Functioning -- high and low and in-between

Overall, I think my mood is pretty good these days. But one thing can still sucker-punch me... other autistic kids seem to progress so fast! I hear people refer to their child as low-functioning or autistic or delayed, and they can do so much more than the twins. This is not what it's cool to blog about. I realize, but I don't have too many readers, so the pressure is off, to some extent.

One thing that works for this mood is to go the blogs of parents with children with much more serious medical or cognitive disabilities. I feel strange saying that, but it is a sure way to help me appreciate the positives in my life. Another thing that really helps is looking at a picture of Greg trying a hamburger.

Gardening

Now that I have all three boys in school full-time (pause here for a sniffle), I find myself trying to re-claim my old self or possibly discover some aspects of a new self. I feel like I'm trying to re-group. I've been donating a LOT of stuff to Goodwill, which makes me very happy. I've also been doing some planting. In my windowsill I have basil, thyme, lavender and rosemary. I've bought some seeds to try growing micro-greens. Outside I've got Texas Sage and phlox of some kind.

I haven't come up with any plan for how to earn money while still being home to get the boys off their buses. I haven't done the "Determination of Mental Retardation" appointment which might get us some services. I haven't made any nifty DVD's for video modeling.

Right now I'm getting rid of old stuff and growing a few new plants and watching old episodes of Community, and that is going to have to do for the time being! Not a bad way to spend some time.

PS That's not actually my Texas sage in the photo. That's what my Texas Sage dreams of being one day far in the future.

At the Movies!

I'm just back from a field trip to the movie theater to watch Tangled with the twins' class (and the two other self-contained classes from their school). There is something freeing about seeing a movie with only special needs kids and their teachers in the theater. At times it reminded me of the old midnight showings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"-- a lot of audience participation and talking back to the characters on the screen. When Rapunzel had Flynn locked in a wardrobe, one boy kept yelling, "Open the door!" Nobody minded, and luckily she did finally open the door.

I'm happy and surprised that the twins made it through the whole thing. The last twenty minutes or so Greg started asking, "Down? Down? Down?", but dealt with it when we didn't take him out. Then he limited himself to an occasional call of "Wait, Elmo!" for the rest of the movie. B. drank three sodas --his, G's and mine-- and then actually waited through the whole movie til we got to the restroom. More than I could have done, that's for sure. Maybe this will inspire me to try more movies with them although I'm not ready to try it on my own yet (if ever).