I am so exhausted I don't know

 .......applesauce from baby shit.
NOT LITERALLY.....

Anyway, a friend of mine tells me that this blog is so effing awesome it makes him pee his pants..... I am not sure why but I think that is just the funniest damn thing I have heard today.

($.50 to the swear jar)
Actually, this being so funny shows how really exhausted I am.

There is so much serious going on with life. So MANY people we are worried about- family, cousins, princesses, fur babies....Master Berticus is sleeping in a warm spot almost constantly and is very un-athletic these days. I am worried about his lethargy.
And yes, I will tell you all about the cats, the boy and the cute one and I but I don't dish on family stuff unless it is directly related to us....ergo all you need to know is that we are concerned and thinking about a number of people who are very important to us.

Since I am not dishing on that we are moving onto another topic:
The boy is doing a lot of writing these days. I have said that he has a semi-colon issue and problems with commas. The other big thing is the use of the word "also".....one paper had 13 "also"'s in it. "Also" over-use is a big problem. I told him I would charge him for every "also" - a nickel a use....and it got up to over $2.00 when I finally edited the last paper.
His writing is improving. He is getting much better- although thesaurus use really needs to be improved upon. He has full, complete ideas; it actually is fun to see.

Recently the boy was working on a project about defining autism. As I mentioned to my friend- an Aspie's take on autism....this is great stuff. I was so excited - he went to the library (he does this a lot) AND he brought home 2 Temple Grandin books and a book about autistic cats. THIS IS NOW GREAT STUFF. Dr. Grandin (yes, I know I don't use titles but this chick has earned it so she gets to be CALLED DOCTOR) has really made an impression. I, in fact, read all of her books when the boy was diagnosed. and let me tell you this is like talking to a friend you haven't seen in a while. Kind of like being comfortable in old shoes and blue jeans.....affirmation.... Parents should have expectations and teach good manners......yeah this feels great. It has been MUCH too long since I had any affirmation and I know MY cute one feels the same way. The boy on the other hand took out what he needed for his project and has moved onto the next piece of work.... the autistic cats....which is cute and seriously we all need more autistic cats... he relates but as the boy tells me, "I get uncomfortable thinking about all this stuff. I would rather fix it or do something important to help other kids learn to get into their untapped potential."

Since I am now even more than tired (my eyelid is twitching so I am either over tired or whacked out on caffeine).... my friends chuckles made me laugh and then promptly wore me out. So for an incomplete ending to what I was talking about I am going to include a bunch of Dr. Grandin quotes:

Autism is a neurological disorder. It's not caused by bad parenting. It's caused by, you know, abnormal development in the brain. The emotional circuits in the brain are abnormal. And there also are differences in the white matter, which is the brain's computer cables that hook up the different brain departments.

 

I would never talk just to be social. Now, to sit down with a bunch of engineers and talk about the latest concrete forming systems, that's really interesting. Talking with animal behaviorists or with someone who likes to sail, that's interesting. Information is interesting to me. But talking for the sake of talking, I find that quite boring.

I'm a visual thinker, really bad at algebra. There's others that are a pattern thinker. These are the music and math minds. They think in patterns instead of pictures. Then there's another type that's not a visual thinker at all, and they're the ones that memorize all of the sports statistics, all of the weather statistics.

 

Normal people have an incredible lack of empathy. They have good emotional empathy, but they don't have much empathy for the autistic kid who is screaming at the baseball game because he can't stand the sensory overload. Or the autistic kid having a meltdown in the school cafeteria because there's too much stimulation.

If you start using a medication in a person with autism, you should see an obvious improvement in behavior in a short period of time. If you do not see an obvious improvement, they probably should not be taking the stuff. It is that simple.

 

As you may know, some of the stereotyped behaviors exhibited by autistic children are also found in zoo animals who are raised in a barren environment.

This one touches home way too much:

Autistic children are very difficult to take care of, especially severely autistic ones. When I was 4, I had almost no language; when I was 3, I had none at all.

One big question that's come up is: Has autism increased on the mild side of things? I don't think so - they've always been here. Some of this is increased detection.

It's much more work for the mother of an autistic child to have a job, because working with an autistic child is such a hassle until they go to school. (Yeah - been there done that and its a bigger hassle because then you can deal with the daily afternoon phone calls those are a joy to last forever)

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE:

I was expected to sit at the table, learn how to eat properly.