Light Box!! And a sweet giveaway!

Well I thought I learned my lesson yesterday when I fell asleep blogging at this hour....apparently I didn't.

Anyway, I am pleased to announce that our light box tutorial is up and awaiting your views.  Here are some things you will need before you start this project.

Things you will need to make a light box...
1. A see through plastic bin
2. LED Battery operated lights
3. Parchment paper
4. Tin foil
5. Tape (scotch)
6. Scissors 
7. Coffee. lol

You can find the video link below in the P.S. section of this blog. 

You'll notice that because it is summer now (Yukon only really has two seasons..hehe) a lot of our videos will be shot outside. The reason?

Well, I guess i's time to say it. We are relocating for schooling purposes and want to capture as much of the Yukon as we can so why not make it a part of our vlogging. Our next stop is British Columbia for 7 years of crazy schooling, all to become a Dr. of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Yes it will be awesome! Yes we are insane. But if we weren't we wouldn't know what might be possible. It's a huge adjustment for our son but we plan on integrating him into the idea everyday to make the transition as smooth as possible. He like's his routine and will miss so many people he sees here, but if we don't repetitively teach them about change nothing can grow and, as result of that growth, change. 

A new feature to our blogging and vlogging will be talking about Keltanys' diet and what you can do about a fussy eater. Meal plans and great recipes will be included. I will also go over some holistic things that have helped our little guy. 

And last but not least....thhhhheeeeeee GIVEAWAY!!!

So, every month on the 19 we will have a giveaway. This month I will be giving away two aprons with some spiffy artwork on them. Both designed by me. All you have to do is Share this blog link on facebook, from our FindingK profile page, like it, and your name will be entered into the draw for a free Amber Walker designed apron. So, simple. Pictures of the aprons will be posted in a week when they're finished. 

Anyway, that's all I got for tonight. Today was a crazy busy day with my Son at the reigns. Have a good night all. 

With Mass Gratitude,
Amber Jones

P.S. The link for the light box tutorial. ENJOY!! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNUebvwsxSs&feature=youtu.be

The first of 4,323 Pictures

Keltanys with the camera phone. The first of 4,323 pictures.

Went into my camera phone the other day to retrieve  some photos for our blog and found 4,323 pictures of my son. The picture you see above is the only one where he is not checking out the entirety of his face.

I was amazed I know that when I handed him the phone he was playing with the camera but wasn't certain what he found so interesting about it. Well, I found it. I should have clued in I guess. If there is something that can reflect his image back to him he finds it very fascinating. He'll dance to watch himself dance, smile to watch himself smile, do silly faces, run, stomp, act like a robot, he does it all to watch his reflection. He loves it. And then finally something sunk in as we were in the park today. My kid's majority sensory need is anything that is visually stimulating. When he's in the swing he likes to throw his head back and forth and then will crack up. He loves the visual effects it causes. He also loves running really fast while blinking like crazy. When he's tumbling things in his hands he likes to blink really fast. I for a long time thought that it was the feeling he got from it. Nope it's the visual effect that sates that sense. Then things just started to click, the glow in the dark board he can write on, the light up board he has, the way he cracks up when he sees people stop and go and stop and go when doing the robot, the tumbling, the running, the stomping with his eyes half closed or blinking like crazy, his making random shapes with random objects, his need to see things in complete chaos, watching things spin, running in circles with his eyes set in the corners of his eyes, spinning in circles and doing the same thing...almost .e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g he does repetitively is for the visual stimuli. Finally a direction I can work with artistically. A tool by which I can teach him. 

Took me long enough. 

Anyway, I will not cease the playing with of the camera phone as I believe it is a great way for him to learn more about himself and take great photo's, especially when I have such a hard time in keeping him still for one. Look guys two birds one stone. 

Hence my creating of the light box. The tutorial on how to put it together will be up this weekend. In the meantime if you're are interested in this project here is a list of things you will need for this project. 

Things you will need to make a light box...
1. A see through plastic bin
2. LED Battery operated lights ( make sure you get the batteries)
3. Parchment paper
4. Tin foil
5. Tape (scotch)
6. Scissors 
7. Coffee. 

And on a side note......

On the 19th of next month we will be having a give away. Stay tuned. Details for the giveaway will be posted on the 31st of May. Until then grab the things you will need to make the light box! 

See ya later!

Always with Gratitude,

Amber Jones

It's the little things....

So, as my dear Husband was cooking today I heard a little voice from the kitchen ask, "Oh, that's Quinoa in there? Is cooking." I just about passed out. And here's why... On a sunny day about a year ago I sat in the same kitchen with a speech pathologist named Rachel. She came out from the local Child Development Center to do a word count on my boy. I was eager to invite her in, unleash on her the last year of development milestones we didn't see and brag about how many words my son knew. As the hour passed, she sat smiling nodding asking questions, going over lists of words I had provided her that I knew my son knew, and all the while hoping to hear her say, "Mrs. Jones, you're not crazy, something is happening inside of Keltanys and lets figure it out together." Sure enough as the hour came to a close she looked at me smiled and said, "I'm going to put the referral forward for an assessment for autism." I was relieved and said, "Great, when can we get started?" Suddenly her sentences became longer and time stopped almost completely as she said, "It won't be till next year due to our staff and the needs of kids in the Yukon." I just about fell over. Here I was with a son who wouldn't look at me when I entered the room, hated being touched, only knew about 50 words and could not form sentences, would move from an area he was playing in if I joined him, would not need me for hours and hours on end, and had a hard time understanding emotions. I felt completely helpless at first, and the only thing that ran through me and my husbands mind during that time was, "I can't lose my son even more between now and his assessment." We already felt like he had pulled away from the world at 18 months and here she was telling us we had to wait another year. Now, I don't blame the facility at all. They are so amazing that everyone wants their services and who can blame them. They are the best and have helped us tremendously. That being said I started doing crazy amounts of research on autism, the spectrum, similarities of my kid to other kids that have asd, the myths, etc. etc. etc. I went through so much overwhelming data that I decided half way through the confusion to focus on two sources, those that have asd, and the parents of children who have asd, because lets face it people, they are the real experts. Here's what I found that worked for me and my son, anything that had to do with the senses, and it all started with play dough and numbers. What went from a 50 words child went to 100 and now even more. My kid had an obsession with numbers and anytime we played with play dough, as long as he would mimic my words, which I knew he could, he could have the play dough shaped as his favorite numbers. We used to play for 3 hours every morning. And soon enough he understood what the words meant and could give me directions on what to do next. My husband and I took advantage of every single repetitive behavior he had, he wanted to flap things we'd have a stash of receipts waiting to be flapped. We bought him tiny flags as well to carry around with him. He wanted to run for hours on end we'd let him. He wanted to line things up we'd help him by providing the space to do so. And soon he started making eye contact again, would smile when we told him he was cute instead of hitting and not understanding. I not only attribute this to the wonderful staff at the CDC, our patience and dedication to unlearn and re-learn, but the the sensory toys we've introduced because without them our means for motivating him to communicate might not have existed. I tear up thinking about how far we've come. My Son is much more happy with experience and sensory toys that force interaction than with any mutant turtle or transformer. And he loves to communicate. It maybe difficult at times and yes frustrating to the point where we're both crying, but he strives forward past every obstacle determined to be heard and understood, and I am so proud of him...

Well now that I've sapped myself up and am smiling goofy style here is a project for all those kids (and maybe even adults as we had fun looking at them before we gave them to the kids..he he.) who have visual stimulation sensory needs. The Sensory Bottle. Pictures of what you'll need and the finished project are listed below, as well as a link to our you tube channel for instructions on how to put it together. Enjoy!!!

Always with love and Gratitude,
Amber Jones

Because every project should start off right.

Things that you think would visual stimulate your kid. Here's some of our kids favorites.

Any water bottle or bottle with a large opening. Voss water bottle was perfect for this project.  You'll also need crazy glue to glue the cap on, and the infamous duct tape just as extra precaution to keep the lid on it.

We took the letter beads and spelled out our kids names. Now, we put them in unstrung, but you can definitely string them together and then put them in the bottle if ya want to. 

TA DA!!! Really cool sensory bottle for on the road, I spy games, and working their muscles by shaking it up.

Follow the link below for video instructions on how to make your own sensory bottle!!

 http://youtu.be/SMmgDoH8rSA