What Makes Me Special

I want to talk about this so you can know how I am special.  I’ve been thinking about doing this for about a day or two.  This is important to talk about because it might teach people how to do something good. What I think is that people are special when they know what they’re good at.  I’m good at three things that are special.

#1–Remembering the time.  I remember what time you need to be able to show up for meetings, church services, or classes.  Dear parents, don’t forget to tell your kids about the time thing, so they can remember what time they have to go to school.  It’s important so you don’t be late.  This makes me special because I can remind people when they think things are at a different time.  I’ll explain.

This is a true story about me telling the time.  When I was on a vacation at kids church camp, we were in the play room.  I was asking Mr. Jon what time it was.  Mr. Jon said it was 8:57 AM, and it was three minutes to nine, and that was the time when morning service started.  Mr. Jon thought it started at 9:45 AM.  But I was right.  Mr. Jon looked at the schedule and he knew it started at 9:00 AM.  So we hurried to the church, and we were almost late, but we were there when it was less than a minute to the service beginning.  It made me feel good.

#2–I’m good at finding things that other people need help with finding.  This is a story of when this morning Mommy asked me for help with finding a missing puzzle piece with a straight edge.  She looked for it herself three times over the past two days but couldn’t find it.  Then I helped her, and in a few seconds I found it!  Mommy was surprised that I could find it so quickly, because she was looking where I found it but couldn’t see it.  But I could see it!

#3–I’m good at eating healthy.  Eating healthy is really important.  Eating healthy helps your body grow stronger.  It’s also good for your brain.  Especially, when they’re autistic brains, or other kinds of brains that are not healthy [due to neurological developmental issues].  

Aaron’s Question:

Now, I have a question for YOU.  What are the things that you are good at and make YOU special?  I would like to know.  Please leave a comment.

Advertisement

Our Trip to Family Hope Center (FHC)

Family Hope Center (FHC) is a good place.  They help kids with hurt brains.  They want you to eat healthy and to do a program called therapy.  I only know one fun way to do therapy–building with blocks while I’m crawling and creeping.  The stuff in therapy I do is:  reflex bags, crawling, creeping, smells, Egoscue*, reflexes, hyperbaric chamber, listening therapy, and my favorite…eating healthy food!

We go on a plane to Philadelphia and drive to Norristown to eat at Applebees.  And if it’s a Tuesday night, we get to see a Cartoon Magician named KooKoo.  KooKoo goes from table to table and does magic tricks.  He has a really long tongue that he pulls out of his mouth.  It was really surprising, and I jumped.  When I go to Applebees, I eat two kids mini cheeseburgers (no
bun!) with a side salad (no onions, no dressing, and no croutons), and tomato-basil soup.  Sometimes I like to eat adult-size grilled chicken, two sides of broccoli, a side salad and tomato-basil soup.

We sleep at Homewood Suites and then the next morning we go to FHC.  When we first get there we sit and wait for Matthew, the leader of all the doctors at FHC.  There are other families there, and I made some new friends.  Matthew leads a short meeting and tells the families who they will go see first, and then we go to our first appointment.  My first appointment was with Mark.

Mark tested my sight by asking me to follow a toy with my eyes without turning my head.  I did hearing guesses.  Mark made a sound, and I had to guess where it came from.  Then I did some smells.  I guessed what the smell was.  My favorite smell is Jasmine.  Mark also tested my crawling, creeping, kicking, throwing, catching, hopping, and my reading and writing.  Mark is a nice man.

After we were done with Mark, then we met with Dr. Kristin.  She makes sure I’m healthy.  She weighed and measured me (I grew an inch!), and she listened to my heart and lungs, and other stuff.  I told her about how I had chickenpox and she told my parents that she is happy that I am naturally immune.  She was happy that I’m so healthy.

Then we got to go eat lunch.  When I came back, we met with Dr. Barry.  He does craniosacral myfacial therapy.  I laid on a table, and he put his hand on the back of my head and neck.  I felt relaxed.  [Mommy’s input:  Part of this is to measure Aaron’s brain cycle…the brain contracts and releases–breathes in and out–and a lot of people have a cycle with very low numbers, they like to see the brain cycle be 100+, and Aaron’s was 175, so he’s doing good!]

Then after Dr. Barry, we waited a long time for Jennifer who was working with Mark to add up all my scores from the morning evaluations.  It was boring!  The first day was over 9 hours.  Then we went to dinner, back to the hotel, and then started all over again the next day.

On day two, we met with Greg.  Greg helped us know what to do for therapy.  Then we met with Carol, and Carol told me that I’m getting close to defeating autism, and she told me that I should never call myself autistic again.  I do therapy to help organize my brain, and she told me that she thinks I’m ready to start school.

Then we went to lunch, and after lunch we had a Skype meeting with Dr. Kristin to talk about yummy, delicious, and healthy food.  She had me draw a circle on a piece of paper, which was like a plate, and she asked me to draw a line down the middle.  On one half of the plate should be vegetables.  Then I drew a line to cut the other half of the plate into two parts, which should be protein in one-quarter, and fat in the other quarter.  Eating healthy is easy.

Then when we were all done, my sister and I got to pick out a prize.  I picked a rubber snake and named him Sizzle.

Now I’m home, and I’m happy, I guess, to be doing my therapy.

*Egoscue is something we’re doing in addition to the FHC program to help Aaron’s posture.

Aurora’s Wishes–CONCLUSION

Aurora’s Last Spirit

When Aurora was back in bed, he thought about what he did to Gund, and then Aurora’s last spirit arrived.  “Who are you?” asked Aurora.

“My name is Peter.  I’m an armadillo.”

“Well, Peter, it’s nice seeing you, but I should get some more sleep,” said Aurora.

Peter said, “Come with me.  You’ll be able to sleep later.”

“Where are we going?”

“We were doing what the first spirit did.  We’re going to your past,” Peter answered.

Peter took Aurora to his past, all the way to when Aurora and Gund played Hide and Seek together.  “You know this place, Aurora, it’s your home.”

“What about my home?  Why did you bring me here?”

“Do you remember when you played Hide and Seek with Gund?  You know that you tricked Gund for the second time and made him even more upset than you did the first time you tricked him.  And on the cruise, you made Gund really upset and you lost your friendship.”

“Yes, I did,” said Aurora.

“Aurora, don’t you know that God really loves you so much?”

Aurora asked, “Who’s God?”

“He’s your real God and wants you to be good, and He teaches you to love people, and you didn’t love Gund at all.  You were selfish by never giving Gund a turn with the flaming sword.”

“Oh no!  Will you please give me one last chance?”  Aurora begged.

“You do have one last chance, but remember, if  you don’t give Gund a turn with the flaming sword for the fourth time, you will have the heaviest chains on you.”

“I’m sleepy, and I’m awfully sorry for what I did to Gund.”  As Aurora said this, the spririt, Peter, vanished, and Aurora was back in his cabin on the cruise ship.

Aurora’s Last Chance

It was about 7:00 a.m. when Aurora first got up.  Aurora remembered that he had one last chance, and he was about to go down and tell Gund about the flaming sword.  “Gund,” Aurora whispered.  Gund was waking up and was startled by Aurora and Gund asked, “What are you doing here?  I will not take anymore of you saying that I will be poor and you will be rich.”

“I was wrong.  I’m really sorry.  This is my last chance.  Will you forgive me and take a turn with the flaming sword?”

Gund said, “Yes!”  He wished on the flaming sword.  He wished that he and Aurora will be friends again.

The Message from John

Gund’s great-great-grandfather said, “Here I am with you, and you and Aurora are always friends.  You can have three more wishes.  Aurora is all done with the wishes except for one.  If Aurora asks you for a turn with the flaming sword, then you say yes to Aurora and don’t have the arguments.”

Gund said, “I will.”

And we come to the end of when Aurora and Gund became friends forever doing all the stuff they can do with their wishes from the flaming sword.

THE END

Aurora’s Wishes–Part 4

The Big Loud Giant Voice

When the day passed, Aurora was very happy that he said to the sword that Gund will be poor and he will be rich.  But then, when he started getting his pajamas on, he heard a big Voice calling to him, “AURORA! COME TO ME AURORA!”

Aurora was very scared and was shaking a lot.  Aurora tip-toed closer to the Voice and the Voice got louder and Louder and LOUDER and LOUDER.  Aurora saw nothing.  He just heard the Voice .  He shivered and told the Voice , “Stop scaring me!”

The Voice said, “Sorry,” and then it told Aurora how he’s been treating Gund.  “Aurora, I don’t mean to bother you, but I talked to Gund about how you never let him have a turn with the flaming sword and how you kicked him away from you.”

“But this is just a big misunderstanding, Voice.  I was just getting tired of Gund asking me for turns with the flaming sword.”

“Wasn’t it because he didn’t say ‘please’ enough?” asked the Voice.

“No,” said Aurora, “I just didn’t like the way his voice sounded when he asked.”

The Voice said, “The sound of the voice doesn’t matter, even if you don’t like it, you need to be proud of Gund because he is your friend and he wanted you to have the sword.  And Aurora, tonight you will be visited in your dreams by three animal spirits, and you need to listen to them, and you need to do what they ask you to do, or you will have the heaviest chains on you forever.  Farewell, Aurora.”

The First of the Three Spirits

Aurora climbed into bed, and when the clock struck 1 AM, the first animal spirit, a giraffe, came to Aurora and tapped his stick on the table to wake Aurora up.  Then Aurora woke up wondering what it was.  “Who are you?”

“Why do you ask, Aurora?  You know me.  I’m your cousin.”

Aurora looked at him and said to the giraffe, “Ardien?  You are my cousin!  I’ve known you since way before I knew Gund.  I haven’t seen you in two years.”

“Haven’t you shared with Gund?”

Aurora asked, “What is sharing?”

“I will show you what sharing is all about,” Ardien answered, “I’ll take you to your past.”

Aurora said, “I can’t go out there, I might drown.”

“We’re going out the window,” said Ardien.

“I can’t go out the window!  I will fall and drown and get really freezing,” Aurora said.

“You won’t fall.  You’ll be able to fall all the way to your past.”

Ardien took Aurora to his past to show him how he met Gund on the beach in Florida.  “Wait!” Aurora said, “It’s just me all alone.  It’s just a picture.”

Ardien said, “Remember what happened in Florida?  Remember how you met Gund?”

Aurora remembered how Gund thought he was a monster and how Gund gave Aurora the flaming sword.  He remembered how they read the label together and Aurora remembered his first big argument with Gund on a strong rainy day.  It was way too wet to play.  He remembered how Gund asked him for a turn with the flaming sword, and he kicked Gund out of the house and slammed the door very hard.

“Do you think that was nice?” asked Ardien.

“No, it wasn’t nice.  I want to cheer Gund up.”

Ardien said, “Remember Aurora, you are the one who made Gund very sad and scared.

Aurora’s Next Spirit

When Ardien disappeared, Aurora’s next spirit began to appear.  Aurora knew it was Gund’s great-great-grandfather, John!  At about 2:15 AM, John began to tell Aurora what he’s going to do to Aurora.  “Aurora, I am coming up with a punishment for you.  I am going to kill you with some spray that makes you dead.”  And there was a machine that sprayed the spray, and Aurora was really panicking a lot because he didn’t want to die.

When the spray hit Aurora’s face, he began to become dead.

Aaron’s Note:  Remember…this is just a dream.  This is not really happening to Aurora.  All the spirits are just a dream!

In the next part, we’ll meet the third animal spirit…

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

Aurora’s Wishes–Part 3

The Flight to the Ship

Gund and Aurora got ready by packing the things they needed for their Alaskan cruise.  Gund was getting tired, but as soon as he walked out of the room, he remembered that he needed to bring a coat.  Aurora remembered the flaming sword so that Gund would have a turn to make a wish.  He realized that he really did trick Gund before.

When Aurora and Gund met together at the airport, they got their suitcases on the conveyor belt to take them to the bottom of the plane.  Gund and Aurora went to a restaurant to get something to eat, and then they went to the boarding gate which was C15.  As soon as they got on the plane, the plane took off and flew all the way to Canada, and the next plane flew all the way to Alaska.

Aurora and Gund got on board the boat, and when the boat sailed away, they went to their cabin and unpacked their stuff.  They talked to each other about what they brought and they enjoyed themselves.  They had quite a discussion about who would get the top bunk and who would sleep on the bottom.  They decided to take turns sleeping on the top bunk each night.

Fun on the Alaskan Cruise

On the third day of the Alaskan cruise, Aurora and Gund tried to relax and think about what they should do.  They looked at some videos on Gund’s iPad, and they knew what they wanted to do–EVERYTHING they saw.  They went to see some bald eagles, and then they got to run on a spinning log, and then they rode on a dog sled.  Then they got back on the boat.  They played some games and then saw a show in the theater.  Aurora ate some pizza and fish, and Gund ate a hamburger and pizza with Aurora.  They had lemonade to drink.  They were having a lot of fun together.

The Reminder of the Flaming Sword

The next day on the Alaskan cruise, Aurora and Gund got up and got ready for the day on their vacation.  Gund suddenly remembered that Aurora brought the flaming sword along, and he thought they could use it for the day.

After breakfast, Aurora and Gund talked about what they should do for the day.  10 minutes after they started, Gund reminded Aurora about the flaming sword.  Aurora asked, “What about it?”

“Well, Aurora,” said Gund, “maybe if it’s okay, could I have a turn with the flaming sword, please?”

Aurora thought about it a moment if Gund said, “pretty please,” and “pretty pretty please,” and “pretty pretty pretty please please please.”  Aurora thought about it and knew that he tricked Gund for the second time.  Aurora told Gund his answer, “Well, Gund, you see I tricked you again, so I will get another turn, and you will never get a turn.”

Gund got really sad and cried a lot and asked Aurora why he could never have a turn with the flaming sword.

Aurora told Gund, “Because I’ve had enough of you asking me for a turn with the flaming sword, and in the meantime, you and I will never be friends again.  You will be poor, and I will be rich,” Aurora said very meanly.

Gund cried and ran away from the cabin all the way to a place where he could be alone, and Aurora wished for the third time that Gund would be poor and he would be rich and that they would never be friends again.

Author’s (Aaron’s) Note:  If you’re a little bit worried, people, things will turn out alright.  But I want you to be aware that the scary part is almost here, but it’s going to teach Aurora the lesson.  But it’s not that scary.

Aurora’s Wishes–Part 2

For Part 1, Click Here.

Aurora’s First Wish

It was a strong rainy day, too wet to play outside.  It was thundering all over the beach.  Aurora didn’t know what to do.  Then he remembered the flaming sword.  He wished that it would stop raining.

“Hey, Aurora!” Gund said, just as Aurora was going to start his wish, “Can I have a turn with the flaming sword?”

Aurora thought about it, and he told Gund a lie, “Well, Gund, maybe next time you can have a turn with the flaming sword.”

Gund asked, “Are you sure?”

Aurora said, “I’m positively sure.  Now get out of here before my face gets hot!!”  Aurora slammed the door at Gund and then he made his first wish.  “I wish that it would stop raining,” Aurora said to the flaming sword.

Gund was walking home, startled by the slammed door, he was happy to see that the rain stopped.

Back at Aurora’s house, Aurora was happy that it was true that the sword really does grant wishes.

Hide and Seek

On one warm summer evening, Gund thought that Aurora could play a game with him.  Gund thought they could play hide and seek.  So Gund went to Aurora’s house and asked him if he’d like to play hide and seek.  Aurora said, “Sure.  Where should we play?”

“I think we should play here,” Gund answered.

They started the game.  Gund counted to 20, but when he got to 4 he heard Aurora start his second wish.  Gund asked Aurora, “Can I have a turn with the flaming sword?  I thought you said that this time is the next time.”

“It was a joke!”  Aurora said, “Let’s keep playing.”

Gund started over but was really upset that Aurora broke his promise.  When Gund got to 20, he shouted, “Ready or not, here I come!”

Gund was still a little bit sad that Aurora wouldn’t give him a turn with the flaming sword this time.  Aurora’s wish was that he would find the perfect hiding spot.  Gund still found Aurora, and then Gund asked, “Can I have a turn with the flaming sword now?”

Aurora said, “I’m going on a vacation tomorrow.  Would you like to come?”

“Where are you going?” Gund asked.

“I’m going on an Alaskan cruise.” Aurora told him.

“Sounds like fun,” Gund said.

“I have to warn you,” Aurora said, “that it’s really cold in Alaska.  We have to bring coats and stuff to keep us warm, and I’ll bring the flaming sword so you can have a turn while we’re on vacation.”

Gund said, “That would be a great thing.  Be sure that you’re telling the truth.  I have another question, how long are we staying?”

“I think about ten days.”

So Gund and Aurora started packing for tomorrow’s trip.

Aurora’s Wishes–Part 1

Introduction

This is a story written by me and my mommy.  It is a part of Aurora and Gund’s Memories that I told you about in my blog post, Meet Aurora and Gund.  I hope you enjoy the story.  This is not the whole story.  It’s only the first part of the story.

 

CHAPTER 1–The Birth of the Flaming Sword

In 1804 there was a burning ground made from a war.  The fire was started by Gund’s great-great-grandfather, John.  John started the fire to kill the bad guys.  John was from the country of Dogland.

The bad guys were from Repexco, and they were trying to steal the Doglanders stuff and kill them.  So, John lit a match and threw it on the ground to keep the Repexcoians away.  It worked.  The Repexcoians ran away from the fire.  They were afraid of the fire because this was a powerful fire.

As soon as the Repexcoians ran away, John and the Doglander army put out the fire, and as the fire died down it formed a flaming sword.  John picked up the flaming sword and gave it to his son, his son gave it to his grandson, his grandson gave it to his great-grandson, his great-grandson gave it to his great-great-grandson, and John’s great-great-grandson is Gund!

CHAPTER 2–Aurora’s New Gift

Aurora is one of Gund’s best friends.  They met when Aurora was crawling around on the beach in Florida.  Aurora was worn out, and then he saw a puppy with light brown fur whose ears and nose were dark brown.  The puppy was walking around the beach, and when the puppy saw Aurora he was scared because he thought Aurora was a monster.  So, the puppy ran away.

Aurora felt confused.  He didn’t know where the puppy went.  The next day the puppy saw Aurora’s friendly face, and he went over to Aurora and said, “Hello!  My name is Gund.”

“Nice to meet you, Gund.  My name is Aurora,” he said.

Gund said to Aurora, “Nice to meet you Aurora.  Would you like to see something?”

Aurora asked, “What is it?”

Gund said, “My flaming sword, and it’s for you.”

“Why do you want to give it to me?” Aurora asked.

Gund said, “Because I don’t know what to do with it.  You look smart.  I bet you know what to do with it.”

Aurora was very happy and excited, and he said, “Thank you so much.  Where did you get it?”

“I got it from my father.”

“Where is he?  Didn’t he tell you what to do with the flaming sword?”  Aurora asked.

Gund said, “I’m afraid he forgot, and sadly, my father passed away.”

Aurora said, “That is very sad.  The sword must be very special.  I don’t think it’s right for you to give it to me.  You don’t know me very well.”

Gund answered, “I can tell that we will be very good friends, and I really want you to have the flaming sword.  Maybe you can find out what to do with it and then you can teach me.  How does that sound?”

Aurora noticed something.  “Hey!  There’s a label on the sword.  Let’s read it.”

Gund said, “I never noticed that before.  Yes, let’s read it.”  The label said:

This sword has the power to grant four wishes to each person only one time in their life, and you are to share one wish with someone.

Aurora and Gund became best friends.  They said goodbye to each other and went home.

(To Be Continued…)

 

 

I Like to Eat Healthy Foods

I like to eat healthy foods because they’re so delicious.  They’re also good for you too.  I am on a diet called GAPS.  GAPS diet is a healthy diet that takes me off of grain, sugar, and dairy, and I get to eat delicious healthy foods like a shake my mom makes for me with frozen berries, avocado and protein powder.  I also like to eat spaghetti, but my spaghetti is made from meat, pasta sauce, and in the summer, the noodles are zucchini noodles, and in the winter time my noodles are from spaghetti squash.

For breakfast I eat a hamburger with no bun and a slice of cheese, and I also eat peas.  Sometimes I eat soup for breakfast.  I also eat leftover spaghetti, and leftovers from dinner.

For lunch I eat lentil soup made from lentils, carrots, celery and bone broth.  Sometimes I like to put meat in the soup, and that changes the name of the soup.  If I put hamburger in it, it’s called “Quack Soup,” when I put meatballs in it it’s called “Aaron Soup,” and if I put chicken sausage in it it’s called “Chicken Sausage Lentil Soup.”  When my soup has chicken in it I call it “Lento and Chickeno Soup.”

For dinner I have salmon cakes, and sometimes I have soup, and also I have some, well, there’s lots of foods I eat.

I like to eat dessert too, but they’re not ordinary desserts.  My desserts are like snack food.  Normally I have tomatoes for dessert.  Sometimes I have yogurt with sliced apples, but my yogurt does not have any sugar and it’s plain, and I like to sprinkle cinnamon on top.

I eat so healthy that I don’t even try to eat one pinch of sugar.  Just remember about what I said about eating healthy.  Eating healthy is about eating healthy and delicious good food.

Meet Aurora & Gund

Aurora is an alligator who likes to make friends and play games.  His best friend is named Gund.  Gund is a dog who also likes to play games and make friends, and he also likes to make crafts, color, and teach people lessons.

Their favorite thing to do is to play games together and go to places of imagination.  They also put on puppet shows.  There are two types.  The name of the first one is “Aurora and Gund’s Learning Center.”  The other is “Aurora and Gund’s Memories.”  The  Learning Center teaches you all kinds of stuff like you do in school.  The Memories are stories that you can laugh and enjoy the beauty of imagination, and it also teaches you lessons.  There are some puppet shows of their Memories that you can see, and some you can’t see.  The shows you can’t see are icky memories, and I don’t want to show those.  I only want to show the good ones.

Some of the Lessons are like, “Aurora’s Wishes,” or “Aurora’s Health Care.”  We will be posting these stories later, so you’ll have to wait.  It’s not always Aurora who teaches Gund a lesson.  They both learn lessons, because even lesson teachers have things to learn.

Breakfast

Aaron has chicken and squash soup for breakfast.  Quite a switch from cereal!