Trying Something New - Tuesday Texts

I had the idea a few weeks ago to start posting some of the texts Beth sends me and the family. Sometimes they make me scratch my head, others make me laugh.

 

I don't remember how old she was when she got her first phone, and I keep forgetting to ask Sharaya and Diana. I'm sure they would know. We showed her how to text and if I remember right she just texted for a long time. Didn't do a whole lot else with her phone. 

 

Today she texts, plays games, takes pictures, listens to music, watches videos... she's learned a lot over the years!  

 

I'm going to try to post the actual text but if I can't for whatever reason, I'll write them with the same punctuation she uses.

 

When we were sick last month ~

 

Beth: i don't know if I want to go to all aboard tomorrow and wednesday to

 

Me: Should I cancel DART? 

 

B: Yes please

 

Then two days later ~

 

 

Don't you love the way she spells bananas? I've shown her how it's spelled but she always writes banan's. With the apostrophe too! She's listed the item and how many she wants of each. The 'blog cheese' is a block of cheese. I can't get her to buy cheese sticks, she wants to cut it herself at home. Cheddar and sour cream chips. 'Soft backed' is soft baked cookies. She buys the same things, in the same sizes every time. 

 

She was disappointed she couldn't go that day, she loves to grocery shop!

 

Autism, Puppies and Technology

Ken called the other day and said he'd like to have the memorial in San Diego on Mother's Day weekend. It will give him enough time to continue working on the house and would be a nice way to honor my sister. So now I'm scanning photos to make some posters to take down with us. Instead of taping photographs onto display boards, I guess the thing to do now is to just have some posters made. Upload your pictures and they print collages on any size poster you want. It will definitely be easier than packing all the photos, then buying the boards once we get down there.

I went down to the waterfront the other day and saw this guy 'greeting' everyone who walked, jogged or drove by.

 

Special Connections is going well. We have two boys - brothers - who absolutely love the class. They refuse to be with the typical students and even ask me to close the door when the other kids get too loud in their room across the hall. They are both on the spectrum but often hug me and tell me Sunday is their favorite day of the week. It does my heart good!

The boys with our other teacher, playing with kinetic sand

 

Poppy is growing fast and learning all sorts of things: sit, stay, come, don't eat that! Let go of my finger! You know, typical puppy stuff. We took her for a walk a few weeks ago and she became so overwhelmed by the people, other dogs barking, traffic (she's just 4 months old) that Diana had to carry her the rest of the way home. She won't be able to lift her much longer!

 

Beth got a new phone. She dropped her old one and the screen cracked. Not just the protective cover but the actual screen. She wanted a Motorola since that's what she's used to and was so concerned she would lose all of the information on her old phone. She was so relieved to find out they would transfer everything to the new one!

 

That's about all from here. I hope you're doing well and are enjoying this last bit of winter.

Texting

For many years Beth has answered my texts with one word, usually 'Okay'. Sometimes spelled okey. Sometimes it's Yes or No. Or 'Thanks' or 'Yes I did'. Just simple answers, one or two words.

Beth lives at a slow speed. She walks slower and when she does chores around the house it takes her longer to do them than it would you or me. At the grocery store it takes her a while to get all her groceries on the conveyor belt thing.

But technology isn't something she has to do quickly. She can sit at her desk for as long as she needs to figure out how to send a photo or change her ring tone. And she loves her phone!

We've given her a laptop but she just never used it. We've tried getting her to use our laptop to get on Facebook but she just doesn't want to. But using her phone, that's a whole different story!

To be honest this is something I never even considered when Beth was born. Our concerns were about her sitting up and walking. Not 'Will she be able to navigate the internet?' The internet hadn't even been invented yet! Yet she has just grown with the times and learned the technology right along with the rest of us.   

In the last 6 months or so I've noticed her texts are becoming more complex. She combines two topics and uses various words.

Instead of always answering with 'Okay' now she'll sometime use 'Alright'. And it's spelled right too!

I sent her Diana's birthday list.
"I got it already mothera"

Do you want to watch the movie with us?
"No thanks I'm good"

I tell her I'm going to Safeway.
"Okay and can you get my lunch for Wednesday please"

"Can we go to Safeway and dollar tree after work is done please?"

"I do want to go shopping for groceries and new cd player and batteries to"

It's been kind of fun! 

One of Her Favorite Things

Beth loves to shop. She'll often ask me if we can go shopping and did you know there are different kinds of shopping?

There's grocery shopping. 

There's running errands where you go to the drug store for cough drops and EmergenC or to Home Depot for a hammer. 

But her all-time, absolutely favorite kind of shopping is 'shopping for fun' as she calls it. That's completely different from all other kinds of shopping! Well, today we went shopping for fun.

And she came home with a brand new phone.

She's been downstairs playing around with it and learning to text again. You should have seen her face when I showed her all the emojis!! She is so happy!

When was the last time you went shopping for something fun?

Beth and I Were Both So Ready

Over a year ago now, Beth somehow broke the charging port in her phone. All 3 of us had the same phone so we'd switch batteries with her. Then we decided Chuck would get a new phone and Beth could have his old one. But two weeks later she broke that one! So for many months now, (too many!) her and I have been switching the batteries in our phones. Usually once in the evening and then in the morning before we head out for the day.

Course there were times that I'd forget and as I'm headed out the door to work, Beth would desperately call out, "My phone is dead!" Oh yea! Back inside to switch batteries. I ended up taking a charger to work cause so often I'd leave the house with no power!

We'd unlock them, take the back off, switch batteries, put the back on, lock them in place and then turn our phones back on.

Twice a day.

Every day.

For about a year.

But ya know, it's life. You deal with things. Then a couple weeks ago I dropped my phone. I was at a friends house and dropped it on the sidewalk. Of course.

Now some of the letters on the keypad don't work as well and the 'go back' button doesn't work. So we decided it was time for Beth and I to get new phones. YES!!! We are SO excited! Still Androids but with more memory, longer battery life, a better camera AND I finally get to get the Instagram app!! I have an account on my laptop, but haven't been able to post anything cause you have to have the app in order to post. (My old phone didn't have enough space.)

Well, our phones arrived today!! While Chuck and I were out walking I got a text from Beth, "The package arrive already right now Mothera!" Hers is the white phone with the pink shell. They're charging tonight and tomorrow we get to use them! We are both SO excited!

Two Weeks?!

I think this is the longest I've gone without an update. Lets see, since I wrote last...

Beth pulled a muscle in her back and couldn't walk upright for a full day. I put some Icy Hot on her back and when she woke up on day 2 she was much better. It was interesting to watch her go through that though. She's never pulled a muscle before and now she's always talking about "Bean careful when I bowl." "I took my shower and I was careful my back." I think middle age might be showing it's ugly head.

I've noticed Beth has become high maintenance lately. We're still dealing with the alopecia and I put cream on the bald spot on her head a few times a week, plus I'm brushing her hair everyday now. For many years, she put it in a tight ponytail (she'd spend her day pulling it tighter and tighter) but the doctor thinks that might be the cause of the alopecia. So to cover the bald spot I pull her bangs back into a small 'soft' ponytail and let the rest of her hair just hang down. Before I go anywhere, I have to make sure I've taken the time to brush her hair. That's something she's done for many years.

The cell phone situation. I think I told you that she's broken 2 phones now. She somehow broke the port where you plug in the charger so now I charge my phone, then we switch batteries and I charge mine again. I have to make sure my phone is fully charged at all times then right before she heads out the door we switch batteries. So I charge mine at home, in the car, at work...

Beth and her boyfriend broke up. But then got back together again. But maybe just as friends, not really sure. :)  I thought I heard Beth crying downstairs and went down to see. She was laying on her bed sobbing. I sat down next to her and asked her what was wrong. She lifted her head long enough to say, "N broke up with me!" Then continued sobbing. It broke my heart to see her like that! His mom and I had made plans to get the two of them together so I called her and asked if she thought it was still a good idea. She called N over and he told her that Beth is 2 years older, so he broke up. His mom laughed! "Oh N, that's no reason to break up! Do you still want to meet with her?" He said yes so their 'date' is still on. (It's planned for the first week in December. I promise to let you know how it goes!) A few days ago I got a text from Beth, "I'm back with N again."

All is right with the world. :)

Beth at around 15