Easter

Passing

Whenever we start an new activity I find myself torn about the "A" word. Does the subject of autism need to come up? Quinn has made such good progress that I always wonder if anyone would think anything was not as it should. Then it's usually the case that things don't go quite as they might and I end up offering an explanation for why Quinn is clinging to the front door when it's time to do parachute at Gymboree or why he is covering his ears at the swimming pool. It's then when I think of idea of passing in the way I read about it in books, people of other races passing as whites in order to have a better life, or Jews in Nazi Germany passing as non Jews, to be treated the way a person would like to be, not as a second class citizen. I always wonder if that's what I am hoping for, that Quinn can pass, just be another kid, not someone who needs to be treated differently. Do I want that for me of for him? I guess the answer is for both of us. I want him to try different things to see what he enjoys doing, but then I stop to wonder when he isn't having fun doing those new things, do I keep pushing to see if he will grow comfortable with it or do I just assume it's not an activity for him and try something else. How hard do I push and for how long? I guess that's a mystery to be handled delicately.

St Pat's

The weather on St Patrick's day was so warm! It was a great day to play outside! We did wear green, but not much else about the day spoke to what one might think of doing on St Pat's, no parades were attended, no corned beef was consumed, but we still had fun!

Swimming

The kids started swimming lessons last week, it was not a rousing success! It went pretty much as expected. Cooper was happy about going, Sydney was excited about the pool, but not going off with a stranger and Quinn was down on the entire experience. At least this week went much better! The kids went out one at a time with an instructor and no one was as upset as last week. Maybe by the end of the six classes they will be little fish!

Taste of Spring

Thank you spring for sticking your head out and saving our sanity after months of house arrest! Each day brings my spirits alive! Yipeee! Now if I can just convince the kids to pedal their bikes, we'd really be talking!

Bounce House

I can't tell you what a great investment the bounce house has been during what seemed to be a never ending winter! The kids have become such outdoors people and it is always very hard on them to be stuck inside trying to ride bikes around the kitchen island. We were planning on finishing off the basement for additional play space, but realized there was no big hurry until the kids were more independent in their ability to go up and down the stairs. There was no way everyone would want to be down in the basement all at once and with meals and snacks, the downstairs could wait. With our first floor already bursting at the seems with toys, I wasn't sure we had the real estate for the bounce house, but it has worked fine! The kids use it every day! Now that the weather is getting warmer, we'll have to see what the fate of the bounce house will be. Probably it will get packed up at some point until the next winter season, but for right now it is still a good friend.

Merry Christmas!

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Christmas was more fun this year than last year! At least this year the kids were able to say Santa, tree, reindeer, Christmas, etc. I don't think they really get who Jesus or Santa is completely, but they are getting the hang of it. We haven't had our big family party yet, so the holiday has been pretty low key. They definitely think it's fun to have new toys to play with.

I'm sure next year will be more fun. We'll have to be more on our toes and get our stories straight. No more storing presents in plain site until they are wrapped, no wrapping presents right in front of them. Cookies will have to be set out for Santa, we'll have to start hiding presents and wrapping the Santa gifts in a different paper. Next year the kids will be out of cribs and may wake us up earlier than the 7:30 we got up this year. Next year may be a whole new ballgame. I was sure to enjoy how low key it all was this year. I can look back at how it was last year at this season and in some ways life is so different, in other ways not much has changed. I look forward to doing this again next year and hopefully seeing even more progress. Maybe next year Sydney will be eating food, maybe Quinn will be talking as well as Cooper and Sydney? Who knows? All we can do is wait and see how this life unfolds.