Month: January 2011

Churches without Organs?

Between the economy, and our society’s obsession with praise worship, this article really doesn’t surprise me. It does, however, make me very sad. Not just for a suffering business, (and I really do hope the Wicks Organ Company sees that pendulum swing in the future, and is able to go back to not just repairing, but also manufacturing, pipe organs), but for a loss of something beautiful and historic.

There was nothing my father liked better than a great pipe organ. Emphasis on great, because he was something of an organ snob. His idea of a good evening was listening to records, and later CDs, of organ concerts. Now, I can’t say I ever totally understood that, and while I do appreciate a good organ, I don’t feel as strongly about it as he did. Still, to me, an integral part of worship is the congregation’s singing being accompanied by an organ.

I really feel badly for people who don’t appreciate, don’t even want, that kind of music in their churches. I’m not saying you must have an organ to be saved or anything, but it’s historic, an art form, (and I do fear that many modern churches have lost sight of what art is and how beneficial it is to worship), and more importantly, an element of worship, that shouldn’t be so easily discarded.

Homework

Ever since Moose started in the early childhood program over two years ago, he’s had weekly homework. It’s been a real journey to get it done–his first year in school, he couldn’t understand what to do, or maybe he just didn’t want to do it. Either way, every time we sat down to work on homework (matching shapes and colors, reading a story, that kind of thing), he would resist. Mightily.

His second year, he was more agreeable. He would protest a bit when we sat down to do the work, but he would actually do it, and do it correctly. I got a better idea of what he was learning, and I think he had a feeling of success from completing the assignments.

This year, he’s actually started asking to do his homework before I ask him. He’s also been working on some new skills, such as writing his name and cutting out shapes. And he’s been improving steadily. His writing and drawing are so much better than they were even at the start of this school year.

Today he got back his best assignment yet. He had lots of smiley faces from his teacher for a job well done. Good coloring, good writing (even a number, which I didn’t even know he could do, as I’ve been focusing on letters with him), good matching. I was so proud to see that his teacher recognized his improvement on this particular week’s worth–I’m always worried that my motherly pride is getting in the way of knowing how he’s really progressing.

But I guess this time, motherly pride and the teacher were in agreement–great job Moose!

What Causes Autism?

While I’m glad that people are starting to look past vaccines as the cause of autism, this article might as well say “we have no idea.” First of all, you can blame just about anything on genetics, (not that I don’t think that may play a role in autism, but a generic “genetics” label is about as helpful as informing the world that “rain is wet”), so until they can pinpoint what they mean by “genetics” a little more specifically, I don’t find that to be particularly helpful or revelatory.

And then, to contrast genetics as a cause, there are the ever-present “environmental factors”–pesticides, drugs, etc. Again, if it can’t be pinpointed better than that, this is not really new information. Of course environmental factors can play a part in pretty much any disorder, but which ones? Why? And is there any way to reverse it? These are the questions that should be being asked (and answered!).

I, for one, would respect these researchers a whole lot more if they could just say, “We have no idea, but we’ll try to figure it out,” and then get to work, figuring it out. Broad generalizations and too many varied culprits aren’t helping anyone, and can really hurt the parents of autistic children more than they help.

How Will We Survive When They’re Teenagers?

Our girls already have the whole drama thing figured out. I’ll give two examples:

One day, when Ladybug was feeling particularly wronged, she started weeping, (and that really is the perfect word to describe it), as she is prone to do. She had gone into another room to do her sulking, and I was trying to just ignore the whole situation, in hopes that it would end quicker. She piqued my curiosity, however, when I realized that she was not only weeping, she was also talking through the tears. So, I listen hard, to catch the words between the cries, and without her knowing I’m paying attention. This is what I hear:

Mommy doesn’t love me. Daddy doesn’t love me. Turkey doesn’t love me. Bunny doesn’t love me. Moose doesn’t love me.

I don’t know how many more people she might have added to that list, but I couldn’t stand it anymore, and started laughing. As she is also a big faker, as soon as she heard me laughing, the tears ended, as did her list of people who don’t love her.

Bunny, although not quite as dramatic, is also no stranger to the drama movement. Tonight, I told her to go sit with Daddy during prayers, because while she was sitting with me, she pushed her sister. Instead of going and sitting with Daddy, however, she went directly to her room. Her explanation for this?

Nobody loves me at all anymore!

Yep, asking her to sit elsewhere is the same as us not loving her…if they’re this dramatic at three and six, what in the world is going to happen when they’re 13 and 16?

Quote of the Day

Watching Cars with a houseful of sick children. This is my favorite quote:

Well, the road didn’t cut through the land like that Interstate. It moved with the land, it rose, it fell, it curved. Cars didn’t drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time. Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera

“It’s Spinning”

Poor Moose.

We’ve had some kind of upper respiratory thing going around, and yesterday, Moose started coughing, running a fever, and generally acting out-of-sorts. Everyone went to bed early last night, and I was hoping we’d see some kind of improvement this morning.

He got up like he usually does, wanting to have a snuggle. I noticed that he was pretty warm, but he wasn’t complaining, so I let him snuggle for a bit before getting breakfast and Tylenol. The children all decided it was time to eat before too long, so we got up to go downstairs. As soon as Moose stood up, he said, “Carry me.”

I asked him why, as he’s a big boy who doesn’t generally ask to be carried too often. His response?

“It’s spinning.”

Now, he didn’t specify what was spinning, so I don’t know if it was the room, or his head, or what, but this was huge that he could find words to let me know he was dizzy. That’s been one of the biggest struggles for me in regards to his autism–he often can’t find words to let me know what’s wrong when he’s sick or hurt.

Well, he did manage to eat, and I got some fluids (and Tylenol!) in him, and then he went back to bed. It breaks my heart to see him feeling so down, especially because I have no idea what’s going through his head when he feels bad. No child likes it, but I don’t know if he understands sickness at all. He does understand dizzy, though, and I’m happy he let me know before he fell trying to go down the stairs!

A Turkey Original

Turkey loves building with Legos. He has quite a few sets, and he loves following the instructions and putting them together, but what he loves most is coming up with his own creations. He has an uncanny ability to take something he’s seen, and make a Lego replica. Lately, he’s been very interested in making his own Star Wars creations. Mostly ships, but he decided he wanted to make R2D2–something a little bigger than one of the several minifigs of the little droid he has. This is what he came up with–I think it’s pretty good!

Christmas School–Epiphany

On Thursday I had to take one last opportunity to add a few special activities to our regular school day, before we said goodbye to the Christmas season.

We started the day with stockings. Because we had spent so much time learning about Christmas in Italy (including the La Befana legend), I thought it would be fun to have a few small things in the stockings to wake up to on Epiphany morning, as Epiphany is the traditional Christmas-time gift-giving day in Italy. Plus, I was able to take advantage of the Target after-Christmas clearance, so it was also an inexpensive surprise!

In school, we took a short break from our regular work to make Epiphany stars. I found patterns for four, five, six and eight point stars, and Turkey and Bunny colored some, covered some in foil, and glittered some others. They’re all different, and all so pretty hanging from the ceiling of the schoolroom!

We dug out our La Befana stick puppets, and Turkey and Bunny took turns telling the legend. It was really interesting to hear how they embellished the story, and just how different their stories were from each other. They both did a really good job of remembering the story, which was good, since it’s already been over a month since we read the legend in the first place! Time sure does go by fast, especially at Christmastime!

We finished the Epiphany segment of our school day by reading The Visit of the Wise Men. This is a nice book from CPH–the story isn’t anything new, but the illustrations are beautiful. I also appreciate that the book gives a fairly realistic look at what kind of men the wise men were (not kings!). It was also a good springboard for discussion about how Epiphany reminds us that Jesus came for *all* people, not only the Jews. I appreciate any Christmas book that doesn’t gloss over the reason baby Jesus was born, but reminds readers (even children), that the Baby in the manger is the same Man who died for each one of us.

Quote of the Day

My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a loathèd enemy. William Shakespeare–Romeo and Juliet

We recently watched Romeo and Juliet recently (the DiCaprio version), and I was reminded of my favorite line from the play. It also brought back a fond memory of my sophomore English Honors class–our teacher used to make us memorize lines from whatever play we were currently reading before he would admit us to the classroom. I remember enjoying memorizing this line, because I thought it was so powerful (and probably also because it was one of the few lines of Shakespeare I read that I could understand without thinking about and analyzing it!).

Quote of the Day

The final narration from A Classical Kids Christmas captures perfectly how I feel at the end of the Christmas season. Sorrow at its ending; hope of another Christmas season to come.

And so, we leave our little town of everywhere. 12 times we stopped, 12 times we listened, and 12 times we moved on. We can put away the manger for another year, take the tree back to the forest behind the field, and unhook the star from its place above Main Street. And so, my friends, I bid you all good night, until next year, when this pageant tells again the Greatest Story of All.