Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
It's Finally Finished!!
Well, we're finished! After several months and tons of hard work, we've finished the basement. We're having a dumpster delivered on Wednesday so that we can start going through all the boxes that are currently sitting in Joe's workshop portion of the basement. We're going to be adding a few more wall cabinets for storage but other than that, we're done! Here are the finished photos...don't mind the mess. Not much we can do with all that until the dumpster is here!!
This is the entryway. The treadmill is staying there but in the other corner, we're going to be putting a chair and a small table, to make a small sitting area. 
This is a small little nook that we're still not 100% sure what we're going to do with. We stuck the refrigerator there for now but not sure if it will stay or not. We may end up using it as storage.
This is my scrapbooking area. And the double doors lead into the kids playroom.
A closeup of my desk!
The view from my area down to Joe's area.
A closeup of Joe's desk, littered with tools until we clean out his shop enough to put them away!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow
I first heard the name Temple Grandin a few months ago. I frequent an Autism support message board and someone mentioned her name. I had never heard of her before, so I googled the name. I've been hooked since. I can't seem to read enough about her, her amazing life and all that she's accomplished.
I'll start by giving a short run down of her accomplishments; her resume in short.
- A designer of livestock handling facilities
- A professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University
- B.A. from Franklin Pierce College (less than an hour from where I live), M.S. from Arizona State University and Ph. D. from University of Illinois
- Featured in Time Magazine, People Magazine, New York Times, Forbes and US News among others
- Featured on 20/20, 48 Hours, CNN's Larry King Live, Primetime Live and the Today Show
- Written hundreds of articles featured in journals and other publications
- Written several books
And most astounding, she's autistic. Temple Grandin was diagnosed with severe autism by the age of 3. Her entire life story has really intrigued me, touched me and given me even more hope for Nathaniel.
I recently read her book, Emergence: Labeled Autistic and it was superb. If you have a couple of hours to spare, it's worth the read. She describes in detail what it was like for her as a child to have autism. And how she learned to deal with the world around her.
To continue with my Autism awareness, I thought I would post this wonderful BBC show Horizons, that featured a story about Temple. It's in 5, 10-minute pieces and very interesting.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Easter Eve in the Ledvina House
This was the first year of dying Easter eggs with all 3 kids and what a fun time! None of them understood the "drop it gently" concept so we ended up with blue dye on our kitchen table. (***NOTE*** Mr. Clean Magic Erasers take blue dye off of kitchen tables) They had a good time though! Check it out.
Watching Daddy in amazement! Lexi's in the brown, Maddie in pink.
PLOP! Maddie dying her first egg!
Nate waiting patiently for his egg to finish!
Lexi just hangin' out!
Watching as daddy takes the egg out. You can see how excited Nathaniel is as his hands are flapping (a common trait of autistic children). He only does it when he's very excited!
Nate & Maddie reaching for the eggs while daddy fervently tries to get the blue dye off the table with a Magic Eraser!
The end result!
Mr. Nate sitting by mommy while she takes egg pictures.
Mr. Nate being sneaky! CAUGHT!
Friday, April 06, 2007
In the Spirit...April is Autism Awareness Month
For those of you who are unaware, April is Autism Awareness Month. Over the course of the next few weeks, I plan on making several new entries with information about Autism or in some way relates to Autism.
I'll start it off by giving some basic information via links. I think it's important for everyone who has young children (ages 3 and under) or who plan on having children to know what the signs/symptoms are. If you do end up having a child with Autism, the earlier it's detected, the earlier you can get some Early Intervention help.
This website not only gives a definition of Autism but also a list of symptoms as well as a list of other more common Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
This is a detailed description of the symptoms plus some of the tests that you can expect throughout the evaluation process.
From the same website, a list of treatments available. I just want to make it known that no two cases of Autism are identical. They may share some of the same symptoms but what will work with one child, may not work with the next.
I mentioned early that Early Intervention is vital to children with Autism. Here's a very simplified definition of what EI is.
One of the most effective treatments (with scientific evidence to back it up) is ABA therapy or Applied Behavioral Analysis. This website describes what that is.
I'll close with a video taken of Nathaniel when he was about 4-5 months old.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
The Beginning of the End
It's been about a year since we put in the first framed wall, and I'm so happy to say that this is the beginning of the end! The kids' playroom is COMPLETE!! We've started slowly moving things down there and tonight we'll be moving all that's left. It's going to be great to have this room! And the kids love going "dastairs" as they say.
I'm also happy to say that we're very close to being finished with the office/scrapbooking room. All the countertops are in and all the trim around the doorways are in. This weekend, we'll be heading to home depot to make our last major purchase for this enormous project - the drop ceiling for our area. Besides the ceiling, we have some trim to finish once the ceiling is finished. We have 3 or 4 more pieces of insulation to put in and then we'll need to put the plastic sheeting up. Then we can call it finished and start unpacking!
Although I absolutely HATE blogger for doing comparison photos, I managed to get some up so you all can see how it's progressed.
This is a look down the hallway into the kids room. Obviously, this was the first part of the framing stage.
This is the same vantage point except the walls were finished.
And here's the view taken today!
Here's a photo of the room before the floor was installed. 
And here's the view from today! You can see Nathaniel's early birthday present - the train/duplo table (with a rolling storage bin underneath of it). He LOVES it! I'll be uploading video later today of him playing with the trains. The wooden stand in the corner is the tv stand. We already have an older tv just waiting to be set up.
This is a view of the closets from my scrapbooking area during the framing process. It's a bit difficult to "see" what's going on but you can see the flooring boxes in the left hand closet all stacked up.
And here's a view of the closets taken from inside the room after the walls were finished but before the floor was installed.
And here's the left hand closet (where the flooring was in the first picture) taken today! You can see I've started bringing down some of their toys!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
I Hate Autism Today
I'll just preface today's entry by saying this:
Most days, the thought "Nathaniel has autism." doesn't even cross my mind. It is what it is. (Sorry Joey! I know you hate that phrase.) There are things that are more difficult because of it, but it's all we've ever known with Nathaniel. Occasionally, we have an incident like the one we had this afternoon that makes me all too aware that Nate has autism. And makes me hate autism for a split second. But then I think to myself, "would Nate be the sweet, lovable, green-eyed, long lashed boy if he didn't have autism?" and think that it's really not so bad.
Here's the incident from this afternoon.
You'd swear his heart was broken into a million pieces.
I went to pick him up at school this afternoon and was met by his teacher. She apologized profusely - Nate's coat/hat had been lost. She said he had it this morning when they went outside to play and they hung it in his cubby when he came in. But she said she didn't know if it fell out onto the floor and another student picked it up or if it made it's way to lost and found or what, but it was gone.
I told her it wasn't a big deal, as honestly, it really wasn't. The coat he had on was just a fleece parka type of jacket. It wasn't his nice spring jacket or his winter coat, thankfully. But either way, I'm not upset that it was lost...these things happen.
Unfortunately, Nate wasn't as forgiving. He didn't really seem to be crying when he came over with the teacher, but on the way to the car, he cried and sobbed like he was heartbroken. And he continued all the way home, choking out "coat" and "hat" in between sobs. I kept trying to explain to him that I didn't have his coat, that it had been lost but he just didn't understand.
Once I got all the kids in the house, the first thing Nathaniel did is run over to where we keep the coats. Normally, he hangs up his bag, puts his coat/hat away and then sits in his rocking chair. But today, he just dropped his bag on the floor and ran to get his winter coat. He INSISTED on putting it on and zipping it up. Then he put his winter hat on...followed by his mittens. Then donned the backpack.I figured it wouldn't hurt for him to wear it for a little while...but then 15 minutes later, he was still wearing it and wanted a glass of milk. I told him that he'd have to take his mittens off if he wanted milk. I didn't want him spilling ANOTHER glass of milk all over the floor (he did it 2 days ago).
Well, that set off the water works again...finally I just yanked his mittens off and gave him the milk. But then he went and got the mittens and put them back on himself. Well, since he was still wearing the backpack and he's a little back heavy when he has it on, he bumped into the ottoman and it set him off balance. When he tried to catch himself by putting his hands on the end table, his mitten covered hands did nothing to help him...they just slid across the table. And his face planted into the edge of the table. He bit his tongue and was bleeding and was back with the water works full force. I took the opportunity to go ahead and pull off everything he had on (coat, hat & backpack plus the dreaded mittens). I figured he was already upset, I may as well get it over with. I immediately pulled him up onto my lap and held him even as he tried to throw himself down off of my lap. I held tight and within a minute or so, he relaxed a bit and sat with me. He finally meandered over to the couch and watched Little Einsteins. He seems to be over it now but has a nice purple spot on the under side of his chin where he hit the end table.
It's instances like this that I absolutely HATE autism. I had no idea how to handle the situation. He has absolutely NO attachment to the coat...none whatsoever. He's only worn it a couple of times. But it was the routine that was broken that upset him so much. And I just don't know how to deal with that. I wonder if he thought we were punishing him for something? Or if we didn't care?
Another day in the life of a child on the spectrum.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Handy Dandy Notebook, Anyone?
During our parent/teacher conference with Nate's teacher and his SLP (speech and language pathologist) last Thursday, we were told an amusing story. Apparently one day last week, Nathaniel pulled a chair over to some shelves on the wall desperately attempting to get something down. The teachers finally figured out he wanted this little spiral bound book of picture words. The SLP said she tried to get him to look at the pictures but that wasn't his intention. She asked us if he had a notebook similar to this at home that he played with. We told her no and almost at the same time she said, "he started asking for a crayon right after we gave him the notebook". Joe said it first "Blues Clues!" We went on to explain that Nathaniel LOVES the kids show, Blues Clues. And on the show, the character Steve carries around a "handy, dandy notebook" that he writes his clues in. Nate's never said anything about the notebook before so we were kind of surprised.
So over the weekend while we were out and about, we picked up some "handy, dandy notebooks". I have never seen Nate so excited. He immediately asked for a crayon and would hold it out in front of him like Steve does on Blues Clues. And then he tried to put the notebook in his back pocket. For those of you who've seen Blues Clues, you'll know exactly what I'm referring to. He's barely let the notebook out of his sight. And he remembers the episodes of Blues Clues that he's seen often, so he'll either ask us to help him draw some of those familiar clues or he'll attempt to draw them himself. He does quite well, as you'll see below.
So today after the girls went down for a nap, I pulled his notebook down with the crayon color of his choice and pulled out the camera. He loves to stand in front of the glass door on the entertainment center, so he can see himself as he holds the notebook out for all to see. Enjoy the photos!
So over the weekend while we were out and about, we picked up some "handy, dandy notebooks". I have never seen Nate so excited. He immediately asked for a crayon and would hold it out in front of him like Steve does on Blues Clues. And then he tried to put the notebook in his back pocket. For those of you who've seen Blues Clues, you'll know exactly what I'm referring to. He's barely let the notebook out of his sight. And he remembers the episodes of Blues Clues that he's seen often, so he'll either ask us to help him draw some of those familiar clues or he'll attempt to draw them himself. He does quite well, as you'll see below.
So today after the girls went down for a nap, I pulled his notebook down with the crayon color of his choice and pulled out the camera. He loves to stand in front of the glass door on the entertainment center, so he can see himself as he holds the notebook out for all to see. Enjoy the photos!
Here he is in front of the entertainment center door showing off his "handy, andy otebook" as he calls it!
His drawing of eye glasses from the treasure hunt episode!
Just looking handsome here!
Another handsome shot!
Here he is drawing glasses from one of the episodes! Contrary to this photo, he's right handed!
Nate thoroughly enjoying his notebook!
Holding his notebook out for all to see!
Intently drawing his clues!
Monday, March 26, 2007
The Writing on the Walls
After an incident at school last week, we found out at parent/teacher conferences that Nate likes notebooks (the little spiral bound, handheld pads of paper). So being the good parents that we are, we went to Michaels and bought each of the kids their very own notebook. Upon arriving home, all 3 chose a crayon to use for drawing in their notebooks. They did well for a day and a half. Yesterday, I was cleaning up in the kitchen when I heard an unfamiliar noise. At first, I blamed Joe. I thought he was being a pain and making noises on the door from the basement. But then it hit me...I knew what that sound was. Sure enough, I caught the culprit in the act. This picture was taken shortly after I asked her "what do you think you're doing?" in a stern mommy voice. Miss Madison played those big ol' puppy dog eyes and a sniffle or two as she clung to her blankie. I couldn't be too upset as they're washable crayons and I had my magic eraser to help me out. But I couldn't resist a photo or two.
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