I'm sitting in the car while I type this. The second disc of the Broadway recording of CATS is playing, and Elijah is playing with a small die-cast Deisel Ten and staring at himself in the mirror on the back of the driver's seat. B is driving, it's raining, and we're headed to garage sales, estate sales, flea markets. Anyplace to see awesome things and let Elijah interact with the world. And me, too, for that matter. I may use ASL instead of speech--it helps with the anxiety, and if I am signing, people don't expect normal behaviour. The social pressure is off. It's amazing.
The CD is from 16 years ago. It's thicker than today's CDs, it only holds about 30 minutes of music (versus today's 75), it's covered in scratches but it still plays perfectly. I listened to CATS every day when I was 10. My portable RCA CD player was one of the first, before "ear-saving" volume limiting. I listened at full volume, drowning the world out. My ears still ring.
This car is wonderful. It's been the place of so many parts of my new life--all those long car rides while B and I got to know eachother, and the continued long car rides while I was pregnant, when the car and the Sisters of Mercy was the only time I could relax. I still listen to Floodland every day, sometimes twice a day, while Elijah falls asleep.
One of the myriad of reasons I haven't been posting lately is that my computer's cord died. We replaced it with a cheap one, thrilled to get a good deal, and it turned out to be a false economy. That one lasted a couple of weeks and then died. So now I have a new one, with a selection of tips to let it work with a lot of different laptops, and, the best part, is it came with a regular wall plug and a car-cigarette-lighter-thing plug! Hence why I am typing in the car, where there are fewer distractions and I feel more relaxed.
The other reasons are pretty much just that I'm lazy and bad at organization and time management ;)
I have a list of topics that I want to write about. Maybe I'll do a poll.
Elijah says, "Hi! Hi, hi, hi, hi!"
"So first your memory I'll jog, and say a cat is NOT a dog..."
---
Steamed Broccoli with Adobo and Apple Cider Vinegar dressing
Vegan, casein-free, gluten-free, cf, gf, cfgf
This isn't so much a recipe as a preparation, I suppose.
-steamed broccoli, cold
-adobo (or fresh garlic, ground black pepper, oregano)
-apple cider vinegar
-safflower oil
Put adobo, apple cider vinegar, and safflower oil in a Mason jar or some such thing that you can shake. Shake! Shake until the dressing is emulsified to your liking. Pour over broccoli. Eat! It's really good.
I assume you could also eat it when the broccoli is hot. I just like it cold.
---
B wants me to make a note about how we still need to go to a used bookstore and a Moroccan restaurant in Old Town Alexandria. I said we would never look at the note. He said, "Put it on the blog."
I laughed.
Hello, Blog Reading World. Welcome to being my personal Notepad.
Showing posts with label asl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asl. Show all posts
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Links & Comments & Sentences
Elijah is learning to use sentences. "Fruit please", "chair please", "up please"... with ASL, of course. Although he did attempt to say, as in speak, "Daddy go" when B went out the door yesterday :)
He's done other awesome things lately, too, but I'll have to track down my notes. Meanwhile, have some links.
---
Clearing out my tabs:
KnowYourMeme - Excellent for those of us who lost track of everything new on the Internet in about 2002...
Alouette - the song is horrible, just in case anyone didn't know ;)
IntefaceLIFT - Awesome desktop wallpapers.
TheSixtyOne - Independent music. Worth checking out.
MomLogic: It's Not Swinging if You're Committed! - A surprisingly positive article on the benefits of poly parenting. I started reading the comments, though, and I shouldn't have--I should have known it would just make me angry ;p
Families of Adults Affected by Asperger's Syndrome - A interesting concept for an organization... it could be useful.
Gayle's Preschool Rainbow: Activities for Toddlers and ToddlerToddler.com: Rainy Days - Both are sites full of activity ideas for toddlers. Keeping an NT child occupied is hard for my AS brain. He doesn't want to spin endlessly or rub tabs between his fingers. What am I to do? These sites help.
Musicovery - This is a distinctly strange way of finding new music...
5 Things Made From Junkyard Scraps - An slideshow of interesting products made from scrap material. Pretty awesome.
He's done other awesome things lately, too, but I'll have to track down my notes. Meanwhile, have some links.
---
Clearing out my tabs:
KnowYourMeme - Excellent for those of us who lost track of everything new on the Internet in about 2002...
Alouette - the song is horrible, just in case anyone didn't know ;)
IntefaceLIFT - Awesome desktop wallpapers.
TheSixtyOne - Independent music. Worth checking out.
MomLogic: It's Not Swinging if You're Committed! - A surprisingly positive article on the benefits of poly parenting. I started reading the comments, though, and I shouldn't have--I should have known it would just make me angry ;p
Families of Adults Affected by Asperger's Syndrome - A interesting concept for an organization... it could be useful.
Gayle's Preschool Rainbow: Activities for Toddlers and ToddlerToddler.com: Rainy Days - Both are sites full of activity ideas for toddlers. Keeping an NT child occupied is hard for my AS brain. He doesn't want to spin endlessly or rub tabs between his fingers. What am I to do? These sites help.
Musicovery - This is a distinctly strange way of finding new music...
5 Things Made From Junkyard Scraps - An slideshow of interesting products made from scrap material. Pretty awesome.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Salvation, with tomatoes.
Things keeping me sane today:
Cat with cherry tomatoes.
Youtube, mostly these:
358. Salvation Has Been Brought Down-Southside Chuch of Christ
An Engineer's Guide to Cats
Salvation has been brought down BMalone SSOrl 52409
Elijah dancing to the hymns and signing for more. Also lots of toddler tickles.
Honey nut Cheerios (with half & half and way too much sugar).
Torchwood (on Netflix).
Winnie the Pooh.
Neopets.
Cat with cherry tomatoes.
Youtube, mostly these:
358. Salvation Has Been Brought Down-Southside Chuch of Christ
An Engineer's Guide to Cats
Salvation has been brought down BMalone SSOrl 52409
Elijah dancing to the hymns and signing for more. Also lots of toddler tickles.
Honey nut Cheerios (with half & half and way too much sugar).
Torchwood (on Netflix).
Winnie the Pooh.
Neopets.
Monday, December 28, 2009
December 24, 2009 - ASL Interlude
Elijah is 16 months old now, and is figuring out sentences.
This morning at breakfast, he signed, "More helicopter."
I agree, Elijah. I agree.
This morning at breakfast, he signed, "More helicopter."
I agree, Elijah. I agree.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Snippets & More
Elijah's got about 40 signs now. Tonight at Gymboree Open Gym, he was crawling into this platform space under another platform, laying down and signing 'bed' and saying 'ba'. He'd put his head down, signing 'bed' under his head, and talk about it. It was surprising, and very cute.
---
From our friend BB, on the drink called Function: House Call:
"It's like having tea with Cthulhu! It's very sweet and genteel and nice, and then... it's /wrong/. And you know you shouldn't like these tastes, but part of me is going, 'It's so gooooood!'"
---
I feel like I'm doing something right. My mom asked me what fabric softener I use because she liked the scent so much :)
---
SpaceShots: The Week's Best Photos of Our Galaxy - This is pretty amazing. There are some great shots there that I'd love to have posters of.
---
At a mall last week, a woman was trying to sell me powdered cocoa butter as a "Japanese sea salt and other awesome ingredients" skin cream. Then she had some sort of glue-like product she said was an exfolliant. She tried to sell that by rubbing it into my wrist, and asking, "Have you taken a shower today?" "Er... yes." "Are you sure?"
Excuse me? Am I sure I showered today? Do you honestly think being rude to customers will sell more product? Really? Is that what they taught you? I bet it's not. Try insulting someone else, lady. I'm moving on.
---
I let my email overwhelm me. All the time. I'm subscribed to countless mailing lists because, well, in the gaming organization Brian and I are in, that's what you do. I'm on 20+ that are local to where we live and several more that are not) I'm also on some unrelated lists. And advertising lists for favourite places like L'Occitane and J Peterman. And Flylady stuff. And Daily Coyote. And Chorebuster, Max Barry, Mil Millington, Go Gratitude, Facebook, Saving Dinner, Gevalia, Meetup: NoVA Polamory, Amtrak, my bank, Thrillist.
Trying to keep up with it and completely failing, just letting myself be overwhelmed, keeps me from enjoying the things I really want to do with my computer time, like play mindless games or read my Google Reader subscriptions (and leave comments!) or read servants' manuals from the 1880s or keep up with friends. I really do appreciate the unexpected emails I get from people (hi Phil! <3 ). Please don't take my lack of response as lack of interest. I'm just flaky.
So something's got to give.
I'm going to prioritize, and then I'm going to keep up with the day's email and try every day to clear out a few of the 500 threads sitting in my inbox. I'm going to unsubscribe from a lot of those lists. And then I'm going to hope for a manageable amount of list-type email, and an increasing amount of personal email from friends. Because that's way more important.
---
From our friend BB, on the drink called Function: House Call:
"It's like having tea with Cthulhu! It's very sweet and genteel and nice, and then... it's /wrong/. And you know you shouldn't like these tastes, but part of me is going, 'It's so gooooood!'"
---
I feel like I'm doing something right. My mom asked me what fabric softener I use because she liked the scent so much :)
---
SpaceShots: The Week's Best Photos of Our Galaxy - This is pretty amazing. There are some great shots there that I'd love to have posters of.
---
At a mall last week, a woman was trying to sell me powdered cocoa butter as a "Japanese sea salt and other awesome ingredients" skin cream. Then she had some sort of glue-like product she said was an exfolliant. She tried to sell that by rubbing it into my wrist, and asking, "Have you taken a shower today?" "Er... yes." "Are you sure?"
Excuse me? Am I sure I showered today? Do you honestly think being rude to customers will sell more product? Really? Is that what they taught you? I bet it's not. Try insulting someone else, lady. I'm moving on.
---
I let my email overwhelm me. All the time. I'm subscribed to countless mailing lists because, well, in the gaming organization Brian and I are in, that's what you do. I'm on 20+ that are local to where we live and several more that are not) I'm also on some unrelated lists. And advertising lists for favourite places like L'Occitane and J Peterman. And Flylady stuff. And Daily Coyote. And Chorebuster, Max Barry, Mil Millington, Go Gratitude, Facebook, Saving Dinner, Gevalia, Meetup: NoVA Polamory, Amtrak, my bank, Thrillist.
Trying to keep up with it and completely failing, just letting myself be overwhelmed, keeps me from enjoying the things I really want to do with my computer time, like play mindless games or read my Google Reader subscriptions (and leave comments!) or read servants' manuals from the 1880s or keep up with friends. I really do appreciate the unexpected emails I get from people (hi Phil! <3 ). Please don't take my lack of response as lack of interest. I'm just flaky.
So something's got to give.
I'm going to prioritize, and then I'm going to keep up with the day's email and try every day to clear out a few of the 500 threads sitting in my inbox. I'm going to unsubscribe from a lot of those lists. And then I'm going to hope for a manageable amount of list-type email, and an increasing amount of personal email from friends. Because that's way more important.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Signs of Exhaustion
So. Tired.
So. Much. Teething. Nine teeth now. More coming. So much pain.
Tactical Bacon exists. I want some.
Signing Time with Alex and Leah is wonderful.
All I want to do today is retreat into a world of words, until I pass out. Then maybe, after sleep, I'll have the energy to be Mama.
Pondering doing a movie log, too. Just because.
Elijah is walking, and signing, and trying to talk. He said, "Okay." one day when I said, "We're going to go in here, okay?" He hasn't said it since, although when I asked him in front of Aunt Nicole, "Did you say 'okay' earlier?", he said, "Uh-huh!" and nodded. I don't know whether it was on purpose, but Nicole nearly fell out of her chair laughing.
We're still watching Your Baby Can Read, and any video on ASL for kids that we can find.
I'm compiling a list of the signs that Elijah uses. He understands when I say, "Can you show me the sign for __?" Which means that if I know he knows the word for something, I can teach him the sign without actually having to have the thing present. I taught him the sign for "cat" that way, yesterday. He does it wrong, but he does them all wrong. He doesn't have the manual dexterity for it yet.
However, he knows:
Bath
Cat
More
Milk
Mama
Daddy
Clean
Banana
All done
Change
Water
Eat
Ball
So. Much. Teething. Nine teeth now. More coming. So much pain.
Tactical Bacon exists. I want some.
Signing Time with Alex and Leah is wonderful.
All I want to do today is retreat into a world of words, until I pass out. Then maybe, after sleep, I'll have the energy to be Mama.
Pondering doing a movie log, too. Just because.
Elijah is walking, and signing, and trying to talk. He said, "Okay." one day when I said, "We're going to go in here, okay?" He hasn't said it since, although when I asked him in front of Aunt Nicole, "Did you say 'okay' earlier?", he said, "Uh-huh!" and nodded. I don't know whether it was on purpose, but Nicole nearly fell out of her chair laughing.
We're still watching Your Baby Can Read, and any video on ASL for kids that we can find.
I'm compiling a list of the signs that Elijah uses. He understands when I say, "Can you show me the sign for __?" Which means that if I know he knows the word for something, I can teach him the sign without actually having to have the thing present. I taught him the sign for "cat" that way, yesterday. He does it wrong, but he does them all wrong. He doesn't have the manual dexterity for it yet.
However, he knows:
Bath
Cat
More
Milk
Mama
Daddy
Clean
Banana
All done
Change
Water
Eat
Ball
Monday, September 7, 2009
Morning, and Boys in Pink
Cheerios - check
Baby Sign DVD - check
Dogs have gone out (all four of them) - check
Whyyy did we get up at 7am? Especially when we were tossing and turning all night? My eyes hurt.
I should point out that despite recent evidence, Elijah and I usually sleep very well. We cosleep, as I'm sure I've mentioned before. He nurses once or twice during the night, and we don't fully wake up for that. I get 7-8 hours of (lightly interrupted) sleep a night. I could get more if I went to sleep when he did (and if I'm particularly exhausted, that's what I do). But lately, for some reason, I haven't been sleeping so well. He's been fine; it's me. And last night, he wasn't sleeping well either, whether from having caught my mild cold, or because I kept waking up, I don't know.
Either way, my eyes hurt.
---
Yardsales and thrift stres are amazing. This weekend's haul has gained us, for under $100: A 20 gallon long aquarium, for the turtle; 25 DVD movies (Charlotte's Web, Fifth Element, Stardust, The Day After Tomorrow, the Lord of the Rings movies, Donnie Brasco... lots! Full Metal Jacket! Apocalypse Now! Some of my favourites :) ); jeans and shirts for me; jeans and overalls for Elijah; some plush animals; some books; and Elijah's pink fedora. Amazing :D
---
I had other things I wanted to ramble about. What were they? Hmm.
Oh! Susan Boyle.
Although I don't know what to say about her. I wanted to tell the story about how I don't have a TV (rather, we have a TV, but it's purely for watching DVDs and playing video games--we don't have cable), but I do have YouTube, and my mom gave me a name. And I fell in love. And if my head hurt less, maybe I could tell that story. It involves the faces of friends of mine going from skeptical to OMG baffled. And it was beautiful.
Anyway, her debut album is out, and I need to remember to get it one of these days.
---
Elijah has gotten the sign for "Daddy" confused with just pointing at his head. Like his head is now called "Daddy" and "head". I'm not sure how to fix this :p
There are a couple of signs he's doing regularly that we haven't taught and I can't figure out what he's trying to say.
---
But you're really just here for the pictures, aren't you?
I was trying to get a shot of him sitting on the futon like a big boy, but he decided to climb around instead.
TURTLE!
CAT! (And HAT!)
The turtle now has what will become a nice terrarium :)
Tiny turtle :D
Hugging the giant ball :)
All clean. And drinking water.
I'm making up for the last of breastfeeding shots in this blog :p
Pirate!
There's that hat again!
"Yard sales are so. boring."
But the cat is cool!
He needs more pink clothes.
Baby Sign DVD - check
Dogs have gone out (all four of them) - check
Whyyy did we get up at 7am? Especially when we were tossing and turning all night? My eyes hurt.
I should point out that despite recent evidence, Elijah and I usually sleep very well. We cosleep, as I'm sure I've mentioned before. He nurses once or twice during the night, and we don't fully wake up for that. I get 7-8 hours of (lightly interrupted) sleep a night. I could get more if I went to sleep when he did (and if I'm particularly exhausted, that's what I do). But lately, for some reason, I haven't been sleeping so well. He's been fine; it's me. And last night, he wasn't sleeping well either, whether from having caught my mild cold, or because I kept waking up, I don't know.
Either way, my eyes hurt.
---
Yardsales and thrift stres are amazing. This weekend's haul has gained us, for under $100: A 20 gallon long aquarium, for the turtle; 25 DVD movies (Charlotte's Web, Fifth Element, Stardust, The Day After Tomorrow, the Lord of the Rings movies, Donnie Brasco... lots! Full Metal Jacket! Apocalypse Now! Some of my favourites :) ); jeans and shirts for me; jeans and overalls for Elijah; some plush animals; some books; and Elijah's pink fedora. Amazing :D
---
I had other things I wanted to ramble about. What were they? Hmm.
Oh! Susan Boyle.
Although I don't know what to say about her. I wanted to tell the story about how I don't have a TV (rather, we have a TV, but it's purely for watching DVDs and playing video games--we don't have cable), but I do have YouTube, and my mom gave me a name. And I fell in love. And if my head hurt less, maybe I could tell that story. It involves the faces of friends of mine going from skeptical to OMG baffled. And it was beautiful.
Anyway, her debut album is out, and I need to remember to get it one of these days.
---
Elijah has gotten the sign for "Daddy" confused with just pointing at his head. Like his head is now called "Daddy" and "head". I'm not sure how to fix this :p
There are a couple of signs he's doing regularly that we haven't taught and I can't figure out what he's trying to say.
---
But you're really just here for the pictures, aren't you?
I was trying to get a shot of him sitting on the futon like a big boy, but he decided to climb around instead.
TURTLE!
CAT! (And HAT!)
The turtle now has what will become a nice terrarium :)
Tiny turtle :D
Hugging the giant ball :)
All clean. And drinking water.
I'm making up for the last of breastfeeding shots in this blog :p
Pirate!
There's that hat again!
"Yard sales are so. boring."
But the cat is cool!
He needs more pink clothes.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Mostly Communication
Communication
Brian and I are definitely intending to use ASL to communicate with our son before he can speak, but I'm wondering also about nonverbal communication systems that are used with autistic children, such as PECS. Can a baby perhaps communicate even earlier by pointing to pictures? Is that a skill that might develop before the ability to use hand signs?
There seems to be an understanding in the world of working with autistic children that a lot of the undesirable behaviour--such as aggression and meltdowns--comes from an inability to communicate, and so alternate forms of communication are developed. Why is this not more routinely done in the world of normal children?
Today
I had an appointment with one of the midwives, today. Laura. Laura is great; she's tiny and energetic. I hope she's the one on call when I go into labour. She told me to get Evening Primrose Oil in capsules and take 3 of them, 3 times a day. Ugh. I HATE swallowing pills, but if it's considered helpful, I'll do it.
She confirmed that the baby is indeed running out of room to dance. I was amused.
Otherwise, today, I've slept, eaten a lot of bad pizza, and mostly just sat around, writing long journal entries in a private journal. And cold water is a godsend.
Baby Book
I bought a baby book to copy from, and a notebook to copy into. I need to install Photoshop on my laptop and do some page designs to put into it. We also got a calendar sort of thing designed for tracking baby's first year; it's cute but not overly cute. It has realistic rather than cartoonish animals on it.
Brian and I are definitely intending to use ASL to communicate with our son before he can speak, but I'm wondering also about nonverbal communication systems that are used with autistic children, such as PECS. Can a baby perhaps communicate even earlier by pointing to pictures? Is that a skill that might develop before the ability to use hand signs?
There seems to be an understanding in the world of working with autistic children that a lot of the undesirable behaviour--such as aggression and meltdowns--comes from an inability to communicate, and so alternate forms of communication are developed. Why is this not more routinely done in the world of normal children?
Today
I had an appointment with one of the midwives, today. Laura. Laura is great; she's tiny and energetic. I hope she's the one on call when I go into labour. She told me to get Evening Primrose Oil in capsules and take 3 of them, 3 times a day. Ugh. I HATE swallowing pills, but if it's considered helpful, I'll do it.
She confirmed that the baby is indeed running out of room to dance. I was amused.
Otherwise, today, I've slept, eaten a lot of bad pizza, and mostly just sat around, writing long journal entries in a private journal. And cold water is a godsend.
Baby Book
I bought a baby book to copy from, and a notebook to copy into. I need to install Photoshop on my laptop and do some page designs to put into it. We also got a calendar sort of thing designed for tracking baby's first year; it's cute but not overly cute. It has realistic rather than cartoonish animals on it.
Mostly Communication
Communication
Brian and I are definitely intending to use ASL to communicate with our son before he can speak, but I'm wondering also about nonverbal communication systems that are used with autistic children, such as PECS. Can a baby perhaps communicate even earlier by pointing to pictures? Is that a skill that might develop before the ability to use hand signs?
There seems to be an understanding in the world of working with autistic children that a lot of the undesirable behaviour--such as aggression and meltdowns--comes from an inability to communicate, and so alternate forms of communication are developed. Why is this not more routinely done in the world of normal children?
Today
I had an appointment with one of the midwives, today. Laura. Laura is great; she's tiny and energetic. I hope she's the one on call when I go into labour. She told me to get Evening Primrose Oil in capsules and take 3 of them, 3 times a day. Ugh. I HATE swallowing pills, but if it's considered helpful, I'll do it.
She confirmed that the baby is indeed running out of room to dance. I was amused.
Otherwise, today, I've slept, eaten a lot of bad pizza, and mostly just sat around, writing long journal entries in a private journal. And cold water is a godsend.
Baby Book
I bought a baby book to copy from, and a notebook to copy into. I need to install Photoshop on my laptop and do some page designs to put into it. We also got a calendar sort of thing designed for tracking baby's first year; it's cute but not overly cute. It has realistic rather than cartoonish animals on it.
Brian and I are definitely intending to use ASL to communicate with our son before he can speak, but I'm wondering also about nonverbal communication systems that are used with autistic children, such as PECS. Can a baby perhaps communicate even earlier by pointing to pictures? Is that a skill that might develop before the ability to use hand signs?
There seems to be an understanding in the world of working with autistic children that a lot of the undesirable behaviour--such as aggression and meltdowns--comes from an inability to communicate, and so alternate forms of communication are developed. Why is this not more routinely done in the world of normal children?
Today
I had an appointment with one of the midwives, today. Laura. Laura is great; she's tiny and energetic. I hope she's the one on call when I go into labour. She told me to get Evening Primrose Oil in capsules and take 3 of them, 3 times a day. Ugh. I HATE swallowing pills, but if it's considered helpful, I'll do it.
She confirmed that the baby is indeed running out of room to dance. I was amused.
Otherwise, today, I've slept, eaten a lot of bad pizza, and mostly just sat around, writing long journal entries in a private journal. And cold water is a godsend.
Baby Book
I bought a baby book to copy from, and a notebook to copy into. I need to install Photoshop on my laptop and do some page designs to put into it. We also got a calendar sort of thing designed for tracking baby's first year; it's cute but not overly cute. It has realistic rather than cartoonish animals on it.
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