Sanchez Family

The Big Slides

2012-01-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

As you can see, the big slides were a big hit!

When my friend told me about the slides, he said you need to take waxed paper to go down fast. Well knowing my kids, that wasn't going to be good. So we didn't take anything. Well- come to find out if you don't use anything, you get stuck and have to push with your arms. We went back the next day and took wax paper and cardboard. It was a lot more fun when you can go fast!

Boat Race

2012-01-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

The first week of Christmas break Allison and Family came for a visit. We left all the kids with Dick & Jeri and the grown-ups went out to eat. When we came back, it was arts and crafts galore. They made boats out of soda boxes, soda cans, water bottles, soda bottles and of course massive amounts of duct tape. Then the next day they brought them over for a boat race.

Tyler might be cheating in this picture.

After the race, they decided to see who's boat would float the longest.

Due to the wind, all the boats ended up in the corner.

In the end, none of the boats ever sank.

Tyler's Dentist

2011-12-15T09:46:00.000-08:00

Before they put him under, he was just glad that he was going to get to take a nap so the dentist could work in his mouth. When the dentist came in and asked if we had any questions, I didn't but Tyler did. Same with the anastesiologyst. It was funny.

After, he was just wanted to stay awake. He didn't want to nap anymore. Then he got sick from being put under and then he was angry about that. I am glad that we did it. The dentist was able to take care of everything and found a tooth that had to be pulled. Whoa, glad we were asleep for that one!

Autism walk

2011-11-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

We had a great turn out for the walk this year. Even with the change of rain.

The Anderson's had a great idea of having a pancake breakfast before the walk. They are amazing. They did all of it and didn't let me help at all. I love them!

All of us non-coffee drinkers had a tough time with the hot cocoa pump as Kyle is demenstrating. It got to be quite a joke.

To get Tyler's true smile is so rare! He was having an amazing time. He knew the walk was all about him.

Mia and Dean Anderson

These are Nathan's best friends Alex & Owen. They are the nicest boys. We have a had friends over before that have said - Tell your mom to get your brother out of here. The first time we had the twins over Tyler wanted to play. Nathan handed him a figure and Alex said- Nathan, he is going to need cards too. Alex and Owen always include Tyler. How could we get so lucky? Their sister in this picture is Tyler's age and she enjoys playing with Mia. So we really have scored with this family. When we have playmates, everyone plays.

Hi Mom!

Where is Tyler? Well there were the Star Wars characters behind us and so he was busy being concerned with them

And just like that, the princess is 5.

2011-11-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

Now that we are a big kindergartener, we have friends. It was so cute to see Mia have such a great time being silly with her friends.

Mia was having a hard time learning the dance. Notice how she is crossing the wrong leg? I made the tutu's so the girls could really feel like they were ballerina's. They were a hit!

I found this lawn sign place and Mia was thrilled to see it.
It is very strange to think that this is my baby. She is five. She is a stinker. I do not get to dress her. I don't even get to suggest what she wears unless we are on vacation. Then I get to pack for her and she has to make do with what I brought. She loves to play with Tyler and demands Tyler play with her a lot.
She is a stinker, but I love her!

School Pictures

2011-11-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

My big 3rd grader. He is such a cool kid. He is an amazing big brother to Tyler. Always willing to help him out on Lego Universe when Tyler can't find something or beat a game. He is good in math. We don't have to practice with him or help him at all. He just gets it. He mainly struggles with reading comprehension, which is a hard one to teach. I can't believe he is going to be 9 this month! Time goes so fast! Notice how the eyebrows are down? We had to work at this smile a lot before picture day.

I am not sure why he looks like he has been crying. He might have been. He has a hard time at school when they change things up on him. So even though we talked about picture day before hand, it might have thrown him for a loop. Tyler is doing better then I could have hoped in 1st grade. According to his IEP he is supposed to have less homework and only multiple choice tests. We decided to hold off on that until we need it. He is keeping up with the class for now.
Tyler will be having some dental work done on Dec. 2nd. We are taking him over to Choc hospital so he can be put under and they can get in there and get it all done. I'll be glad when that is over!

Miss Mia has such a cute smile and this is not it. Oh well. School pictures are supposed to be bad, aren't they?
Mia saw a specialist over at Choc hospital the other day. She needs to go get some blood work taken and then we will know more. I'm trying to work up the courage to take her to get that done. My heart goes out to Caitlin who has had to do this so many times.

From Baseball to Soccer

2011-10-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

Nate loves playing goalie

Yes, he made the save... My heart pumps faster when he's goalie.

Nate wanted to play soccer. I miss baseball. I'm not into soccer, it's just a lot of running and kicking to me. I wanna go back to baseball, but it's his call. I can only hope!

Mammoth

2011-10-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I never posted about camping in Mammoth. It was so much fun! So green and so beautiful.

Here is our campsite. We are on the left and the Anderson's are on the left. Behind the small trees in between us it was clear. So we had a great space for the kids to play and for us to eat and hangout.

The Poulson's came and brought their little boy. Mia and Tyler had so much fun playing with him. Megan Poulson was an aide in Tyler's class when he was 4, so it was really nice to have someone else who understood Tyler and who I could bounce ideas off of. Tyler was done after the first day. He did not have a good time. It was really hard on him. So much so we came home a day early.

Behind us is Rainbow falls. It was an easy hike and so pretty.

There is so much pumice stones everywhere that the kids had fun throwing rocks into the water to see them float.

Devil's postpile. I couldn't hear the guide very well so I don't know exactly how these are formed. A volcano has something to do with it.

This is the view from the top. You can see the hexagon shapes. It looks like tile. Very cool.

We had so much fun. We were so lucky to go with such expert campers as the Anderson's. Nathan wanted to catch a fish and they weren't biting. So Steve Anderson took him to a river and helped him and he caught his first fish. Then he learned about everything that comes with catching fish. Cleaning, gutting, cooking and eating. Mia asked as they were gutting it if they were going to put that stuff back in there.

Miss Mia

2011-10-04T09:05:00.001-07:00

Mia's idea of grocery shopping...
We are going to take Mia to a pediatric nephrologist soon. Her urine tests aren't changing. The kidney ultrasound was normal, but I'm beginning to wonder what that means. Normal as in it shows that they are both there- but how would an ultrasound show if they were both working? I'll admit, I am not looking forward to this what so ever. I can only imagine what it will be like to get blood test out of her. What if they need to biopsy her kidneys? Ugh. This just does not sound fun.
Tyler gets to go to the hospital soon and get all his dental work done. I feel that if I can just get that done and out of the way, then I can focus on my fears that I have about taking Mia.

Utah

2011-08-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

Friday we took the kids to the Dinosaur museum and it happen to have this science exhibit. I think the kids like this part better then seeing all the dinosaurs!

The kids really liked the private tour of the fire station that Brian gave us. We learned all about the bell on the front of the truck and how they ring it for cute girls. He said that he's not allowed to ring the bell, but he can give suggestions....

I had to incude this picture because what is Nathan trying to say here....

Jack truly believes that all fire trucks belong to him. They are his personal toys.

Glue, Salt, & Paint

2011-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

So this is Mia's new favorite thing to do.
You need heavy paper, white glue, salt, and water colors.

You draw your picture with the glue. Then while it's wet, sprinkle salt all over it. Dump the salt off. Use water colors. Get the color pretty wet and then just touch the glue. Just touch. Don't swipe. Just touch. The color spreads throughout the salt and makes a bright picture.

Tyler's True Smile

2011-07-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

Summer School Rockets

2011-07-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

Here Nathan is telling me all about how the rocket is going to work. It is made of 2 2 liter bottles. One is cut and houses the parachute. You can see it's got a good amount of water inside. The pictures are all out of order and I give up trying to fix it. My laptop is too small to move them around.

Here is a picture of the water stream

This is a picture of Nathan pulling the trigger and just at the top of the water is the rocket. It's hard to see...

They pumped air into the rocket....

His rocket is in the top right corner by the tree top.

So much fun!

They don't have summer school for kids in our district. But they have a program you can pay for called beyond the books. Tyler needed structure and Nathan needed something to do. They have had a ball! The first week they learned about the ocean. They learned about an art form where you paint a fish, yes a fish, and then lay paper over the fish, yes a fish, and rub to get the paint from the fish onto the paper. After they had to take the fish and wash them off for the next class. The fish were about a foot long. Crazy. Last week they learned all about insects. They made beehives and learned how to draw cockroaches. Nice. This week was space and rockets. Nathan has been in heaven...

Chalk Art

2011-07-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

Tyler's kindergarten teacher had told me about how to make your sidewalk chalk super bright with salt water.

Here is the chalk....

Here is a bucket filled with water and 1/2 a container of salt. Yes 1/2 a container - the blue containers that are about $0.89 at the store. We let it soak over night and then poured it out into a strainer and let the chalk dry in the sun.
I failed to take pictures of the final project- but the chalk colors were a lot brighter. We colored the back wall by the pool and it was fun and now it looks colorful.

Texas is Hot!

2011-06-08T06:06:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to take the kids to Texas for a long time. Eli wasn't able to go, so I took the kids by myself. I was a bit nervious, but what's the worst that could happen? The kids were great. They were great on the plane, in the airport and really the whole time. I was very proud of them.

Here we are at Ruby's in the airport. This was after all the tears because they missed their Dad. It had been about 15 mins since he had dropped us off.

These pictures were all taken by Caitlin- Thanks! I don't know why I always forget to take pictures!

This video wasn't as cute as the first time Tyler got an egg. He came running into the house and said "Mom I stole the egg and the chickens are so angry!" I said, "Like Angry Birds?" He looked at me and said, "No, like angry chickens" Side note: Angry Birds is Tyler's favorite game.

Pick your nose

2011-06-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

At Nathan's open house the teacher did something super cute. He took pictures of all the kids and then their noses. He had the picture of just the nose showing and you were supposed to "Pick Your Nose". Then under the picture of the nose was who it belonged to. I think I picked almost all the other kids before I found Nate's nose. It was fun to see all the parents looking at the pictures of the noses and then looking at their children's nose trying to match it up. Very clever.

Allison's California Vacation

2011-05-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

I have waited long enough for Allison to post pictures of her California Vacation. So here's what I have...

The boys had so much fun together.

I love how seriously he looks about cleaning everyone's arm.

Tyler's Arm

2011-04-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were over at Mr. Robbie's & Mrs. Katie's house. The kids were running around behind their house. I watched Tyler running toward me and tripped. He landed on his arm in a funny way and I hear a "pop". Super. Tyler has always had a super high pain tolerance. So the fact that he was upset about his arm told me that this was not good news.

As we checked into the ER, the nurse wanted to know his pain level. He asked Tyler, "Which face shows your pain." Tyler didn't get it, so he tried again. "Show me which face looks like how you feel" To this Tyler turned to me and said "I don't know, what does my face look like" It was pretty cute and funny.

The X-Rays show no breaks- so it's just a sprain. He doesn't use it. He didn't even stim the rest of the day. That told me- it really hurt!

Sickies

2011-03-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

We have been so stinking sick at our house. Here's Tyler. Strep throat and bronchitis. Then the antibiotics were making him double over with stomach pains. He had been on the medicine for 3 days and was actually getting worse. I took him to urgent care where the Dr. said that antibiotics take time to work and that the stomach pains were normal. I felt like we had just added an additional problem to the stack. He is better now and back at school. It was a really long week.

Which brings us to Miss Mia. She keeps running a high fever every night. She isn't sleeping, so she falls asleep during the day where ever we are. We thought that she was done and would go back to school, but alas not yet.

I'm really ready for everyone to feel better!!!

Yea- I took dayquil myself today. Hard to not get sick when your children cough, sneeze, and breath on you all day.

Mia's Fashion

2011-03-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

This is the outfit she put together for Nate's baseball game. I told her she could wear whatever she wanted. I guess that included brown striped leggings, blue skirt, red shirt, and of course the Disneyland hat, with train. She also chose to accessorize with her hamster carrier. Nice.

Last night was a little better, at least everything was in the purple or white range. Including the bright pink glitter shoes. She chose to accessorize with a button purse which carried a face lip gloss. I love that she poses.

Misc. Photos

2011-03-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

This is the Beach Hotel that we stayed at for the second part of the trip.

This pirate ship has a slide that slides right into the swimming pool on the other side

Nathan got his haircut at the barbershop on main street in DisneyWorld

Here is a shot of the Water Taxi that we took daily.

Hoop-Dee-Do

2011-03-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

The Hoop-Dee-Do show was recommended to us. It was so much fun! Ok Tyler hated it, but everyone one else loved it! They sang song and embarrassed the audience. It was funny. They sang a lot of songs from Paint Your Wagon (Thanks Mom). This is something that we will do again if we go again.

It was at the Frontier Village hotel- which reminded me of Zion Ponderosa. Cabins instead of a hotel type building.

You had to take a boat to get there from where we were. But the boats didn't run at night so we had to take a bus to get back. But the buses do not run from Hotel to Hotel- only Hotel to the Parks. So we had to go from this place to a park and when we got there we were told that we had to go to another hotel- then park - then we could get to our hotel. We took a cab. Best $15.00 I spent all week long!

Downtown Disney- World

2011-03-01T12:02:00.000-08:00

Florida's Downtown Disney was a bit bigger then ours. We actually went back twice. It's not connected to any parks, so it's a seperate bus ride to get there.I think by the end of the trip- they were so sick and tired of picture taking!

They had 3 shirts. Tyler saw it the logical way. Nathan in the big yellow one, Mia in the blue one and him in the red. Mia refused to do it his way. He was not happy. He kept trying to explain it to her. She was the little one. He was the middle one. It didn't matter. She wouldn't do it his way no matter what!

The Stitch spits.

They had this guy leading dancing. Nate was a trooper and joined in.

Mia didn't want to go up to the front, but that didn't keep her from dancing.

Hollywood Studios aka California Adventure

2011-02-24T13:04:00.000-08:00

Hollywood Studios is something like California Adventure. But again, it's missing things and has different things. I realize that this is the only picture of the strollers they have in the Florida parks. They have double strollers pictured here, but they are lame. I think they are plastic because of the rain.

This is the Areosmith roller coaster. It was super fun.

Disney did smart here. Outside the roller coaster where parents take turns watching the kids, they have this craft area. They have a single rider line which moves pretty fast.

This was the coolest place we ate. As you can see we sit in car-type tables. Then Sci-Fi movie shorts play on the screen. It was a ton a fun.

We really liked this park. We chose this park to come back to on our last day. They have a Pizza Port that is just like in the Toy Story movie that has a small arcade in it. Tyler still talks about how the Florida Pizza Planet is the real one.

Disneyworld aka the different Disneyland.

2011-02-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

The Autotopia has not been refurbished like ours. They still have the old kind of cars. The kids loved it.

We don't have a carousel inside our Small World.

There Small World is Small! Here is the clock- it chimes on the quarter hour and the small doors open and tell the time. There is no parade of characters etc. Can you see that it's inside a building? Below you can see the outside of the building it's in. The pink awning.

It's funny because I have no idea why Nathan is pouty. I do remember telling him to find his happy place.

Still not happy.

They have the people mover still.

Space Mountain- it's strange when you are there because everything looks like it should but it's as if someone put them in the wrong places. The space mountain ride is different then ours. They have an interactive video game to play while you are waiting in line. You sit alone, not next to someone and not on someones lap. So it's just you and the seatbelt just is a lap belt thing. The ride itself is different too. We kept thinking that Disney could have used the same designs and saved money.

Same Indian man.

They have Cinderella's castle where we have Snow White. Their castle is a lot bigger then California's castle. Nathan said- Our's looks like crap now.

Thunder Mountain as seen by the train that goes around the park.

More people mover shots.And he found his happy place.

We spent 2 days at Disneyland. The second day we dressed warmer and had a better time. It was freezing the whole trip. We finally got smart and dressed warmer then we thought we needed too.

They did have a Toon Town when we went there but it was so pathetic that they were taking it out the following week.

Epcot is broken

2011-02-24T09:12:00.000-08:00

If you think we can all look at the camera at the same time, you'd be wrong!Many of you know we took Tiffany with us. Best decision ever! She gave us an extra set of hands and Eli and I were able to go on the grown-up rides and we even got to go out on a date!

We had heard from so many people that Epcot would be the kids favorite. The first ride we went on was a slow moving ride that was supposed to start at the beginning of time and then take you to the future. We started out and it was dark with stars. Tyler was scared. Then we came to the dinosaurs and cavemen and the ride broke. We then moved onto the Egyptians and it broke again. In total we were stuck on the ride for 45 mins. It was too much for Tyler. So Epoct aka as the big ball, is broken.

They have different lands and each land has a craft for the kids to do. About 5 mins after this picture was taken it rained. Big rain. Tons of rain. We ate dinner in Italy and had pizza which the kids and Eli claimed was the worst pizza ever. So Epcot is broken.

Animal Kingdom

2011-02-21T11:16:00.000-08:00

We went to Animal Kingdom on the first day of our vacation. It was a zoo- but Disney style. They had a safari ride in which you can see all the big animals. It was raining on and off.

I told the kids to pretend like they were reading the maps. They did a pretty good acting job

I don't know how Disney does it. But all the animals are awake. When you go to a zoo, most animals are asleep. Not here. On the animal walk, you get really close to see them.

Crazy bats

They had this great kid play area- out of the rain. We dug for bones and that got boring and so we started burying the kids.

Nathan's Baptism

2010-12-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

November

2010-12-28T09:37:00.000-08:00

The kids wanted to go to Utah so bad and play in the snow. Eli never has weekends off, but for some reason he got the one off before Thanksgiving, so we packed up and went. When we got there and opened the car door, we couldn't believe how cold it was! Yet, no snow. We did get lucky on Saturday night and got a couple inches. Enough to sled in the backyard. Here's Jack. I love this picture.

Here's Mia and Hudson.

Eli figured it was easier to carry Hudson and the sled at the same time.

Sunday afternoon Allison and I made our first Thanksgiving Dinner together. It was fantastic!

We really had a lot of fun. The kids love to go and see their cousins. Tyler would like to move his house to Utah right next door to Tristan and Jack.

Hopes and more hopes

2010-12-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

A few months ago the only thing Tyler would draw was a boat. So when I saw this I was very excited. I asked him who the picture was and he told me "It's you Mom". Sweet. I love that I'm wearing a pink triangle and I have brown shoes on.

Yesterday I had a parent teacher conference with Tyler's kindergarten teacher. We decided to mainstream him this year. We are happy that we did. I love his teacher. She was Nate's teacher so we know her well. She was so excited when I told her that we were going to have him try kindergarten. She asked "Oh Do I get him?? " So yesterday when I showed up and she was already in tears, I knew it was going to go well. She loves him. She worries about him. We talked about next year and how she feels it's not going to work. She is a big advocate in mainstreaming. But that being said, she realizes that it's not the right thing for Tyler. In her classroom they have 28 kids, 2 student teachers and 2 parents all day. In 1st grade it is 32 students and 1 teacher. He would be lost. He can shut down and go inside his own mind. That's exactly what would happen and she is very worried. She was worried that I wouldn't understand and that I would move him along to first grade mainstreamed. But I see it as this is something we tried, and I'm so glad we tried it, but it didn't work. And that's ok. It's always hard to be reminded of what your child can't do. What they can't handle. And how sad is it to think of him sitting in a classroom shutting down. So we will be meeting with the school district after Christmas to go over a new game plan. Because as we all know, without a plan there is no attack!

As Allison put it yesterday, "Tyler is perfect." I loved how she put the period at the end. I feel that way. I feel like he is perfect period.

We don't know what the future holds. We don't know if he will read or write or be able to do math. We laughed about word problems.

Katie has 2 apples and Max has 1 apple, how many apples do they have?

Who's Katie? Are they green apples? Did Max eat one? Can I get one?

I love Tyler. That will never change. I think we cry because no matter how much we have come to terms with it and accepted it with open arms, it still makes us sad for him that he has this struggle. The funny part is, he doesn't get sad about it. He doesn't even know that he's different in anyway. He hasn't noticed. Maybe he never will.

Tyler

2010-10-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

Tyler came home from school really upset today. He didn't get a "Good- Day" slip. He talks about kids who have to pull cards all the time. I think he is just trying to understand it. He'll say things like, You pull a card when you do something not cool.
So he didn't get one today. He did, however, get a bag of candy. So did the candy take the place of the slip? Who knows.

"Tyler, did you pull a card?"
Crying, "Yes"
"What for?"
Still crying, "I don't know. Will you make me one?"

I think he thinks that he's naughty if he doesn't have one. Ugh. Who knows? What I would give sometimes to be able to download his day to my computer and watch it so I would know the things to talk to him about or ask him. It would be one thing if he didn't talk, like he was mute or something. But asking him questions gets nowhere. It's super frustrating. I can only imagine for Tyler too...

Baseball - Yeah!!!

2010-09-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

We are now in Single A Baseball. I had no idea that this means pitching. So Nate is the main pitcher on the team. I had no idea that he would be such a great pitcher! Maybe it's because he is one of the only kids that can make it to the plate consistently.

He is getting super good on his hitting.

He just got the ball and was looking over his shoulder at the runner running to 1st. He just ended up out running the guy and getting the out.

Same lost tooth

2010-09-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

Tyler had a super hard time when he lost his tooth. Now that Nathan has lost the same one, he thinks it's terriffic!

Nathan

2010-08-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

Nathan is a super older brother. This morning Mia was crying and so Eli went in to lay with her. This upset Tyler so Nathan got out of his bed and went and got into bed with Tyler. When I peeked in to say good bye Tyler was squished up against Nathan and they were playing their DSi's. Most boys who are 7 would be annoyed that their brother is laying practically on top of them. Not Nate. He has such wonderful patience with Tyler.

Instead Nathan reminds me to have patience with Tyler. He will also tell random people that his brother is autistic if he feels that they should be more understanding.

Being the big brother of an autistic child is hard. We do give Nathan a lot of extra perks that might make him seem spoiled. But there are so many things that he can't do because of Tyler. Just today they were all ready to go to the beach and then Tyler decided he didn't want to go- so now they aren't going. There are also the free movies on Tues & Thurs mornings that Nathan would like to go to- but Tyler won't go.

We have changed our lives to work around what Tyler can and can't handle. We push Tyler to his limit sometimes, Sometimes we "Break" him. When that happens, no one is happy. So as a family we have to make those sacrifices so we can have harmony in our home.

It's not always easy. Nathan asked Mr. Robbie one time if Tyler was always going to be autistic. It broke my heart a little. We ask a lot of Nate. We ask him to understand that his life will never be like everyone else's. Nathan seems to understand. He takes being Tyler's brother seriously.

He doesn't mind that Tyler needs extra time and attention. He doesn't complain when I tell him that Tyler needs to play the Wii and he and his playdate will have to pick something else. He gets it.

But just like all of us, it is still a sacrifice and a big one to ask of a 7 year old.
I am always impressed at the amount of love he has for his brother.

Last December at Disneyland I saw these 2 men in their 20's holding hands. I immediately assumed that they were a couple. That's what they looked like. Why would anyone think other wise? But when I really looked, I noticed that they were brothers and one was autistic. Nothing like wanting to give that brother who was there letting everyone think what ever they wanted about him a huge hug. To him it was probably not a big deal at all. But to me, it was a big deal. He had dressed his brother in matching closes ( Which also led me to believe they were a couple) They even had haircuts that were very much the same.
As parents of children with disabilities, Caitlin and I have talked many times about what would happen to our little ones if something were to happen to us. I think that the Lord sends guardians in the form of brothers or sisters to keep watch.

Dishes

2010-08-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday always seems to mean a ton of dishes. So I was calculating tonights mess and this is what I've gotten.

Cookies= Large bowl, misc. measuring cups, beaters, pan.
Lasagna for dinner = 3 pans and 1 bowl.
Rolls to go along with lasagna = 1 pan.
Mia wants noodles = 1 pan
Nathan and Tyler want hot dogs = Zero pans- thank you BBQ!

I planned on having lasagna and rolls for dinner, but then Eli had a schedule change and went to work, so I made it for myself. But we all know that lasagna left overs are great! I started it late and so I let the kids choose what they wanted.

Mostly I feel like I haven't left the kitchen for 2 or so hours. But at least all the dishes are done!

Tyler's Hands

2010-08-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

Tyler chews on his hands. I've covered up the really bad areas with band aids. We are not sure why he does it. We are going to be working with his teacher next month to help us understand why he does this. He is ruining his hands. It's very sad. It breaks my heart each and every time I look at them. I feel like it's somehow my responsibility to fix this. Unfortuneatly it's super common in Autistic kids. I've seen kids at Tyler's school with bandages up and down their arms. We've tried yucky lotions that are supposed to practically make them gag, he just gags and suffers through the taste until he gets it all off. Apart from putting him in gloves all day and night, I just don't know what to do.

Summer Vacation

2010-07-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

Tyler wants to move out

2010-06-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

You melt my heart

2010-06-05T08:29:00.001-07:00

The other day I was hugging Tyler goodbye and telling him how much I love him. He is always so sweet when he responds. He told me how much he loved me too. It was super sweet so I told him that he melts my heart. He asked me what that meant. So I told him that my heart was in my chest and it was so full of love that it was melting. So now that's our thing. I tell him that I love him and he says, I love you too Mom, you melt my heart. Its so sweet that it almost makes me teary every time! Last night after he said those words I told him that he was super sweet to which he told me that I was super sweet too. He may only be mimicking me, I don't care. Hearing those words from such a sweet boy is priceless and I'll take it any day.

Job Charts

2010-06-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a simple job chart that would be easy to use and easy to customize for the kids. I found something pretty cool. www.goalforit.com and it's FREE! What is better then that! The kids can sign online and give themselves stickers and then the points add up for them, or you can print them out and hang them up. I printed them and then I will let them on the computer once a week or so to put their stickers on the ones they earned. With summer just around the corner, I thought I'd get started on this now.
I am still looking for a daily schedule for Tyler. He likes to know what we are doing and what he can expect.

Happy Summer!

Swimming Lessons

2010-05-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

This first one has nothing to do with swimming but I wanted to stick this in there because this is typical Mia face.

The teachers couldn't get her to put her face in the water, but she would put her eye brows in.

This is Mia and Emily. They met in this class and became instant besties. It's the cutest thing ever. They wait for eachother to come. They hug upon sight and they do a burrito hug after class. They call each other on the phone. I love it!

Mia did this so much at lessons that all the parents would watch for it so they could laugh. Here she is shaking her hand saying, "I don't want to do that" She would be in the pool and the teacher would say that it's time for this or that and you could hear her above all the kids and crowd saying, "I don't want to do that".

A Waterfall? In Big Bear?

2010-05-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

So I had read in the paper about how the waterfall in Big Bear is really big right now. Waterfall in Big Bear? How long have we lived here? When I looked it up, sure enough there is a waterfall. So we decided to take the kids and go. The only info I could find on it was that the hike was 1/8 of a mile. We could do that! So we drove up the back way and stopped at the ranger station. We had to pay $5.00 for a permit, who knew, and the ranger said to make sure and watch the kids with the water. We just thought he meant because the path was along the river. What he should have said is, Becareful when you cross the river with the kids. We had no idea that you had to cross the river to get to the waterfall. Here is Eli trying to carry Nate across the river. Eli didn't want to get his shoes wet. After they got to the middle with the rocks they stopped. I'm not sure what the problem was. They stood there for a really long time and I realized that I was going to have to get my shoes wet to cross anyway, so I carried Tyler and Mia across. By the time we got to the other side, Nathan and Eli were still standing there.

Here is Tyler saying Cheese for a piece of candy.

Poster for Teacher Day

2010-04-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

I love living by Andrew and Danielle! Do I need to make an amazing poster? No problem! It's super great! I asked Danielle for help on making the teacher appreciation poster. I just didn't have any ideas. I was just expecting Danielle to help me brainstorm. But that's not how Danielle & Andrew work. They are really life savers.

They came up with a way to get the thumbs-up in the middle and it spins! I took a picture of it up and down so you could see how it spins.
I can't thank them enough! They are always so willing to help me. They have such creative ideas and they make me look good! Thank you so very much!!

Nate's Back

2010-04-28T10:58:00.001-07:00

I wasn't going to post anything about Nathan's back. It was an accident and I know that Dad feels horrid about it. I didn't want to make him feel worse. But it has been a learning experience for all of us in wound care. Nathan fell while running on Dad's treadmill. He scraped off skin on his back, shoulder, knee and a bit on his face.
This is the first night. See how it's not bleeding? Yea, that's because the bleeding skin layers are gone. We thought that it needed to air as much as possible and let the water stop seeping out. That's actually not true. You are supposed to keep it covered and moist so that it can heal from the inside out.
This was the second morning. We woke up and thought- Do we clean this yellow snot-like stuff off? The answer is yes. You want all the yellow off and you want it pink. You don't have to scrub the yellow off. It will work it's way to the surface and you just gently wipe it off.
This was Monday. We decided to take him to see the Dr. We just didn't know exactly how to take care of it.

A kid funny

2010-04-26T13:31:00.001-07:00

We went to Mia's art festival at Village Preschool on Saturday. They have a pet store bring in a bunch of purse dogs that they kids can touch and love. They are for sale.

Tyler, "Mia, do you want to buy a dog?"

Mia, "Yes!"

Tyler, "Ok, but no more then 2"

Excuse me? What just happened? Needless to say Mia was super upset that we didn't honor Tyler's word and she didn't get a dog, or 2.

Mia's Growing up

2010-04-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Allison and I were talking about how our babies are growing up. This is my baby showing her personality. It's funny to see how much she acts like me.

Princess Mia

2010-04-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

Pre-Princess
During the transformation
Ta Da! Princess Mia!!!

Swimming at Disneyland

2010-04-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

This first picture is at home, but it was super cool.

Tyler's Birthday

2010-04-23T13:56:00.001-07:00

All he wanted was this popcorn popper.
Here is Tyler eating pizza in his class on his birthday

Thank Goodness for Uncle's

2010-04-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm just super glad that we have an uncle close to teach the boys all about being boys....

Monty Python at my house

2010-04-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

I really hope I explain this just how it happened because it was super funny.

Yesterday Eli took the kids to the Aquarium. As I was getting Tyler ready to go I said, "Tyler you have to stay by Daddy and don't get lost"
"Ok I will get lost and stay still and you will find me" He replied

"What? No Tyler just stay with Daddy and don't get lost"

"Ok I will stay with Daddy"

"Yes" I said

"Then I will get lost and you will find me"

"No, Tyler. Don't get lost. Stay with Daddy and have a good day"

"Ok Mommy, I will get lost and you will find me and have a good day"

At this point I just want to end this, but I can't because he thinks he is going to get lost and I am going to find him. Is he going to get lost on purpose? Argh!

"Tyler, You are not going to get lost, I am not going to find you. You are going to stay with Daddy all day"

"Ok Mommy, I will stay with Daddy and you will find me"

Yea, I just left it at that. He didn't get lost.

De- Junking

2010-03-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

In the process of De-Junking, I've been coming across a lot of random photos.

Chuck-E-Cheese

2010-03-03T09:37:00.001-08:00

Mia Shows Us Her Moves

2010-02-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

Utah

2010-01-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

More Utah

2010-01-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

This was the first day and it was windy and freezing!!!

Utah Trip

2010-01-06T19:31:00.000-08:00

After Christmas this year I took the kids to Utah with the help of Andrew and Danielle. It was really a lot of fun. Who knew that the only thing missing in Nathan & Tyler's lives was snow! I took a few videos and I had to post this one first. I have to apologize because I was laughing so hard and the snow was deep and I was trying to stay standing at the same time.

Autsim Walk-

2009-11-28T18:29:00.001-08:00

Halloween- a little late...

2009-11-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

This is Tyler's favorite holiday. He gets to walk up to people's doors, knock, and then talk to him. He asked this one older lady if she lived in a library because she had a lot of books. She asked him if he could read and he said that he did and that he would come back later if she wanted him to. It was very cute.

Mia is 3!

2009-11-01T18:52:00.001-08:00

We decided for Mia's birthday to make princess hats and wands. This is the only picture I took! I was planning on getting pictures of us all with our hats on, but we just got so carried away with all the decorating fun, we didn't get around to it.
I feel like Mia skipped the terrible 2's and so now the horrible 3's are a bit amplified! She may only be 3 technically, but try telling her that!

Hard to believe my baby is no longer a baby!

Andrew and the Halloween Party

2009-10-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

I really feel sorry for everyone who isn't here to utilize Andrew's talents. I asked Andrew to make the pumpkin for the bean bag toss and a fishing rod. This isn't a super great photo of the rod that Andrew made. I was picturing a wooden dowel with a string on the end. That's not Andrew's style. This one was incredible. He stained the wood, used these hook things to make it look more real up the pole, and the fake spool is awesome! He made 2 of them, ya know so we have a spare. I can't thank him enough for that. Andrew was able to come to the party which was a load off me. Just to know that he was there with Tyler's group of kids so I wasn't trying to do my game and look after Tyler at the same time.
And while I am saying my Thank You's, Danielle helped design these labels for the bubbles that we handed out at the Jog-A Thon, printed them out and came over and helped stick them on. Then she designed the Halloween party flyer too! She's amazingly talented at this sort of thing. She also designed the Autism Walk shirts for this year. Thanks so much!

Mia Dancing

2009-10-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Please notice that NO ONE around is dancing. I stopped filming after a minute because it wasn't going to end anytime soon.

Dinner with Dad

2009-10-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to dinner with Dad. While we were there, a family came in and sat behind us. They had 3 boys and one little girl. Tyler kept turning around and staring. I would redirect him and he would ask when they can come to our house. I told him we didn't know them. This seemed a simple fix to Tyler. It went on and on. Finally as we left I got up my own courage and talked to the Mom. I said- My son is autistic and he really wants to meet your boys. I know how I would act in this situation and I'd like to think that most people I know would respond the same way. This stranger was wonderful. She spoke right to Tyler and told him her name and asked his and told him she was so excited to meet him. She shook his hand and then introduced her boys and they all shook Tyler's hand. He was in heaven. I am grateful to that stranger who made Tyler feel welcome. He now would like them to come play and keeps asking when his new friends are coming over.
It's amazing how things can be so black and white to Tyler. Seeing talking and making friends with total strangers as if it were simple.

My teenage girl

2009-10-09T12:54:00.001-07:00

Tyler's teacher Mr. Robbie changed schools this year. He made an agreement with the school district that he would move if he could take Tyler with him. So Tyler is at a new school this year. It's a wonderful school. This is us at the family picnic lunch day. Mia and I went and really surprised Tyler. He was so surprised to see us there and had such a fun time.

So Mia has a pretend phone that she talks on. Her conversations sound a lot like, "Oh I like that too..." "Oh that's funny..." "You can come over to my house and play" Sometimes she sings songs with her friend on the phone. When she first started this it was super cute and I stopped what I was doing and watched. Now it's something she does so much, it's like dancing. She's a constant dancer. If there is the slightest beat that only dogs can hear, she's moving too it.

Too grown up!

Vegas

2009-10-09T12:25:00.001-07:00

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We invited Andrew & Danielle to come to Vegas with us this past weekend. I knew they had never been and we were going because my kids love love love to go on small trips and stay in hotels. I also wanted to show them that there is more to Vegas then just the gambling and the drinking. They do have family things to do too.

They have dolphins and tigers at one of the hotels.

My all time favorite part is the water show at the Bellagio. It's so beautiful and cool. I was surprised to see that Mia and Tyler really didn't like it. They were scared! Tyler gets that way around new things and if there are loud noises. When the water crashes down, it's a bit loud. Mia takes her cues from Tyler.
We really did have a great time. Andrew and Danielle were very very helpful with the kids. Just having someone else to hold someone's hand or having an extra set of eyes. We hope that they come more places with us!

Hudson

2009-09-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

Snowbird

2009-08-21T16:37:00.001-07:00

Snowbird was a ton of fun. We didn't get any pictures of going down the slide, maybe because we were all going down the slide!

2009-08-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

When Allison told us about Pioneer Village, she wasn't kidding! It was so much fun! It was very hot and sunny, which made our trip there shorter then I would have been on a cool day. The kids got to do crafts and ride on the horses, talk to the blacksmith, trade our money for pioneer money so we could buy candy at the general store. It was really a good day. We will be going back there someday!

Utah!

2009-08-16T09:34:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun in Utah visiting with Allison and the kids! Each day we did new and fun things. The first day we went and visited Temple square and Pioneer Village. The pictures of Pioneer Village are on a different camera- so those will have to wait.

We were trying to sit on the steps of the Temple before this large bridal party got there. As I sat down this man from the wedding offered to take our picture so Eli could be in it. I realized I knew him, I was related to him! So here I am pointing to him saying, "Hey I know you" It was Mark as in Mark and Evelyn. It was their daughters wedding. I looked over and saw the grandma with the white hair and Mirm.
href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sk44FkYolJs/Sog4qjvmhRI/AAAAAAAAA2c/_eXTd3SbSkE/s1600-h/DSC_0120.JPG">
We were able to get a family photo with them. Mirm is really old. I mentioned this to Eli and he said- What do you expect? She's in her 90's. She didn't know who we were. Although that night Allison went to the wedding reception and introduced herself to Mirm and she replied- I know who you are. Ha!

Beach

2009-08-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Amanda's Wedding- from work

2009-07-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

No donuts

2009-07-11T06:31:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I was grocery shopping and Allison showed up. So we kind of did it together. I just had Tyler with me and she had her boys. This was before baby Hudson. Her boys wanted a donut and so to be cool, Tyler wanted one. That's where it began. Every time we went to the store after that, Tyler wanted a donut. A few times I would run to the store after dinner and the donuts were all gone. It would really upset him. I would explain that the bakers standing behind the counter were making more for tomorrow. So as we walled by Tyler would say, "You need to make some more donuts". One night they had some. Oh he was thrilled! So he ate his donut and all was well. That night around 2am, Tyler threw up. Over and over until his tummy was empty. We had no idea what was wrong. We thought maybe he had the flu so we kept him home away from people. He acted just fine.
Our next shopping trip was about a week later and I was all ready for Tyler to get his donut when he said, "No donut". I was puzzled. I was trying to get him to tell me why or what was wrong with them. He told me, "Donut makes me hiccup" There you have it. The donut had made him sick- and he's not going to ever to eat one again.

How safe is this? They look pretty cool!

2009-07-07T12:01:00.001-07:00

4th Of July

2009-07-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

4th Of July is like all other times of the year where you wish you had taken more pictures. I'm not in any and neither is Danielle or Craig. What's with that?

Tyler was already starting to be nervous about the fireworks.

Nathan probably played catch for about 3 hours straight. All the guys had to take turns.

I loved that Tyler actually wanted to try and play this with Nathan. Nathan has a lot of patience for him especially when I tell him to play or else!

End of an era

2009-06-29T07:53:00.001-07:00

If I could have just taken the board I would have.

Following Amanda

2009-06-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

After reading Amanda's blog about Dad- I wanted to put in my 2 cents about Dad too.

I can't tell you how much my Dad has made a difference in my life. He taught to get over it. To get up and keep going. There is no dwelling. There is only- Ok- now what are we going to do about this.

When I had the people sitting on my couch looking at me going over all the tests results for Tyler, they kept asking me if I was ok. I was actually a little annoyed. Why wouldn't I be fine? They kept talking about his results and finally got to the point where they said he was autistic. When they said it, they said it in a low tone looking at me for some reaction. I had one, I said- Ok now what? We are going to do what next? When does that start? What do I need to do here at home? I'm not saying that I don't cry about it ever, but my Dad taught me to be strong. To keep my control. To move on. I have seen people have hardships and crumble and I have thought to myself- What is wrong with them? Get over it, move on, get a game plan. Without a plan there is no attack and without an attack there is no victory. (I'm not belittling other's problems and I would never say this if it were something extreme. I've seen people lose it over flat tires. )

Living in a grown up world, life doesn't always hand us flowers. Life is hard. But thanks to my Father, I am strong enough to get up each day and face it. All of it.

I have also had my mishaps with Dad's cars. BMW, overheated until the block melted. New Nissan Z, backed right up into the neighbors car on my way to a fireside. Still took the car to the fireside after Dad didn't even come out and look at the dent.

Also- If you run out of gas, it's your fault.

Also- Camping is a hotel.

Good-byes

2009-06-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday I was laying bed realizing that I needed to make a potato salad, pasta salad and go to the swap meet in Costa Mesa all by 11:30. Then I thought about the potato salad and realized that the potato salad really needed to sit in the fridge for a few hours. So I got up and went to the store. Being that it was 5:15 am, it was empty. I walked around, got what I needed and left. As I was loading my groceries in the car, Allison pulled into the parking lot and parked next to me. Seriously? I wasn't even 6 am yet. Actually, we run into each other a lot at the grocery store. The kids will run up and down the isles together and it's wonderful noise. We also run into to Dad and Jeri in the bread isle at the store all the time too. Things we take for granted. As I was driving home from the store thinking that this was Allison's last Saturday here. Ugh. When a best friend moves away, it's hard. But when that best friend is your sister, and her boys are your boys best friends too it's harder. I realize that we have all been so fortunate to live so close for so long. Most families don't have that. I'm learning that most families don't get a long like we do either. Those of you who have moved away before, we have always missed you, and now we will miss the Plummer Family too.

It has been a wonderful week with Chad and Caitlin at our house. We have watched the kids play and play and play. So there will be a lot of good-byes this week. We will miss everyone.

Take a picture of me

2009-06-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

Mia & Hudson

2009-06-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

Mia has been wanting to get her mits on this baby. Tyler was sick all last week with a fever and Mia has a cold. I told her that she couldn't hold the baby because she has a runny nose. So she went inside and got a tissue, wiped her nose, and promptly held her hands out for the baby. You can see we let her hold him but at a distance.

For the little kids-Tyler and Mia love this

2009-06-06T20:17:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yihq8BIhL9c

2009-06-06T20:16:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yihq8BIhL9c

Mia

2009-05-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Me- Mia, are you going through my wallet?
Mia- Yea I am.

Tyler being silly

2009-05-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

We went to the Angels Game and Tyler was being so silly! Mia insists that Jeri is in the pictures too.

Master of the Little People returns

2009-05-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

I was filling out some paperwork at work and needed to put my title. This changes depending on what it is I'm filling out. I asked Dave what I should put as my title on this particular form. He told me "Master of the Universe". I laughed, mostly because of my old title as Master of the little people. He then said, "I'm ok with that, it's the truth." So now I've moved on to controlling the Universe.

Pre-broken arm

2009-04-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

I love this one! The little guy next to him is trying to tell him something and he's having none of it

Nathan has always been pretty good at baseball. This year Eli has really worked with him playing catch almost every night. It has worked so well. He's hitting is better and his catching and throwing has been right on. It's been so much fun going and cheering for him. He is very sad that he no longer gets to play. He hates the practices, but loves to play in the games.
6 Weeks with the cast and then we'll have to try for next year.

Tyler's 5

2009-04-23T10:59:00.001-07:00

This isn't the greatest picture of everyone there, and boy does Dad look excited to be there! Just kidding Dad. Dad is one of Tyler's biggest fans. He probably goes out of his way to see Tyler almost every single day. I really appreciate all the love and support Tyler gets. It's really unreal. I see that even Allison's boys are extra sweet to him. It's a gift that I could never repay. It helps so much. I can't even imagine not having that.
Mr. Robbie has been Tyler's teacher for a few years now. He has a deep love for Tyler and brought his whole family to Tyler's party. It's so wonderful to know that he is taking such great care of him.
I was going to get a face painter, but the party was going to be small so I opted out. Thanks to Allison, the face painting was a great addition!!!
This is an aide in Tyler's class, Mr. Mark. He has a cool teenage way about him that Tyler really likes. The picture below is them going "Boom". Tyler is also very fond of Michael from my work. He has that young Mr. Mark way about him. Tyler does "Boom" with him too. If Tyler is having a fit about something here at the office, we just call for Michael over the loud speaker and Michael and he comes and Tyler's attitude changes. He can't be uncool with the cool kids around. I think this is also why uncle Andrew is also one of his fav's.

Tyler was very excited about the cake. He had picked it out at the grocery store a few weeks earlier. In the background you can see Ms. Judy, another aide from Tyler's class, and Ms Katie, Mr. Robbie's wife. She is also a special ed teacher in our district.
Again- Thanks to everyone who came and showed Tyler support.

Jack Quote

2009-04-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

Every time all 4 boys are on the trampoline, Jack gets hurt. It's a fact. It's a scary fact. Jack will be hurt and 9 times out of 10 it will be bloody. This time was no different. They were all jumping and Jack tried to do a flip and landed on his head hurting his neck. Andrew once said- I refuse to be on the trampoline if Jack is going to do flips. He pretty much lands on his head every time. So we brought him inside and gave him the appropriate love since Allison is out of town. While talking to him I said- Jack did you know you always get hurt the first on the trampoline every time you come over? He said, "That's because I'm a Dare Devil" There you go. Good luck with that Allison.

Thanks Dad & Kids

2009-03-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

This morning as me and the 2 little kids got in the car after walking Nathan to his classroom. We pulled out from the curb very slowly, inching because I was going to let this man and his little girl cross the street when all of a sudden the lady behind us hit us. It was super loud and Tyler knew what happened right off the bat. He told me that car hit us. So I pulled over and got out. The lady that hit me was a mess. She was falling apart. Finally when we got out of her car she was shaking and could hardly speak. I told her we were fine and asked how she was. The whole time I was watching her thinking- what is her deal? There are some small scratches on my car and her license plate frame broke. Thats it. We had to have been going all of 2 mph. She started saying how her husband was going to be really mad and such. I gave her a hug and told her that I'd talk to her tomorrow about the repairs. I am thankful to my Dad for teaching me that it's just a car. It's the Calder way of thinking. Ok- You hit my car, now what. I'm thankful to my children for teaching me to not fall apart and to remain in control. It was such a small thing and to watch this lady fall apart really baffled me.

BTW- I broke the top of my pinkie today. Hurts...

A Tyler funny

2009-03-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not even sure this is going to come out as funny as it was. I had Mia and Tyler in the car going to Nathan's baseball game. We got out of the car and I pointed to the field and told Tyler "This way Tyler" he pointed in that direction and said "This way?" "Yes" "What about That Way?" he said pointing to the other way, I said "No, This Way" then we crossed the street and I said "Come on Tyler go That Way," he looked at me and pointed in the wrong direction and said "That Way?" I pointed in the right direction and said "No That Way" Tyler pointed in the wrong direction and said, "No Mom, That's That Way, This is This Way" Clearly... So going to the right is This Way and the left is That Way. Don't get them wrong... => Silly Tyler. I do think that this is one of those ways his brain works. Very logical and to the point.

More on the Space Ship

2009-03-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

Tyler will not believe that the space ship is actually a camper. We talk about it everyday. When I say that Andrew is on his way over for whatever reason Tyler always tells me he doesn't want to go in the space ship up in the sky. It amazes me that he actually thinks that that's even a possibility. Funny Kid.

Fairy Tale Ball

2009-03-18T10:32:00.001-07:00

Nathan's kindergarten teacher has been doing a Fairy Tale ball for 10 years. It's a special date night where you take your child and you are a king and queen. We slow danced (he insisted on spinning me around and being very fancy), made crowns and tieras, played fairy tale trivia, got prom like pictures done (don't have them back yet), and had a wonderful time. It was so sweet. Nathan loved it. We live so close that we walked to the school. On the way home he asked if that was the best night of my life. I told him that it was and he replied that it was his too. So Cute. It was wonderful to get to spend special time with him.

Space Ship

2009-03-09T11:26:00.001-07:00

If you've seen Andrew's latest purchase, it's on his blog, then you'll get this. We told Andrew that he could park it at our house for awhile. So when Andrew showed up on Sunday, Nathan said, "Andrew, you left your space ship here". Super funny.

Adventures of raising an autistic boy...

2009-03-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

There are so many new avenues to venture with Tyler. We are now looking ahead at next school year. Before we can even get to what options there are, they retest him as if they have never had him in their program for the past 3 years. So I got to fill out question after question. Some of them made me happy. Does your child repeat phrases over and over? That answer used to be yes. He would repeat phrases from Toy Story and Monsters all the time. Does your child pay more attention to an object then to the people in the room? Um- yes. So some were very encouraging and some were reminders of what we face. I really liked the question about personal space. Does your child respect your personal space when you are changing your clothes or using the restroom? Does any child??? I must say that I teared up quite a bit thinking about Della. I know that Caitlin and I have talked about these tests and how once you circle four 0's meaning that you've reached a point in the test that your child maxes out at. Although I think that Della, like Tyler, has changed and grown so she could make it farther down the test then before, it still is always just a punch in the tummy at how behind the kids are.

My all time fav question, Why do you feel your son has autism? And they give you 2 lines to answer.

Next year- Option 1: Mainstream Tyler with an aide. Tyler would go to Nathan's school and actually have Nathan's teacher he has now. Who, by the way, met Tyler and loves him. We might have to fight the battle about getting an aide. They told us that they usually don't give aides to kindergarten. But let's imagine Tyler without an aide. Every other word out of the teacher's mouth would be telling Tyler to sit, or look, or listen, or stop stimming etc. If he had an aide to help keep him on task, but not hold his pencil for him. Those are hard to find since most aides have no training.

Option 2: Special Ed kindergarten. I don't want this one so much. He's smart and knows everything and then some that he's supposed to know to go to kindergarten.

Speaking of Stimming. We have new ones. I didn't even know that they were stims and I let him to them. When I asked his teacher about them, he said- are you talking about his silent stims? I didn't know there was such a thing. Yes, yes there is and he has them. He has learned to stim in his mind without moving. Super. The goal for stims is to understand there is a time and a place for them. Let him have freedom say in his room to stim as much as he needs to. But in school, keep it under control. Even though Tyler is special, we want him to look normal. We want him to fit in and if he is jumping and humming he kind of stands out. We want the most normal life for Tyler as he can have. Even if he can't progress that far, we still want to fight just in case he can.

Fight Fight Fight!!!

George

2009-02-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

We got George for Tyler mainly. I didn't really want a new cat, but I have seen the way that Tyler's language is free flowing around Quick. I don't have time for a dog, so we settled on a cat. It's been good and bad Yes, a lot of language- but at the same time a lot of, put the cat down, leave the cat alone, don't put your face on the cat- Now that's all gone. George has been gone for a few days. He does have claws, but we think the neighbors dog might have fought and won. We will have to wait and see....

Leprechaun Trap

2009-02-24T14:41:00.000-08:00

I told Andrew about our school assignment and knew I had talked to the right person. Thanks Andrew!

Pipeline- as in the WORLD FAMOUS PIPELINE

2009-02-05T16:35:00.000-08:00

Here is the one vendor selling shirts. No Food vendors or anything else.
Here is the parking lot which we completely drove right past. No signs or anything.
Very big waves. I guess it had been bigger the day before. Red flags everywhere. The water was like bath water. The sand was made of crushed shells. It was still sprinkling in this picture. It rains and is sunny at the same time.

Whale Watching

2009-02-02T13:06:00.001-08:00

We went Whale watching on Tuesday and the first 20 mins were amazing! We saw this whole family of whales. Then Eli got sick and then Tyler started throwing up. We all got sick. It was the longest 2 1/2 hours of my life.

Momma Mia

2009-01-14T18:01:00.000-08:00

These pictures are all out of the order I wanted them to be in- but oh well. Mia has babies. She puts her babies to sleep all the time. She puts them on their tummy's clearly never hearing of the new rule, "Back to Sleep", then she covers them up with a blacket.
Then she insist on turning off the lights. This is what my family room looks like at all times. 5-6 Blankets with babies all under them.
She also sits next to them and pats them on the backs so they can fall asleep.

Christmas Time

2009-01-09T12:50:00.000-08:00

It was very cool of Anne & Aaron to do a pop-in.

Little things make my day...

2008-12-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've actually written anything. I always feel like if I had something to say, I'd just call you and say it.
Nathan
The other day I was picking up the kids and Nathan had some sweet things to say. He was sitting in the back with Mia, and Tyler was sitting in the middle. Nathan asked, "Hey Mom, is Tyler going to be autistic forever?" This question always chokes me up. I answered, "Yes Honey, but we love him and are so blessed to have him in our family." To which Nathan responded, "Not forever though, as soon as he is resurrected he won't be anymore." Are you kidding me? So now I'm driving trying to see with all this extra water in my eyes that somehow just showed up unexpectedly. "You're right honey, when he is resurrected he won't be anymore." "I can't wait." Sometimes I think that I have Nathan to remind me that this is not forever. That this is for now, and I need to make sure that I am there when forever starts so that I can be with him and know him.

Tyler
We made gingerbread houses last night and Tyler started scripting from his class when then made them. He told me to put the roof on and told me which pieces his friend Patrick decorated and what candies he used. He also started saying a lot of phrases that I knew his teacher used. So I emailed his teacher and told him all about it and how cute it was that he was trying to be the teacher like him. His teacher, Mr. Robbie, emailed me back and told me that they didn't make them this year, that was last year. We are clearly amazed at his memory. It's almost freaky. He memorized his address is one class period, complete with Placentia California. They timed him to see how long it would take him to memorize his phone number. 2 Minutes. That's all. He repeats his address and phone number perfect every time. He also has memorized our birthdays and most of yours, if I know them by heart. He will play a game and ask me if my birthday is April 6th or say August 17th. Then if I say April, he will laugh and say no August just to get you to tickle him. He is so sweet.
We recently made the decision to put him back in nursery after class time at church. This was a hard choice because I felt like it was the beginning of may times I would hold him back. We are lucky that his primary teacher works with special children so she is very comfortable with Tyler. She also has Jack in her class and Tyler and Jack have been the best of friends lately. Tyler always wants to go play at Jack' s house. Allison was saying that Jack is starting to understand about Tyler. I love it.

Mia
Mia is a mother. She was born a mother. She has babies that she cares for. She puts them to bed, reads to them, feeds them, and takes them on walks in their strollers. It's a full time job. She also loves Tyler. She loves to be with him. I think it's because she is socially at his level. I will find them running after each other laughing and laughing at what I don't know. She is a good match for him.

Allison said something the other day that I've been thinking about a lot. She and I were talking about how her kids fight and fight and I just don't have that at my house. I was thinking that it was because of my fantastic parenting skills. But Allison quickly pointed out it's because I have 3 "only" children. No one bothers Nathan because they could careless about what he is doing. Mia has her dolls and Tyler has whatever he's doing at the time. They never want the same things. They never fight. Never. I just never looked at it that way. 3 "Only" children.