Superhero Training

The Muppet Show

2012-01-29T21:08:00.001-06:00

Connor is now the proud owner of a Muppet. Its name is Princess Orange. Oh, and it's a boy.

Green monkey

2012-01-16T17:54:00.001-06:00

Lego Voltron

2012-01-07T14:09:00.001-06:00

Connor designed and built his own Voltron out of spare Legos. No plan, no picture, nothing to guide him but his own imagination.

Different

2012-01-06T12:06:00.000-06:00

I read something in the news today that made me angry. Very angry. And I was all set to write up a post about it and explain why what was happening was so very, very wrong.

And then I read this: Our One Good Hour on Christmas. And it absolutely took my breath away.

We have been very, very lucky that Connor enjoys things like surprises and is relatively flexible in his routine. Whereas Connor used to not show much interest in Christmas, he now looks forward to it and enjoys it immensely. We've come a long way from the kid that had no interest in what was underneath the paper or in the bags and thus had to be prompted to open a present.

This story was a huge reminder for me of how far Connor has come. His reaction to Christmas was different but just as upsetting for us that he did not seem to enjoy it. The boy described here has a different disability, but so many things they struggle with are so similar to autism that I find myself feeling incredible empathy for what they are going through. And I can only hope that one day their boy comes just as far as Connor and learns to enjoy Christmas. Or that they figure out a way that they can make the day enjoyable for all of them, even if it looks very different from how other families celebrate.

Take some time today to read it. I will warn you it may make you cry. It is one of the most eloquent descriptions I have ever read of what it's really like to have to deal with a child who is not "normal" and who will never be "normal." Of what it's like to struggle through things that should be fun, and to feel like an outsider on a day where everyone is supposed to be included. And suddenly what I was so angry about doesn't even seem all that important. Perhaps I'll still share it but it has lost its ability to make me so upset and I feel grateful to have gained some perspective. This is what's important - families trying everyday to make this world the best place they can for their kids, even when dealing with limitations that sometimes it seems very few understand.

Snowman!

2011-12-23T19:14:00.001-06:00

Sad news

2011-12-07T14:07:00.001-06:00

I'm afraid I have some sad news to report. One of my superheroes, a little boy named Max, passed on last Friday. He was a beautiful boy with blue eyes and curly hair. He leaves behind a mother and father who love him very much, and an older sister who was his best friend.

And the disability world has lost one of its best superheroes, for he had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Parents of kids with disabilities know the drill - lots of therapy appointments, doctor's appointments, and medications. There was a lot of preparation to help him live a long and happy life. His parents put their all into making that a reality.

And that has all ended much, much too soon.

Fortunately, Max's life was also full of happy memories. Playing with his sister, enjoying time with doting grandparents, making friends at school, and being loved on by two parents who could not have cared for him more. All those things that make up a happy childhood - Max had those in spades too.

He will be missed.

At this time, the family has asked that in lieu of flowers or other tokens, donations be made to an organization that they have worked with and supported throughout Max's life. I would like to extend that request to all my family and friends, and whoever else may be reading this. Please consider making a donation to Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy in Max's honor. They are a wonderful group that is working hard towards funding research to find a cure for Duchenne.

Please give whatever you can. It would bless Max's family so much.

Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy - Max's Memorial Page

What Connor did over Thanksgiving break

2011-11-28T18:40:00.000-06:00

That is a rocket, powered by baking soda and vinegar. He loved it.

It's cold outside!

2011-11-18T06:57:00.001-06:00

Mask

2011-11-07T09:42:00.001-06:00

After many repeat viewings of The Incredibles, Connor decided to make his own superhero mask. Gotta protect that secret identity. (In case you're wondering, his is made out of silver silly putty.)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:39:00.001-05:00

First here’s our jack o’ lantern that we made last night:

Connor scooping out the seeds and the “yuck.”

Dad carving.

Now that he could see the inside better,
Connor decided it wasn’t quite cleaned out enough.

Dad and Connor with our jack o’ lantern.

Tonight we went trick or treating in the neighborhood. Connor got plenty of candy and had a lot of fun:

His “ghost” costume. They don’t make white
ghost costumes for boys so we made do with
the costume from Scream.

Dad and Connor

Connor spies something he likes.

This was his favorite house of the night. They
really went all out on the decorations.

This was his second favorite house. They
had a giant cat and a smoke machine!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Away We Go!

2011-10-27T17:56:00.001-05:00

Connor built his own airplane today.

Art

2011-10-17T19:24:00.001-05:00

Dot Rainbow by Connor

Voltron Force

2011-10-06T07:15:00.001-05:00

Connor found a new use for his volcano from third grade - Voltron Force playset.

Connor is 11!

2011-10-05T06:49:00.001-05:00

He had a small party at speech therapy yesterday, complete with cupcakes and candles.

Happy Birthday, Connor!

Tower

2011-09-10T16:05:00.001-05:00

Connor has been making towers for a few weeks now. He says they are mountains.

Just Waiting on a Bus

2011-09-02T07:07:00.000-05:00

Last day of the second week of school

3D

2011-08-28T16:02:00.003-05:00

Connor really wishes he could watch Tron Legacy in 3D. Unfortunately we do not have a 3D Blu ray player or a 3D TV. This does not stop him from believing if you just put on the glasses, the movie will be 3D.

RAIN!!!!

2011-08-24T19:59:00.002-05:00

Happy First Day of School!

2011-08-22T06:46:00.002-05:00

Connor is all ready for his first day of fifth grade!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T08:00:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July!

Florida–the rest of Day 4 (Magic Kingdom) and on to Day 5 (Hollywood Studios)

2011-07-02T15:57:00.001-05:00

After the Wild Africa Trek, we headed back to our hotel to recover. We had a quick swim, and then it was on to the Magic Kingdom for dinner. We ate at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café. This is one of Jason and my favorite restaurants in all of Disneyworld. It’s counter service, but you can, if you order from the chicken menu, get a decent, full dinner for not much more than a fast food hamburger. It’s one of the best values in the parks. And I’m happy to say that they were able to accommodate Connor’s dietary needs, and did a good job of it as well. (I will be talking all about eating gluten free, casein free at WDW in a later post, so be on the lookout for that one if you’re interested.)

Look – an all beef hot dog on a GFCF bun, and GFCF French Fries on the side. He ate it all too. I can’t even express how nice it was to be able to order a hot dog in a restaurant and not have to worry!

The entertainment – an animatronic Lounge Lizard

After dinner, Connor said he wanted to ride Space Mountain. This is my favorite ride and I was so excited to take him on it for the first time. His verdict after it was all over:
“Did you like it?” “Yes!”
“Do you want to ride it again?” “NO!”

Waiting in line at Space Mountain

After the Ride
I was very proud of him for being so brave and
going on this ride. I never would have thought
we could get him on a roller coaster in the dark.

Connor wasn’t interested in riding anything in Fantasyland. He wanted to ride Splash Mountain. We ended up deciding to split up so Jason and Nana and Papa could go ride Haunted Mansion. I took Connor to see the castle up close because he’d been asking for that too.

The moat around the castle

From there, we were walking towards the Haunted Mansion when Connor spotted It’s a Small World. And THAT was the one ride in Fantasyland that he just had to ride. Cue It’s a Small World playing in your head for days on end. yay.

Once that torture was over, we did meet back up with Jason and Nana and Papa. Jason was so enthusiastic about the changes to the Haunted Mansion ride that we decided to split up once again. I would ride Haunted Mansion with Jason, and Connor would go with Nana and Papa to start the many repeat rides of Splash Mountain.

Inside the Haunted Mansion ride, they’ve updated most of the effects so that they’re crisper than ever before, both sound and visuals. Also, there’s a few extra touches, like the ghost at the end who hitchhikes into your Doom buggy can mess with you now. In our case, he switched our heads onto each other’s bodies. Outside, there is now a “scenic tour” line, and we really enjoyed the extras they’ve added there.

New busts

This was an organ you could “play.”
The keys look just like solid stone, but they played
different notes when you pressed on them.

Touch the picture and hear the instrument play.
There was also a large above ground tomb (such as you would see in New Orleans). The inscription indicated it was for a sea captain, and it spit water and bubbles at passers by.

Gravestone with eyes that open and close.

Connor rode Splash Mountain several times that evening, and we ended up staying in the park until after the fireworks. This was our longest day yet, but I think he could have kept going until the wee hours of the morning had we let him.

The next day, we planned to visit Disney Hollywood Studios.

Nana, Connor and Papa the next morning
in our hotel room. We had a slow start.

Connor, Jason and I in the main hotel lobby.

Walking into the park.
We saw a lot of people dressed in Star Wars
outfits because it was Star Wars weekend.
I’m not sure what’s up with the dude in the
kilt on the right side of this photo.

Connor walking to ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Connor had been talking about riding the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for months. I wasn’t sure how he was actually going to do once we got there. He was fine until they showed the pre-ride video, which is an imitation of the old Twilight Zone TV series. That creeped him out and he began second guessing his decision to ride. We talked to him about what he had seen on the Disney documentaries he had watched – how it’s supposed to be like an old elevator, and the ride would go up and down really fast, and that it was all pretend and supposed to be fun. He got his courage back up and got on the ride with us. During the first couple of drops, he grabbed onto me for dear life. But then he realized that he was still safe, and began to just enjoy the thrill. This was another ride that he said he liked but did not want to ride again.

Inside Toy Story Mania

After the scary ride, we decided to do something much safer and ran over to Hollywood Studios’ newest ride, Toy Story Mania. This one was a lot of fun. I was glad we had the disability pass because the lines were looooong. And all of the fast passes for the entire day had already been distributed, at approximately 11am. Usually you get a fast pass and come back in a couple of hours to ride. In this case, people must have gotten their fast passes and then come back seven or eight hours later to ride. I didn’t even look at the wait time for the regular line, but I’m sure it was a couple of hours. Most of the line appeared to be in the interior at least (air conditioning), and had some very neat theming – it is as if you have been shrunk down to toy size and are wandering through Andy’s room from the Toy Story movie. Jason wanted me to take his picture next to these giant board games.

Connor loved this ride. It is a series of 3D carnival games. That description doesn’t really do it justice. Suffice it to say, if you’re headed to Hollywood Studios, go early and walk straight to the back of the park to get on this one. It’s very popular and for good reason. You will probably want to go right back and ride it again as soon as you finish it.

After this, we only did a couple more things at this park. The crowds for the Star Wars weekend were very intense, and it was very, very hot.

We had lunch at the Brown Derby:

Then we saw the Muppet Vision 3D show:

And then we went back to the hotel where we found this:

That evening Jason and I had reservations at Ohana, inside the Polynesian Resort. Ohana had been one of our favorite restaurants when we lived in Florida. It’s an all you can eat dinner consisting mostly of skewers of grilled meat, along with some delicious sides. But mostly meat.

On the second floor of the Polynesian, overlooking the main lobby

Some of the décor

Our desserts (gluten free for me!)

We were celebrating our anniversary that night, and they gave us special Happy Anniversary buttons to wear.

On the balcony back at our hotel
They had also given us leis at the end of dinner.

We ended the night by celebrating my birthday as well. Although I let Connor do the honors and blow out the candle for me. The cake was delicious and was safe for Connor to eat.

Blowing out the candle.

Florida Day 3 and 4–Papa’s Pictures

2011-07-01T13:38:00.001-05:00

So to recap – on Day 3, we moved to the Grand Floridian hotel and had dinner at Dinosaur in Downtown Disney. On Day 4, we visited Animal Kingdom in the morning for the Wild Africa Trek. Here are Papa’s pictures from those days:

Connor and Nana walking out to the Monorail

Jason, Connor and I on the monorail

Walking into Adventureland

After dinner at Downtown Disney.

There was a high school band playing in an outdoor ampitheater, and we sat down to listen. One of my favorite things about Disney is that you never know when you’re going to run across a free show or concert.

Connor and his binoculars before the Wild Africa Trek

I’ll start working up some posts about the rest of our trip and hope to start posting those tomorrow!

Ride Photos

2011-06-29T09:30:00.001-05:00

Everest Expedition

Connor’s very first big roller coaster

Splash Mountain

Connor’s favorite ride

Back to Day 1 and 2, from Connor’s Perspective

2011-06-28T16:29:00.002-05:00

Papa gave me a CD full of pictures on Sunday, so I’m going to cover some of the time I’ve already gone over, but this time from Connor’s perspective. Pictures came out a bit smaller than I'd like. You can always click to enlarge individual images.

This Cat in the Hat is the first toy Connor got on this trip.

View of our hotel, the Portofino, from the water taxi to the parks.

Connor on board the water taxi

Outside Universal Studios

Just inside the gates of Islands of Adventure

Connor is super excited!

Riding One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

On the CaroSeussel

Getting on the Sneetch Train

The Sneetch Train ride is elevated above the park. This is a rooftop display.I believe it is of Horton Hears a Who.

View of Seuss Landing (and a roller coaster from Universal Studios next door) from on board the Sneetch Train

Connor and Papa in front of Hogwarts. This is a bridge that lets you bypass the Harry Potter area to get to the Jurassic Park area, so the angle is a little different than the picture I took.

Connor on board the Jurassic Park ride (with scary dinosaur at the end). Good job Connor! He was very brave.

Posing with the dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park exhibit

T-Rex!

They really are making baby dinosaurs….

Much better picture of the inside of Mythos restaurant where we met up for lunch.

Bullwinkle!

We were all soaking wet after riding both Bluto’s Barges and the Dudley Do Right water ride.

Bouncing on Nana and Papa’s bed

Meeting Alex and the Penguins

Playing on the Fievel Playground (Who remembers Fievel?)

Connor loved the Barney show. Jason and I are glad Nana and Papa got to take him.

Picture of the Cat in the Hat hat in front of the Cat in the Hat ride.

Florida Day 4 - Wild Africa Trek at Animal Kingdom

2011-06-26T07:56:00.021-05:00

Disclaimer: First, there are a ton of pictures in this post. Second, they were not taken by me. Due to restrictions on the tour we had originally booked (which is not the one featured here, more on that below), we did not bring our own cameras on this trek. So all of these pictures were taken by Disney employees. We were sent a CD of all of these as part of the tour package, so I am assuming I have a right to share them as I see fit. If that's not true, I'll be starting a Paypal account soon to help with legal costs as soon as I hear from the Disney lawyers. :p

On our first full day at Disney, we did the Wild Africa Trek. Papa had originally booked us on a trek that involved more hiking and had a few restrictions. We were told we could not bring cameras or cell phones and had to wear closed toe shoes. We were not told that there was a weight restriction. There is a part on that trek where you walk across rope bridges and then basically hang over some of the animal enclosures while wearing a safety harness. Well turns out one member of our party exceeded the weight limit on the safety equipment. Everyone was very apologetic that we had not been informed of this before we arrived at the park, and pledged to change the information that was given out so that future customers would be aware when they booked. That particular trek is very new, and they're still working out all the kinks. I only include this hiccup in case anyone reading this is considering booking a trek. Ask them what all the restrictions are before making your reservation.

They immediately booked us on a different trek. It was very similar, but instead of hiking "backstage," you hike with guides down the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, which is open to all park guests. After that point, it was exactly the same as the first trek we had booked, you board a truck which takes you out onto the savannah. It is the same area that the Kiliminjaro Safari covers, but you have your private guides explaining what you're looking at, and answering any questions you have. Also, the truck stops and looks at the animals for a much longer period of time. You also get to stop and eat lunch in the middle of the savannah in a private safari camp. Then it's back in the truck to see the rest of the animals. The guides are also your personal photographers, and they mail you a CD of all the pictures they took, along with some very nice stock photos (which were handy for filling out some of the details on this post).

So they booked us for this new trek, which was just a little later in the day, and gave us a couple of fast passes so we could get a couple of rides in and then return. That worked out well. We rode the Expedition Everest coaster and the Dinosaur ride - both of which Connor had seen on his Netflix documentaries and was desperate to ride. Then we returned in time for our new trek to find that they had some carafes of juice chilled for us to get rehydrated. It was a nice tropical juice. I think there were mangoes involved. They also had individual water canteens for everyone and binoculars. We got to keep the canteens at the end, but much to Connor's dismay, we had to return the binoculars.

So on to the exploration trail:

Connor really loved his binoculars and used them

whenever he could, even when the animals were

super close.

It's been a couple of weeks, and I'm finding I

don't remember the names of all the animals

anymore. If this was one of those giveaway blogs,

I guess we could play "Name that animal" and I

could give away prizes. Since it's not, we can still

play "Name that animal" but the only prize will

be a hearty thank you. I can also give you credit

for coming up with the correct answer by posting

your name on here...if you want.

This is an okapi.

Named by my friend Elizabeth from It Happens at Dinner.

And my friend Kimberly from It Began in Camp 4.

Thanks!

Our first big stop was the bird lady. At first she told us that were in for the first adventurous part of our trek - eating insects. Connor wasn't on board with that idea. She alleviated his fears by telling him that the insects were for some visitors. She gave him a clicker to "call" them with. And boy did they come when called.

You want me to eat what?

Bird lady on left, Guide 1 on right

Here come our visitors - birds!

Connor took his bird feeding duties very seriously.

I'm still a little shocked at what he was willing to touch

in order to get the birds to come closer.

After the birds, we moved onto the hippo tank, which also contains a whole lot of fish. And ducks, from time to time.

One of my favorite photos

Look at the ducks!

At the next exhibit (antelope or some relative thereof I believe), Connor found a telescope and immediately had to commandeer that.

Telescope

Eventually he had to share the telescope with some other

kids, so he decided to take Papa's binoculars.

Gorilla!

Here's the hippo from the top of the tank.

There's at least 8 crocodiles there.

Next step was to board the truck that would take us out onto the savannah. It was comfortable, with bench seats all around. They also had cold towels ready for us, in case we needed to cool off.

On the truck

There's a baby whatchamacallit.

That's our safari camp in the distance.

And a herd of something or other in the

foreground. Oh and termite hills.

This guy kept at least 3 safari trucks waiting (including

ours) by just standing on the edge of the road. He had

been walking with a few others who had already crossed

the road. Animals have the right of way on the savannah

so the drivers were waiting for him to cross with his friends.

It was a looooong wait.

Giraffes!

You can't see me!

Elephants!

After the elephants, it was on to our safari camp to have lunch.

Yes, it has bathrooms. Just in case you were wondering.

The larger covered area on the right is an open air area with tables, chairs and ceiling fans. There is a walkway to a porch on the back (to the left in this picture). That area overlooked some other animals we had not seen yet and had telescopes for viewing. The smaller roof on the left is where the bathrooms are located, as well as a room of some sort for the staff to access, where our food was stored until we got there.

Lunch!

They were able to accommodate special dietary needs. Connor and I got a gluten free version of this. The only big difference I could see is the pita pocket type bread was replaced with gluten free bread that had been cut into a similar shape. The bread was so so, but the rest of the food was quite delicious. I don't know how accurate it is as far as it being a traditional African lunch. One of the items was salmon with some type of cream cheese spread. But it was yummy. They also served us some more of the tropical juice to go with it. We did have to check Connor's lunch for dairy. I'm not sure if it was conveyed to them that he was also dairy free. We took the cheese out and the salmon (cream cheese), and everything else appeared to be safe. He's pretty picky so he didn't eat too much of it, but he was willing to try some new things. It was nice to see that. Everything was packaged up in camping style containers. The gluten free ones were clearly marked with a large tag so there was no question on which ones were for Connor and I.

Jason on the back porch

View from the back porch - there's a lion right

in the middle there.

Papa helping Connor reach the telescope

Family portrait with savannah backdrop

Connor in front of a bird statue

After lunch and a quick refill of our water bottles with cold water, it was back in the truck for more animals!

Rhinos!

Guide 2

Lion again- look up and to the right

Pumbaa! - I mean, Warthog!

Pretty animals!

And our last animal of the day - Ostriches!

Everyone had a great time!

This was one of the best experiences of our trip. Connor loves animals, and on this tour he got the time to really watch them for as long as he wanted to. We have been on the Kiliminjaro Safari a few times before, and it moves pretty fast. I didn't realize how fast until we went on this trek. We would be sitting and really getting to watch something, and I would notice that three or four Safari trucks would go by in that same amount of time. If you get a chance to do one of the Wild Africa Treks, I highly recommend them.

Florida Day 3 - Disney!

2011-06-25T12:11:00.005-05:00

After spending two days at Universal, we changed hotels and moved our little caravan to Walt Disney World. We were now staying at the Grand Floridian, one of the monorail resorts on Disney property. It's just one short ride away from the Magic Kingdom so we didn't waste any time and headed over there as soon as we were all checked in.

Our first glimpse of the monorail train.

Connor was a little impatient to get to all the

rides he'd been watching on Netflix for months.

Nana and Papa inside the monorail

Just inside the Magic Kingdom

The sign behind us says "Let the Memories Begin!"

Connor read that one and the sign that said "Where

Dreams Come True! Walt Disney World" as you walk

into the train station. I think we've turned him into

a bit of a Disney monster, but that's ok because Disney

monsters are terribly cute and make tons of money.

We were ready to hit the rides, but Connor wanted to

soak in all the little details. These little moving diorama

type displays outside the store fascinated him.

Our very first ride of the day - the Jungle Boat Cruise

We spent a bit more time in the park that day, mostly in Adventureland and Frontierland, and Connor rode Splash Mountain for the first time that trip. Little did we know at the time that that would be the first of many, many rides on Splash Mountain this trip. We left a bit early because we wanted to get to a certain restaurant in Downtown Disney before it got crowded:

The T-Rex Cafe!

This picture was actually taken at the end of our meal.

When we arrived, it was not nearly this crowded yet. I

highly recommend going for an early dinner if you want

to eat here during the summer.

The view as you walk in

Connor got a light up drink!

It was a little overwhelming to all of us at first. But before long, we were all enjoying it. There are giant animatronic dinosaurs, different themed rooms, fossils on the walls in the bathroom, and a meteor shower overhead at regular intervals. It was loud. Very loud. Connor loved it all.

This is inside the store part. He is playing a design your

own dinosaur game. It was hard to tear him away from this.

Eventually we did get him out of the dinosaur store,

and all the way to the Lego store next door. He was

especially interested in the Death Star set where you

can see inside the Death Star.

We did some more shopping. Jason was intent on finding some games at the Lego store that you can't get anywhere else in the US. Connor enjoyed looking around inside at all the displays of Lego creations. We visited a couple more stores, including the biggest Disney store ever, and then headed back to the hotel to find this:

Our anniversary had been a few days before our trip, and our in-laws anniversary was a few days after our trip. The staff set up these little surprises for us as a way of acknowledging that. One of my favorite things about staying on property at Disneyworld is finding this sort of thing when you get back to your room. It's just a little thing, but it makes your stay that much more special. We got a few more surprises during our stay that I will be sharing later.

Florida Day 1 and 2 - Universal Studios

2011-06-23T14:48:00.010-05:00

We went on a little trip to Orlando recently. This one was especially exciting for us because Connor had been asking to go to Disney World for about nine months, ever since the Disney documentaries showed up for instant watch on Netflix. He has watched them constantly since then and was fully prepared to enjoy some Disney Magic. Our first stop, however, was Universal Studios so we spent some time on their website getting him ready for that.

We stayed on Universal's property at the Portofino Hotel.

Connor enjoyed chasing these ducks around.

Connor and Papa waiting on the water taxi to take us to the theme park.

We split up that first day, and I haven't gotten a copy of the pics that Papa took of Connor yet. We did meet up for lunch at the Mythos Restaurant inside Islands of Adventure. It was beautiful inside, and they were very accomodating of our special dietary needs.

We had last been to Universal in 2005. So Jason and I were especially eager to visit the newest section of Islands of Adventure, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I have to say that while it was very well themed, and we were happy to be there, it was not what I expected. It is much smaller - it's more of a wizarding street, than a whole world. It was also a very, very crowded street, to the point that it was hard to move around. We found it was better to go as late as possible in the day. We were told by another guest that they tried to go during the early entry hours for resort guests, but it was no less crowded then than the middle of the afternoon. We stopped by for a bit during the afternoon, and then came back later in the evening so we could move around and see more of it.

We were also disappointed that two of the three rides in this section were rethemed rides that had been there before. So in actuality, Universal only added one new ride, the Forbidden Journey, in building this section.

But as I said,the theming was wonderful, and they have done a beautiful job recreating Hogsmeade Village and the Hogwarts castle.

Jason and I at the entrance to Hogsmeade

Recognize him? The twins that play Fred and George Weasley

were there that day for some sort of photo or video shoot.

The exterior of Hogwarts

We went on a tour of the interior of the castle.

We did not actually go on the roller coaster, but

they allow guests to go inside just for the "tour" so

that everyone can get a chance to see what it looks

like. This room has several portraits that talk

to each other, just as they do in the movies.

Dumbledore's office

Defense against the Dark Arts classroom

I believe this is supposed to be the Gryffindor common room.

A view of Hogsmeade Village

Line for drinks at Hog's Head Bar

The hog's head behind the bar moves.

Jason drinking Butterbeer.

Jason and I in front of the Hogwarts Express

The next day we visited Universal Studios for the first part of the day and went back to Islands of Adventure later in the day.

We ate lunch at Lombard's. They were also fairly

accomodating of our needs, and the atmosphere was

pretty nice.

Connor really, really wanted his own Cat in the Hat hat.

Connor's favorite section of Islands of Adventure was Seuss Landing.

This is inside a playground there. They had lots of neat things for the

kids to interact with. In this one, you turned the wheel and the character

on the opposite side of the wall rose up and sprayed water all over you.

Connor sitting on a giant egg.

Connor and Papa riding the Sneetch train ride.

This ride has been there since they opened Islands

of Adventure, but it has never been up and running

in all that time. It's finally open, and it turned out to

be Connor's second favorite ride. His favorite was the

Cat in the Hat ride.

Everyone else was taking this picture so I figured we ought to too.

Armed and Dangerous

2011-06-01T16:55:00.001-05:00

Connor plays Transformers Theme Song

2011-05-31T20:59:00.001-05:00

Beautiful Day to Play Outside

2011-05-14T16:38:00.001-05:00

Hey y'all it's official

2011-05-06T16:18:00.004-05:00

Well all the runners up can go home. It's official. I've been declared the World's Best Mom. Connor's speech therapist at the BVRC helped him complete an interview for this momentous occasion. Here are his answers to the reporter's questions:

"My mom rocks! She is silly.
When she is loving, it makes me so happy.
I love doing things with her, especially going to the store.
She is so good at shopping.
She really is the best!"

I'll try not to get a big head over this. No really.

The package has arrived...

2011-05-05T17:30:00.004-05:00

Thanks to my wonderful sister in law, S, and brother in law, J, for the early Mother's Day present. And I have to tell you it smells amazing. The scent reminds me of the Portofino Hotel in Orlando, one of my favorite places. Thanks so much. It was a lovely surprise to come home to at the end of today. Thank you!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T12:14:00.002-05:00

Art Show

2011-03-27T16:05:00.004-05:00

The school district had an art show yesterday at the high school. Connor was one of a handful of students from his school whose art was picked to be displayed. His is the red and blue squid just to the upper left of his head. He named it "Squidward," a la Spongebob Squarepants. As you can see from the picture, Connor was very proud.

Bumblebee comes to church

2011-03-20T23:00:00.001-05:00

So last week, Mrs. H, who helps Connor out at church, had to drive her son's car to church, which just happens to look exactly like Bumblebee. Connor was very happy to pose for this picture with one of his favorite Transformers.

Connor Napping

2011-02-20T14:22:00.003-06:00

Connor decided to play in the back of the 4runner. I caught him pretending to sleep so of course he had to pop right back up.

Playing Pacman on Papa's iPad - Game Over!

2011-02-11T20:45:00.001-06:00

This video was shot a few months ago - the Monday after Thanksgiving I believe. Blogger kept objecting to playing it. So yay for Blogger finally working!

Agent P's Bed

2011-02-10T20:00:00.000-06:00

Connor puts his new friend, Agent P, to bed every night.

For those not familiar with Agent P, he is the secret agent identity of Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb. Not sure if Agent P sneaks out at night to fight Dr. Doofenshmirtz. But it sure would explain some things.

Connor Reads

2011-02-09T18:02:00.001-06:00

Connor reads a Fraggle Rock book to Jason.

Snowmageddon!

2011-02-04T12:15:00.008-06:00

We had a snow day today. There wasn't a whole lot of snow, but there was ice on the roadways. Texans don't deal well with that so - Snow Day! Since Jason and I both work for schools, we got the day off with Connor. For once, even Connor slept in. It's been a tough couple of months for us (hence the lack of blog posts) so I'm enjoying this family time today. Family time at this particular moment means Jason is watching Battlestar Galactica in the living room, Connor is watching Kung Fu Panda in our bedroom and I'm blogging about our half hour playing in the snow. Jason has been out of town most of this week. Today we're all under the same roof. We're staying warm and enjoying the chance to relax.

Connor and I went out from about 11am to 11:30am to play for a bit. By that time, the clouds were starting to break up. It was turning sunny, and the wind had stopped blowing. Pretty nice weather for playing in the snow.

Connor's playset

He was fascinated by the sound of his boots on the snow.

Cleaning off the swings...

and the slide.

Making designs in the snow

(I think this is from Kung Fu Panda?)

Splashing in the runoff from our neighbor's yards

We're on a hill and whenever it rains (or melts),

we get a nice stream right along our curb that runs

down into a retention pond.

Yep I let him get out the skateboard.

The driveway was not icy - just wet.

He kept saying Kali River Rapids (raft ride at Disneyworld).

He's ready to go Nana and Papa!

Making skateboard tracks in the snow

I don't usually use this blog for this but...

2011-01-11T14:30:00.005-06:00

There's been a lot of talk in the autism community recently about Dr. Andrew Wakefield. He published a paper in the Lancet in 1998 where he claimed a link between autism, gut disease, and vaccines. About a year ago, this paper, the paper that started the entire vaccine scare, was proven to be full of bad science and unsupported conclusions. Subsequently Wakefield's license to practice medicine in the UK was revoked. The allegations against him were numerous. The most egregious of these are that he falsified medical histories of the children featured in the study and received payment from a law firm that intended to sue vaccine manufacturers. And it just continues to get worse from there. Today I read this article:

Anti Vaccine Doctor Planned to Profit from Scare

Turns out Dr. Wakefield was busy planning to release his own "safe" vaccines before he had even begun to gather data. Deciding your conclusions before you even begin an experiment is bad science, plain and simple. A sophomore chemistry student could tell you that.

I can't even begin to tell you how ill this makes me feel.

The amount of money that has been spent in the name of more studies to replicate his research and in advertising to parents and the public that vaccines are "unsafe" is astronomical. How much of that could have been used to fund research into other possible causes and complications? How much of that could have been used to improve public school programs for children with all types of disabilities? How much of that could have been used to fund private therapy to improve the quality of life for children who have already been diagnosed?

This is my child:

This is my wonderful, intelligent, adventurous boy who continues to struggle every day to cope with the world and the expectations it sets for how we should behave. He did not receive the best therapy he could have at the time that he needed it. We did the best we could with the resources that were available. He now attends a wonderful school with a fabulous teacher and aide who care for him very much. But during the time he should have gotten early intervention, when he was just 2 years old, it was a struggle to get even basic speech therapy.

At the time, the vaccine debate was beginning to rage. As I got more involved in the autism community, everything was about whether you should vaccinate or not. It was hard to find information on what to do once you already had the diagnosis. I was fortunate to find out about applied behavior analysis and pursued that course as much as we could given the area we lived in and what was available.

Now don't misunderstand me. I do believe in also using biomedical tools to help. Connor is on several supplements and has shown a lot of improvement since we started those. They are an excellent tool. But I don't believe vaccines had anything to do with Connor's autism. The science just isn't there, and in fact, continues to point in the opposite direction.

Mr. Wakefield, this is my child. I will never know what could have been different if the resources that went into fueling the antivaccine debate had been diverted into providing therapies or improving schools. I will never know what you took from my child. I only feel fortunate not to be the mother of one of the children who died of a disease that could have been prevented by a vaccination. I feel fortunate not to be that mother who chose to listen to you instead and had to bury their child.

My child may have autism.

But he's alive.

Autism is NOT a death sentence.

Choosing to not vaccinate your child might be.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T19:45:00.000-06:00

Here's Connor with my in-laws' Christmas tree. And their light up igloo that he decided looked better inside their house than on the front lawn. Merry Christmas everyone!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2010-12-19T08:35:00.001-06:00

Last week, Connor got tired of waiting on us so he put this up all by himself. The lights were already wrapped around the tree so all he had to do was set up the stand and put the tree in it. I'm still pretty impressed that he figured it out all by himself.

Spongebob Squarepants

2010-12-11T08:24:00.001-06:00

Ready for Winter

2010-12-07T16:42:00.001-06:00

Help Support Connor's Therapy Center

2010-12-05T08:27:00.004-06:00

The Easter Seals Brazos Valley Rehabilitation Center is currently holding its annual fundraiser. Every year they sell beautiful Aggie themed Christmas ornaments in order to raise money to provide therapy services, even to those families who are unable to pay. The therapists there are truly caring and committed. Connor has gotten quality therapy for the last three and a half years. When our insurance wouldn't cover a service, they continued to provide it without any interruptions, and we pay only a fraction of the typical therapy charges. And for families who cannot afford even that, they have programs to help cover the cost, including the cost of copays if the need is there.

It gives me great peace of mind to know that Connor's services will not be interrupted because of our insurance benefits running out or if we found ourselves unable to pay. Money should never determine how well a child will do in the future.

From their website:

True collectibles, these certified limited edition ornaments are 14K gold overlay presented in a stunning maroon velvet presentation folder and manufactured by the renowned Charleston Mint. They make a truly unique gift that lasts a lifetime for all the Aggies and Aggie fans on your Christmas list, birthday list or for graduation gifts.

And also:

100% of every contributed dollar stays in the Brazos Valley to help area children and adults with disabilities.

The design this year is "Senior Boots." They have many lovely designs from past years, and they are all only $22.50. If you need a last minute Christmas present for an Aggie, this would make a wonderful addition to their tree. For those not in the Corps, they have a beautiful Century tree design or a traditional Gig 'Em or Old Sarge. The Aggie Ring or Aggie Seal would also be appreciated by any former student.

Please visit the fundraiser website at http://www.christmasinaggieland.com/ and consider helping provide quality therapy to the children of the Brazos Valley.

Still life by Connor

2010-12-02T14:59:00.001-06:00

"Robot and Lobster"

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T15:28:00.003-06:00

This came home today in Connor's backpack.

"I am thankful for:

Winnie the Pooh

Mommy

Daddy

Iron Man"

Here comes Santa Claus

2010-11-23T19:05:00.002-06:00

Look who we saw at HEB the other day! Santa was positioned at the end of the toy aisle (strategic, no?). He had paper and pens so you could write a letter and a box for him to save it in. I'm not sure why you would write your letter in front of Santa? This doesn't seem like a very well thought out plan to me. Santa is looking pretty low rent with his folding table there. Oh well, all Connor wanted was two buddy bucks anyway.

Pumpkin?

2010-11-16T15:37:00.003-06:00

Connor got off the bus with this today. Sure wish I knew the story behind it. I will update once I find out. One of the frustrating things about autism is being so dependent on notes from school to find out about even the smallest things.

Edited Wednesday 11/17: Turns out this was from the trip to the pumpkin patch at the Farm Patch that they took in October. It had just never made it home. New mystery: now I can't find it. Maybe he took it outside when I wasn't looking?

Diorama!

2010-11-12T16:40:00.000-06:00

Connor made this at school a couple of weeks ago. It's his first diorama. They're studying Texas history in social studies this year, and they were doing a unit on the Native American tribes of Texas (Indians to you old timers). His aide helped him pick a tribe to do a diorama on, and I'm sorry to say I don't remember which tribe that was. It was one that lived in teepees. I think he did a pretty good job:

Someone had a birthday...

2010-11-04T15:30:00.001-05:00

Connor's birthday was this past month. He's now into double digits - 10 years old. We celebrated on the day by going to Olive Garden for some of their yummy gluten free pasta:

Getting his knife and fork ready

Pic with dad...

and mom.

I got him to take the hat off briefly so I could get this shot.

Enjoying dinner out

And this is the toy he picked out at Toys R Us.

Grimlock

On the Saturday after his birthday, we had a small celebration with my family at my grandmother's house. Connor had a great time.

He really liked this ball that Uncle G and Aunt G gave him.

Blowing out his candles

Playing outside in Grandma V's yard

With Grandpa H

and Uncle G

and Aunt G

and Grandma J

and Grandma V.

Happy Birthday, Connor!

Wednesdays

2010-11-03T19:33:00.002-05:00

So on Wednesdays, Connor works all day at school to get to go to Chickfila after. Originally this was just for a snack, but lately it's been for dinner. It's good for me that he's been earning it every week or else I'd be up a creek for dinner plans.

Today we went to the one with an indoor playground because it's cold and windy and kinda wet outside. And he made a "friend." They spontaneously began playing chase, and I got a few pics in. I thought I had gotten one with the other kid in it, but actually all I got was his feet because he was super fast.

You can barely see feet at the top there.

Connor had a really good time playing with him, and this is a big improvement over the many, many other trips we've taken to playplaces where Connor does something inappropriate and everyone gets upset.

So yay Connor!

After that, I decided to run into Kohl's to look for some winter clothes for him. Didn't find the clothes I was looking for cause he's super picky, but we did find these:

They were playing Christmas songs too. He's going to be mighty disappointed that he has to get through Thanksgiving first.

Election Day!

2010-11-02T16:55:00.000-05:00

Erector Set

2010-11-02T16:06:00.003-05:00

Connor got this Erector Junior set as a hand me down a while ago. But he's never shown any interest in it until this week. We haven't helped him at all. He broke out the directions and started building just about everything they have listed in there. He seems to have settled on this for now:

Reminds me of K-9.

For those of you who don't get that, please see: Doctor Who.

Communication Shutdown?

2010-11-01T06:30:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I'm not supporting this. At all.

If you want to read why, head on over to my friend Gini's blog.

I'm guest posting there today. And don't forget to read her

stuff too. She's absolutely hilarious.

http://bigfatginiblog.blogspot.com/

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:12:00.006-05:00

We went trick or treating in the neighborhood this year. Connor was, once again, a vampire Jedi - Obi Wan Kenobi, specifically. He had a great time and got a ton of candy. He can only eat about half of it because of his diet, but that's still quite a bit! Here are the pics:

Happy Halloween!

Gearing Up for Halloween

2010-10-29T16:42:00.007-05:00

Connor got some of the trick or treat obsession out of his system today. At speech therapy, he got to do some trick or treating at the different departments at the rehab center. He borrowed a Batman cape and cowl and went all around the building:

Apparently his Batman has vampire teeth. Connor wore them for hours after this.

And here's a project he made at school earlier this week. His very own Jack o' Lantern. This shot is from our backyard. I guess he thought the dead plants in this flowerbed looked just like hay. :S

He's READY!

2010-10-24T08:16:00.006-05:00

Connor's ready for trick or treating already.

These were taken yesterday evening.

I did stop him from actually going up to people's doors...

"I find your lack of candy...disturbing."

Jack o Lantern

2010-10-23T17:50:00.005-05:00

Now that I have figured out how to add blog posts using my new iPod, this might get updated more often. Unfortunately, the picture quality is not as good, but oh well. I get more pictures now so that's the good part.

Last week, Connor wanted to make a jack o lantern. We headed to HEB to pick one up. Here he is in their "pumpkin patch:"

He wasn't sure if this was real or not:

So we picked out a pumpkin and brought it home. Connor managed to carry it into the house. Jason drew on a face and started to carve. Connor mostly watched because he thought the insides were yucky:

I got the following picture about a week later, when I realized we would have to throw it out because it had started to mold. Here's Connor checking out the mold:

So much for our jack o lantern!

Knight in Shining Armor

2010-10-23T17:30:00.004-05:00

First Day of Fourth Grade!

2010-08-23T17:04:00.004-05:00

Connor had a great first day back at school.

Bathroom Remodel - part 2

2010-08-18T12:23:00.004-05:00

Right before our trip to Galveston, Nana and Papa spent three and a half days finishing up our bathroom. They sanded and painted and made many, many trips to home improvement and paint stores. It is now a lovely, tropical green that I don't think translated well on the computer so the color here is not quite right. It's bright and fresh, especially with our now white cabinetry.

Here's some pics of the finished product:

Look - cabinet handles...finally!

Eventually we are going to hang those fish paintings

on the wall above the tub. I haven't quite decided what

arrangement to put them in so they're living on the

windowsill for now.

The shower again - all finished with new paint on the walls

Thank you to Nana and Papa for the lovely anniversary gift. We are truly grateful.

Beach Trip!

2010-08-12T10:27:00.014-05:00

Warning: Picture heavy post.

When my in-laws were visiting back in June and helping us out with our shower, Connor made only one request: "Go to beach." So when they came back in August, we went to the beach. Connor had a great time. We stayed in Clear Lake the first night and visited the Kemah boardwalk that night and the next day. Then we drove on to Galveston in the afternoon and stayed there for a few days to enjoy the sun and sand.

Day 1

Connor discovering bacon!

We ate at Saltgrass in Kemah the first night. The folks there were very nice, but completely paranoid about serving him any food when we told them he had an allergy to wheat and milk. So we ended up settling on a plain baked potato with bacon bits on the side. Jason and I didn't think he'd eat the bacon bits, but he did and has been requesting bacon ever since. And he ate some of the baked potato, with lots and lots of salt on it. He actually did very well on this trip with trying new foods, which is a huge contrast with past trips when he would refuse to eat anything at all for the first day or so.

Day 2

Nana and Connor - Clear Lake Hilton

This was the view from our rooms at the Hilton in Clear Lake. Not too shabby.

Connor on airplane ride (click to enlarge so you can see the scorpion)

Connor asked to go back to Kemah, so we spent quite a bit of our second day away here again. He rode a lot more rides than we expected him to. Papa ended up buying him a wrist band when he made a third request to ride something. Connor did well, sticking to kiddie rides and riding most of them all by himself. We've had trouble in the past with him standing up in the middle of a ride, but no problems with that at all here. He did ride with someone on the train, carousel and giant ferris wheel. Other than that, he was on his own! I think he would have done the rides all day if we'd let him, but it became much, much too hot to stay outside longer than an hour or so at a time.

Connor and his papa using the telescope on the boardwalk

Manta rays!

On the bottom floor of the Aquarium restaurant, there is now a hands on exhibit of manta rays (and it has air conditioning!). It took a while for Connor to work up the courage, but eventually he touched one. Some of these rays were HUGE, and they would come right up to the edge of the tank, and sort of propel themselves up the wall and out of the water, usually splashing three or four people in the process. They had trays of fish you could feed to the rays (which is why they were throwing themselves at us), but we never could get Connor to understand how to hold the fish for them. He would just throw it into the water like it was a live grenade every time.

Papa feeding a manta ray.

He's feeding it a fish, not his hand, I promise.

Connor touches one.

The nursery

They had sectioned off part of the tank for the babies. They were a little less intimidating for Connor (and less likely to splash him as much), but they also moved a lot faster. I think he got a few good touches in, but I was never able to catch one on camera because the baby would dart off.

Connor and the crocodile

They had this crocodile in an enclosure along one wall.

Connor spent quite a bit of time staring at it.

Connor and Papa at the Aquarium

We had lunch at the Aquarium restaurant upstairs. This was the view of the boardwalk and the bay from the window right by our table. Connor really liked the shape of the window, and the view.

The staff were very accommodating of Connor's food issues. We were able to get him some shrimp sauteed in olive oil (a very, very good quality olive oil - it tasted so much like butter, I had to ask before I let him eat it), and some GFCF french fries that were quite tasty.

Connor checking out the view.

Day 3

Connor and a crocodile - Rainforest Cafe in Galveston

Our first full day in Galveston, we spent some time on the beach, which turned out to be very hot, and then had an early dinner at Rainforest Cafe. They had this one character going around the dining room, which is not something I'd seen at a Rainforest Cafe before (and we've been good patrons of theirs for a looooong time). Anyway, Connor seemed excited to see a big crocodile so we got a couple of pictures with him. Connor never would stand still so this is probably the best of the bunch even though he's a little blurry.

As for the food, this was another very good experience for us. The head chef actually came out to talk with us about what they could prepare for him. When I kept referring to the menu to see what on it was safe, he said "tell me what he likes to eat at home, and we'll make that." Wow.

They made up a fresh batch of fries just for him, some more shrimp (that seems to be the meat that he tolerates the best texture wise in case you're wondering why all the shrimp) and even a few strips of freshly cooked bacon on the side. We all had a good time, and since they made all of Connor's food completely fresh, I didn't have to worry at all. Connor enjoyed the fries and the bacon immensely. Jason and I ended up eating most of the shrimp. They brought him HUGE servings of all three. I highly recommend Rainforest Cafe for anyone with food allergies, particularly if it's a child under the age of 10. There's nothing like an outing where your food allergic child (and the family) gets to feel "just like everybody else."

Papa and Connor on the beach

(click to enlarge)

We stayed at the Seascape Condos because they have direct beach access. This was the view from our balcony. After our dinner at the Rainforest, Connor wanted to go back to the beach again. Papa took him out. Jason and I took the opportunity to head down to the hot tub and pool, after I got these pictures of Papa and Connor hard at work on the hole/sandcastle.

Papa and Connor digging in the sand

(click to enlarge)

Connor did not spend much time in the water. We waded in the first day, but that was mostly so he could "rescue" Nana and Papa from the waves because they had clearly walked out too far. Poor kid was trying to call them back in, but he would only go in so far. There was also a lot of seaweed floating in the water and that may have freaked him out a little. He spent most of the time working on this hole/sandcastle. We figured out after this day that it was better to go in the evening, when it had cooled off enough to be tolerable up on the sand, and the water had cooled off enough so that it was actually refreshing.

In case anyone is wondering, we didn't see any evidence of tar balls on our little stretch of beach. I know they had gotten some pretty large ones earlier this summer that they thought were coming in off ships that had sailed out to Deepwater to help with the clean up and then sailed back into the port at Galveston. We didn't see any tar while we were there. There was lots and lots of seaweed that would float past us in clumps, some flying fish (which was pretty cool), and one evening there were a few jellyfish. But I think only one kid got stung so that's a pretty good day at the beach.

Day 4

On Day 4, we visited the Strand in the morning/early afternoon. There didn't seem to be as many shops as there used to be, but a whole lot more bar and grill type restaurants. Many places we were used to visiting whenever we were on the island are now gone, but there were some interesting new places to discover. There's still quite a bit of shopping, and it made a nice late morning outing.

After that we tried out a restaurant we'd never been to before, and it was so good I want to be sure to plug it - the Olympia Grill. It's right on the Seawall, near the Academy Sports store. They serve Greek food, and it's delicious. What drew us there was the promise of easy gluten free eating. They indicate on their menu with an asterisk which menu items do not contain any gluten. Connor had french fries, yet again, and a serving of fresh fruit. We had some delicious pitas - I got shrimp, everyone else got steak. Some of the freshest food we'd had, and the portion sizes were just right - filling without being overwhelming. The pitas came with tzatziki on the side, which their menu describes as yogurt, sour cream, garlic and cucumber dip. Again - delicious. And gluten free friendly! Highly, highly recommend, especially if you're looking for something a bit lighter and healthier than the normal fried seafood fare. Their motto is "Healthy Food since 1500 B.C."

Connor and lobster toy at Murdoch's

Connor tries the other cut out

After lunch, we drove down the Seawall to Murdoch's. I was happy to see that Murdoch's has rebuilt. Murdoch's is a souvenir store built on a pier right off of Seawall Blvd, stretching out into the Gulf of Mexico. Pretty much all of the piers were washed away during Hurricane Ike (i.e. the Balinese Room, the fishing pier, etc.). Even the Flagship Hotel, which is almost entirely concrete sustained HEAVY damage. It still needs a lot of repair work; you can see into the building in parts.

We visited Galveston briefly last summer and were saddened to see that Murdoch's was gone. Well, this year, it's back and brand new. They have lots of good souvenirs, they still have the open porch on the back that looks out over the Gulf, and Connor always finds a toy or two that he just has to have. It has a long history too. If you're interested read about it at http://www.galveston.com/murdochsbathhouse/

Day 5

My grandparent's house - 2010

On our way out of town, we stopped by to see my grandparent's old house. They moved from the island when I was in 5th grade. My grandfather passed away that year, and my grandmother moved to the D/FW area to be closer to some of her kids. I have lots of happy memories of this house - visiting with my grandparents, going to the beach for the day, and eating lots and lots of fresh seafood. Playing in the backyard, watching Nickelodeon (when we still didn't have that many channels at our house), reading to my grandfather out on the porch swing, going for walks around the neighborhood in the evening, and watching my grandmother cook up some of the best seafood meals ever - which I did not always appreciate properly at the time, I know. I can still remember the exact smell of their pantry that was tucked under the stairs.

The house is a different color now, but it looks like the owners are doing a great job of keeping it up. I've no idea whether it sustained any damage from Ike or not, but I certainly don't see any evidence of it here. The whole neighborhood is still gorgeous, but there's a LOT of houses for sale.

There's been a whole lot of changes on the island since Ike - buildings that disappeared overnight, buildings that look like they are unrecoverable at this point and need to be torn down, and businesses closed down that we used to patronize on every visit. It can be a bit disheartening. But we had a great time in Galveston, and it was comforting to see that this piece of my past is still here and looks like it will be for quite a while.

Katie

2010-08-06T22:03:00.003-05:00

Katie Connor passed away yesterday.
From http://ourturkey.blogspot.com/

"Katelyn passed from this life to be with Jesus at 5:07 p.m. today. She is at peace now. Funeral arrangements have been tentatively planned for Tuesday (Aug 10th) at 10 a.m. at First Baptist Church in Madisonville with visitation on Monday evening at Madisonville Funeral Home. Thank you for all of your support in this almost 15 month journey. Please continue to pray for all of our family as we mourn the loss of our beloved Katie."

If you would like to honor her memory:
"In lieu of flowers the family requests that you make donations to the National Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, P. O. Box 498, Kensington, MD 20895-0498 or www.candlelighters.org and to Hospice Brazos Valley, 502 W. 26th Street, Bryan, Texas 77803-2426."

Connor Googles / GFCF Bakugan Cake

2010-08-01T13:47:00.004-05:00

I thought some of you might like to see Connor using the computer. So here's some pics I took this week of Connor googling Transformers.

Google search

Finding what he wants in the search results

Watching a Transformers video on YouTube

Happy boy!

Also this week I made a Bakugan cake for my nephew Jarod's birthday party. It was gluten free, casein free, and egg free. I used the Betty Crocker Devil's Food Gluten Free cake mix, Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks for the butter substitute, and golden flaxseed meal for the egg substitute. The main frosting is Cherrybrook Kitchens yummy chocolate frosting mix, and I used the Earth Balance sticks for that as well.

Unfortunately the cake cracked when I took it out of the pan, but I managed to salvage it and make the cake extra cool at the same time. I picked up a jar of Cherrybrook Kitchens premade allergen free vanilla frosting. Then I dyed it yellow, orange, and red using icing color. I mixed up each color in a separate bowl, and then poured each into 3 Ziploc bags. I cut one corner of each Ziploc - and voila, instant homemade pastry bags. I then "piped" it into the crevices so it looked like lava coming up out of the cake. The kids liked it and even requested the pieces with lava.

The figures are just Bakugan toys that you can get at any store. I made the card on the computer, just adjusting an image I found online to personalize it for Jarod and printed it out on cardstock. It's being held up by the four candles, which I cut notches into so that the card wouldn't fall into the icing.

I think it turned out pretty well, and more importantly, the kids really liked it.

June, or the Tale of the Shower

2010-07-24T12:43:00.009-05:00

End of July already? Guess I fell off the wagon with this blogging thing. Fortunately for you, we're going to pick right back up where we left off. In June.

My in-laws were here visiting and helping us with a major home project. More about that later. They brought Connor's cousin, Lauren, up with them one day so he and Lauren could ride scooters together, and Connor could try out Lauren's Razor scooter.

Connor is still using his Incredibles scooter that I bought for his third or fourth birthday. After this day, I got him a Razor scooter of his own. He asks to go out and ride scooter at least twice a day, sometimes more. He's getting very fast, and his psych is worried that he's not wearing a helmet. I thought that was odd until I realized this guy has probably treated more than one child with a traumatic brain injury. That should probably make us more safety conscious.

Eventually the wagon came out, Lauren started pulling it, and Connor made her stop so he could hop in. That's a hand truck in there with him.

And eventually we got to here. Connor decided to make this contraption, then hopped in and looked at Lauren expectantly. We are so very, very glad that Lauren is patient with Cousin Connor. She's a real trooper.

On to the home renovation project my in-laws were here for. We somehow managed to crack our shower floor back in late April/early May? Not sure exactly when. That period of time is a haze of wrapping up end of school stuff, being sick, and generally feeling whacked out from too little sleep. So anyhoo, we ended up having to share Connor's bathroom with him for over two months. Three of us sharing a tiny bathroom is not what I was looking for when we took on a mortgage. I AM grateful that we have two bathrooms so that taking a shower was even an option, and now Connor has a spanking new massaging, handheld showerhead with multiple settings and decent flow rate should he choose to ever take a shower in this lifetime. I'm sure our future houseguests will be appreciative too since this replaced the previously installed builder special - the tiniest possible showerhead that barely spit water out at you and yet somehow managed to get the wall above the tile completely soaked at the same time - FUN.

Another thing I am very grateful for, yet again, is having an incredibly handy father-in-law. And as luck would have it, their tile guy, Mike, was planning a trip through our area during June! So we had an honest to goodness professional helping the handiest father-in-law ever out. Bonus!

Upon taking the shower liner out, Papa discovered exactly what the problem was that caused our shower floor to crack - THEY DIDN'T FINISH OUR FOUNDATION. Around the drainpipe for the shower, there was a circle of several inches in diameter that consisted of...dirt. Basically the pipe was sticking up out of the ground and the foundation just didn't quite meet up with it. How this passed code I have no idea.

The good news is my father-in-law, being the handy person he is, bought some cement and fixed her up for us, and we now have a complete foundation under the shower so that it's fully supported. I shudder to think what other surprises are waiting for us. Hopefully the people who eventually buy this house from us don't read random blogs.

So after several days of very hard work from Papa and Mike-the-tile-guy, including (but not limited to):

-moving the shower head up a foot (now the shower head is actually above Jason's head and not hitting him directly in the eyes - yay!)

-putting in Durock so I no longer have to be so paranoid about mold in the walls

-tiling

-grouting

-installing a new showerhead that combines the rain type showerhead with a handheld (I love this thing!)

-sealing said grout

-and many, many trips to Home Depot to buy supplies

we now have a new shower!

It took another couple of weeks to get a shower door put on because Home Depot and Lowe's just don't carry six foot tall shower doors (at least not here). I would highly recommend the company we went with. They were very professional, quick (the delay was all us), and the price was great so if you live in town and want the name, let me know.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the new shower, designed by Nana and built by Papa and Mike-the-tile-guy:

Overview

They made us a small window to let light in. :D

Floor detail

Isn't it gorgeous? I'm considering moving in. I've seen NYC apartments that are smaller. I can just set the computer up right outside and have everything I need delivered to me - it'll be awesome.

Freedom!

2010-06-26T22:08:00.008-05:00

Connor learned how to pedal his bike this week.

Next goal - take off the training wheels.

Update on Miss Christa's daughter Katie

2010-06-25T18:59:00.004-05:00

Some of you may remember that I asked for prayer about a year ago for Miss Christa and her daughter, Katie. Katie had just recently been diagnosed with neuroblastoma. They got some bad news today. The cancer has spread to a point that treatment is no longer an option. They've been battling this very hard over the past year. Katie is now 4 years old, and she's spent the last year in and out of Texas Children's, fighting this as hard as she can. Christa and her husband have been amazing during all of this, trying to do the best for Katie, and still give her as much of a normal childhood as they can. All while working and caring for their younger daughter, Laura Beth, as well.

I cannot even tell you how sad this news makes me. Connor and I saw Christa weekly for 3 years when she was Connor's OT. She doesn't think she did, but she made an amazing difference in our lives and was so much help to Connor. I love her and appreciate her and cannot help but feel extremely devastated for her at this time.

Please join me in prayer for Christa, Katie, and their whole family at this time. For those interested in reading about Katie and her family, please visit ourturkey.blogspot.com.

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-19T21:13:00.007-05:00

Happy Father's Day to all the dads in our family:

Daddy (Jason), Papa John, Grandpa Harold, Grandpa Mann,

Uncle Josh, and Uncle Corey!

You're our superheroes.

Hope you have a wonderful Father's Day.

Love,

Carolyn and Connor

Connor has something he'd like to say...

2010-06-17T13:08:00.004-05:00

Thank you for Ultra Magnus, Nana!

Love, Connor

Name that Transformer

2010-06-14T11:34:00.006-05:00

Jason and I went out to eat Saturday night to celebrate our anniversary/my birthday. While we were out, the sitter took these pics of Connor dressing himself up as a Transformer.

New Things

2010-06-14T10:43:00.012-05:00

We recently joined the ranks of families with kiddos on the gluten free/casein free diet. The doc thinks it will help him with attention and hyperactivity issues. We've also discovered that he is allergic to eggs. So this has made mealtimes a lot more involved than they used to be. The good news is that more companies are becoming aware of the need for alternative products (not to mention the huge amount of profit they can make by trying to fill that need). Betty Crocker has introduced a new line of gluten free baking mixes (which are also casein free as far as I can tell), and they're not any more complicated to make than your typical Betty Crocker baking mix. They're also a LOT cheaper than many of the mixes that the gluten free only specialty companies put out. A name I trust and easier on the pocketbook? Yes, please!

We tried out chocolate chip cookies, and Connor inhaled them. They were a bit more crumbly than regular cookies, but the taste was the same. And really, they held together pretty darn well for gluten free. I've tried baking various gf items. You usually seem to have 2 choices - crumbles apart into a sand like substance or hard as a rock yet strangely chewy. Betty Crocker cookies are neither of these so they're a win!

Anyway, it was on to the brownies. I wasn't sure Connor would be quite as jazzed over these.

Here's the mix, just to show you that yes, it's for real. They're even made in their own gluten free factory so there's no chance of the evil cross contamination that so many in the gluten free world seem to live in fear of.

After combining it with melted Earth Balance vegan "butter" and egg substitute (ground flaxseed meal and water - thanks Bob's Red Mill pizza mix for suggesting this super easy egg sub), you get this lump of super chocolatey dough. I noticed the directions said "press it into the pan." And boy howdy, they weren't kidding.

The closest thing consistency-wise to this is Playdoh.

Here's the finished product. Looks pretty good, right? Well, while they do taste good, they're not exactly what I expected. I'd have to say they're the world's chewiest brownies. You're definitely not going to get cake like brownies out of this mix. And when you cut them apart, they stretch in a way that reminds me of those terrible Taco Bell stretchy cheese commercials. If you eat them hot, they taste most like a molten chocolate cake, but as they cool, they kind of solidify and stick to each other.

As it turns out, Connor would eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if he could. So all in all, they were a success.

Our flower bed out front finally started to bloom this week. Connor really enjoys the flowers, but he wants to play with them like toys, which does not bode well for their longevity. So I took a few pics to share with everyone. Enjoy.

Connor passed TAKS!

2010-05-25T19:49:00.004-05:00

We're all so proud of you, buddy!

Connor and Jason at Mangia Pizza in Austin on May 15.

We highly recommend their Carnivore Special - stuffed.

Nature Walk

2010-04-29T21:52:00.001-05:00

Here are the pics that Connor's teacher, Miss Smith, promised to send me. After completing TAKS, she took him on a nature walk on the trails around the school. He's carrying a paper butterfly and snake.

TAKS test 2010

2010-04-28T17:44:00.002-05:00

We lived through TAKS testing.(Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills - boo!) It's over for this year. Yay! He did not like being cooped up all day for two straight days, but did enjoy some outside time at the end of each day, including a nature walk today. His teacher promises to send me pictures soon.

After school today, we went to get a haircut (which required a LOT of candy corn to get him to sit still) and a new toy - his reward for being so good during the haircut (although my stylist being so cool and calm has a LOT to do with that), and for enduring 2 days of standardized testing, which will probably tell us absolutely nothing useful for him.

Connor's Volcano

2010-04-25T12:18:00.029-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Connor had to do the big third grade science project, making a volcano. We got a fairly loose list of guidelines, and neither Jason nor I had ever actually made a volcano. We didn't get a lot of lead time on this, as the notice came home on a Thursday, and the project was due at school the following Tuesday. We had exactly one weekend to get this done. So to the internet for guidance we went. We used this guy's video: http://stormthecastle.com/ He has some great Youtube videos on making all sorts of projects, including volcanoes, trebuchets, and swords. Connor and I spent a while watching videos.

Anyway, on to the volcano. He recommended cutting apart a box to make both a container for the mess and the frame for the volcano. On Saturday afternoon, I cut apart a box, saving the strips to make the frame. Under the frame, Jason stuffed air pillows we'd gotten from various Amazon.com shipments. Then over all that, we did a simple paper mache using flour and water. Not surprisingly, Connor did not enjoy dipping his hands in the flour/water mixture.

Here it is drying outside after it failed to dry overnight in the garage. A nice sunny Sunday helped finish off that part. We used the Saturday edition of our local paper, The Eagle, as our paper strips. It took the entire paper, including inserts and ads to make one fairly small volcano.

That night, Connor and Jason spray painted the whole thing black.

On Monday evening, it was dry enough to paint the lava on.

Connor did this part almost entirely by himself.

He had to make a diagram showing the different parts of a volcano.

We took advantage of his IEP accommodations and printed out this

worksheet from EnchantedLearning.com. Then we pasted it to the

back of the box we'd cut to put the volcano in.

Here's the finished product from the top.

Ready to take to school on Tuesday morning

Dropping off his volcano at school with his Ready class teacher, Miss Smith.

We dropped it off on Tuesday morning, as required. Then all of third grade went on a field trip to Washington-on-the-Brazos on Wednesday, which meant eruption day was not until Thursday afternoon. This was the part that Connor really enjoyed: both watching his classmates set theirs off and getting a turn to do his own. I was able to take off work early so I could go watch and take some pictures and videos of the big event.

Connor ready for his turn to set off his volcano.

With a little help from his aide, Mrs. Holman, Connor has to say his name (missed that part) and then describe what he made his volcano out of.

Connor says "I made it out of paper mache, and a water bottle."

Finally he gets to set off his volcano!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2009-12-19T22:31:00.005-06:00

We got a new camera right after Thanksgiving. The old one was nice, but it was big and bulky and the battery wouldn't charge anymore. So now I have a small, sleek one that starts up so fast compared to the old one that I'm still surprised every time. And this means I'm catching more of Connor's cute stuff because I now have a camera that can keep up with him!

First pic taken with the new camera.

Connor insisted on buying that giant bag of

Hershey's kisses at Sam's. We've had it 3

weeks now and he's still working on it.

That's a green Ikea dragon blanket draped

over various other stuffed animals, with a

stuffed dragon on top and to the side. I'm

not sure why my pink croc was also involved.

Connor built a fort in front of our Christmas

tree. Yes, we're still using the four foot tree

that we bought at Hobby Lobby for $25 in 1998.

Here's a close up of the fort. It's made out of

Jenga blocks, and has a 3 headed dragon

Transformer guarding it. You may also

be able to see the Darth Vader Star Wars

Christmas ornament hanging from our tree.

We gave up on regular ornaments years ago.

It's now a hodge podge of ornaments that

Connor made at school, along with a set of

nonbreakable Star Wars ornaments we got

at Target on clearance.

Connor playing with toys under the tree.

He likes to turn the overhead light off when

he turns the Christmas tree lights on.

Connor acting out the opening scene from the

Muppet Show using his medieval castle playset.

Those doorways are just the right shape, as you

can see here.

Connor was running around with this, reciting

lines from Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.

I'm still not sure which is the eggs and which is the ham.

And finally, Nana and Papa sent us some gifts,

in an unusually large box. Jason wondered why

the box was so large. Apparently, he didn't realize

what Connor did. The box was the ultimate gift:

Deep Thoughts

2009-12-19T17:49:00.002-06:00

I'm reading a book right now about a woman caring for her father with mental illness. I came across this passage today, and it helped me come to some realizations about myself.

When someone is severely depressed, he often doesn't want to take his medicine. But you cannot be angry at him. You cannot blame him and you cannot blame yourself. You just have to accept it and realize that it is something out of your control and not get angry. Except it is angering so you find yourself getting angry at other things, like strangers, or garbage bags that don't open properly, or your purse, when you can't find things at its bottom.
From The Visibles by Sara Shepard

There simply are times when raising a child with autism is frustrating, such as when he is unable to express himself and has a major nuclear meltdown because of it. Or when he engages in dangerous, possibly life threatening behavior. Or when you can't do something other families do because your child is unable to do it, such as having a conversation together.

Getting frustrated at your child doesn't help anyone because he is doing the best he knows how to do. Getting mad at autism doesn't really work because getting mad at an abstract concept isn't really possible. So maybe this explains why I find myself so perturbed by random strangers at Target who block up the aisle so they can have a loooooong conversation and completely ignore anyone who is trying to get through. Or why I am so irritated at Glad trashbags for changing their design so that each and every one of the 30 or so bags I've used out of my latest box of 72 has ripped in such a way that I end up having to knot them closed because the drawstrings are rendered completely useless.

I'm not sure this new knowledge about myself will keep me from getting frustrated by the "little things," but at least I'll have a better explanation for when I do.

Happy 9th Birthday, Connor!

2009-10-05T20:28:00.008-05:00

Today was Connor's 9th birthday. He still had to go to school, and therapy. But his speech therapist, Miss Judy planned a birthday themed session today. They talked about the events that occur at a birthday party - singing happy birthday, blowing out candles, eating cake, and opening presents. She got him a danish out of the vending machine of the rehab center, put some candles in it, and they had a birthday party for just the two of them. She even got him a present, a really cool Bionicle.

This is what Connor does when you say "Show

me your new Bionicle."

And this is what he does when you say "Smile."

We went to Double Dave's Pizzaworks for dinner. We've eaten there for either lunch or dinner on his birthday almost every year since he turned three. Afterwards, we took him to Kroger to let him pick out a birthday cake for the three of us to share. He wanted cupcakes. I tried to steer him towards the Indiana Jones cupcakes, but he liked the ones with flowers on them. Then he spotted this:

Yep, he picked this out all by himself.

Happy Birthday!

Those last few were a little stubborn.

No, they weren't trick candles.

He asked to do it again, so I turned off the light

the second time around and got this nice shot.

Getting the first taste of icing

He really liked his cupcake.

And finally, opening presents with Daddy.

Happy Birthday, Connor!

First Day of School

2009-08-30T15:17:00.003-05:00

Connor's first day of third grade was last Monday. He had a great day at school, especially considering he had the entire summer off from school, something that hasn't happened since he entered public school at age 3. He was very excited about his first day. We had visited with his teachers and seen their rooms on the Thursday afternoon prior. I wrote him a social story about third grade and how it would be different (all new staff and changing classes for each subject!). After talking about it all weekend, he was ready to go. He was not so ready to get up at 6:30 AM after a summer of being able to sleep in as long as he wanted.

Breakfast of champions: dry waffles

Waiting for the bus with his backpack on

Boarding his new school bus!

He had a great first week at school. He did try to run away a couple of times towards the end of the first week, just to try and get out of doing work. However, the new special ed teacher and her staff seem to be handling it well and communicating it to me so that I know what's going on. We've got a plan in place that we all worked very hard last school year to develop. I'm very optimistic that the new staff will be able to carry on with what we began, and this will be a great year for Connor.

Third Grade Bible Presentation!

2009-08-30T14:47:00.006-05:00

Those that go to a Methodist church know that the Third Grade Bible Presentation is a pretty big deal. I can still remember mine, and I'm pretty sure that bible is somewhere at my parents' house. Today, Connor got his bible at Christ United Methodist in College Station. We've been going to this church for a few years, mostly because they have been so supportive of Connor. It's a really big church. There were FORTY third graders receiving bibles today.

They did not do a rehearsal, and the assistant that Connor normally has is out right now, so it was up to me to help guide him through it as it was happening. He gets pretty overwhelmed and distracted in "big church" so he needs someone to keep him focused.

I had given him a couple of fidget toys, a plastic shark and a tiny green grasshopper. I think he'd resorted to chewing on one here, a sure sign that he's a bit overstimulated. But he held it together and did a great job of waiting.

Waiting for his turn

That's Pastor Jerry on the left. He got in close with each kid and said "This is God's Word just for you. Read it everyday."

After receiving their bible, all the kids lined up in front of the congregation. This was a long wait for Connor since he was number seven out of forty. He needed a LOT of help staying here. And when the congregation applauded them at the end, he covered his ears. Between the organ music and songs we had done before the presentation, he was done with loud noises!

We stayed for "Kids for Christ", the children's portion of the service, mostly because we were not able to make our way back to Dad due to the mob of third graders and other children. Normally Kids for Christ is not this crowded. A lot of these kids usually attend Big House, a service just for them. Pastor Jerry is showing them the bible he got when he was in third grade. The Bible that Connor got is very cool, comparatively:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/imageviewer.asp?ean=9780310939528

We went out to Carino's afterwards to celebrate.

All in all, Connor did a great job! We are very proud of him.

Thanks to Dad for taking all the great pictures today.

And please say a prayer for Connor's church aide, Mrs. Hausmann (who also happens to be his special ed teacher from last year). She is having heart trouble right now (racing heartbeat and arrhythmia) and is getting treatment for it. Get well, Mrs. Hausmann. Connor misses you!

2009-08-04T11:13:00.004-05:00

It seems it's been a while since I updated. And I have some pretty cute pictures waiting too.

But it always takes me a few hours to create one of these posts. Uploading and arranging pictures takes an obscene amount of time, and that much uninterrupted free time is in short supply these days. I promise I'll get to it soon. I've got more vacation photos, and Connor making scarecrows and "watering" the front flower bed. I also need to take some pictures of Connor at guitar lessons, and horseback riding so you can see how well he's doing at both.

We also have news that I don't have pictures for. Jason has decided to go back to teaching. He will be at the high school again, teaching computer science. And I will be working "full time" (7:30am to 2:30pm weekdays) at the daycare in the Pre-K classroom. Officially, I will be the assistant, BUT the pre-K teacher, Mrs. C, is having foot surgery this month, and they're not sure how long her recovery will be. So they have asked me to fill in as lead until she gets back, and they haven't yet determined who my assistant will be during this time. Please pray for her surgery and recovery and my sanity. Add to that there will be some changes at Connor's school as well. He will have all new teachers, including special ed, a new aide, and a new speech therapist. Lots of transitions. Prayers for smoothing the way would also be much appreciated.

Pretty soon we'll all be gearing up to get ready for the new school year. I'll try to update with more on Connor before then!

Dolphin Research Center Day 1

2009-06-17T20:34:00.007-05:00

Last week, we went down to the Florida Keys for vacation. Our main purpose in going to the Keys was to take Connor to the Dolphin Research Center. They have a weeklong program for special needs kids called the Pathways Program. It consists of a 30 to 45 minute classroom session and a 30 minute dolphin session each day. On the first three days, the child interacts with the dolphin from a dock, and on the last two days, they get to swim with the dolphin. The very last day, two family members can join the child in the water for the swim session. The family picks the goals for the child, and the idea is to use the dolphins to help achieve those goals, in much the same way that hippotherapy uses horses.

These pics are from the first day, Monday. We tried to prepare Connor beforehand by showing him pictures that the lovely people at the DRC had sent me. And I wrote a little story about our vacation and about what he would be doing while we were there.

He was a little trepidatious at first. His teachers were Miss Joan and Miss Julie. Miss Joan is on the left of Connor, and Miss Julie is just behind him. The dolphin trainer, Miss Sara, is the one on the far right in the pink visor. Miss Joan and Miss Julie did the classroom session each day with him, and then a different dolphin trainer would join them for the dolphin sessions.

The center is situated on the Gulf of Mexico side of Grassy Key. All the sessions take place in the Gulf. This dock was off of a small causeway that juts out into the ocean. I think there were about 4 such docks on each side of it. Each dock on the causeway has wooden piers that you walk on to get out to it, and each is inside of a small pen that contains 1 or 2 dolphins. There are underwater fences and gates to try and keep the dolphins where they need to be, and they can be opened and closed to allow them to move between each area. On this day, Connor was working with Molly and Calusa.

They started with an activity that allowed Connor to keep his distance

but still interact. He's throwing a small blue ring to the dolphins.

If you double click on the picture, you can see a larger version of it.

There's nothing like playing fetch with a dolphin.

This is the first time he got close to them.

He has to if he wants to get that ring back.

Now one of them is showing him her tummy to see if he

will give her a pat. He's not ready just yet.

Miss Julie is demonstrating how you shake hands with a dolphin.

Connor's not ready for this either. He's hiding behind Miss Joan.

That dolphin is just a little too close now.

Molly and Calusa show off their diving technique.

Connor wasn't ready to touch them yet, but he was

definitely interested in them and liked playing games.

Dolphin Research Center Day 2

2009-06-17T19:53:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday, Connor knew better what to expect. He made some progress on touching the dolphins and really started to interact with them. Here are some pictures that show how his routine went each day.

He liked to start by looking through this book on ocean animals.

It made the sounds of each one. By the end of this session, he

could make the sound of both the dolphin and the whale.

Miss Joan told me that the whale was his favorite.

He also worked each day on a memory book to take home.

It included pictures of what he had done the day before so that

they could review it and use the pictures to talk about what they

would do with the dolphin that day. The dolphins would give

him presents during each session, and he would glue them into

the book each day after they had dried out overnight. Here he is

putting the glue down.

And here's the present Molly had given him the day before.

Some sort of seaweed or kelp?

He painted a tote bag with marine mammal stamps

that he got to bring home at the end of the week.

Miss Joan is on the right here and Miss Julie is behind Connor. We had a different trainer on this day, and I can't remember her name (oops). Connor is showing the dolphin, Merina, her symbol to get her to come play. This is how the trainers "call" the dolphins at the beginning of each session. Each dolphin has a different symbol. Merina's symbol is basically a square. Another dolphin had an x shape. We ended up playing with Merina the rest of the week. She is a very gentle, motherly dolphin, and that was a better fit for Connor.

We had moved to a new dock on this day. This one was a U-shaped dock that allowed the photographer to stand on the opposite arm of it. We used this dock for the rest of the week. This dock was not on the causeway but was directly off the island. Behind Connor you can see the way most of the coastline looked in the Keys. There was very little beach. The mangrove trees grew right up to and into the water. There was also no wave action in the water because all the waves break on the coral reefs that are a few miles out from the islands.

Connor touches Merina. He's starting to get more

comfortable with the dolphins and trust the adults more.

He reached into her mouth and touched her tongue!

He's getting very comfortable now.

Merina brings him a present of seaweed.

He wasn't ready to take his shoes off yet, but he did

put his feet in the water and let the dolphin touch

the bottom of his foot.

This is how they ended the session each day.

1, 2, 3...Team Dolphin!

Dolphin Research Center Day 3

2009-06-17T19:23:00.005-05:00

Wednesday was a really good day for Connor. He had gotten comfortable with the routine and with Merina. He got to paint a shirt with her and showed us some of the commands he had learned. We got a lot of great pictures on this day.

Here's Connor in the classroom, having just glued down Merina's

present from the day before. I believe that is seaweed.

Connor practices with Miss Julie on how to

give the paintbrush to the dolphin.

He starts the session by showing Merina her symbol

so she will swim over to play. Miss Joan is on the

far right, Connor is sitting on Miss Julie's lap, and

our trainer today was Miss Kelly, on the left there.

He put his bare feet in the water AND

touched the dolphin with them. That's

a huge amount of progress for Connor in

a very short time.

He's doing the handshake like an old pro.

Time to paint the tshirt.

The dolphins usually paint over the symbol

on the shirt first. Nobody's really sure why.

Connor is trying to get a better look at what she's doing.

Connor takes the paintbrush out of Merina's mouth

so they can change colors.

Here he is putting the paint brush back into her mouth.

Touching her tail

Double click on this picture so you can see it larger.

You can see he has a big smile on his face.

That's what we've been working for all this time.

Blowing the whistle just like a real dolphin trainer

Playing ball with Merina

Merina brings it back. Connor's not showing

any fear here anymore.

He's giving her the symbol for "giggle." It's kind of hard

to describe what it's like to hear a dolphin giggle. But you'd

know it was a giggle if you heard it.

Dolphin Research Center Day 4

2009-06-17T17:41:00.005-05:00

So here we are on Day 4, Thursday. This was supposed to be Connor's first swim session. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. But he had a good day anyway.

Gluing more presents from Merina into his book.

Seaweed. Yum.

Miss Joan is trying to tempt him into the water. Miss Julie is on the dock, wearing her life vest too to show him that it's OK to wear one. And our trainer this day was Miss Katherine. Miss Katherine used to play Belle at Disney World in Orlando. I'm pretty sure Jason and I met her when we ate at the character breakfast in Cinderella's Castle in 1999.

It's a small world after all....

This is right after Connor got into the water.

A small fish bit him on his finger so he jumped right back out again.

Connor asked for a bandaid so someone ran and got him one.

Merina is dutifully waiting to play.

And now back to our regularly scheduled events.

Playing ball with Merina.

Connor finally gets to feed a fish to Merina.

He'd wanted to do this from day one, but they don't

usually allow participants to do this. However, Connor

was not particularly calm so they decided to get out the

big guns, so to speak, by giving Connor that which he

most desired. It worked beautifully and Connor calmed

down immensely after this.

And now everybody's happy.

Connor ended this session by giving Merina a high five.

Dolphin Research Center Day 5

2009-06-17T16:29:00.010-05:00

On Friday, Jason and I were supposed to get into the water with Connor and swim with Merina and her daughter, Pandora. Miss Joan and Miss Julie were hoping that when he saw us in the water, he would be tempted into getting in. Unforunately, we had another small mishap and he refused to get in again.

So here we are out on the dock getting ready to start. That's Miss Joan and Miss Julie, on the far left, Katherine (who ended up working with us for most of this session) and the trainer that worked with Connor that day (whose name neither Jason nor I can remember - oops again). Connor thought blowing through this big tube into the water was pretty cool.

Until he managed to hit himself in the mouth with it and give himself a tiny cut over his top lip. So much for going in the water. There's Merina waiting to see what's going on. We actually missed most of this while it was going on. Jason and I started our concurrent session on the other arm of the dock before he had hurt himself. We were hoping Connor would see what we were doing and want to join us, but he was too busy nursing his injury at first, and then they got him involved in doing other things to take his mind off of it as quickly as possible. Here's some pics from our session:

Jason taking a ride with Merina and Pandora

And me. Turns out dolphins can swim really fast.

Here's Connor with Merina and Pandora.

Merina nosed up right beside Jason, wanting to play.

Here we are with Pandora. Her underside is really pink.

She's supposed to have outgrown that by now. Apparently all

dolphins are born with pink bellies, but it's supposed to fade to white

as they get older. I guess Pandora doesn't want to grow up.

Never start a splash fight with a dolphin.

The dolphin will win.

Every time.

Back to Connor. He got to play ball with Merina again.

And feed her fish.

Waving goodbye to Merina for the last time.

1, 2, 3...Team Dolphin!

We'll miss all our friends at DRC, and we hope to go back soon. If you're interested in visiting or in sending them a donation to help with their good work, please visit their website at http://www.dolphins.org

Saying Goodbye

2009-06-03T16:48:00.003-05:00

Connor has been having weekly OT/speech sessions at our local rehab center for about 2 years now. Unfortunately, his OT, Miss Christa, has decided to move on to another job closer to her home. This past Monday was her last session with Connor. He's going to be moving on to the caseload of their other OT starting in July (in the meantime, he'll still be getting speech therapy there). I'm not sure Connor quite understood since he told Miss Christa he would see her later when we tried to explain. At least his farewells have improved in variety.

That's Connor's foot and hand. He likes to begin his sessions by climbing into the blue swing with the "lights out."

Connor also likes to "fall" into this barrel by first sitting on the top and then allowing himself to fall inward until he's folded up inside of it. I don't think this was Miss Christa's idea (it looks like the type of thing Connor comes up with all on his own). That's Miss Judy, his speech therapist, helping him.

Folding

And inside the barrel.

Miss Christa helping him back into the blue swing.

This was taken at the end of the session, after Connor had run away a few times, fought us about doing his speech therapy activities and generally been a real toot. At least I can say Christa will never forget him. We'll miss you lots, Miss Christa!

Christa shared some other news with us a couple of weeks ago. Her 3 year old daughter, Katelyn, was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma cancer. If you would like to read her story, you can do so on Christa's blog, Our Turkey. Christa has been a huge blessing to us. I pray God returns some of that blessing to Katie. Please pray for Katie's full recovery.