am determined not to fall into it again and I will divide my time equally between these sites/projects/school work/food/sleep. Gulp. I hope.
Thank you for your patience while I came to terms with this problem :( ... hehehee!!

Google Sketchup for autistic youth AND their Big Siblings!

2009-08-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

http://sketchup.google.com/product/features.html

We are setting up to try this out right now. It will take a good couple of days to learn this, I imagine, but we all really have to be familiar with it before we let our little Sunny Rose have a go ...... it will likely only take her an hour or so to become scary-proficient, and we dare not let her loose in the software until we at least know what each button does. Otherwise, I would probably use this as an outlet for older siblings, and as a way for siblings to share a creative computer moment together. Let me know how you made out with this, too! You can email pictures of your creations, and I will post them here.

Guess How Much I Love You fabric

2009-08-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

Hi, it's Sunny's mom again! and oh boy, oh boy! I acquired a few yards of cotton rib knit print -- the real stuff, used for pj's in all the right stores -- and it is that watercolor-y print of the "Guess How Much I Love You" illustrations. I have already set up my sewing shrine, and will now begin to.....drum please!.......make the ultimate "connections" aids for Sunny Rose. She already has the "Guess How Much I Love You" book and dvd, and now she will have a set of pajamas, a little "blankie" and a twin size bed blanket.......her night-night routine will be absolutely perfect! See? having an autistic daughter in no way precludes the joy of making beautiful clothes and sweet mommy-and-me routines!

Potty Time's Over

2009-08-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

I waited and waited for Sunny to motivate the potty-training way. A week ago, she decided to play her own cabaret.....a traditional can-can actually. Potty pants were flying fast and thick through the air at all hours. Naked wiggling baby buns were getting to be SO ho-hum. It was so bad, we actually failed at times to NOTICE she was all nakey. As her financially-challenged mom, I felt a big hole in my wallet where her store-bought pullups tugged at my cash. Not that I object to cloth....Sunny Rose is just a little picky, and will let nothing but one certain brand (and it just HAS to be a DISPOSEABLE) touch the goods. But this new natural baby was a touch too much for neighbors, the mailman, and so on. I decided she either needed to potty-train or she needed to learn to love the extra effort of super soft pul-shelled homemade pullup potty pants. I am talking layers of organic and bamboo fluff, people. Homemade. Designed for Sunny's particulars. Ah-dorable prints. Not a single discomfort, even the softest and finest elastics, blah blah blah. I bought and bought the ingredients. I just knew she would LOVE soft training pants, since no one could possibly prefer paper pullups, and no one could possibly choose wet over dry....and we thought we heard the song of the underpants siren in our near future. I began lovingly sewing about.....cut out for 12 so far.....all of those organical beautiful made-to-fit-big-Sunny potty pants. Screeeeeeeechhhh. She suddenly loves her paper pullups. will not part with them even when they are soaked. Acts like she doesn't even know they are there. Until we try to REMOVE them. She refuses all effort to change her until she is so unbelievably wet.....and then........she does her can-can kick, sending the 2-ton pullup into the air. We usually hear the diaper landing as it craters through the floorboards. Well, it sounds like that anyway! She better not outgrow these fluffy creations of mine, before wearing them to threads. I did manage to devise a magnificent pattern for special needs older child sized potty pants. Maybe next week she will try again.

2009-08-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: The "Connect With Siblings" section is back now, after undergoing reconstruction for a period of time. Really. OK, that's not quite what happened.....see, I came on to Blogger to check up on things, and then I went to see if any comments had been posted on the "Connect" section because I havn't checked on it in a while. So I go on to the main homepage and lo and behold, I had no icon to click for the Connect section on the navigation bar! How can this be, I ask myself? I must have missed this page when adding the code in. And sure enough, it was not on About Us, Events, or....well, you get the drift. And then to my horror, while reviewing other pages for similar errors, I find my comment at the bottom of the DIY section, advising you readers to leave suggestions on the "Connect" section. But how can you do that when there's no icon?!?!
But all is well now, my readers, so navigate on as usual ;)

2009-08-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Carly's Voice

This is the blog of a 14 year old autistic girl who learned to type on the computer to communicate, even though she can't speak. I read about her about a year ago, but it was just up on ABC news and I didn't know she had a blog then! This ABC article mentioned the critics that don't believe she is the one doing the typing, that her mother does it for her, etc,. But even without the video she added to her blog showing that she is the one actually doing the typing, anyone at all connected with someone with autism knows that "just making them" type is impossible. They have to want to! Really. Sunny will not, no matter what, type in "Sesame Street" as long as she can find any other method possible...and she has found every other method possible :D

here's the ABC article, too:

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/MindMoodNews/Story?id=8258204&page=1

This article also mentioned that Carly's breakthrough was most likely the result of thousands of dollars worth of intensive therapy. This could be true in her case, but I don't believe it's a necessity. Sunny is already communicating quite well for a 4-year-old with autism, and her neurologist said she was trying to communicate so much that it was "tantalyzing, almost like Curious George....", where you know exactly what he means and wants, but he's not technically telling you, is he?
We are Sunny's therapists: me, my other sister, and my mom. The one and only time we took her to a speech therapist, the therapist first of all ignored when Sunny was saying real words, if it wasn't the word that the therapist specifically asked her to say! Scenario: Therapist asks her to say "banana", and holds up toy banana. Sunny picks up toy cheese, and says "I want the cheese". A full sentence! Imagine!! You would think a speech therapist would be ecstatic over this! But no. Certainly, it wasn't the word she was asked to say, but would you not consider this progress? You can't make them communicate by forcing them to make it easier for you to understand, you actually need to put out a smidgen of effort too! But that's not all. The therapist then took on the role of advising us on what we've been calling henceforth "detachment therapy". She started off with, "Well, she's going to be 5 next year, time to break the bonds and send her off to school!"; this is exactly what she said. Now, if this doesn't render you speechless, I don't know what will.
So, all in all, spending thousands of dollars on therapy may help you and the child...or it might not. Mostly, I think it depends on the home environment. We are very close, and very flexible and adaptable, which seems to work very well for Sunny, but no autistic children are exactly alike - there is no 'one size fits all' glove tag.~

Autism the symptom of a "broken brain"?

2009-08-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

Michelle Dawson says that most scientists try to determine how autistic brains are broken, but Dawson thinks it would be more useful to try to determine how autistic brains work rather than how they are broken. Dawson is one of the leading advocates of autistic research and treatments. Dawson is autistic.

The Name of the Movie Is........

2009-08-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hi, this is Mom. Christine, Caeli and I were comforting ourselves over hot tea and coffee (not in the same cup, you know), and our conversationals turned to really great movies. We were wandering around the topic, laughing over bits and pieces of moments in our life, and Caeli thought she remembered something from a movie that was really really funny, that related in many uncanny ways to our daily life. We thought and thought..........and then, Christine hit upon the name of that very familiar movie. Our life. That is what we thought was a movie we remembered -- it was our own life that seems oddly theatrical, from that persepctive.

from Sunny Rose's mom

2009-08-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Sunny amazes us every day with her very, very creative means of communications. She knows she does not communicate like the rest of us, but man, she sure is creative! I always wonder, how many children back in the "old" days were locked up, put away, abandoned or neglected because by the age of two or three, the child was visibly autistic, mute, cross-eyed, engaged in meaningless repetitive behaviors (or worse, no "behaviors" at all), and the children were deemed useless and "feeble-minded". We must have lost some amazing people back then, just because those children could not communicate in a way that made sense to the people in charge. Wow.

2009-07-31T12:21:00.000-07:00

Sleep schedule was off again last night....we took her to the food store, were only in there for about 15 minutes, and the whole ordeal was so completely exhausting that she fell asleep in the car on the way back and didn't wake up for the next four hours. Then, of course, she didn't sleep for the next five hours. So, altogether, we managed to scrape by on a grand total of 5 hours sleep!
She insisted on wearing her red cowboy hat to the store, which was really amazing considering just a few months ago absolutely nothing was ever allowed to touch her head, barely even the hairbrush (but we had to nix that one fast...now she doesn't mind, but cutting her nails is a whole other matter involving a flashlight, booklight, and clippers after bedtime). I think the new hat craze is from the Wiggles Splish Splash video, since they have an entire segment about wearing hats, and we just got that one recently. Wiggles are a big favorite, so a lot of new quirks can usually be traced back to them. :P
We're going down to a local bike chop shop next week to see if they can do something for a kind of bicycle/tricycle for Sunny; she's too big for tricycles, and not coordinated enough for a bicycle, but the special needs bikes are so expensive! So we're going to see if they can somehow make a tricycle style with 3 wheels, and a semi-turning handlebar so it can turn just a little for direction, but not enough that she would have to focus on it too much. So hopefully it won't be too expensive, but if it is, one of us siblings is going to offer to work weekends in exchange....or maybe many weekends and we can get three for us too....! :D
~

2009-07-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

OK, so Sunny did sleep until 2am, so it wasn't too bad...my mom got up with her then, so i didn't have to get up until about 7:30, and she's napping again now. Did you notice the new video I added to the right hand sidebar over there? It's more like a slideshow, really, but I had alot of fun with the title and credits.
Now that she's starting to get interested in potty training, we got her a little pack of her very own underpants with adorable little frog pictures on them. We set them up on her computer chair (she always stumbles over there grasping for the mouse first thing when she wakes up), and she was so surprised my mom said she clutched them in one arm and her new piglet stuffed animal in the other. (Remember, I was asleep!) And of course she fell asleep again this morning right after I made her some sausage and it was on her plate. Fell asleep right on her computer keyboard. Sigh. Ah well. I'm going to do a more detailed slideshow soon, this one is kinda short, and I'd like to add captions and transition effects. So keep checking back! :D

2009-07-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Alright! It's NAPTIME! She went to sleep at about 8:00, unfortunately....she'll probably be getting up at midnight :( . But, alas, I guess this gives me more time to blog! I'll be back......!

2009-07-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

Baby's been up since daylight. No nap. Yet. I think she's on her way to potty training, though...last night she started this new trick of yanking of her diaper and running around all bare, so we counteracted this by setting her right on her little potty every time she does that (it's in the living room; it's much easier than dragging her kicking and screaming to the bathroom on the opposite end of the house). We even managed to get a pair of underpants on her, and she actually really liked it! For 3.4 minutes! But guess what? We got the Pullups back on her and she didn't try to yank them off for another hour, so who really won here?! Ha! And she never suspected a thing. ;)

2009-07-21T14:37:00.000-07:00

OK, I know I havn't been on here in a while :( , but I'm back! We were going to take Sunny to our local Puerto Rican Festival tonight (in 20 minutes, actually) and today's theme (week-long event) is for seniors and people with disabilities, which is why we thought we'd take her since she has autism. We just reconsidered, however, and we're going to take her on Thursday (children's theme), because there will be older people there tonight, she's never seen a wheelchair before, and she has a penchant for trying new things, so I can just see where this is going.... :-O! But that's okay, now I can write about the new things she's been learning/doing lately.....
Last night, for instance was when she debuted her new phrase of "Baby Lucky!". This is the scenerio: Baby walks over to you, wraps her chubby little arms around your neck, presses her forehead to your forehead, and looks at you and says "Baby Lucky!!" How adorable is that? I know I'm rambling, but I just about fell over myself when she did that. Right now she's on the Sesame Street website on the "Elmo's Classroom" game, where it shows you pictures of items....um, I'm not really sure what else it does, she navigates it so well she doesn't need me!....but anyway, she clearly said 'Spoon' and 'Car' for the corresponding pictures! And there weren't even any words on the screen for her to secretly read! (I discovered she can read at least some things on the screen when she popped up last week and said 'BooBah' while looking at the screen, and that was the only thing on there :) Alright, well, we're going to take her walking arount the block...ooo, or maybe the library, that's her favorite route because it's a nice loooong straight line to walk from our house, and she really loves her straight lines.... :-D
I'll be back hopefully tomorrow!

By the way, Sunny did get to be Mayor for a Minute at my Youth Council Inauguration, and the Mayor's Office was, in fact, almost the only room she would go in! That is, until she discovered the terrace :)

2009-06-27T06:25:00.001-07:00

Well, we were going to take Sunny to the Baby Parade here today (six minutes ago, in fact), but she woke up in a "Green Animal" mood. That's where she's cranky all day and only plays with green stuffed animals. I don't know why. The "Green Animal" thing started...last summer?...when we took her to the flea market and she discovered a Kermit stuffed animal that she just had to have. NOW. She would talk only to Kermit, and she was in a bad mood all day long. So now, we know what to expect when she starts snuggling up to any green stuffed animals, and that's how she woke up this morning.
But anyway, we're going to take her to the Millville Baby Parade in the next town over, which is actually better than this one anyway. Last year, from what I saw in the newspaper, it was bigger and everyone had better costumes, too. The theme for this one (that was this morning) was "Hollywood Babies", and we were going to take Sunny as Jasmine from Aladdin, decorate her wagon as a giant cloud with little puffs of polyfil scattered on it, and her seat in the wagon would be the flying carpet. I don't know what the Millville Baby Parade is going to do for a theme, but I hope we still use this whole costume-wagon set. I'll post pictures of whatever we have anyway (the parade will be in early August, so you can look back then).
We're going to take her out in her wagon in a little while anyway, though, because if she stays in the house too long she starts thinking only about what Sunny wants a little too much, which is usually when she needs to get out and see the world.
Oh! I'm also doing a drawn portrait of Sunny, so I'll try to see if I can scan it onto here when it's done. In case anyone's wondering, the medium is a Number 2 pencil ;-)

2009-06-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

QUICK UPDATE: I was elected to "Communications and Technology Director" on the Executive Committee for the Youth Council!! Yay!! Next week is the inauguration, so I'm going to see if Sunny can be Mayor For a Minute, and sit in the big Mayor Chair (Chayor?) ;-)

Hello my faithful readers! I can't write much now, I have a Youth Council meeting in a little while and elections are tonight. But I'll be back tonight to write more!!

2009-06-19T17:19:00.001-07:00

Ha! I can do augmented matrices! That didn't take long at all. Hmm. OK, anywaaay.....Sunny's watching Fiddler on the Roof (well, sort of - she's actually watching that beginning part with the roaring lion, over and over and over again.)
I tried to teach her how to draw by copying a cartoon picture of Dora the Explorer yesterday. I learned how to draw Dora, anyway. Sunny thought it was hysterical, and it did generate lots of big giggles, but did you know that drawings are even better as rugs? That's right! Especially in front of the computer, if you don't like chairs that much. That's okay, though, it's up on the wall now with only minor smudges in the shape of feet.
Alas, the Szechuan chicken detour didn't last long, and we're back to peperoni pizza. Or should I say, Sunny's back to peperoni pizza and we're back to cheese. But she still gives us choices! We still get to choose Digiorno!
Well, I'll be back to post more a little later or tomorrow (or maybe another guest blogger will return - there's still one more, you know) ~
P.S, I'll blog about something other than the Szechuan/Peperoni saga :-)

2009-06-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I really should be studying augmented matrices now, but I havn't been on here in two days!! Just...can't.........stop..............blogging................
Sigh. I'll be back.

Mom of Sunny Rose here today!

2009-06-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today, I discovered the 4 Paws For Ability site, and have whipped out the application, will bully the doctor for a script tomorrow, and have caused near and dear nonrelateds to run madly for the hills, as I seek two 2-page references! I want Sunny to have a dog. A service dog for autism. What an amazing idea! She is so gentle and responsive with my friend's horses, with cats, with other dogs, with chickens, goats, and little beetles....this trained service dog for autism will be a mind-altering experience for her. Must wait, must wait.....!

2009-06-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm back. Had to cut up some Szechuan chicken for Sunny...it's the only thing that broke the Peperoni Pizza Minus The Pizza For a Week Or More cycle. And not just Szechuan flavor, but real Szechuan chicken that's pounded into submission. She knows the difference.

Sunny's playing on her computer on the Sesame Street website now; she's getting really good at navigating the computer herself. I found this thing called a 'ZacBrowser', which is a browser that was designed by a grandfather for his 6 year old autistic grandson, and has everything from games to videos and books. It looks really cool, and I actually recommend this, but mostly as an introductory tool for the computer. Unfortunately, I found this when Sunny's computer skills were already too far advance, and it's simplicity (which, again, would be great for introducing a Sibling to the computer) bored her. I'm beginning to suspect that she'll learn to read because of the computer; wait 'til she discovers that typing words into the google searchbar brings up her favorite websites. ;)

Another favorite lately is opera. She sings, we listen, of course! This was because of Fiddler on the Roof - the bar scene with the Russian singers/dancers. Yesterday was when we discovered her love of opera, and she was very patient with us while we figured it out. She was over playing on her computer (again, I know), and making this really loud noise, so we told her to be a little quieter. She persisted. We insisted. She added vibrato. We gasped. And I suppose you can imagine the rest of the fanfare that follows when you you discover a four year old can sing opera, and very well. She is, in fact, watching Fiddler on the Roof right now...she likes the computer and the T.V on at the same time, even if the electric bill doesn't. ~*

2009-06-16T11:55:00.001-07:00

We got Sunny her very own computer (it really was a dire necessity), so blog entries can be more frequent now! I'm going to add some things to the "Events" section now, since it's been under construction too long, so I'll be back for a real entry in a little while.

2009-05-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

My very first blog entry! Sunny's sleeping now, and I'm babysitting, so I thought this would be the perfect time to start. Her new favorite thing lately is going online, so I don't get much time for this...I guess it's good, then, that this is really more website than blog. She actually does really well on the computer, even though she's only four. She can use the keyboard, mouse, bring up a firefox page all by herself (she does need one of us to type in 'Sesame Street' though - and never deviate from typing 'Sesame Street' :-), and find her own games on there. I suppose it's good for her, but it is tough when it's the only computer in the house! LOL.
I'd like to put up some pictures of Sunny, so maybe I'll start a Fashion page tomorrow (and again, entries of your own are accepted!)