Books, Books and More Books

If you went to any room in our house right now, you would probably find books. We are all big readers in our family. I have loved to read from a young age and one of my favorite series of books to read were the ones by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I think I own pretty much the whole series. With my stepson visiting us this weekend for Lauren's high school graduation, I found a book that he loved to read when he was little, "The Monster at the End of this Book." Last night, I had my stepson on one side of me and Lauren on the other side. I read the two of them the book and they both remember this book from when they were younger. This morning, Dominic and I snuggled up on the couch and he and I read "The Monster at the End of this Book."

It is pretty cool that now Dominic can enjoy the book too. Certain books to me are timeless, like the Dr. Seuss books and Curious George. My favorite author for a long, long time has been Danielle Steel. Lauren likes to tells me, "her books are all basically the same." I like that though. To me, it brings me comfort, because I kind of know what to expect. My real life is very unpredictable. My stepson owns a Kindle and Lauren has read books on an i-Pad. The hubby and I still prefer what he calls the "printed page." Here are some books that belong to the five of us. Can anybody guess which book belongs to who???

One of the happiest days of my life was when Dominic got his own library card. He has kind of come "full circle" from throwing a book across the room to being able to check out his own books. For several months, I have been bugging my local library to start having a special needs story time. Back at the beginning of April, I got an e-mail from the "youth services specialist" for the library system. They have trained some employees to work with special needs children and hope to have a story time for the Fall of 2014! I was super excited to get that e-mail. We have been going to our local library for just about as long as we have lived here. Lauren and I even got our picture in the local paper a LONG time ago!

We love our local library, I'm in there at least once a week :) I can't wait to see what books they will pick for the story time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments

A Book Every Autism Mom Should Read

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Mainstreaming and Inclusion

The hubby and I were discussing the other day how special education students were treated back when he and I were in school. He remarked to me that in his time, they were "hidden away" from the rest of the students. When I was in elementary school, I can remember seeing the kids in those classrooms pass by us in the hallway. I don't ever recall seeing them in the lunchroom or playground. I'm so glad that times have changed. Even though Dominic is in a "self-contained" special education classroom, he does get to go to the art, gym and music classrooms. He also gets to eat lunch in the school cafeteria. He loves hot lunch on Thursday - pizza!! Given Dominic's abilities, he is able to be "mainstreamed" into the general education classroom for small amounts of time. Every moment he is able to do that gives me so much hope for his future. I absolutely love what Dominic's current teacher is doing. He has started a peer-to-peer progra...

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Dominic at least a few times a week will tell me, "need to call Bella's mom!" Who is Bella you may ask? Here is the answer to that question: I first met Bella shortly after Dominic's first grand mal seizure. She and her mom approached me at the Meijer grocery store back in June of last year as I was grabbing a milk jug out of the dairy case. Dominic and Bella go to the same middle school. I have never forgotten what Bella's mom told me that day, "I would love to get our children together and be in Dominic's life however much you will let us." Bella's mom has the most generous heart and has passed on those values to her three children. Bella and Dominic made sugar cookies last summer: When Dominic had a choir concert at school and neither Lauren or my husband could attend, Bella and her mom surprised us after the concert! The number one thing I admire about Bella is how incredibly compassionate she is. There is a respect a...

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