On his terms...

...is a ridiculous qualification.

I get that a lot. "His eye contact is excellent." and then someone
else interjects "but it's only on his own terms". I hate to break it
to you, but that is the case for every person on this planet. Some
have broader 'terms' than others. So why the hell does it matter? So,
when he is not focusing his attention on you he doesn't make eye
contact. So what? You know I'd rather that, than have him making eye
contact and not paying a wit of attention to me...

Autistic vs has Autism

Don't know if I've blogged about this before, so I'm blogging about it now.

I've heard compelling explanations for why to choose to use either
autistic or has autism. (autism is a part of the person, but autism
doesn't make the person, etc etc etc).

For me, I use both.

Because, in the English language, THEY MEAN THE SAME THING.

I'm a brunette. I have brown hair. My brown hair is a part of me, but
does not make me who I am. Okay?

okay. I'm done.

--Navi.

We had a fun 4th.

I walked to a friend of Lola's house with Lola to deliver a birthday
party invitation.

Neal made yummy barbecue.

Since I spent too long chatting with Lola's friend's mom, Neal decided
it was too late to walk down to fireworks and he was too full to walk
down, etc, etc. One hissy fit and a few minutes quiet later, we were
on our way... (yes, I am bad, but the last few outings I planned
didn't pan out because I didn't insist :P)

Neal decided to take dog, so this was an interesting trip coordinating
2 strollers and dog. Initially Lola, Neal and I switched off which we
had, but we decided to tie dog to Tristan's stroller for the trip
back, because the whole Lola handling stroller or dog in dark wasn't
flying... Tristan's stroller is the lightest, being a jogger, esp,
because I'd stopped at the store and loaded up the back of the Joovy
with groceries that I'm pretty sure weighed more than Tristan, at
least pushing that stroller was harder than pushing it with both Lily
& Tristan

Anyway, Neal had originally planned on watching from the sidewalk on
the bridge over the railroad tracks... Since we got there well before
it was dark enough to start, I suggested we go down by the highschool,
so we wouldn't be so near the road. It was the perfect spot. Not too
crowded, and at least half the people there were families with kids,
so they wouldn't be too bothered by my own kids' shenanigans...

The fireworks were gorgeous. Tristan did try to run around a little
bit, but for the most part he was either in my lap or my arms or his
stroller hugging my arm and watching them intently, and smiling
periodically. I think he liked them. : ) Lily and Lola liked them of
course and were their typical excitable don't want to sit down but
want to sit and watch selves. Sophie didn't seem to mind the fireworks
either and watched them while curled up w/ Neal. Lily ran back and
forth between me, Neal and Lola. (we also noticed some little ones
across the lot circling their parents' and older sibling's feet... so
ours weren't the only wild ones. :)

The walk, while tiring, was also loads of fun. I enjoy walking w/ my family.

not delirious

lily's pretty darn good at repetition, but she doesn't quite pronounce
things right, so it's kinda funny, in a twisted and wrong way, to ask
if she's, say, delirious, after she's mad and saying 'I not dad' over
and over, so she switches to 'I not [unintelligble] I not dedirius...'

Transportation

So I was riding the bus with my kids all day today. Bus has rule: kids
out of stroller. I explain son is autistic, all but one says, okay,
just make sure stroller is secure. Except the last one. I warn him
he'll have to stop the bus because I can't keep the typical 2 yr old
in line if I'm holding the 5 yr old. Sure enough, he had to stop at
one point. (in addition to trister squirming in my arms at one point
to the point where he was upside down, head near the floor). I call
CATA to complain when I get home. Sure enough, driver should have
accomodated the disability. I did explain that it seemed he didn't
understand it was ok.

But seriously, my kid is big. I've got a Joovy... He's certainly safer
in the stroller than loose, disabled or not...

Sent from my iPod