Consolation prize

How is it that I go a week without posting when everyday is full of new stories from the kids, new challenges, and new achievements? Somehow, by the time I sit down to read blogs at around midnight, I've forgotten everything that I tried to remember. I'm constantly amazed how other parents can write almost daily and turn out incredible prose. Oh well, maybe I'll figure it out someday. In the meantime....

Last weekend, Owen got busted for something and was sent to his room. He was crying quite a bit while I talked to him about the issue when Grant walked in. Usually if Grant walks in during something like that, he would either cover his ears and walk out, or take my hand because he wants something. Not this time. He came in the room because he heard Owen crying! He walked right up to him and gave him a hug, saying his name "Owen". Incredible!

First, he reacted to something he heard from another room. Second, it wasn't something interesting like a video or toy sound, it was his brother. Third, he gave a very appropriate hug and showed concern. It seems like such a short time ago that Grant wouldn't respond to anything, a shorter time ago when he was not able to say any of our names, and even shorter when he would have just hit Owen for making noise.

Gotta love it!

Stupid human tricks

Most Saturday afternoons, there's a whole lot of "usual". Mowing the lawn, going to the park - all good, but still "usual".

This past Saturday though brought a quick detour into the strange and funny world of David Letterman's Stupid Human Tricks. You see, I have pretty much one skill in life, one thing that separates me from the rest. I can belt out a siren (police or fire engine, take your choice) that has been known to pull quite a few cars over and at the very least will either drive people crazy or have them laughing and yelling for more (especially at sports events).

On Thursday, a friend at work who as been trying to figure out a way to get me on Letterman shot me an email that they were having tryouts down at the convention center on Saturday. I fired off a quick description on the web form and before long, I got the reply to come on down for a shot!

The "tryout" was actually a little spot at the far edge of the San Jose Home and Garden show. I had thoughts of something a little more grand, or at least TV-like. But, it was really, really cheesy. There were 26 participants with a good number of the pet acts unable to live up to their owner's expectations. Here's a good description of the day, but unfortunately the reporter must have left before I went on (I was #22). Unfortunately, I was a complete goof and forgot to even bring a camera!

My own performance was quite a bit less than my best. Allergies have been kicking my butt the past few weeks and my wheezy lungs weren't quite up to the task. I belted the first one out, but it didn't have a very good sound. The host asked for another siren and I happily obliged; it had a much better sound, but it was not very long.

We'll see if I hear anything from them in the next few days; my own daughter gave me a 45% chance of getting a call back. Till then...

Remembering the victims

the lions haven't eaten this well since dunkleman

C'mon, I know you're watching too! The American Idol folks did an amazing job putting this "American Idol Gives Back" show together. Somehow, they were able to put all of those celebrities in heart-tugging situations without becoming too schmaltzy. We've been trying to donate online, but it seems their site is completely overloaded. So, in the meantime, we've donated to one of my favorite charities - World Vision.

The Simpsons bit was by far my favorite - hilarious! The line at the end - "the lions haven't eaten this well since Dunkelman" had us laughing out loud! I guess you have to be a long-time Idol watcher to get that one.

The music was fantastic. The duet with Elvis and Celine Dion was downright spooky, although really cool. And they've raised at least $30,000,000 to feed the hungry.

The money will do a lot of good; it will save lives, but it's not the answer.

While I'm pondering the answer, imagine if American Idol turned its resources towards autism. What would happen? Where would they focus the resources? Where should they?

Out of the Ordinary

Last night was a bit out of the ordinary. Staci had bunco at our house, with the final touches on the new kitchen having been finished on Thursday, so with all the ladies coming over that means the rest of us get kicked out for the night. Fortunately, the ladies coming to our house also means that there are a few houses out there with a dad and kids who can handle another dad and 3 kids coming over to make some noise. Even better than that, last night was game 5 of the Sharks-Predators series - go SHARKS!!

The schedule looked a little something like this -
- try to get out of work a little early (4?)
- get home and help Staci out with a few things
- go pick up the kids at the in-laws who (as always) were nice enough to watch the kids in the afternoon so that Staci could get her stuff done w/o interruption
- go get food
- go over to friend's house
- stay long enough so that we get home after bunco is over, but long before the food gets put way, and before we wear out our welcome at the friend's house.

There were a lot of good things about the whole night, but this one is by far my favorite.

Over at the in-laws, I told Grant and Owen where we were going. Not only did Owen get excited, but Grant immediately understood and was excited too. You see, the friends have 2 great kids, but they also have this huge play room upstairs that is essentially kid-heaven. In addition to that, they have a huge video collection and Grant LOVES looking through it.

So we gathered up the boys' things and started to get in the car. Owen got right in, but Grant was over in the lawn playing with the windmill. Grant... Grant... he looked over but wasn't coming. I knew that he knew where he was supposed to be - in the car. It was time for a test - a test of the 'ordinary'.

We all do this every day with our NT kids - "ok, we're leaving, bye..." and then the child runs over as if to say "no, don't leave me!". Of course, with our non-NT kids, not so much. So, I yelled over "Bye, Grant. We're leaving!". I got in the car and started it.

He ran over, opened the door, and got in.

Ordinary.

And yet, so Out of the Ordinary.

words that move me

Just a hallway apart, two boys with amazingly different verbal skills go to bed...

Owen, at 4, is much like Cassidy was at 4. The words flow - new ones, funny ones, everyday comes with plenty of words to enjoy. Tonight, as Staci was saying prayers with Owen, he began,
"Dear Jesus, thank you for this day..." and then he began singing "I had a bad day" with a sly smile on his face. You just never know what's going to come out of his mouth next - he is hilarious!

Over in Grant's room, I was writing words on his Magna Doodle to have him read them. Tonight we were mostly doing Toy Story words. Buzz (Buh), Woody (Woody) - wait! he put the D in Woody, first time ever! It has always been Woo-ey, but tonight it was clear as a bell 'Woody' - wow! Then, a few words later, I wrote 'Rex'. I didn't think he knew that one so I said it to him and then a "roar". He tried to say Rex, and then then he said dinosaur! I had no idea he even knew what a dinosaur was, let alone that he could say it! Not only that, but he had all 3 syllables too!

Two great kids, each pushing their own limits in their own ways, thrilling us as parents who desire to see our kids reach their full potential.

Passings...

This past Saturday, two great people left their legacy to be remembered by others. I am honored to have known them both.

Trish Mudgett died from complications following a fairly routine surgery; she was 45 and left behind 3 children and her husband. My association with Trish goes back to my first full-time job at a software company. She was the manager of tech support who hired my future boss and mentor; she eventually left the Bay Area and started an Atlanta office for this company. Although I didn't know her closely as a personal friend, she's one of those people that nobody has ever said a bad word about. She was warm to all, had time for all, and seemed to always be only 1 or 2 degrees of separation from any big story. Based on the response I saw from friends and former colleagues as she fought for her life the past few weeks, she will be missed greatly. I hope that her legacy will be that others learn from her and take time out to truly care for everybody who comes into their lives.

Dallas Moore was the best friend of my father-in-law for over 45 years. He was the kind of guy who could hug you with a handshake. He had big, encompassing hands but the shake was full of warmth and caring. It was firm and full of conviction. When Dallas looked you in the eye and told you something, you knew it was coming straight from his heart and contained nothing but truth. Dallas had a passion for his family, for cars, for his students (he was a high school teacher), but most of all he had a passion for sharing the love of Jesus. He was one of those guys who "got it", who "lived it". Back in 1961, Dallas and my father-in-law were the first missionaries with Youth with a Mission. Check out this great article for a brief glimpse into their trip. Dallas was truly a great man and will be missed by all who knew him.

Mercury proof?

The first article in the latest Schafer Autism Report, with a study showing that the autism population has a consistently higher mercury level, certainly appears to be a silver bullet. However, a quick Google search revealed no background info and it would appear a bit too good to be true. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few weeks as the 2 "sides" fight it out.

The article does remind me, though, that I am way behind in my chronicling of Grant's chelation process. While the 1st 4 months went very well, we started to see improvements level off around mid-February, and we also started to see him starting to hit more, we saw his clapping/stimming increase, and his teachers reported that he was, at times, hard to reach. Since this was so different from the previous 4 months in which we consistently heard from multiple "partners" - "whatever you are doing, keep doing it!". So, we did not hesitate and we contacted his Dr.

The Dr. suggested that we immediately stop all chelation and supplements. Either he was reacting to something new in the supplements, or his body was reacting to it differently. We went off everything for about 2 weeks, and have since started slowly reintroducing the supplements to see what might be the cause. In the past 2 weeks, the negative behaviors have gone way down and his vocabulary has started increasing again, so it's pretty clear that something about the supplements, or the combination of them, was not doing him well. It's going to take at least a month to get him back on everything, but we'll see what happens. The only thing I can think of that changed was we introduced Malic Acid earlier in the year, and I believe the brand of Magnesium had also changed.

Today was so exciting though, watching him participate in the Easter egg hunt. There were about 12 kids present, so there were lots of eggs! Each child had their own color to look for, and we are so fortunate to have understanding friends and family who accomodated our request not to have candy in the (plastic) eggs. I never heard one complaint from the kids or the parents - thank you!!

Grant's color was purple, and he understood quickly that he was to only pick up purple eggs. He did great, looking only for his eggs and not giving up till he had all of them. It's so exciting when he stays with a task that long!

In addition, he's been putting more words together to communicate. For example, last night at bedtime he asked (said) water (wa-wa), juice (ju), and then cup (cuh). Yes sir! I did my duty and brought back his requested item. He took a look and then said ice (i). Fantastic communication - 4 distinct words, all used to communicate his needs/wants and they were said clear enough that I had no issue understanding his request. What an incredible feeling that must be for him to get his point across without struggling!!