Why Me?

With two boys that have Autisim, I am often faced with challenges not only daily but long term. One such challenge is reading. It comes up at every parent teacher conference and it is going to be something both Garrison and Mason will struggle with long term. Garrison has issues with problem solving. If he reads a story about a day in a dogs life and is then asked "if you were a dog, how would you do...ect" Garrison could not answer the question. The reason, he's not a dog. He can't think in an imaginitive way like that. He see's life in black and white. In one way this is very good for me because he is a rule follower and doesn't like to get in trouble at all. The negitive is that he thinks everyone else should be on the black and white path. He gets very upset when others break rules, especially when they get away with it. But reading comprehension is a skill that he doen't have and will have to continually work on. His fifth grade teacher found an amazing way around this by simply asking him if he was a tiny person on that dog shoulder, what would he see or tell the dog to do. Garrison can figure that easier than putting himself in someone elses shoes.
 Mason has reading comprehension problems too but in different and more extreme way. Mason's teacher told me that Mason can read 78 words a minute. That's fast for an 8 year old. But when asked to go back and remember the words he just read, he could get 17 of them. 17! I have to say I was floored. Basically Mason is an in one ear out the other reader. After discussing this little hiccup, his teacher and I came up with a plan that we hope will work. But it is hard and alittle frustrating for both of us. Instead of Mason going and reading by himself, I now have to sit with him and quiz him after just two pages of the book. The first book we tried this new process on was "The Story of Ferdinand the Bull." The first two pages said where the story took place and what the name of the bull is. I asked Mason the same two questions. He looked at me and said he didn't know. I wanted to hit my forehead on the table... repeatedly! Now we barely finish a shorter book because we have to stop so often and sometimes go back so he can re-read and answer the question I asked him. He gets very frustrated with me because I have to push him so hard. The harder I push the louder his humming gets and the harder he hits his head. It hurts me that I'm putting him through this every day but I know it's helping a little. But after everyday helping him read and listening and helping Garrison with his emotional ups and downs, I feel exausted. Then Garrison will come through the dining room with Bree on his back, making her scream with laughter and Mason reminds me that his name today is Pizza Server and I'm invited to his beauty parlor. I know I was ment to have these two wonderful boys in my life and I'm learning from them everyday. And I smile.

Ask and ye shall receive

I've been asked what photos I won ribbons for at this years fair. Well here they are.... Garrison and Aubrey was 3rd and Mikelle in the sprinkler was 3rd too. The landscape at the Petrified Forest won 2nd place and the water drops on our car was my blue ribbon 1st place!

That warm feeling

In our ward I have two callings. I'm the Cubmaster and I'm the chorister for the primary. The primary chorister is in charge of teaching the kids new songs, trying to get 11-12 year old boys to sing period and have a positive attitude while doing it! I do have fun but sometimes things in primary that make every bad singing day worth it.
The new song I was teaching was "I feel my Savior's love". I was trying to explain the words in the song were  about how you would feel knowing that God loves you. I asked the kids if any of them had put a blanket in the drying for a couple of minutes on a cold winter day and then wrapped it around their bodies. "That's how Gods loves feels, like a warm blanket surrounding you." Man, I thought it was a great example but then Garrison had to one up me. " Hey Mom, it's like when you've had to go to the bathroom really bad and you've held it for a really really long time and then you get to go and it feels real good...right?" I was so stunned I couldn't say anything for a second or two. But the more I think about it.....he's right!

All's Fair

This past weekend was the Navajo County Fair. Lily and Kwynn got to ride horses for the first time. This was especially exciting for Lily because she is horse crazy right now. But hey isn't every six year old? Next to the pony rides was a petting zoo that everyone went in. In the pen were some familiar animals for my kids such has bunnies and chickens but there were some animals that were new. The most memorable was a very aggressive donkey that was apparently very hungry. This donkey would follow you around to see if you had food in your hand and then come back later to see if you had gotten more! He really freaked out Kwynn and Bree. I know this because Kwynn told me "Mom, that thing frweeks me out!" Garrison, Mason and Lily attended their first rodeo. Lily loved the girls on the horses (see..horse crazy) Garrison liked the bull riding and Mason thought the song they played when someone got to do a re-ride was funny. He sang it the whole way home. I'm glad we don't live to far away! Dwayne won 1st place ribbons for some of his artwork. I also won for my photos. I enjoyed walking around and looking at others photos. It gives me great ideas! Denyce entered the county pageant. Dwayne thought we looked pretty funny practicing walking, pausing and turning in heals in our dinning room but he's never had to do that in front of alot of people and still look graceful. She got 3rd place and on the way home, she told me she wants to enter the Junior High spelling bee. She likes to stay busy which unfortunately makes me busy too! Oh well.

Ahhh nuts!

For a week now every time Kwynn has hurt herself she says "Mom, I hurt my nuts!" I know exactly who she got this saying from. Garrison says it when one on his little sisters unknowingly kicks or steps on his...well you know. I've been hoping this little expression would go away if I didn't call any attention to it but alas it hasn't. Today I hear Kwynn come racing around the corner of the hallway and crash into the wall. After she picked herself up, she came to me and once again said "Mom, I hurt my nuts AGAIN!" My mom spidy sense finally kicked in and I came up with the all important question.."Kwynn, where are your nuts?" Looking at me like I had lost my mind, she put her hand on her hip and pointed to her head. "My nuts are in my head mom." Of course, where else would they be.

Labor Day Sept. 5

Today we went to The Petrified Forrest. It's only a 20 minute drive from Holbrook. We have been to the Painted Desert before which is part of the Forrest but we have never been through the whole thing. It took us about 3 and a half hours but I think we all had fun. We walked around quite a bit so it was good exercise with the added benefit of making the kids exhausted. They went to sleep tonight real early. We saw a lot of petrified wood of course but we also saw petroglyphs, dinosaur bones, a pueblo, a kiva and an awesome view of the Painted Desert. Petroglyphs are pictures that people made long ago(600-800 years ago) by chipping away darker rock to show the lighter rock beneath. They made pictures of lizards, snakes, birds, plants and even people. Close to the petroglyphs was the pueblo. A pueblo is like a small city. It was shaped like a rectangle with the living quarters making the outside walls and all the activities happening on the inside. There they would weave, grind corn and other grains and basically have everyday living. A kiva was a religious building that was actually dug into the ground. You would climb down a latter into it. All in all we had a fun day and took lots of pictures. I think I made Denyce and Garrisons day by letting them take pictures on my camera. My camera is called my 7th child so all the kids know how much I love it. I was really proud that they took some pretty darn good pictures. Garrison even said maybe he would learn "photology" like me. Silly kid ;)

Funny kids

I took Mason and Garrison to their doctors appointment at the Community Counciling Center here in town. Garrison saw the sign and said "Mom, they need a new sign. It should say OWACA". "OWACA ?" "Yup. It means oganization without a cool accronym."

Denyce and her baby

This last week, Denyce brought home a baby. As part of her Career Explorations class, Denyce had to be a parent for a weekend. The school has 3 or 4 dolls that look like real babies but come with keys that you insert in the back that will represent what the doll needs. When it cried you had to figure out if it needed to be changed, fed, burped or needed attention.
I have to say Dwayne and I had too much fun at Denyce's expense! When she wouldn't name her doll(she called her doll "it")we teased her that she didn't love our "grandchild" enough. We came up with the name Shithead pronounced sh-a-th-ead. Needless to say she didn't approve of our name or the joke behind it. I think she finally named the doll Sonja but it took her 2 days to come up with it. The turning point with final acceptance of our darling black grandchild(we had fun with that too)was when I donated Bree's old baby clothes. Denyce realized the best thing about infants....dress up. But in the end, she too found the humor in the whole process. We were at a friends house and a lot of people were there both inside and out eating food and having fun. Needless to say Denyce having a car seat and a crying doll did give her some attention. She left baby "Sonja" with me to get something to eat and hang out with friends. When she was asked where her baby was she replied "With Grandma and Grandpa". Good Girl!