Thursday, November 23, 2006

Thursday Thirteen


Thirteen Things R is Thankful For


1. My Husband
He is letting me sleep in for all four mornings of this four-day weekend. Of course, I had to promise certain ... favors, but it's not like I mind!

2. My children
It took us five years to finally conceive the boys, and then J just "happened" - and I couldn't imagine my life without them.

3. My faith
I LOVE that I am delving more and more into my Judaism, committed to reading the Torah and attending services as often as I can. It makes me feel so good.

4. TiVo
A fabulous thing!

5. Medical confirmation/diagnosis for A
It's so nice to have a name for the behaviors he has, and to be able to research it and understand why, for example, I can't just ask him, "What are you supposed to be doing right now?" but instead, get his attention by getting in his face and telling him, "Eyes on me." and after he repeats it and is actually looking in the direction of my face, tell him with as few words as possible what he is supposed to be doing and encourage him to repeat it as he does it. I think if I had never read about Asperger's I would be going out of my mind right now trying to figure out his impulsivity and inability to follow directions and a whole lot of other things.

6. The internet
I don't know if I could have kept my sanity staying home if I did not have my "internet friends."

7. My friends
And you all know who you are. I love you.

8. My sister
She should really be higher on the list, but I don't feel like editing right now.
When I decided that I needed to focus on my three and that I couldn't keep watching her two, she could have made me feel guilty, she could have wallowed in self-pity, but instead she used it as an opportunity to explore new options in her life. I'm so proud of her!

9. MOMS Club/Mothers and More
I DEFINITELY would have lost it a very long time ago if I had not found these two organizations. So nice to be able to talk with other moms and have playdates to go to so I could get out of the house with the kids.

10. Library storytimes
LOVE looking on-line for which local library is offering a (FREE) storytime the next day and planning our day around it.

11. The fact that I will soon only have to be in charge of my three children
Enough said.

12. My local FLYfriends
What an amazing group of women! So fabulous to know that support is only a few keystrokes away.

13. My mom
My sounding board, my first friend, my role model

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3 comments:

JAM said...

Happy Thanksgiving! Your list is great. I love my kids and siblings too. Hope all of you have a great day.

Chaotic Mom said...

WHAT? Only three children? I need to read more!

SuperP. said...

I have a cousin with Aspergers and I worked with children with Aspergers and Autism (I know they are different, though some people don't think so) and I also found the 'repeat after me' thing very, very useful. I also used picture cards to explain things that had to happen - eat, brush teeth, shoes, coat, seatbelt.. it was empowering and the hassel of mornings was alleviated. It helps to know what modality your child learns in, also.. visual, auditory, tactile.. it's no good using auditory cues if the child is 90% visual (I was this child.. the cause of much distress). It's nice to read that a Mom has looked into things, like you have. So many parents that I came across were at wit's end, thinking they had a 'bad' or 'psychopathic' (really? you think that at age 5?) child.

Blessings to you!