Pickin' Up

Tonight, I'm gonna just try to bring things kind of up-to-speed, catch up on things a little bit, give some "bits and pieces" of things going on here.

Let's move right into the latest pictures of my two favorite subject - Maya and Kurtis. Heck, I might even throw one in of the two kittens still in residence too, just for good measure.

Here's Kurt, getting something he loves -a nice ride in his swing on the swingset in the back yard early this afternoon.
Here he is again, letting out one of his "Yay, Yay!" vocal renditions -just letting everyone in the neighborhood know he's outside and having himself a really great time too!
Then, he found this bat and decided maybe he might like to learn to play baseball someday.
After checking the bat out very closely, I think he's decided this one will be okay for him to use.

When he came back inside and was going to have lunch, this is what was waiting for him in his booster chair! Yeah, those kittens -Chino in front, Javiar to the rear -taking a little cat nap.

Then Maya came home from a visit with her Aunt Kathy -after Aunt Kathy had picked her up out at church after Bible School today. Maya's been going to Bible school every morning this week at our church. We're not sure how this is going because although Maya seems to enjoy it, but one lady who is apparently helping with the nursery class informed Mandy yesterday when she picked Maya up that she had to "tell Maya at least five times to sit down!" The way it came across to Mandy was that this woman apparently thinks Maya has "behavior issues." DUH! Do ya think? And we thought everyone at church, this lady especially, were all aware that both Maya and Kurtis are autistic. However, this same person had also remarked to Mandy on another occasion that "Gee, Maya doesn't look autistic!" Again - DUH! Is there a particular way that children with autism "look?" Sure would be nice on one hand if there were cause I betcha it would make getting kids diagnosed then a whole lot easier. Unfortunately, that's not how it works as almost all children (and adults too) look pretty much like their peers who are considered to be NT. Some children, like Maya, can talk, can do lots of things just like other kids who are 4-5 years old but we don't know exactly how well she comprehends much of what she "knows" just yet. Somedays, things work fine and dandy and other days -well, not quite so good. But just as she is learning as much, as quickly as she can, so too are we learning more and more about how much she knows, understands, remembers too.

And Kurtis -well today, when his speech therapist came she brought with her several photos she had taken here on her last couple of visits -all to be put into a little booklet for him to look at and learn to say who is in each photo or what the objects in the picture are -all people or items that are favorites of his. As the therapist showed him these pictures today, she would say to him, "Kurtis, who is this?" and then she would say who (or what) was in the photo. The first pic she showed him was one of me and as he looked at the pic, she asked him "Is that Grammy?" and he immediately looked up at me and gave me one great big smile. He did the same when shown a photo of Mandy too -flashed her a huge grin. But when he was shown the pic of Maya (who wasn't here at the time) and the therapist asked him "Is this Maya?" he actually responded and said "MAYA!" Yes, he did! And he got a big round of applause from all of us then too as that makes now a fifth word added to his vocabulary!

Now, one more thing here tonight -and then, I'm closing up shop for tonight with respect to the olde computer.

Last week at this time, if you recall, I mentioned that one of my favorite bloggers was about to embark on a journey that would test her physically -and if all went well, in going on this particular journey, she would save a life -her father's. That blogger is Terri -of Terri Terri Quite Contrary. Last Thursday, Terri and her father had surgery to remove a kidney from her and donate it to her Dad. I'm really happy to say that she's been home from the hospital since Saturday, doing quite well in her recovery and at last report earlier today, her Dad is doing very well too!

Isn't that just wonderful to be able to report back that things have all worked out the way the doctors intended them too for Terri and her Dad? What a gift that is for anyone to be able to give the gift of life to someone, and especially to her own Dad too. Go by Terri's place, tell her yourself how great she is to be that brave, that courageous.

And you can see too that while she's been home, recuperating, she hasn't been just lazing around the house but she's been one busy little beaver too as she handed out a bunch of awards yesterday.

And she gave one of them to me -this one -the "Brilliante Weblog" Award! I'll take a bow now and thank her profusely too for this award. But I think it would be great if someone would design an award (I have no clue how to do that) and it should be the "Bravest Blogger" Award and it should be given to Terri for sure!

Now, as you all know, when someone gives us an award, the tradition is to select other bloggers who you believe are deserving of the same honor as you received. In keeping with that theory, then here are the bloggers I think are excellent candidates to get this honor.

Sunshine - the vivacious mother of Four out in Iowa who has had some mega challenges this summer from remodeling her home, keeping four children in line, occupied and also, having had to cope with numerous weather related events from tornados to flooding and all the while, keeping a cool head about her, spreading lots of joy -and her own special commodity -plenty of sunshine to the blogosphere.

Smalltown RN - The most charming nurse in British Columbia to have a blog! She tackles all types of topics from trying to teach teenage boys social skills to medical ethics as well as all kinds of stuff in between. Add to that, she posts some of the most beautiful photos of the area "she calls home" that just make you want to find a way, someway, somehow, to go visit wild, wonderful and very beautiful British Columbia and the special island she calls home.

Dianne - Here's lady from New Jersey who runs her own business out of her home, takes some really great pictures too -always ready for a way to experiment with her camera, push the envelope a little there, tackles rescues of cats and has two beautiful cats she shows off regularly that she "saved" plus, she writes a really fantastic blog post too! Wordzzles on Saturdays, serious subject like politics, social issues as well as interspersing those posts and pictures with posts that show a fantastic ability to write and a really wild and wacky sense of humor too!

Sandi - My last choice for this award tonight is this fine, genteel southern belle, Sandi McBride at Holding Patterns. If you're looking for a blog to read that offers a great mix from stories that can make you cry to those that will have you holding your sides from laughing, then this is definitely a great place to stop, visit, read and enjoy! Sandi's life has taken her down many paths as the wife of a career military man so she's lived in many places stateside as well as overseas and has lots and lots of interesting stories to tell about that part of her life. Right now, I think she's probably still occupied in canning tomatoes picked from the garden she and her husband, Mac, have at their southern "Plantation." If you're real nice when you visit her place, give her some good comment lovin' ya know, who knows, maybe she'll reciprocate and give you a big jar of home-canned tomatoes! Worth a shot, isn't it? Try it, you won't just like it, you'll love visiting her place!

That's ends my award ceremony now for this evening but I'm sure over time, I'll bring this special award out again -and probably again after that a few more times -to bestow it on more of my favorite bloggers.

Now it's time for me to go collapse for the night. See you all tomorrow somewhere here in the Blogosphere!

Sleep tight.