Since it is almost Mother's Day I thought I would discuss the accomplishments and gains that my offspring have made lately.
E-man has been doing really well at school, his verbal imitation is slowly beginning to turn into spontaneous language. The words he says most often without prompting are "Mama" and "no".
The other day during dinner he said
"Mama?"
"What's up buddy?" I replied
"Da."
"You're all done?"
"Ah da"
Addressing me and requesting something is HUGE for him. It was a really proud moment. Hearing his little voice brings me so much joy. I actually look forward to the day he's talking so much I just want him to stop! I give you permission to call me out on that one when I start complaining about it.
He has finally grown out of his obsession with Backyardigans and now enjoys Yo Gabba Gabba, though not with as much zeal as he had for Backyardigans. We have also been working on putting socks and shoes on by himself, brushing his teeth, and using a fork regularly. I catch myself doing things for him because I'm used to doing it all and I have to remind myself to let him learn how to do it too. The other day when we were brushing teeth I got all excited thinking he could try the sonicare tooth brush I use. Turning it on and hastily putting it to his lips I thought, this will be great! His teeth will never have cavities! As soon as it touched him he freaked and ran away. The rest of the morning he kept glancing at me and then would run for fear I'd try to use the medieval torture device on him again.
What I should have done is just let him see the sonicare and touch it without turning it on. Gradually over several days letting him get used to it and eventually brush his teeth with it.
So it's a learning process for everyone.
Another big thing for E-man is preschool for the fall, we found one that works well with the program he is in. We went to go visit and everyone was really nice and didn't seem at all worried about the whole autism thing.
I actually saw a kid I recognized from E-mans's school who looked like he was doing just fine. It made me feel
like this place would be the right fit.
LB has been doing great with his therapy at the house. It took a little while for him to get used to me "dropping him off" in the front room with his teacher. Now he runs in and plays and interacts pretty well with them. His receptive language has been increasing. He understands outside, let's go, book, ba-ba, snack, and cookie. His eye contact and name recognition has improved quite a bit. He babbles a good amount and about half the time will try to repeat back parts of words. It's actually really interesting to see the differences in both boys. Where E-man has always had a slow but steady pace of skill acquisition, LB makes leaps and bounds then cools off for awhile.
Both boys have had forward motion in their progress. There are still problem behaviors we are working on but I feel like the gains overshadow the downsides at this point.
It's exciting to be scouting out preschools for E-man and watching LB blossom with the help of therapy.
Sometimes it feels like I blink and 6 months have sped by, the kids growing and changing throughout.
I think my best bet is to try to savor the small moments and cherish the memories.
