It was absolutely dreamy.
..and so, we are back. We are tired, but we are glad to be home.
Best of all, we made some pretty awesome memories.
Me and my princess!
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The Transporters is a DVD series that was developed to help children with Autism learn to recognize and understand emotions. The series was developed in the UK by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen from the Autism Research Center at Cambridge University and has been available in the UK for several years. In January 2009, it became available in the US and can be purchased at http://www.transporters.com/ for $57.50 with a portion of the proceeds going to Autism charities and research.
Have you heard about Shabtai Gourmet?
2 things that I plan on ordering from them very soon: The Swiss Cake Roll and Devils Food 7 Layer Cake- they are both calling my name. I'm thinking they'd be awesome to pop in the freezer to pull out when needed.
The causes of autism remain poorly understood. Autism Speaks funds an aggressive program of research on the causes and best treatments for autism. We will continue to support authoritative research that addresses unanswered questions about whether certain subgroups of individuals with particular underlying medical or genetic conditions may be more vulnerable to adverse effects of vaccines. While large scale studies have not shown a link between vaccines and autism, there are lingering legitimate questions about the safety of vaccines that must be addressed. Our families deserve nothing less than an exhaustive search using a rigorous scientific approach


I didn't realize that the popularity contests started so young, as early as preschool - maybe even earlier. My first child has Autism and social situations are challenging for him, to put it mildly. Friends are few and far between and he rarely gets invited to birthday parties or play-dates. But, who has time for that anyways? Instead of birthday parties and play-dates it was always therapy, school, and doctors appointments for him. My daughter, on the other hand, at the tender age of four is quite popular. The mailbox overfloweth with birthday party invites and I'm constantly trying to sandwich in play-dates around her daily Pre-K and weekly dance class schedule. I love the fact that she has lots of friends and a social life (bordering on better than my own, scratch that.. it is better than my own). But, lately, her popularity has put me in a predicament.
I have birthday party woes.
My little social butterfly just turned 4 years old and I'm in the midst of planning her birthday party. Since I never had big birthday parties growing up, I've always thrown them for my kids. Past parties have included things like bear-making, karate, bowling, or the kids play-gym. My daughter wanted a dance party this year. I explained that perhaps her friends who are boys wouldn't be too down with that idea and maybe we could just invite her friends that are girls. I expected her to melt down but instead she expressed concern to me that one of her friends wouldn't be able to participate - a sweet little girl in her pre-k who requires the use of a walker. Because this is one of her best friends at school, I agreed - we'd find another place to have her party.
If I thought picking an acceptable venue (that I could also afford) was tough enough - I had no idea how tough it would be when we got to making the guest list. The school has a rule that invitations for parties should be for all the kids in the class or no one at all. I actually considered being "one of those" moms that passes out invites on the sidewalk at drop-off time to just a few of the kids parents. Not to mention all the kids she plays with outside of school, like from dance class - all these kids who have invited her to parties in the past. And as the invitation list grows (and my wallet gets thinner) - I think, whatever happened to the small party at home?
So I sit here getting ready to write up invitations, I've decided that this social butterfly stuff, really is not all that it is made out to be.
Original New Jersey Moms Blog post by MaryTara. MT blogs her adventures in parenting two beautiful children on the Jersey Shore, life with autism & without it, the gluten & casein free diet, and vaccination choice issues at The Bon Bon Gazette.
Below is a sample of the memo that schools may be sending out:
"As of today, February 3, 2009 we have received a message from the Health Department:
NJ has issued a Corrective Action Plan: Until further notice, we do NOT have to exclude children from school for not having the flu vaccination. If your child did not receive the flu shot, they do not have to unless the state requires it at a future date."
The state is setting up more clinics in order to bring as many children into compliance as soon as possible.