12/29/10
Away...
We will be back soon! Miss Coco is away on vacation in the USVI with her family, but she did want you to know that her plane delay was the republicans fault.
12/23/10
12/22/10
12/21/10
12/20/10
12/19/10
Cocoisim #161
Coco wants you to know that she has worked things out with her boots. She has forgiven them, and they are back together.
12/18/10
12/16/10
12/15/10
12/14/10
12/11/10
12/10/10
12/8/10
12/7/10
12/3/10
Cocoisim #152
Coco asked to go to the Post Office today. When we got there she asked the clerk "what kind of special packages they offered for transfer of her soul."
12/2/10
11/30/10
11/25/10
11/23/10
11/22/10
11/21/10
11/20/10
11/18/10
11/17/10
11/15/10
11/12/10
11/10/10
11/9/10
Cocoisim #139 (visual)
From down the isle I could see Coco talking to a dead foster farms chicken, while petting the plastic covering, at the grocery store.
11/8/10
11/7/10
11/6/10
11/5/10
11/4/10
cocoisim #134
Coco was walking to her room with a large bowl of overflowing water.
I said "Whatcha doing with that Coco?"
She said "Its for the computer, its feeling hot."
I said "Whatcha doing with that Coco?"
She said "Its for the computer, its feeling hot."
11/3/10
Coco's Birthday!
Today is Coco's 8th birthday. Shes taking the day off! Thanks for reading our blog!
xxx
xxx
11/2/10
11/1/10
10/31/10
cocoisim #131
Today on Halloween Coco says:
Mom write "Frankenstein's daughter, Frankie. that's all."
Mom write "Frankenstein's daughter, Frankie. that's all."
10/29/10
10/28/10
10/26/10
10/22/10
10/21/10
10/19/10
10/18/10
10/17/10
10/14/10
10/13/10
10/12/10
10/11/10
10/9/10
10/8/10
10/7/10
10/6/10
cocoisim #115
I woke up, opened my eyes and Coco was an inch from my face.
She whispered "Mom, did you die."
She whispered "Mom, did you die."
10/5/10
10/4/10
10/1/10
9/30/10
9/29/10
cocoisim #110
Coco headed out in the backyard with the butterfly net. I said "whatcha doing?"
Coco said "Catching meteors."
Coco said "Catching meteors."
9/28/10
9/26/10
9/25/10
9/23/10
Coco
My daughter is coco. My daughter has autism. My daughter wrote this. And stood outside the house for 1/2 hour. My daughter, Coco, is perfect.
9/22/10
9/21/10
cocoisim #104
Remember the Mr. Men and little Miss books (http://www.mrmen.com/us/)? Well coco saw one in the store and asked if she could get Little Miss Delusional.
9/20/10
cocoisim #103
Coco, after a discussion about different religions, asked if people who liked Dora The Explorer were "Dorists."
9/19/10
9/18/10
9/17/10
100th Cocoisim Milestone!
Today we reach our 100th Cocoisim!
I want to take the time to thank my friends, family, and readers for their support in this project.
We are currently working a animated Coco, and collection of the top voted on posts for her future book.
Coco has become proud of her way of thinking through this project instead of feeling different or challenged.
Cocoisims has taken her "special needs" and made her just feel special.
I hope that you will continue to enjoy them as we continue enjoy posting them.
Thank you again
Lydiaemily, Dorothy and Coco
I want to take the time to thank my friends, family, and readers for their support in this project.
We are currently working a animated Coco, and collection of the top voted on posts for her future book.
Coco has become proud of her way of thinking through this project instead of feeling different or challenged.
Cocoisims has taken her "special needs" and made her just feel special.
I hope that you will continue to enjoy them as we continue enjoy posting them.
Thank you again
Lydiaemily, Dorothy and Coco
9/16/10
9/15/10
9/14/10
9/13/10
9/12/10
cocoisim #95
Coco, who is going through a Simpsons phase, thinks there should be a cereal called "Hank Azaria-Os's".
9/10/10
9/8/10
Were back!
Hello! Hope you all had a great summer. We are back! I have a few saved up so I will post a few to start us up... Cheers! Cocoisims ♥
8/21/10
8/20/10
8/19/10
cocoisim #89 (the death of zero)
The death of zero.
Coco has be taken us on a tour of graveyards in North Carolina. She is sure "the number 0 is buried here somewhere."
Coco has be taken us on a tour of graveyards in North Carolina. She is sure "the number 0 is buried here somewhere."
8/18/10
Pictures on Facebook...
Please become a facebook fan to see more pictures and cocoisims!
Thank you
xx mama
cocoisim on Facebook!
Thank you
xx mama
cocoisim on Facebook!
8/15/10
8/9/10
7/29/10
Away...
Sorry cocoisims will be away for a week as we move. If I can I will update, if not i will store them up! Thanks everyone and see you soon ♥
7/26/10
7/22/10
7/21/10
Tonight on KXLU! Dont forget!
Cocoisims live on KXLU tonight! From 7-8pm! Coco, Dorothy and Bailey will be on the air live on the show "the kids are alright". Be there or be a circle.
http://www.kxlu.com/
http://www.kxlu.com/
7/20/10
7/19/10
7/18/10
7/17/10
cocoisim #80
Coco put a dot on the wall in her room and stared at it for a while. Then she turned to me, pointed and said, "The universe ends, here."
7/16/10
7/15/10
Cocoisims on the air!
Cocoisims live on KXLU next wed July 21 from 7-8pm! Coco, Dorothy and Bailey will be on the air live on the show "the kids are alright". Be there or be a circle.
http://www.kxlu.com/
http://www.kxlu.com/
7/14/10
7/13/10
7/11/10
7/10/10
7/8/10
cocoisim #73
Coco is banging things then staring just next to them in the air.
When I asked her what she was doing , she said "Seeing sound."
When I asked her what she was doing , she said "Seeing sound."
7/7/10
7/5/10
cocoisim #71
Coco got a new bear and named her Marie Antoinette. She came home last night and married her other bear Winston Churchill. I will let you know how that works out...
7/4/10
cocoisim #69
The other day at the pool, I was laying out in my bikini, and coco covered me with her towel and said "Mom, everyone can see your doodle."
7/3/10
7/2/10
6/30/10
cocoisim #66
Last night, while I was asleep, coco woke me by whispering in my ear. She said "Mom, mom, heather (our kitten) spoke to me, she said hope."
6/29/10
6/22/10
cocoisim #64 (the apple experiment)
Coco got up early, way before me. I heard her in the kitchen. When I came out she was dropping apples and cutting them open. I asked her what she was doing. This is a little hard to explain... She said she was trying to find out how to bruise the inside of the apple, in its core, without bruising the outside to do it. She had set up a series of experiments to test this. Dropping it, shaking it, freezing it, floating it. Needless to say, many apples were hurt during this experiment.
6/21/10
6/16/10
6/12/10
cocoisim #61
Yesterday, Coco fell into a bush. She got up dusted herself off and yelled "Mom, I'm covered in Venus!"
6/11/10
6/10/10
cocoisim #59
Coco is working on a "soft shot" for kids who need vaccines. We'll let you know how it goes...
6/8/10
6/5/10
cocoisim #57 (ode to the native americans)
Coco is going to make a "Cootie Catcher" to hang next to her bedroom window.
5/29/10
5/27/10
5/26/10
5/25/10
5/23/10
5/22/10
5/21/10
5/19/10
5/17/10
5/14/10
5/13/10
5/12/10
cocoisism #42
Not a verbal cocoisim today, just a visual for you...
Last month our cat Sam died. We buried him in the back yard and put a
tree stump on top of the spot. Yesterday, Coco sat next to it and with her
hand on the stump, she read Sam a book.
Last month our cat Sam died. We buried him in the back yard and put a
tree stump on top of the spot. Yesterday, Coco sat next to it and with her
hand on the stump, she read Sam a book.
5/11/10
cocoisim #41. Joke...
Today Coco told me her first knock knock joke...
Coco "Knock knock"
Me "Who's there?"
Coco "Apple fritter"
Me "Apple fritter who?
Coco "Aren't you glad I didn't say no."
Coco "Knock knock"
Me "Who's there?"
Coco "Apple fritter"
Me "Apple fritter who?
Coco "Aren't you glad I didn't say no."
5/10/10
5/9/10
5/8/10
5/5/10
5/4/10
5/3/10
5/2/10
5/1/10
4/28/10
cocoisim #32 (a post from coco's grandma)
Driving home from school yesterday...
C: What is your middle name grandma?
G: Elizabeth.
C: Grandma Elizabeth Archibald
G: No, Dorothy Elizabeth Archibald
C: No, Grandma Elizabeth Archibald. That's your name.
G: Okay
C: What is your middle name grandma?
G: Elizabeth.
C: Grandma Elizabeth Archibald
G: No, Dorothy Elizabeth Archibald
C: No, Grandma Elizabeth Archibald. That's your name.
G: Okay
4/26/10
cocoisim #31
this morning coco got a towel, and said she was "going to wipe off her tail and finally grow some legs.."
4/25/10
cocoisim #30
Coco thinks there should be a drink at Starbucks for her friends from Mexico called the Latt-ino.
4/24/10
top 3 cocoisims so far....
Most forwarded Cocoisims
#8
me "you have to floss now baby.."
coco "can I have some technical support?"
#11
Coco to the dentist : "Are you a plaque vampire?"
#14
Today on the way to the Good Will to donate old stuff Coco asked if there was a Bad Will.
#8
me "you have to floss now baby.."
coco "can I have some technical support?"
#11
Coco to the dentist : "Are you a plaque vampire?"
#14
Today on the way to the Good Will to donate old stuff Coco asked if there was a Bad Will.
4/23/10
4/17/10
cocoisim #27
Instead of shopping carts, Coco wants to buy all the homeless people dressers with wheels and horse reins.
4/15/10
4/14/10
cocoisim #25
Today I told Coco and Dorothy that our cat Sam died. Coco said, so now he's going to be on a dollar?
4/11/10
cocoisim #24
Coco got a teddy bear, and said "Hello, (pause) Winston Churchill."
And that's his name.
And that's his name.
4/10/10
cocoisim #22
Coco was feeling bad for a boy who got dumped on TV, so shes making him crutches out of Redvines for his broken heart.
4/5/10
4/2/10
cocoisim #18
Coco wants to know "if the clouds look down and try to figure out what shapes we look like".
3/29/10
Silence, is not an option...
Finally got artist Johnny Lee's great Cocoisims logo on some merch.
Spread the word, wear it proud...
http://www.cafepress.com/cocoisims
Spread the word, wear it proud...
http://www.cafepress.com/cocoisims
Cocoisim #17
Today, after hours in the pool, coco examined her fingers and toes and then asked me if "her teeth would also get pruned"
3/27/10
Cocoisim #15
Dorothy and I sat in the living room yesterday watching NatGeo. Coco walked in, looked at the TV, looked at us, and said "TV stole man." and walked out.
3/23/10
cocoisim #14
Today on the way to the Good Will to donate old stuff Coco asked if there was a Bad Will.
3/22/10
cocoisim #13
Coco, a long time ago, thought when I was explaining 'Karma', that I said 'caramel'. Its been caramel ever since. When you do something bad you get bad caramel. She asked yesterday, after she got in trouble, if a box of See's Candy would get her out of it...
3/21/10
Coco-isim #12
Today, like many people we had the news on around the house (you know, health care reform vote day) and coco said to me..
"Mom, can you put the Whitehouse in the backyard?"
"Why?" I said.
"So I can ask the president for my flag back."
"Mom, can you put the Whitehouse in the backyard?"
"Why?" I said.
"So I can ask the president for my flag back."
3/20/10
3/16/10
coco-isim #10
Today we went to the library, coco didn't want to have to be quiet there. So she suggested to the Librarian to put a "cardboard box out front so people could leave their ears in it."
Sorry...
Sorry I have been away. Ms Coco has had a tooth ache and has been sick, but I have been writing down her isims and saving them for when I had a moment to blog. Coco will not tell me when her tooth hurts, I had to catch her trying to pull out her tooth with my tweezers in the bathroom mirror, poor thing :( But she had a root canal (if you are a LA parent of a special needs kids they do great work for us at http://www.ronaldabarodds.com/) and she is getting better thanks to the care of big sis Dorothy, who i don't mention enough here. She rocks. So here you go....
3/10/10
3/9/10
Shameless plug time....
Having a child with Autism means many great things, but also unfortunately means much rejection... "Sorry we just don't have the facilities to support her.." is code for "No. You cant come here."
No to Girl Scouts, Karate, gym classes and so on. Unless of course I want to pay 3 times as much and then, even then they rethink it and its NO. Coco had to watch her older, typical (code speak for not autistic) sister go to all these cool things that she just wasn't allowed to do, even if I sat there and helped.
We were kicked out of Kids Klub in south Pasadena. I said I would sit with Coco but they said no, no parents allowed and no "special needs kids". Just in case you moms were thinking about that place, its a chain.
After sticking my head in many many martial arts studios and hearing "No, no, sorry, no" I just happened across Lees Taekwando. Master Johnny Lee not only took in Coco (and Dorothy) but also took some of Coco's friends with autism and know this, he had never worked with special needs kids before. Never. He just didn't see a problem there. I know amazing right?? I remember him saying to me when I asked him about her "What? Why cant they do it? Coco can do it! I know she can! She is no different."
And that is how he treated her and her friends, no different.
His studio is very reasonably priced, super clean, friendly and a place you can count on for discipline and for warmth.
My shameless plug is for a man who is forever tattooed on my heart for his unconditional love of kids, special needs or not, Master Lee. More then a friend, or master, but now a member of my family.
Less Taekwando
xx lydiaemily
Coco-isim #7
We found out our cat Joe is dying. Coco and Dorothy cried, and cried and cried. Joes heart is too big, something the Humane Society was not able to see when we got him as a kitten. Dorothy sat on the couch and asked many questions about the cat, the vet etc. Coco got up, went in to her bedroom and came out with the calendar from her wall. She took my finger and put it on the calendar and said, with tears in her eyes, "Point to the day I will feel better."
3/7/10
Coco-isim #6
Today while Dorothy, Coco and I were at Petsmart, Coco used her magic wand to turn the customers in to beads. She would tap people on the shoulder or back and say "you're beads. You, are, beads."
3/3/10
3/2/10
3/1/10
2/28/10
Coco-isim #1
This morning I woke Coco up (post 2 cups of coffee) and she said. "Mom," then there was a long pause. She put her arms around me, then put her forehead on mine, looked into my eyes, a moment that parents live for. And then said "your breath tastes like the humane society smells".
2/27/10
Coco-isims.
About a week ago a fellow parent at my children's school asked me if I was going to have my daughter "fixed".
Me, a 39-year-old, divorced mother of 2 diamonds, 7 and 9 years old. My 7-year-old has autism and a mild form of down syndrome called pyramid downs. My 9-year-old is not special needs, what you would call "typical." Over the years I’ve encountered special needs intolerance. It just comes with the job. Like when a parent says, "If I knew my baby had autism or down syndrome in the womb, I would get an abortion." You wait for the pause and then the parent looks up at you and says, "Oh, sorry, of course you are different, Coco is so wonderful."
Or when a stranger sees Coco upset or flapping her arms he/she will say, "You should really get a hold of your child," to which I respond with my favorite line, "She has autism, what’s your excuse?" "Oh, sorry" always follows.
So back to the school incident...
The parent says "Are you going to have her fixed?"
"What?" I said.
"Fixed? You know, you don't want any more kids with autism out there."
"What??"
"Well, you don't want autistic grandkids, do you?"
This is where I walk away.
Coco is out there in the grass running in circles, as she does, happy as can be.
She is always minding her own business, and this women walks up with her ignorance, intolerance, discrimination… bigotry, if you get right down to it.
I mean, can we just neuter or spay our kids? Can we just "fix" people when we feel like it?
I have a friend, Joe. His family is mixed, Jewish-African. In the 40's in Baton Rouge, where they lived, his aunt went in for a routine pap and small bladder infection; they gave her a hysterectomy. So she couldn’t breed.
I could have screamed the list of people who might have been wiped out by such intolerance, people “on the spectrum” -- from Bill Gates to Albert Einstein, Beethoven to the most obvious, Andy Warhol. And my recent favorite, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer (god knows the kids can’t live without Weezer!).
I could spend many hours trumpeting how Coco has changed my life, how amazing she is, but I will spare you my gushing and just say this, I have decided to take the bad feeling the parent at the school left me with and turn it into something good...
If you know anyone who is or has a child with spacial needs you may know about "scripting". This is when autistic people repeat back the lines of films, TV or books they like. Sometimes when inappropriate, or out of the blue. Coco did this for a while, and now says her own special things -- combinations of information and questions. We call them Coco-isms. We’ve always said we should write them down. And now we will.
I will not be angry at mom X in her Hummer outside the school; I will instead do something fun, something good, and albeit a small blog, something that may actually make you laugh or cry, or think. Think about what it would be like, this perfect world mom X proposed, without people like us in it.
XX
Lydiaemily (Coco and Dorothy, of course)
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