Eggs...and Unintended Sensory Fun

As an autism mom...I'm grateful for eggs.   This is said with sarcasm because I just found Jason kneeling in a pile of cracked eggs in my kitchen.  I guess I'm grateful for the fact that I was forced to clean up the kitchen floor and give Jason a bath.  Two clean things by 6 a.m.  Hooray.  This is not a new experience (as seen in the above picture of Caiti 4 or 5 years ago).  This is how I know the trick a friend of mine told me of pouring salt on the egg splatter to help it solidify a little bit and make it easier to clean up.  Reminds me of when Kevin was a custodian at a school and used saw dust to clean up vomit...same concept.  Ewww.   My kids are enthralled with throwing eggs on the ground, watching the shells crack and the yolk splatter all over the place.  It is such sensory delight to crinkle the shells up into little bits for mommy to clean up. What fun to run your fingers through the eggy, gooey texture of the yolk!  HEAVEN!!!  Too bad it's not okay to eat raw eggs...which is why occupational therapists everywhere haven't figured out the delight found in smashing eggs and playing in the crunchy shells and gooey yolk for instant sensory fulfillment. 

Autism Apps for Android and Kindle Fire

As an autism mom, i'm very grateful for all the apps out there for children with autism.  I loved when I could use my iPad for a choice board or for learning games for my kids.  However; as previously noted, one of my iPads was stolen, and my children broke the other one.
I decided to try the Kindle Fire because it's $199 compared to $400-$800 for another ipad.  At first, I was pretty dissapointed with the selection of autism apps, but after taking the time to look, I have compiled a Pinterest board full of available apps for autism.  I'm pretty excited.  There are numerous free apps on there too.  These apps will work with any android device, not just with the Kindle Fire.
My Pinterest board is open to the public, so feel free to check it out.  Also, if you are not familiar with Pinterest, if you click on the picture of what you are looking at, it will lead you to the website that has the information.  All of my pins on that board are from Amazon or Google Play, where you can purchase the different apps.  From there, they will instantly transfer to your device.  
http://pinterest.com/roach_family/autism-android-learning-apps-kindle/

Dish Soap

As an autism mom, I'm grateful for dish soap.  Yes, I'm glad I have it to clean the dishes...but I also learned long ago that the only way to get peanut butter out of the carpet, the couch, etc., is to squirt some dish soap on it and scrub it with a damp cloth.  Why am I telling you about this today?  Well, I made Jason peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  Then I was my typical forgetful self and forgot to put the peanut butter up.  So when I checked on him a few minutes later, there was peanut butter smeared all over my house...and all over his body.  So not fun.  P.S.  Don't clean peanut butter off your child in the bath.  It's much easier to clean off in the shower.  You'll thank me later.
Jason's peanut butter fiasco reminded me of my cute Garrett when he was Jason's age and would do the same thing any chance he got.  I was always super annoyed and pretty mad.  Good thing Aunt Michelle was around to think it was funny and take cute pics/videos.  This one is my favorite.  We had semi cleaned him up by then:

Hey Girl!

As an autism mom, I'm thankful for the little things out there that make me laugh cause they are so relateable:
For example, there are all those funny "Hey Girl" things out there.  My favorites, of course, are autism-mom related.

...and of course, my favorite!  

Jerri Lynn :)

As an autism mom, I'm grateful for the first friend I made when I moved here 4 years ago, Jerri Lynn.  She was my next door neighbor for the first while we lived here, but when her husband made chief they moved.  Luckily, it was just down the road.  Jerri Lynn's family is so awesome.  They always look out for my family.  I love how they just accept my kids how they are, accept the chaos in my house for what it is.  I love that I can go months without hanging out with Jerri Lynn, and she doesn't hold it against me. She gets it, because she is a mother of a child with special needs too.  Our children's special needs are different, but she understands so completely the worry, stress, unconditional love that comes being a parent, especially one of special needs children. I appreciated that Jerri Lynn encouraged me to get going on all the programs, etc., that could benefit my children when I moved here and didn't know what to do.  I appreciate that when I can't reach my sister/babysitters in an emergency, she is the first person I think to call.  She is so dependable and loyal.
Of course, one of the things I am grateful for is that she has documented my family's history with her photography.  I remember when she offered to take family pictures for us the first time, and I didn't have high hopes because my kids can't sit still, don't understand what's going on...family pictures had always been a painful experience while taking them with blurry results.  I loved that she got some "normal" pics of my kids but also caught them in the moments that totally show their personalities and the funny side of our lives. 
I already posted this one on an earlier post, but I LOVE it, so I have to share it again.  This is our ICONIC family picture that was taken back in 2009:

I love that she can get their personalities in her pictures.  It is because she lets them do their thing.  She makes them happy too.  They all love Jerri Lynn.  These pics from 2010 are some examples:

 This picture catches Caiti's sweetness, but you can also see that little mischievous twinkle in her eye.

 This picture captures my cutie pie baby boy who is so cute when he does his "eensie weensie spider" hands.

This is one of my all-time favorites because it shows how much I love my Garrett.  Plus, he thinks I'm hillarious.  That is always a good thing.  This epitomizes Garrett's joyful personality.

I love that Jerri Lynn makes me take pictures with Kevin so that we have proof that we were in the same place, at the same time, and that we still like each other. 

I'm so thankful to Jerri Lynn for capturing all the sweet moments in the middle of all the crazy.

 

Six More Years

As an autism mom, I'm so grateful for the benefits that my kids get since their daddy is in the military.  Not only do I have the security of a roof over their heads, but I also get the wonderful medical benefits that cover all of their various therapies, their specialists for autism and epilepsy, the pediatric dentist, and the medications that would put me in the poor house.  ABA therapy alone would cost $30,000 per kid a year without insurance.  That is close to $100,000 a year when you have three kids.  I'm so grateful that the government takes care of its military families.
The Navy has been trimming down a little bit in the last year, and I have met quite a few people who were either let go or did not get the chance to reenlist, and it hurt my heart and made me so anxious for our future.  My husband's current enlistment ends next March, and we were starting to feel the pressure.  Luckily, he worked really hard and studied really hard to pass the test required to make E5 (rank advancement).  Being an E5 basically guaranteed him the chance to reenlist.

This last week was his pinning ceremony, along with all the other people from his ship who were able to advance.  I got to go to the ceremony.  This was my first time being there for one of his advancement ceremonies because he usually advances when he is deployed.  I was so proud of him.  He has given up so many things, as most parents do, to make sure that his kids are taken care of.  I love him so much for putting his family first, and for striving for excellence at work so that we can have the security of another 6 years.

Photography Tips ;)

As an autism mom, I'm thankful for Jason's unintentional photography tip.  He found my Mod Podge (glue mixture) on the counter and got it ALL OVER himself...as always.  When am I going to learn to put it away when I'm not using it???  Anyway, I had him in the shower and I made Kevin get the camera because he had the perfect milk mustache.  So, here's a photography tip, learned from Jason.  If you need a believable milk mustache, just rub a little Mod Podge above your lip, and Ta Da!

The Car

As an autism mom, I am so grateful for this invention called a car.  I forget that it is a valuable asset sometimes. After all, if your kids are all in the car, you know where they are.  I've definitely had my own struggles with the car, i.e., Caiti's earlier Houdini acts of getting out of her seatbelt.  Also, Garrett pretty much thinks any time we get in the car that means we are going to get "fries and chicken" at McDonalds...which I have to blame myself for.  Ooops...
Anyway, today was a little crazy.  I could tell my kids were soooooo bored and hot.  I had put out our little swimming pool in the backyard and was using the hose to fill it up.  I stepped inside for a couple minutes, and when I got back outside, Garrett was sitting in the pool in his regular clothes and both Caiti and Jason were naked.  Yippeee...  Also, Caiti thought she should take control of the hose and make a huge mud puddle.  Soooo fun.  She and Jason were splashing around in the mud.  Let's just say, I wasn't in the mood, and I was disappointed that my brilliant idea of swimming didn't work how I imagined.  You'd think I'd be used to that and  expect that kind of thing.
I made them all come inside and clean off.  I couldn't find the window stopper that I use on the sliding glass door, so every time I turned around, another little naked bum would be heading back for the fun mud puddle.
That is when I remembered I had a car and could drive them far away from that temptation.  I didn't want to actually do anything but take them on a ride...I'm not crazy enough to take all three kids somewhere and actually do something by myself, but I thought maybe if I turned on some calming music and just drove around in pretty San Diego, we would all feel much calmer.  Yes, this was mostly so I would feel much calmer.

We ended up driving to the San Diego temple.  I love it.  It is so pretty and peaceful.  We drove around San Diego for 2 hours, and I tried not to think about how much money in gas I was using.  I was just glad to have them all in one place, feeling happy...especially when they got their "chicken and fries."

Definition of Autism

As an autism mom, I'm grateful for this definition I found of autism last night in the current book I am reading, How to be a Sister: A Love Story with a twist of Autism.  She expressed in words what I have felt so many times.  In truth, I have been sad about my children's diagnoses for a long time.  I love them for who they are, and love who they are, but it is so hard to know what is in their heads and to truly know them.  It is hard to look at their lives and see how much harder it is for them to navigate this world than it is for the rest of us.

The author, Eileen Garvia, expressed what so many of us who love someone affected with autism feel.
"For people who have autism, the disorder is a burden or a challenge, something to overcome, or perhaps not. A battle against the outer world, a system.  Autism is the lack, the missing elements of empathy and intuition that allow people to connect with others.  It's a different life colored by the expectations of other people that autism means magical ability or stupidity.  Autism is a trap or a safe haven.  It's a world of loneliness and isolation and a place of creativity.  It's a bull's-eye that makes a person a target for abuse or a yardstick of accomplishment through improvement.  Maybe it's a defining feature of a personality or just one characteristic of the many complexities that make up a person.  Every life is different."

Better window stoppers

Sunday was an interesting day.  I was walking down the hallway and felt a breeze.  Uh oh.  Where was Garrett????   I looked in Caiti's room, and the window stoppers that I previously posted about were off of her window, and it was wide open.  Not good!  So I ran across the street to see if he was at the park.  "Darn you!" to whoever thinks it's a good idea to lock the park at night.  That would have been Garrett's first stop.  Normally, I would have ran down to the swimming pool or McDonald's next, due to past experience.  Luckily, a nice lady in a truck saw my worried face as I was crossing the street back to my house and asked if the little boy running down the road (the opposite direction of where I would have gone) was my son?  Phew.

I hate that moment when I have to decide whether to lock the other two in the house and hurry and drive down to get Garrett or to hurry and get the other two dressed, strapped in the car and head out to get Garrett, hoping he hasn't gotten much further.  

Fortunately, I found Garrett.  He had run almost to the end of the street, down by the elementary school.  Seriously Garrett?  Who wants to go to school on a Sunday?

One of our ABA tutors arrived at our house and was working with Jason, so I took Garrett and Caiti on an unwanted trip to the hardware store.  I HATE taking kids by myself to the store.  Maybe I should just say, "I hate taking Caiti by myself to the store."  She will not keep her shoes on, so I end up having to put her in the shopping cart.  That is always fun because then she tries to stand up the whole time and does her mad Caiti growl.  I love the looks we get when people see me pushing the cart, Garrett's feet up on the metal bar, holding on to the handle and getting a fun ride, and Caiti freaking out in the cart.  Yes, I know she's loud...and yes, she is probably too old to be sitting in the cart.  Yes, I know it's dangerous to put your kids in the cart...unless they're the strapped in babies...but it's much more dangerous for them to bolt on you in the store.  There, I'm done with my rant.

I found a nice salesperson who helped us find a window stopper that you couldn't take off manually.  After all, Garrett figured those out in two seconds.  Maybe that is why his ABA tutors have taught him to answer, "I am!"  when they ask, "Who's the smartest?"  I think these window stoppers are pretty awesome.  You can only unscrew them with an allen wrench.  Phew.  I got mine at Lowes, but if you are ordering online, I could only find them here:  http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware-Hardware-Window-Hardware-Sash-Locks/h_d1/N-5yc1vZc2cf/R-100161960/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

Carpet Shampooer...yet again

As an autism mom, there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not grateful for my carpet shampooer for one reason or another.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.
My husband went back home to visit his family over Memorial Day weekend, so I was home alone with my three cuties for three days.  I made a conscious decision to have a good attitude and try to do things with my kids so they wouldn't be bored and neither would I.
I saw the cutest idea on pinterest using fingerpaints.  I was inspired by this picture especially, using a footprint to make a tractor (http://theshobes.blogspot.com/2010/04/piggies-paws.html).  So cute.

I decided to try and make it for Jason's room to go with the transportation theme.  So Jason, Garrett and I all set out for the backyard, fingerpaints in hand.  Jason and Garrett had a grand time putting fingerpaints all over themselves...while I, unsuccessfully, tried to show them that they should put fingerpaints on the paper.  But that was okay. It was probably my fault, since the first thing we did when we were out there was slather green paint on Jason's foot for the tractor picture...hmmm...  Garrett's favorite part was getting sprayed off with the hose afterward.  When I shut the hose off, he politely requested, "More water please."  So I sent him inside to the shower...and not thinking, forgot to put the fingerpaints up.

how Jason's tractor turned out

The next morning I was relaxing in my bedroom, and in walked Garrett covered in blue paint from head to toe.  He reminded me of Mystique from x-men.  I wished I had a camera (both of mine were ruined by certain kids in my household who will remain nameless), and Kevin took his phone with him which is my backup camera source.

Not even two minutes later, in walked Jason covered from head to toe in red fingerpaint.  Mind you, both kids had stripped down beforehand.  Maybe I should be grateful for that.  Seeing Jason reminded me of his birthday party...

Both kids had showers.  So when they say "washable" on the front of the paints, it really is...off of skin.  But it's ridiculous to get out of clothes...and carpet.  So, back to my first sentence.  I'm grateful for my carpet shampooer because there was red and blue throughout my house, and my shampooer got most of that up, just leaving a very faded color that you can only see if you are looking for it.

"It's alright...it's okay."

Today I realized where Garrett got the phrase he likes to echo that bothers me.  He was sitting at the computer watching Madagascar on itunes.  Alex the Lion was shipwrecked in Madagascar, and had just had his inner lion come out.  He even tried to eat his best friend, Marty, the zebra.  The words, "What is wrong with me!" popped out of his mouth.  "Grrrr"to Alex the Lion for teaching Garrett that phrase.  As an autism mom, I'm grateful that, when I hear him say that, I can truthfully answer, "Nothing's wrong with you.  You're perfect."  Because, even though he is considered disabled, he is perfect in God's eyes.

 

I am also grateful that he gives me a little clue if he's feeling sad.  He comes up to me, and tells me, "It's alright honey.  It's okay."  Then he waits for me to say those words back to him.  So I can take his hint when he is echoing the words I've said so many times, and give him a hug and say, "It's alright honey.  It's okay."  Somehow that makes things so much better.

Mother's Day

As an autism mom, I'm grateful for my kids...not necessarily for mother's day.  I've always had a very hard time on Mother's Day because my kids don't really understand that you give your mommy a present, or make her a card.  They sort of can say "I love you," if I prompt them, and they cooperate.  When I go to church, they have all the little kids stand up front and sing cute songs to their mommies...so I sit there and bawl my eyes out, looking at the kids who are the same age as mine.  It's such a reminder of what life would have been like if they were born in different bodies.
So, this year, I decided to have a different attitude towards Mother's Day.  I asked my friend to take pics of the kids and photo edit the words "We Love You" onto the pics so that I can see it, even if they can't say it.  That was my favorite mother's day present ever.  I have also decided to start a Mother's Day journal, and every Mother's day write the gifts that my children give me every day, just by being in my life.  Maybe this way, I can feel joy in the real meaning of Mother's day and get over the pity party that I tend to have.
I love my kids, and I'm so blessed to be their mommy.

Yummy treats!

As an autism mom, I'm thankful for yummy treats...of course that can be a bad thing because sometimes yummy treats are what I think will make it all better...for days at a time.  Then I step on the scale...but that's beside the point.  Right?
Anyway, I made the yummiest little treat last night.  I bought chocolate chip cookie dough and a brownie mix.  (Of course I was inspired by pinterest for this little find).  First off I preheated the oven to 350.  Then I greased a muffin tin.  I put spoonfuls of cookie dough in the tins, spreading them out smooth.  Then I put spoonfuls of brownie batter on top of the cookie dough.  This is making my mouth water just typing it.  In the pinterest recipe, you put a peanut butter cup on top of the cookie dough before spooning in the brownie batter, but I forgot to buy those.  It was just as good this way.  Anyway, I cooked them for 18 min.  And then I ate a little piece of heaven.  Mmmm...
My friends were here to share in the goodness, and they told me these reminded them of Half Baked Ice Cream (Ben and Jerry's).  So, in addition, I am thankful that one of them is bringing me some of that tonight...so that I can compare.  So scientific.  I'm excited.

Mesh Laundry Bin

As an autism mom, I'm grateful for my mesh laundry bin.  I don't use it for laundry, I use it to put all my kids outside toys in...and it works awesomely and doesn't collect water when it rains.

However, my kids are grateful for the mesh laundry bin because then they can dump all the toys and use it as a tunnel.  See, kids with autism see things differently...they make things funner!

Fingernail Polish

As an autism mom, I'm grateful for fingernail polish...not cause it makes me feel pretty...although when I actually take the time, it does.
As I have mentioned before, Caiti would rather be in her birthday suit than in uncomfortable clothes.  We follow her around redressing her all day.  However, I think in her own rebellious way, she has decided that if she can't be naked, then at least her toys can.  She even made me cut the glasses off of her Simon chipmunk (from Alvin & the Chipmunks).  So silly.  
Anyway, on a different note, Garrett is learning to tell boys/girls apart during his therapy.  They have done this with pictures, etc.  I love how he would get girls right most of the time but always call me a boy.  A little off topic, I know.  Anyway, his tutor asked if we had any figurines they could use in therapy for telling the difference because he does better with 3D objects than with 2D objects.
Here is where my grattitude for nail polish comes.  I have plenty of Barbies for the girls.  However, they are all naked, thanks to Caiti.  I know they are working on telling girls from boys, but not down to the nitty gritty details under the clothes.  ;)  Anyway, I saw a great idea on pinterest (of course) where you can use nail polish to paint spandex-type clothes on Barbies (see below picture).  It totally worked too.  So we won't be teaching Garrett the gender differences that he doesn't need to know, AND Caiti can't take these clothes off of her Barbies.  Yay!

Window Stoppers

Today was the second time one of my kids decided to take a trip outside via their window.  Sigh.  I'm glad Caiti is a loud little girl so I could hear her jabbering and know she was safe...not that I could figure out where she was, until I saw her open window (which I had opened earlier to air out her room) and glimpsed her playing in my neighbor's flowers.  Heart attack!! Anyway, as an autism mom, I'm grateful for my friend, Megan, who picked me up (after Garrett did the same thing but went to the park), took me to the hardware store and bought me these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202799811/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=window+security&storeId=10051

They are such a good invention!!!!  When I don't have the window intentionally open, there is no way my kids can get their windows open and go off on their own adventures.  :)  I can also put them on the top runner of my sliding glass door when it is rainy, etc., and I don't want my kids playing outside.  Just love these!

Abby Cadabby

As an autism mom, I'm thankful for Abby Cadabby.  She is one of Caiti's favorite friends, and when she has her around, she is so  happy and talkative to Abby in her Caiti language.  It makes my day every time I see her being so cute.  This morning, she woke up and walked out of her room holding Abby and saying "Tweet, Tweet..." which I can only assume she says because Abby flies and so do birdies.  Such a sweetie!  I'm lucky God blessed me to have Caiti's sweet spirit in my home.

Light it Up Blue

April is autism awareness month.  I loved this "picture of the day" from autism speaks.  They have a light it up blue campaign every April for autism awareness.  As an autism mom, I'm grateful for all the organizations/people out there that are working towards autism awareness.
It's crazy that I hadn't even heard of autism until my nephew Ford was diagnosed with Asperger's.  At the time, he was the only kid I knew on the spectrum.  When I met Kevin, I was introduced to his nephew, who has severe autism.  So I knew one person on each end of the spectrum, but didn't know what the middle looked like.  Now I have three kids with autism who are as different as can be from each other and are in between my two nephews.  As they say, if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism.
I was shocked to read that autism is now present in 1 in 88 children.  That is why awareness is so important.  I found this chart on autism while browsing pinterest.  I think it's so helpful for parents who may be wondering if their child has autism or what it is that makes them different.

Jason's shorts

As an autism mom, I'm grateful that I just bought Jason a bunch of shorts; funny thing is, the reason is so that I have some clothes that Caiti can't take off.  Who knew that his shorts would be my way to keep my daughter clothed during spring break.  This also makes me grateful that my little Jason is growing so fast, so that his size 5 shorts would snuggly fit my size 6/7 daughter.  ;)

Pizza

As an autism mom, I'm thankful for pizza. Here's why:  This weekend hasn't been a good one for me.  First off, my daughter is in a funk.  I literally have to wrestle with her to get her to do anything that involves wearing clothing or doing anything besides flooding the bathroom.  She's tantruming sooooo much right now.  I don't know what to do with my cute little girl.  Secondly, yesterday I found my iPad in the toilet. I think that pretty much means goodbye. I'm hoping the rice trick works, but I don't have high hopes cause the screen was already cracked, and I could totally see water all throughout it.  Perhaps the worst part of my weekend was when I went to check on Garrett (who I thought was napping), and his bedroom window was open, and there was no sign of Garrett. He figured out (and he's not even a rebellious teenager) that he could sneak out the window if he wanted to go have some fun.  Luckily, I knew he had been obsessing about our park across the street, so I didn't have to go far to find him.  So stressful. I ended up having to switch his and Caiti's bedrooms because Caiti's window leads to the backyard, so he's not going to run off if he climbs out of the window in that bedroom. That led to even more problems though.  Autism doesn't make it easy to handle change. Caiti has been screaming/kicking her bedroom door for 2 hours straight because she doesn't want to sleep in a new room.
So where does pizza come into all this:  My sister Michelle showed up this evening with a couple pizzas and a smile. That was the best part of my day. She knew just what I needed. I'm glad she followed whatever little prompting she was having and came to help brighten my day a little bit.

Autism Research

As an autism mom, I'm grateful for the numerous organizations dedicated to autism research.  Due to our family's strong family history of autism, Caiti who was 2 when we moved here, and Jason who was 6 months, took part in UCSD's study for Infant Development and Autism. It makes me proud that somehow we could use the situation we were handed in an effort to help the research community to find out a little more about autism.  My children were not a part of the study listed below, but I was very excited to see this article about recent findings also from UCSD:

UCSD finds genes possibly linked to autism

-Written by Gary Robbins

UC San Diego neuroscientist Eric Courchesne 

March 22, 2012 | Photo by Howard Lipin

UC San Diego has inched closer to the root causes of autism, identifying genes that appear to go haywire before a child is born, preventing the brain from developing normally.

Neuroscientist Eric Courchesne says he and his collaborators found evidence that many genes basically misfire, producing an overabundance of brain cells in the pre-frontal cortex that affect a child’s social, language and communications skills.

The problem begins during the second and third trimester of pregnancy, the period in which most brain cells are created.

“Essentially, the wiring pattern for the brain goes wrong and you don’t get normal development,” said Courchesne, director of the Autism Center of Excellence at the UCSD School of Medicine.

The findings, published Thursday in PLoS Genetics, could provide insight about how to treat and prevent autism.

Scientists say that part of the brain of young people with autism is significantly larger than those whose brains develop normally. UCSD Autism Center of Excellence

The new paper builds on a line of research that Courchesne has been following for years. In 2003, he showed that there is a link between the overgrowth of the brain and autism. Then last November, Courchesne reported that the brain of male boys with autism had 67 percent more cortical cells than they should have. Such cells are created before birth and play a fundamental role in social, communication and cognitive development.

The latest study indentifies at least some of the genes that are responsible for the problem, and helps to explain how and when the dysfunction occurs.

“This is telling us a lot about the beginnings of autism,” said Courchesne, who arrived at his conclusions by examining brain tissue samples from younger and older people who are autistic. He said, “We were looking for the residual signature of genes whose activity was not normal.”

Courchesne looked for these genetic “echoes” in people aged 2-14 years old, and in people 17-57.

“We looked at older people because it is well known that autism changes with age,” Courchesne said.

The researchers found evidence that, at least in some cases, the brain was attempting to rewire and remodel itself.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that the rewiring is being done adequately or accurately. It could be getting things further and further wrong,” said Courchesne. “But many autistic children get better. It could be that some of the remodeling is successful. I am very excited about this.”

He said the findings from the adults “are telling us that the brain development problem hasn’t stopped. It is on-going. There may be signals or genetic changes that are attempting to deal with the original problem.

“That would seem to offer a potential target for pharmaceuticals to improve the remodeling.”

Daddy Will Be Home In This Many Days

As an autism mom of some cute kids who absolutely adore their daddy, I'm grateful for ways to help them know he's still around and will be back soon.  When Kevin is underway for a couple weeks or on deployment, it is so hard for these kids, but little things like this make it a lot easier.

Borrowed Inspiration

As an autism mom, I'm grateful for borrowed inspiration.  I have been kind of a boring mom lately. My kids are going crazy...and hence doing annoying things like flooding the bathroom and dumping bags of carrots, etc.  Today, I made myself admit that they get into the most trouble when I'm not paying attention to them.  So I decided to make myself play with them...but I totally drew a blank. I know that can be a problem with any mom, but especially of mothers of children with a way of thinking and seeing things that is different than theirs.  I looked into a bunch of blogs with lists of things to do with your kids.  Here are just a few:
http://makedoandfriend.blogspot.com/2012/03/40-ways-to-do-sensory-play.html
http://counting-on-me.blogspot.com/2011/05/101-things-to-do-with-your-toddler.html?m=1
http://littlefamilyfun.blogspot.com/
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/01/101-fun-easy-and-cheap-indoor-activites.html
http://www.redtedart.com/2011/09/01/boy-get-crafty/
http://cuegly.blogspot.com/2011/09/75-kid-activities.html
http://www.tipjunkie.com/crafts-boredom-busters/
http://www.digitalreflections.typepad.com/digital_reflections/2009/06/100-free-things-to-do-with-your-kids-this-summer.html

Then I wrote a bunch of appropriate activities for my kids down on popsicle sticks and made myself a "jar" out of decorated tupperware to keep them in.  Then when my kids are being especially antsy and bored... I can follow the advice on the front of the "jar" and get up off my butt and play with my kids.  :)

Unconventionality

As an autism mom, I'm thankful for the flexibility I have learned to have in accepting that things are rarely going to be normal at my house.  We are very good at being unconventional.
Here's an example; this morning I caught Jason writing on one of our kitchen chairs with a permanent marker.  I started to be annoyed...except that I thought it was soooo cute...among my feelings of,"How naughty!"
That, and the thought of how hard it is to actually remove the permanent marker, made me decide to just leave it.  So we labeled it with his name.  Then I had Caiti draw on a chair and wrote her name on it.  Same thing with Garrett.  So now we have unconventional chairs for my unconventional family.

St. Patrick's Day

As an autism mom, on St. Patrick's Day, I'm grateful for the green characters in my kids' lives.  The two favorites are Shrek, and Kermit.  :)

These are the go-to at my house when their mommy is ready to pull her hair out...or fall over from exhaustion.  Love these movies because actually, coincidentally, both Kermit and Shrek are entertaining to me, as an adult, as well my kids.  :)

Oh, and let's not forget who my kids think of when I make them try to say, "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"