—Anna-Marie— “Science, art, community, and nature make manifest that bad will or mistakes can lead to progress, like Bob Ross on his show The Joy of Painting reminding us that when we make big mistakes on canvas, we can turn them into birds—‘Yeah, they’re birds now!’” […]
Tag: autism
My Name Is Tobin
—Tobin and Anna-Marie— Our son Tobin is a sweet, determined, loving, and ornery little six year old. He is also nonverbal and on the autism spectrum. A couple of years ago, we made a little video and had our son Knox introduce his brother, explaining Tobin’s likes, dislikes, strengths and struggles. These were based on […]
Better
—Anna-Marie— We were cleaning out a used fish tank my brother had lent Knox. Knox wants to spend his birthday money on two aquatic turtles and begin a new hobby with a freshwater tank. My sister Alexa had come over to help me lift the tank and empty the existing gravel from the bottom of […]
Words
—Anna-Marie— Growing up, I was scolded for one thing far more than any other—talking. I’ve just always had so much I want to say. It’s like the valve between brain and mouth has always been open for me. And the same is true for writing. I remember I used to have this red felt-tipped pen […]
The Greatest Risk
—Anna-Marie— It happened so fast. Usually I can pick up on the signs and have time to redirect or move us to a safe location. But this time, I missed all the signs. We were sitting, breathing in the September night air, enjoying the last few moments of one of Knox’s baseball games. Brian had […]
Noticing
—Anna-Marie— One of my favorite things about all the extra hours we get to have together during the summer has been watching my boys love each other. I see these moments during other parts of the year, but there is something about the summer slowdown that really allows me to breathe it in. So much […]
That Time I Told God He Didn’t Know What He Was Doing
—Brian— Actually what I said had an expletive in it and Anna-Marie won’t let me lead with that. But I want you to know where I was. I said it. And I meant it. I feel like I do a good job keeping my cool. I’m not uptight… I stay pretty relaxed… And I don’t […]
Tobin and I
Our eight-year-old, Knox, is an “old soul.” There is just a knowing that he has… like he can feel people and situations. He’s still an eight-year-old, full of laughter and fun and light, and he still makes mistakes… he’s not perfect but he is so Good. He’s been through heavy himself, and heavy with us, […]
Seeing
—Anna-Marie— Tobin has a hard time with eye contact. Lack of eye contact is one of the markers for autism. It’s also one of the markers for attachment issues in children who are adopted. I can remember those first months Tobin was home, how I would always try to get his eyes. I’d play the […]
It’s Not About the Scene. It’s About the Story.
—Anna-Marie— Last year, for Autism Awareness Month, our then seven-year-old son Knox and I worked on a video project as a way of trying to spread awareness of autism during the month of April, along with shining a light on our sweet Tobin. We worked together from the start. I interviewed Knox and recorded the interview. Then […]
