BINGO Night Out

The whole family turned out for the annual BINGO Night fundraiser at James' big sister's school. I enjoy these events. I remember from my own childhood how exciting it was to go out at night and do something fun. It's another chance to connect with others. We get a break from routine, and have fun. Plus, there's pizza!

I also get a chance to see how James has grown. This year, he lasted the whole event in the noisy indoor gym. He recognized people and said hello to them. When his water bottle ran dry, I was able to send him to fill it from the drinking fountain with just one verbal prompt. I kept an eye on him from my BINGO table. He did very well. He also asked for some popcorn. I was able to give him the money and send him by himself to the food counter to buy it himself, again with myself watching him from the other side of the room. My friend at the counter said he did very well.

Inside I was pumping my fist and cheering these independence achievements. James was happy to have his own bag of popcorn and a full bottle of water when he wanted them. Hooray for BINGO!

2012 Autism Speaks Walk: Thank You!

For the third year in a row, we were proud to show up and walk to raise money and awareness for Autism Speaks. Turn out was great and the weather was the best we'd had all week. We came to the Town Green at 10 (free parking, music, and a great resources/vendors -- already off to a good start) and stayed until 12:30, taking snack breaks at the picnic tables and checking in to the library for a sensory break (I also picked up information for growing vegetables from the Master Gardeners' talk).

We were exhausted by the afternoon, but so glad we went. This is such an important event for us and we're happy to be doing our part to find out more about autism and help those with it to live as healthy and actively as possible.

It also felt good to have this walk in our community, and see both the walk and the Town Green mesh so well. I do believe in the importance of having community support to help our kids -- all our kids- be as successful as possible. It also felt good to see all these families on the spectrum in turn supporting my home town by eating at the restaurants we love, staying in the local hotels, falling in love with the book store, and watching their kids on the playground. When there was an announcement that the local indie cafe was donating 10% of all sales from the day to the walkathon there was a big cheer, and I saw at least one group immediately head over to help boost business and fundraising.

View from playground hill, looking at the Green and Resource Fair

Playground

Walk route, as it passes the jumpy house

First lap!

Autism Speaks provides information and tools to parents and others who work with children on the Autism Spectrum. Autism Speaks provides a Voice to many who do not have one of their own. This organization keeps abreast of updates in research and politics, helping parents become better advocates for their children. Autism Speaks funds research to investigate causes of autism.

We walk because:

Last year, that sign read "every 20 minutes"

• No one knows what causes autism.
• The numbers of children affected keep growing; current CDC numbers are 1 in 88 children; 1 in 54 boys. Some areas have even higher rates of autism.
• People still don't know about autism. I personally have been asked about autism (and resources regarding autism) over the past 2 months by people who include staff at our local schools, my son's pediatrician in our HMO, and family members.
• Our son has Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We want the best for him and hope that some day he will be able to live an independent life of his own choosing.

To all of you who helped us raise money for this walk, thank you so very much! We reached our personal fundraising goal because of you. At the walk, we were told that every dollar raised here turns into $10 worth of research, through matching grants and Autism Speaks. This means so much to us -- doing something positive to find answers and solutions for those we love.

Full Speed Ahead

We had one full schedule today! First we checked out a soccer game, then we joined ELI in it's third annual Wee Walk. It was foggy and cold for both morning events, so it took some encouragement to keep the kids moving and somewhat warm. James, for some reason, had to be chased down and wrestled into a jacket. Thank goodness it was bright red, because he followed his muse at the walkathon.

This event was held at a city park. Lots of vendors were there to promote their services, and they had lots of fascinating things at their tables for the little ones too. Both my kids' eyes got big when they saw the stickers, hand balls, gold fish snacks, and cute little bottles of water. I almost got them to try the jumpy. But then my daughter fussed that *I* had not brought her socks. I steered her to the sticker and beads play table instead.

James did at least four laps that I saw. I lost track after talking with the people from Red Cross and My Gym ... and then panicked when I didn't see him walking the little loop. The red jacket allowed me to quickly discover that he'd decided to take a break in some poor vendor's chair. Because he was in a snacky mood, he'd poured the goldfish treats into the cupholder and was taking his time, relaxing and munching.

The vendor was very nice and said he looked too cute to move. We ended up having a really good time (despite the cold weather) raising $35 to help support some great programs!

Then we had lunch and headed over to a local Air Show. We pulled over to the side of a rural road to watch the displays and have our ears treated to jet fighters roaring right over us. James took this aural assault much better than his sister did, to my surprise.

I think it's the F-15 ... but don't quote me!

While we watched the show, the fog melted and the day heated up. So we went to the gym and spent an hour in a largely empty pool. James asked me to tow him around so he could "kick-kick-kick-kick". He also amused himself for quite a while on the pool stairs, and enjoyed playing with me by having splash wars and jumping off the wall into my arms.

It was tough to get him into bed. He was so tired that he cried and yelled. He didn't want to wear pull ups. I felt bad, but really did not want to be woken up in the middle of the night to clean the bed if he had an accident. So help me, it's how I feel tonight. Once in bed, his sister brought him around with a rousing installment of Random TellyTubby Tales. They usually involve TubbyToast and/or TubbyCustard. They are great plot devices, in a food fight kind of way. Very soon after she wished him sweet dreams, his room grew quiet ... and he was down for the night.

Fundraising With the Monkey

We are still trying to raise money to help keep the CATS Program going. Tonight was a fundraiser at a local business, the Funky Monkey. We met up with some other families and enjoyed pizza, chicken strips, and socializing. We chewed the fat on therapists, IEPs, and plans for the coming school year. At one point, all the kids were in the birthday room, watching SpongeBob Square Pants.

Of course, there are also games, with tokens. James just focused on mastering the sentence "I want more mo-nies, pease." A couple of times I prompted him to say tokens, but the boy knows that monies is monies, pure and simple.

James actually did play for a bit with myself, his sister, and watch a couple of other kids at play. But his real fascination is:

Oh. Yeah!