Fidget Cube Unboxing

Two white fidget cube boxes side by side

Hey everyone! I bought two fidget cubes to have me and the Little Man try them out. I didn't give him his yet, but I made a little unboxing video so you can see all the features and decide for yourself if you want one! 

Grey and black fidget cube sitting in bottom half of opened box

 Watch my video to see it in action!

Introducing the One Quarter Mama Family

Here's a cute video I made to introduce us. It's less than two minutes and fun! Watch it!

 

Tracers, Auras and Other Sensory Overload Experiences

Mashable put together a nice collection of autistic/sensory overload experiences on video. Each video tries to simulate what it's like to be autistic. It's really hard to capture sensory experiences on video - it's the sort of thing where it would be great if people could just spend time in each other's heads. But since we can't, these videos are close enough.

I especially like the taking a walk and Wal-Mart visit videos. My vision does not become as blurry though. For me, I see what I call "tracers" and "auras" (and not the fancy coloured New Agey auras). Also, these experiences are not as fun as they might sound!

Auras are easy enough to describe. It's a fuzzy glowing light, a halo, around people and things. Everything.

Tracers are like a bad seventies music video where lines of light follow any movement of a person or object. So, let's say I were to wave my hand in front of my face. There would be hundreds of hands just like it, like a paper fan spreading out, following its movement.

I also sometimes see flashes of light go past my eyes. I have had my eyes checked by an ophthalmologist and I have had brain scans. There is nothing physically wrong or different to explain why I have these experiences. It's just crazy sensory overload.

Seeing either or both of them usually mean I am tired and/or over stimulated and need to get away to a quiet place quickly. If stuck, I will become dizzy, get a headache and then nauseated. My body will start to ache. This happens often in shopping malls, especially crowded ones. I cannot think straight.

Because of this, I usually stick to small stores. I do a lot of my shopping online. I also completely refuse to buy Christmas presents for anyone but children now - you will not see me in a store at holiday time! Instead I "gift" donations to charities of people's choice - again something easily done with a credit card online and I'm also doing something good. North Americans have too much stuff anyway.

Looking at me, you wouldn't think or know anything is wrong. I continue walking around like nothing is happening, maybe rubbing my eyes more than usual. I may have to concentrate more on where I'm going so I don't run into things and this might make it harder to approach me. I typically don't want my thoughts disturbed, so those people in malls trying to get you to sample something are even more annoying to me.

Add to that the annoying mall "muzzak" and scents from perfume, soap or candle shops and I start getting agitated. Basically, if I have to go to a mall, I run in and run out, getting only what I really need, so I don't get to the overload point. Knowing my limits and having them respected is really important to being able to be productive. Otherwise I could be ruined for days.

Playing with Angry Birds

Today's post was a video I took this morning before getting ready to leave for our first dentist appointment. The Little Man loves making videos and showing people his toys. He makes stories up about them.

Science Is Real

Hubby bought the DVD, Here Comes Science by They Must Be Giants. Do you remember that group from the 90s? They had, like, one big hit and I didn't like it.

Turns out they write really catchy tunes about science-related subjects. Even I am being reminded of my physics class days.

Guess what, The Little Man LOVES these songs! He sings, he dances, he asks to watch it over and over. I really can't complain. If he remembers the songs, they'll serve him well in life. 

What Would You Do?

There are still some good people in the world.

This is a great video from the show What Would You Do? which puts actors in with regular unsuspecting people to see how they react to certain controversial scenarios.

This episode puts a family with an autistic boy in a restaurant, just trying to eat a meal. I was surprised and happy to see how people reacted. It made me cry - just a warning if you're at work/in public. Not that crying is wrong or bad! :)

What Autism May Feel Like

I can't pretend to know what it feels like dealing with a sensory processing issue, but from spending time with autistic people, I can start to get a bit of an idea. I know I can attest to feeling overwhelmed, dizzy and anxious the very first time I was in New York's Time Square. So imagine every day feeling like Times Square and not being able to leave...sounds horrible.

This video from Upworthy.com (I've linked to them before, they post some really good videos!) is trying to give people insight into how an autistic sees the world. Take a look and warning, don't be surprised if it makes you cry!

A Mother and Son Conversation

Watch this video to listen to a beautiful interview between a son and his mother.

It's simply sweet. The son happens to have Asperger's but that's not what makes it precious to me. It's the fact they can be so open and frank with each other. I hope to be able to speak with the Little Man like this, especially when he becomes a teen.

Now I Know My ADD

The Little Man expresses B as D, so I can't remember if I mentioned it, but instead of "bye" he says, "die." Aww, my little Goth boy.
For the ABC song, he sings, "now I know my A D D."

 When he doesn't like something, he puts his hands out and says, "top, top! Whoa whoa whoa!" as in, "whoa les moteurs!" so I guess he got that from me.

 No, I don't sing this song at home:

 He says, "good night, mama," which is the best.

When I ask him, "who loves you?" he says, "Iiiiiiii wuv who, boo boo bee do!" from 
Skinamarinky Dinky Dink:


Is that like, just a Canadian song or an international song? 

Anything farm related is an "ee ii ee ii oo."

He sings Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Bingo with help, but if he doesn't want you to join in, he says, "top, whoa!" LOL

Those Lasting Memories

After my dad died, I got hold of a viewer and my hubby and I sorted through his collection of Super 8 films. They were badly labelled or not labelled at all, so it made for some interesting discoveries (70s porn anyone?)
We finally got through ALL the Super 8s and I brought in the good ones for processing.

The good stuff:

-My parent's wedding
-My sister's first birthday and first steps
-My sister playing in a wading pool with like, two drops of water because my parents were insane and paranoid
-My grandfather and uncle
-A surprise birthday party my mom held for my dad, which he hated and she never surprised him again.

The weird stuff:

-My parents never thought to turn the camera on themselves.
-My mom at work, at Bell Canada, and everyone is smoking in the office.
-My father always shot random women's asses - did he not realize other people would see these things? (and I can just picture my parents watching them together and my mom giving him hell)
-A tape called "Barbara." "Barbara" dances a bit. Then she's on a bed in a bra and undies. Then she puts on sunglasses and a hat and dances some more. Then she dances with a man. He gets a little too grabby and she hits him. They continue dancing. That's the video.
What drugs were they taking? Who the hell is Barbara?


Lessons learned:

-If you own a camera, take pics of *yourself* sometimes because looking at foliage and whatever other stuff you think is interesting is not as interesting as *you* over time.
-Take more shots of *people* and not things.
-Name the files appropriately, with people's names if you can, dates and descriptions, not just "old" or "Montreal." It may be obvious to you now, but it may not be 30 years down the line to someone else. Name footage as if someone 20 years from now needs to know what the heck it is.