Halloween is the child’s New Year’s Eve, the mother of a friend of mine observed, and it’s true. A night starry with a number of significant points: unlimited candy, free candy, dressing up, roaming around, staying up late. Some kids spend most of the year anticipating
Halloween, but mine don’t. Ned occasionally pipes up with a costume idea in July or wonders in September if it’s almost here, but he doesn’t stay on message for too long. And Alex, of course, ignores the whole thing until it’s time to dress up.
It’s a good thing we make our own costumes in this family, …read more

I think this is, potentially, the perfect t-shirt for Charlie.
Yes, I’ve ordered him one.

She Knows has a list of 11 Pro-Autism products; as some of these bear the light blue puzzle piece logo of a certain large autism organization that recently threatened an autistic t-shirt maker with legal action, I guess the “pro-autism-ness” of the She Knows products is open to a bit of debate.
Especially around the time when my son had just been diagnosed and for some years thereafter, I appreciated the “statement” that comes with puzzle-piece decorated items (well not just any, but that’s me). There were a few occasions when Jim and Charlie would be in a store and Charlie …read more

1500.
That’s journalist Arthur Allen’s estimate of how many people were at Wednesday’s Green Our Vaccines rally; a bit smaller of a number than the “close to 10,000” elsewhere noted.
Writing in today’s Washington Independent, Allen—-who’s won a bit more than the ire of the anti/pro-safe – vaccine advocates/crowd with his book, Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver—-reports about what he saw and heard at the rally:
A mother who noted that, without the internet, she would “‘probably not’” have linked her son’s “regressive autism” to the hypothesis that vaccines can be linked to autism.
An almost-meeting with Wendy Fournier of the …read more

“Change the schedule!” This appears to be the rallying cry of today’s Green Our Vaccines rally. CBS news quotes comedian Jim Carrey:
Led by actors Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey, they’re marching against the medical establishment that says there’s no evidence vaccines cause autism, CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports.
“We want to send the message to the CDC and our federal government that vaccinations schedules are not one size fits all for all children and that each child is different,” said concerned parent Michael Williamson.
Their new battle cry: Spread out the vaccine schedule.
“Thirty-six vaccines in the first few …read more