Little Bitty and Talkin' Santa

Dh found a talking Santa app for his phone, basically it repeats back whatever you say and Bitty LOVES it. I love his laugh, and the way he pronounces "talkin'" :)...

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End of November: Getting ready for Christmas

Found this in my drafts from 11/27, apparently I left it unposted until I could upload the pictures to go with it, and then forgot about it. Can't believe it's been a month since I posted! ---------------------------- Sometimes it's nice to get a break from the routine, even if we do pay a price for it (it's always such an ordeal to get back into the routine once it's been disrupted,...

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Sweetness

Little Bitty actually sleeps in his own bed these days (that was a several-years-long process) but he likes for me to stay with him until he falls asleep. On the rare days that I try to just tuck him in and not climb in next to him, he reminds me, "you wan' to sweep wif me." He's just too cute, and I know I'm going to miss this time when he's older (I already do with Cuddlebug and Bearhug) so I just go with it :). Anyway, so tonight I was laying there next to him, waiting for him to go to sleep...

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Backyard photo session

We took the boys to have their pictures done (we haven't done that in two years, because it is such an ordeal). Despite talking with the photographer ahead of time to give them a heads up about the boys' issues and the fact that it generally takes some extra time and patience to get some decent pictures of them, it didn't go so well. She tried, but made it kind of a chore and...

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Sibling stuff and autism

Things have been a little rough these last few months on the sibling front. Cuddlebug and Bearhug are quick to get frustrated with Little Bitty, and for his part, Bitty has a tendency to "egg on" their frustration at times. Some of their frustration is legitimate. They don't understand why he often doesn't seem to listen to any of us and just goes about doing whatever he wants. He often has little regard for consequences as he doesn't always make the connection to his behavior. They don't understand...

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Snippets

Just a few brief updates from the past few weeks, mostly from FB / Twitter, to keep them all in one place: 11/13/11 when we took the boys to the store last weekend CB & BH were complaining LOUDLY about all the Christmas decorations being out and wanting to know why there weren't big Thanksgiving displays. Cuddlebug just shook his head and told me, "I guess Thanksgiving just isn't what it used to be" LOL 11/10/11 21 yrs ago tonight I went on a 1st date with my secret crush... pretty sure...

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Honor

I realize I'm a day late for Veterans Day, but every day is a good day to honor those who serve, or have served, in our military. I saw this video a while back and have been looking for it, finally found it on YouTube and wanted to share it here. I'm proud to be the daughter of a veteran, as well as the daughter-in-law of a veteran. I'm thankful for their examples of courage and sacrifice, as well as the examples of other family members, to share with my sons. To all those who have or are serving,...

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Language barrier & school struggles

We had teacher conferences last month. All in all, it went well, especially for Cuddlebug and Bearhug. They are working really hard and doing great - all A's and B's (mostly A's!) :) and they are thriving in their accelerated classes. Bitty is also working really hard but he is struggling more with school this year than he has in the past. I'm grateful that his teachers "get" autism and understand the source of his difficulty is language related and not cognitive or attention related. His teacher...

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Quotes & silly conversations of the week

Little Bitty: "Dude, iss cold ou'side!" me: "Did you just call me dude?" Bitty: "yeah" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cuddlebug (complaining about having to go to bed): "but I'm not even tired!" dh: "when you're an adult, you can stay up as late as you want... are you an adult?" Cuddlebug (slouching with a grin): "I'm not even 11 yet!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bearhug (hearing Cuddlebug calling him from the other room): "I'm busy! Mom, tell 'Cuddlebug' I'm busy." me: "Why don't you tell him?" Bearhug: "because...

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$1 and a dinosaur is ALL it will take to help a family in need!

I first saw this on Danette's S-O-S blog (not me, another Danette, lol) and felt compelled to do what I could to help. Circling back now to spread the word! Visit OUR Journey Thru Autism for the details, here's an excerpt: Kim Laing of of Dauphin County, PA has been a die hard autism advocate over the years. She has supported families with IEP development and through child study team meetings. She created Hoops Basketball, so kids with autism in her community would have an opportunity to play...

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Creepy creepers and other spookiness

Every year dh gives me a hard time about waiting "until the last minute" to start making costumes. But every year, at least one of the boys changes their mind at the last minute, and that's why I wait. This year was no different. When I asked back in September what they wanted to dress up as, Bearhug and Cuddlebug didn't want to dress up at all. Although Bearhug told me if...

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We're on SPD Blogger Network!

My recent post on bathtime battles is up on the SPD Blogger Network if you want to check it out. As for me, I've gone "dark" the last couple of weeks for my annual dusting off of the sewing machine to make costumes for the boys. There's always at least one of them who waits until the last minute to decide what they want to be. On the flip side, this year one decided to wear last year's costume (and it still fits!) so there were only two costumes to make. Thanks to my recent work schedule, it...

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Bathtime battles

Little Bitty has a love-hate relationship with bathtime. Usually somewhere in the realm of "strongly dislike." Any mention of the dreaded bath and he's likely to screech "I not get WWWEEETTTT!!" and take off running. We'll be in for a wrestling match to get him into the tub and keep him there long enough to accomplish some semblance of cleaning. Somehow it seems like we end up soaked even more than him (I say "we" because he's getting bigger and when he goes ballistic dh and I have to tag team...

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Mic-er-scoff Office Pow-point

Cuddlebug and Bearhug have been using MS Powerpoint at school, so they were excited to discover that we have the same program at home. Cuddlebug was especially eager to try out all of the "Microsoft Office features" on the computer :) and proceeded to put a shortcut to every. single. one. of them on his desktop. In Powerpoint, they made slideshows using clipart found in the clipart gallery that comes with the program. And of course, Bitty follows his big brothers around watching them, and loves...

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National Sensory Awareness Month

October is National Sensory Awareness Month! Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a neurological disorder in which the brain and the senses (all 8 of them!) don't work together as they should. Some examples of this include frequent sensory overload (when the brain is unable to filter out irrelevant sensory input), motor difficulties (when the brain isn't able to coordinate the...

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Hiking trip

We took the boys on a hike, which involved some fun trails, some pretty waterfalls, and a lot of stairs going up the mountain. Bitty: "What iss hike-een?" me: "Walking in the woods." Bitty: "Are we walk-een in the woods?" (I can't figure out how to type the way he pronounces "walk" but it is so. darn. cute! me: "Yep, we sure are." These two practically ran up the mountain,...

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