tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53839671006432574202023-11-15T09:06:00.772-05:00Autism DadMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-87333277536714663992011-06-02T01:39:00.000-04:002011-06-02T01:39:54.594-04:0047I was born today, in 1964, at that time who would ever had thought of facebook, twitter, Ipad, Ipod, Gmail / email / Wii / XBOX 360 / podcasts / blogs or any of the miriade of "time saving" things that are around us every day.<br />
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I tell you that being part of this technical revolution has bees a sobering And inspiring time. Who would have thought that I would have a blog or that I would have 7 great tech savvy kids that do not help me with my "bloggings". Not that I need them, I have tried to keep up with most of the big leaps in the tech world, mostly thanks to my listening to podcasts, The other major benifit has been my increase in my Catholic faith by listening to so many great catholic podcasts, they helped me stay sane & faithFULL at my last job. Now I find myself short on listening time and I need to increase it, I plug my player into my car but there are not alot of 20 minute pod casts. I recently took 6 days to listen to a 54 minute podcast from Catholic Answers on my commute.<br />
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Don't worry I will figure this out and I will always be there for those that matter to me the most.<br />
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Peace and mercy to all that read this and,<br />
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Jesus I trust in you.<br />
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MarkMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-38920408742173846962011-02-16T01:47:00.000-05:002011-02-16T01:47:26.029-05:00ABORTIONMy fellow New Yorkers. S2524 the "Health Reproductive Act" is moving through the NY lesislature. Please contact your legislator and the gov, and strongly oppose this bill. It will basically say that all abortions including partial birth abortions like the ones in Philly are protected by state law. It also undermines conscience laws in place for doctors and other health providers. And it will remove the stipulation that a licenced doctor has to preform the killing of a child by allowing any health "practitioner" the ability (that means to get payment, and that is what it is all about) to kill your child "prior to viability". It will say that it is discriminatory to favor child birth over abortion. So say good bye to Inner city pre natal heath care and any support to "teen pregnancy" birth alternatives. We need to stop this bill NOW so contact Gov Cuomo ( an alleged catholic) and your local representative now.<br />
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.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-18835291439206576732011-02-10T00:59:00.000-05:002011-02-10T00:59:19.993-05:00Dinner gymnasticsMeal time with Autistic kids can be amazing. Luckily my kids are not allergic to any foods, yes some have a little lactose intolerance inherited from Mom, but for the most part they can eat anything. Not saying they will eat anything but we can hope. Now I would not classify myself as a full on foodie, but I have been known to make some interesting dishes that would challenge any Iron Chef in the neighborhood. I had some real nice venison cutlets that I made into venison parm, and they ate it. Every once in a while I will make what I call "Chicken ala Daddy" And depending on what ingredients I have available that can be anything from a basic chicken & veg dish, pasta dish on the stove top to a stew, or something else. Now Peter has some eclectic food tastes, he will eat a whole cheese pizza, delivered or Digornio, if we could afford it he would eat pizza for every meal, and snack too. Now we have a "sit down" dinner every night, for the majority of the family, and what I mean is we some times have an issue with getting all of the "little guys" staying at the table. This is not a huge issue, and can lead to some fun times and some harder times. One thing that I have done with mostly good success is to pretend to call one of their teachers, this usual results in the boys eating their dinner and me deleting alot of voice mails at work, but it is worth it. <br />
Now that the twins are 7 we are trying to hold them to a little more stringent manners routine, saying God Bless You, and excuse me for the appropriate bodily function if you know what I mean. Well the other day we were eating dinner and Nate was eating like a champ, he usually does real well, and he started talking with food in his mouth, and being the "good" dad that I am trying to be I said stop talking with food in your mouth. to which he responded to me by looking at me, putting his hands up and signing something to me. Now these kids have learned signing since they were 2 and I am sure he was actually telling me something but I just fell off my chair as did Lynn. We then spent the next 30 minutes trying to determine how much sign language our kids knew and if they were able to talk about us behind out back. The jury is still out on that one.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-69513861003191698762011-01-27T00:04:00.000-05:002011-01-27T00:04:14.857-05:00A day at 2 dentists, plus 1.I have bad teeth, not Austin Powers bad, but not something to write the tooth fairy about. I dropped a filling mid Autumn and had not been able to schedule a visit to get it filled. Just plain lazy, no excuses. But around Thanksgiving I felt an abscess starting to move in to the neighborhood, and one day it just kind of expanded my face on the left side. I was not able to see my dentist at that time because he was on vacation, so I called my primary doc and got a prescription for an antibiotic, which knocked it out real fast. So Christmas came and went as did New Years . So on MLK day 2 of my older kids had had dentist appointments and I was able to jump in and get a quick xray and he said we can save the tooth with a root canal. I said ok and scheduled it for today, and took the whole day off because Jake also had a dentist appointment in the afternoon for another cap on one of his baby teeth.<br />
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So I got tot the dentist office at 10:50 am and went right in, the assistant numbed my gum for the Novocain shots. Now as a kid we never had Novocain for our dental work and actually it really raised my pain tolerance, so even though I have been opting for Novocain for the past 13 years I still use the techniques learned as a kid. Now as I was laying there waiting to be numb I was reflecting to myself that the dentist office really has not changed in the 40 odd years that I have been going. More on that later. When the doctor finally came in I knew the numbing would not last for the balance of the visit, I could feel the adjacent teeth starting to come back to life about 20 minutes in. So I just kept my eyes closed, said some prayers, should have put my mp3 player on, maybe next time and reflected on life. <br />
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I got home around 1 pm and we started to get Jake ready for his visit. I made sure I had my Ipod Touch in my pocket for Jake and Lynn and I loaded him in the car and we headed to a pediatric dentist office up the Northway. Now Jake is autistic ans is mainly non verbal and when we pulled into the parking lot he started his "all done" mantra, which lasted until we left. Now we went through check in and "pre op" with the nurse in a private room, we opted for sedation with him since he would be uncooperative to say the least, we attempted to get him to drink the meds which he immediately spit out all over himself, Lynn and me. The doc came back in about 20 minutes later and administered the med through poor Jake's nose. Well he did not like that but it worked and about 5- 1 minutes later we were ready. So off we went to the room where he would get his work done. In this room we had 3 nurses and the doc, we laid Jake on the chair an they put him in a big blue velcro cocoon, to immobilize him for the procedure, the deep pressure helps to keep him calm along with the meds. After about 15 minutes they had sealed his teeth, and were about to cap his bad tooth, through out the procedure Jake was alternately crying and laughing, scrape squirt cry, drill drill laugh. Also they placed a rubber suction plate in his mouth that not only did the suction it also kept his mouth open with out too much extra assistance, my jaw is still a little sore from this mornings oral gymnastics. It seemed like it could have been a dentist office on the Enterprise, shiny, gleaming instruments, nurses in color coordinated uniforms, the doc in a polo shirt with his name on it, fancy head gear and tools. Beam me up. Now earlier this month I took our youngest Nate up there for some small cavities, he is also on the spectrum (PDD-NOS) but he did not need the restraints and used laughing gas for his procedure. His big thing was he needed to look at the instrument before the doc could use it on him, and he giggled through the entire visit as well. And when he was finished he said, this is a direct quote from Nate, "Thanks Dr Awesome!!" And that was that.<br />
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I know many people my age don't like going to the dentist but I wonder... if we went to a pediatric dentist when we were their age would things be different? And were there many pediatric dentists around in the 70's? And where were they???Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-34831492546335633352010-12-10T00:13:00.000-05:002010-12-10T00:13:43.710-05:00Advent ponderings"Prepare the way of the Lord!" Depending on where you are at in time this phrase could have multiple meanings, The head of the house, the lord of the manor, the king of the country. For the past 2000 years it has a more significant meaning. In a little town a boy was born. His coming was foretold for many many years. But the people did not notice. <br />
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Some people in power were watching for Him, and thought they would set a trap. But he slipped through their fingers, and His parents found their way to a strange country, and there they hid. After a while they came back home, and the rest as they say is history. I am sure they had wonderful birthdays, nice simple little family get togethers, simple food, simple gifts. with always enough to go around. <br />
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Now when I look on how things are now I wish, hope, and pray that my kids will understand a nice simple little Christmas. Now when we were first married we did not have alot.. of kids that is... or money for that fact, but we were able to make gifts for all of our family by hand, we took inexpensive plastic wine glasses and filled them with candy. We made picture frames, and I foud an artist fungus ( I was working in the field at that time) and I traced an animal on it. But now after years of "rich" Christmases we are about to hit one that will have to be a simple one. <br />
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I guess I could rage, rage, against the machine. But I don't think so. Now having 7 kids this is going to be a minor miracle for us to pull off. But I have faith that we will be able to keep everything going. Don't judge me because we are fortunate to have 4 of our 7 kids on the Autism spectrum and will be able to "fool" them with small gifts in big boxes. We will be scouring the used bins are our favorite video game store, and we will probably be burning mix cd's of their favorite kids tunes in my ITunes library. But this leaves us in a bind for our older typical kids, but I guess the older 2 will be happy to have tuitions paid or cosigned for for the next semester. Ok I am going to rant not but rage against the machine a little here. Colleges cost too much. There I said it, also FAFSA is a joke. I mean my wife and I are making a fantastic living according to the Federal Government, and according to their messed up calculations we are able to afford 20,000 dollars plus for our 2 oldests kids to attend the colleges of their choices. Now we will never deny our kids the choice of the school they want to attend, heck I went to one of the most expensive schools out there for Forestry. <br />
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Well I guess I have babbled on for long enough... As this advent season progresses please remember that Christmas begins on December 25.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-80050286177448367392010-11-26T03:34:00.000-05:002010-11-26T03:34:25.325-05:00ThanksgivingFor my friends who follow me on Face Book you saw my post about what I am thankful for, my God, my wife, my kids, my family, & my country in that order. And it is the truth. Also I posted pics of what I was cooking there.<br />
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Our day of thanks was full of lots of fun, cooking, caring and sharing. We were blessed with having all 7 of our kids at home (for most of the day). Turkey went into the oven a little late but it was fully defrosted and I did not have to give it multiple cold water baths before popping it into the oven. Now I had forgotten to pick up my supply of Bell's Seasonings which I use for every turkey I cook so the improv was on.... fortunately I had a different seasoning packet available which I used for the bird & the gravy stock. Next came the sweet potatoes & apples, then the stuffing, and then the green bean casserole. Now my wonderful wife had made the final grocery dash on Wednesday but was unable to find any cranberry sauce... don't worry we got the last 2 cans from our local convenience store, but she did pick up a bag of fresh cranberries, and I actually made home made cranberry sauce. In the mean time my youngest daughter made 2 cheese cakes and I had made a blueberry crumb pie the night before, so dessert was covered. All through the cooking Peter kept coming into the kitchen and announcing "Happy Thanksgiving, is the turkey ready? " So then I made the rolls and Lynn made the mashed potatoes ( I do not make mashed potatoes as good as she does) and the bird was ready! I set it on the platter to rest under the turkey tent and I went to making gravy. Get the table ready and lets eat. Well let me tell you this was one extra special and fun Thanksgiving, great food, fun dinner conversation, lots of laughter. <br />
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Now I have to wonder how long this will last. 1, 2, 3 more years. It kind of sucks when your kids grow up. They don't seem to need you any more. But that means we did our job right... right? <br />
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And the answer to that is a resounding YES! I am VERY, VERY, VERY, proud and thankful for my older children. In this world where your kids are lured and swayed by so many outside influences, I am happy to report that my older kids keep surprising me with how "good" they are. Let's just say my wife and I (to a small extent) have done well. And for that I am really, really, thankful.<br />
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I love that my self taught cooking skills and the ones passed on to me from my Mom, Grammy, & my Dad, can be used to bring my family to the table to enjoy what the Creator has made possible.<br />
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God bless all of you that read this. Thanks!Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-71209649742558145062010-11-09T14:08:00.000-05:002010-11-09T14:08:21.450-05:00Oh yeah we are wired differentlyAs I check the latest news on the web I come across a headline that grabs my attention...."Gene associated with Autism may alter how brain functions".<br />
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WOW!!!!! Glad the scientific world is catching up with the parents in this instance. I know that seems a little bitter but as most of us on the inside of Autism know our kids have are wired differently than our "neuro-typical" kids. <br />
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Now this gene is present in many people through out the world that do not show signs of ASD but may have had some other learning issues through out their lives.<br />
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Ok I am done venting, so let's look a little closer at what the gene actually does. The CNTNAP2 gene is the gene that is associated with a higher risk of ASD, but it also ADHD, Tourette's, Schizophrenia, and other language issues. Now in the frontal lobe the brain functions that reside there are motor skills, language recognition and other learning functions. What the study is showing is the frontal lobe may be"over wired". I guess that this could lead to sensory and information overload on a scale that we can not imagine, and that our kids can not explain. Which would be an explanation regarding some of the meltdowns we see.<br />
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Now that we have some confirmation to what we have always expected how can we use this information to bring our children out of their shells, what new methods of teaching can we learn from them to help them to adjust to our world with out retreating into theirs. One way that is available to us in this day and age is the technology advances that are available to us. The computer and it's close relations ( Ipod, Ipad, PDA, Gameboys et al) are proving to be a great way for our kids to learn and communicate with us. My 9 year old is currently using a web based typing program from the BBC called Dance Mat Typing <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/">http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/</a> . It is free on the web and teaches them in a very soft way on using proper keyboarding techniques. This is a great way for our kids to learn to put on "paper" what they are thinking. Another great tool that we have found is the IPod Touch, you may think that this is just a fancy music player that can play games, and yes it is that and so much more. Now the wonderful people at <a href="http://www.handholdadaptive.com/">http://www.handholdadaptive.com/</a> have developed applications for use on the touch screen hand held devices that are changing PECS programs with their application IPrompts, you can create your own picture stories, choice tables, schedules, and countdown programs to assist you child in learning their routine, making and communicating their choices, and much more. We purchased it for our "1st" grader for his school IPod Touch. Another great function we have found with this tool is the ability to use it to redirect and entertain our kids on long car trips, you can and I have down loaded feature length films and TV episodes for a fairly reasonable price at the ITunes store. A word of caution here for your ITunes store account, make sure you are using a password that the kids do not know or can figure out, otherwise you may find receipts in your email for all the seasons of their favorite TV show. <br />
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Now with the current pace of technology I am very hopeful regarding the future of our kids and how we can help them adapt to our world much easier than they ever were able to in the past.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-84092659634369432162010-09-16T00:54:00.000-04:002010-09-16T00:54:15.266-04:00Second shift, second thoughts...Did you ever do something that you thought would be good for your family, but as time goes by it starts to tarnish and it actually begins to be detrimental to your family and starts to wear on you also. Now I have always been a bit of a night owl, I have always been <br />
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able to be up late going to sleep sometimes as late as 3 or 4 in the morning and getting up the next day and functioning at or above par. This has come in very handy especially with our 7 kids, being able to burn the midnight oil if they were fussy or if my wife needed a good night sleep. I am no hero but there is something nice about sitting up with your kids watching a late baseball game or a particularly good movie, or reading them a story until they crashed in my lap on the recliner with me following soon after, waking up a few hours later with a stiff neck and sore ankles ( long legs feet always hand over the foot rest of the recliners) and crawling off to bed. <br />
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About a month ago I agreed to start working the second shift at my job, a little more money and a ton less BS than the day shift. And the quiet, oh how I love the quiet. I do my job, listen to my pod casts, and the 8 hours were flying by until the new school year started, and all of the kids are out of the house by 8:30 am and I get to take a nap, but I am finding it harder to get up and get going on the projects I have planned. I even skipped a job interview today, I hope I will be able to reschedule it but if not, shame on me. But the biggest issue is my kids, they miss me and I miss them so much it hurts. Now 4 of my kids at home now have Autism like I have explained before, and they don't really understand why I am not here just that I am not here. And it is really really putting a hurt on my wife. These are things that I just can not abide with, so In the future you will find that I will either be back on first shift at my current job or I will be with a different company. Please keep me in your prayers while I discern what path God wants me to follow, and thanks.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-41717272655014173002010-09-04T00:25:00.000-04:002010-09-04T01:39:09.958-04:00HAPPY FALLI know it is not fall yet but my 9 year old Peter,ever the observant one, has declared it officially fall because it is September. This is also while he is stripping down to his skivvies and asking to go in the pool, which he did at least 4 times today. Now I know that with his incredible memory Pete will go places, but currently I am ever <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">surprised</span> at what the boy comes out with. He will make wonderfully cute comments like "now I can think like a girl" from The Fairly Odd Parents cartoon, as we are walking into a store. But tonight he just once again blew my doors off by asking me a question when I came home for dinner. I was at this computer looking up something for my wife Lynn, and while I was searching I brought up my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Itunes</span> and checked for new <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">podcasts</span>, he walked over to me and asked if I was looking for "have mercy on us, and on the whole world". Now I have 2 Divine Mercy pod casts in my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Itunes</span> feed, but he does not know that the line comes from the chaplet. I did once have <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">EWTN</span> on when they were showing some of their <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">children's</span> programming and I think one of the shows was about the Divine Mercy, but.... that was 5 months ago. I do know if you walk into my house and say" For the sake of His sorrowful Passion" you will get the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">response</span> " Have mercy on us and the whole world". Now I have been growing in my devotion to the Divine Mercy from Jesus through St Faustina and will be looking for ways to bring it further into my home. As St. Faustina said "Jesus I trust in You."<br />Have a nice <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Labor day</span> every one, we are off to my parents house to celebrate their anniversary.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-63175910084741303132010-08-20T00:20:00.000-04:002010-09-04T01:43:20.107-04:001 week to go.One week from today ( it is Friday now) will be one of the hardest days in a parent's life. Dropping a child off for the first time at college. At least we don't have to put him on a plane, alone to fly to the other side of the country. How do you get the mini fridge there? But that is a different problem. Now as a family that has a little autism in the house this is gonna be a MAJOR change. Our first diagnosed Peter (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">HFA</span>) has attached to Kevin and will be the one that notices the change the most. Remember Kevin made the dinner last night? Well Peter saw what he was doing and asked <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Kevin</span> what he was doing, & he was told that he was cooking dinner on the grill and Peter said "oh you are a Dad now". Well that is the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">kind</span> of wisdom that Peter is known too come out with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">allot</span>.<br />But back to the issue at hand,my son is off to college in 1 week and we are <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">soooo</span> not ready. Fortunately we have friends & family near by so we have that going for us! Well the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">DVR</span> is calling and the ball game is on so good night.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-84536225728838101622010-08-19T01:24:00.000-04:002010-08-19T01:44:26.123-04:00August 2010Well here I am keeping the semi-annual blog going... been so long I forgot my password. Well seems I have got that figured out. Since my last post 15 months ago I am the happy owner of an Ipod Touch, keeping me sane at work, really, really, really would like an Ipad, but as my Gram would say " if wishes were horses, beggars would ride". All too true, but isn't is sooooo pretty.<br />I am now on 2nd shift 3 to 11:30 so during baseball season I am getting great use out of my DVR s don't tell me who won! 2nd shift has some other complications that have come up, like who is making what for dinner. Most days I am able to get dinner started before I leave for work, today though I had our oldest son Kevin make the entire dinner. A nice London Broil cut cooked o the grill, his first, he stared the charcoal, prepped the "steak" and cooked it, although with a couple of texts from me. He also make a side dish and dinner was on the table at 6:05. Yum!<br />Well ballgame is on, need to pay a little more attention to it. See you all soon<br />MarkMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-81750999528956735952009-05-18T00:01:00.000-04:002010-09-04T01:13:06.500-04:00Tough day at the Table of the RockThis weekend we had a Jr prom which our oldest son attended with his GIRLFRIEND!!! So I did not get enough sleep, but that is a normal occurrence for me. I finally was ready to put head to pillow a little after 4 am, after brushing crumbled potato chips off of my side of the bed (thanks Jacob) I fell asleep saying my prayers. Morning came a little too quick but my wonderful wife let me snooze till 9:45 am and I dragged my butt down stairs, kissed who ever was awake at the time and started to get ready for 11 am Mass. As it was I probably cut it too close I arrived at church, and started looking for a parking spot..... 1.5 times around the block finally a parking spot! I swung in, locked the car and hurried the 1/2 block to the entrance. Looking abut it seemed to me that boy there were ALLOT of Catholics at church today.... I got inside and looked for a missalet... none left except for the LARGE PRINT EDITION, which I took and actually felt good. Boy the church was packed this AM, I found a seat in the last row just at the entrance hymn was finishing and I scanned the bulletin.... week 2 of First Communion. This explained the numbers. Now I actually love the First Communion Mass, it is in my top ten Masses. Father and Deacon Tom were processing through the congregation sprinkling the masses with Baptismal water while we were singing the Gloria. About half way through the Gloria it hit me... I should be sitting up front with family & friends as Peter was about to receive his First Communion! Just then Deacon Tom got me with a good broadside of Baptismal water, I blessed myself and then the water works started to leak. I praised God and thanked him for all He has blessed me with, good friends, a Great family, and a multitude of opportunities. I got control of myself and opened to the first reading, the psalm, the second reading, and the Gospel. I was going to be able to do this and hold it together. Father gave a very good Homily, addressing the First Communion class. All was going real well until Father started asking what the kids ate for breakfast, cereal, toast, eggs, popcorn?? oops they meant Poptarts, oatmeal, ( doing good Mark, you CAN do this) then one of the kids said Donuts ( which is what Peter likes for breakfast) and s Emeril say BAM, the water started to flow again, slowly through the creed, and I lost it at the beginning of the offertory. I waited for the ushers to go up for the collection and I ducked out. Tears flowing I made it to the car, I sat there for a minute or two so I could see where I was driving and drove home. I got home to Wow that was a fast Mass and I told Lynn that I could not hold it together due to the fact that Peter was not receiving his First Communion and she understood. Now I know that he will eventually receive First Communion but it still hurt, and we will also have this to face with Jacob & Nathaniel. I would at this time like to offer my congradulations to my brother and his wife and family on their son's reception of First Communion this weekend!<br /><br />Going to bed soon, need to do some laundry.<br /><br />MarkMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-42035383879455345742008-06-11T01:22:00.000-04:002008-07-02T02:25:01.536-04:00the worldIn my last rambling post I was describing a small part of our autistic life. We have further embraced our advocate life by my joining our local <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ASA's</span> group planning our <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">fundraising</span> walk. It has been a huge deal to me and my family for me to start to "advocate" more for the family and the community. I am not sure where this will lead me but as a little trip to our local Six Flags for a graduation celebration for our now 7 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> grader we are on the right path. We of course hit the water park with the"little" guys, all 3 were super excited even with the drizzle coming down. Well Peter our big "little"guy found that he loves, loves, loves water slides. and he spent at least an hour sliding. We then moved to the new "Wiggles" area of the park very bright, very loud Wiggles music playing, over and over and over. All 3 went on a number of the rides with Mom & Dad as well as alone. Very BIG steps for these guys. As aside note we have a very small amusement park in our area also and we used to love taking the boys there, then a switch went in Peter''s & Jacob's head, "no parade" was the mantra we would hear, it was difficult since our oldest actually worked there and if Peter was with us for drop off or pick up a full fledged melt down would begin in the car. NOT FUN!!!!! Back to Six Flags, our oldest needed to leave for work so I was going to stay with the other older three so they could hit some more rides, and Lynn and I were discussing this as we walked to the other new "little" kids area, "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Looney</span> Tunes World". In this new area they have a nice small roller coaster, train ride, car ride and other small rides for the medium to big tots. Well thanks to Sponge Bob, Peter wanted to ride a roller coaster, as did Nate our youngest twin. Well we got Peter <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">buckled</span> in and Nate as well, I sat in the car with Nate and pulled the bar back to secure myself and I could not get it past my knees. Big <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">disappointment</span>! I swapped out with Lynn and off they went.To say tears were welling up in my eyes as I watched them go around a realization popped into my head as I w<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">atched</span> my 2 autistic kids that went on the ride act as non autistic kids, the beautiful smiles of fear that you get on a good coaster was evident. The ride went around 3 times and as it hit the last turn the operator announced "this is the last time around" and Nate said to Lynn" thank goodness". Needless to say Peter went on that ride 3 more times. Lynn and the oldest had left to make the ride to work and I told Lynn to leave all the other kids with me, they were having too much fun. We made our way around the park, going on nice long train & swan boat rides and we made our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">way</span> up to "Frontier Town" where they have 2 coasters and a nice little game area. The "<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Steaming</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Demon</span>" was closed but the "Canyon Blaster" roller coaster was open so the big kids & Peter went on that one, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">fortunately</span> the lines were short because Peter was hooked! He went on it at least 4 times and each time he got off he wanted to go again, and again and again!!! Well the park closed and needless to say we will be going back and we will be heading for the "Comet" one of the top rated coasters in the world....... I can't wait.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383967100643257420.post-13072371298195510112007-06-30T02:26:00.000-04:002007-09-08T03:42:25.747-04:00Into the world of the AutisticHi, this is my first blog. I am the 43 yr old father of 7 fantastic kids...... 4 of these are autistic. My kids range from my <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">recently</span> graduated 17 yr old the twins at 3 yrs. As every one has been made aware Autism is the #1 growing "malady" in the pediatric medical world. The numbers from the government reflect that 1 of 150 to 166 kids will be born/diagnosed as <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">autistic</span>. I choose to label them as autistic instead of having autism or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">ASD</span> (Autism spectrum disorders) because as this is becoming more and more clear that this is not a neurological or an environmental "disorder" but more of a genetic disorder we will need to address the idea that these kids are something special, something beyond the normal plane of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">consciousness</span> that we as human beings are used to address. Now saying this I am not one of those people that believe in "star <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">children</span>" as an excuse to deflect the reasons that our kids are Autistic. No I am a devout Catholic that at this time realize the blending of creationism and Darwinism as a viable and actual fact. Now this does not help my kids that are Autistic deal with our world but maybe it can help us see into their world a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Little</span> bit clearer. When my first child was diagnosed as Autistic after many months I told my older kids that now that he was diagnosed we all had <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Autism</span>. Not because we are at the level of the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Autistic</span> mind but that we would have to be the voice, the advocate for our Autistic family member in a world that they do not live in, or can verbalize any understanding of, our world.<br /><br />I will add additional thoughts to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">this</span> blog as they come me. And when I can get on the computer.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02273738366778181250noreply@blogger.com5