Temple Grandin: The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger's
Tim Seldin: How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way
Veronica Zysk: 1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Ellen Notbohm: Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew
Beth Fouse: A Treasure Chest of Behavioral Strategies for Individuals with Autism
It's Photographic Friday, the day when I share practice photographs from the past few days or so. They aren't perfect. What is really? I'm enjoying the process of concentrating, creating and working up my 10,000 hours of practice. If the spirit moves you, feel free to share your own creations, photographic and otherwise with a link!
Have a wonderful weekend!
What the what? It's already Wednesday, time to join Ginny for yarn along.
Every week I am in disbelief at how fast Wednesday rolls around. It's absolutely insane. Well let's get to it. I finally got started on my fingerless mitts. It took a while to get the engine going. May Madness started early and I am bushed already. But I pushed through it and I am happy to say I am moving along on my little project that's just for me. I also realized that it's almost teacher/aide gift time again. Not to add anymore to my plate, but there are a few quick projects I am eyeing.
On the book front, we are almost at the end of Then There Were Five. I did put everything down for a new book called I Wish I Were Engulfed in Flames: My Insane Life Raising Two Boys with Autism. I haven't decided how I feel about it yet, except that there are some parts I can relate to (constant questions, worry). The author has a rather, hmm, bawdy tone, so be forewarned. However, it is plain she adores her kids and would do anything for them. One of her sons provides poetry and writings for the book also. He is quite the interesting kiddo. The author's writing is incredibly honest, and you will get a good peek into different types of autism. I say that because every child's autism is different from the next. "Once you meet one child with autism, you have met one child with autism."
I am almost done with Naturally Fun Parties for Kids. It is a blast. I cannot wait to try some of these ideas. Actually, I will wait until after May Madness is over.
Well that's it for me. What are you making and reading this week?
Doran loves to write and read. It's like a light has switched on lately. The boy just loves language. We can add this love to his other loves-art and music.
Doran has been at it on his walls again. He loves himself a big "canvas". Greg and I are going to try to get a section of his wall painted with chalkboard paint this summer. I am sure he will go "out of bounds", but who knows. It's worth trying. I think we'll have him help paint his walls too. Perhaps we'll try a whiteboard-again. Last time he destroyed it and wouldn't keep it on his wall. Hmm, this should be very innerestin'.
Some kids have posters of groups on their walls, Doran writes. Greg and I fell over with laughter when we started reading what he wrote. Doran is a hoot. Check out his walls and see if you can spot any songs or groups you like. Sorry for party rockin'.
Joining Amanda for weekending . . . .
What is with the funky movies? I seem to be picking some interesting ones lately. We saw Frogs and Toads. It is a movie from the Netherlands. It is very interesting seeing other countries' kid movies. The kids look like actual kids.
Saturday was a marathon day at church. The kids were at First Communion prep (a retreat) from 9am to 5pm. We left early. I must admit I had to do some attitude adjusting because the schedule just felt overwhelming even though it was planned with love and good intentions and everything worked out. The kiddos are pretty excited and I think they understand a lot about the sacrament. They participated whole-heartedly in the mass. Something I never would have done, and probably wouldn't do now being the introvert that I am.
The kids made bread during the retreat, practiced looking reverential while processing, and talked about the banners they made for First Communion. We go to a very welcoming and open church so it's nice to see the kiddos actually enjoy and understand the process.
Sunday was all ours. We cleaned, had some donuts. The adults drank coffee because we were pretty tired.
Doran helped mow the lawn while I tended seedlings that are reticent to sprout. Luckily our garlic is coming up and it was fascinating. I've never seen garlic sprout before now.
Part of the day Greg spent baking-making pizza for our pizza-crazy Doran, pull-apart cinnamon bread, and a couple of loaves of regular bread, one of which we bestowed on our neighbor.
Then Greg and Eden folded basket after basket of clothes.
I went to the hobby store in search of some fun figurines for my terrariums.
Elijah's First Communion outfit is mostly complete. He decided he wanted to wear a tie; orange was one of the colors he thought he would like, so orange it is.
Our lovely neighbor borrowed our rototiller and came back with 4 half-gallons of ice cream. Then later he came with homemade fried rice, Chinese sausage and fried wonton. Hmm we need to have him borrow more garden implements. Thanks to our neighbor we had a very tasty dinner.
And that was our weekend. How was yours?
It's Photographic Friday, the day when I share practice photographs from the past few days or so. They aren't perfect. What is really? I'm enjoying the process of concentrating, creating and working up my 10,000 hours of practice. If the spirit moves you, feel free to share your own creations, photographic and otherwise with a link!
Have a fabulous weekend!
see what he does.
It's all worn and washed off now, but boy does he know how to wield a fast marker.
It's Wednesday, yet again, which is completely unbelievable. Time really does fly. I'm joining Ginny for yarn along.
I finally decided to make Toasty mitts. I chose the raspberry merino yarn my buddy Julie gave me. They are a nice bright color and I think they will work well. This seems to be a rather simple pattern except for the thumb and some craziness about a backwark loop cast on. Yikes. Now on to find size 7 dpns somewhere.
We are reading Then There Were Five and enjoying Enright's lovely words: "The willow lay along the bank like a scaly old dragon and arched its silver branches above the pool." I am reading/perusing Monet at Giverny, Art & Fear and The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook: Landscapes.
Well it's time to find those needles and cast on. What are you reading and making this week?
It was Amanda over at Soulemama who said she tries to remember that one person's mess is another person's progress. I would add that one person's mess is another person's process . The other day I was able to work in my studio and noticed I had a lot of process going on; it's a good thing though. Hopefully with more time doing the work, I'll have some things to show you soon.
Have a great Tuesday my friends!
Joining Amanda for weekending . . . .
This weekend was an awesome ending to a wonderful week of Spring Break.
Boy did we ever need Spring Break-all the toing and froing simply wears me out; I embrace my introversion, but it is a hard row to hoe when you hafta be places.
Friday we watched some crazy German pirate movie; I must say though that the dubbing was excellent.
There was laundry and yard work on Saturday, lots of manure, compost and fish fertilizer. You can guess what I smelled like by the end of the day. The fish fertilizer was actually the worst.
So now we have grapes, new raspberries, baby bear pumpkins, garlic, spinach, kale, radishes, lettuce, carrots, and tomatillos and three kinds of tomatoes started. We finally learned our lesson and decided to succession sow our lettuce and green leafies. The blueberries and strawberries have been fertilized so here's hoping we get a crop.
Finally, we received a good soaking rain. There were dust and pollen clouds here for weeks. The dirt was like fine sand. Now the birds and worms and plants are happy. The mallard couple came back to our temporary backyard pond. I only hope my little seeds didn't get washed away in the deluge.
The best part of the weekend though was the brick and rock painting by the kiddos. They really brighten things up and I just enjoy watching them execute their plans even if it does involve squabbling.
I spent a lot of time reading Adventures of Little Bear. This set was organized a bit like a chapter book. Everytime I tried to stop reading, Eden would tell me we had more to read. Still, despite almost falling asleep on her, I enjoyed watching her enjoy a book I loved as a kid even if Maurice Sendak's drawings of Cat fascinated and kind of freaked me out.
We capped off our weekend with a trip to the bowling alley. I think this activity will be a family favorite.
There was lots of slowing down time which I treasure. Greg was home so that was even better. I had time to just look at the kids-really look at them without having to go do this or that or drag someone here or there. Toing and froing is vastly overrated, but now we are back to it (sigh). Luckily I have been filled up and I think we can make it to summertime.
How was your weekend?
It's Photographic Friday, the day when I share practice photographs from the past few days or so. They aren't perfect. What is really? I'm enjoying the process of concentrating, creating and working up my 10,000 hours of practice. If the spirit moves you, feel free to share your own creations, photographic and otherwise with a link!
Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!
