My Mouth and Brain DON’T CONNECT

It’s been very eventful few weeks, I wanted to get more artwork out there in the blog-o-sphere but we moved and half of my stuff is in boxes… Then Roots has been going through the terrible twos…. WOW, I did NOT expect this. Then our car transmission died….

We have prints available for sale to help offset the cost of our car repairs, so let us know if you see a painting you like on the facebook page ❤

*waves flag* ok universe I get it.

 

But then some good news came in. We had a terrible experience at the dentist a few months back. Roots has unfortunate genetics for his teeth and had cavities in two front teeth. But he’s too young to have them removed. SO we found a process that will halt the decay until surgery is an option. only “Problem” is that it will turn the decay COAL BLACK… You know we are ok with that. If it will save him the pain of decaying teeth. Two black teeth are not bad until we can get them fixed.  That is great news! Most parents would cringe because a lot of dentistry goes for cosmetic perfection, but I’d rather he be pain free , stress free and happy. Plus Trolls can totally rock black tusks!

OK,  on to the newest comic. Since it is autism acceptance month I thought I would let you into my world. I have a hard time with communication, I experience some verbal apraxia. I mess up words, replace words, dyslexically switch letters. Or use “NOT” words as you will see in the comic.

How does autism affect your words? Do you have any “not words” that you use all the time? I would love to hear them!

*Transcript for today’s comic*

My brain and mouth don’t connect quite right.
Sometimes I lose words, ones that I KNOW are rattling around in there
but they just won’t go from my brain to my mouth properly.
They either get jumbled or St-st-st-stammer or TRANSFORM!
into some other set of words that could best describe what I’m trying to say.
Row boat= Brow oat.
Some of them are pretty funny, some are peppered with “bad words” and some are pretty cute!

Here are a few of my Favourites.
*drawing of a snow plow* This is not a snowplow , its a snow pusher.
Makes total sense right?

This ,usually known only as a “shovel” can also be called , little snowpusher, digger or THAT THING.
(the last one is very descriptive…. ..kidding.)

*addendum HB adds to my list, snowlifter, and snowspatula and spoonie-shovel-thingy.
*drawings of an egg flipper a coffee pot and a hummingbird*
The spatula is the spoonie flippy thingy, the coffee is known as the hot brown breakfasty drink, cothy, or , cofff fffff ffffor cry’n out loud!
A hummingbird may also be called , a little wee buzzy bird.

And the “The Not”
as in:
the not fridge (the cupboard)
And the not door (a window)
Or The NOt Wagon (the stroller)
* the this list goes on and on!! *

As far as I know this is something common to most autistic people I know, a little google confirms its frustrating, but normal for lots of us!
(It does happen to everyone now and again but I find the frequency and severity of lost words is just MORE on a daily basis for myself)
What about you?

 

Love ❤ and a spoon ======(___)

Mae, HB, and Roots

 

 

Neurodiversity Is AUsome

April is coming soon and many Autists or Autistic individuals tend to dread it. It’s autism awareness month and many groups, “Mostly” Autism Speaks tend to take advantage of that.  They have done ALOT of bad and only some good for the autistic communities. So I have decided NOT to “LIGHT IT UP BLUE” and you should too.

*More on that in April*

With respect for; and in support of autistic people please consider wearing:
Red, Gold, Taupe or Rainbows And if you plan to attend events or donate, find out who your local autism groups are! The money and time you donate will go to helping people in your community!

So I have decided to try and show people other ways of supporting autism. I myself am an autistic artist and wanted to show my colours. I’ve made some shirts for you to purchase.
Why not show your colours with our Neurodiversity is AUsome merch. With your purchase, you’re supporting an autistic artist. The AU is also the metallurgical sign for gold which can represent people with autism.

https://www.redbubble.com/…/25791277-neurodiversity-is-auso…

 

For some new views on autism; I have put some links below.

1. Light it up Gold for Autism, Autistics, Acceptance!
https://www.facebook.com/AutisticUnion
2. If that hurts your eyes, try Tone it Down Taupe
https://www.facebook.com/Tone-it-Down-Taupe-446945788708219
3. If red is your thing, Light it up Red…
http://twibbon.com/support/light-it-up-read-for-autism
http://profile.actionsprout.com/o/18D37E

#LightItUpGold #ToneItDownTaupe #LightItUpRed #REDInstead
#DontLIUB #DontBeBlue
#AutismAcceptanceMonth

A huge HUGE THANK YOU!
From this Autistic Mama and Artist

Rootlebug and Mummy’s new coat

This fall when I pulled out my winter coat, I discovered the poor beastie had patch worthy spots , and wasn’t big enough to close around Rootlebug and I to wear him in the winter.

*We’re a baby wearing family, the little one just HATED the stroller whenever we’ve tried and its what works for us, and him 🙂 *

Plus, my coat had buttons, not zippers, leaving me unable to buy a zip in panel

The coats made specifically for baby wearing at the shops I visited just didn’t fit this curvy Mummy, so we decided that we needed something different, something utterly special and a tradition in Canada’s north.

Rootle , Daddy and I researched and looked and decided that an Amauti would be amazing for us, the traditional baby carrying coat from our Northern Aboriginal people.

We really did do a lot of research, and discovered that some Inuit/Inuk don’t mind sharing their traditional wear with mothers of non-Inuk background because they want to share the bond that happens when you wear your children and keep them close.

We wanted to be respectful of the people and this beautiful tradition and contacted an Inuk owned company and asking if they would mind making one for us, because the design of an Amauti is copyrighted to the Northern people with different styles originating in different areas of the North and for different times of year.

http://amautibaby.com/

 

The hard part was looking at our budget, and seeing that there was just NO wiggle room to make this happen 😦

Thats when Honeybee came up with an idea for a giant art sale, a giant Amauti art sale, it would be the first time that I would sell my original art! Excitement!

And this is where all of our friends, family and readers really made us feel extremely loved and so valued, when the sale went up online, friends and family jumped for the pieces they wanted ❤

Within a couple weeks we had enough money to order,

thanks to all of you who bought original art from Rootlebug and I, and printed greeting cards, we were able to buy our Amauti!

PS. If your still interested in greeting cards and art, they are for sale HERE

 

Roots and I wanted to wait until it arrived to tell everyone the amazing news and say a great huge THANK YOU!

To everyone who made it possible for us to have this amazing baby wearing coat ❤

So here we go! Pictures of the grand un”boxing” of our beautiful Amauti

 

 

 

 

 THANK YOU!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween !

I hope everyone has a wonderful day no matter how you celebrate 🙂
Please remember that its EVERYONE’S HALLOWEEN, some kids are non verbal and
can’t say trick or treat, or thank you, some have poor motor skills and may take more than one
candy by accident, and some kids like my brother are over 6 feet tall!
Be kind and remember that even though some people look like adults, they’re really kids *age wise or function* and besides, anyone and everyone who dresses up or performs a trick deserves a treat!

On Halloween as an autistic adult,

I’ve ALWAYS loved Halloween! I loved dressing up because I wasn’t myself for that night, I could be anything I wanted! Anyone!
I could knock on doors without anxiety because I wasn’t me, and literally everyone else was doing it , so I knew I wasn’t bothering anyone X)
I love the pumpkins, and how pretty and twinkly they are in the night, the cool air, the people who dress up to answer their doors and the small peeks inside their small universes beyond the closed doors.
I love everything about Halloween, HOWEVER
It can really be a toss up for kids on spectrum.
I love it, my brother HATES it, he’s afraid of the scary faced pumpkins, and thinks he’s too big, that people will turn him away *kid’s been taller than me for the last 3 years and he’s only 14! *
He has stamina issues like I do, and doesn’t actually eat much candy.
But he loves spending Halloween visiting a neighbour or two, Gramma, and then watching Halloween specials and eating popcorn cozied up at home 🙂

Its all about celebrating the way that makes you feel safe , happy and comfortable!

My little Rootlebug is a cute fall troll!

Honeybee and I are fall spirits this year carrying a little fall troll for Halloween 🙂

Trick or Treat! A joke from Rootles and I for all the baby wearers and Mommies *Mummies?* out there 😀

Life is louder now

22 Weeks

That’s how long HB and I have been parents 💟

22 Weeks, 8 weeks of boobies feeding H-E double hockey sticks, 3 in our little family, 2 wonderful weeks camping, 1 tiny, toothy baby, and countless diapers!

Life is definitely louder now, but I love it 😺

Rootlebug is an amazing little person, I love watching him explore his world in new ways every day. I wake up to his smile and thumping me good morning, and go to sleep to him laughing in his dreams.
💟He is my most wonderful creation!💟

And I’m still a time lord, my second heart just lives outside of me now, vibrantly full of love and wonder.

Life in our spoonie house will never be the same, and I’m so thankful and happy that life is so loud now.

Love and a spoon
💜(___)=======

I AM Vs I HAVE Autism! – A perspective

Hi there everyone!
So, as you know we’ve recently had a beautiful little baby and he’s already making HUGE change happen in our lives. Being on spectrum, its hard.
Its really really really hard, but so worth it!
I love my little Rootlebug to the moon and back! X3
This is the last of the full size comics that you’ll be seeing for a little while *buu, sadface!*
But!
I promise there will still be little things being posted, at least once a month, I LOVE writing/drawing this blog and I’m determined to keep it going even if its slowly as we adjust to our new lifestyle led by baby 🙂
Things will just look a little different thats all!
I don’t know what I’ll get to draw, it could be short little one panels, or maybe more like a strip from the papers, super simple, or maybe just illustrations with my thoughts blogged out like this, but there will be SOMEthing every month.

Alrighty, here we go, until next time big comic format!

Love and a Spoon
❤ (__)=======

UPDATE!!!!!!!

SO Honeybee here, We finally had our little boy!  We are now proud parents.

Rootlebug B Hedgehog!

We are in our 3rd week of being parents and boy it is tough. BUT totally worth it, The blog has been a bit slow due to pregnancy and Having our Rootlebug, But updates will be coming soon. A new comic will be making its way to the blogosphere sometime next week!  Also the computer died and we only have one so yeah, Life will get easier when we get that fixed. Thank you for sticking with us and Please like share and subscribe!

-HB

Making a baby- Autistic and pregnant

This is my first time blogging by phone, so I hope this works while my computer beasts are on the fritz!

This is a mini zine I drew this week while I was hovering around the house while HB was at work, at 8 months pregnant I find myself too exhausted to do big work at the moment but I still wanted to make a comic this month 🙂

So here we are, lots of cuteness with a side of positve message, hope everyones having a good week!

Love and a spoon
♡ (___)=======

Words have power.

Warning, there may be triggers for people who have experienced verbal abuse, but I think I was tactful enough that it should be alright

To get a larger image , just right click and open in a new tab to use the magnifying tool 🙂

 

Hey there everyone 🙂
A new comic! I know , I’m excited too! It was kind of a heavy topic, but you knew we would hit some of those eventually.
Words have power, its so true, a lot of people don’t realize the power of  words until they’ve been on the negative end of a whisper, and still felt their proverbial cheek stinging days later from the whispered slap Its not very nice, but likewise ,kind words can be totally uplifting , and empowering!
*or if you’re into spoken slam poetry, some of them out there leave me with brain/body tingles the words have so much to say!*

I have a project for everyone this month, it being the Valentine month, spread the power of good words! Take the time to say something meaningful , nice or empowering to someone, at least once a week or more if you want/can!
It will make that person’s day, and their smile will make you smile, keep the good juju in the words, even when you don’t think anyone is paying attention, someone always hears you, especially if you have cats,they love being complemented *lols*

Parents especially, keep the good power of words, your children will learn to empower others with their words and feel better about themselves , which is a pretty awesome power in today’s world I think . Even if your little one is non verbal, ALWAYS ASSUME COMPETENCE!
They hear you, make sure what you’re telling them , even inadvertently, empowers them 🙂

Happy Yule! – Date night dinner-

Remember , right click and open in a new tab to be able to use the magnifying tool !

This is what we do on date nights! Home made dinner, minecraft dates, 5$ movies from HMV , its all the small things that add up and make us happy 🙂

This was drawn about a month and a half ago, my tummy sticks out quite a bit more now!

But this comic still has relevance today, it shows a good part of the things I have to be thankful for this Yule ❤

We have a happy home, sometimes the dishes aren’t done, sometimes the house is messier than we mean it to be, but thats ok, because we’re happy, we are happy here together in the warm, in the blanket fort, playing minecraft,
I’m thankful for my happy home!

We have the fuzzbabies, Roxxie and Rohman, they are an endless source of purring, unconditional love *so long as the tub has a puddle of water* they give us comfort and friendship and that unnerving feeling that we’re being watched in the night X)

I’m thankful for my Cats!

We have food in our cupboards, heat in our house, and some presents under our *singing* tree.

Some of these things couldn’t have been had without a little help this season, so I’m thankful to the people who helped us have these things,
I am thankful for the creature comforts in our home!

I am thankful for our family and friends!
So thankful for all of these amazing people that  I ” can’t even! ” X)

We have a baby on the way, I’m thankful that he is healthy and growing like a weed, I’m so happy that HB reads him stories and that he moves and punches when he hears his Dad come in the door from work, that we can share in this journey all of us together is hugely important for me.

A Mum a Dad and a Baby, in a loving , happy home, *with cats* its so storybook to me its almost unbelievable.
I’m thankful that the little Poppleton is healthy and so well loved!

 

 

Most of all though, I’m thankful for Honeybee ❤

He’s quirky and throws his sox off as soon as he gets in the door, is just as odd as I am, and loves me for just exactly who I am.

There’s always more that I’m thankful for, always always, its just so hard to put it down into print,

I’ll just leave it with this thought,
My heart is full, and we’re happy.

Thats the best thing I could hope for this season 🙂