Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Foto Friday: Caption Contest
I laugh so hard I cry every time I see this foto of Habeeb!!!!!! Help us write a caption that fits the foto! Habeeb says he's glad his goofy face can bring so much laughter to my life!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sly's Political Cartoon #2
So, the other day over lunch Sly and I discussed the Supreme Court, including the branches of government, Justices vs judges, the appointment process, the length of term, the majority rules, etc, etc. I expect we were quite the entertainment for the fellow in the adjoining booth at McDonalds! And of course we also discussed President Obama's nomination of Judge Sotomayor to fill the vacancy being left by Justice Souter. I suggested that Sly try to come up with a political cartoon around the Sotomayor nomination. Neither of us thought much about it until this morning, when we were watching some news. Later this afternoon, Sly drew up this little cartoon spoofing Sotomayor's decision regarding the firefighters' discrimination suit.
It's really hard to see what he drew in this picture, so I'll try to help you out. Judge Sotomayor is sitting at the courtroom bench giving a thumbs up. A couple of minority firefighters are celebrating in the box next to the judge. They are holding test papers with poor test scores. Two other white firefighters with high test scores are expressing their anger at Judge Sotomayor's decision in favor of the minority firefighters with the low test scores.
While the artwork in this cartoon is far from excellent, he did achieve success in making a political statement with a cartoon. He's got his thinking cap on. We just have to get him to work on the drawing/art side a little more. Of course, we could also call this a 'first draft' (which it is) and expect him to be able to make a better drawing artistically on a second or third draft. BUT we're getting ready to head out on a road trip and I'm perfectly satisfied with this thought-out first draft. Go, Sly!
It's really hard to see what he drew in this picture, so I'll try to help you out. Judge Sotomayor is sitting at the courtroom bench giving a thumbs up. A couple of minority firefighters are celebrating in the box next to the judge. They are holding test papers with poor test scores. Two other white firefighters with high test scores are expressing their anger at Judge Sotomayor's decision in favor of the minority firefighters with the low test scores.
While the artwork in this cartoon is far from excellent, he did achieve success in making a political statement with a cartoon. He's got his thinking cap on. We just have to get him to work on the drawing/art side a little more. Of course, we could also call this a 'first draft' (which it is) and expect him to be able to make a better drawing artistically on a second or third draft. BUT we're getting ready to head out on a road trip and I'm perfectly satisfied with this thought-out first draft. Go, Sly!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America
I've only read the first page and a half of the foreword, so perhaps I shouldn't recommend this yet, but if you're up for a potentially adventurous and disgruntling read, you can download this book for free from the following website: http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/
Again, download and read at your own risk. But the first couple pages of the foreword are spot on. Another thing I find interesting is that the copyright is 1999. Does that make anyone stop and think about the direction our govt is heading at hyperdrive just one short decade after this book was published? Hmmmm. Scary times. Fortunately, lest anyone over-worry, let me assure you that God is still God, despite some folks' best efforts to dethrone Him.
Again, download and read at your own risk. But the first couple pages of the foreword are spot on. Another thing I find interesting is that the copyright is 1999. Does that make anyone stop and think about the direction our govt is heading at hyperdrive just one short decade after this book was published? Hmmmm. Scary times. Fortunately, lest anyone over-worry, let me assure you that God is still God, despite some folks' best efforts to dethrone Him.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Nonverbal conversations with a 10yo (who has autism)
Jman is 10yo, not 10mo, and has autism, including quite the language delay. Words don't come easy to him. It's interesting to compare SB3's nonverbal communication to Jman's.
For starters, SB3's conversations are fluid and natural, as you saw from the previous post. They are much more of a challenge for Jman, though. For example, yesterday we were eating breakfast. I happened to be glancing through the local weekly newspaper in preparation for throwing it out after breakfast. After a while I realized I was hearing a funny cheek popping/raspberry noise. I glanced up and there was Jman, looking at me and making those funny noises. He was trying to start a game with me, and I of course happily obliged. Together we took a few turns making funny noises and faces. Then we both kind of disengaged and went back to eating. With SB3, it's hard to disengage, but with Jman it's harder to stay engaged, both for him to stay engaged and for me/the other person to stay engaged as a result.
In conversing with SB3, he pulls a lot more weight in keeping the conversation going. If you disengage, he'll do something to get you back. It may be that he lets out his hyacinth macaw screech, or it may be that he studies what you're doing and begins copying you, which almost always works to gain our attention at least for a moment. But Jman has much more difficulty with doing that. It's not that he never imitates us for attention, but he has a much harder time initiating it, keeping the conversation going, or keeping up with all the input. It's hard, and he can only keep it up for so long.
Another conversation with Jman yesterday evolved out of a book we were looking at together. One page had a picture of lions licking each other (for the letter L). I commented, "Lions LICK!" and proceeded to lick Jman. (Yes, we get pretty silly sometimes!) He thought that was funny, and licked me back, to which I replied with an animated, "EEEEeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww!" A little while later our paths crossed, and I commented about the licking again. Jman wanted to repeat our silly game, and was trying to maneuver into position to lick me. When I was failing to read his initiation, he stopped and said, "Eeewww!" with a grin. That was MY line, and he used it to prompt me to lean over for a good lick up the side of my face. Now I understood, and we played our lions licking game again, including having fun making faces as we wiped our cheeks dry again. And then he was gone. That's the thing--the conversations are there, but they are short and disjointed. He WANTS to interact and communicate, but he has a LOT of communication challenges, and he can only keep up the work for so long. SB3 can't seem to get enough, but Jman can only handle so much at a time.
For starters, SB3's conversations are fluid and natural, as you saw from the previous post. They are much more of a challenge for Jman, though. For example, yesterday we were eating breakfast. I happened to be glancing through the local weekly newspaper in preparation for throwing it out after breakfast. After a while I realized I was hearing a funny cheek popping/raspberry noise. I glanced up and there was Jman, looking at me and making those funny noises. He was trying to start a game with me, and I of course happily obliged. Together we took a few turns making funny noises and faces. Then we both kind of disengaged and went back to eating. With SB3, it's hard to disengage, but with Jman it's harder to stay engaged, both for him to stay engaged and for me/the other person to stay engaged as a result.
In conversing with SB3, he pulls a lot more weight in keeping the conversation going. If you disengage, he'll do something to get you back. It may be that he lets out his hyacinth macaw screech, or it may be that he studies what you're doing and begins copying you, which almost always works to gain our attention at least for a moment. But Jman has much more difficulty with doing that. It's not that he never imitates us for attention, but he has a much harder time initiating it, keeping the conversation going, or keeping up with all the input. It's hard, and he can only keep it up for so long.
Another conversation with Jman yesterday evolved out of a book we were looking at together. One page had a picture of lions licking each other (for the letter L). I commented, "Lions LICK!" and proceeded to lick Jman. (Yes, we get pretty silly sometimes!) He thought that was funny, and licked me back, to which I replied with an animated, "EEEEeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww!" A little while later our paths crossed, and I commented about the licking again. Jman wanted to repeat our silly game, and was trying to maneuver into position to lick me. When I was failing to read his initiation, he stopped and said, "Eeewww!" with a grin. That was MY line, and he used it to prompt me to lean over for a good lick up the side of my face. Now I understood, and we played our lions licking game again, including having fun making faces as we wiped our cheeks dry again. And then he was gone. That's the thing--the conversations are there, but they are short and disjointed. He WANTS to interact and communicate, but he has a LOT of communication challenges, and he can only keep up the work for so long. SB3 can't seem to get enough, but Jman can only handle so much at a time.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Nonverbal conversations with a 10mo
When was the last time you had a conversation with a 10 month old? Habeeb and I had great fun conversing with SB3 at Olive Garden last night. When he had graham crackers or spaghetti to munch on, he'd start loudly smacking his lips and glancing back and forth between us to tell us how yummy those were. We'd smack right back to him, and he'd smile a big smile!
Later he was gnawing on a lemon. Oh, those lemon faces are priceless! Once in a while he'd get a good tasteful and would grimace and give a full body shudder. Then he'd look up at us to see if we were watching, then go right back to the lemon for more self-inflicted torture.
Whenever we'd offer him a bite of something he didn't want he'd stop what he was doing and start spitting raspberries at us. It was so funny! He was all about sharing his opinions and experiences with us, and making sure we knew and appreciated just what his opinions were!
It wasn't just us either. He had the server engaged in a game of dropsies for a while, dropping his cup off the table, watching it fall to the floor, and then looking at her, waiting for her to pick it back up for him. Then he'd immediately drop it over the edge again on purpose, watch it fall, and then look straight at her expectantly yet again.
When SB3 wasn't getting enough attention or ran out of tasty bites to munch on, he'd let out a piercing SCREECH! He's been doing that ever since a Hyacinth Macaw at the zoo screeched and startled him. The bird got SB3's attention, and SB3 has been using that trick to get OUR attention ever since. So, Habeeb started a game with SB3 where he'd stick his finger in SB3's mouth every time he'd screech. SB3 would then look at his daddy and start spitting raspberries at him in disgust. It was hysterically funny! SB3 would then think about it, and then screech again anyway! Eventually we'd give him another bite of something yummy, and then he'd start smacking those lips again.
When we finally got up to leave our table, the people dining a couple tables over complained that we were taking away their entertainment!
Later he was gnawing on a lemon. Oh, those lemon faces are priceless! Once in a while he'd get a good tasteful and would grimace and give a full body shudder. Then he'd look up at us to see if we were watching, then go right back to the lemon for more self-inflicted torture.
Whenever we'd offer him a bite of something he didn't want he'd stop what he was doing and start spitting raspberries at us. It was so funny! He was all about sharing his opinions and experiences with us, and making sure we knew and appreciated just what his opinions were!
It wasn't just us either. He had the server engaged in a game of dropsies for a while, dropping his cup off the table, watching it fall to the floor, and then looking at her, waiting for her to pick it back up for him. Then he'd immediately drop it over the edge again on purpose, watch it fall, and then look straight at her expectantly yet again.
When SB3 wasn't getting enough attention or ran out of tasty bites to munch on, he'd let out a piercing SCREECH! He's been doing that ever since a Hyacinth Macaw at the zoo screeched and startled him. The bird got SB3's attention, and SB3 has been using that trick to get OUR attention ever since. So, Habeeb started a game with SB3 where he'd stick his finger in SB3's mouth every time he'd screech. SB3 would then look at his daddy and start spitting raspberries at him in disgust. It was hysterically funny! SB3 would then think about it, and then screech again anyway! Eventually we'd give him another bite of something yummy, and then he'd start smacking those lips again.
When we finally got up to leave our table, the people dining a couple tables over complained that we were taking away their entertainment!
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