The Muppets

This weekend a much anticipated movie was released.  The Muppets.  Ever since we saw the ads for this movie, we have all been really excited to go see it.  Unlike many kids, my children have watched a lot of the old Muppet Movies.  The original The Muppet Movie, Muppet Treasure Island, and Muppets from Space have actually been not only rented or checked out from the library for years, but we actually own some of them.  They have been a staple in our household.  In the fall of 2006 Kermit was the Grand Master of Michigan State University's Homecoming parade. Here is a small clip from You Tube.  You can seriously find anything on You tube:

Daniel still talks about that.  It was the most star struck I have ever seen him, and honestly, I was a bit thrilled to see the little green guy perched on the back of that convertible waving to the crowd.  The theme was Bein' Green.  Get it.  Green like a frog, green as in recycling etc.  It was awesome.  When we were walking to our car after the parade we saw a limo parked on the street.  My husband joked that Grover was driving it and waiting for Kermit.  There is a scene in Elmopalooza that Grover drives a limo, so it was a natural connection, but to this day if we drive past a limo Daniel thinks Grover is driving and Kermit the Frog is in there.  Just yesterday we passed a limo on the expressway and Daniel craned his neck to see if Grover was driving.  He wasn't, by the way.  So you see.  The Muppets and really ingrained into our lives.

Thanksgiving night Zachary was on the laptop at Grandma's house searching for movie times.  I was honestly not really looking forward to it.  Another Muppet Movie, yeah yeah....I have spent the past 15 years watching these same movies over and over again.  Our kids with autism often stay in these stages, forever. Unlike other families where they may have a 6 month Teletubbies obsession, with us, it. never. ends.  If you would like to take a quick look at A Diary of a Mom's blog where she talks about this regarding Halloween this year, go ahead.  I'll wait.  See, it's not just me.  Our kids don't have the social filter to care that Teletubbies is totally inappropriate.  They just know what they love.  So this is why I know these movies inside and out.  When Daniel incorporates a movie line into a conversation, flawlessly I might add, I usually know where it came from.  If there was a kids movie version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, I would be ALL over that. 

So the afternoon on Black Friday, which I never participate in, I much prefer to sleep and lay around like a slug all day digesting my turkey with all of the trimmings, we headed out at about 2:00 to the 2:30 movie.  Except when we got there it wasn't a 2:30 movie, it was a 3:15 movie.  Zach was looking at the wrong theater so we were one hour early.  There was NO WAY in the world we could leave that theater.  Daniel would never leave without seeing that movie.  The explanation that we would come back, wouldn't fly.  He would melt down.  All 6'1" of him would be screaming and yelling and causing a huge scene.  So we stayed.  Todd got a bunch of tokens for the game room where they luckily had a Simpson's pinball machine (Daniel LOVES pinball) and we settled in for the wait.  I have never seen him so patient in my life.  Proof that this was a huge deal for him that he was willing to do just about anything to make it happen.

We finally settled into the theater.  Daniel with his kids size popcorn and Sprite.  Standard fare for him.  After a new Pixar short about Buzz Lightyear that was rather enjoyable and about 20 minutes of previews after an hour of waiting, we were in business.  As the movie began I was at first dismayed that the story is exactly the same as The Country Bears (2002).  Not that anyone else in the world would realize this but us.  Who else has seen that movie?  Anyone?  I have, approximately 15 times.  The basic outline is an evil man is going to take over Muppet Studios, the Muppets have to raise money to save it.  They are spread out all over the country so they go on a journey to get them back together for one last show.  EXACTLY like The Country Bears.  That annoyance quickly dissipated and I found myself sitting there, literally grinning from ear to ear.  I was excited, happy and laughing out loud.  It was awesome.  During The Rainbow Connection Daniel and I were singing together he was playing the banjo (air guitar style) and we were in heaven.  There were lots of wonderful original songs like "Am I a Man or am I a Muppet" that were hilarious.  There were wonderful guest appearances.  It was just super enjoyable.  I love watching Daniel when he is watching something he loves.  The joy is contagious.  At one point in the movie a woman punches someone and Daniel yelled out "WHAT A WOMAN" which is a line from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".  It was funny.

If you can't tell, we all enjoyed it.  A lot.  The man in front of me was probably 45 and laughed LOUDLY and often to the point that it made me giggle with how much he was enjoying himself.  When the lights came up Daniel said, "In the scene in Walter's bedroom (which was filled with Muppet's paraphernalia) there was a picture from my July calendar of Kermit the frog!  I just stared at him in disbelief.  In explanation;  a.) Daniel has a monthly Kermit the Frog calendar hanging on the wall of his room and b.) within that very quick scene with hundreds of Muppet things in Walter's bedroom, he picked out the picture from his calendar and knew that it was the "July" picture.  His mind is the most fascinating thing.  I don't understand how he could have picked that out, but he did.  No one can say our kids don't know what is going on.  I think bigger problem is they know everything that's going on and they can't filter it out.  No wonder they are overwhelmed so often. 

I'm just happy we had a successful day at the movies and I am SURE we will be seeing it again.  I am glad I liked it too, because I am 100% sure we will be owning this on Blu Ray/DVD some day and I'll be watching it hundreds of times in the future. 

Oh and p.s.  My 11 year old started his own blog.  My little writer decided to do kid's movie reviews.  His writing is much better than mine, so please don't hold that against me if you decide to check it out.  I am very proud of him.  I think it's a great idea.  Adults reviewing kids movies, doesn't always add up.  Moviereviewskidsedition.blogspot.com

Fuzzy Moon

At the end of our vacation week in Charlevoix is what I like to call the "Groundhog Day" portion. Just like that movie when Bill Murray keeps reliving the same day over and over again!  It is the same with the ending of Venetian.   It is the same every year! The kids love it, and I'm sure you can appreciate the fact that Daniel LOVES to do the exact same thing each and every year.  The Groundhog day part starts with the carnival on Thursday.  The good news from that fiasco was that Zachary went back later in the day with his cousins.  Daniel did go back on Friday with his dad for a while to get another chance and "finish" his carnival time.  He was very excited to do this.  I was not pleased that the 20 tickets they had to buy on Friday cost $5 MORE than the wrist bands on Thursday.  Carnivals are expensive! OYE!

Friday is the night of the first fireworks.  Yes I said first.  This is being written by a girl who does not enjoy fireworks or parades.  And this is all we do for two days!  LOL.  I try to keep my chin up, but each year, I'm finding that more difficult to do! I try to be a big girl, I know that it terms of problems, this isn't a very big one!   Friday night they are shot off over Lake Charlevoix.  That was a very very warm evening for northern Michigan and we were able to bring boys swim suits to the beach.  They swam until about 9:00 pm (in Michigan it stays light until 10:00 pm in the summer), so by the time they dried, changed and got settled in, it wasn't too long until the fireworks started.   Most people are surprised that Daniel loves fireworks.  My only thought is that the visual sensation way outweighs the loudness of the experience.  He actually does ok with loudness if he knows to expect it.  It's the surprise loudness that doesn't go very well.  He obviously knows that fireworks will be loud, so it's isn't a problem.  But he loves to yell and cheer for the beauty of the lights exploding in the sky!!

Saturday was the parade. It starts at 11:00 am.  Since this is small town Michigan, it is the same parade every year. Although this year it was a bit shorter.  This was also dampened by rain.  Daniel was tense during it, but had an umbrella and a chair for a front row seat (thanks to his Grandparents who bring chairs down early!)  I came right at 11:00 (delaying as long as possible!) and the rain was just starting, so I was able to grab a few umbrellas.  I took cover with Zachary who part way through looked at me with his big brown eyes and said "are you enjoying this?"  To which I could only answer in all honesty with "not really".  "Me either!" he replied. LOL.  I guess he inherited my anti parade gene?

The interesting thing came later that evening.  We were in the park by Round Lake again, waiting for the finale for Venetian week.  They have a boat parade after dark (so 10:15) the boats are decorated with lights and props and music and parade through the water in front of the park.  This, I must say is a better "parade" than the other!  While we were waiting Daniel looked up at the nearly full moon. It was sort of hazy behind a cloud.  He said "look the moon is kind of fuzzy".  Which he often says in this circumstance.  When we agreed he said.  "when we were watching fireworks in Charlevoix before  when the full moon was fuzzy"   (I knew exactly what he was talking about because he's talked of it before.  I believe it was the first experience he ever had going to fireworks)  Todd asked, "yea, how old were you?"  Daniel answered, "I was three".  Not very shocking, but he is right.  He was three years old.  I remember because we were at a different beach than we usually go to, and Zachary was an infant, which puts Daniel at 3.  It will never cease to amaze me the way he has information filed up there. 

"fuzzy moon" over Round Lake

 I can't even remember the other context, but when he brought up another vacation memory Todd asked "how old were you then?"  To which Daniel answered "I was 10".  And I can only say, I'm SURE he is right.  Some day I hope we can figure out or at least have a better incite into how his mind works!  It never ceases to amaze me!

Baby Steps

I believe I recently mentioned that for parents of kids with special needs, we do endure some very hard times. But the highs, even over things that seem small can be so invigorating and renewing. To me, it seems as soon as a frustration is running my life a glimmer happens to give me the boost I need to keep going. I am always, ALWAYS amazed when this happens. Partially because it always does. Some people would say it's God lifting me up, some would say the universe, some would say it's a coincidence. I don't know what it is for sure, but there is one thing that is certain. I'm glad it happens. Even beyond that, I'm thankful it happens.

That is probably way too much of a build up for what happened yesterday, but I'll try to explain the importance of it as well as I can. It's one of those things that you continue to bring your child to therapy and they work work work, and you get to a point where you think, "why am I paying this money week after week?" He works on skills in speech at school too, over and over. Then one day, in every day life, not a controlled therapy session, it, unprompted, spills out of his mouth. I LOVE WHEN THAT HAPPENS.

Yesterday, I picked Daniel up from school, as usual. I told him I didn't need to go to the bus stop because Zachary had baseball practice after school. We came inside together and he was very excited about some items he "bought" at school. Over the last few weeks they have had jobs at school. Daniel has been given jobs that he can handle easily enough. The kid loves a job. Why not? It gives him purpose. It makes him feel good about himself. His jobs have been 1. being in charge of the computer, shutting it down for the night, cleaning it etc. 2. washing down the tables in the classroom, and 3. some sort of trash duty that I couldn't quite get the specifics out of him. The kids have been getting paid in "Toad" bucks (their class is the TOADS, I don't remember what that stands for but it has something to do with totally awesome diverse students) Taxes are taken out of their earnings etc. then get to spend their money in TOADS town. They have all been working on goods to sell in toads town. Yesterday was the first shopping day. Daniel came home with an array of interesting items that will end up sitting on his dresser getting dusty, but hey, he was excited and carefully showed me each item and told me who made it. It was worth it just for that interaction!

Later, I decided that cooking was out of the question and we jumped into the car to go to Olga's Kitchen. One of our favorite spots. It's a restaurant that we can actually all find something we like to eat, even my food allergy ridden son Zachary, and everyone is happy. Hurray. When we got in the car, Daniel and Zachary settled into their spots. It was really the first time they'd seen each other since the morning and instead of Daniel's usual scripted greeting of "Hi Zachary, how was your day?" that his group therapy gave him(and he says to every person he sees, exactly the same way) he said, "How was baseball today Zachary?" I almost came out of my seat. It wasn't scripted, it sounded so completely natural and APPROPRIATE. Zachary wasn't even wearing his baseball gear anymore. Daniel had remembered that I said he had practice and asked Zachary about it at the first opportunity. After the answer, I praised Daniel all over the place about what a great question that was and how proud I was. It was truly exciting. Maybe it doesn't sound like a lot, but it is one of the basics of conversation that he has been working on for a long long time. To me, it was astounding.

Not two minutes later we were driving by a local jewelry store and Daniel said, "Dad, a few years ago we were in that store together and I was singing Beauty and the Beast under the giant chandelier". What? Daniel's sense of time is terrible. Everything to him was "yesterday". I know the way that he remembers information is so very different from ours that I truly believe things seem like "yesterday" to him all the time. I have read many many articles on this topic and they all say something different. Probably because all of the children they were studying are different. It seems that my own "research" shows that DANIEL, not ALL children with autism, but Daniel remembers episodes very very clearly but he can't determine when they happened. In this instance, he was correct. Apparently, the time he was talking about was a present for my 40th birthday which, unfortunately, was already nearly 2 years ago. Was it a coincidence? I don't think so. I've never heard him lead with "a few years ago". This is something that is worked on in his speech therapies, not regularly or directly but they keep coming back to it. For instance on Monday they might talk about what happened on the weekend. While this seems like a standard thing to do, it is to help him recall what happened that past weekend. Not a weekend six years ago when he went to Disney World. While that information can be retrieved and spouted off at you in amazing detail he, normally, can't give you any indication of where that is in time. My heart leaped again and I was still basking in the glow of the baseball comment!

I don't know what you, my dear readers, will think. Are you thinking, "wow this woman is really searching for something positive?" I hope not. I hope you understand, as I do, that to get to your goal, to improve and build on a skill you have to go a little at a time. Baby steps. Slow but sure. Hopefully on this slow but sure journey you will take the time to be thankful for the little things, understand their worth, and take in the scenery, because it really can be a beautiful thing.