Catchup

Maria is fine.  She is the same as ever.  She is unable to leave anywhere and I mean anywhere without screaming and crying.  It's very wearing.  I've tried everything - telling her how long it is until we leave, talking to her on the way there to explain that we'll have to leave at some point, just - everything.  How hard is it to leave somewhere?

One of the problems is that she's tired.  She has been staying up super late, as has Veronica, and they still get up at the regular time (7:30 ish) and they're beat.  Then around 2:00 every day they turn into demons and they stay that way until they fall asleep, sometimes in the car, sometimes on a tabletop.  It's insane, I'm hoping it has to do with the hot weather and time change and will right itself.

Ted Talk

Ugh, I just watched this video on Youtube.  I'm sorry but I think this woman, Alicia Arenas, is a JERK.  A friend of mine posted it on Facebook and I went and looked at it after I put Felicity to bed.  I'm so mad now and I'm going to try to not think about it because I have to get some rest tonight.  When I saw it on my friend's Facebook feed, I saw in the introduction to it, it said the speaker lost one brother to the world of autism, and one to a terminal illness.  What does that mean, lost to the world of autism?  At first I thought maybe something happened to him, maybe he died, like being hit by a car or something.  That is one of my big fears, because in this book that I read a long time ago, one of the kids has autism and later in his life he gets hit by a car and dies.  Anyways, no, it just meant LOST to the WORLD of AUTISM.  You know, because her brother wasn't THERE anymore.  He was LOST.  Vomit.

Then I watched the video and if she said she was HEALTHY and her brother had AUTISM one more time I was going to make a time machine, fly back in time to this Ted talk and smack her.  Some woman on Twitter, she said, was HEALTHY but her brother had Asperger's.  ASPERGER'S!  God!  If someone with ASPERGER'S is unhealthy, what would this jerkstore say Anthony was?  At death's door?  AT THE DOOR OF DEATHLY AUTISM?  God.  People are jerks.  She is such a patronizing jerk, I can't get over it still.  Anthony is not unhealthy because he has Autism.  Maria is no healthier than Anthony because she doesn't have autism.  LORD.

"Parents", she says, addressing ALL OF THE PARENTS, EVER, OF HEALTHY CHILDREN AND UNHEALTHY CHILDREN, "if you ask your child how they're doing and they say they're doing fine DO NOT BELIEVE THEM!".  Ugh.  UGH.  They're called Glass Children because their parents look right THROUGH THEM because they are so focused on their special needs child.

So.  Maybe Maria behaves the way she does because we LOOK RIGHT THROUGH HER.  Anthony is in school from 8:freaking 30 until 4:freaking 30 every day of Maria's life, practically, while Maria is off to ballet and playdates and preschool.  Maria waltzes in to every room she ever enters and says HI I'M MARIA to whoever will answer.  Maria is going to grow up and go through school and go to college and get a job and maybe get married and maybe have kids and boo hooo hooo, lady, I can't feel too sorry for Maria.  You know what might be worse than being a GLASS CHILD?  Having AUTISM!  And maybe never going to a regular school, and maybe being called a retard and maybe having your sister go to a big talk and tell a lot of people how MISERABLE your EXISTENCE made her.

Anyways, despite being a GLASS CHILD, whom I ignore all the ding dong day while I think about my UNHEALTHY LOST BOY, Maria is doing just fine.  OR MAYBE THAT'S JUST WHAT SHE SAYS!

Nails

 Isn't she adorable?  This is a trippy picture, right?  Her eyes look huge and so do her hands.  On Saturday she asked me if she could get stuff on her nails - she has been painting her own nails with any Sharpie she can find for the last few weeks and she must have put it together that you can go get them done.  She might remember my manicure I had right before I had Felicity, or maybe someone in school has their nails painted?  Anyways, as recently as two weeks ago, I was swearing I'd never take a four year old to get her nails done and there I was, Sunday, taking Maria. 

Our weekends are so long.  She asked and I figured why not.  My friend Jessie was saying that she takes turns taking her two daughters out to eat and to go shopping and how much they liked it and I thought maybe it would be good for us to do something like that.  So on Sunday I told her I'd take her and I did, she was SUPER cute.  The girl that checked us in had two different colors on her nails so Maria wanted it too, pink and blue.  My favorite color and her favorite color, she said! 

She drives me crazy.  The negotiations are INSANE, the constant crying if we can't do what she wants, she never, ever wants to leave anywhere, she falls asleep late in the day and then is awful when she wakes up, on and on I could go about her but I swear I could say as many good things.  She makes us laugh so much, she's so smart, she's gorgeous, she's sweet 100 percent of the time with Felicity and 50 percent of the time with Veronica, she is a good, good girl and we're so lucky to have her.  So I figured what's $10 to get her ding dang nails done?  I'm glad we did it!