Taking Applications

So! Today is the day that my “BFF” left to go to Argentina.  She took her daughter with her.  Tried to corner her as to when exactly she would be back.  She was non-committal.  So, therefore, I am taking applications for a new “BFF”.  I have received 17 so far and will keep accepting until January 4th.  After which time I will choose the top 10, perform introductory interviews where I quickly assess their resumes and see who impresses me the most.  After which time I will bring the final 5 in for in-depth interviews.  I am expecting good things.

H

PS  Haven’t decided whether Heather will be eligible to apply or not.

A new leaf!

Or more probably an older leaf that I am realizing a reality.  I stopped this blog because I felt I was whining too much about autism.  Now I realize that I was really sharing my grief.  A grief that most people want tucked away somewhere that they don’t want to hear about.  Sorry buddy.  This is my life, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Welcome to the life of a parent with children afflicted by autism.

Most blogs are about people sharing only the beautiful things about their life.  And even though there are lots of things beautiful in my life with autism, not everything is rosy.  And I don’t want to have to only share the ‘happy’ parts.  That is not real.  That is not what life is about.  There are ups and there are downs.  And I am going to share them all.

I still want to blog about quilting (man I wish I could do more of that!)  I still suck at it but really enjoy the process (ok, most of the process).

We are heading into the Christmas season here (perhaps well into the Christmas season actually).  The boys are much more interested in the Christmas Tree this year.  Nate more so.  Josh just loves the music.

Randy has taken them for rides on the motorcycle through the field this fall and now yesterday, they went for rides on the quad.  We are considering getting a snowmobile.  I’m sure they would love that!

Preschool is going well.  Not sure if I mentioned that each of the boys has a worker there this year.  It is really paying off.  The goals for preschool are more so social in nature.  Which is fantastic.  Nate is very social and Josh is starting to approach the kids now and doesn’t leave when others come up and sit at his table.  We have a few little girls in their class which really help them.  When the boys don’t want to listen to their aids, they have the little girls tell them what to do.  The class has 16 children, which is great.

The progress they have made since last year is amazing.

I’m gonna try to figure out how to set up categories so I can talk about specific treatments and things we have done to help the boys progress.

All for now.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Holly

The bright side ...

My life isn't always bright.  Sometimes it down right sucks.  Then a glimmer of hope happens.

Today on the way home from preschool the boys wanted 'Christmas music'.  Yes, I am aware we are at the end of January, but we work on language by using things they love.  Anyway, they wanted "Silver Bells".  Got Josh yelling "Want Silver Bells!!!".  So I played it again.  This time, together, they sang "Silver Bells" and I sang the echo.  They didn't yell at me to stop.  They thrived on it.  Looking in the rear view mirror I thought their eyes were going to pop out of their heads with excitement at all of us singing together.  It was bliss.

H

It's my blog and I can post if I want to ....

OK, I can post whenever I want to.  Cause ... really ... who is gonna stop me???

My best friend is leaving me.  HEATHER is going to Buenos Aries for something like 4 or 6 weeks.  I've been in denial about her leaving but she gets on that damn plane tomorrow morning.  She "claims" we'll still be friends when she comes back, but I'm sure she will readily replace me with someone who fluently speaks Spanish.  I'm gonna miss her.

That is probably another reason I am having a sad couple of days.  That coupled with PMS really doesn't help.

H

Reality Check

Yesterday DH and I took the boys to their preschool field trip.  It was to an indoor soccer field for an hour.  Was looking forward to meeting the other Mom at preschool with the twin autistic boys but the teacher said she couldn't make it.  Thought we could have each others backs.

The boys had a blast.  Running, chasing each other, but not engaging with class activities or the other kids.  It was difficult to see how far apart they are from their peers.  The other moms looked at us with awkward smiles.  I hate that.  Sooooo not looking for their sympathy, perhaps they could cut us a break and not treat us as aliens.  They huddled together and made no attempt to talk to us.  I tried a little, but it is exhausting doing all the work ... what seems like all the time.  Again, not looking for sympathy, just venting.

This cold won't go away, which isn't helping.  Sleep happens sporadically at night. Which doesn't help my sanity either.

Fear of the future.  Or shall I say that some days it seems like getting a hold on today is overwhelming ... let along what will happen tomorrow.

H

The Last Christmas Quilt

This is the last one.  I made it for my MIL.  We invited them to join my side for Christmas about 1.5 weeks before the day.  That kinda put the pressure on to finish it.  It is a modified Turning Twenty - modified because I used 12 fat quarters and the border is 1.5" finished, not the 3" on the full size.

Had MANY challenges with this one.  Probably because it was so rushed.  Probably should have quilted it denser too.  But she seemed to like it.

H

... and ANOTHER Quilt

This is a quilt I made for my brother's girlfriend.  I used the Mixtape Quilt from Oh Fransson.  Used the two different block sizes with white sashing around the smaller block.  I think I'll do it differently next time, but she loved it.

H

Next Quilt

This one I gave to my Mom.  I made the top quite some time ago but just finished it now.

It is a split nine patch.  I kinda like the colours.

H

EI Update

I don't think that I have ever taken the time to write about our BRILLIANT Speech Path Lisa.  She is the 2nd Speech Path we've had.  I'm sure I said this before, our first one was a really, really nice person.  I really liked her.  But she really sucked as a speech path for autistic children.  Seriously.  But not my angel Lisa.  Within the first 15 minutes of meeting the boys, she was able to tell them apart (not rocket science, but most 'government' workers we've had can't do it), and they were both crawling all over her.  Josh had his hand on her shoulder and kept smiling at her.  Let's put it this way, the first speech path, at 15 visits (2 hours per visit), couldn't tell the boys apart and they would run away screaming when she showed up.  Let's just say that there was no progress there.

Not with my favourite Lisa!  Lisa is employed by the government and is provided to us 'free of charge' (like we don't pay for her in our taxes!).  However, unlike all the other government employees we've dealt with, Lisa doesn't go 'by the book' when she deals with the boys.  She sees them as separate individuals.  The way she approaches speech with them is different.  AND she was the one to figure out that since Josh is learning more visually than Nate, she did a little test and found that Josh can look at a word of an animal and know what it says.  Despite the fact that Josh has limited vocabulary, my little angel-pie can read some words!  We've adjusted his therapy to include written words on any and all pictures in his program.  Did I mention that Lisa is brilliant?!?!?!?!?!?

Oh, and another thing.  A friend was over that works at the government centre and she asked why the boys don't have PECS.  I said they don't need them.  In all actuality, the brilliant Lisa asked if I wanted the boys to be on PECS or use words.  I chose words.  And that is how we have proceeded.  PECS is a picture exchange system where if the boys want something, they would give you a picture of it rather than use the word.  I didn't want them relying on pictures and getting stuck this way.  Before Christmas Josh's vocabulary was probably at about 10-15 spontaneous words.  He would imitate words, but not overly a lot.  Now, Josh is at over 50 words and will imitate pretty much anything you ask him to.  Speech is on it way!!!!

Nate is using 2 to 3 word sentences.  One of his favourites is "No thanks", and if you don't honour this, he follows it with "No thanks please!".  Who knew I'd have a kid with manners!!!!!!

H

Ahhh Yes! Where was I ....

OK, Josh made me sick.  It has stuck in my chest and makes me cough at all hours of the day.  Lucky me.

Next quilt!

My niece, Codie, is 17 and it was very difficult trying to pick something for her.  She is not a girly-girl.  She is a strong, smart, quick-witted young lady who, I believe, has unlimited potential, if she chooses.  I can easily see her becoming a leader, in anything she does.

I had bought some Swanky turnover, 2 in fact.  And paired them up with some light blue to tone-down the girly pinks.  I used a brown cotton sheet for backing and binding, again to tone down the pink.  I like the blue/brown combo.  Here it is:

 

And here she is holding it.  I think she actually liked it!

I used straight vertical quilting.  SITD between the diamonds and two rows down each.  The picture doesn't quite do it justice.  I think it may have been my favourite.

I was also trying to figure out how to wrap them and found some Christmas type fabric that I would never have used and made some simple drawstring bags for them.

More later.

H

Quilt Preview!!!

This is the next quilt I'm making.  Can't decide yet if it will be a large lap size (completed blocks will be 24") or keep adding to make it fit our king size bed.

H

Quilts!

Yes, I have been in a time warp.  Or a black hole.  Or perhaps just in my quilting room trying to produce 4 finished quilts to give the women of my family in our Christmas gift exchange.  Oh, wait, two weeks before Christmas we decided to invite DH's parents over for Christmas dinner so we didn't have to spend Christmas Eve with them singing "Silent Nigh" by ourselves.  DH's brother and family went to Costa Rica and the other two siblings are out of province.  So  there I was, 2 weeks to go, progressing nicely with the 4 required quilts, when one additional need for a quilt was thrown in.  Felt a little stressed.  I quilt when the boys are in therapy.  Technically it should be 3 hours per day, but the girls are sick here and there meaning I have one boy to myself and no quilting time.

Let's back up some.  Do you remember this?

These were 12 fqs (and 12 fqs worth of white) that I had full intentions of using to make a zig zag quilt using half square triangles.  I cut the squares up in June.  I realized that the half square triangle units were too difficult for me to do so I switched to Crazy Mom Quilts version using rectangles instead.  WAAAYYYY easier!!!

Rectangles progressed into this:

Which progressed into this:

This, again, was for my sister, Cindy.  When she opened it, she hugged me and cried.  I'm pretty sure she wasn't crying cause it was the ugliest thing she ever saw.  It was something about how she was searching all week for a red and white quilt for her bed.  This one isn't quite that big, but it is definitely an over-sized lap quilt.  I used a white sheet for backing.  Plain, I know, but it worked.  I also SITD quilted it.  The rectangles are 2" wide so it crinkled quite nicely.

More later.  I've got a sick little Josh that I must go snuggle with now.

H