The apple doesn't fall far....

Sometimes I think "damn, my kids are nothing like me!"... I'm  not talking looks here, I'm talking personality :)... But yesterday Cole was being Cole... :)

My kids are NOT athletic...They don't ask to play on a "team" sports... soccer, baseball or basketball etc...
So Cole had a "play date" at a friends house and their computer needed a little fixin'... So Cole being Cole(and instead of "playing".. well they played a little!) went and fixed it!! Cleaned it up, and got it back "online" again.. downloaded a new browser too! (We love us some Google Chrome!) He's our tech guy for sure! He does a lot of tinkering around on the computer(he knows WAAAAY more than I do about them!!)...he would much rather do that than play soccer!! And sometimes I worry... He's not like other little boys...

This morning I was thinking (did you smell that!!??) I was thinking about "who" I was as a kid... I wasn't hugely athletic...but I played tennis, rode horses, played field hockey(goalie though) and then it hit me... I wasn't a "team" player either!!(and some may agree, I'm still NOT) I played things that were more "one on one" I wasn't drawn to playing WITH a bunch of kids...but in more smaller groups with a LOT less competition! I built "Fairy" houses with my best friend Katie and made haunted houses, "talked" to the trees!...oh and we thought we were witches as well ;) (see I was "different" too!) Witches, HA!!

... I certainly wasn't like other girls... and most will agree yet again, still NOT!
Cole is an amazing, wonderful, kind, FUNNY as HELL "different" little boy... My little apple!..which btw, I hope he works for some day ;)
Now go be who you are!

Tag...your it...

Just a quick observation(ok maybe not so quick!)... Drew has been doing a WHOLE lot more of this....

What's that you might ask ;)... playing...playing with other kids... wanting to play with other kids..."getting it" too!! Now don't get me wrong. This is not entirely new BUT he is now seeking it out...a LOT more! A little back story.. When Drew was first diagnosed with autism he had Early Intervention or EI for short. Therapists came to the house and "worked" with him...mainly doing ABA therapy(applied behavior analysts).. and as I learned more about ABA the most I grew to DISLIKE it!! I have lots of friends that LOVE it and believe it can work wonders(and for some, it does!) and I totally respect that... But I knew it was not a good fit for us (some, maybe, us, NO WAY!) I wont get into it too much but it is a VERY rote way of learning. Something is presented over and over to the child until they are able to do it..normally in a very rote manner...meaning it never really "appears" to come naturally.. Like for example, an ABA therapist is teaching a child with autism what to say and do when greeted ... The child may learn to respond when asked "How are you doing?" "I'm fine and you?"  And this would be the only way that child could respond(sometimes autism makes it hard to think "outside the box")... he wouldn't vere too far from the "script"( this is an OVERLY simplified explanation, but you get it!). Now let me say that ABA is one of the ONLY proven methods to teach kids with autism but I don't follow the pack..and I don't like to listen to"authority"! And I'm glad we followed our own beat... So Drew received very little ABA because I didn't want him to have "that" kind of therapy(but let me say I LOVED his therapists!!)... He probably progressed slower than other children on the spectrum BUT what he did gain(by just "being")was something that "appears" to be natural!! So today when I saw him join in a game of "tag" it was clear that he WANTED to, not that he was taught to.  KWIM?? Drew does everything in his own time...it may be extremely sloooow(for some), but I know he will get there....in his own time :)...or maybe it was just the moon.. NAH!

FULL and spectacular... hurry, go take a peek... off to enjoy a looooong weekend with my amazingly wonderful boys! No really, they are :) Spectacular... just like the moon...

Cool dude....

I went to my Mom's today to take care of some "business" (shredding, SOooooOOo exciting!!) and every time I go to my Mom's I think about my Dad... because she lives(lived) near the airport where he used to keep his planes. My Dad flew... he was a pilot(among other things!). He flew cessnas. I always called them "Hondas with wings". They were little 4 seater planes and sounded like chipmunks ran them but let me tell you, they were cool as shit!! (and yes that's ME with my Dad, not some guy!!)

  My Dad flew us LOTS of places....like to sleep away camp, Luray Caverns(very cool!! go ahead, Google it!) and of course the Jersey shore(as a child I had NO idea what it was like to sit on the GSP in traffic heading to the shore!). Back then I didn't "get" how special or cool this was... but as I got older and the day my Dad died I KNEW how special it was...The day my Dad died I was very sad that I would never get to see him again and what hit me next... that I would NEVER fly with him again... The man that would meet me on my lunch hour and fly me to the Delaware Water Gap and back(in less than an hour!)...Now how COOL is that??!! He was cool.. super cool!
So today I popped over to the Morristown Airport and took a look around....

 And I was reminded what an amazing childhood I had and what an incredible Dad I had! One cool dude.. And I hope I can "create" an amazing childhood for my boys as well... well minus the flying my own plane part!!! And maybe one day they'll look back and think I was one cool Mom... Well shit, I do let them eat cold pizza for breakfast... that counts, right?? Here's hoping :) 

Confusion and comprehension....

It's been awhile since my last post... and I won't say 'I'm sorry' , well cause I'm not ;)! It's been a tad crazy here (when is it not!). Drew has had a 'meds' adjustment and Cole, well Cole got another pimple(wtf is going ON??)!! The meds adjustment was a bit rough at first but things seem to be leveling out. YAY!! But I am happy to report I 'think' I am seeing good things.. no wait, I know!! (but is it the meds or maturity?) Well whatever, I'll take it!
We had a freak snow storm in OCTOBER!! The 29th to be exact and because the leaves have yet to fall off all the trees(wtf is THAT about??) the snow made the branches sooo heavy that limbs fell everywhere knocking out power.

We didn't lose power right away, like some of our dearest friends did :) or did we lose it for DAYS.. we lost power for 'a day' and when I say 's day' I mean during the DAY... from about 10:45am Sunday morning till about 6:15pm Sunday evening.. But those 7 hours were.........ENLIGHTENING!! Cole understood right away what no power would mean.. no lights, no tv, no INTERNET!!! Drew had a bit tougher time with the concept :( He cried at first.. flicking the light switches on and off... pressing the ON button on the computer... and slowly....very slowly began to understand that 'no power' meant no doing the thing that keep him entertained most days... So instead we built a marble maze, painted, did a puzzle, oh and hand puppets by candle light!!

And just as is started to get dark...and cold...and just when I thought we would at the very least go through the night without power, the lights came ON!!!

Think they were happy?? But anyway all this snow and downed branches and power outages changed EVERYTHING...Halloween....CANCELED!! (or should I say postponed), school....CANCELED for 2 days!! The school Halloween parade and party..postponed... All this "change" confused Drew... "wait no Halloween on Oct. 31st??!!!" Nope, now we'll do that on Friday Nov. 4th!! Along with your school parade and party... confusing for a child with autism to say the least!! Autism can cause very concrete thinking.. black and white.. very little gray... Drew can be a VERY concrete thinker BUT lately he has been much better able to handle the... abstract ;)... So although there was a tad bit of protest and confusion on Monday Oct. 31st both boys ROCKED and embraced our new date!

 Oh and it just soooo like the Universe to throw in a little 'end of daylight savings time' but guess what?? We ROCKED that too!! 
So I don't really care what is bringing on this new level of comprehension... I'm am THRILLED and really truly was never sure if we would get here but here we are!! I, however am still as 'confused' as ever... see somethings remain the same ;).. Peace and love to all :)