Much randomness:

Gilbert says all bugs are butterflies, or more specifically, “fwuf fwies.”

I want to get him more wooden toy cars for his Christmas present.

We’re all better from our sickness, it was nothin.

Trixie is now standing unassisted.

Here comes Bede, I gotta go!

Made this with leftover yarn from Toly’s blankie. I love it, it is perfect!

I’ll post the pattern later.

ETA Pattern: (This will be posted in pieces as I have time to write it out)

Fits 12-18mos

Yarn: Peaches and Creme, ecru, unknown amount.
Gauge: 4 st/in after machine washing and drying

CO 96.
Knit 3 rows.
Purl 1 row.
Row 5: K3, *k2tog 3 times, k1 yo 6 times, k2tog 3 times, repeat from * until final 3 st, K3

Knit in st st with 3 st garter on each end until armpit length, I think about seven inches.

****will continue later****

cont

Sleeves: Make two.

CO 22 st.
Knit 3 rows.
Purl 1 row.
Row 5: K2, k2tog 3 times, k1 yo 6 times, k2tog 3 times, K2

Gilbert is sick, fever 102 under his arm. Poor little guy. Now comes the domino effect of one sick kid in a family of seven people… who will be next?

Childhood illness always puts me in mind of the Great Brain books. Boy those are great books.

ETA Symptom #1: puke. Oh my. Yay hardwood floors, prefold diapers and quick reflexes!

I’d like a book rec please. I need to have a good, all purpose organic gardening book. I’d like it to cover pre-garden work, like what I can do this winter to prep for next spring, and also just sort of, I guess, basic garden stuff. Vegetable, specifically.

I know there are lots of good web sites too, but I’d like a book.

Bede holding still.

Stripey raglan, gansey-style high crew neck, EZ sewn bindoff (basic pattern here.) Yarn is Wool-ease worsted oddments. The decreases for the raglan line are ssk, k2, k2tog, which produces a different look than the reverse, seen below in purple. Oh and it’s hemmed. I don’t think I’ll hem any more sweaters.

Abby’s purple raglan, wee flower embroidered. Yarn is TLC Amore. I’m thinking it needs more flowers, but Abby likes it even without more floral embellishment.

She’s not much help with changing bedsheets.

Ack. So cute! The crayon on the walls is washable, ftr.

The Syndrome of Hyperlexia vs. High Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome

Fits Bede very well!

We’re going to try to get him an evaluation by a DIR therapist, because I think they provide the least ‘false positive’ autism diagnoses. If they say a kid is on the autism spectrum, then I respect it. I don’t have that confidence in a run-of-the-mill school district assessment, at all. Since DIR is inherently extremely child-specific (it stands for Developmental, Individual Differences, Relationship-Based) the actual label the child is given doesn’t matter as much.

Because the only label that really matters to me is My Son.

So far, I have an appointment for an assessment at DIR Support Services in January, in (gulp) Maryland. It’s the closest place. Which is crazy.

Here are some sites I have been reading lately:

Floortime: the core of the DIR model
Stanley Greenspan: the creator of DIR
Inside the Autistic Mind: TIME magazine article, with a sidebar on DIR vs Applied Behavioral Analysis, or ABA

American Hyperlexia Association: Clearinghouse of hyperlexia information
neurodiversity.com: sees autism and autistic traits as differences, not diseases
Wrong Planet: community for people ‘on the spectrum’

That’s all for now.

The Australian team reviewed 23 clinical trials worldwide involving 2,000 women who had received the drug to quell contractions. They found that it did not reduce preterm labor and that more babies died when their mothers took the drug than in a control group where the mothers had not been given it.

But jettisoning a long-standing practice in obstetrics involves factors other than evidence, some doctors say.

That says it all, right there. Sheesh. I had it with Faith, my only hospital birth, and it was awful. When I had a chance to research it instead of being bullied by the fearmongers in the maternity ward I stopped taking it and also stopped taking terbutaline and instead went to home bedrest and attention to maternal hydration… both of which are either as effective or more effective at stopping preterm labor than either mag sulfate or terbutaline.

Read the whole thing here.

In through the front door
Over the back
Out through the window
And off jumps Jack!

Under the fence
Catch the sheep
Back we come
Off we leap