. . .watch CN and Nick will appreciate this one:
I’ve allowed my kids to enjoy spending their credits on Fruit by the Foot treats on the way to and from school. Here was this morning’s conversation:
Hamhock: “I replace your cough by Fruit by the Foot.”
Superboy: *coughs* “So you did.”
Hamhock & [...]
Number of comments: 1 . . . but today was the first day that Hamhock went to school just fine without his strawberry Fruit by the Foot reward (ok, fine. . . call it a bribe, whatever. . .). Two darn stores didn’t have the strawberry flavor, and so I bought the combo flavors, [...]
Whew.
First week of school under our belts, and I’m purely exhausted. Getting Hamhock anywhere ON TIME is a challenge. Doing it 5 days in a row is going to be exhausting.
And, I suspect it is for him, too. Everything he does requires a lot more energy, focus and determination for [...]
Number of comments: 2 So. . . yesterday was the first day of Kindergarten.
It went OK. Hamhock was a little apprehensive, didn’t say much one way or the other on the way to school, and as soon as he saw his buddy Wes he started to look like he was excited. It was a [...]
Here’s Superboy lately:
Sb: “Mom?”
Me: “What?”
Sb: (4-year old babbling)
Sb: “Mom?”
Me: “I’m right here.”
Sb: (More 4-year old babbling)
Sb: “Mom?”
Me: (Waiting for his commentary)
Sb: “MOM?!?!?!”
Me: (Sigh). “I’m right here, I can hear you.”
Sb: (More 4-year old babbling)
Why does it get annoying? It’s normal, healthy and appropriate speech-related development for a kid. Yet it [...]
Number of comments: 5 . . .I live in one of the most non-diverse homogenous states in the nation.
All the kids in the neighborhood are white. All the kids in his preschool were white. All the kids at church are white. Hamhock has no black friends. None. (Sorry Roxanne, we’re trying).
Not that there’s anything [...]
Number of comments: 4 . . . but I just have to emote. . .
Evidently there is some buzz about Oprah Winfrey plugging her bio-identical hormone therapy after menopause (June issues of Reader’s Digest & Newsweek).
On both accounts there were parallels drawn to Jenny McCarthy and The Great Vaccine Debate. The argument is that [...]
I’ve been so excited by the better behavior and no fighting or hitting since we started the Nurtured Heart Approach to discipline, that I’ve let some of Hamhock’s dietary resctrictions slide. Both boys have been so excited to “spend” their credits on treats (and eventually working up to earning a [...]
Number of comments: 2 For the first time the other day, we went to Toys R Us and we didn’t have a huge meltdown or tantrum to buy a toy (I usually avoid this store).
But I kept reminding Hamhock and Superboy that when they earn enough credits they’ll be able to buy a toy. [...]
Yesterday we went to the zoo with Hamhock’s friend from preschool.
I recently found a discipline approach that works for us: The Nurtured Heart Approach to Transforming the Difficult Child, and it has kept me in awe when it works everyday.
Hamhock pushed his friend while they were climbing the rocks by [...]
Number of comments: 2 Gulp. Turns out, it isn’t.
This study printed in the Washington Post found that 50% of the samples of high-fructose corn syrup contained MERCURY!!!! OMIFREAKINGGOSH!!!! You know mercury is one of the MOST TOXIC SUBSTANCES ON EARTH, right?
When I was a junior in college studying in Heidelberg, Germany, I remember some German [...]
Number of comments: 2 OK. I’m taking a leap of faith here. . .
As of Groundhog day, we’ve started doing a new Brain Balance Program which I will call FDS Therapy. It is based on the hypothesis that children who present symptoms such as autism, ADD, OCD, dyslexia, etc., are all really showing symptoms [...]
Number of comments: 1 Wow, Leeann Whiffen is working hard. . .she is a local mom who I contacted after Hamhock was diagnosed, and before we started ABA Therapy.
Bill could mandate health insurance for autism therapy
By Heather May
The Salt Lake Tribune
Posted: 12/15/2008 03:50:51 PM MST
Leann Whiffen and her son, Clay, play on a trampoline [...]
Number of comments: 2 I called around to compare the varying costs of hiring an RDI Consultant. Here’s what I found out as of November 2008:
Susan Hollar, MS, CCC: 15 years RDI experience, has re-certified with the RDI program for 4 years, including achieving supervisory status. Charges $1,000 for the assessments (called the RDA [...]
Number of comments: 4 Hamhock is “enjoying” lots of sensory issues right now.
If his pants/socks/underwear get one spot of water on them, off they go.
Yup. He goes through a stack of 2 dozen underwear and a drawer-full of socks in probably 3 days.
Here’s the drill: He leaves preschool all bundled up in his coat, [...]
Seriously.
Just don’t do it.
If you’d like to raise the IQ of your unborn baby, then take Nordic Natural Omega 3’s. Nordic Naturals offer probably the most pure cod liver oil and Omega 3’s on the market.
Evidently, the FDA is awaiting approval to reverse its current position that pregnant women, nursing [...]
Number of comments: 2 Hamhock’s favorite phrase right now when he’s angry at me it to say:
“Mom, you’re stupid!”
(Well, I may not be arguing that fact, but it sure is getting old hearing my boys call me stupid, as well as telling me that they want a new mommy. . . grrrr. . .)
So [...]
Number of comments: 1 So I have no idea where he got it, but Hamhock is totally channeling Donald Trump lately.
If he doesn’t like you in the moment, or is mad at you for some reason, he points right at you and says: “You’re fired!”
Hilarious. [...]
Number of comments: 5 Hamhock: “Dear Heavenly Father:
Thank you for Eric not throwing up. Thank you for Daddy not getting a bloody nose. Thank you for Mommy not getting owies. Thank you for me not getting owies.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
All events that have happened recently. Cute to know what’s on a [...]
The boys talked me into buying some Newman O’s cookies the other day. For being gluten-free, they’re actually pretty good - almost like a generic version of an Oreo.
While they were gleefully eating them at the kitchen table at our new house (yay!) Hamhock set a cookie at the empty [...]
Number of comments: 1 Superboy asked to play “Duck duck goose” the other day after we dropped off Hamhock at preschool. I have never played with him before, and it constantly amazes me what my kids learn when I’m not looking and stressing out about other things.
So we played, complete with imaginary kids in [...]
Number of comments: 1 So peeking in to Hamhock’s preschool yesterday. . .he was sitting in the circle of kids after singing their opening welcome song and watching Mrs. Riley read a book. . .
No fidgeting.
No poking other kids.
No staring at other things.
No stimming.
No climbing the walls.
Sitting on his bottom like the other kids.
Actually [...]
Number of comments: 1 For all my friends who are “mothers at the swings:” (Warning: this will choke you up.)
The Mother at the Swings
by Vicki Forman
It’s a Sunday afternoon. My nine-year-old daughter Josie is at home drawing cartoons with my husband and I’m swinging my six-year-old son Evan at the park. Evan laughs and [...]
Two weeks ago we went to the zoo with my Pennsylvania friend Kelly and her kids (a boy two weeks older than Hamhock, and a girl three months younger than Superboy, and a new little baby girl).
Hamhock wanted to hold little baby My and so I held her half-way on [...]
Number of comments: 4 So far success at preschool! WAHOO!!!
Mrs. Riley said Hamhock did great for his first day of preschool last Monday. She even said she wouldn’t have known if he had any sort of delays. He’s following directions, engaging in activities, sitting still for snack time. (And it all reinforces my theory [...]
Number of comments: 3 I helped Hamhock get an apple out of the fridge on Sunday. He peeled off the little sticker, stuck it on my hand and declared: “Mom, you’re an apple!”
Superboy told Foo the other day: “I want to get married someday.” Foo asked him what her name would be, and he [...]
Number of comments: 6 Omigosh! Hamhock just asked THE question about where he came from. He’s 4 years, 8 months.
I was putting him to bed when Foo came up after putting Superboy to bed, and we began telling Foo about swimming at Fairmont today and how both boys stayed in the warm shower in [...]
Number of comments: 2 Hamhock helped me unload the dishwasher this week.
The. Entire. Thing.
Huh? How is that possible?
Well, it’s RDI: Relationship Development Intervention.
We officially started this week, after 3 months of training for Foo & I with our RDI Consultant, Scott Pryor. Scott video-taped a 3 hour evaluation of our interactions with Hamhock, to [...]
Number of comments: 1 Or should that be daze, in this summer heat?
I took the boys to Fairmont Pool for the first time in 2 years. Two years ago Hamhock freaked me out with his complete lack of fear, being in close proximity to 3 feet of water, and it freaked me out to [...]
Number of comments: 1 I used to love sleeping. Especially when you can fully stretch out and most especially on clean sheets.
Now I have at least one night a week of sleep interrupted.
It’s that kind of interruption where you wake up, sometimes in a panic. There’s a problem, and I have to fix it. [...]
Number of comments: 1 I just have to vent my beef about the article in Time Magazine on May 21: How Safe Are Vaccines?
Let me state that I believe that both sides of the vaccine debate are actually right.
(Isn’t that true about many things in life - that people’s experiences aren’t black and white, [...]
Number of comments: 4 Hamhock laughed hysterically both times I took him to see Horton Hears a Who.
It arrived this week at the dollar theater, and dollar movies are FABULOUS movies to take kids to. The seats are crappy, the sound even worse, and when you go at 1 pm in the middle of [...]
Number of comments: 1 No, not as in Cats (Foo shuddering and convulsing at just the mere mention).
I’ve often wondered what my kids’ first memories will be (and please oh please oh please don’t let it be me yelling at them). Mine is sometime around age 3, feeling the exhilaration as well as fear [...]
Number of comments: 2 Well, Hamhock is in that four-year old phallic stage right now. Who wouldn’t be enthralled about such a curious unit that does funny things?
The other day his member was ’standing at attention’ and Hamhock says:
“Mom? Will my peni$ get so big? Will it go all the way to the sky?”
Me, [...]
I’m sitting in the children’s section at Barnes & Noble leafing through a newly published, oversized book called Autism Heroes. Superboy is so cute and playing with the Thomas the Train set. Hamhock is at home in an ABA session with Anya. The book profiles stories and has great photography [...]
Number of comments: 6 I am positive that is exactly what another mom was whispering about me to her husband at the Children’s Museum yesterday.
As I tried to inch closer so I could make out what she was saying, she stopped talking and moved away, so it pretty much confirmed that was exactly her [...]
Number of comments: 3 . . .stops me cold.
For example, you try to engage Hamhock in conversation about something you’d like to talk about, or think he might be interested it. He doesn’t respond, ignores you, or plays with something else. You stop trying to engage him about that thing and roll with what [...]
Number of comments: 3 Hamhock: “Mom I’m mad at ya.” (He’s recently been using the casual form of “you.” It’s so cute.)
Me: “Why are you mad at me?’
Hamhock: “‘Cause you did something.”
Me: “What did I do?”
Hamhock: “I don’t know.”
A few minutes later he said he wanted to pump some gas in the [...] [...]
Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are heading up a Green our Vaccines March in Washington, DC on June 4, 2008.
Yes!
We need to eliminate the toxins that are still present in most vaccines to make them safe for not just the majority of children, but ALL children, especially those that are [...]
Number of comments: 1 So. . . I’ve decided to ditch the guilt.
At least, until we’re done with RDI training.
Backstory: We’re in-between 2 different therapy programs, and so any non-therapy time usually leaves me feeling guilty that we are wasting precious brain-rewiring time, sad that I don’t know how to better interact with Hamhock, [...]
Number of comments: 4 I guess Foo & I haven’t quite “accepted” the autism yet.
We’re still frustrated, angry, grumpy, tired, stressed, stretched thin, worried, anxious.
I remember meeting families with children with special needs in the past and thinking: “Geesh, just quit worrying about it so much.”
Now I understand.
There’s a problem, so all you do [...]
Number of comments: 2 I haven’t bought tortilla chips in a while - you know, empty calories and all that. Today I found one serving left so I bagged them up and bribed Hamhock out to the car so we could go to the Living Planet Aquarium today.
Worked like a charm. Worked so well [...]
I’m a Texas girl.
I am! I was born in Ft. Worth in 1970, when my dad was working as an engineer before he started his PhD program in History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University nine months later.
I actually haven’t been back since.
But I married a Texas boy.
Foo was [...]
Number of comments: 2 I absolutely love it when I hear Hamhock say things that he’s heard me or Foo say. Today we were playing in the laundry room, Hamhock was crawling back and forth on top of the dryer and washing machine looking at the spiderwebs on the ceiling and wondering where the [...]
We had to perform surgery on Buzz Lightyear and Superman today. Buzz’s hand was severed at the wrist, and Superman lost his lower right leg, severed at the knee cap. I brought out the glue gun (although it really doesn’t hold for stuff like this) and let Hamhock have at [...]
So I have no idea where he got it, but Hamhock is totally channeling Donald Trump lately.
If he doesn’t like you in the moment, or is mad at you for some reason, he points right at you and says: “You’re fired!”
Hilarious. [...] 
