Monday, April 16, 2007

Stuff. ...

Sam and I have both been sick all weekend with some sort of stomach virus. With all that time on the couch I had a million thoughts going through my head but now I can't seem to pin any of them down into a complete post. So I'm just going to do a brain-dump instead. Here goes:

1. I don't know how it came up but I told RT the other day that I was planning to homeschool the kids and he looked at me incredulously and said: "But they're not going to have any friends!!" I thought that was kind of funny and kind of sweet. It reminded me that to him Oliver is just his little brother. Yes, he has autism and yes, he can be kind of a pain in the neck if you are a teenager and want your brother to just stay out of your room. But he really doesn't fully understand how likely it is that Oliver's life will look much different from his own.

2. Every morning I wake the kids up and as they wipe the sleep from their eyes I open the blinds and say: "Good Morning Birds! Good Morning Sky! Good Morning Tree! Good Morning Street!", etc. Sometimes Sam joins me and repeats what I'm saying. This morning it was Oliver who stood next to me at the window and echoed my greetings. It gives me such high hopes!

3. I took Sam for his 2 year well-baby appointment last week and was surprised to learn that he is only in the 10th percentile for height and weight! He is such a little guy but has such a huge presence. The paper they gave me that tells what I could generally expect for the coming year said that he would soon start speaking in 5-6 word sentences. I had to laugh at that because just after I read it he was heard to tell the doctor that: "Dinosaurs stomp their feet on the ground and go GRRRR!" So much for generalities.

4. It is insane how many extra-curricular things RT is doing at the moment and how complicated it makes our life at times -- especially given that we now only have one car. Guitar lessons: once a week; karate lessons: 4 nights a week; soccer: practice once a week, games once or twice a week; then there are the field trips and the academic extras that come up every other week or so. We need a special teenager calendar just to keep track of it all! And then, once we get the swing of balancing all of this he will be off to college!

5. I'm wrestling with the whole vaccination issue for Sam. I had told myself that I would selectively vaccinate after he turned two but now I just can't decide what to do. Intellectually, I don't believe that Oliver's autism was caused by his vaccinations. But he did get terribly sick immediately following his last vaccinations, lost most of his speech in the next 3-4 months, and his digestive system never fully recovered. Is all that just a coincidence? I don't have the confidence to say one way or the other and so I sit here on the fence.

6. I took a bunch of pictures of the boys the other day so now if I can just figure out how to download them I'll post some.

7. Watched Little Miss Sunshine the other night -- wow! what a great movie! And if I wasn't on the couch being sick, sick, sick, it would have made me want to eat a bowl of ice cream.

6 comments:

  1. 1. That is sweet how RT thinks of his little brother.

    2. We are getting a lot of echo here too. High hopes indeed!

    3. Sam reminds me of Brother-roo. He was an early talker too. They even resemble each other a bit with their coloring. Although, my boys were always in the 90% or above.

    4. RT is a busy one. Can't imagine how crazy life will get with a teenager someday. My sister just emailed me to tell me about shopping for my nieces prom dress. Then she mentioned how I will be 56 yrs old when my daughter is 18. How scary is that.

    5. I hear ya about the vaccinations. I have decided to try to refrain from my feelings about this issue on my blog, but I will say that it is kind of weird how similar Roo and Oliver are and they both had reactions to vaccinations. Also both regressed afterward. Scary when I think of what to do for the little one coming my way soon.

    6. Looking forward to the pictures!

    7. Thanks for the recommendation. I just might rent it this weekend.

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  2. Get well soon! Your morning song is lovely, and loving.

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  3. Hi. this is my first visit. I'm not sure who everyone is exactly, TR, Oliver, Sam.... but I thought I'd drop a line-
    I am a homeschooling mom to 3 boys. I just started here and am looking for fellow homeschooler or parents of ASD kids.
    I have SID and probably Asperger's, my boys all have varying degrees of autism spectrum disorder.
    Homeschooling has made a world of difference. My middle was considered moderatley autistic and got worse when he started Kindergarten. I pulled him out and homeschooled him (andhis brothers) and he has really thrived. He is now 'just concidered to have' Asperger's syndrome.
    drop by sometime!

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  4. Hey, if you want company on the fence, I can bring the Diet Coke:)

    I love your morning song it is so sweet, and awsome that Oliver can sing it with you.

    Alison

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  5. Anonymous9:41 AM

    I also have an autistic son who regressed after vaccinations.
    If I had known then what I know now I would never have had any of my children vaccinated.
    For anyone "sitting on the fence" regarding the issue of vaccinations, I feel it is extremely important that you are given the information to make an educated decision regarding whether to continue vaccinating your autistic child.
    This is not just about Thimerosal and the question of the mercury-autism connection, but the broader issue of the truth about vaccinations that you will never be made aware of by mainstream medicine.
    Here are links to two video documentaries that will provide you with some vital information you need to know regarding vaccinations before you make the decision as to whether to vaccinate your chilren. They are very long links and may not work. If so I would very much appreciate the opportunity to e-mail them to you.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8610554679207090010&q=the+truth+about+vaccines&hl=en

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1050730037134666669&q=vaccines

    Please take the time to watch these videos and to pass on these links if you find them imformative.

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  6. I love reading about your boys. Hope everyone is feeling better.

    We rented Little Miss Sunshine also, but we have yet to watch it. We did watch Ice Age, which we rented on the same day, several times already. Not so much my cup of tea, but the boys find it funny.

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