Daily Daub

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Blog awards

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"Mary the Teach" over at "Work of the Poet" has very kindly given me this award! Thank you so much for thinking of me. This was exceptionally well timed after four consecutive nights of the nocturnal!

I'm happy to pass this on to "MOM-NOS" at "MOM - Not Otherwise Specified," in the hope that this will encourage her to give us a few more, or maybe more frequent lessons. Her family life has changed considerably since we first 'met' and I appreciate that her time is severely sandwiched with numerous pressure and responsibilities, but we can but try!

Also to "Casdok" and her sterling new blog which puts the faces to the 'label' of autism, in all it's many facets, here at the "Faces of Autism." This is particularly heart warming for me as although I think I know all the bloggers featured to date, many do not post pictures of their delightful children. I think each and every one deserves a bravery award for illustrating just how truly delightful all our children are, if everyone would just stop with the stereotypes......although I am the most guilty when it comes to typecasting!

Then to "Sharon" at the "Family Voyage," as her political insight that keeps me abreast of what's ocurring back home, the general trend of opinion as well as her family doings, help keep me grounded. I won't mention the homeschooling aspects as that's just far too intimidating for people with little brains like me.

Alright, I admit it, I am in awe of the homeschooling mob, er....sorry...I meant blogs. I have a hard enough time finding time to blog, I cannot imagine finding the time if I were homeschooling too, although to be fair, just the thought of homeschooling makes my yellow back stripe glow neon. So I feel it's only fair to note a few of those tremulously strong women who also homeschool, such as "Mrs. G" at "the Homeschoolnet", "Kaber" who blogs at "All About my Boys" and "Frog's Mom" at "4-frogs." These supremo parents sometimes post their schedules, enough to make the mind boggle I can tell you, and they certainly make me think and teach me more than a thing of two!








"Joey's Mom" at "Life with Joey" has very kindly given me this delightful award.

I'm happy to pass this along to "Lori" at "Spinning Yellow" who always makes me hunt her down due to a lack of RSS feed!

Also to "Laa and Family" at "Mom Embracing Autism," which sort of tell you all you really need to know, but more importantly adds to her growing list of very well deserved awards!

Then to "The Bishops Wife" who also blogs about some spectrumy issues with verve and class, but with a title of "The Pentecostal Pariah" how could we resist!

Also to "Osh" at "the House that Osh Built," where her family enjoy the same ups and downs as the rest of us, with a healthy dollop of good humour, without sentimentality and a realistic approach to the curve balls that hit us all. [usually in the head when we're least expecting them!]

Then to "Rhemashope" at "Autism in a Word," where she ceaselessly adopts a positive spin on the complexities of life with a rare cheerfulness and perspective.

Also to lovely "Linda" at "Are we there yet." Sometimes it's hard to put your finger on quite why you warm to a particular blog. Linda's life and mine have little in common. She works full time and her children are older. She's in a different State and experiences weather and seasons. It could be that Linda's is one of the first blogs that I felt comfortable commenting upon. I know that whenever I turn up there I will enjoy what I read, what she has written even though her posts run the gamut. Linda is my soft spot to fall.








Dear "T" from "Send Chocolate" very kindly gave me this, "Kick Ass" award. This was especially timely for me, lost in the fog of Vicadin, searching x-rays for my new implant and in a state of more general confusion than usual. I always love visiting her blog, partly due to the content, since I'm obviously biased in that department, partly because the chocolate reference reminds me of heady days when I was just starting a business called "Tamsin Truffles" and partly because she always evokes such interesting debates where her readers actually participate!



First to "Mama Mara" at "Mama of the Edge," which would have been my own alternative title I sometimes think. This is another mum who tells it like it is, pulls not punches, the rough and the smooth, the expansions and contractions, the frustrations and joys.

Also to "Sheila" at "Ma Vie Folle" [That's "My Crazy Life" in French,] who acts on her words, puts her words into practice and is doing a fine job of achieving the goals that many of us aspire to. She also taught me the importance of clicking on the sponsorship links, but some of us learn more slowly than others.

Then to "Michelle" at ""Life of Riley, full soul ahead!." I would especially recommend that everyone follows her link on this post called "Who does she think" Click on the link in that post and I promise you're in for a real treat. I'd like to make it compulsory for all female bloggers, but I try and suppress my tyrannical traits! Suffice to say that if ever you are inclined to throw in the towel and give up completely then this may provide a little welcome battery boost to the ever so slightly jaded creative juices! I'm going to pop it in my sidebar because navigation is always a challenge.

Lastly, I should like to pass this smidge of an award to "Lime" at the "House of Lime."






I was dreading checking out who the 100,000 visitor to my blog might be. It is a little known fact that I have a considerable number of visitors, searching via google, on the term 'babes in the wood.' I fear that they are all sadly disappointed. Hence I was delighted to learn through my Vicodin fog, that the 100,000th visitor was a familiar pal, also a familiar pal that was kind enough to comment. Be assured that if you have the time to nip along and visit her blog, you will always be greeted with a warm welcome.

Cheers dears

Twiddling with the ledger

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SOOC and Smiley Saturday

They all have some version of it, the twiddle syndrome. It is of course extremely annoying. However, I thought I should better detail this particular twiddle because whist it is terribly irritating, one day it may not be there any more. Elimination or extinguishing the behaviour, would be designated as progress, but I will also miss it in some strange way that I don’t really understand.

In his book “Look me in the Eye,” "John Elder Robinson" details many skills, talents and abilities that he experienced as a child, which were later displaced by other skills, such that the former intuitive capabilities were no longer available to him. It makes me hopeful, but also cautious.



In our house, like many houses with children, many objects are on the floor. Not just furniture and toys but other things. Within minutes of their wakefulness a whole slew of things hit the floor such as cushions, sofa cushions, anything that happened to be on either. This means that the floor space becomes an obstacle course in seconds. This wouldn’t be a problem per se, but my children also have difficulty navigating their space and frequently trip over things that aren’t even there. The obstacle course makes the task of moving from A to B even more hazardous.

My eldest son, speech delay aside, is now far more willing to communicate with us verbally and voluntarily. It is at first light that he is most willing to talk. He talks primarily about Pokemon. Through the haze of dawn he chats. As he chats his feet propel him over a radius of approximately three yards in constant movement. As he moves, his feet come into contact with an object. The object sticks to his feet like a magnet, even if it is made of plastic or cloth or paper. The object moves similarly to a ball that is being dribbled by an expert soccer player, but in slow motion. As the object tumbles between his feet, clenched by toes and glued from one ankle to another, the words flow from his mouth with a sweet breathy expression. It is very hard to concentrate on the words, as my eyes are distracted by the object. It is quite mesmerizing.

I already know how to correct this. I need to take him by the shoulders to orientate him towards me, his audience, and remove the distracter. Experience tells me that if I ground him; ‘stand still while your talking!’ and remove the object, his words will dry up, the smiling expression faulter, so I refrain, and just listen. People are unlikely to listen to a spinning speaker but somehow I suspect that given time, he will adjust himself, as he grows older and more things fall into place.

These days it’s also reciprocal, not just a monologue as he asks me pertinent questions about my own preferences, questions that I am supposed to answer. As I stumble for an answer, whilst the object tumbles, he is patient with me, as my brain searches for the right words. I’m sure my annoyance and confusion is well disguised. As I gape like a fish, my mind struggles with word retrieval. He steps across to me to pause and place an index finger on my chin, fix me with soft brown eyes, “it’s o.k. mom, I know that "you are being tired,” he beams, “dere you go!” he puts the two foot, Halloween spider from his feet into my hands and scampers off.