"Women should not have children after 35;
thirty-five children are enough."
--Unknown

"How can there be too many children?
That is like saying there are too many flowers!"
--Unknown,
often attributed to Mother Teresa


"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing
is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing."
--Phyllis Diller

"You can safely assume that you've created God
in your own image, when it turns out that
God hates all the same people you do."
--Anne Lamott

Weblog

Thursday, 29 October 2009

  • The Good News!

    On the way home from school this afternoon, I got to give my 4-year-old some good news.  We all had been chatting about what an astronaut is and does and whether or not any of us could actually *be* an astronaut.  I, of course, said, Yes, you could be an astronaut.  What do you have to do to be an astronaut, she asks.  You study things like math and physics and engineering--"and astronomy!" my 8-year-old adds--to learn all the things you'll need to know for your work.

    "Hmm," she says.  "Well, I'm going to be a mom."

    "Hey, good news!" I tell her.  "If God calls you to be an astronaut, and he also calls you to be a mom, you get to do both!"

    photo
    Karen Warren -- Chronicle
    Nicole Passonno Stott will spend four months
     on the International Space Station.


    I decided to pass on giving her the bad news ... that as an astronaut mom she'll have to grow a thick skin to deflect the negative vibes thrown at her by naysayers.  That course comes some time after the math, physics, and engineering, and, I pray, sometime after the Gospel has had a chance to soak deep into her soul.

Sunday, 25 October 2009

  • Sock Maintenance Incentive Program Success!

    Last week I instituted a new "incentive program" in our home, the purpose of which is to prevent my need of wandering whirling-dervish-like through the house looking for kids' socks--under furniture, next to the TV, in the dining room, jammed in secret places along with fruit snacks and candy wrappers--then later standing at the washing machine turning them all right-side-out.

    I am proud to announce that the first week of the Sock Maintenance Incentive Program (4 school-aged children, 5 school days per week, 40 socks right-side-out in the laundry basket, milkshakes on Saturday) was a resounding success.

    Here is how we celebrated:

     

    You gotta go big the first week, right?  Yum!

Saturday, 24 October 2009

Friday, 23 October 2009

  • Normalizing Relations

    Two weeks ago, our 7-year-old son was invited to a neighborhood birthday party.  He waited in line with the rest of the kids for his cake and ice cream, then the birthday boy's dad asked him what he would like to drink.

    "Alcohol," E-man says, a proud participant in his school's D.A.R.E. program.

    We found out later this was the first word he has *ever* spoken--before or since the birthday party--to our neighbor, after several years of conversational rebuffs on our son's part.  Go get 'em, Tiger!

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

  • Being Braggy

    While driving home from the Post Office this afternoon, I glanced over at a jogger and watched while he ran right at a tree, ran a few steps up the tree, then did an aerial flip. That quick little not-quite-nonchalant look he gave to his immediate surroundings--and that tight Speedo workout shirt--made me want to roll down my window and shout at him,

    "Hey Buddy, I've got four girls 11-and-under and a boy with autism. I'm on my way home to supervise dinner, homework, baths, and bedtime while my husband works on his sermon for this Sunday. *I've* got some way cool moves, too..."

    But I was afraid he'd think I was making a pass at him, and his head already looked a bit big for his hat anyway. So I kept driving.

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

  • Why I Eat Doritos

    I am *so* distracted today!  But I finally pull myself away to make a nice turkey and cheese sandwich ... and it takes, like, ten minutes to break into the package of turkey. 



    I'm trying to pull it apart, then abandon that effort in favor of scissors, to open the package yet preserve the "zip-shut freshness seal," but then the plastic is so hard to cut I pretty much mangle the package and have to put it in a quart-sized ziplock anyway.  This, my friends, illustrates the appeal of junk food.

    So then, of course, since I'm so distracted, I take a photo with my snazzy phone, send it to my e-mail inbox, and upload it to my blog.  Phffth!  And play with the baby and talk to the guy about our roof in, around, and between all of that.  Upward and onward!

  • Tales from the crypt (mwa-ha-ha-haha!)

    I just discovered why I haven't seen any sugar ants in my kitchen lately, on the other side of this sliding glass door:



    I've decided to leave this spidery masterpiece intact ... because (1) I can play well with others, (2) I like to show respect for my fellow artistes, and (3) I hate ants in my kitchen!

  • My latest obsession?

    OK, so, this morning I finished the second of the two Edna St. Vincent Millay biographies I've been reading.  They were both excellent, and I'm looking forward to reading some of her poetry now that I know the poet.  At the same time, I'm looking for my next project.  There isn't any one book screaming at me from the shelves ... I mean, they're all *looking* at me with that *look* -- you know, that *LOOK* (I'm thinking of the line from "Fletch") ... and in the meantime I googled something I've been meaning to look up for quite awhile.

    Plastic grocery bag recycling project, here I come!

    First, the "yarn" ... er, I mean "plarn."


    Then, the project.  Oh, where to begin?  Maybe here?  Or here?  Save me before I get lost in plastic grocery sacks!

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

  • It was a Green Day, but he's no American Idiot!

    I don't know, is there much more I can say?  After a rough few weeks, I was relieved to hear E-man tell me at afternoon pick-up that he had a Green Day today!

    While his shadow and the ABA supervisor gave me their report of his day, he stood over on the side recounting on his fingers all the things he *didn't* do today:
    • "I didn't call anyone mean or stupid. . ."
    • ". . . or ugly . . ."
    • ". . . I didn't poke anybody with a pencil. . .
    • ". . . or scissors. . ."
    • ". . . I didn't say, 'I'm going to cut your neck' or 'I'll put you in the closet'. . ." (well *that's* a relief!)
    Phew.  So, we'll celebrate tonight and work on helping him understand that this is the *beginning* of a l-o-n-g series of Green Days, not the end goal.

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Autism Awareness
Be Informed
Learn the Signs!

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A few tips we've learned along the way:

• Get early screening check-ups; be vigilant
• Don't settle for "wait & see;" trust your instincts
• Obtain a formal diagnosis
• Early intervention is key!

"Be wise as serpents, innocent as doves"
Matthew 10:16

"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. . . ."
Matthew 6:32-34

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