Marley's Magical Mind

5 months old Can't handle the cuteness !!! Kids with autism usually are very particular about what they eat. Most of the time I feel it's because of sensory issues in their mouth, and because of this some of them do limit what they eat, sometimes so severely, that it could result in nutritional deficiencies. When my daughter was born she was never a hungry child. I remember when Marley was few weeks old she fell asleep for five hours and did not wake up to eat. I actually had to wake her up to eat. Being that she is my first child I thought it was normal, but I soon discovered that it was not.  At this age children usually wake up every 2 to 3 hours to feed, and they are very hungry.   She never finished the appropriate amount of formula for her particular age. I tried breast-feeding but she would not latch on. I later found out, through Marley's neurodevelopmental pediatrician,  that children with autism have difficulty latching onto breast-fee...

My daughter Marley with my nephew Shawn. What are the realities of autism being genetic.  I am not an expert on genetics or anything like that, but I do know that autism has affected my family.  My 2nd cousin is 16 years old and diagnosed at a very early age with autism. Just recently, I discovered a few photos of my grandfather. In each photo he was not looking at the camera.  It wasn't a situation that he was looking away by accident, it was an intentional 'can't look in your eyes' type of situation.  When I asked my mother about him and his tendencies, she admitted that, now in hindsight, my grandfather had stimming tendencies. He would pace back and forth, just like Marley, and rub his fingertips insistently.  He would do this for a long while, and people around him would notice and comment. My uncles would occasionally tease him endearingly.   I also know that my husbands aunt, although never diagnosed, had severe tendencies leaning towa...

I decided to start this blog in order to post some of my masterpieces...yeah, right... that I have made with my own two hands. I have always enjoyed using my hands to create and build things that were running through my head. Sometimes I get it in the first shot and others, well, not so much. I like to make jewelry, paint furniture and renovate my house.  I have been living in Howell, NJ for 5 years now and loving it.  I am originally from North Bergen, NJ.  I enjoyed my time in good old North Bergen, but it's so close to Manhattan that it now resembles it.  So off to the boondocks, or so my mom likes to think, I went. Howell is not the boondocks...lol... I have a mall 7 minutes away and lots of strip malls on route 9.  Tons of restaurant and a top notch school system.  My daughter is in special education and she is thriving in the Howell school system.  They have a very good Autism program. I will try to post every week with any projects that I st...