Engineer It

We had a blast at the Lawrence Hall of Science. They had a section called Engineer it! There were a ton of cool hands on engineering activities.

Here GA built a bridge:

She kept removing blocks until the arched bricks were all that were left. It was very sturdy because gravity pulling down on the bricks held the arch in place....

Later we saw an awesome show called:

The show was great fun. We learned about fire, how to put out a fire,

and...

when the facilitator asked for a volunteer...

HE CHOSE G!!!

Here is G helping to light a fire! He did a great job and after helping received a round of applause. He covered his ears on his way back to his chair, but he was smiling. (Look how tall he is, he will be taller than me soon!)

Energy

We've got a new fascination around the Arnwine house its energy. Energy is everywhere, it powers our houses, electrical impulses run through our brains, gravity keeps us anchored to the Earth.

Anyhow, the other day G and I were talking about our favorite scientist Einstein. I asked G what he wanted to do when he grew up.

He replied, "I'm going to work with energy."

Then I asked, "what do you want to do with energy?"

He said, "I don't know I have to study it more first."

Have I mentioned lately I really love this kid! I love the way his brain works. I can't wait to learn about energy with him.

Siblings

GA, my youngest, has become so frustrated w/ G lately. She wants to meet with other siblings to find out how they deal with it. I've heard many a story from older siblings who become very protective of their younger siblings, but thats not our situation. My daughter is younger than my son, but has become socially more mature. Now that she is in middle school she is very self conscious and very aware of socially awkward situations.

So I've been looking for sibling support groups, and guess what none exist. Sooooo I'm thinking of organizing one. I'm tired of starting something new. Kick, scream, cry, punch the wall... OK I got it out. I love both my kids, it will help others, and it looks like no one else is going to do it, so wish me luck! All I need to find is a facilitator I can't do it, I might start crying I'm a wimp.

The Missing Burger

(G wearing his favorite t-shirt "Vader was Framed")

As stated before G ate a sandwich. It was wonderful. Since then I've tried to put condiments on the bread and he refused to eat it. I've tried different meats and so far Turkey and Ham are OK. Yay! So I thought I would try different breads.

G will eat cheeseburgers at home or with no pickles or onions from McDonalds or Burger King (health food freaks I don't want to hear it desperate times call for desperate measures...) Anyhow, I thought I would try and stretch the bread thing and I bought egg bread buns. They taste just like white bread but the bread has a yellow tint. G wanted nothing to do with it.

So last night I left the bun next to a burger patty and a slice of cheese and went outside to the garage. Why did I go outside? I finished some work for National Autism Resources and I didn't want to obsess over will he eat it or not. Also, when he is alone w/o pressure many times he does better.

After a while I came back in and the burger patty was gone, but everything else was left on the plate. I asked G did you eat the burger? He said no. Now its about 7:00pm and I'm tired, and at this point I don't care about the bun, I want the truth! So I asked again, G did you eat the burger? He replied "I said no!" He had some irritation in his voice which made me irritated so I told him, "you know what go to your room because I don't want to look at you right now." So he left to his room.

A little while later I found our bloated wiener dog and put it all together. That pig had jumped on the table and stole G's patty! Its times like these when I hate being a parent.

So I walked into G's room and apologized. I find myself apologizing more and more to my kids. I'm saving up for college, but maybe I should start saving up for their future therapy sessions.

39 + 1

Well I hit another decade and I'm having a hard time saying the word

40!

How can this be happening? I still feel like in my heart I'm 25. Thankfully my friends only had me blow out one symbolic candle... 40 surly would have made the whip cream melt! :-P

I feel blessed I have my family, good friends, some Kona coffee and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

Peace be with you my friends.

Einstein

G and I had a wonderful talk today. I mentioned to him that many thought Einstein was on the spectrum. G got this big smile and said, "really we should find out more about that." So we are going to be learning about Einstein which fits in perfectly with our history and our physics, not to mention we can read a biography and there's English...

I love G so much. It is such a joy to raise him, I can't imagine life without him! The older he gets the more I enjoy who he is becoming. Autism for us isn't so much a tragedy as it is a different way of being. There is nothing wrong with being different, it just means a person is not ordinary - and who really wants to be ordinary anyway.

Happy Weekend Everyone!