Knitters-Knitters

Etta in her Swetta

It's fun to look at the finished product, all perfectly blocked and photographed in the best light I have at my disposal in the Great Lakes, just slightly enhanced with the "saturation" feature on Picasa. 

 

But there is nothing as satisfying...

...like seeing it on the baby herself.

I had a difficult time saving and resizing these photos when they came into my inbox because I kept passing out cold from cuteness, hitting my head on the keyboard, waking up and then forgetting what had caused me to lose consciousness in the first place.

Etta, as the Faithful 163 know, is the second baby of Teacher Emily, Olive's first teacher at Autism Academy.  Emily sports the original blonde ponytail, and was the keeper of the Sacred Notebook

She is the good experience that led to ready acceptance of this good experience...

...and this one.

When I look at Etta in her sweater, I wonder what it must be like to cut one's mothering teeth on teaching special needs children, and then, give birth to a neurotypical child.  It must be like learning to drive on a stick shift with manual steering, windows that need to be rolled up and down with a crank handle, and no turn signals so that you actually have to hang your arm out the window in the manner most people only use once: during the driver's test.  

Then, suddenly, you're driving a late-model Lexus with power everything and a built in GPS and keyless start.  Or maybe you're sitting in the backseat of a town car while someone else drives -- it's that easy. 

Or maybe you're a little extra concerned about your child's development since you know stuff that the average first-time mom doesn't.  That one morning when you're baby's just in a cross mood and doesn't give you the level of eye contact you expect, maybe you panic for a moment and need to be reminded that even 'nother kids have their "off" days.

I'm currently at work on a baby blanket for a baby-boy-on-the-way.  He will be the first child of one of the aides in Olive's classroom.  This aide has spent much of the past year in the ladies' room with Olive, which is a hard enough task when one isn't in the midst of a pregnancy that involves morning sickness.

The front of the blanket is all Kidsilk Haze, done in a slip-stitch pattern and limited to colors that feel boy-appropriate.

I made a similar blanket for baby Baley two years ago, but as you can see, on that one I went crazy with the pink and purple and ruffles.

The backing of the boy blanket is Swans Island merino, just a simple combination of stockinette and garter stitch. 

Here you can see the tacked down mitered edge border, which will continue all the way around the blanket. 

After blocking, I'll probably sew a big X in the middle of the blanket (using tiny stitches that are hidden by the slipstitch haze), going from corner to corner, to hold the two layers together.

Olive's Classroom Reports from Yesterday and Today

Need I say more?

Full Circle

A long time ago, a small, nonverbal person named Olive, her My Little Pony lunchbox and a tube of hydrocortisone cream went to Autism Academy.  Her mother worried--a lot. Autism Academy was approximately 5 million miles away and she could not imagine anyone in this strange uncharted territory would understand her little Strange-o, who spoke only the language of salsa and hand-pats.  

To say Olive enjoyed school would be misleading.  After the first day, she began pulling her mother to the back door upon waking.  And then, when her mother came to school to pick her up, Olive would sit gently on the floor and remove her shoes for a ceremonious kicking fit of displeasure.  On weekends she'd nudge her mother repeatedly with the My Little Pony lunchbox.  Let's mobilize! Time to go to school!

As the weeks went on and the mother had more occasions to visit Olive in school, she realized Olive had an entire social life she knew little about.  Olive had preferences.  She had favorite activities she'd never have experienced at home, like swinging in the sensory swing, frolicking with massive and specially trained dogs, and swimming lessons.  She learned to sort, which sounds like a small thing but really isn't, and she learned how to sit in a chair and wait.  Sitting and waiting is such a huge accomplishment that I'll insert a paragraph break here...

... to give you time to absorb its magnitude.  No one likes sitting in a chair and waiting, but until one can do this it's hard to learn much else.

Olive made friends.  There were children she was more simpatico with than others, and her family enjoyed seeing Olive's reaction when they mentioned her favorite children by name.  They also liked to see her smile when they mentioned the names of her teachers and therapists.  She was clearly fond of all of them, but there was one teacher so beloved, so special, that Olive did not like her family to mention her at all and would do head-standers on the couch in a show of disapproval whenever her parents dared to speak her name aloud.  Teacher Emily was not just Olive's friend: she was the teacher by which all subsequent teachers would be judged, the lead writer in the Sacred Notebook and preferred applicant of Fluticasone and Aquaphor.

Now, this mother knew that Teacher Emily had read her blog during Olive's time at Autism Academy.  But she did not realize Emily was still reading until one day quite recently when she materialized in the commentbox, coaxed into breaking her silence by the sight of Olive dancing at her Siddur.  You can imagine this mother's delight when she discovered that her child's first teacher had been there all along: from Autism Academy to her less-than-spectacular year of public school, onto her triumphs at Camp Ramah and Keshet, to field trips and first days, and yes, to IEP meetings.

Teacher Emily now has her own baby girl.  Tye has big blue eyes, just a smidge of blonde hair and some fancy pink leg-warmers.  She likes hanging out in her sling and chilling with her new pals in her Bucktown Moms playgroup.

And how do I know all this?  Teacher Emily has a blog.

Sunday, Monday, and Ron Nemesis

Here's Sabina's confirmation class, in its entirety.  8th grade boys look like a completely different species than 8th grade girls, don't they? 

A shot of the crowd.  LB's mom is on the left, in the green shirt and black sweater.

Here's a lovely picture of the seed stitch, ruffle-edged scarf I knit two years ago, with Jo Sharp silk georgette yarn and 2.5mm needles.  Also pictured: LB and his parents.

LB, his parents and the 4 middles:

Here's Sabina being baptized.  The shiny pastor on the left is more or less responsible for our coming to this church.  He arranged for Olive's Sunday School class to have a extra teacher (his wife!) so that Olive would always have a 1:1 ratio, preemptively planned for Olive's supervision so that LB and I could both attend membership classes, and somehow makes it feel as if we're the ones doing him a favor.

On Monday Olive had school and the rest of us went on a tour of Autism Academy (home of the Sacred Notebook), which LB's parents had never seen.   It was wonderful to see Judy (the program director), Jeni (speech therapist), and the lady at the front desk who always had a special hello for Agatha (my usual drive companion).  Teacher Emily was occupied with a student having a bathroom issue, so we did not get to see her.  It's noteworthy that in the year since we've been gone, the players at Autism Academy have remained the same. Olive's current classroom has had 4 staff changes since she's been attending.  Each change has been met with backsliding, periods of sleeplessness and increased anxiety.  And Olive didn't much care for it, either.  Her aide, Miss Sally, has been our rock.

After the academy tour, we went to the pond across the street and saw my old nemesis:

I'm reminded of a book or a story I read in which the main character has a nemesis named Ron Nemesis.  But where did I read this, and who wrote it?  I asked LB if  it rang any bells, and he said, Sounds like Chao.  It does indeed sound like something from the writings of Tom Chao.  If it's yours, TXC, weigh in and claim it.

We broke into study groups and took pictures.  The best candids happen when the subjects are posing for someone else.

The four middles, again:

Agatha collecting dandelions:

Dandelions tend to shrivel in captivity, so the children left them for the next visitors to the pond...whoever they may be.

On the Solid Side

The first of my formal stockings is complete!  Here it is, modeled by Sabina.  It took an ungodly amount of time to make; I can only hope the second one goes faster. 

Still, I think it's pretty impressive.  It looks even better leaving than it does arriving.

I gave it extra ribbing to avoid the dreaded pooling of socks around ankles.  The yarn is Jitterbug merino--I think the colorway is called Dune--and the pattern is From Knitting Vintage Socks.

Since this pattern involves a lot of row counting and concentration, I'm indulging myself in a background Knitting Project.  I work on it in the car, when I arrive at Autism Academy early.  This will be, many rows from now, an Elizabeth Zimmermann Bog Jacket: the kind with the gathered back.  I'm also envisioning a little button tab thingie at the center back, and may even break out a few of the vintage buttons I received for Christmas.

The yarn is extra, extra special.  It's Sweet Grass Wool from Montana, and was hand dyed in Australia by the lovely Suse, whom I met on a blind date.  It occurs to me that this yarn is more well-traveled than I am.  The pictures on Suse's blog shows the colors much better than the photos I took: variegated green and plum, both Olive-ish and girly.

In other knitting news, this photo of Miss L frolicking in rural Iowa shows that the Mesosmock craze is clearly sweeping the nation.  Or at least, the Midwest.  Is she not the cutest thing ever, with her little braiders-braiders flying? There are double the number of Mesomocks in existence than there were last month.  You better knit yours soon, before the Mesosmock becomes recherche.   Thanks to Miss L's mom, the pattern now has a few corrections.  Click here to see the new and improved version.

Now that Winter has officially (and finally) given way to Spring, a young girl's fancy turns to switching boyfriends.  Apparently David Florez-Perez is so last season, and has been replaced by a fellow we'll call, oh, how about Niles?  From The Sacred Notebook:

5/1 Olive had a great day. :)  Olive and Niles took turns initiating the teeter-totter outside with the other one.  There was Olive-Niles eye contact, then one would go to the teeter-totter, and the other would go to the other seat, and the two would bounce for a bit (all with no adult prompting).  Talk about COOPERATIVE PLAY!!!--Teacher Emily

Olive's taste in music has changed, too.  Judging from her reactions, T-Pain and L'il Wayne have been replaced by Nat King Cole.  She's especially partial to Volume III of the Trio Recordings, and does all sorts of snapping, clapping and shouting of LA LA LA! when we listen on the way home from school.

I searched YouTube looking for a good version of Olive's favorite song, Just Another Blues, but couldn't find it.   I did however find this gem, which proves--at least to me--that it's possible to have a crush on more than one fellow at a time.

Sacred Notebook Catch-Up

On Tuesday, Olive and her class went to see Seussical, the Musical.:

4/15 Olive was so much fun to watch during Seussical!  She was really excited.  Her eyes lit up and she watched happily, sometimes in her seat, and --when it was just too exciting--some standing up.  Olive giggled very appropriately throughout the performance.

Olive seemed to really enjoy the blackberries today, and was excited for the sandwich.  We are almost out of pull-ups here.

As far as pottying goes, after talking to the TA's, we think Olive is wet 1-3 times per week and uses the toilet once a day here.  She is really great at sitting, and her self-help skills have come a very long way!  We'll keep working on requesting potty here!  Teacher Emily

4/16 It is only with great reluctance that I am giving Olive over to Lauren, our new OT.  My time with her has been so rewarding and I will always look forward to seeing her but I am taking on more Early Intervention clients and will be at the Academy only one day a week now.  Olive has made so much progress and brings such joy to the school!  She is able to focus and attend to activities visually and physically and is really involved in her day.  She taught me that salsa is a great motivator for fine motor skills (I didn't know!) and that flour makes great indoor clouds.  Lauren is great, but I'll still be around for consult whevenever needed and to catcth that beautiful smile of hers.  Jody--OT

4/17  Today we started our family related activities in OT/ST group.  Today was all about "me."  We started out by singing, dancing and waving scarves around to music.  We also spent some time looking at ourselves in the mirror; labeling body parts, playing imitation games, and generally seeing what we look like.  After that we checked out pictures of ourselves.  Just like in moning  circle, we had to select our picture from a group of pictures.  We used glue sticks to paste our photos onto poster board and then traced the letters of our names.  Next week we will put the rest of the family onto our posters.

Olive really did nicely today.  She enjoyed her picture and posting it onto the paper.  In the mirror she watched herself but also was attentrive to her friends. - Jennie, ST

Olive was really happy today. :)  In free time, she traveled to request "book" w/a picture.  She was very excited to read with me.  Have a great weekend!  --Teacher Emily

The Flour, the Flour!

Last night LB and I watched The Celebration, a Danish movie with English subtitles.  The fact that we viewed the entire thing believing we were watching a Norwegian movie with English subtitles was embarrassing, yet amusing enough that I'm willing to admit it here.

This time I'm going to break my tradition of flagrantly dropping spoilers right and left, because I really want you to see this movie--if for no other reason than to help me sort out how I feel about it.  I'm gripped by two equally strong compulsions: one to view the movie a second time, and one to gouge out my own eye with a runcible spoon.  That may sound dire, but when I saw Million Dollar Baby--considered by many to be a great movie--my only compulsion was to do the latter.  Perhaps the greatest irony of  The Celebration is that though most scenes take place over a multi-course meal, it will not make you hungry.

I had expected to carry this film with me for an unpleasant amount of time, or at least, until I had a chance to replace the images therein with several reruns of Frasier.  But then, Olive had a very good day at school, and the Sacred Notebook entries for today had the same effect as a few bons mots from Niles and his big bro.

4/9 From Teacher Emily: Olive did REALLY well at work with me!  She matched photos with 100% accuracy, no prompting.  She also only needed 2 prompts total for the left-to-right routine with six tasks!  Olive and two friends had a great time--smiling, giggling, very engaged with EACH OTHER--playing with flour in the sensory table.  Olive seemed to love it, and she made great eye contact back & forth.  It was much more like co-operative play than parallel play. 

(This was surprising to me, because one of my greatest aversions is the sensation incurred by stirring batter or cookie dough, and having clouds of flour fly up out of the bowl and onto my person.)

4/9 From Jody, OT: Olive is improving in her work at her station with needing less tactile cues (tap at elbow) or limiting the pieces so she doesn't just toss them around. Nice focus, great smiles, and I am pretty sure when I asked her if she was "all done," she said yes.  Wow!

Will Work for Pudding

3/5 Olive did a nice job attending today and imitated a clap upon request during circle.  She also participated well during circle-time songs.  Just so you know, Olive has been pointing to a classmate's chocolate pudding at lunch.  She didn't eat it here for awhile, but we could try again if you'd like.  She seems to really enjoy her own food, too, and has been motivated enough by it to use pictures to request.  :)  Teacher Emily

3/6  Olive needed prompting to use her pudding picture at lunch today (it has been awhile!) but then she devoured it in less than two minutes!  She appeared to really enjoy it and spent time scraping the container clean.  We got a kick out of her reaction!  Also, the salsa was much easier for Olive to handle today. :) Thanks!

Olive did a fantastic job at work today.  She is mastering new matching tasks at a rate that is hard to keep up with!  It is really exciting. :)  Teacher Emily

3/6 Olive did the pudding in, as Emily said.  First she took David Florez-Perez's, but when I opened her book for her choices and reviewed the pictures, she was on it.  Olive is sitting and attending for longer times these days.  She's really doing well in OT, from fine motor to washing hands.  Today with cuing to keep going, she cut a 12" piece continually and then started up again to finish (with cuing) 2 strips-36" long.  I would squeeze her hand to help her get going again for the scissors (spring loaded) but she did great.  Judy, OT

From Scratch

Citrus Mesosmock is almost done!  I'm going  to be sad to see this one end.  So sad that I may have to immediately make another, in purple Malabrigo, for Sabina.  When this smock is complete and blocked, I plan on retracing my steps and writing out exactly what  I did.  I'll type up my pattern here so that if any of you are inclined to make one yourself, you can join me. :)

In other news, Olive got scratched on the chin by a friend at school today.  It's funny how the mind works: when Teacher Emily told me about this turn of events, my first thought at hearing the word friend was that a particularly aggressive Quaker had scratched my child's face.  It is a very small scratch (thoroughly disinfected, of course) and apparently, this sort of thing is not unheard of at preschool.  It's Olive's first negative 'Nother Kid experience, but I'm guessing it's more upsetting to be the parent of the scratcher than the scratchee.  Nonetheless, some chocolate may be required to facilitate recovery.  And I'll probably give some to Olive, too.

Other than that (Mrs. Lincoln...) Olive had a very good time at school today.  From The Sacred Notebook:

Olive was terrific in our OT/ST activity today.  Bird songs played while while they painted/decorated birds on the wall.  She waited her turn, requested which decorations by pointing, and really enjoyed all of it! --Teacher Jody

Olive had a great day today.  She was really happy.  She seemed to really enjoy using a brush to brush the therapy dog!  She was ALL smiles. :) --Teacher Emily

Love of Travel

Given the ill health over here and ensuing lack of creativity on my part, it seems like a good time to play catch-up with the Sacred Notebook.  In fact, it's not really a good time to do this, because we're in the midst of an ice storm which means Olive is home from school today, everywhere, all the time, and requiring a level of supervision that can only be described as constant. 

Sometimes she likes to impersonate the other children--hiding in plain sight, as it were--and lull us into a false sense of harmony.  Look how nicely they're all working together!  How it warms a mother's heart!  Following the click of the shutter, Olive snatched Dana's pencil and ran into the living room, cackling.

1/31  Olive did a fantastic job using PECS today! In free-time, she opened her book, found the picture of stringing beads, and traveled across free-time to give the picture to Roseann.  In the bathroom, Olive took the picture of lotion off the wall and handed it to me.  Later, she took the lotion picture out of her book and traveled ACROSS THE ROOM to give it to an adult TWICE--once me, once Megan.  She is doing a great job!  She has also been very consistent in matching her transition pictures for fee time and potty.  She's doing a GREAT job!

Olive is out of salsa here.  She would eat a bottle a day if we let her. :)  By the way, Olive seemed to absolutely LOVE the curry she had for lunch yesterday.  It was the most attentive we have seen her while eating!

Ed. note: all emphasis above is Teacher Emily's.  Apparently this traveling thing is a very big deal, and a good thing--not at all like traveling in basketball, which is kind of like cheating.  Her willingness to have Emily apply her lotion (Olive has chronic eczema) is a little surprising, since at home, any mention of the word lotion is followed by shrieks and the pitter-patter of little mousefeet taking off with the speed of a Japanese bullet train.  But we suspect it's related to the giant girl-crush Olive has on Teacher Emily. 

2/4 Olive did a great job requesting today at lunch using pictures.  She was really motivated by the meat. :)  She traveled, one time, to request lotion this morning.  Olive also requested salsa several times today at meals, but she's out here.  I think she would enjoy more, although she is eating other foods here, too.  Olive went potty again today!

Me again: the Peruvian Gentleman is out of Olive's preferred brand of salsa.  We tried another kind, but this was met with stern disapproval and throwers-throwers.

2/5 Today at circle we sang "If all the raindrops," and Olive did a great job sticking her tongue out, just like the adults. :)  She was very happy today!  Also, this afternoon in the gym, Olive walked from the middle of the gym over to the wall to get the picture of "bubbles" and brought it over to Jennie!  Yay!  Olive's dress went into the toilet...sorry...

Late yesterday afternoon, Olive had her weekly visit with Cate, her speech pathologist.  Cate got very excited and squealed a bit when she read the notebook entries referencing traveling.  Cate is not an all-caps, exclamation point-y, smiley-face drawing, yay writing sort of person, and sqealing is so un Cate-like that my first thought was she'd sprung a leak.  You can understand why LB and I are very encouraged. 

I mentioned to Cate that Olive wouldn't eat the other brand of salsa I'd sent to school with her and Cate said (not squealing this time but nonetheless pleased), "Preference is a cognitive skill."  I like that.  Boy, it's a shame I don't know anyone who does machine embroidery, because I think that would look nice on a long-sleeved T-shirt in girls size 5.