I would have sworn I did this for Anthony last year but I can't find it. So anyway, here goes for 2010:
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Turned five. Completed a full year at his school. Move to a new house. Went to a movie in a movie theater! Met a walrus!
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't remember what I said last year. So let's say he kept them from last year. I think he should resolve to not have any more tantrums in 2011. Wouldn't that be nice?
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No, at least Anthony's mother didn't give birth for the first time in two years! He's probably relieved!
4. Did anyone close to you die? I guess no.
5. What places did you visit? Oh jeez, I don't think we went anywhere out of town, but we did go to Mike's mom's for Thanksgiving and Anthony went on those community outings from school - the State Fair, the Museum,
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010? As usual, we would like Anthony to communicate better with us and with his therapists. We have to try to find another way to do this. He is better this year than last year, he does have spontaneous speech. But obviously, it's not enough for him because he must be mad about something!
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? I don't know the date, but we went to the zoo and met the walrus this summer and that was amazing. Anthony's last day with his therapist Heather was in April and that was significant but probably just to me and her, because we miss her! Anthony got out from the yard in June and that was terrible.
8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year? Oh, he has daily victories. He went to a movie, he touched that walrus, he is so patient and good with the girls.
9. What was your biggest failure? It's not a failure but I wish these tantrums could stop.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Jeez, I don't think he's been sick at all. He may have had a fever once this year.
11. What was the best thing you bought? His therapy? We started with a new occupational therapist this year and I'm happy he's back into that regularly, although his OT is not much of a communicator (irony) so I am not sure how he's doing. She has a lot of experience, so I am assuming all is well and that she's just not much of a people person (irony).
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Anthony. I know he is trying so hard, I feel bad to even complain about these tantrums. Nobody would want to feel like that. He is a hard working boy and I want to celebrate that every day.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Speaking as an autism person, I am appalled at people who hurt their children, or God forbid kill them, because they have autism. I am appalled more than ever when people are cruel to children.
14. Where did most of your money go? Co-pays, as usj. We bought him a chair/bed for his room but he seems uninterested in it. We have had to buy a lot of sleepers, if you know what I mean.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Anthony loves to succeed, just like everyone else.
16. What song will always remind you of 2010? Amy, who drives him home for home therapy on Friday, says he likes the Glee Soundtrack.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter.
c) richer or poorer? Richer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? I wish he would talk more. I wish he would be happy and content.
20. How did you spend Christmas last year? Last year? This year? Last week on Christmas, we had my family here, including my brother John, who we haven't seen for a while. The day after Christmas, Mike's family came up here.
21. Did you fall in love in 2010? I hope he's in love with all of us.
22. How many one-night stands? He only stayed with us, so none!
23. What was your favorite TV program? He is not into tv anymore, but he does sometimes like the Doodlebops, Signing Time and The Wiggles. He likes on the Wiggles when they speed up the film.
24. What did you do for your birthday in 2010? I don't know. I assume we had cake? We don't go in for big parties anymore. He did get a card signed by everyone at his school.
25. What was the best book you read? I just got him two BIG books for Christmas, and I hope he likes that one. His therapist Pam told me he likes one like it at school.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Glee? Maybe? He and his father have that in common, ha!
27. What did you want and get? I don't know what Anthony wants, but I don't think he's gotten it yet.
28. What did you want and not get? He wants more Oreos than we give him. He wants to be left alone but we are always bugging him.
29. What was your favorite film of this year? He saw Toy Story 3 in the theater!
30. Did you make some new friends this year? Anthony has a friend that he plays with at school, apparently he is about Anthony's age and also pretty non verbal.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? We'd all be more satisfied if Anthony were happier and less tantrum-y.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? He's so cute, he wears jeans and camo pants and long sleeved tshirts. He wears a belt here lately.
33. What kept you sane? School, I bet. His long time therapists, Pam and Amy.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None, I guess.
35. What political issue stirred you the most? I have been thinking about prenatal testing and eradicating disorders by eradicating the people who might have these disorders before they're born. It's so gross how now they want every pregnant woman to have prenatal testing, when it used to just be for people over 35. Then they do the 'test', which is really just checking of data, and then they say, you are this percent likely to have this problem. THEN they do an amnio (risky) and then if the baby shows up, say, with Down Syndrome, they talk to you about what life is like with a child with Down Syndrome. A few weeks ago, there was a big hubbub about a card for sale at etsy.com. It showed a child with Down Syndrome in a ... bad light, I guess. Lots of people wanted it taken down and lots of people (jerks) thought if it was offensive to you, you just shouldn't buy it. But the thing is - when you make fun of people for having something like Down Syndrome, when you use them for your amusement, you are sort of separating them from human beings. There are going to be less and less people with Down Syndrome in our lifetime, because people are just going to abort their babies when they find out that they have it. I can't imagine this is going to ADD to advocate services for people with DS, and it's unnerving. If they start doing prenatal testing for someone who may or may not have autism, are we going to start aborting them, too? Now it's like 1 in 110 or whatever and it's barely a BLIP on the RADAR of us, as a country, so what is going to happen when people think we can start to ERASE autism by erasing PEOPLE with autism? This is why I am not too into "recovering from autism" or calling it a "diabolical nightmare of a disorder" or whatever. My son has it. He is not diabolical. He is a human being and he has worth as such and it drives me BONKS when anyone threatens that. But this is Anthony's meme, so I guess I won't say anymore. :)
36. Who did you miss? I think he misses my parents when they are in Florida.
37. Who was the best new person you met? We are all madly in love with Amy, Anthony's therapist. They started in April.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010. I tell Anthony all the time, this is not how it's going to be. This is how it is right now. It will get better. It will!
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