tie dye!

Going to do some scrunch dye shirts tonight! I bought a whole bunch of blanks from Dharma Trading Company and I’m pretty excited about it. I have about six colors of dye this time too. Yay!

I’ll post pictures when I’m done, of course.

Gloria climbs the stairs

Here you go.

Gilbert’s belated birthday sweater

Most pictures of Gilbert look like this. He is a man of motion!

Sometimes though, you can get him holding still and even see the dimples.

Same pattern as Abby’s sunshine sweater. You may have noticed, once I find a pattern I tend to knit it repeatedly.

Ravelry details are here.

A little girl and her mama

From my Flickr.

Stop Jenny!

Found via Autism Vox: http://stopjenny.com

Good luck with that. I think she’s unstoppable. She bugs me with how she makes life with autism seem to be a fate worse than death. It’s not.

It’s actually quite good.

ETA: In the interest of full disclosure I’ll remind my readers that we delay and selectively vaccinate.

FURTHER EDIT: And Bede was diagnosed as autistic at age 4 and had received no vaccinations.

Closing Logos wiki

I was trying to find the name of that book Bre liked so much, Melissa #2, about PBS? And I found this site which is awesome!

http://www.closinglogos.com

They have all the station idents and studio logos you can think of, and they include the ’scare factor’ for each one. I thought I was the only one creeped out by that kind of thing.

Bede loves station idents and studio logos almost as much as he loves fonts. He’s been reproducing them as well. So far he’s right on track for a career with his daddy in graphic design. He makes a mean PBS P-head – complete with intoning, “This is PBS.”

I made laundry soap

Oh yes I did! I used a bar Dr. Bronner’s (grated) and a cup of washing soda and two gallons of hot water and by gum it worked!

bede drawing

bede drawing, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

Bede has begun drawing! He’s been writing for over a year, but these are among his first drawings. Sometimes they have faces too, either a happy face or a sad one.

In Soviet Russia

I made this one – not my kid or my cat though.

moar funny pictures

door to door magazines

Some guy just came to my door selling magazine subscriptions. They were all overpriced and his selection was crummy. And I felt guilty for not being able to buy any. What a crappy job to have.

Sigh.

puppies

Bede and Gilbert are asleep together in a pile like puppies. So sweet.

Happy Birthday, Gilbert!

Today, October 8th, my second son is four years old!

Here is Sean’s account of his birth.

Here he is at 3 months old:

And here he is now:

Happy Birthday Gilbert!

photographic evidence

029, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

The proof of the standing.

(PS Someone tell Fee that she needs to clean under the sofa.)

bulleted

A list of tasks

• install battery backup/surge protector for router and modem
• which requires some dusting and decluttering
• wash dishes
• talk on phone for at least an hour to Tabitha
• flip sofa cover
• help Faith bind off her hat she knit
• fold the laundry and put it up
• dinner?
• for that matter, lunch?
• attempt to fix broken DVD player
  
• give up in disgust
• get other DVD player that has no remote
• petulantly crumple up directions to universal remote
• shove entire mess in Sean’s lap when he gets home

toilet thoughts

Bede’s still at it. He’s far from perfect, or consistent, but he’s really doing great.

Dawn asked if it was bittersweet, or if I was just so glad he’s using the potty. Dawn, to be completely honest I guffawed when I read that. He’s been peeing and pooping everywhere in the house for the last two and a half years since he learned how to remove his clothes and diapers, and yours truly has been cleaning it up. He went through a lengthy phase of throwing poop on the ceiling, too. (SOOOO NOT A GOOD TIME. Ahem.) So no, I am not in the least bit anything but 100% thrilled.

Jennifer said she felt a little jealous. Jennifer, I have felt jealous of you guys and Zane’s communication and his relative calmness compared to Bede. I think the lesson here is don’t compare auties. Bede has gotten this because of Gilbert, I’m pretty sure.

Everyone – thanks for your support and well wishes.

toilet use update

Bede used the toilet for the first time EVER. He is five and a half, and it just clicked in his brain.

I am OVER THE MOON. I know we have a lot of work ahead but I swear I thought this day would never come.

That is all.

ETA: AGAIN!

coffee update part 2

Sean got us some of the Walmart fair-trade coffee. It was difficult to find and it’s not cheap, but it’s excellent coffee. Next we’re going to try to find Yuban coffee, which, while not fair-trade, at least makes an attempt.

Onward!

milestone alert

Gloria pulled up to a stand tonight. She’s 8 months old.

Also, two top teeth appeared last week.

Slow down kid! My baby is vanishing, being replaced with a toddler. Bittersweet.

What was that book…?

I read the What was that book? community at Livejournal. Anyone can post what they remember of a book they can’t remember the title of, and anyone can post what book they think it is. It’s the sort of thing the Internet excells at, you know? There’s an unspoken informal competition going on to be the first to correctly identify a book*, and I’ve had several where I knew the book instantly but was not the first to post, consarn it.

But today I got my first FOUND!

Yay me!

It’s the little things that make a day, you know.

*Having worked in a bookstore really gives one an edge, but mine is dulled by the intervening years – I haven’t kept up with genres I don’t habitually read.