November 1

So it's November and I wasn't going to post every day because it's sure to be one of the busiest Novembers of my life, because we are moving, but I am going to give it a shot.  I'm going to try to think about our house as I post.  Mike and I have only lived here together a little longer than Anthony has, since he was born less than a year after we got married, so we are all going to miss it, I bet.

I wish I knew what Anthony would think about moving.  I think it will be nicer for him to have a bigger room, but then I think, does he?  Would he?  I can't keep much in his room, because of his propensity for throwing everything around at bedtime, but maybe I can get him some more pillows for his beanbag, or maybe put a swing in his room or something.  I think that where we are moving has a better school district and we won't have to fight so much with them, so that's good.  It has such a nice deck on the back and maybe Anthony would like to hang out there, I think.  This would all be easier if he would just tell me.  :)

That brings me to my next point.  So there is this idea for today, November 1, that bloggers and people on the internet don't blog today, or use Twitter or Facebook or whatever, because we're supposed to be representing for people who have autism.  I was thinking of doing it, but then I thought, what?  Why would it make a difference for someone like me to not talk?  I can talk.  Apparently, some nonverbal people with autism were mad about it too because the only way that they can communicate is online.   I shouldn't say the only way, but I mean it's a great way for nonverbal people, who can communicate in other ways, to communicate.  So.  Bad idea, at least for me.  Also, a bad idea as far as this mom whose blog I read is concerned.  Besides, I swear Anthony is one of the very few kids with autism I know who is nonverbal.  Sometimes I meet moms of kids with autism and I think 'great!' and then it turns out their child can talk and - ugh - it is just not the same.  It's sort of the same, but not the exact same, which is what I'm looking for.  I'm looking to be friends with an autism mom whose child is nonverbal and maybe one or two years older than Anthony.  I want her to have done just the right things and have her life be great and then she can teach me how to do the right things and then my life will be great.  So where is she?  Ha!

I keep thinking, mostly when Anthony is screaming about one thing or another, maybe we'll be really happy in this new house?  Maybe Anthony HATES this house and that's why he's so mad all the time?  Wouldn't that be nice?  I'm aware this is nuts, I'm just kidding.  Mostly.

We brought Anthony home here on June 8, 2005.  I remember they were putting siding on or painting our house so it was super noisy and I would be sitting in a chair or on the bed, nursing Anthony,  and UP would POP some guy who was working on the house.  AWKWARD.   Anthony stayed in our room for the first several weeks.  He really stayed in our arms the first several weeks.  He would NOT lie down without screaming.  I remember one night I was in our bed with him and Mike was in the guest room (which we would lose, of course, to Maria and then Veronica).  I nursed him and he seemed so sleepy and I thought, I am just going to lay him down, what could it hurt?  I laid him down and then put the Boppy pillow around his head, like in an upside down horseshoe and he slept for like TWO HOURS.  It was probably when he was about a week old and it was probably the first time I slept for two hours in a row since before he was born.  We laid him down more and more and then we went to my mom's house and stayed for several days and my mom kept putting him down, which made me crazy at the time, because he would wake up and cry but it was good for him.  Eventually he started sleeping longer and longer out of our arms and then we started putting him in the crib in his room.  He never laid down his head one time in his bassinet, not ONCE.  We used to keep laundry in it, ha!

So cute.  2007, in the livingroom.