I just can't wait to blog it....

This morning, Trevor counted. Not, counted as in said the numbers 1-10. He's been doing that for a while. But, he counted the cups on the counter. And, understood to stop on the appropriate quantity. Yea!!

I know "this week" is not a good title,

I really didn't mean to start a long "series" of "this week" posts. I will try to stop. Eventually. Oh, and no, we didn't sell Taylor to NASA, he's been at Aunt Stephy's for almost 3 weeks now. He comes home for a few hours at a time. His stepcousins are spending the summer with their Dad, and he is spending the summer with them. It is really great because he had only one girl cousin for 7 years. Now he has 3 male cousins; 10, 7, and 4. You can imagine how fun that is for the boys. Well, here it is, the week, I mean. When Jewel found the lizard she was about to climb the ladder. She backed up and said, "uh oh". She really didn't know what to think. She also has gotten brave enough on the slide to have some close calls, but she always laughs about it. =) My mother and I took the whole gang to a new indoor play area. It was ok, but some of the boys are too old to enjoy this for very long. Trevor and Jewel couldn't get enough. And both tried to get back in as everyone put their shoes on. Trevor only wanted to play with these games to copy is bubba. There was a tall inflated slide that I had to scale 6 times for Jellybean and Morlynn. That was a great workout. This is my youngest, new nephew. And the other blur is Trevor. Jewel climbed the stairs almost to the top, all alone. That is her pink diaper; my mom tied her dress in a knot on her back. This is Trevor, he moves to fast for my camera. Apparently, I need to add more text to fix my pics. I am not good at captions, even on the yearbook staff I couldn't do them. So, I babble. There was a big Sesame Street jumper. Morlynn loves to help with the babies. She led Jewel through all of the jumpers, even the ones intended for older kids. There wasn't a single thing that Trevor couldn't do, he kept up with the bigger kids pretty good for a 2 year old. He is just so strong. And, Jewel just refuses to be left behind. She insists on going over the slide by herself. Too bad the pics are so blurry. Trevor found a zipper and played there for a while. He wanted to zip it and go both in and out. Then unzip it and go in, zip it and come back out. Then, reverse that. Funny. Jewel found Elmo, so she was thrilled. Jumping, jumping, sliding, running, and still they didn't crash on the ride home. Amazing! I'm not really sure what is going to happen with these crazy captions, hopefully they will end up where they belong, if not, oops! Trevor and Papi (my dad) chilling on the porch. There have been a lot of great times on that porch. Jellybean went swimming with only floaties! She took to it like a little mermaid! Wow, she really looks like a beluga here! ;) OH! So, This is Trevor and the amazing cacophony. Which, of course, broke the play pan I bought two weeks ago (luckily on sale). I am gluing it back together now. Well,"gooing it" as Trevor told me. "It's OK Dana (he doesn't always call me mom), just goo it. It'll be just fine." Such a little optimist. =)

Learn Nothing Day (the 1st Annual)

I don't know much about Dodd, except that she is a promoter of her own style of unschooling. I know some consider it very extreme, but others think it is right up their alley. I haven't done the research, so I don't get to have an opinion yet. But, I do like the idea behind her Learn Nothing Day. So, how did we do, ... Not so good. Taylor has barely been home for the last 5 weeks, so today I stole him away to go to the grocery store (it's one of our fave things to do- monster hunting is all I can say). On the way we noticed an inch worm clinging to the passenger side mirror. Taylor made me drive slow, because I wouldn't let him bring it in the van. Then, he talked me into pulling over and after a few minutes of coaxing, convinced the caterpillar to get on a leaf and set it in a safe place. That led to a conversation ( I don't remember all of it)about planting trees and cross-pollination, and "we need to look up more about...". And, that led Taylor to say, "Mom, you know how I get really interested in something and want to learn more about it. Well, it always leads to something else, and something else. Like a chain of learning. It's like the game that we play for school, you know." Couldn't have said it better myself. That is school for us, whatever classification that fits.

group email rant session

I am only showing my responses in this thread of course, and I will only say that this is from one of my favorite online only homeschool groups. Sometimes it gets a bit exciting and time consuming, but it always feels good to "say outloud" your startling beliefs. Especially among a rare group that will chime in in agreement. I have also wondered if it could be explained by modern machines (tv's etc.) but have not found any definitive information. I looked for studies involving autism and amish. I should look for information on autism in third world countries, too. i disagree that they are "artificially pathologized childhood behaviors". They are pathologized because they affect the child's abilities in day to day life. I was affected by my confusion and in ways I will never write about in a group like this embarrassed by my "behaviors". Things that I did that made everyone think I was "weird". Weird/bad enough that I didn't make any friends. I was the only kid like me I knew until middle school and even then, I was the confused kid in a group of "weird" kids. I don't know about misdiagnoses or medicines or abuses. But, I do know that some people's brains work differently than "most" and it would help us if more people understood that not everyone thinks the same way. I don't think that there is something wrong with me or my son. I think that we are different and we need to understand that other people see certain things we do differently than we see ourselves. Just being aware of this has boosted my son's confidence i agree with what your saying. but, as much as I don't want to be "classified", I do wish others understood that I think differently than them. it makes it easier to communicate with them. if I never had trouble (even in my "homeschool world") communicating with and understanding others I'd say don't even waste time classifying everyone. but, i do, and if i could say to someone "I have asperger's" and that helps them accept what I am saying in a more open way, that helps me. I just think that sometimes you have to accept the memes of the world (the need to classify and "doctor" everything) if you want to deal with the world. ok, i get what your saying. but, if the only way to get the idiot masses to act civilized is to call it a disease/disorder/problem whatever. I am cool with that. i don't need to be accepted, i need to be able to talk to people enough to earn money and have some fun. I am not going to be here (on earth) long enough to fight for all of humanity to change the way they think. i will allow that evolution to happen a small step at a time. as soon as they all start thinking they have figured us "weirdos" out and are comfortable talking to us they will shift to new weirdos and we will become part of the wider range of norm. i need to enjoy today. not wage war on evolution. think that most people with asperger's have no desire to "change". maybe I shouldn't try to speak for all of them. but, we (my son and I) have no desire to be different. we just struggle like everyone else not to look stupid sometimes. we will never take medications ever. we live and eat and expose our bodies to natural things so that isn't an issue for us. (*This is a vast generalization, I should say that we try at best. It is our goal.) I don't know where the planet is headed but I refuse to believe that the "no medication" trend will not come around. With the economy going in the toilet, well maybe that will help. I don't assume to know what the world will do, or what the world thinks. perhaps their are lots of people who agree with us about no medication and that asperger's isn't a Problem. It certainly seems "ass backward" to me too, but give us all some credit. Maybe everyone is just trying what they think will work based on the knowledge they've been exposed to. I know lots of people who firmly believe they know what is best and that medication is the way to go, but when I share just a little friendly information they, within a few weeks or months, change their opinions and try a new way. There are many things that I have changed in my life in 5 years, specifically because I learned from research. All I am saying is give the world some credit, as knowledge spreads people will come around. Relax ok, that is the opposite of relaxing. lol. You're right about medicating every little thing. I totally agree. I talk to my kids about it all the time. It isn't just medications, it's commercials, and clothes, and religion(don't let me go there) and the pursuit of money (rather than happiness) that are pervasive in this society. I hate it, even Nickolodeon has gobs of commercials. Memes everywhere you look. That is why I homeschool. All I have the time or energy to do with it is talk honestly about the way things are to my kids, so they do not get run over by it.

Perception, and mid-year progress report;

Everything else is boxed up, so I have been flipping through my cookbooks. I pulled out my barely used copy of "Cooking the Real Age Way" by Michael Roizen and John La Puma. It is barely used because although te You: The Owner's Manual inspired much of our weight loss. The recipes in this book looked like a bit of a stretch for our family at the time. That was 2 years ago. But, through baby steps we have collectively accepted the knowledge we've found and eased into healthier habits. Now that we barely eat meat and are desperate for some new recipes in several areas (vegetables, breakfast, and snacky type food), I see a lot of recipes that appeal to us. Funny thing, perception, it really sneaks into your life. I recently watched American Beauty for the first time in 7 years or so. Wow, did I feel differently about it this time. i fabu comment from the original post... 1 comments: John L said... Great work...keep it up! And I love the way you do your own research and have taken this as mission for your family. You may also like ChefMD.com and ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine. The site has free, healthy, easy quick recipes e-mailed every week; and drjohnlapuma.com, which has some of the Cooking the RealAge Way recipes too. Warmly, John La Puma, MD www.drjohnlapuma.com www.ChefMD.com

Furious Circles

If I had to pick a new "nickname" (on paper only, screename is more accurate) for myself now it would be Furious Circles. I have, even when lots of people just use their real names, continued to use the name that Melissa and I made up in highschool for my screename on various groups. It comes from the Jimi Hendrix song "Little Wing", and then I felt it accurately described me (and I was obsessed with Hendrix). I still think it did, possibly does still in some small ways. But, furious circles is more accurate right now. I say this because I have so many things going on in my head all at once. It is like having several whirlpools of thought all trying to capture my focus. I suppose that it has always been this way, but there were never so many whirlpools. Right now, I spend some time thinking about this blog and where I want to go with it. I have come to the conclusion that I want to use it to hold things I want to remember when I am 90. I still very much feel that I am failing to catch (for the blog) some of the best parts of our daily life, but I'm sure I will get better at it. Then, there is of course the healthy meals/ health of the home/ health of the products/grow your own food whirlpool. I get lost all the time reading various chains of articles. Then, there is the financial/trying to do this without debt/what the heck is this insurance covering anyway/how can we save money/following our dreams? whirlpool. I always feel 12 years younger when I start trying to understand the financial benefit of insurances. Then, there is the what do you mean marriage isn't easy/who is supposed to clean this up/talk to the children about what?/supposed to communicate with who? whirlpool. This one is small and only even worth mentioning because of it's unpredictability. I mean, I'm worried about the bills and here it comes stealing me from the task at hand. And the solution is never the first thing you try, nor is it ever the same solution twice. And lately, the most consuming has been the swirling vortex of homeschooling/unschooling?/ game/website/business?/balance/schedule that until a month ago seemed to grow more complex and impossible to control. It is still humongous (love that word=)) but I can at least swim in the current now. At any rate, the point is when I am 60, and life is slower for me I want to remember this and marvel at my ability to do it. Sometimes I am surprised now when things atually work out.

Save the Bees!!!