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Saturday, March 1, 2008

"Autism, Always Creating & Keeping Him Occupied" (Pictures) : brought to you by, S.M.A.A.R.T.Mom

I am always trying to create new ideas, crafts, educational
activities,etc with Boo Bear. Here are just a few of our favorites.
This day Dustin was talking about our Hart Farm. So I found
farm animal magnet faces and had him draw their bodies.
After he was done I would ask him about each animal. He
had sooo much fun drawing them and giggled the whole time.
Did pretty good!

On this day I made a list of ten items for Boo Bear to check off.
The list was titled Dustin's Nature list. We took it to the park and
placed our items in a bag after checking it off the list. When we
were done ,we went home and created a Pinecomb Person. Isn't
he Cute? Dustin placed him in front of his Barn....very appropriate:)


This was a birdhouse I found at a dollar store. Of course it was plain when
I bought it..........that is until Dustin got to decorate it. Hope those birds
are Mc Donald French Fry Fans:)


Dustin loves to pick flowers. This particular day it was raining outside so
picking flowers wasn't possible. So I found the next best thing to do.
I sat him down at the table with some empty egg cartons, green pipe
cleaner, green contruction paper, butterfly & circle stickers, his special
scissors and then gave him an example of what I planned on making.
He was soooo thrilled that he ultimately made a bouquet of egg carton
flowers! Easy to do, unique, and wonderful home-made gifts. Try it:)




"Dustin Days 2008" (Short Story) : brought to you by, S.M.A.A.R.T.Mom

So here it is 2008. Guess it's been awhile since I added to my journal. Staying busy and getting distracted easily seem to become expected of me these days. Our oldest has long moved out and is now going to be 20 years old this July. While our daughter will be "sweet 16" soon  and sometimes far from sweet , seems more the typical teen. As for our youngest........Dustin will be 12 years old in August. How the time flies. Even though it is inevidable  I try to accept the fact that I'm most certainly feeling old these days. But even inspite of this, Dustin keeps me on my toes. "Dustin Days" assure me that every minute of each day will be far from a Dull one:) I've added some new photos to share with you and to show you some of the original things our son has accomplished (good/not so good). One of the pictures show Dustin in a room full of white footprints (which are his). This happened one day when Dustin had a craving for snow. Well living in Florida; What is Snow? Anyway, he found a way and really enjoyed himself until I came upon him. For the record and word of advice to moms that have children who like snow............Hide the Baby Powder! On that note, I better wrapp this up for now and go check on my mischief maker and let you take a glance through some interesting and hopefully make you smile kind of pictures. I've also added some photos of some of the autism events I've taken the kids to , among other outings. I never know what to expect with Dustin, but regardless, I have to try. In some pictures you will see hands obviously flapping or Dustin covering his ears because the sounds of things are too intense.Those were times I had to remove him from because it was too upsetting for the both of us. But that's O.K. "Life goes on". In addtion, there is a picture of Dustin with Santa Claus. I waited 10 years for this photo! I can't express to you enough how emotional I was ; and to make it more special.......My mother (who lives long distance) was able to share that moment with me:) Love you MOM!! One more thing....Remember, that even though some days will be most certainly worse than others; try not to look at those days as Discouraging or Trying. Think of this to be a test of your patience and an adventure in autism that will in the end of the day Reward you with a child who HAS made progress because of your will power , faith, and Unconditional love. Believe that God blessed us with these children because he knewour hearts are strong and full of love. Until next time. Take Care.