Halloween is right around the corner...

...and I knew Cuddlebug was going to want to dress up as some obscure Pokemon. I was worried he'd pick some oddly-shaped Pokemon that I wouldn't be able to figure out how to make a costume for. Thankfully, he picked this one:It's a Pokemon called Salamence, and well, I'm thinking maybe that one won't be so hard to do. I mean, basically it's a dragon. I should be able to find...

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Messages

Barbara at TherExtras is hosting a blog carnival with the theme "Messages."I've been pondering this one for a while. When I think of "messages" I think of communication, one person sending and the other(s) receiving. I've written a lot here about different aspects of communication, both verbal and non-verbal.So I thought I'd change it up a bit and write about the messages we...

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Magic Marker Monday: Vase

Cuddlebug brought this home from school on Friday. I love it! I'm taking it to work tomorrow to hang up next to this one.Visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs for more Magic Marker Monday.If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or R...

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Random Updates: Singing, Spelling & Scouts

I haven't had a chance to do much blogging this week, but I do have some updates (as much for my own journal as anything else):We've seen some new talents really emerging lately from Little Bitty - singing and spelling. And with the spelling - reading! He wants to spell out pretty much every word he sees, and he's committing a lot of them to memory. I showed him a list of words...

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Houston: We have poop!! (Updated)

LOL, I can only imagine the google searches I'm going to get now but oh well.Mr. Bitty pooped on the potty yesterday!! Woohoo! He hasn't even wanted to TRY, in fact has gotten extremely upset whenever we suggested so much as an attempt. And then yesterday he just jumped up there and did it all on his own.We suspect that maybe he couldn't find a pull-up to bring us (we're almost...

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Special Exposure & Wordless Wednesday

Click here for more Special Exposure Wednesday. Click here or here for more Wordless Wednesday.If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or R...

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Blog Carnival at TherExtras: Messages

In case you hadn't seen it, just wanted to let you know about the blog carnival coming up over at TherExtras. The theme is "Messages" and if you'd like to participate you'll need to submit your link by next Wednesday, 9/23.If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or R...

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Baby Picture Sunday: Toes!

Time to lighten things up around here, and how better to do that than with adorable baby pictures? :)This week's theme at Who Says 8 is Enough? is "Twinkle Toes."I had to think about this one, but then I remembered these:Cuddlebug's toes sticking out of his swaddle-blankie :)Little Bitty's little-bitty toes!If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or R...

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How do I explain?

Yesterday morning, Cuddlebug asked me about 9/11. He wanted to know if "nine-eleven" means the numbers to call the police. I answered that yes, 9-1-1 is what we dial if there's an emergency (we've discussed before but I guess he forgot?) but I suspected that wasn't really what he'd seen reference to, so I added that "nine-eleven" refers to a date, September 11, 2001. By that...

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Remembering Grandma Marian

Today marks 17 years since my Grandma Marian passed away on September 11, 1992 after a long battle with cancer / leukemia. She was just 14 days shy of her 70th birthday.Grandma Marian was a beautiful person - a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. She and my mom taught me how to play Solitaire, and whenever we visited we'd pull out three decks of cards and play Triple Solitaire...

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Remembering Debora Maldonado

About a month ago, I signed up to write a tribute for one of the people who lost their lives on 9/11 as part of Project 2,996. The goal is to honor them by remembering their lives.Meet Debora (Debbie) Maldonado. Nicknamed “Mouse” by her husband, Otelio, for her short stature, she was anything but timid. She is remembered as feisty and warm-hearted, a shopoholic who loved a bargain,...

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Twins in the Womb

This is too funny :)If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or R...

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Mondays in Motion #18: Pokemon

I remembered this month! It's the first Monday of the month, time to share a video for Mondays in Motion.Since I missed last month, I'm sharing two (they're both short). The first one is Bearhug, with help from Cuddlebug, giving us a tutorial on Giratina, one of the newest Pokemon they had caught when this was filmed. Needless to say, they were excited because they'd been hoping...

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Magic Marker Monday: Gordon

A couple of weeks ago, Bitty brought me his watercolors and put them in my hand. This is a rare request for him, usually he isn't particularly interested in artistic endeavors."Do you want to paint?""Pay""Do you want me to open this?""Opeh""What do you say?""Opeh... PWEEZ!"I opened up the paints for him and found a little bowl and put a small amount of water in (the less to make...

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Autistic Teen Finds Inner Voice

Frog's Mom shared this on her blog and it is such an incredible story I wanted to share it here too.Meet Carly, a teenage girl with autism. She is non-verbal and until age 11 had no way to really communicate with those around her. Then she started typing... and found a way to share her inner voice with the world. She and her family are amazing.I think anyone who loves (and is...

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Baby Picture Sunday: Holding Hands

Today's theme for Baby Picture Sunday is "I wanna hold your hand." Time to share some shots of holding hands :).There's the one in my header, of course, but you see that one every time you visit :). So here are some others that I found.This is a fairly recent one, this is Bitty holding his grandma's hand on a walk.And here are a couple of Cuddlebug and Bearhug holding hands as...

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The silent treatment

Bearhug and Cuddlebug are quite verbal, and for that I am grateful. However, it is clear to me that while they may make it look effortless to the average observer, it does in fact take a fair amount of effort. I notice their words beginning to slur whenever they are tired or over-stimulated. Sometimes when it’s too much effort, they resort to hand signals and body language (pointing,...

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SOOC Saturday: Working together

The "big boys" all doing yardwork together:while Little Bitty supervises ;)For more SOOC Saturday, visit Slurping Life.If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or R...

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Interpreting Bitty

Before Cuddlebug and Bearhug were diagnosed with autism, I had never heard of echolalia. Cuddlebug in particular had a habit of frequently repeating back the last thing we said, and except when it was obvious that his response didn't make sense, I just took it at face value as a response. (I learned the hard way that's not always a great idea, misinterpreting a response can lead...

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