Presidents and Their Pets

I was just saying yesterday that Thomas has an uncommon ability to find just what he wants on youtube. This video is a case in point. It's about the US Presidents (one of his favorite things) and their pets/animals (another of his favorites). I am generally pretty good at finding things on the internet but this one eluded me - I had to have him show it to me!



It has about 1,400 views, and a good portion of them are probably from our house.

P.S. We've fact checked and the song is accurate. For a full list of Presidential pets see here.

Archie Roosevelt (Teddy's son)
with pet badger Josiah

T's Favorite Apps

Our new ipad, which I received for Mother's Day, has become T's best friend. He has a couple games he really loves, and since they are educational, I thought I'd share them.

The first is Stack the States. By answering questions about the U.S. states and stacking up the correct answers, the player wins states on a map. Questions range from easy (choosing the state that matches the abbreviation) to hard (knowing state nicknames). The bar moves up as you get better so you continually have to earn more states to more to the next level. There are bonus games that open up that are fun too - T's favorites are puzzler and capital drop (in which you have to match state shapes with their capital cities).

A sample question with states already stacked.

The goal is to have the stack reach the black and white line.

The "My States" page. Each time you stack states up to the bar, you earn a state for the "My State" map.

In one of the bonus games, Puzzler, you drag the states together to make a section of the map.

The app costs 99 cents and is worth every penny. If you play it long enough, it repeats questions, but this doesn't bother T since he loves repetition! Check it out at the itunes store here. 

T's new favorite game is Presidents vs. Aliens. Created by the same guy as Stack the States, players earn presidents by answering questions about the men who have served in the highest office in the U.S. This a bit more difficult than the states but the tougher questions have clues (like dates) that help. The hardest ones are quotes from Presidents as not many of them are well-known. [We might engage in a bit of quiz-jacking.]

A sample question - in the background, you can see the aliens hovering over Washington, D.C. 

After you get a question right, you get to help the President take out some of the aliens. When all the aliens are defeated, you win a president for your big "My Presidents" list. 

The main "My Presidents" page. In the bottom corners, you can see the bonus games: Heads of State and Executive Order. T loves putting all the presidents in chronological order in Executive Order. 

This app is also a bargain at 99 cents! Check it out on itunes here. We're going to try Stack the Countries next. Learn more about the author of these great games on his blog: http://dan-russell-pinson.com/

Different ways of knowing

Jennifer sent me the link to this talk - I read Daniel Tammet's book Born on a Blue Day (Dawn lent it to me) but had never seen him speak before. Interesting even if you don't care about autism. As a side note, my Mom does math the same way he does!

Challenger Soccer Recap

In January and February, T played soccer with the Challenger League. Games are once a week, on Saturday mornings, at Canopy Oaks Park (next door to Canopy Oaks Elementary). As the name suggests, all the kids in the league face challenges of one type or another. Soccer is not the easiest game to master, but the kids made a lot of progress this year. Dribbling, shooting, passing, and finally understanding the difference between offense and defense are all areas in which they developed good skills. Also it's good exercise and fun to have a chance to socialize and learn about sportsmanship. Here are a few photos from this season. 

All the kids get a chance to score by the end of the hour-long game.

B is getting ready to pass the ball to T.

Getting ready to "huddle up" at the end of the game.

Team photo take 1. T is in the back row sporting his sunglasses and orange pullover.

Team photo sans sunglasses.

Cooking Party Recap

After school on Tuesday we had two of T's fifth-grade classmates and his speech therapist over for a cooking party. Credit for the idea goes to Mrs. N, T's brilliant speech therapist. She has been working with him on getting ready for middle school, and part of being ready is being able to have real (aka non-scripted) conversations with his peers. This activity was an opportunity to do that in a relaxed situation, and to have some fun together. I was really impressed at how well the boys worked together. Mrs. N. worked with them beforehand to pick the menu and she was nice enough to provide the ingredients as well. How nice is that? We are so lucky.

We made Not-Spicy Tangerine Beef (see previous post for the recipe), rice, steamed broccoli, and lava cake for dessert. Everything tasted great, though we probably need to follow the cake recipe a little more closely next time (some of the chocolate didn't make it into the batter, and we might have baked them a little too long). But overall the party was a success!

 D measuring hoisin sauce.

Hoisin sauce plus sherry in the bowl.

H adds the honey.

T shows the guys how to use the citrus press to juice tangerines.

Meat goes in to the very hot pan to cook. T keeps it moving around.

D measures the rice.

D posing. Mrs. N. in the background.

Everyone sitting down to dinner.

The finished product!

Dessert! Chocolate lava cake, which turned out gooey but not like lava. We need to perfect our technique! It was tasty even though it didn't come out perfectly. 

Recapping My Birthday Gifts

Thought you might like to see my birthday presents (since they are super fun).

From hubs (I asked for cookbooks - these all look excellent and right up my alley!)

And my surprise gift was a new toaster, which was fabulous because a. our old one didn't work all that well - took forever to make toast 9 times out of ten, but on the tenth time would burn it - and b. isn't it pretty? love the stainless steel to match the new kitchen!

From Mom, a real treat from a cute little boutique in Cleveland neighborhood Ohio City (that I blogged about here here and here)

From Jenn, the cutest shirt ever:

and it's for a great cause that we all care about! www.b-who-u-r.com 

Love this coffee/cocoa stencil from Tara. Can't wait to try it out. Had to show off some of the nice cards too:

Love this begonia from Karen!

We also had delicious cupcakes from Cake Shop at dinner on Monday, thanks to Jenn! And my Aunt Lillian sent cookies (nut horns, yum), the cutest little snowman that lights up and a cupcake that plays happy birthday!

Thank you all for making my birthday special!!

We Support Autism Speaks, Do You?

From our long time friends in Columbus, Ohio. Will you support their team?

Dear Family and Friends,

Many of you know our son, Nate, who is ten years old. He has blonde hair, big blue eyes, and the most adorable smile. He loves trains, drawing, and is starting to learn to play the cello! Looking at Nate you would never know that he has a debilitating disorder known as autism. Autism affects every aspect of Nate’s life...and the lives of everyone around him. Nate has come a very long way since his diagnosis in the spring of 2003. Since then, he has learned to speak, to read, and to hold a conversation. In school, Nate is doing the same work as his 5th grade classmates with the help of an aide. But for all of his intelligence, Nate still cannot interact appropriately with others. He has trouble processing the world around him. He is capable of so much and we are doing as much as we can to help him reach his full potential- whatever that may be.

Autism is a complex brain disorder that often inhibits a person’s ability to communicate, respond to their surroundings or form relationships with others. Autism spectrum disorders affect people of all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and occur in as many as one in 150 births, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. And the numbers are still rising! Currently the cause of autism is unknown. There are no specific medical treatments or a cure for autism. Most people with autism require lifelong supervision and care. Only 7% of children with autism go on to be independent. Recent studies suggest that more than 1 million Americans are living with an autism spectrum disorder. Despite the strikingly high prevalence of autism, autism research remains one of the lowest funded areas of medical research by both public and private sources. But funding for research is woefully inadequate. Only through biomedical research will we ever understand what causes autism and develop methods to diagnose autism. Someday, with your help, we will find a cure!

As a family, we have decided to make an effort to increase autism awareness. This year we are participating in the Columbus Walk Now for Autism. The Walk will be held in Columbus on October 10, 2010. There are so many ways that you can help our cause. You can choose to sponsor us in the event with a tax deductible donation or walk with us. (Walk link) The proceeds of the Walk will be used to support the efforts of Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks is the largest non- governmental supporter of autism research in the United States. If you are interested in finding out more about them, please check out their website http://www.autismspeaks.org/. Please help us raise money for this extremely important cause by increasing awareness among your friends and coworkers. We realize that there are many charities that vie for your attention, but any contribution, large or small, will be greatly appreciated.

As always, thank you for your consideration, support and prayers. It means more to us than we could possibly express. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Dawn, Steve, Nate, Anthony, and Emily

Traveling with Captain Autism

For all his issues, T is usually a good traveler. It's probably because he spent so much time on airplanes when he was little. Living in Houston, we could get a direct flight practically anywhere we wanted, and airfares were dirt cheap, so we made the most of those opportunities. It took him longer to be a good car rider, but he got there, and now does great on even long drives across many states.

However, when it's just the two of us flying somewhere together, things don't usually go smoothly! One time, we flew AirTran out of Tallahassee and the flight was so delayed that we missed our connection in Atlanta. This would not be a huge deal, except that you had to stand on line to get seats on another plane (I love those Delta scanners that print out your new ticket automatically!) - and because rushing is not in our vocabulary - and we had to regroup and have a snack before we could even think about getting in line - we ended up last and were sent to a different airport altogether. It ended up being a very long day for us!

From situations like that, here are a few of things I've learned while traveling with T:

Try to fly in the morning or early afternoon. We avoid evening flights at all cost. There's only so well-behaved you can expect any child to be after his/her bed time (let alone a special needs kid). Leaving at 4pm and landing at 8pm is not enough cushion... expect delays! I can tell you from experience it is no fun waiting at the baggage carousel at 11pm with a kid who is so far out of his comfort zone that people can hear him crying on other continents.

Never reserve a car seat from a rental car company. Seriously, what will you do if they don't have one? It's happened to us; we learned our lesson and took ours with us after that. (He's 12 now and luckily big enough not to need one.)

Pack snacks! You'd be surprised how long your plane can sit on the tarmac just waiting to take off... or waiting for a gate to open up. When the pilot says, "we are twenty-first in line for take off," a snack can make the time go more quickly, and keep the crankies at bay. And these days, you're lucky to get a bag of peanuts on most flights.

A reusable water bottle is a good idea too. Pack it empty, and fill it after you go through security. This not only saves you money, it's good entertainment, at least for T, who is still fascinated by water fountains.

Entertainment. I am a firm believer in less is more, but there are a few things we always took along when T was smaller. The first is play-doh. The little party favor size cans are small enough to meet the 3 ounce or under TSA rule and are just the right size for rolling out on your tray table. A tiny plastic or wooden rolling pin and a few little plastic cookie cutters and you can have a good time. It's lightweight and easy to clean up (and much less smelly than those easy wonder markers that only work on special paper - yuck). 2nd fun item is a little train (like a brio or Thomas the Tank Engine). We use the in-flight magazine to make a bridge from tray table to tray table. :) And you must have his/her favorite book. Quietly reading aloud makes time fly. For this trip we are bringing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

A little surprise up your sleeve. These are your go-to items if things get rough. For example,
- usually I download something fun to my ipod just for T. One year it was all the trailers for High School Musical 3. (The screen is small, but it's crisp and of course the sound is great.)
- I like to find a new twist on an old game. T loves to play the alphabet game (where you find each letter of the alphabet in order). It's easy to play on the plane with the magazine, skymall catalog, and safety card and to make it more interesting we might go in reverse alpha order. He also likes to play a more complicated version where you have to think of an item that starts with each letter of the alphabet given a particular theme (popular ones include food, animals, animals that live in the ocean, stores and restaurants). While traveling, we might try cities or countries.
- hugs. You can't beat a good hug. It makes us both feel better. :)

Happy trails! We're scheduled to land at CLE at 4:59 this afternoon.