Andrew

Andrew was playing at Grandma and Grandpa Israelson's house tonight with his big toy train..... here is what he was saying next to us as he played.

"Oxnard, CA....after experiencing an accident at these two cross streets, a man sets up two cameras to support his claim that this intersection is dangerous.   This busy intersection has a railroad crossing, warning lights, bells, crossing gates, and a stop light.  He claims these things are not only confusing but dangerous.    So far the man has yet to find any evidence supporting his claim.  But that's about to change.  At the railroad crossing, bells ring, warning of an oncoming locomotive.  The crossing gates decend but the confused truck driver suddenly begins rolling forward.   The semi stops before crossing the intersection.   The driver seems unaware that he is directly over the railroad track.  The train engineer blasts his horn hoping the driver will respond.   (An amtrak train destroys a semi truck)    The truck is completely destroyed and the wreckage is strewn hundreds of yards.  As for the train, it faired better, but will require major repairs."

As Eric and I sat and listened to him it became obvious as his story progressed that this was a youtube video that he had memorized and was reinacting.   So....like any good detective I embarked on finding such video so I could record this hilarious reinactment.   Sure enough....a video of "Destroyed in Seconds".    I wish I could get that memory to remember things he wasn't so interested in.

3 days and counting.....

This morning it suddenly dawned on me that in 3 short days - half of our new giant family will be moving out and things will probably be pretty lonely around here.    Though I dare not lie and say I have never been frustraited over the last 7 weeks - most of those moments probably due to being woken from a nap :) - it has been much easier than I thought it would be.

Having 6 people join my space was probably made much easier by my pregnancy.   I spent so much time in my room sleeping and only cooked 2 meals the entire time they were here so Amanda and I weren't stepping on each others toes all the time.   I didn't care that someone was in my kitchen...for those of you who know me....usually that would be a big issue.   And frankly, I can't imagine what the house would look like today if she wasn't here to be my cleaning fairy.   ITS AWESOME....  I lay down for a morning nap....I wake up and the cleaning fairy has cleaned my house.   I recommend it to every woman.    But in all seriousness, Amanda, I can't thank you enough for taking care of my kids on occasion - for dealing with the extra sparing between Chloe and Andrew - and for taking care of my house.   I'm sure this arrangement hasn't been as easy on your girls as the rest of us, but we were glad to have you and would do it again if necessary.

Come Monday I have an opening for  a cleaning fairy if anyone wants to volunteer.......

Too Loud!

So... we are on the way home from Cannon Falls after a nice Mother's Day at the in-laws.   The kids have their DVD players with headphones for trips over 1 hour.   We are used to Andrew suddenly yelling or making a crazy noise during one of his favorite movies but today he put on his headphones (which were not plugged in) and since he could'nt hear it he kept turning up louder and louder and louder and louder.   He was sitting directly behind me and it took all I had not to turn around and scream....What are you doing!   I calmly turned around and asked him nicely - please plug in your headphones and turn that down.   He says "Oh OK."   Like it never occured to him that he should plug them in and use them instead of using them as noise deffening articles making the rest of us suffer through blaring Tom and Jerry cartoons.

Some situations sure make it obvious that he still struggles with his Autism....but those situations sure are getting fewer and fewer and we feel so blessed by the amazing progress he has made in the last 7 years.