March for Babies

Thanks to everyone who donated towards our "March for Babies" benefitting the March of Dimes. Our family raised $290, and the team raised well over $4000! Zachary had been very apprehensive to do the walk. I think he just didn't understand what it was and didn't want to try something new. When we got there, he was fine. He loved walking over the Purple People Bridge. (He's very into the idea of triangles making bridges strong right now.) Jeremy was pretty grouchy unless it was his turn in the stroller. We eventually found his teacher, some classmates, and the rest of the team. We actually walked through Paul Brown Stadium. After the walk, the boys really had a blast at the activities (which Zachary called a carnival!). They even got to have some free pancakes from IHOP, which totally made their day. I tried to get Jeremy to pose with Who-Dey, the Bengal's mascot, but he was WAY to scared. Zachary DID pose with his teacher, Mrs. Smith, whose team we were walking on. I had kind of forgotten how much I love the downtown area near the river. Here is serpentine wall and a photo of the Purple People Bridge that we walked over before and after the walk.

And a link to all of the photos:

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=215529169/a=25280692_25280692/t_=25280692

Saturday's Game

Here are some "highlights" from Saturday's Golden Treasures' game against the Black Knights

Great Wolf

Last week, we took advantage of our Friday off of school to go to Great Wolf Lodge. We got there at 5PM Thursday and stayed until 5PM Friday. The boys LOVED it. Tim and Zachary went straight for the big slides. In fact, they rode the wildest one FIRST. Zachary rode every single slide but the one you had to go on by yourself. Despite my state of panic when I thought about careening down a water-filled tube, I even rode a couple of the big slides. Zachary helped me by going with me. The boys loved the arcade, too. Never mind the fact that they wasted ALL of their money and had to have mom play skee-ball and whac-a-mole to win them enough tickets for anything. OKAY, maybe I enjoyed the arcade a little, too!

Go Gold!

We're a few games into the season now, and soccer is going pretty well. Coach Tim is surviving his first foray into the coaching world. The boys are on different teams, but they're both wearing gold. This is the first season Z has decided to have Zach on his jersey instead of Zachary. Here's a link to the whole snapfish photo album: http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=215508002/a=25280692_25280692/t_=25280692

Here's my Golden Treasure: And my Golden Receiver:
Did I mention I have a crush on the coach?

We're not technically allowed to keep track of Jeremy's record, but they're doing great. Zachary's team has had 2 wins and a tie. There has been lots of fun, and that's really the point.

What could be cuter than this?

An Answer? More questions?

We just returned from our parents' information session at Children's Hospital. For those of you who don't know, we had Zachary evaluated with the a-dos test for autism spectrum disorder. So, in a nutshell, Zachary has Asperger's Syndrome. His verbal test scored very, very high (99th percentile), and the a-dos did NOT score out with a number that would place in him on the autism spectrum. However, the difference between the two scores indicates he is at a very high-functioning level on the spectrum. Maybe this didn't make sense, but anyway, he's a very smart kid who has some very definite quirks. We will go back to see a psychologist who is a behavioral therapist, probably 8-10 times. Other that that, we're already doing most of what we should be doing. I'm not sure what else to say. I don't think this is bad news or good news. Zachary is just Zachary. We kind-of already knew this. We love him!!

(After I originally posted this, some people asked me what it means to be diagnosed with Asperger's. Here's a good link with some basic information on Asperger's.)

http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/aswhatisit.html

I don't think everyone HAS look at any of this, but if you're interested in learning more, here are some other links. I will probably post more soon.

There are a lot of radio stories on NPR that talk about Asperger's. This is a great one:

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=7382362&m=7382363&live=1

and others:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6254308
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5488463

Here's another one that talks about a particular person with Asperger's:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89225415

An interesting book is "Look Me In the Eye" by John Robeson.

Mulch Maddness

What could be better than digging into a pile of mulch? Zachary, Jeremy, Mom, and Dad helped to spread 18 yards of mulch at church on Saturday morning. The boys were awesome, and they were even helpful. With so many people, it only took an hour and a half. Yay.

Speaking of getting dirty, I attened the orientation session for the community supported agriculture group we joined this year. Less than 2 miles from our house is the garden that will be providing our family with fresh organic veggies and herbs all summer. Now we'll just have to put in our 30 hours of work in the garden. It's such an interesting place, and it was fun to learn about the sustainable processes they have in place for the garden. I'll let you all know if I'm still as enthused in September (after a summer spent in the hot fields!).

Spring Break is Over!!!!

The boys have been back in school for 2 days now. Hooray!! Some of the fun we've had over the past couple of weeks:

• Shouting "Hosannas" in the Palm Processional at church. Jeremy helping his classmate Katie follow the bigger kids through the sanctuary.
• Finding baskets on Easter morning.
• Dying Easter Eggs with COOL cousins, Rachel and Jackie + FOC (friend of cousins) Heather.
• Growing Magic Rocks.
• Visiting the Little Miami River the day after it hit flood stage (the river was on its way back down). Our favorite rock throwing beach was WAY under water.
• Playing trouble with Aunt Louise and Grandmas.
• Reading SpongeBob books to Grandma Case.
• Listening to showtunes on Rachel's ipod.
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