Hand Art & Other Fun Stuff

This weekend Christian came over. I took him with me to pick Maizie up at school on Friday. He was very curious to see Maizie's school and was a bit taken a back when he realized how "un school like" it was. When we arrived Maizie was playing Battleship with a friend. I was excited to see that because I loved that game as a kid. Marie and I would play it all the time. Maizie showed Christian her decorated desk (cubicle). Christian nodded letting us know he approved.

Christian asked if he could see the school's Wii by smiling and growling all silly like,"I wanna see the Wii!" He did not believe me when I told him Maizie's school had a Wii and that the kids played it often. Maizie showed him the Wii and Christian began jumping around the room all giddy. I guess he is easily impressed. Maizie would love to have a Wii but I am happy to let that be something she can look forward to at school. Back at home Maizie and Christian were into the Play-doh. They were busy making "breakfast" for a few hours. I was thrilled since this was a quiet activity.The rest of the weekend Maizie became obsessed with making hand drawings. I purchased her the book Hand Art by KLUTZ a few years ago. She has loved that book ever since. For Maizie the fine motor and planning skills involved in placing her hand in the correct position and tracing it have been a challenge. I am happy to say that she is getting very good at it. I love this book!Last week I was on an organizing/cleaning spree. I accomplished a whole lot. Wahoo! The weather was gorgeous and I felt motivated so I just went with it.

Christian does not like the candy...I am drooling and the pumpkin that made me bleed.

Happy Halloween! Maizie had a great day at school. When I dropped her off they were all out in costumes playing with silly string. Maizie did not look pleased. Once I picked her up though she said, "Will you please...please...please...buy me some of that silly string." I was shocked. For Maizie to be willing to go near the stuff and then request it...wow!

One of Maizie's classmates was too cute wearing an elephant costume. I said, "Oh! You look so cute! You are an elephant." He replied, "No! I am not an elephant. I am Max in an elephant costume!" He made me repeat this information to be sure I had it correct. Yes. He proved me wrong indeed.After school we took off to Marie's house for dinner and trick or treating. At one point my thirteen year old nephew Daniel hid behind a house and jumped out and scared Christian. Daniel was not in a costume but his loud scream scared Christian. Joe and I were hoping to get through the night without a tear fest from Christian. No luck. Christian was at first stunned silent. Joe and I stared..waiting. Suddenly the cry came...no...more like a loud wail followed by crocodile tears and lots of shrieks. Not good.

Maizie being more patient than us at that moment went to Christian and asked, "Mom. Do you have a tissue." I did not. She leaned down and gently wiped Christian's tears away with her hand. Too sweet. This seemed to have an almost instant calming response from Christian.Back at the house Christian dumped out his bucket o' treats. Yes, he was very happy. Amazingly enough Christian will refuse the majority of his candy. He says, "My mom can eat it. I don't like this candy!" Must be nice. I was drooling at the site of the Hershey bars. Talk about tempting!Once back home we lit our pumpkins. Maizie's is on the top and the one that tried to butcher me is on the bottom. Yeah, it looks so satisfied after making me bleed. There was supposed to be a nose but we gave up after my tragic injury.;)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Is Your Dog Autistic?

Tonight we took Joe to the airport for a last minute trip to Detroit. The traveling seems more than normal lately. His company is talking about having him teach more which means more time in Jersey. They miss him teaching. It is a miracle they let us live here, in Indiana. I know they would prefer we were in Jersey or New Hampshire. Sigh.

Maizie and I took off for the dog park once it was a tad cooler out. While we were sitting at the picnic table we were talking to Lisa who is new to our town and the dog park. Lisa is a dog groomer and studying to be a vet. Maizie was interested in her dog named Rocco. A pudgy brown and black miniature pincher (I think). I wish I would have had my camera with me.

As we were talking Maizie was asking her usual string of questions concerning Lisa's dog. Lisa told Maizie the story of how Rocco's previous owners would tie Rocco to the stove and burn his tiny paws on it. She went on to explain that Rocco suffers from panic attacks but is doing much better in his new home. Maizie listened intently while petting Rocco, paused and then asked a new question. It went like this.

Maizie: (buries her head in my arm and mumbles) Is your dog Rocco Autistic?

Marla: (Eyes bulge and I am speechless)

Lisa: What? (Lisa did not hear Maizie since she was shyly mumbling the question)

Maizie: (Continues staring intently at Rocco as if doing an examination.)

Marla: (Nervous laugh) Maizie wants to know if Rocco is Autistic. Maizie is Autistic so I think she is curious about Rocco. (I begin sweating wondering what Lisa will say) Maizie, that is a very good question. I don't know if dogs can be Autistic or not.

Lisa: (Big smile) That is a very good question! I don't know if Rocco is Autistic. It is very possible that he is.

Marla: (A big sigh of relief.)

The conversation then moved on to Maizie explaining that she was "not adopted in my belly". She was "adopted in her birth mother's belly." Maizie went on to say that her birth mother chose us to be her parents because she did not know how to take care of babies.

It did not take long before Lisa said she was going to cry. Sure enough, I saw tears welling up in her eyes.

I don't know why but I quickly changed the subject back to her cute dog Rocco. I was feeling a tad overwhelmed with Maizie's intense insightfulness with Lisa, who we just met.

Lisa gave us her business card and phone number. Something tells me Maizie and I made a new friend tonight.

The Autism testing today went fine, I think. I dropped her off and she was happy and when I picked her up she was ecstatic to be showing the woman her favorite guinea pig videos on You Tube.

I will get a call in a few weeks after they go over everything. I really want to know what they think they can offer sooner than that. I am growing impatient. I feel like I am putting all my eggs into this one basket right now and I really don't like to do that. Breathe. I will take this two weeks to remember all the reasons we home school/unschool and remember that we are doing fine, I just need some extra help. If we are unable to get it at the Autism Center we will go back to expensive tutoring.

I asked Maizie about the time she was at the Children's Autism Center and she said, "Mom. No! Don't ask me questions. She asked me questions. That's it! Now let me listen to my music." Argh! I go back to listening to my Neil Diamond.