Five Things on a Frozen Friday

1. I spoke to a gym full of kids and their families from Sherwood Heights School in Auburn, Maine last night. At the end, several mothers who have children with autism came up to talk to me, and one gave me three bags of limes as a present. The limes are tiny, about the size of a chestnut, but there are 50 of them. What are some possibilities for 50 little limes?

2. Milo is going to the groomer today. I haven't told him yet.

3. I was touched by this newspaper article.    A teacher at East Irondequoit Middle School in the Rochester, New York area  invited her husband, an assemblyman, to come in and talk about a bill he has sponsored about autism and insurance. All 200 seventh graders had just finished reading Rules.

Early intervention is expensive and insurance companies would like to look at it as educational, so it isn't covered. But when you're a parent, that puts you in a terrible position--go into debt or don't get your child the services you're told that he needs. I'm glad states are addressing this. And I'm glad that students are being shown these hard questions--they will be the decision-makers for the next generation of children with autism.

I emailed the school and told them how impressed and honored I was by this.

 
Some of the kids from East Irondequoit Middle School with Assemblyman Joe Morelle

4. My yard is a skating rink. The conditions have been perfect to put a glossy layer of ice over the snow.

5. Hot Rod Hamster made the South Carolina Picture Book Award list, Touch Blue made the Pennsylvania Young Reader Award list, and Rules made the Illinois Bluestem list. I love the kids' choice awards, so this was a great surprise.