What a lovely surprise: this past week, Michael Goldberg of Autism Bulletin wrote to tell me that The Family Room was voted one of the most interesting blogs by parents of kids with autism spectrum disorders. This is especially gratifying since Michael is a journalist and, like Kristina's Autism Vox, his blog is rich with news and a range of resources for all of us following topic "A."
He's just posted a series of informative articles aimed at parents of newly-diagnosed kids; I'll be digging into these in more depth later this week. It's also exciting to be in such impressive company along with Kristina, Susan Senator and Maddy (Whitterer on Autism), who I read regularly, and Judith Ursutti (Autismville) and Lisa Jo Rudy from About.com’s Autism blog, who I'll be checking out now. So thanks Michael, and thanks to all of you who voted!
And if that isn't nice enough, Niksmom sent me this excellent award, which I appreciate not least because I think she is one of the most tireless, brave and generous women writing on autism these days. And with every meme must come a meme-ee. So I'd like to pass this on to my good friend Daisy Mae Fatty Pants, also known as Emily, for the following reasons:
1. Long before our blogs were a glimmer in our eyes, Emily was actually one of the first autism parents I met. I don't think I'd be giving too much away to say that, for a while, our sons had OT appointments at the same time. In those early days, Emily was unfailingly generous and helpful to this terrified, overwhelmed mom as we sat in the waiting room during our sons' sessions. Then she moved away, unfortunately for me, and we fell out of touch until she commented on my blog one day. Then she started writing.
2. Emily's blog, A Life Less Ordinary, is unusual, even unique, in that she is a biologist and is therefore able to offer analysis on new studies and explain them in a way that makes sense to mere mortals like me. That's been exceptionally useful as these new reports on possible genetic factors are released; it's a kind of context that's hard to find, and well worth the time.
3. She's very, very funny. Bone-dry sense of humor, which I love.
4. This is an excellent opportunity to ask her where she got that name. And how Mr. DMFP feels about his moniker. Fess up, Emily.
Wow. What a difference a year makes. Thank you all.
Congratulations!!! Well-deserved on all fronts!
Posted by: kristen | February 20, 2008 at 04:55 AM
We are so excited for you, Susan. We're not surprised, however, since we learn so much from your blog. And we love your sense of humor!
Posted by: Nonna | February 20, 2008 at 01:59 PM
Susan, just stopping by to catch up, and enjoying your latest posts and photos. You deserve every good thing that comes your way! Hugs from Denver, K.
Posted by: Karen DeGroot Carter | February 21, 2008 at 08:17 AM
Hi, Susan! Thanks for the recognition!
To answer your questions: Our incredibly ancient, overweight dachshund is named Daisy, but when we adopted her 13 years ago, we decided to call her Fattypants because...well, she's always been a tad zaftig. And the May just fell in there for the purposes of mellifluity and meter.
As for Mr. DMFP? I don't even know if he knows that's what he's called...but I know he'd rather I called him just about anything other than his real name on a publicly accessible blog. I could call him Major Monkeybutt and I don't think he'd care (since that's not his real name). ;)
Posted by: Emily | February 25, 2008 at 08:27 PM