Lost in the Fuzz: Other People's Computers

  Last June Max visited one of his doctors.  Acording to my calendar, he had another scheduled for Tuesday morning.
  When we got the BDDS paper asking for a doctor's confirmation of his disability (necessary before 22nd birthday), i figured i'd drop the form at the doctor's office today.  That would give the doctor a few days to get to it, and it would be ready Tuesday.
  Seems so simple.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Cruising the Tahquamenon River

 Last Wednesday,

Living in a 5-Star Wilderness

  That's how Michigan bills its Upper Peninsula. (and if someone will help me add their little R in a circle, i will.)
  If you want wild, away from it all, this could be the place to go.
  According to the Google map, Paradise, Michigan, where we stayed, is 9 hours, 11 minutes from Indianapolis.  MyGuy and i drove it in more like

Things to Know about Autism Moms

  Here i write about moms of kids with autism as a group.  
  Like our kids, we are as different as any other moms, but we have a lot in common, especially when our kids are in the young & intensive phase.

  Some of these items will be increased exponentially if the mom in question is single or otherwise without family supports.

1. We love our kids.  Even the most non-maternal of us, we do.   

                                                                                                           
2. Our discipline standards may not be yours, but we are working on it.  Kids with autism have issues with their senses,  with their memory, with generalizing from one setting to another.  They get overloaded so easily.  Especially when they are young, a meltdown may be the only way the kid has to tell you something isn't right.

3. An autism mom's life is a matter of constantly thinking ahead of the kid to figure what seemingly innocuous thing is going to be the last straw.

4. We are tired.  

5. We may not want you in our home.  Ever hear the joke about the kid who came from a broken home and he broke it himself?  He may not have been a kid with autism, but we moms sure resonate with that.  Things get broken when the kid melts down.  It happens regularly.  Things cost $$$ to fix.

6. There isn't a lot of $$$.  $$$ for the expensive therapies that would give our kid a boost in getting a handle on life, $$$ to fix the things he breaks, $$$ to feather a retirement nest. 

7. Ever hear of waivers?  It's government $$$ to help support our disabled kids.  They do not move us onto Easy Street.  Usually they're only theoretically available, just a years-long waiting list.  We apply for it when we could really use the expensive therapies, in the formative preschool years, and "come up" for it when the kid is in high school or about to live on his own.  In ideal cases, it makes life possible, or at least easier.  

8. At some stages in our kid's life, we HAVE no life of our own.  No, this is not a matter of martyr mom so choosing.  Our kids' needs are so intense there is no time for mommy whether we're so inclined or not. 

9. We want to help others like ourselves.

10. We wouldn't give up our wonder-full kid for anything.

Wordless Wednesday - Tahquamenon Falls

Moons on Monday

It's just shaky hands, but gives a cool scifi effect.

Wordless Wednesday - Highway Cloudscape

Learning Pains

  i have been told that kids have a right to learn with their age peers.
  This was the reason given why Max would not be allowed to remain in the preschool where he was flourishing, but must instead move on to kindergarten.
  Some rights are a hindrance to true progress.
  He would have benefitted from one more year at preschool level.

A Brief History of the Turning Point of Max's Schooling

As the Olympics draw to a close (not an Olympics post)

2012

  We haven't really been following the Olympics here - shocking, i know - but we have caught the opening sequence a couple of times.
  Anyway, i've noticed the Olympics opening sequence includes a bright sunny shot of the White Cliffs of Dover.  i've also seen sunny shots of them in some movies lately, and that looks strange to me.

  i think Boom has watched them a bit more.  We saw some diving together.

1976

  Last night he asked if my long-ago trip to Europe included England.  We were there for 5 days of the six weeks.
  Anyway, never reluctant to pull out a scrapbook, i got Volume 3 of The Europe Collection.  About half of it covers the England time, though photos are sparse (film was running low!) and memorabilia & handwriting are much more plentiful.
  Anyway, the White Cliffs of Dover.
  No wonder the sunny views look strange to me.
  Notice that my view of them is more iconically foggy.



photo taken 8/7/76, on boat crossing from Calais to Dover, with Kodak Instamatic camera.  Papers by Club Scrap; quote card by unknown.

Wordless Wednesday: Another Mr. & Mrs. Harry

i never met my grandfather, but in this photo,
i think he & my grandmother
look a little like Harry & Bess Truman.

History

  So many people seem to not enjoy history.
  i think it's in the presentation.
  It's so easy to present history badly, as nothing but dates and battles.
  i admit i can find that fascinating, but really, that's not what it's all about.
  History is as much about people as a novel.

  It's fascinating to hang your events on the dates and see what was going on in China while something else was happening in Europe and something else yet again in Africa and the South Pacific.
  Truman at the same time as McCarthyism.  Kennedy & LBJ as young Senators when Harry was President.
  Earlier this week i read

Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure.

Not Quite Wordless Wednesday: His Shaven Wrists

This is a habit that should never have started.