why do people assume autism means below average intelligence?

Ava never gets invited on playdates. None of the moms who befriended me during pregnancy, all of us due within mere weeks of each other, have ever made any effort to get to know my child. They like my updates about her achievements on Facebook, and that is the extent of their involvement. I don’t need their approval, I don’t need their friendship. I do need them, and everyone else to understand a few things about my child. Autism is different for every person on the spectrum. For my daughter, that means shes behind her peers in social and emotional categories. Her language skills aren’t as advanced as theirs.

BUT

That also means that even though Ava isn’t even three yet she:

• Can correctly identify all the letters of the alphabet, say them and the sounds they make.
• Identifies *almost* any animal, and if she doesn’t know one she only needs to be told once to remember the name.
• Can count and identify numbers 1-20
• Knows all her colors, she even knows the difference between blue and cyan.
• Knows almost all the shapes including rhombus, hexagon, pentagon and parallelogram.

This is not the extent of her knowledge. She is insanely intelligent and far more advanced than her peers in these ways. She blows us all away day after day. But yet there are people out there who will write her off immediately based off her diagnosis and their failure to understand what Autism really is. There are people who will never encourage their kids to get to know her.

All I can hope for is her happiness, and that she makes friends that understand her and accept her for everything that makes her, her.

pro-autistic:

Nail polish is autistic culture because you gotta flap to dry it.

Ava is

OBSESSED

with nail polish, cause then she gets to flap her hands and have me blow on them! Plus, being a 3 year old she likes to feel

“bootibull!”

My eldest son recently turned three and a tiny part of my soul was crushed because he is no longer a baby. Which meant that one we really needed to potty train him (we finally did) and two, he got a big boy birthday party at his favorite play place- Bloom Waldessori.

Bloom Waldessori Play Space

Sandra Kusek Wranovics decided to opened Bloom Waldessori last May, and combine the Waldorf and Waldessori Method into a wonderful play space for children in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Wranovics has a background in the Montessori Methods she implements in the play elements of the space and her daughter goes to a Montessori school, which clearly shows how passionate she is about these methods of learning and play.

What Are the Waldorf and Montessori Methods?

TheWaldorf philosophy suggests that the child learns through the plan and is the work. Teachers will incorporate storytelling and fantasy into their lessons and the children can use the materials whichever way they want.

TheMontessori Method uses fantasy as well, but children are introduced to the real world experiences early on. So they are taught about cleaning, cooking, and laundry as work rather than using the term play.

What Bloom Waldessori Has To Offer

For starters, Bloom Waldessori in Stroudsburg, PA is one of the cleanest and safest play places in the Stroudsburg area. It can be hard to find an affordable place to bring your children that vary in age, particularly from ages 1-6. The free play set up of all the wooden toys, wide open space, quiet reading nooks, and a climbing area.

In Bloom, there is a small Cafe available with snacks for parents and children. Another perk along with the WiFi is that you are also allowed to bring in your own snacks as long as you eat in the designated area.

The reading nook was my youngest’s sons favorite place to sneak away during his brother’s birthday party!

But, he made sure to make his way through all the amazing spaces Bloom had to offer. You can’t miss him in his Gecko costume, from PJ Masks!

One of my favorite parts about Bloom is that there is a sibling discount, and of course, there are membership prices as well that you should ask about.

If you have smaller babies as well as older, have no fear, there is a designated infant area that you can put your infant down within eyeshot while you play with your older children.

Waldessori also offers a summer camp, themed activities that change weekly, and a full list of classes you can find here. Additionally, Bloom Waldessori also hosts parties ranging from a simple party area where you provide everything from the food to the decorations, or they can go all out. Some of the services they offer are a creative activity party of your choice (painting, game), an active fun party with a class (yoga, dance) or even additional add-ons like face-painting or a sundae bar.

Check out the full brochure here.

My Son’s PJ Mask Party At Bloom Waldessori

Since my eldest, Carlito was only turning three we decided to keep his birthday party with his friends relatively low-key. Which is kind of amusing, because at this point this was his fourth birthday celebration due to family living far away. For Carlito, this was a continuation of the best two weeks of his life and the most hectic of mine!

The Creative Fun Party package included a two-hour party where we provided the decorations and food, but Sandra provided the craft. My husband and I had made a big batch of veggie muffins from a previous play date so we didn’t have to go crazy with the food either. A week before the party, Sandra had asked me a couple of questions about what craft we would like to do and well… we had chosen to make PJ Masks, masks.

What can I say, my kids are obsessed!

Ours didn’t come out that great, but they were pretty good considering our artists gave up about 10 minutes into the activity. My normally obsessed with painting three years old decided he was done and went back to playing with the pirate ship along with most of his guests. And one by one, we were a table of parents leaning over tiny chairs trying to make our masks look perfect.

If we had to do it over again I would pick a less intense activity or just not do one with toddlers that age. Most of our guests ranged from 2-3 and the lure of the toys in Bloom was just too much for any toddler to sit still for more than just a quick snack.

What I did love about the party was that there was no extra fee for bringing our food, decorations, and giant balloons. We were given a large, clean, space to decorate for the duration of our party and everyone who comes to the party gets to enjoy Bloom for the rest of the day as well.

All of our guests had a great time, and I know that my kids can’t wait until we go back again. If you live in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania or are visiting the Poconos and need an activity to do on a rainy day with your kids during your stay here, make sure to check out Bloom Waldessori Play Space at 106 Renastar Road, Stroudsburg, PA, 18360. 

I know this is one of our favorite birthday parties, let me know yours in the comments!

Love,

Spoonie-Mama

This post is sponsored by Bloom Waldessori, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. Check out my disclosure policy for more information.

I called my husband and my 4 year old daughter picked up. She said “hi mama, daddy is cleaning” I said that she’s a great receptionist to which she replied “ I’m the CEO”. Let’s all raise girls that dream big and think that anything is possible! 2/7/22