Lots to talk about today. I forget most of it. LIST FORM.
1. Great day in Autism! We've been having some minor breakthroughs in communication with Casey-Bean over the past few weeks. Nothing huge or particularly noteworthy to anyone but us and his therapists, but good nonetheless. Until today that is! While Bean was playing blocks with Ty-Ty, Becky and the in-home therapy person, he started counting them with actual numbers! You had to kind of know what you were listening for, it wasn't a clear "Six-Seven-Eight..." thing, more like "Isss-Ewehh-Eeehh..."; but from what I am told he started at six and went all the way to fifteen. Becky was super happy the therapist was there to hear it too, because sometimes it is easy to hear him utter some random noise and assign some meaning to it, even though it was really nothing. Like yesterday when he was throwing a balloon around yelling "BA-BA-BA", Becky insisted he was saying "ball", but he says BA-BA-BA a lot with no balls around to speak of, so I don't think so. Or that time I swear he said, "If the cast of MTV's The Real World truly exhibits the moral and social depths of character typical of young America today, we have nothing to worry about. Our future: COMPLETELY SECURE. What a remarkable set of go-getters they've assembled once more." I immediately shouted into the kitchen, "Honey- Casey's making sarcastic remarks to the TV again!" She said he was just blabbing nonsense, but I heard what I heard.
Anyway, he also may have correctly defined a block as "yellow", and also identified another as "circle". It is a cylinder of course, but people yell at me when I correct autistic children. Fine. Close enough.
I swear- it is our "close enough" attitude that gets us into trouble. "How closely linked is Iraq to terrorists?" "Close enough!"
2. Tyler news to not leave him out! He is now saying "please" (the magic word) occasionally without being prompted. This is huge, it has been like extracting teeth from an angry badger.
3. Amazing New Feature! Up there at the top you'll note there is a new thing on which to click, it is a new grand experiment! "Right Here, Right Now" is a photo gallery that will be updated often. I will be utilizing new technologies to do this, namely the internet and a camera. If you've not heard of these things yet- don't worry, you will. Gonna be big. I also predicted Star Wars would be a major hit when I was five years old, so my track record here is quite good.
Gadget side note- the reason I'm psyched about this new feature is because the iPhone can update this gallery on the go; just take the photo, add a caption & send it on its way from anywhere. I can post from the phone, but not unpost from the phone (currently). This will lead to many embarrassing photos posted whilst drinking, so I'd check back often, or at least before I get around to editing the gallery from a computer later. Fun! Right now there's several day's worth of crap there I've posted while testing things out. Here's an RSS feed too, but you don't get the pretty transition or download options that way.
4. Project update! Got the theatre brochure job back from the printer, came out great! There's usually a bit of a let down when I see a print version of projects because the print versions rarely have the vibrancy of the images on screen. Not this time though- thing POPS! That's nice. Here's the cover:
Want to see the whole
thing? PDF version here. It's all
flattened out, so you have to imagine it folded
up.
5. It's only 2-1/2 weeks until OBX
vacation! Little later than usual this year,
hopefully we won't get chased by a goddamn hurricane.
But because we're rolling the dice & going to the
Outer Banks in the heart of hurricane season (and
after the start of school), the rentals are dirt
cheap. We always stay in a fairly nice place there,
but this year it's like a fucking beach palace. HUGE.
Completely ridiculous, especially since it will just
be we four and my parents. But if I'm going to ride
out a hurricane, I want to do it in style while
watching a flat panel TV in each room. I'm going to
sleep in a new bedroom every night. There'll probably
be pictures.
6. Speaking of travel- this weekend
we are ditching the kids and heading to New Jersey
for a wedding- one of my old high school chums is
gettin' hitched. We're gonna stay an extra couple
days and hit the Big Apple- Becky's never been, and
I've been there once like fifteen years ago. I hope
to catch a glimpse of He-Man doing something heroic.
If that happens, there'll be pictures. Hey Amy- is
Mendham close to you?
7. Important TV News! I found Heroes
just entertaining enough to overcome its more
annoying qualities (which are numerous). Every time I
thought I'd give up on it they introduced some plot
twist that kept me coming back. Won't be so tough to
keep my interest next season though- Kristen Bell has
signed on for at least half the new episodes. And
LOOK! Since I typed The Name, I get to post a hot
picture. That's the rule, I didn't make it up. ALL
THE PLAYAS IN THE HOUSE SAY YEAH!
YEAH!