Liebster Awards and the blogs that I love!

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

Last night I was notified that I had been nominated for a “Liebster Award” by Autism Mom. First and foremost I’d like to thank Autism Mom for including my blog in her list of nominations. I enjoy reading her blog everyday and I am honored that she takes the time to read and comment on mine.

I had never heard of this award before, so after a little bit of searching, I did come across the award and the rules – but many different variations of the rules. Becoming rather confused, I decided to link to Autism Mom’s explanation of this award (here) and follow the rules that she used in her piece. – Yes… I took the easy route…

It is wonderful of course to receive recognition from other bloggers – especially since until a year and a half ago, blogging was the farthest thing from my mind – and from what I have read, this process will and does help to share your blog and the blogs that you love with the rest of the blogging community.

Having received a nomination, it is now my turn to come up with a list of my own nominations.

This is the easy part.

Autism-Mom – (If it is allowed. Autism-Mom would have been on the top of my list even if she had not nominated me. I will assume she will not be required to go through this whole process again.) “Sharing Autism ideas, news, strategies and tools, and lessons learned from one mom with one child and one experience on the Autism spectrum.”

Mother O’ Jim – “Mother o’ Jim, a blog about and with her son James, a wonderful young adult on the autism spectrum, who is searching for the path and tools to be independent.”

Wendy Jane’s Soul Shake– “One white woman’s curious obsession with race. Follow my quest to connect across color lines.”

One Loco Mommy – “Balancing Life, Love and Autism in the Great Suburban Outback”

Baby Boomer Bubbie – “Baby Boomer Woman, Creative, Mother, Bubbie, ex-wife, curious, future, past, concerns, fears, hopes”

Sassy Aspie Mom – “A little blog about my life as a wife and mom raising two boys (one who has Asperger’s Syndrome).”

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Next step is to answer the questions listed by the blogger that nominated you (each nominator should some up with a set of questions for their nominees to answer as an introduction to other bloggers and readers).

Autism Mom asked and I answered:

1. How is blogging different than how you thought it would be when you started?

I can’t really say that I had any expectations when I started at all. I suppose the support from other bloggers was surprising.

What is your favorite blog post that you have written?

Mother’s Day update

But one would have to read “Mother’s Day and the Macaroni Necklace” to understand the update.

What is the most surprising thing that you have blogged about, that you never thought you would blog about?

Ha Ha! That would be toilet paper under the code name of “paper towels”.

Where is the strangest place you have blogged (e.g., typed on your computer, wrote down blogging notes, etc.)?

I suppose it would have to be in the car – passenger side – I do not blog and drive.

Which blogger would you most like to meet?

That’s a tough one. I really would like to meet them all.

I do know Wendy from Wendy Jane’s Soul Shake, but I haven’t seen her in (mumble, mumble) years. I really would love to meet the rest. Although, coffee/Dr.Who Experience in London with Autism Mom would have been right up there on THE top of my list if it had turned out that we would both be in London at the same time (We won’t be. It was close, but no cigar)

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The final step is to list a few questions of your own for the blogs you have nominated:

So, Autism-Mom, Wendy Jane, Mother O’ Jim, Loco, Baby Boomer and Sassy these are for you:

1. What first inspired you to blog?

2. Has your blog changed direction in any way since you began?

3. What is your favorite post (borrowing this question just because I like it)

4. What is your favorite movie?

5. What is your favorite television show?

Thank you again, Autism Mom for the nod and of course, thank you for reading.

I am heading directly to her list to check out the blogs I haven’t read before.

Hope you all will check out the blogs I have nominated! They are all totally worth your time!

Bacon

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

DC’s reactions are not always immediate. Due to these delayed reactions, it is not always easy for me to figure out just what is going on or what the problem might be.

When he was 4 or 5 he stopped eating – completely…. for close to a month. He would not swallow solid food. With a lot of coaxing he would put it in his mouth, but that was as far as it went before he would spit it out. After a few visits to the doctor to be sure this was not a medical issue, I, with the help of his teacher and IA, started looking for ideas to get him to eat again. I bought all of his favorite foods. They worked with him in the classroom. I even resorted to candy. Nothing!

One day, I was making him a steak, one of his favorites at the time. It was right then and there I realized what was going on. He actually looked frightened of the steak. This wasn’t a sensory thing, it was fear. After seeing the look of utter terror on his face I remembered a choking incident with a bagel one morning about a month before. The thing about it was that he didn’t react right away – otherwise I would have figured this out much sooner. He was fine afterwards and even finished the bagel he was eating.

I couldn’t pin-point exactly when or why the delayed reaction kicked in but it did and he was afraid to eat. Once I figured out the reason, I was able to help him get back to eating solid food again. We started with pudding and yogurt and just dipped the tip of the spoon in, just so there was a taste on the spoon. I continued this way, increasing the taste on the spoon until he was taking a regular spoonful. I added other foods like applesauce to the menu. When that part was behind us, I started breaking up bread, into almost crumbs, until he realized it was safe for him to eat again.

DC used to ride horses. He rode once a week for a good 5 years, if not longer. One day his teacher had him riding in the outdoor rink (I’m sure there is a proper name for that, but I am calling it a rink) – he didn’t ride in the outdoor rink very often. Most of his lessons were inside. When he did ride outdoors, it was usually down the driveway, across the street and up the dead-end road and back. On this particular day in the outdoor rink (seriously, Kathleen is not going to be happy that I don’t know the proper name), his horse spooked, reared up went galloping wildly. It scared him, it scared me, but he stayed on and continued his lesson with no problem.

His indoor lesson the following week went well. His ride outside on the driveway route was fine too. It had to be a few months later when they tried to take him out to the outdoor rink that the fear kicked in. He wasn’t having any of it. He acted like he was never on a horse before. After thinking about it for a minute, I remembered and explained his reaction to the assistant. He was a little better once they went back inside but not at the level he was at the beginning of the lesson. The outdoor rink brought out his fear and that fear carried over to the indoor rink. It took a while for him to feel comfortable again.

About a year later his horse spooked during his inside lesson. Again, he seemed fine – Me? – Not so much. I was close to heart failure, but I didn’t let him see that – and rode the full hour as if nothing had happened. But… the following week he was terrified. He continued to be terrified until we finally just gave it up altogether. even though I was relieved to let it go, it was a shame because at one time he really liked it. Horses were one of the few animals he was not afraid of. He was actually pretty good at it.

So… over our Christmas vacation, DC got sick. Other than his bouts with his allergies, he rarely gets sick, but when he does, he really goes big! For a good few days afterward, he really didn’t want to eat at all. He seemed fine otherwise so I wasn’t really sure if he was still not feeling well or if he was just afraid to eat. I believe and still do, that he was #1 – exhausted from being sick and #2 – he was afraid and relating his illness to food. As we were on vacation and eating in restaurants daily, this was probably at least partially the case. He was eating lots of things that he doesn’t normally eat, at least not on a daily basis.

When he did finally feel like eating at little bit, there were certain foods I wanted him to stay away from so as not to upset his stomach all over again. He continued to be a little bit leery about eating for a good week after we were home. Last week, after going to see the Buddy Holly Story with his friend, BB, we all went out to dinner. DC ordered a cheeseburger with bacon. When it arrived, he removed the bacon and left it on the plate. I asked why, but I couldn’t get an answer. Now, I am almost positive he had bacon at least once since we’d come home from vacation, so I didn’t really think all that much about it.

DC discovered bacon a few years ago on a cruise ship and like his garlic bread, takes every opportunity to order it. I used to buy it for him, but decided that he really did not need to eat that much bacon, so I let it become one of his “restaurant only” foods, like cheeseburger and fries.

This week, at the hotel where we were ‘Snow-cationing’, bacon was available on the breakfast buffet. I didn’t really notice it until morning #3, but there was no way that DC had not seen it on the previous two mornings. I asked him if he wanted bacon. He started signing “all done”, a sign that he still uses when he REALLY does not want something. I asked him if he was sure. “No, Bacon!” – while signing more adamantly. “I don’t want to get sick! I don’t want to get sick!”.

Bacon had been one of the things I did not let him have after he got sick on vacation. Now, in his mind it was the reason he had gotten sick. There were a couple of other people in the breakfast room and I didn’t want him to continue yelling about “getting sick”, so I explained quickly that he did not have to have the bacon, but bacon was not the reason he became ill on vacation. He was getting more and more anxious about it, so I just let it go.

I know that some may disagree, but bacon is not really a necessity in anybody’s life, so I am not going to push it.

Now if I could somehow get him off the cheeseburgers and fries…….. hmmmmm.

Snow-cation

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

Our preparation for the Blizzard of 2015 consisted of packing our bags and booking a hotel room. I wasn’t taking any chances. I wasn’t really concerned about this storm until I received a robo-call from our utility company warning of power outages. You might remember that back in October 2011 we lost power for 6 days.

The following year we had a few pretty big storms. One in particular dropped a couple of feet of snow on us. We did not lose power but we were trapped for 4 days.

We live on a cul-de-sac. Usually the town comes to plow the road, but only to the edge of the cul-de-sac. Later a smaller pickup truck comes to finish the job but it is usually somewhat of a wait. When day 1 came and went, I didn’t think all that much of it. On day 2 the town announced that all of the roads would be cleared by the following day. Day 3 – nothing – I started calling Public Works to a “full voicemail” message and finally no answer at all. We were left trapped in waist-high snow with no one to contact as the rest of the town offices were closed. Finally on Monday (day 4) I called the police, only to find out that they had our street marked “complete”.

I reasoned that if the power did go out the hotel should have a generator so at the very least we would have heat. If they did not have a generator, at least we would be able to get out of the place and not be trapped in waist-high snow for days on end.

I explained this to DC, leaving out the “power-outage” piece of the story.
As you also may already know DC usually loves nothing better than a hotel room. I thought he’d be excited.
On Monday morning we packed up what we thought we would need for the next few days and headed out to my office. DC loves to come to work with me so he was thrilled.

He was a tiny bit anxious about the snow but nothing really over the top. Doug came to meet us at work so that I could follow him to the hotel which was just over in the next town (someday we will talk about my sense of direction or lack thereof).

We arrived at the hotel and checked in. DC was getting himself set up at the desk as he always does, when he discovered he had forgotten the cord for his laptop at my office. I won’t go into detail about the chaos that followed, just believe me, it was a tragedy. Doug went back to get it before the roads got worse and DC, while continuing to perseverate about his cord, kept himself busy with you-tube on his phone. One would have thought Cinderella entered the room when Doug came back with that cord!

A couple of hours later he really began to get anxious, asking over and over again when he could go home. I realized that although I explained all of this to him and that this was certainly not the first time we left and stayed in a hotel due to an upcoming storm, he was still very confused. I thought about how different this ‘trip’ was from the last storm trip.

Our previous trip to avoid a storm (although I was sure we’d be sitting in a hotel room for 3 days) turned out to be much more of a ‘real’ vacation than just an escape from the storm.
We packed, went to work and left from there – he didn’t get to go home first.
There was a travel ban in effect so there would be no dinner at a restaurant.
He was very concerned about going to his friend BB’s on Friday. It was on the calendar, you know.

I told him that I understood why he was a little bit confused. I explained that we were on a “Snow-cation”. We had come to the hotel so we didn’t get stuck in our house. I also explained that the hotel was very close to our house so he did not have to worry about going to BB’s house. We would be home before Friday (I wasn’t ready to mention a specific day for him to obsess over). I did finally have to mention the threat of losing power as another good reason to be “Snow-cationing”. He liked the word “Snow-cation” and the threat of a power-outage seemed to do it for him. “Confused” became the word of the day. He used it anytime he needed the explanation again. It was comforting for him to have a word to use to explain his feelings and he felt better about expressing his confusion because I had told him that I understood. So, even though I had to explain our “Snow-cation” a few more times, he wasn’t as anxious about it.

He was able to use his computer, he read and edited some books, he went to the gym and went swimming in the pool. It was like a vacation (of sorts) to him. He was much better and a little less confused about everything.

I’m not sure that he really understood how close to home we were. Even though it was only a 20 minute drive from my job. I think that the mere fact that we were in a hotel, meant distance to him.
He was concerned about his work and going to BB’s house. I did point out a few other places in this town that we visit often as a point of reference as to just how close we were to home, but I’m not quite sure he understood.

When I was relatively sure that all was clear, our street was plowed and we had electricity at home, I told him what day we would be heading home.

“My ‘Powers’ is back” – apparently all of the explanation I had given him only led him to believe that the power was out at home –
“Yes, DC, your ‘powers’ is back”

When all was said and done, we did not get as much snow as they predicted, some parts of the state did, but we ended up with a little more than a foot. Still a foot is a foot, and I would opt for the “Snow-cation” again and now that DC worked through his anxiety, I think he would too.

If you knew…. Peggy Sue..

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

DC is not always a fountain of information. Most of the time it is very difficult pulling information out of him.
A few weeks ago, he left for his volunteer job at a local theater at 5:00pm (with his job coach, Mrs. H.). Volunteers have to arrive 2 hours before show time to put the programs together for that performance and to get their assignments for that evening. DC is almost always assigned as a greeter – he passes out the programs to the audience members as they walk in and recites his line “Enjoy the show”.
At the beginning of each season, when I have to pick the dates he is available to work, the name of the show is not available – probably because they do not want the volunteers to choose only by what show they may want to see. I also have to work around his schedule and Mrs. H’s schedule, so I am really just looking at dates and nothing else. This particular show, as it turned out was Alton Brown from the Food Network. When their beginning of the show greeting duties are over, many times the volunteers are able to sit and see a good portion of the show.

At 9:45 I received a text from Mrs. H. I assumed it would say that they were on their way home, but no…. it said “We’re still here”. They finally arrived home at 11:00PM – After being there for 6 hours, the only information he gave me was:
“A man making ice cream” – that was all he had to say…
My friend Bill responded to my non-information post with:
“I LOVE it, with all that Alton does and his wild energy, DC found the most memorable part of Alton’s show! You could start a new Blog called “DC’s Cliff Notes of Live shows at the theater!” I love how our guys and gals simplify what they see and hear into something that is truthful & concise!”
So true….. and I may just do that, but the reviews just may be very short.

DC, his best friend BB and I had tickets for the Buddy Holly Story yesterday. DC did work the performance the night before, but he was excited to see the show again with BB.

On Saturday morning, DC was concerned due to all of the snow that had already fallen (5 inches) when we woke up:

Despite the snow, we made it.

They both just loved the show. They had a great time.

This morning, DC was full of information and chatter about the ‘wonderful’ time he had yesterday. I was there but he was determined to tell me about it anyway, and I’ll take it…. it was unprompted information.

So in DC’s words, his review of his day:

I had a nice time last ‘even-ing’.
I went to see Buddy Holly Story with my friend BB.
We danced and danced and danced.

We had a scared of fright – jump up – PHEW!
America the Beautiful favorite song.
I went to dinner and Donna and John and Mom – me too!
Perfect!

Translation:
“We had a scared of fright – jump up – PHEW!”
Fortunately we had box seats as DC jumped up as if he could not control himself any longer, to dance. I mentioned to him later that he scared me because he jumped up so fast. He was using part of his favorite phrase “You gave me a fright” from the Lindsay Lohan version of the “Parent Trap”.

“America the Beautiful favorite song”
DC does have a love for all patriotic songs. He even has a sign language dvd of only patriotic songs, but I suspect that he chose it as his favorite from the show because it was really the only song he was familiar with.

“I went to dinner and Donna and John and Mom – me too!”
Because the snow was supposed to be much worse than it turned out to be, BB’s mom offered to drop us off as her car is much better in the snow than mine is. We all went out to dinner afterwards.

So there you have it, DC’s review of his day. I know he had a great time as he is still talking about it.

As for the “blind scheduling” method for volunteers at the theater, I just received DC’s schedule for the second half of the season. The first show he is scheduled to work is “50 Shades, the Musical Parody”.

I think DC and Mrs. H will be hanging out in the lobby for that one………….

January reruns – Scotch Tape, Salt and Some Good Old Fairy Dust

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

In keeping with my winter rerun theme – remember back in the day when TV shows went into reruns during December and January instead of being replaced by something new? – I am re-posting an older blog from 2013, because, really…nothing has changed…..

I am still hiding pens, hiding scotch tape and keeping salt and pepper shakers out of sight – which means the Dr. Who salt and pepper shakers I received for Christmas are displayed on the shelf….. empty….. sigh

From February 2013:

Everyone needs a little “fairy dust”

Harassing my co-workers for their paper towel rolls for a project this week, made me think about the reasons I don’t buy paper towels myself. This then led me to think about all of the other things I don’t buy, have to hide or make adjustments to, around the house.

Shampoo: This is no longer an issue, but at one time and for many years if I forgot to take the shampoo out of the shower, most of the bottle would be used to paint a masterpiece and the rest went down the drain…… every time.

Paper Towels: Paper Towels are for shredding and only for shredding. On the rare occasion that I do buy them, they have to be hidden on top of the refrigerator. Hiding the paper towels makes them not very convenient for me to use and forgettable, so there really isn’t any point in buying them at all.

Paper: Every single piece of blank paper in the house has a Disney character’s name written on it. Teachers, Camp councilors and anyone else I have to write a note to, receives that note on our exclusive custom stationary. After a few weeks of notes to camp, the Director finally asked “Do you guys do ‘A Character a day or something’?” No, unfortunately nothing that creative, I just can’t keep the paper out of the hands of my in-house stationary designer.

Construction Paper: Construction paper is also used specifically for character names, BUT according to the rule made up in his head, these sheets can not and will not be saved. They MUST be cut up into small pieces with scissors and spread out all over the floor. He must also write on each sheet of an entire package of paper before he begins the job of shredding/cutting. A few pieces just doesn’t do it. A package of construction paper will only last an hour or two after it has been opened.

He has been a bit better with the construction paper lately. He still writes his character names. He still will not save them as he does with plain white paper, but now at least, he rips them up, one at a time and throws them away. – (say it with me….) Progress!

Baby wipes (or hand wipes): Wipes are used for “Cinderella chores” ; washing the floor and door. This could actually be a good thing if he didn’t use 20 of them to wash the same spot on the same floor and the same spot on the same door. We don’t buy wipes anymore.

Scotch Tape: Scotch tape can be used on anything and for anything. For the most part, it is used to tape up pages in his books. Some books require an entire roll for just the smallest tear. Scotch tape can also be used to build a drum out of a cup or a bowl. He covers the top of the cup or bowl with tape….. a two roll minimum of tape, and this is his drum. Yes, creative, and yes he figured this out by himself but now I have to hide my tape in the cellar if I hope to find any when I need it.

His very own scotch tape is now an item on all of his Christmas/Birthday lists. One friend in particular has been very creative with her gifts of scotch tape. He just loves them!

Pens: No matter how many pens I hide for myself, I can not ever find a pen. He has all of them…… somewhere, I don’t know where and he is not telling. He will return the pens that don’t work – those are always readily available.

Buttons: If there is a button there, it needs to be buttoned. Years ago I thought I was being sneaky by removing the top button on all of his shirts so he would not insist on buttoning everything right up to his neck. I discovered I was not as slick as I thought I was one day when DC brought me one of his shirts to have the button removed. He knows there should be a button there and knows I’m cutting it off, but for some reason this is alright with him. Leaving it on and not buttoning it, is not.

Other clothes: All tags must be removed from all clothing. If he should find the smallest rip, tear or string, he will proceed to shred that article of clothing. It may take him all day, but he will make sure it can never be worn again. Just recently I mistakenly bought him a pair of jeans that had ready-made tears in them. When I realized, I was sure this would be a disaster, but for some reason, it was fine with him. He wears them quite regularly…….. figure that one out. I can not!

Salt: We do not keep salt or sugar on the table. Salt is used as fairy dust. If it is not being sprinkled on his food, then there is no other use for salt, except to be used as fairy dust. Crumbs, the cereal dust at the bottom of the cereal box, crushed chips and a number of other items can also be used as fairy dust, but salt is the ultimate in fairy dust.

I’ve been “Fairy-Dusted” many times, so has the kitchen, the living room, restaurant tables and his uncle when, a few years back, DC got his hands on some cotton candy sugar at a picnic (Cotton Candy Sugar = Pink and Blue Fairy Dust; what could be better!) Delightfully he took a very large handful and “dusted” his Uncle’s head yelling;

“Think of a wonderful thought”

His Uncle didn’t get it……..

But really…..who couldn’t use a little fairy dust every once in a while?

(He is better with salt these days, but I will not keep it on the table, it is just too much for him to resist)

Everything is related – Mary Poppins to New York City

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

I threatened in an earlier post – a few of them as a matter of fact – I would someday write about how, in DC’s world, everything is somehow related to Disney or some of the other movies he enjoyed as a child and still enjoys now as an adult. Originally I thought this would just be a fun post to write, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized:

– Everything being related, has, many times been used as a learning tool.

– Everything being related, has helped him to move on to a more diverse realm of TV shows and movies (while still loving all of the originals he has loved since he was a baby). When attending an ARC movie activity or even just a movie night with friends, for instance, a Disney or animated movie may not be the choice of the others attending. Relating one movie or actor to another has helped him to be more open to watching something that may not be Disney-based. This was not always the case, but now he can go and enjoy a movie with his friends or at an ARC activity without issue. I can almost always find a “sixth degree of separation” from something he loves to something new ; at times it can be a stretch, but I can usually find it if he doesn’t find it for himself. These days, because he now knows that there is always the chance that something or someone just might be related to his favorites, and now that he realizes that his favorites are in many other movies than the ones he watches over and over again, he is much more willing to watch any movie with his friends, without the preparation beforehand. He has also discovered new favorite actors and movies that had not previously been in his circle of favorites.

–Everything being related, oftentimes just explains his love for a particular city, game, song or some of the many other things that he does or says. – This post is about just that……

So here is the first in a series of “Everything is Related” posts:

It all started with Disney…. Those little half hour Disney Sing-A-Long VHS tapes. You know the ones…
“Come right in, sing a long, with your favorite Disney song……”
They contained many songs from many Disney movies – old and new.

At about a year old he moved on to the full length movies.

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Mary Poppins and Bert 2003

Mary Poppins –

Mary Poppins songs and clips were included in many of his sing-a-longs videos.

Mary Poppins= Julie Andrews

His love for Julie Andrews led him, through the years to “The Sound of Music”, “Eloise at the Plaza”, “Eloise at Christmastime”, “Shrek 2 and 3” (although he did develop a love for Shrek all on his own – Julie Andrews just added to it), “The Princess Dairies” (all) and “Tooth Fairy”.

We were at a friend’s house for movie night one evening. The movie they chose to watch was “Tooth Fairy”. His friends were excited to see this movie because of “The Rock”. DC on the other hand, was excited because it also stars Julie Andrews . He did not know of or care about “The Rock”.

This soon changed when he discovered that “The Rock” was in “Race to Witch Mountain” – he has seen and owns all of the old original versions of the “Witch Mountain” movies and now “The Rock” and “Race to Witch Mountain” has been added to his collection.

– Still on the subject of Mary Poppins, we have – Dick Van Dyke

Dick Van Dyke led him to “Chitty Chitty, Bang, Bang” , Night at the Museum (s) , “Bye, Bye, Birdie” and most recently, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day“.

– “Full House”

Just how is this related. you ask? DC loves Full House. He has every single season on DVD. He first came across the show on TV one morning – the episode airing just happened to have Annette ‘Fun-chew-lo’ (Dc-speak – ‘Funicello’) guest starring. Annette ‘Fun-chew-lo’ just happens to star in another one of DC’s favorite Disney movies – “Babes in Toyland”, (can we say “worst movie ever”?) also starring Ray Bolger from the Wizard of OZ (we will get to OZ another time).

He was a Full House fan from that point on. – But how is this related to Mary Poppins?

A few years ago we were watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. We turned it on just in time to see a performance from the cast of the new “Bye, Bye, Birdie” revival – and who was playing Dick Van Dyke’s, ‘Albert’ in that revival? None other than John Stamos (Uncle Jessie)! Well….. of course we HAD to go – we were due for a day trip to New York anyway.

I will never forget DC sitting in the audience pounding his leg with his fist mimicking the “Jes-sie, Jes-sie, Jes-sie!” chant. I did everything I could to get him to stop but he was “in the zone” and determined to continue. I could see, he was finding it very hard to control himself. I really thought I would have to take him out of the theater. He did finally get himself together and enjoyed the show quietly (as quietly as he could manage). – So “Full House” is related by both Disney as a whole and Mary Poppins.

Let’s not forget, Ann Margaret also from “Bye, Bye, Birdie” – who also plays ‘Cinderella’ in the 10th Kingdom. The 10th Kingdom starts out and ends in New York City, with the City being the 10th Kingdom.

10th-kingdom - Everything is related - NY City @tasanotherstep

Ed Wynn (Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins) is also the Toy Maker in “Babes in Toyland” (again, I say…… worst movie EVER – who’s with me?) and the voice of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. Not only does DC know all of these actors and their names, he can also tell you who was “the voice of” almost any Disney character.

His love of New York City stems directly from Eloise at the Plaza, therefore we must visit the Plaza just about every time we go.

: The Plaza

: Outside the Palace

: Outside – Palace Under Construction

: Eloise Store

: Eloise at the Plaza

Our trips to the Plaza now include a visit to the “Eloise Store” where items are ‘Rah-ther’ expensive. Of course now NY means so much more to him. It means Broadway and many shows, including “Mary Poppins”. It means ‘Set-tral Park’, Toys R’Us, Times Square and we can’t forget “West Side Story”.

He is without a doubt, my Broadway Baby, and it is all due to his love of Disney and more specifically, “Mary Poppins”

Please pass the garlic bread…

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

It is always funny when I realize something has occurred to DC that he did not know, until it does finally does occur to him.

For those that may not be aware – DC LOVES bread! Bread, bread, bread, bread and more bread.
Bagels, rolls, toast, breadsticks……BREAD!

He is very picky about everything else he eats – not that you would know that by looking at him – believe me he is very picky, but bread is one of the few constants on the very limited list of foods that he will eat.

One day in the grocery store, he spotted “Fried Breaded Ravioli” – but he saw “Fried Bread”. I will never forget the look on his face.
“MOM!!!! Fried BREAD!!!” – I thought the heavens would open up and the choir would sing. It was as if his life was now complete.

I tried to explain to him that it was not fried bread, but fried ravioli. He does not know what ravioli is. He does not like pasta of any kind (until recently, he would not touch it at all) so I never attempted ravioli. I explained that it was pasta. He did not care, it was fried bread. That is what he read and nothing was going to change this in his mind.
He tried it, he loved it. Still, I can not get him to understand, while trying to get him to eat pasta, that the fried ravioli that he loves IS pasta.

DC also loves garlic bread. He looks for it on the menu anytime we go out to a restaurant. He will not miss an opportunity to order it. If mozzarella cheese is an option, better still!

The day that my friend, Tonya* had us all over for dinner while she was creating our “Beauty School Drop Out” headwear, she made garlic bread to go with dinner. DC, always around when there is food, watched the whole process. A light bulb went off in his head, although I did not know it at the time.

The next day, he got the bread and asked for “garlic bread”. At this moment, I realized that he did not know that garlic bread is not just something that is available in a restaurant, we can make it at home!!!! This type of small thing; you can make garlic bread at home or you can open your eyes in the water with swimming goggles on, are not the sort of thing I always think about. It doesn’t always occur to me, still after all of this time, that I need to tell him that he is wearing the goggles so he can see and he doesn’t have to swim with his eyes closed while wearing them.

From then on, bagels, english muffins, bread, anything he could use to make garlic bread, he did. Unfortunately, he does not always understand what flavors may or may not go together – yet another thing that did not occur to me. I explained to him that garlic on a blueberry bagel could taste pretty ‘dis-dusting’ and I went on to explain that he should use plain bagels, nothing sweet like blueberries or chocolate chips, raisins, cinnamon, sugar, etc. – but the following day he had moved on to pumpkin spice bagels.

Although I really can’t say he wouldn’t just love garlic on pumpkin spice – I’ve seen him eat much odder combinations,

I really did have to stop him….

2014 – My Blogging Year…… Thanks!

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

We were away for what seems like a very long time, now that we are home, but actually it was only 8 days. I am behind on my reading and writing, but that is what a vacation is for, right? I did pre-schedule a rerun to post while we were away and I managed to complete and publish another that had already been started, on my phone.

– We all know I have a typo problem already; you should see what happens when I type on a phone –

The bottom line is that we were away for the Holidays, so I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. I would also like to thank you all for reading this year. Here’s looking ahead to 2015!

But first, a look back…….

Since WordPress was nice enough to do all of the work in putting all of this information together and sending it along to me – I thought I’d share my 2014 blog results with you.

– I know, you are just thrilled – but please try to control yourself, just for a few minutes.

(Shocking…… it turns out, I LOVE to take pictures! Who knew?)

(Link to: DC’s Letter to His Best Buddy, Steve)

Posts that received the most views in 2014.

#1 – but….. no one will know what you are supposed to be November 2014
#2 – The CALL TO ACTION – A Memorial for Avonte July 2014
#3 – File under: “Rules I thought I would never have to make” January 2014
#4 – Never Will Forget You – Tribute to Avonte Oquendo August 2014
#5 – There is no elf on our shelf November 2014

Where did my readers find me? Hmmmm…..

That’s 67 Counties in all! Most visitors came from the United States. Canada & UK were not far behind.

Link to: There is no elf on our shelf

These were my 4 most active commenters: (Please take a minute to visit their blogs)

autism-mom.com

Autism Mom

AutismChristian

swautism

Wendy Jane’s Soul Shake

So there you have it! In a nutshell!

– I know, I know – what will you do with the rest of your day? What could possibly be more exciting?

But seriously……Happy New Year to all and thank you so, so much for reading!

The Christmas Vacation Dilemma

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

A few days before Christmas, I read a post from another favorite blogger of mine, Mother O’ Jim, titled “When Delaying is Enhancing…” . The blog was about her son’s Christmas anxiety over a gift he knew he was going to receive (give it a read if you have a minute) and the steps taken to minimize his anxiety.

While I was reading this post I was thinking about DC. Although he does get very excited and anxious around Christmas-time, reminding me many times everyday that “Christmas is coming soon” – he does not seem to get as anxious as Jim from the blog.

I was a little bit concerned about this Christmas though. Everything about this holiday season seemed to be different. Thanksgiving is normally spent at a restaurant (the same restaurant) with DC, Doug, my brother and sister-in-law and at times, my niece. This year, my niece had moved out of state a few months earlier and Doug was away on a cruise with his sister and his father. The restaurant even seemed to be different, more crowded and much less organized.

DC’s Dad decided to go to Florida for an undetermined amount of time. He left in mid-November. He would not be here around Christmas for DC and for the first time ever, we decided to take our vacation a few weeks earlier than usual and were scheduled to leave Christmas morning. We had to leave the house by 8:30 in the morning.

DC does understand that now that he is an adult, Santa only brings his stocking. The rest of the gifts are from me (Mom). But, would he understand when he woke up on Christmas morning to only a stocking, even if he received the same big pile of gifts the night before? I explained this to him over and over again and he said he understood. This NEVER means that he really understands.

After reading the blog I spoke of earlier, I got a little bit more anxious about it. Jim was happy to get his gift early as would DC, but I know in his head, this would not – even if he agreed that it would – eliminate the expectation of the Christmas morning pile of gifts. I know this from the many, many times I have given him choices to do “this” or have “this” now instead of later or instead of doing or having something different. He agrees but then still expects whatever he traded away.

I realized that I would have to do more than explain it to him over and over again. I thought about showing him pictures, but then I realized that it would make more sense to him and he would not think he’s missing out if he saw the same pile of gifts just being given at a different time.

So I took a photo of our tree and another of the bookcase where Santa usually leaves his stocking and I usually leave his surprise gifts. Then I cut out photos of presents that I could move from one place to the other so he could see that he would be getting the same amount of gifts, just earlier than usual.

(These photos are not of our tree. The originals were terrible. It seems that every time I need to print – the ink just about gone)

Normally after opening gifts at my mother’s, we come home and DC opens the gifts that are already under the tree. There is usually only a few because he knows he’ll be receiving Mom’s hidden gifts in the morning with his stocking from Santa.

Gifts from Mom on Christmas Eve

More gifts from Mom and Stocking from Santa on Christmas morning

More Gifts From Mom and a Stocking from Santa

I had him move the gifts himself, from Christmas morning to Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve – ALL of Mom’s Gifts

So…..Christmas morning would be just Santa.

vacaxmasday

(Santa would surprise him with another stocking at the hotel when we arrived, but he was not aware of this yet)

We did this every day until I was as sure as I could be that he understood that he was getting the same amount of gifts… just earlier.

Still I was a little bit nervous about Christmas morning….

He was up very early as usual – this was fine since we had to leave early.
He saw the stocking filled with everything he’d asked Santa for. He was happy, maybe not as excited as he usually is, but he wasn’t disappointed – that had been my biggest concern.

There was enough time to use and
play with everything in the stocking and enough time to watch the entire Peter Pan Live DVD he’d asked for.
He never made it through the 3 hour version when it was live on TV, but without commercials, it was only an hour and a half!
I am still not a fan….but this time around, DC really enjoyed it.

As DC would say, “Phew, I was very nervous about this!”

Fortunately, it worked out well and he had a Merry Christmas!

December Reruns…..Back to the Swamp

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

In keeping with my “December Reruns” theme and truthfully because it has just been a busy month, I wanted to repeat this post from June 2014.

We are on that vacation that I was so not looking forward to earlier in the month due to the fact that it was getting to be so busy and I was just getting crabbier and crabbier as the days passed. I am just about over that now that we are here.

We are staying at Gaylord Palms once again – the subject of the piece below. It is a beautiful place and even more so all decorated for Christmas. DC was really looking forward to coming back here. Not only will he be visiting Disney World and have a Christmas visit with his Dad, but he is back in the place where he was made an “Honorary Swap Guard”. He’s a happy guy!

From June 2014 (about a trip in January 2013):

The Honorary Swamp Guard

Some time ago, I wrote about our Disney Cruise, in January, 2013 – where the rule, “Don’t pick up the Princesses” was born. At the end of that post I mentioned that there was another great story to be told from the end of that trip….. so finally, here it is.

After spending 5 days on the Disney ship, our plan was to stay in Orlando for an additional 3 days to visit Disney World and Universal Studios, because, you know, we didn’t get enough Disney on the ship……

We arrived at Gaylord Palms in Orlando. It was a beautiful place, and truth be told, I would have been perfectly happy to have skipped the cruise and just stayed there all week, but 3 days would have to do.

We arrived in time for dinner – a late dinner – so we didn’t get to explore all that much on the first evening. The next morning we were planning to go to Disney World. Doug was on the balcony – he called me “outside” and said he had just seen Shrek walk though the restaurant down below. This was the restaurant we were heading to for breakfast as soon as DC was out of the shower, so I figured I’d ask about it when we went down to eat.

When we got down to Villa de Flora, I told one of the waiters (Matt) that we noticed Shrek walking by earlier. I asked if this was some sort of character “meet and greet” that they have for the kids, and if so, would they be coming back anytime soon? DC was sitting at the table away from the conversation. I didn’t tell him we saw Shrek earlier and I didn’t want him to hear me ask about it in case they wouldn’t be making another appearance.

The waiter explained that the characters did not work for the resort. They were hired for an early marketing meeting and we must have seen them on their way out.

Then he said “Let me see if I can catch them” – it had been a good while since we saw them from the balcony, so I really didn’t think he’d be able to catch up to them and I wasn’t asking so he’d have to go out of his way, I just thought they were part of the resort. I told him that it was not necessary, he did not have to do that, I hadn’t mentioned it to my son at all, so he didn’t have to worry about disappointing him.

He went to talk to his manager anyway. I didn’t really think much about it after that. DC went and got his mountain of bacon and his bagels. When I got up to get some more coffee, Matt came over to me and said he had been able to catch up them in the parking lot. Again, I said it really wasn’t necessary for him to do that. He told me his manager insisted. He said that by the time he caught up with them they were all already out of their costumes but agreed to put them back on and come back in to meet DC!!!! I couldn’t believe it! I went back to the table to try to tell Doug what was happening without DC hearing any of it.

DC had his bacon and bagels – I believe this may have been the trip where he discovered bacon – so he really wasn’t paying much attention to anything else that was going on.

I saw them coming in on the other side of the restaurant….. Shrek, Puss n’ Boots and the Swamp Guard. I tried to remain calm as not to give it away, but it was difficult.

I started taking pictures. DC was smiling because he saw me with the camera, and that is what he does….. stops whatever he is doing to smile. He was unaware of anything going on behind him.

He was so surprised and excited when they made their way to him. He didn’t know what to do at first. I was taking pictures with my phone. A waitress grabbed my camera from Doug and began taking pictures as well. The staff and customers seemed to be just as excited for him as we were!

They were wonderful, the staff and the characters! I couldn’t believe that they would do this for him! The characters stayed and talked with him for a good long while. He was in his glory!

They presented him with Shrek ears and made him an “Honorary Swamp Guard”. Teaching him the Swamp Guard Salute was also included. DC was so excited and happy that he even offered to share his precious bacon with Shrek. Of course Shrek had 2 swamp rats earlier so he was quite full already.

He had the best time with them.

He wore his Honorary Swamp Guard, Shrek ears for most of the remainder of the trip.

I still can not believe how these wonderful people went so far out of their way for DC. I mean, I only asked a simple question. I never expected any of this. This made his day – it made his trip!

I thanked everyone I could find to thank and went back the following morning to thank the people I could not find the day before.

I tweeted, Facebooked and wrote an e-mail to Gaylord Palms. I wanted to be sure they were aware of the wonderful staff they had working in their resort.

Then, just to add the cherry to the top of this sundae…… I found these on my camera when we arrived home……