E is for Elephant Fun

When I asked the child for an E word this week she said, "Who is making us do this, Mom?" he he he...
"It's just for fun," I said. And then she proved me wrong. Last week I said I think she just looks around and says the first thing she sees that starts with that letter. Well for E she thought about it and said, "Elephant." Needless to say there weren't any elephants around. So I asked her which elephant she was thinking of. We actually have lots of elephants at our house, because I happen to love elephants. They are my favorite animal. A couple of years ago I was so happy to get to ride an elephant in a natural environment when we visited Bali. I have collected elephant pictures, books, figurines, and stuffed animals. So she caught me off guard, again - it is her specialty - when she said she wanted me to take a picture of the Elephant from Monkey Dunk.

In case you are not familiar, Monkey dunk is a Milton Bradley game from Hasbro. It is sort of a take off from tiddlywinks. Each player is given four plastic monkeys (yellow, red, green, or purple).

These monkeys jump when you push on their backside. It is a little tricky for small fingers, but with a little hand over hand and encouragement I got the four year old twins jumping monkeys in no time.

The object is to jump your monkeys into the swimming hole. The elephant guards one of the swimming holes, and also acts as a timer for the game. When you push the bottom of the elephant in it sets a spring that slowly unwinds and then...POPS! When the elephant pops some of the monkeys jump again. Each player counts how many of his monkeys end up in the swimming hole and takes a banana token for each swimming monkey.

The bonus of getting this game out to take photos of the Elephant is that the kids are all now happily playing monkey dunk while I write the post. It's a super fun win,win, win.

To see other Excellent Excerpts on E click here.

Disclaimer: in case the spontaneous nature of this post wasn't clear enough...no compensation (except laughter and fun times) was provided by Hasbro for this advertisement. Good deal for them, no? 

Sunday Digest 37

So much to share with you this time around that it may not all fit into one digest. There has been a lot of amazing stuff on my favorite blogs to visit lately...

1) My fellow 5 Minutes for Special Needs contributor, Suzanne, shared her inward (at least) response to a person who left an anonymous note on her car window. I hope the person read it, somehow. Just another reminder that not every disability is visible, even the physical ones. Let us be kind to one another, please.

2) My "down under" blogging friend Autism &Oughtisms shared a touching post about her autistic son and his imaginary friend. In addition to exploring various theories of imaginary friends, she explains how she views this as a positive step in her son's development. I distinctly remember my own joy when my daughter at more than four years old pretended to use an invisible object in her play for the first time. I was ecstatic and nearly burst into tears.

3) Tammy over at Praying for Parker expressed one of my darkest fears. Statistics estimate that 90% of unborn babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted. Tammy points out that some view this as a way of preventing Down Syndrome. What happens when we can test for autism prenatally? I have no doubt there are people working toward this. I can't quote statistics, but my general sense is that the average joe (or jane) has a more positive view of Down Syndrome than they do of autism. Interestingly, both disorders can have a whole range of effects on the developing child, so termination ends a life that isn't fully understood. I think I am particularly sensitive to this topic right now because an acquaintance of mine is expecting the birth of her third child in the next few weeks. According to some prenatal screening her unborn son has a higher than normal risk of Down Syndrome. She already has one child with special needs...and has gathered a whole pack of people around her to pray, not necessarily that the test will be wrong, but that their family will be able to celebrate the birth of their son no matter what the future holds.

4) I continue to enjoy the Special Needs Siblings Saturday posts at The Squashed Bologna. Mid-October, Varda's guest blogger was Michaela Seafoorce. I ready her SNSS post, but also followed Varda's advice and read two of her posts on her own blog here and here. I have been thinking a lot lately about peer advocates and how to find them, how to teach them, what to say. Michaela is just one example I've looked at. More on this in the weeks to come as I get my thoughts together...

5) I am kind of shaking my head these days in disbelief that I'm the mom of a second grader. It's all going by so fast. Laura Shumaker's post at City Brights about the transition to adulthood was a wake up call...time will continue to fly by and one day the child will be the adult. What then? The only thing I can do at this point is to continue to try to build in the skills and support that she will need when we get there a dozen years or so from now.

I hope you will enjoy all the links as much as I did, and if you visit do let them know you found them through The Simple Life.

Sunday Digest 35

Just to let you all know, I've shifted to a new blog schedule...I've been finding it increasingly difficult to get two posts plus a post at 5 Minutes done each week. Part of this is because my usual writing time (nap time!) is starting to vanish, and part of this is because I'm trying to take a more active role in my husband's business. I am hoping to do one post each week here, and keep my posts at 5 Minutes flowing, too, plus any other guest posts that come my way. I may have a couple of guests pop up here, soon, too. We shall see. This may also free up some time to work on a couple of other projects, which, if they come about I will tell you about in due time.

To the business of the day...it is digest time! Here are some interesting links I've come across as I've roved the Internet lately:

1) These first two links I heard about via my fellow blogger, Autism and Oughtisms. She shared them on facebook. I am increasingly interested in learning about the brain, and what happens when it isn't working normatively. This article focuses on autism, perhaps explaining a piece of language confusion in autism where the affected individual reverses pronouns - calling themselves "you" and others "I." It seems these researchers have found that the white matter connections between two  areas of the brain are faulty - picture a short circuit between the light switch and the bulb. I find this particularly fascinating as my mother-in-law apparently has similar white matter deterioration, but in different "circuits." Brains are miraculous!

2) This second link is more practical and discusses first responders' need to learn how to best help an individual with autism during an emergency. Emergency preparedness is a big topic these days, and one that requires special attention if you are a caregiver to an individual with special needs. Some local first responders have registries where you can notify them in advance if you think special equipment or specific information will help them give better aid to your loved one with special needs. Check it out and be prepared.

3) Another friend from down under SquiggleMum posted this "how to" on building an outdoor play kitchen with her kids. It is adorable, and NOT expensive, and I imagine they are having all sorts of fun, creative, imaginative, social play out there. What fun!

4) This touching piece by Tim Gort over at Hopeful Parents explores what happens when a man becomes a dad.

5) Last but not least, my fellow 5 Minutes contributor, Maggie, shared a success story for her twin boys. Thanks to the dedication of a lifeguard and some appropriate individualized instruction they are learning to swim! Can't beat that!