Late August

Stupid product of the year: Scented markers. Toney got these for Kristin and at first neither one of us made a realization about them. So I comment, "Oh, scented markers" and then go in the kitchen. When I come back in the living room, Kristin is sniffing the markers intensely by holding them up to her nose. Scented markers encourage marker sniffing. A dumb product if you ask me.

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Kristin has a piggy bank outside her door. Whenever her door is shut, you have to put money in, before you can open the door. Most kids just want you to knock. She wants cash.

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We went camping last week at Big Basin. I'll have to blog pictures. We stayed for 5 days, which is pretty good for a kid as young as Kristin. But she loved it, she got to see raccoons, chipmunks, different birds, and all sorts of critters and insects up close. The redwoods were beautiful, we got to walk through the trees (literally thru them) and see trees with a 100 foot diameter. It was a great family vacation. She didn't really start to crave home until the 4th night, and we left early on the 5th day, so it worked out perfectly. I think we also had the best campsite there.

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It's back to school! Yea! And I've got her birthday party to organize and prepare for. This means technically that summer is over and we are heading into fall, even though the actual date is still a month away.

The Boyfriend

We went to dinner Saturday night at Kristin's "boyfriend's" house. He has Aspergers. It's odd, her best friend from school was autistic and now another good friend has Aspergers. He did scream quite a bit at the dinner, it was stressful for him, but Kristin's presence at times also seemed to calm him. His parents said she 'soothed the savage beast'. A lot of his toys, even his siblings can't touch, but he would have no problem when Kristin would just pick something up. He has a twin, who does not have Aspergers. What that means, in terms of the condition, I don't know, but his twin is a girl and so Kristin takes to them both real well.

It's puzzling that America doesn't seem more concerned about autism or Aspergers Syndrome, it seems to be so prevalent. I think if, within a generation or two, there was such a rapid increase in the number of cases of something else, there would be more of an alarm. What is causing this to happen?

I am glad that we have people to associate with and that Kristin has playmates. We have to teach her though, that sometimes the behavior these kids do is not acceptable for her to do. It's hard to explain this to her, at her age. Toney told me after the dinner how lucky we are. We do realize that and appreciate it. She soothes and bonds with these kids in a way other classmates don't.