Am…musings

I just read this touching, inspiring love story by Lynn Harris in my March Glamour. About a couple who found love despite their autism, it’s the stuff sappy Valentine’s posts are made of, but that’s not what this is.

Blissful love stories (and Hallmark commercials) have the power to make me weep, but this story induced tears of sadness and a bit of rage. It was this section exploring the difficulty one of them faced growing up:

Even as Lindsey’s speech caught up and her talent for playing piano emerged, she developed habits typical of autistics: staring for hours at the fibers of a carpet, for example, or performing soothing rituals like stepping on cracks in the sidewalk. Classmates teased her mercilessly, and she’d come home with kick me signs on her back. Real friendship seemed painfully out of reach for the eccentric, awkward girl who came across as blunt. In high school, when another student asked Lindsey what she thought of her new makeup, Lindsey recalls, “I told her it looked fake. She became silent, and I knew I had blown it.” Depressed, Lindsey burned herself with a curling iron and cut her arms with safety pins, hiding her injuries with sweatshirts.

I don’t have kids, but I imagine there’s a tendency to think my child would never treat another child badly. But kids can be mean – likely because they don’t know better or because they themselves want to fit in and going along with the crowd seems the easiest route.

Please parents, teach your children kindness, humility and most importantly – empathy. Different isn’t wrong, and everyone needs love and support, particularly people – like Lindsey – for whom life is challenging enough. And it has occurred to me that maybe this is a fitting Valentine’s post … use this day that celebrates love as an excuse to have a conversation with your kids about compassion.

I think most would agree … toddlers aren’t quite as adorable as the doll-babies I pictured earlier. But when I bought the cute outfits for Ella and Rachael on Etsy, I also found the coolest t-shirt for Braedon, Ella’s cutie brother. Here he is … although he’s not modeling his T, but he is doing a fun science project with his daddy!

The shirt was from Toddler Virtues …

A firm believer in all of Toddler Virtues’ virtues … especially “tolerance” (the shirt pictured and the one I snagged for little Braedon) … I really appreciate this Etsy seller’s mission. The shirt was also very well made and the customer service was excellent.

I don’t have a ton of toddlers in my life so I can only buy so many and want to spread the word. And please, if you haven’t shopped all the other vendors on Etsy, check it out!

Today I spotted a photo my friend Keith posted on his family blog. It was of his adorable daughter Ella in an adorable outfit yours truly sent to celebrate her birth (even though in typical fashion I sent it like four months after she was born) …

I decided to use the photo as an excuse to write about an awesome site. It’s called Etsy and it’s “a place for buying and selling all things handmade.”

I love arts and crafts and for that reason, I adore this site. It supports artisans (they are individual sellers that pay Etsy a reasonable fee) and allows me to buy really cool things.

When I bought Ella’s outfit I also bought one for my friend Natalie’s new daughter Rachel …

This seller is Bella Claire Baby and I highly recommend them … the clothes are adorable and well made and the customer service was fantastic (I actually have only had wonderful experiences with all the Etsy sellers I’ve dealt with).

Happy shopping! (And perhaps if you make handmade items and want to join Etsy, happy selling.)

Trooper is going to doggy day care. The idea is to let him play with the big dogs and get so tired that he ceases the Chewy ass kicking I’ve mentioned.

I dropped him off on my way to work this morning and then totally … and I mean not one more thought … forgot about him.

For some unknown reason at three minutes to 6:00 p.m. – closing time for Silver Maple Farm – I remembered. And completely panicked. It would take me more than three minutes to pack up and get in the car and at least 10 minutes to get to him.

After getting no answer at the kennel, I envisioned poor, lonely Trooper in the kennel all weekend … at a great cost to me (thankfully Stray Rescue is paying for the day care, but something tells me my negligence would not be covered). I jumped in the car and when I was almost there, was relieved to receive a call from the kennel checking to see if I was on my way.

After Trooper was safely snoozing in the passenger seat, I began to wonder if this – my undeniable scatterbrained-ness – isn’t one of the reasons I haven’t been graced with children (and ideally a husband to help me raise them).

Sure, I’d like to think it would be different when it came to a human being … my own flesh and blood no less … and not a dog. But honestly … I’m not so sure.