NYC, here I come!

I'm off again, for a whirlwind 30 hour trip to New York City. My friend Danny and I are going back to the Big Apple, this time to see The Color Purple on Broadway.

This is my birthday gift from Dan. It's a gift from Dave, as well, as he is my wonderful support system who understands that Moms sometimes need to get away!

Yes, I'm a lucky bastard of a grrl. ;-)

We're leaving tonight and will come home tomorrow evening. This time, we've got a Nav system in the Element, so hopefully we'll have an even better trip.

Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll have pics to post tomorrow night. Well, maybe I'll actually try to sleep...if that's the case, I'll be posting Monday!

TTFN,

Paige

Overheard in our home today...(Take 2)

"Money, I love you. Money, I need you. Money, come to me NOW".

This, from Ashlyn, who was holding her little Asian-inspired fuschia purse while chanting aloud.

When I caught her in the act, she quickly told me, "Mama, I need more money, and I think if I say this over and over, money will just come to me!".

Crikey. Now this kid is following The Secret? What next? ;-)

Overheard in our home today...

"Um, Mom? Clinton and Stacy (from TLC's What Not to Wear) say that you should leave something to the imagination".

This, from my 13 year old, Shelby...because I'm wearing this:

And here I thought I was raising such open-minded kids. *sheesh*

Virginia is for (Book) Lovers!

So here I am on a Friday evening, happily typing away on Library Thing, adding more titles to my ever-growing catalog of books, when BAM! I get this message: Free memberships are limited to 200 books. Upgrade to a paid membership and catalog as many books as you like. A yearly membership costs only $10.



Of course, you have to ask yourself: What in the hell is Paige doing adding books to her LibraryThing account on a Friday night? Well, that's a whole other topic altogether. ;-)

This pic shows just a sampling of books I scored this past Sunday, at the Green Valley Book Fair. If you ever get to Mt. Crawford, VA...well...you should mind the cowshit. But also, see if you can arrange to stop by the Book Fair. I bought 35+ books, and only paid $90!! (Some books are absent from the picture, because Shelby swiped her Manga before I could get the pic taken, and I hid some away for future b-day gifts).

More info on the Book Fair: It's usually held 6 times a year, for a couple of weeks each time. Here's the 2007 schedule:

March 17 thru April 1
May 12 thru 28
June 30 thru July 15
August 18 thru September 3
October 6 thru 21
Nov. 23 thru Dec. 9, 2007

Open Only during Scheduled Dates from 9am - 7pm Daily

Now, about that LibraryThing. I guess I'll just pony up the 10 bucks. It's not a lot of money, and I SO have to brag about all my neat-o titles!

By the way, here's the link to my LibraryThing page...see if you have any of the same titles!

Saturday Night Live!

No, not that SNL.

It was Saturday Night FUN at the Parr house...which means Monopoly, of course!

Dave bought Monopoly Here and Now home last night, and so you know we had to break into it tonight, after dinner (most of which was Vegan-fare, by the way)! Shelby was at her best friend's house for a sleepover, so we definitely wanted to do something fun with Tori and Ash.

Bring on the pain! We Parrs are a competitive bunch of nerds, especially when it comes to board games.

I gotta tell ya...this version is way tougher to get the hang of. All of us had a hard time getting used to the larger denominations of $$ (you start out with 2 million, as opposed to $1500 in the "old" version). And forget the Railroads...now they're major US airports.

Oh, as far as tokens go...Dave chose to be the Toyota Prius (no surprise there, he's a car guy).

Tori was the Laptop (Of COURSE...she's my computer kiddo).

Ashlyn chose the Motorola RAZR cellphone

And I chose the Starbucks coffee cup!

If anyone's keeping score, Ashlyn whipped us but good! That is, she was in the lead till Lolo interrupted the game and we had to stop playing. ;-)

Multi-tasking

Moms are never truly alone, are we? ;-)


Here is the view from my dining room table, where I'm blogging (since Dave is playing Civ on our brand-new upstairs computer)!

So, here's Loryn eating an apple (on top of the table, mind you), spinning the lazy Susan and trying to catch a cat by the tail. LOL

Lovely Spring-like weather!

Tori and Loryn in our backyard. What a beautiful day! What beautiful kids! ;-)

Pics from Tuesday

Loryn in a pink t-shirt, on the slide.



Shelby (far left, tall chick with short hair) with friends, at PE.

PE Class

We're fortunate to take part in a very cool "Homeschool PE" Class on Tuesday afternoons. Miss Lauren is a wonderful teacher, who leads the kids in fun, cooperative games and free-play. She offers two classes, one for ages 8 and up, one for the "Not Yet 8s" (don't DARE call them "little kids", unless you want a very pissed off Ashlyn on your hands)!





By the way, Ashlyn is the brown-haired girl in the brown t-shirt on the playground equipment.

We had a wonderful day for outside play. Sunny and in the 70s, in early March...kind of rare for these parts. Fast forward to today (Friday), when we had a lovely "wintry mix" with cold temps, rain, sleet, and snow. Yuck-o. Now that we've "sprung forward", I think I'm ready for Spring to be here.

Unschooling Pre-K Math

You know what they say about Auties obsessively counting objects? Here's Loryn, counting her cereal. No stereotypes here! :-) She counted all of the pieces, too. What a smart girl!




Do you remember the scene in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, where Pee-Wee fixes his elaborate breakfast, then sits down and munches 2-3 bites of cereal, and he's full? This pic reminds me of Pee-Wee. Munch Munch Munch!.

Unschooling "preschool"

Tori helped Lolo with some wooden puzzles today. Loryn thought this was funny...especially when Tori started talking in her Donald-Duck-on-Crack voice.

That kid really looks up to her older sister...and Tori just loves to make Loryn laugh.

Nurse-Ins Across America!

Love, love, love this video. Nursing families of the world UNITE!

Over the Funk

I was, as you know, in a bit of a funk over the last week.

Things are better now, but I realize I wasn't specific (at least here, on the blog) about what the problem was.

Truth is, I don't know that I can be very specific, but I do know this:

Sometimes, when you're a Mama, you've just got to break down and cry. Especially if you're the Mama of a sweet little kid with Autism. I would substitute "issues" or "special needs" for the word "Autism", but let's call a spade a spade, shall we? Besides, I despise those terms...it is what it is: Autism. Autie. Lolo is an AUTist! She's AUTrageous! She's AUTta control!

Funny note: Today, Dave and I did our weekly shopping at Martin's, where there is a Kid's Treehouse (a little room with caregivers, computer games, crafts, make-believe area, etc.), so your kids can stay and play while you shop. (Did I mention that I freakin' LOVE Martin's? I was even able to fill up the van with premium gas for $1.45 a gallon, because of my savings there. Martin's rocks)!

So anyway, we're looking for the Melatonin (to help Lolo sleep), can't find it, and Dave calls me over to where he's looking. He tells me he found a supplement that we might want to try...it's called "Auti-Out"!

And I, ever the dumbass, fell for it. I actually went over and looked, before it hit me that he was joking. Good gawd.

In all seriousness, I had a couple of terrible days in a row, where I could do nothing all day because of Loryn's constant need to be in my space. If I showered, she cried. When I told her "no" over something, she hit me or kicked something. When I put my shoes on, she freaked out and followed me (crying, of course) from room to room. When we did go out, she ran off yelling, nearly getting lost in a store.

This was also the week when I saw this video.




And let me be honest: I found this video depressing. I cried for several minutes while I watched it, and even longer after I watched it.

But watching it again, just now, I see the beauty in silentmiaow's "native language". Watching it several days ago, however, when I was already feeling down, and more than a little stressed, was a bad idea.

Or maybe, it wasn't.

Maybe, it gave me some perspective.

Silentmiaow says that her language is about being in a constant conversation with every aspect of her environment. That made me think about Loryn, and also the way Ashlyn used to be (that is, more "typically" Autistic). What if Autistic people MUST interact with their environments in a "strange" (to us) manner? Hand flapping, chirping, cocking her head and squinting her eyes...these are just a few of Loryn's behaviours, but there are many, many more that Autists may exhibit. These bahaviours are beyond the Autistic person's control, yet so many NTs (Neuro-typicals) are uncomfortable in their presence. It saddens me, but then when I'm out somewhere with Loryn and I can feel the discomfort of others, it fucking pisses me off. I'm only a little bit ashamed to say that I've given my share of dirty looks right back, and even made some off-color remarks a time or two ("Do you have a fucking problem, asshole?" comes to mind). ;-) And I know people don't understand, and I should try to educate them about Autism and yada yada yada, but damn it makes me feel better, in that moment, to give it right back. Mama Lion and all that.

But, I had my cry (rather, cries) last week, and I feel much better now. We're experimenting with earlier bedtimes and more natural rhythms to our days (though, it IS 2:20 am now, and Loryn is still awake with me, eating Doritos and watching VeggieTales). It concerns me that Loryn will be 5 in May and is not trying to use the potty, and that she still wants to nurse several times a day, and that she still doesn't have more words, but it will get better. Now that my pity party is over, I'm seeing the sun shine again. All I have to do is look at Loryn's little face.