They must think I'm their dad

Turkey turkey turkey. That's the theme of the day! Well, that and being thankful, but I am almost certain people are thankful for the turkey. So, it all comes out in the end.

Speaking of being thankful, here is a list of things I am thankful for.

• God and the power of redemption through his son, Jesus Christ.


• My wife, who is my rock and has stuck by me when most others would leave


• My job for making this Thanksgiving possible


• My kids for making the job necessary...plus they are cool little people


• and finally, the turkey...Henry

That's right...we name the turkey. Every year, without fail. Maybe we are masochist who enjoy knowing our prey before we feast upon it's flesh...or we have kids who insist on naming the turkey.

Which is weird...They have never offered up a name for the burgers we ate on Sunday, or the pork loin on tuesday (which, by the way, was excellent). Surely these poor animals would have appreciated the gesture of being christened with a name before we cooked them to perfection.

Which brings up another point...if you are Catholic, and you want to name your turkey, does their have to be a ceremony? Would you have to sprinkle water on it's head? Would I have to take communion before naming the turkey? And wouldn't that spoil my appetite for the dinner later? Would I have to buy a christening gown?

No offense to the Catholic faith, but now I am glad to be non denominational. We can eat our birds without all the pomp and circumstance.

Incidentally, does anyone know what I originally set out to write about here? Me neither. Must be the triptofan. Thank you to Henry, the sweetest of all the fowl.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This is Tobey Jude. He is 4 years old, soon to be 5, and he is autistic. He is more on the severe side of the spectrum as opposed to my other son, Edwin.

There are a couple of things you should know about Tobey. First, he defies most autistic conventions by being one of the most loving little dudes you have ever met. Also, he likes to stim.

In the world of autism, stimming is an activity that calms down the autist's brain, almost like chanting a mantra. Tobey's preferred activity to stim is spinning things.

The boy spins everything. Straws, pencils, unused maxi pads, leaves, kittens (we caught him in the nick of time), cars, shoes, paper...etc. I mean, really, he will spin ANYTHING.

Why post this picture? Why tell you about "The Jude"? Because he is awesome! He is one of those kids that you can watch and actually see his brain working. Example:

Last week, the kids had sample packs of crayons. They were little packs of three crayons each. Tobey picked up a pack of crayons and shook it. It rattled. He handed the box to Melissa. Now, it is important to note that at this point, he did not know what was in the box. He just assumed it was candy. When Melissa opened the box, he dumped out the crayons and realized that this was not candy. He slowly put the crayons on the counter and walked away.

I guess that is the frustrating part about autism. My son, my gorgeous, awesome son, is trapped inside of his head. I just know that if he can break through that wall, he is going to change the world!!