May 11, 2015

Hibiscus and other blooms

Dominique Parenting and Kids, Wordful Wednesday Flowers, wordful wednesday

Yellow Orange Hibiscus

Blooms are what I love to look at to perk up my day. There were so many different flowers which I managed to view lately. Here is a collection of random flowers which I captured.

Light pink bloom

I can’t remember where I spotted this but it was during one of my trips to Taiwan.

purple bloom

I spotted these at a small plot during the Rose Festival exhibit that we visited in February this year. They were certainly lovely blooms to have in a mini garden and I do hope to plan such flowers if I do get the opportunity .

Gnomes in the garden

I love these little statues of gnomes in the garden. They surely give the garden some character.

Another garden gnome

This one had a sign which said ” Home Sweet Home”. They really brighten up the garden and make it more cherry.

Butterfly on a plant

I saw this butterfly which had settled on the edge of a plant. I think it was savoring the nectar from the tiny purple flower.

White blooms

These white blooms were not on bushes but on trees. It was an amazing sight to see.

An electrifying purple bloom

This particular flower was certainly eye catching. The last time I saw something similar was in Jeju island, South Korea 3 years ago.

Have you been admiring any flowers lately?

May 6, 2015

Making Sense of the Jigsaw Puzzle

Dominique Book Review, Parenting and Kids Autism, parenting book

Making Sense of the Jigsaw Puzzle

Making Sense of the Jigsaw Puzzle: A Parent’s Account of a Child with Autism by Theuns and Tania Henning is based on the Henning’s experience with their autistic son Reuben.

Reuben was their long awaited son who arrived after years of fertility treatments which they had underwent. Initially it was perceived that they may have a child who was inflicted with down syndrome as previously suspected. It came as a total shock when the doctor announced that Ruben has severe autism. It was a lifelong disease which had no cure and there was very little which could be done to alleviate his condition.

Theuns and Tania would have to learn by trial and error what worked and what didn’t with Reuben. It wasn’t an easy journey for them and they are still learning now what has to be done for their son to be able to live a “normal” life.

They were fortunate to have help from their community and have friends and relatives reach out to them in their time of need. The physical and financial help that was rendered to them was invaluable and helped them tie over all the difficult periods that they went through.

My Thoughts

It was a refreshing read to hear from a parent’s perspective how dealing with Autism has been like. I have Autistic kids before and it is very challenging trying to get their attention and understand how they tick.

It’s remarkable that the authors were able to overcome their own mental and physical barriers to be able to reach out and provide for their son. The amount of patience and love that they have is really amazing.

I would have given up long ago if it had taken 18 months of diligently bringing my child to the potty every 5 minutes to toilet train him like what they did for Ruben.

It takes a lot of discipline on the part of the parent and being consistent for an Autistic child to be able to learn. Most of the time there is no clear indication that the child is able to understand the given instructions and only in moments of clarity will things suddenly click and the lesson taught product results.

Theuns and Tania Henning are really an amazing couple.

Do pick up a copy of the book Making Sense of the Jigsaw Puzzle: A Parent’s Account of a Child with Autism to experience the Henning’s story.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions are 100% mine. This post has affiliate links.