Tall-Tism, Small-Tism, & “Down-Down”

I worked for the SC Dept. of Disabilities for 8 years, and I still have friends there. From time to time, Sarah will overhear a phone conversation with one of them, and she’ll hear us throwing out the names of some disabilities. I also have a cousin whose baby has Down’s Syndrome, so she understands some about that. Loren, my youngest, shows some signs of having a mild case of autism. She’s going to be evaluated later this month, and I‘ve been talking some with family and friends about it. Sarah’s little brain is like a sponge. She just soaks up everything she hears. When we were in the grocery store yesterday, we saw Frankie Weaver, a man that attends my “home church” where most of my mom’s family goes. Sarah has seen him several times when she’s gone to church with my mom, so she recognized him. By the way, Frankie is the uncle of our hometown pride and joy, country singer Josh Turner. So here’s a shout out to Josh Turner, his family (including those down here in Hannah, SC) and all his fans out there. GO JOSH!! We’re so proud of you!!

Anyway, Frankie is REALLY tall. He’s like 6 ft. 4 in. When you’re 6 (Sarah‘s age), that seems like a GIANT. I met Frankie when I was 8, and he was the tallest man I’d ever seen in person. I met him when his sister was my teacher in 3rd grade. When we were loading our groceries in the car, I was telling Sarah how I knew Frankie, how he was Josh’s uncle, etc. Of course we talked about how tall he was. She piped up and said, “Mama, he must have TALL-tism (sounds like autism.) I had to snicker. She just kills me the way she puts things together. A few days later we saw something on TV with a midget, or to be politically correct, a person with dwarfism. Sarah said, “Mama, he must have SMALL-tism.” I shook my head and laughed.

Another night she was telling me how my uncle let her name his cat’s kittens. She named one of them “Down-Down.” Why, you ask? Well what a silly question! The kitten’s eyes are kind of slanted, so he looks like he has Downs Syndrome. I thought I’d fall out the chair laughing at her.

Cheap Kitchen Makeover

Loren has decided that she likes bologna. If the refrigerator is open, and she wants a snack, she goes for the drawer with the meat and cheese in it. She pulls out whatever she’s in the mood for. Usually it’s cheese, but today the bologna won out. I cut it up into smaller pieces for her, and let her feed herself, which Miss Independent prefers anyway. I was on the computer, and I glanced over at her standing in the kitchen. She was taking pieces of bologna and sticking them to the wall. I guess she was conducting an experiment to determine whether they would stick to the wall or not. They did indeed. Either that, or she figured the kitchen needed a cheap makeover. Look out HGTV! I’ve got a creative one on my hands!

Bath Time Funny:
Don’t Drown Your Kids!

Tonight when the girls were in the tub, I washed Sarah’s hair. She’s old enough to wash it herself, but sometimes she just wants Mama to do it for her. This was one of those times. I kept telling her to tilt her head back so I could rinse her hair. She’s 6 now, so she knows the drill. She wouldn’t cooperate, so I just doused her one time, thinking she’d get the point. She looked at me, just as serious as anything, and said, “It’s important not to drown your kids when you wash them." I had to shake my head and laugh.