For sometime now, certain behaviors Maya has been displaying have been continuing and even building. And, they are -to say the least -quite annoying.
The school she attends runs from September to the beginning of June -four days a week, Tuesday thru Thursday. When the regular schools here let out in early June, her school takes about a four week break too. Then it resumes, right after the Fourth of July, runs for about three more weeks, or so with another break then in August before it restarts again in September and follows pretty much the normal school schedule.
From Day 1 last September until somewhere in April, Maya loved -absolutely LOVED going to school. She made friends there, began to develop a few more social skills and was learning all kinds of things from more words to add to her vocabulary, songs -which she entertains anyone and everyone who rides in a car with her now -along with some other necessary things too -such as potty training. I'm not going to go into a long, drawn out description of some of the events that have transpired with the potty training as I think I've pretty well covered most of those stories before but, when she started attending school, she was not potty trained -at all. Six weeks later, on her fourth birthday as a matter of fact, I got a phone call from her teacher telling me that Maya had something to tell me. (The fact that her teacher said Maya wanted to tell me something on the phone was quite a surprise because at that time, she would run and hide, or just repeat "No, No" if you asked her to speak to someone on the telephone. So you can imagine my shock when Maya came on the line and I asked her what she wanted to tell me and her response was "I pee in de potty, Gram!" Granted, her voice ws really small, very soft, shy sounding in that little sentence but let me just say, here and now, that was such a milestone -times two really -that I wept. Yes indeed, I did! Just hearing her speak on the phone and then to tell me she had actually used the potty at school was very big, very exciting news for me and for the entire family, for that matter.
After that breakthrough, she has had a few accidents from time to time of the "pee variety" but generally, she has done very well. Now, getting her to do anything else involving sitting on the potty -well, that's been a horse of a different color, entirely. She flatly refuses, gets really agitated and upset, even launches on occasion into a meltdown when we try to suggest that she use the potty for another purpose.
Back in April though, the teacher and aides decided to try to work on this deficiency, to push her a little harder to get her completely trained and it was shortly after those efforts began that she started telling us almost every evening at supper that she wasn't going to go to school the next day, that she didn't like school. Around that time the school had also made some other changes in her schedule and had been integrating her in with another class, a little older kids, a little more advanced too and those kids class time ended around 12:30 p.m. at which time Maya then went back to her original class group.
We're really not sure to this day which aspect may be the one that gave her the idea that she didn't like school -could have been the staff pushing her on the potty training stuff because she really does respond very poorly to those suggestions or it could have been the schedule changes too because the teacher reported she began to cry often after the other group was dismissed for the day and she had to stay for another two hours then. She kept asking them if it was time for her to go home too.
With the four week break we just had -of no school -we were concerned that when the classes picked up again now, she might really regress during that time and refuse or be really, really difficult and contrary about getting up, getting dressed and ready to go to school again.
Thankfully, it was only on July 8th -her first day back attending school -that she was fussy about going to school again, telling Mandy she didn't want to go, didn't want to get dressed, got really picky about what clothes she wanted to wear and as such, when the van arrived to pick her up, she was a bit on the crabby side, to say the least. However, "Mr. Fred" -the van driver -reported to Mandy when he brought her home that afternoon that shortly after getting into the van, she launched into her singing routines and sang the entire ride over to Clearfield that morning and also, on the return trip back home in the afternoon. He got to hear pretty much her entire repertoire that day. Since then, the whining about "not liking school" and telling us she isn't going to go to school the next day have pretty much disappeared.
We have another issue now too though with her and that is trying to get her to pick up her toys -which she normally has scattered all over the living room floor, with a few making their way to cover the dining room floor as well. Telling her to pick up her toys has really become just as much a battle lately as trying to get her to sit on the potty to "put poopie in there" has been all along! Asking her to pick up toys or telling her flat out to pick up toys will get a response of "NO!" or a whining "No" or "I can't do that" or "I don't wanna do that." Actually, just about anything we tell her lately is met with a "no" response. Seems to be the standard answer there to everything.
Yesterday, when my little great-niece, Lizzie, was here and I asked Maya to pick up some things she had just deliberately thrown on the floor, she gave me a "NO" with a lot of attitude in her voice too -very, very sassy, smart-mouthed, if you follow what I mean there. Most anything we say lately or ask her about, her response is going to be the exact opposite of what you want to hear from her. Argumentative is a good description of how she's been acting for quite some time now. At times, if I can think of something I know she really likes or wants to do, if I can ask her about it in a "reverse psychology" type manner, and even if she does answer the way we want then, that still doesn't mean she's going to do what you want without a major hassle anyway. I've been telling Mandy if she keeps up with this argument-style of talking, maybe by the time she gets in high school and if they have a debate team in the school then, she would be a great candidate for something like that.
When my kids were of the age to display a lot of obstinance like this, all I generally had to do was to tell them I was going to count to three and they KNEW if they didn't start moving by the time I hit the number two that if I had to say the word "Three" they were in for punishment. So they generally adhered pretty well to those rules but Maya -even though she has been able to count since she was 2 1/2 years old -does not respond at all to a counting to three threat.
ME: "PIck up your toys, Maya."
Maya: "No, no. I can't do that. You help me?"
ME: "WHo put the toys on the floor?"
Maya: "I did."
ME: "Did anyone else help you put the toys there?"
Maya: "No. I did it."
ME: "Then you can pick them up too."
Maya: "No, no, I can't!"
Sometimes, if I tell her I need her to pick toys up and hand them to me, I will help her that way, but she has to pick them up so Grammy doesn't have to walk around the living room and dining room all hunched over and bent and then, I have a lot of pain and difficulty standing up straight again. Sometimes, a threat that if Grammy or Mommy has to pick the toys up, they are going into the garbage will, once in a blue moon, get some results but she's already well entrenched in her quest to surpass Grammy at procrastinating about doing this task! And tonight was no exception in that respect either.
It took a good bit of telling her, over and over, that it was time to pick up the toys, put them away and threats that they would be going into the garbage if she didn't follow through, but finally -after almost two hours of this -she did get them all picked up then.
By that time, it was time for her -and for Kurtis -to get a bath and Daddy took them both in to put them in the tub and give them a good scrubbing so neither of them will look like a pair of scruffball orphans in the morning. After getting her bath, getting her pj's on and such, (also having had a little dose of melatonin in her night snack of pudding -same as Kurtis gets then) she was a little more docile, ready then to go to bed.
The normal bedtime routine then is that she goes to each of us to give a good night hug and kiss and when she came to me, Mandy told her she needed to apologize to Grammy for being so bad tonight about picking up her toys. "Tell Gram you're sorry you were bad tonight," were Mandy's instructions to her as she came to me, arms open to give me a big hug and a kiss. And she did say that to me but I couldn't understand her initially, so I asked her to repeat what she had said and then, she said it again "Sorry, being bad tonight, I 'polgize, Gram!" It even warranted her giving me another hug and this time, accompanied by two big kisses!
It was obvious she was tired and did want to go to her bed, but here again -kind of like the kids who keep asking for "Another story." or another "drink" she wanted to know if she could sleep with her mother. Mandy told her no, she had to go to her bed and then, the question became "You lay with me?" And so, that was close enough for Mandy's purposes to get her upstairs, into her bed and I haven't heard or seen hide nor hair from either of them since then -about 9 p.m.!
Once in her bed, she has one more routine there too that we have been trying to teach her and that is to say her prayers. She's doing quite well with that and says "Now I Lay Me" very nicely, along with another little evening prayer Mandy taught her before she launches into her "God Blesses" routine. Doing that, she manages to name just about everyone she knows now, along with several family members she was familiar with like my dear Aunt Mike (her great-great-aunt who passed away the end of April) and she "blesses" her along with Aunt Mike's daughter, Jane Ann, who is severely mentally and physically challenged and who Maya knows lives in the nursing home too. She also "blesses" Andre, Uncle Clayton's dog that died two years ago, Gracie, our 16 year old cat who died in April as well as her other Grandmother who died in June before Maya was born -and remembers too that they are all "in heaven" now as well.
And listening to her on the occasions I may be the one to put her to bed and hear her prayers, always reminds me of when my older daughter was learning her nightly prayers too. It was the summer when she had just turned three years old and she and my mother had spent about two months that summer here at the house, with my Mom's older sister and her husband while I worked in Phoenix for the entire month of July and then stayed in our apartment alone for the month of August that year. It was during those months that Carrie got to know the couple who lived next door to us -Mr and Mrs. Little -the people who had raised 13 children and by that time, had close to 60 grandchildren and who took all little children under their wings and into their hearts -and Carrie loved them. When she would say her prayers and do the "God Blesses" she would always say it as "And God Bless Misser and Misser Little" -no distinction in her pronuncation between Mister and Mrs. For years, that was how Mom and I referred to that couple -"Misser and Misser Little" and even when my son and Mandy came along and it was time for them to learn their evening prayers, they were then taught "God Bless Misser and Misser Little" too!
Maya of course has no knowledge of that couple but among the people she names in her "Blesses" are "Aunt Helen Ann," "Charmaine, Annie and Jeanne and Jim" -Aunt Helen being one of Misser and Misser Little's daughters and Charmaine, Annie, Jeanne being three of the grandchildren, Jim is Charmaine's husband and she also includes the Little's granddaughter, Aunt Lou Ann, her daughter Angie and Angie's children, Isaac, Lizzie and Gracie -two more generations of the Little family as well because they are Maya's great-aunt, and her cousins.
And that's what Grammie's bad little good girl does when she goes to bed at night and always after having shared a big hug, big kisses with all the family before retiring too!
Now, who says autistic kids are not able to show love and emotion? Not me!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Difference in a Year
A year ago over the Fourth of July Weekend, Mandy and the two little ones and I went to a big picnic at a camp out in the boondocks about 6 miles or so from here. The son-in-law of the owner of the camp is my ex-sister-in-law's brother and since my niece, her husband and children had come over from their home in the Mercer area to go to this picnic, she invited the kids and I to go along.
Now, the connections with my niece's uncle and my kids and I go back even further because when I was growing up, my ex-sil's grandparents -and of course, her mother, aunts and uncles, lived in the house next door to me so I spent a lot of time over there as a kid. Then, when "Grammy and Pap" (as my kids always called the parents of the kids there) decided to downsize and purchased a mobile home, my ex-sil's parents bought the homestead and raised their seven children there. There were 13 children in my ex-sil's mother's family -11 girls and 2 boys -who my kids have always referred to as aunt or uncle -easier to keep track of who one is talking about at times when there are that many people involved to begin with -and then, when you add in 66 grandchildren and now, I wouldn't even begin to fathom a guess as to how many great and great-great and probably even some great-great-great grandkids there are from that initial family. Anyway, suffice it to say even without my ex-sil being part of that clan, I was always very close to them for almost all my life.
Last year, when we went out to the picnic there, my niece and her daughter were here at the house for a while and we took a couple of pictures of Maya and her first cousin, Lizzie.
This afternoon, my niece, Angie, her husband Davy and their daughters -Lizzie, age 4 1/2 and Gracie, a new addition who is seven months old now -stopped by for a little visit after having been out to Black Moshannon State Park for a family reunion on Angie's Dad's side of her family. And before they left today, we got some pictures of Maya and Lizzie, clowning around, showing off a hat Mandy had bought for Lizzie a little while back. Maya has one like it in Lilac and Lizzie's hat is a pretty aqua shade and both hats have "Sassy" embroidered on them. Really appropriate for either of the girls because they both are quite the little "Sassy" numbers.
But I thought it would be neat to post the pictures taken of the two cousins about a year ago along with the pictures I took of the two girls today. Just for the sake of comparison you know.
That's Lizzie on the left and Maya, of course, on the right. Maya is four days older than Lizzie.
And here's the girls again - Maya on the left, Lizzie in front of the door, waiting to go to the picnic last year.
Here's Lizzie and Maya sitting on the arm of the sofa, showing off their "Sassy" hats.
Here they are again -clowning around while I was trying to snap a picture.
And another shot of the two girls. I tried to get a picture of them standing, side-by-side and holding hands but that didn't work because Maya wouldn't (or couldn't) stand still. She was dancing around and around -should have clicked on the video but I didn't even think of that at the time. (Senile grammie syndrome strikes again, ya know.)
Although the girls are pretty close in size -Maya is maybe a tiny bit taller. Lizzie is not quite as slim as Maya but she's not chubby - just nicely filled out. But this year, the girls were a bit more matched in maturity levels than they were last year at this time. Another way that shows us just how much progress Maya has made over the past ten months since she started attending school over by Clearfield. She is still a little behind Lizzie in some areas -particularly listening and following instructions when told to "Clean up" her toys. I got on Maya about opening a little plastic box with various cards in it and spilling them all over the floor and then, just walking away from them, leaving the mess there for someone else to deal with. She did her normal routine of ignoring my requests, my instructions, to pick them up, telling me "No, no. I can't do that." And before I knew it, there was Lizzie, picking up the cards and putting them back in the box where they'd been! When Maya saw Lizzie doing that, she did come over and pick up one or two of the cards, but she'd never have done that otherwise! (Angie told us too before she left that Lizzie had come and told her that Maya is bad because she won't pick up her toys when she's told to do that! There's a good example of the "one-way" type of thinking Maya tends to have as compared to a non-autistic child of the same age.)
And, some good news about the other little person in the house too - Kurtis! He's been starting lately now to try to talk and has said a couple of words "on command" and repeated them somewhat appropriately too. On Friday afternoon, Mandy and Kurtis had stopped up at the restaurant here (Jim and Charmaine's) and when they were leaving, she was trying to get him to wave bye-bye and also, to say his newest thing -"See ya!" And he did it! In front of Charmaine, her sister, Jeanne, and Shirley, the waitress, he repeated those words and waved -or attempted anyway, to wave "bye bye" to them!
Today, while Angie and her family were here, my son Clayton, stopped in to visit a bit. When he went to leave, we started telling Kurtis to say "See ya" to Uncle Clate and once again, he repeated these two words -and quite clearly too! Needless to say, Uncle Clate was very surprised -and very pleased too on hearing him repeat that. Clate says it is the first time he's heard Kurtis say anything that he understood what the boy was trying to say, that's how clear it came through today!
So you see, it's a whole lot of baby steps, over and over and over again -like eight, almost nine months of speech therapy that now has his vocabulary up to saying "Circle" - "Yay, yay" and "See ya!" He's also getting better too at letting us know some of what his wants are -or aren't. However, mostly that comes down to pitching whatever it is he DOESN'T want on the floor. Ok, looks like a little more work is needed on that aspect, huh?
Just wait till his speech therapist, occupational therapist and behavior therapists show up this week to work with him. Boy, will they have a surprise and a darned good one too!
And now, after a full day with these two kids -they've both been out like little lights since shortly before 9 p.m. -I think I'm gonna join 'em and go to bed very shortly here too!
And, you can be sure seeing the changes from one year to the next with Maya and Lizzie, hearing Kurtis using his newest bit of vocabulary too, I'm gonna be saying more than a few "Thank yous" when I lay my head on my pillow tonight!
Now, the connections with my niece's uncle and my kids and I go back even further because when I was growing up, my ex-sil's grandparents -and of course, her mother, aunts and uncles, lived in the house next door to me so I spent a lot of time over there as a kid. Then, when "Grammy and Pap" (as my kids always called the parents of the kids there) decided to downsize and purchased a mobile home, my ex-sil's parents bought the homestead and raised their seven children there. There were 13 children in my ex-sil's mother's family -11 girls and 2 boys -who my kids have always referred to as aunt or uncle -easier to keep track of who one is talking about at times when there are that many people involved to begin with -and then, when you add in 66 grandchildren and now, I wouldn't even begin to fathom a guess as to how many great and great-great and probably even some great-great-great grandkids there are from that initial family. Anyway, suffice it to say even without my ex-sil being part of that clan, I was always very close to them for almost all my life.
Last year, when we went out to the picnic there, my niece and her daughter were here at the house for a while and we took a couple of pictures of Maya and her first cousin, Lizzie.
This afternoon, my niece, Angie, her husband Davy and their daughters -Lizzie, age 4 1/2 and Gracie, a new addition who is seven months old now -stopped by for a little visit after having been out to Black Moshannon State Park for a family reunion on Angie's Dad's side of her family. And before they left today, we got some pictures of Maya and Lizzie, clowning around, showing off a hat Mandy had bought for Lizzie a little while back. Maya has one like it in Lilac and Lizzie's hat is a pretty aqua shade and both hats have "Sassy" embroidered on them. Really appropriate for either of the girls because they both are quite the little "Sassy" numbers.
But I thought it would be neat to post the pictures taken of the two cousins about a year ago along with the pictures I took of the two girls today. Just for the sake of comparison you know.
That's Lizzie on the left and Maya, of course, on the right. Maya is four days older than Lizzie.
And here's the girls again - Maya on the left, Lizzie in front of the door, waiting to go to the picnic last year.
Here's Lizzie and Maya sitting on the arm of the sofa, showing off their "Sassy" hats.
Here they are again -clowning around while I was trying to snap a picture.
And another shot of the two girls. I tried to get a picture of them standing, side-by-side and holding hands but that didn't work because Maya wouldn't (or couldn't) stand still. She was dancing around and around -should have clicked on the video but I didn't even think of that at the time. (Senile grammie syndrome strikes again, ya know.)Although the girls are pretty close in size -Maya is maybe a tiny bit taller. Lizzie is not quite as slim as Maya but she's not chubby - just nicely filled out. But this year, the girls were a bit more matched in maturity levels than they were last year at this time. Another way that shows us just how much progress Maya has made over the past ten months since she started attending school over by Clearfield. She is still a little behind Lizzie in some areas -particularly listening and following instructions when told to "Clean up" her toys. I got on Maya about opening a little plastic box with various cards in it and spilling them all over the floor and then, just walking away from them, leaving the mess there for someone else to deal with. She did her normal routine of ignoring my requests, my instructions, to pick them up, telling me "No, no. I can't do that." And before I knew it, there was Lizzie, picking up the cards and putting them back in the box where they'd been! When Maya saw Lizzie doing that, she did come over and pick up one or two of the cards, but she'd never have done that otherwise! (Angie told us too before she left that Lizzie had come and told her that Maya is bad because she won't pick up her toys when she's told to do that! There's a good example of the "one-way" type of thinking Maya tends to have as compared to a non-autistic child of the same age.)
And, some good news about the other little person in the house too - Kurtis! He's been starting lately now to try to talk and has said a couple of words "on command" and repeated them somewhat appropriately too. On Friday afternoon, Mandy and Kurtis had stopped up at the restaurant here (Jim and Charmaine's) and when they were leaving, she was trying to get him to wave bye-bye and also, to say his newest thing -"See ya!" And he did it! In front of Charmaine, her sister, Jeanne, and Shirley, the waitress, he repeated those words and waved -or attempted anyway, to wave "bye bye" to them!
Today, while Angie and her family were here, my son Clayton, stopped in to visit a bit. When he went to leave, we started telling Kurtis to say "See ya" to Uncle Clate and once again, he repeated these two words -and quite clearly too! Needless to say, Uncle Clate was very surprised -and very pleased too on hearing him repeat that. Clate says it is the first time he's heard Kurtis say anything that he understood what the boy was trying to say, that's how clear it came through today!
So you see, it's a whole lot of baby steps, over and over and over again -like eight, almost nine months of speech therapy that now has his vocabulary up to saying "Circle" - "Yay, yay" and "See ya!" He's also getting better too at letting us know some of what his wants are -or aren't. However, mostly that comes down to pitching whatever it is he DOESN'T want on the floor. Ok, looks like a little more work is needed on that aspect, huh?
Just wait till his speech therapist, occupational therapist and behavior therapists show up this week to work with him. Boy, will they have a surprise and a darned good one too!
And now, after a full day with these two kids -they've both been out like little lights since shortly before 9 p.m. -I think I'm gonna join 'em and go to bed very shortly here too!
And, you can be sure seeing the changes from one year to the next with Maya and Lizzie, hearing Kurtis using his newest bit of vocabulary too, I'm gonna be saying more than a few "Thank yous" when I lay my head on my pillow tonight!
Moving Down The Line
We're definitely on the downhill side of things now -under 200 days left -actually, 27 weeks plus one day. So think positively please.
Monday, July 24, 2008 - 190 days left
"Justice ought to be fair."
--Washington, D.C. 2004
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - 189 days left
"One thing is clear, is relations between America and Russia are good, and they're important that they be good."
--Stelna, Russia, July 15, 2006
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 188 days left
"Our country puts $1 billion a year up to help feed the hungry. And we're by far the most generous nation in the world when it comes to that, and I'm proud to report that. This isn't a contest of who's the most generous. I'm just telling you as an aside. We're generous. We shouldn't be bragging about it. But we are. We're very generous.
Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 187 days left
"See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s**t, and it's over."
--Private comment to British Prime Minister Tony Blair in St. Petersburg, Russia --July 17, 2006.
Friday, July 18, 2008 - 186 days left
"No more public scatology."
--In a personal note to future Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, July 18, 1997
Saturday and Sunday, July 19/20, 2008 - 185 days left and 184 days left
"Had we to do it over again, we would look at the consequences of catastropic success, being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lifed to fight another day."
--Time Magazine, 2004
And there you have them - the Bushism witticisms for the week to come. A guiding star to lead us. NOT!
Monday, July 24, 2008 - 190 days left
"Justice ought to be fair."
--Washington, D.C. 2004
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - 189 days left
"One thing is clear, is relations between America and Russia are good, and they're important that they be good."
--Stelna, Russia, July 15, 2006
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 188 days left
"Our country puts $1 billion a year up to help feed the hungry. And we're by far the most generous nation in the world when it comes to that, and I'm proud to report that. This isn't a contest of who's the most generous. I'm just telling you as an aside. We're generous. We shouldn't be bragging about it. But we are. We're very generous.
Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 187 days left
"See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s**t, and it's over."
--Private comment to British Prime Minister Tony Blair in St. Petersburg, Russia --July 17, 2006.
Friday, July 18, 2008 - 186 days left
"No more public scatology."
--In a personal note to future Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, July 18, 1997
Saturday and Sunday, July 19/20, 2008 - 185 days left and 184 days left
"Had we to do it over again, we would look at the consequences of catastropic success, being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lifed to fight another day."
--Time Magazine, 2004
And there you have them - the Bushism witticisms for the week to come. A guiding star to lead us. NOT!
Friday, July 11, 2008
The Oilman Cometh
By now, if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you will remember that often the title of a post and the inner workings of it may seem to be totally unconnected -this may very well be one of those posts as I'm not quite sure if things will play out the way I'm actually thinking. (There's a strange thought, in and of itself -me, thinking.)
But anyway, here's what started this post today. There's a blogger up in Minneapolis, who I follow faithfully -thanks to my lovely reader. I love her post, lots of fun things there, great family stories and drama too from time to time. Earlier this week or over last weekend, she mentioned about yet another blogger who was doing a special thing on being thankful and I thought I might not manage the requirements for the entire contest but it seemed like a good thing to write about from time to time - the little and the big things we have in life to be thankful for.
Well, obviously for openers, I am so thankful -so very thankful -for my family -three great kids, three stepgrandkids and three grandchildren. (Two of those grandchildren, you've read lots about here and seen a goodly number of photos of them too.
Two of those grandchildren are autistic -Maya and Kurtis -the two who live here with me, along with their parents and their oldest sister -the 16-year-old. And I won't lie to you and say there aren't days when I do wish they hadn't been bestowed with the autism blossom as without it, I'm sure their lives would be much easier now -and in the future too. But, when people tell me how sorry they are that these two beautiful little beings are autistic, how tragic it is, what a shame that they have that wrong with them, I bite my tongue to keep from responding especially to the word "Wrong" used there. Why? Because you see, there is absolutely nothing in the world WRONG with these children! They have a thinking disorder, yes, but that just means that we -their parents, me, the rest of the family in close contact with them, often have to reorder OUR thinking processes to find ways to explain our selves, our actions to them but that by no way means there is any thing WRONG with them! They are the sweetest -sometimes not so sweet too though -best, with a lot of imp aspects thrown into the mix, bringers of patience ever to come into my life and you know what, for that alone -the patience thing -I have been truly blessed to have both of them. I am not by nature a very patient person and living with, adapting to, these two children has indeed forced me to try to bring patience into my life more and more every day.
I'm thankful that my grandparents built this house we live in 105 years ago and that I was lucky enough, along with my mother, to live here as a child and for it to eventually be my home. It has its problems, certainly. What old house doesn't? For that matter, even new homes have their own issues pertaining to upkeep and breakdowns and all those factors. But I wouldn't trade this house in for another even if I were bequeathed all of Donald Trump and Rockefeller's wealth combined because no amount of money can buy the memories this house holds for me. The voices that once spoke here that I hear now only in memory, the pictures too of days long gone by that pop up in my mind's eye, knowing that there is some small part of my grandparents, my mother, all my aunts and uncles as well as my cousins, now my children and their children that have all left indelible marks on me and in this old house that make it absolutely priceless to me. Warts and all -and this house has many, it's true -the house is a blessing for me and I will forever be thankful to have it.
I'm ever so thankful for having had the opportunity to the education I recieved from the little grade school that used to exist here and from the loving teachers I had those first six years of my educational process. They were more than teachers - they were more like an extra branch on my family tree in that I always felt they cared as much about my well-being as did my family. That school building still stands atop the hill here in the village but it now belongs to the local Catholic Church and they use it as their educational building so the use factor remains there still. I'm thankful too for the continuing education I received from the small high school I attended -which building no longer exists, having been sold and torn down years ago to a local church which then built a new and beautiful church on that spot. But that school, small as it may have been, poor as the community at large was back then, I firmly believe I got every bit as good an education in that era as many kids today receive from some of the bigger, fancier, loaded-with-everything type schools that often exist today. It was a good enough education that 32 years after I graduated from high school, I still remembered enough of what I'd been taught to pass the entrance exams for acceptance at a certain Big Ten university you've all heard me mention from time to time too and I managed to met their criteria too and received a degree in four years from said institution that I can now call myself A Nittany Lioness! A little ego there, yes -but I am proud of that accomplishment done in the later years of my life and also, I am quite thankful that I was able to do that too!
I could go on and on -yes, I know you know that. But not going to list all the things I am thankful for in one post, not today. However, I am going to conclude this one today by telling you we had 100 gallons of oil -fuel oil for the furnace -delivered to the house today.
That delivery -100 gallons, not even half a tankful -set us back $450 big buckaroonies! And, thinking forward to the coming months -fall, winter, etc., that's only going to be a drop in the bucket to what amount of oil we will have to purchase to warm our bodies, to have hot water for bathing, for washing dishes, to do laundry with, etc. And, trust me, I worry -as does Mandy -and a lot too -about how we will manage to keep getting at least 100 gallons, the minimum amount you can have delivered, at the current prices, much less what the costs probably are going to rise to over the coming year.
But why then, if I am so worried about those prices, would I list this delivery in a topic of things for which I am thankful then?
Because the gentleman delivering the fuel today was a new driver to our route -one I'd never met before.
As I handed him the checks for payment of our oil delivery, he commented to me on an autism car magnet Mandy had removed from the car she used to have -one of those ribbon things ya know, with the writing on it simply "Autism" and he asked about the significance of that symbol, telling me he has "one of those at home too" but not meaning the magnet but rather a child.
I asked how old his was and he said "Eleven, with Aspergers." The conversation picked up from there as we talked about these people in our lives and the love we shared each for our own came through, loud and strong.
As he left, his parting words to me were "These kids take a lot of love and prayer but they are so well worth it in the end." How true, how true!
And that my friends is why I was thankful for having received my economic stimulus check this week that enabled us to purchase that 100 gallons of fuel today and that today, the fuel company saw fit to send this man to deliver it to us.
I was really happy to see the Oilman Come and very happy to hear the words he exchanged with me today too.
And for that, I was and will remain, truly blessed and very thankful.
But anyway, here's what started this post today. There's a blogger up in Minneapolis, who I follow faithfully -thanks to my lovely reader. I love her post, lots of fun things there, great family stories and drama too from time to time. Earlier this week or over last weekend, she mentioned about yet another blogger who was doing a special thing on being thankful and I thought I might not manage the requirements for the entire contest but it seemed like a good thing to write about from time to time - the little and the big things we have in life to be thankful for.
Well, obviously for openers, I am so thankful -so very thankful -for my family -three great kids, three stepgrandkids and three grandchildren. (Two of those grandchildren, you've read lots about here and seen a goodly number of photos of them too.
Two of those grandchildren are autistic -Maya and Kurtis -the two who live here with me, along with their parents and their oldest sister -the 16-year-old. And I won't lie to you and say there aren't days when I do wish they hadn't been bestowed with the autism blossom as without it, I'm sure their lives would be much easier now -and in the future too. But, when people tell me how sorry they are that these two beautiful little beings are autistic, how tragic it is, what a shame that they have that wrong with them, I bite my tongue to keep from responding especially to the word "Wrong" used there. Why? Because you see, there is absolutely nothing in the world WRONG with these children! They have a thinking disorder, yes, but that just means that we -their parents, me, the rest of the family in close contact with them, often have to reorder OUR thinking processes to find ways to explain our selves, our actions to them but that by no way means there is any thing WRONG with them! They are the sweetest -sometimes not so sweet too though -best, with a lot of imp aspects thrown into the mix, bringers of patience ever to come into my life and you know what, for that alone -the patience thing -I have been truly blessed to have both of them. I am not by nature a very patient person and living with, adapting to, these two children has indeed forced me to try to bring patience into my life more and more every day.
I'm thankful that my grandparents built this house we live in 105 years ago and that I was lucky enough, along with my mother, to live here as a child and for it to eventually be my home. It has its problems, certainly. What old house doesn't? For that matter, even new homes have their own issues pertaining to upkeep and breakdowns and all those factors. But I wouldn't trade this house in for another even if I were bequeathed all of Donald Trump and Rockefeller's wealth combined because no amount of money can buy the memories this house holds for me. The voices that once spoke here that I hear now only in memory, the pictures too of days long gone by that pop up in my mind's eye, knowing that there is some small part of my grandparents, my mother, all my aunts and uncles as well as my cousins, now my children and their children that have all left indelible marks on me and in this old house that make it absolutely priceless to me. Warts and all -and this house has many, it's true -the house is a blessing for me and I will forever be thankful to have it.
I'm ever so thankful for having had the opportunity to the education I recieved from the little grade school that used to exist here and from the loving teachers I had those first six years of my educational process. They were more than teachers - they were more like an extra branch on my family tree in that I always felt they cared as much about my well-being as did my family. That school building still stands atop the hill here in the village but it now belongs to the local Catholic Church and they use it as their educational building so the use factor remains there still. I'm thankful too for the continuing education I received from the small high school I attended -which building no longer exists, having been sold and torn down years ago to a local church which then built a new and beautiful church on that spot. But that school, small as it may have been, poor as the community at large was back then, I firmly believe I got every bit as good an education in that era as many kids today receive from some of the bigger, fancier, loaded-with-everything type schools that often exist today. It was a good enough education that 32 years after I graduated from high school, I still remembered enough of what I'd been taught to pass the entrance exams for acceptance at a certain Big Ten university you've all heard me mention from time to time too and I managed to met their criteria too and received a degree in four years from said institution that I can now call myself A Nittany Lioness! A little ego there, yes -but I am proud of that accomplishment done in the later years of my life and also, I am quite thankful that I was able to do that too!
I could go on and on -yes, I know you know that. But not going to list all the things I am thankful for in one post, not today. However, I am going to conclude this one today by telling you we had 100 gallons of oil -fuel oil for the furnace -delivered to the house today.
That delivery -100 gallons, not even half a tankful -set us back $450 big buckaroonies! And, thinking forward to the coming months -fall, winter, etc., that's only going to be a drop in the bucket to what amount of oil we will have to purchase to warm our bodies, to have hot water for bathing, for washing dishes, to do laundry with, etc. And, trust me, I worry -as does Mandy -and a lot too -about how we will manage to keep getting at least 100 gallons, the minimum amount you can have delivered, at the current prices, much less what the costs probably are going to rise to over the coming year.
But why then, if I am so worried about those prices, would I list this delivery in a topic of things for which I am thankful then?
Because the gentleman delivering the fuel today was a new driver to our route -one I'd never met before.
As I handed him the checks for payment of our oil delivery, he commented to me on an autism car magnet Mandy had removed from the car she used to have -one of those ribbon things ya know, with the writing on it simply "Autism" and he asked about the significance of that symbol, telling me he has "one of those at home too" but not meaning the magnet but rather a child.
I asked how old his was and he said "Eleven, with Aspergers." The conversation picked up from there as we talked about these people in our lives and the love we shared each for our own came through, loud and strong.
As he left, his parting words to me were "These kids take a lot of love and prayer but they are so well worth it in the end." How true, how true!
And that my friends is why I was thankful for having received my economic stimulus check this week that enabled us to purchase that 100 gallons of fuel today and that today, the fuel company saw fit to send this man to deliver it to us.
I was really happy to see the Oilman Come and very happy to hear the words he exchanged with me today too.
And for that, I was and will remain, truly blessed and very thankful.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
The "BIG BANG"
If you've been blogging for a length of time, you may have seen this before and already added your blog to the list. Right now, there are over 1,100 bloggers listed here. I've been on it for quite awhile now as my blog is somewhere in the 200 number range. Participating in this "Big Bang" is a great way to build ratings for one's blog -plus if you scan over the bloggers shown, see some that look interesting to you, it's also a good way to find new and interesting blogs you may enjoy, want to add to your blogroll too.
So today, when I saw that Stine, my Norweigan blogger buddy, had once again resurrected this post, I scanned through it quickly to make sure my blog is showing there (it is) and in doing so, I also tried to track how many bloggers are listed on it that are also on my blogroll, on my reader. That gave me a big surprise as although I have close to 150 blogs now on my reader and almost as many on my blogroll, only about ten of those bloggers did I see on this list!
So, to all my readers, I'm asking you now to participate in this great adventure in the blogoverse. Simply copy this into a post on your page and be sure to enter your own blog's name at the end of the copied portion -where it says "End copy here" ya know! Then sit back and watch how it grows! Like a big old mushroom cloud it should become if everyone participates in this project. Watch your rankings increase -along with everyone else's too who particpates in this. It's easy, it's fun. Now come on in and join the crowd. Take a swim, cause the water's fine!
Got more questions? The master list for this "Big Bang" post is here.
*Start Copy Here*
Hint: when you copy this list, make sure that you paste into the "Compose" mode of your post, so that you maintain all the links.
This list should grow indefinitely. I highly recommend that every participant schedules a weekly update. That way maximum linkage will be derived for every participant and this process will keep this list growing.
So today, when I saw that Stine, my Norweigan blogger buddy, had once again resurrected this post, I scanned through it quickly to make sure my blog is showing there (it is) and in doing so, I also tried to track how many bloggers are listed on it that are also on my blogroll, on my reader. That gave me a big surprise as although I have close to 150 blogs now on my reader and almost as many on my blogroll, only about ten of those bloggers did I see on this list!
So, to all my readers, I'm asking you now to participate in this great adventure in the blogoverse. Simply copy this into a post on your page and be sure to enter your own blog's name at the end of the copied portion -where it says "End copy here" ya know! Then sit back and watch how it grows! Like a big old mushroom cloud it should become if everyone participates in this project. Watch your rankings increase -along with everyone else's too who particpates in this. It's easy, it's fun. Now come on in and join the crowd. Take a swim, cause the water's fine!
Got more questions? The master list for this "Big Bang" post is here.
*Start Copy Here*
You do not have to be tagged to play along. This game is simple and so are the rules.
1. Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*
2. Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post the "Big Bang" at each site you add.
3. Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the longer the list will grow.
4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list. (If you would like the instructions for the scroll box code, leave me your email address and I will email it to you. The scroll box is totally cusomizeable.)
5. Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in. Once you are on the master list people who have participated earlier will update their bookmarks and help everyone lower than them out on the list.
1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Juliana's Site 3-Rusin Roundup 4-Grow Rich Along With Me 5-Comedy Plus 6-lynda's loft 7-Amel's Realm 8-MAX 9-Speedcat Hollydale 10-Mariuca 11-Complain Complain Complain 12-Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 13-Life Is A Roller Coaster 14-Sugar Queen's Dream 15-First Time Dad 16-Life 17-My Life 18-The Painted Veil 19-My Thoughts 20-DatCurious.com 21-Little Aussie Cynic 22-A Nice Place in the Sun 23-DatMoney.com 24-The Down Side OF Up 25-Ladyjava's Lounge 26-Cat Tales 27-moms.....check nyo 28-Colorado Baby 29-It's a Woman's World 30-ENLIGHTENED BITS 31-My View of "It" 32-My Reviews and Finds Along the Way 33-Our Hep Chat 34-Rantings of a Woman 35-The Callalily Space 36-Mom Knows Everything 37-Hazel 38-Chronicles and Tales Unlimited (RED) 39-From the Mouth of Jabber Jaws 40-Sunny Side Up Foodie & Lifestyle 41-Carmel Corn 42-Daily Stock Picks 43-The Whole New World 44-Wifespeak 45-Slavery Bliss 46-Rooms of My Heart 47-Unpredictable Life 48-My Life, My World 49-At Your Service 50-All About Ebay 51-Everything Amazon 52-Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out 53-My So-Called Site 54-New Wife Blog 55-Tendre Poison 323 56-Nick's Bytes 57-My Scratch Pad 58-Choc Mint Girl 59-Life Is Just Around the Corner... 60-Amori, poseia, art... virtuali by Hanna 61-Maryannaville 62-monaco - monaco's 63-Nyumix's Blog 64-read my mind - my keyboard monologues 65-Shower You Children With Love - The Right Way 66-Secret Agent Mama 67-Pinaymama's Diary 68-Answers to the Questions 69-Work of the Poet 70-A Total Blog 71-My life, my hope, my future 72-NORTE 73-A Window to Our World 74-Life as a Mom 75-FIELD OF DREAMS 76-lisgold 77-See Me for What You 78-Caught in The Stream 79-Pinay Mommy Online - My Home 80-foster me up 81-CRUEL VIRGIN 82-Garden of Moments in Blog 83-So Cute 84-Love Everlasting 85-WeLcOmE To My CriB 86-WELCOM TO PINAYSMILE'S JOURNEY 87-Ice's Icelog 88-Jenny's Wandering Thoughts 89-Hobbies and Such 90-Sweet Paradise 91-Mommy's Gibble Gabbles 92-Rusin Recipe Roundup 93-My Small World 94-Little Peanut 95-Online Ramblings 96-My Mood My Feeling 97-BLOG it with ALLEN 98-Entertainment World 99-Let's Go Singapore 100-Firelynx 101-Catsy Carpe Diem 102-Every Beat Of My Heart 103-Always Da Fresh Princess 104-Listening.. 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