"How to Dance in Ohio" and Molly's latest hot date!

As a parent of a daughter with autism, I sat enraptured by the newly released HBO documentary "How to Dance in Ohio". Even I, with all my 18 years of first hand autism expertise, learned things. Like it would SUCK to have autism. The difference with this group of adults in the film was that they are all verbal and can talk about their anxieties and confusions. Unlike non verbal Molly who can't share those inner turmoils. While watching the film, for the first time I kind of felt blessed that she can't talk. That's so selfish isn't it? But gosh when you hear how confusing life is and how much we take for granted.....NOT knowing what her struggles are is a bit of a relief for me.

A wonderfully patient psychologist (or maybe psychiatrist? I can't recall) has a weekly social group for both young men and women on the autism spectrum in Columbus, Ohio. There is a fabulous scene that depicts their social anxieties in a funny way. He asks the group how they are feeling right then. No one wants to answer when he says "Who wants to go first?". One girl finally meekly raises her hand and says "I will go last" (gosh that's how I always felt in school). So the psychologist goes around the room and says "Who wants to go 2nd to last. 3rd to last".....until finally the 7th to last person was the first person to have to answer. Made me laugh.

I also loved a scene when one of the girls arrives late to this gathering and the assistant quickly pulls her into the hall and fills her in on what is going on in the classroom, that it's okay that she is late, and gives her the expectations of what is happening. I LOVED seeing that that assistant totally understands that group of kids and nipped all possible anxieties right up front.

For 3 months they work towards going to a dance. They practice social skills and dancing. They talk about their fears. They go shopping for a pretty outfit and get their hair done. They have to experience this real life event to learn and grow. And fall and get back up and try again. That is life.

Basically the whole movie you are cringing, smiling, feeling deeply touched and cringing some more by the challenges that these young people face on a minute by minute basis. Can you imagine not knowing how to read facial expressions or even show them on your own face? That you have to practice raising your eyebrows in the mirror to show that you are interested in what someone is saying to you?

They interview the parents and I just loved all of them in their quest to support yet let go of their kids who want independence. The moms felt like my soul sistas and I was touched by their grace and patience and love for their kids. I can't wait to watch the film tonight with Molly to see how she reacts. I'll let you know how it goes.

If you are in Colorado, or want to fly out, I highly recommend the Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival that is November 13th-15th where this film (and many others) will be showcased. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year!  rmwfilminstitute.org

Having just come off Molly's own dance, the movie was very relevant. Here are a few cute pictures from her ARC Halloween dance this past Friday with Spencer. When I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween this year she said "Pink skirt" on her talker. I had NO idea what she meant and then it dawned on me that we bought a poodle skirt when she was in middle school that was still in the dress up box. Was that what she was talking about? So I googled an image and showed it to her. She nodded vigorously. That was easy as the scarf was still miraculously in that box too!! She doesn't own any saddle shoes to truly complete the look but happily put on her new black boots that she wants to wear everywhere anyway. Then she posed so pristinely with her hands clasped which is also new!

With Dad and photo bombing Tucker

Quick photos when we picked up Luke Skwalker

Waiting in line for pizza. She left those ponytails in all night long!! That's a FIRST!

I had to put their arms this way and they barely moved and stayed that way until the last note of the song.


The ARC knows how to throw a fun Halloween party for adults and kids of all ages with special needs. City auditorium was packed with so many fabulous costumes and smiles all around. Students from Colorado College had a dance competition, lead some of the line dances, motivated folks to get out and boogie and were all around fabulous with our group. LOVE that community interaction and support.

10/23: National Mole Day for you chemists. And a tiny mole day faux pas by us!

So apparently today 10/23 is national "Mole Day" and all the chemist geeks of the world celebrate it. There are websites and competitions and gatherings where these mole lovers congregate.  Here is an explanation from the National Mole Day Foundation.

What Is Mole Day?

Celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m., Mole Day commemorates Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 1023), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry. Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Schools throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles.

For a given molecule, one mole is a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the molar mass of the molecule. For example, the water molecule has an molar mass of 18, therefore one mole of water weighs 18 grams. Similarly, a mole of neon has a molar mass of 20 grams. In general, one mole of any substance contains Avogadro's Number of molecules or atoms of that substance. This relationship was first discovered by Amadeo Avogadro (1776-1858) and he received credit for this after his death.

That is all above my head that's for sure! Jack has a project due today where all the kids in his class had to sew a mole and bring it to class to present..... but first he had to come up with a catchy name for it.

He liked this one (Hulk):

And this one

And this one (Frankenstein)

You get the idea.

So I was thrilled when Jack came to me and asked me to help brainstorm ideas.....and teach him how to sew. His teacher had thankfully given him a pattern to use to cut the material; so we had that going for us. I REALLY liked the idea of "Guac-a-mole" because we had an old green t-shirt that he could have used and we could put him in a chips and dip platter and surrounded him with tortilla chips. Jack nixed the idea. He really wanted to sew the "Incredible Molk" but we had no purple fabric just lying around at 8 pm and he insisted that his mole had to have purple pants. So that idea got cut after using a purple marker on white fabric which didn't look so hot. I wasn't sure how he would be able to sew his mole into looking really buff either so it's better that we didn't have any purple fabric.

I am not a seamstress. I can sew on buttons and maybe hem. I have sadly never used my grandmothers sewing machine that I inherited. I never had home eck (I don't even know how to spell it and after a quick Google search realize it's "ec" for economics!). That being said, I have a tiny stash of old clothes under the sink that I use as rags.  Jack's good eyes could thread the needle and I could tie the knot and he was off. 

So these were the color choices Jack had to work with:

The pattern to use

The feet and the nose

The mole prior to inverting and stuffing

So he chose the blue fabric and Googled "Things that are blue" and considered a "Mole-phin" (Dolphin) and ultimately decided on our favorite blue character from Sesame Street "Cookie Monster".....The Cookie Mole-ster. 

It wasn't until Jack was texting his friend about his project, and spell check didn't alter it, that he started dying laughing! He called me downstairs and said "Mom, how do you spell Cookie Mole-ster?" and I did C.O.O.K.I.E   M.O.L.E.S.T.E.R

OMG!!!! 

But too late to change as he's already sewn and there was tons of other homework to be done!

I can't wait to hear how this goes over in class today when he presents it! :)

No tag is safe in Molly's closet

You might have noticed that we have just given up and let Molly wear shirts and sweaters that have holes in them. Her hair is long enough that it mostly covers her de-tagging surgeries on every itchy clothing item that has them. More often than not, I buy cotton clothes that don't have tags, as those are her favorite.

These two, for example, she just cut the tag off and left the stitch of fabric. This is highly unusual and the method that I prefer as there are no outward holes and we can hand these down or donate to Goodwill once she outgrows them.

These two are the more common outcomes and the ones that I just shrug my shoulders over now. She finds scissors and attacks, even if I feel like I have gotten all the itchy parts out, she cuts out the remaining seam. These aren't even donation worthy now.

The only time I get upset about this behavior is when she has raided my closet and cut up one of MY favorite shirts. I like wearing my hair in a pony tail and don't want to have to cover up the holes :)


This is classic hyper sensitivity to texture. She gags over certain foods too. Some kids are toe walkers, others have a hard time transitioning from winter to summer; long sleeves to short sleeves, etc. Molly LOVES the weight of sofa cushions on top of her and dives deep into ball pits for the weight of those bearing down on her.

Do you have any de-taggers in your family?