While You Were Sleeping

While on vacation last week, I found myself staring at my son while he was sleeping.  And thinking to myself, as I looked at his long eyelashes, his perfect lips, and his tall body, that nobody would know anything was "different" with him if they saw him like this.  It is so easy for a stranger to see him in public and wonder (or sometimes even comment out loud) why he is misbehaving, screaming, or flapping his arms.  He doesn't look different physically than other children his age.  And the truth is, he is a beautiful child of God and has the right to have friends, attention, and people love him because of who he is, not because of what he has.    

Just a Reminder! :)

I returned home from the store yesterday and my son was "helping" me empty the bags.  He found some shirts that I had bought for his big brother and was so excited!  He carried them around for about 20 minutes saying, "Oh, I love them!  I love them!"  Just another reminder to enjoy the simple things.  :)

The What is Where?

My son kept sneezing this morning, over and over, and I thought that he must be getting the cold that I am just getting over.  He finally looked at me and said, "Bean!  Bean!"  He had stuck a dry bean up his left nostril.  Luckily I could see it and got it out easily by running my finger down the outside of his nose.  I just hope it was the only one up there!

Where's the Money Tree?

Since my son's doctor recommended taking him off of all of his medications and supplements and doing more testing, we have pulled him off of everything except for his vitamins.  But they are very strong, and we are down to 1/2 dose per day.  We just haven't decided what testing to do now.  I read an article this morning called, "8 Facts About Autism the Media Is Not Covering" by Holly Robinson Peete.  Number one on her list:  "Autism Is Unaffordable."  It is very hard as the parent of an autistic child to decide just where to spend the money.  Therapy, bio-medical appointments and supplements, equipment???  Nothing, and I mean nothing associated with autism is inexpensive.

I am researching a new therapy called Floortime.  It promises great results, and it is mainly between parent (or sibling, babysitter, etc...) and child.  The question is, do I keep on with more testing and meds, or more occupational therapy, AND add in Floortime?  I was reading a report last night that stated autistic children who get 25 hours of therapy a week see the best results.  25 hours!  A one-hour occupational therapist visit costs $125.00.  We are one of the lucky ones that get some of that cost covered by our insurance after we meet the yearly deductible, but it still adds up fast.  Just a few days ago, I was researching a different therapy called ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis.)  I have even considered buying a DVD training program to learn how to implement this at home.  But everyone claims that their therapy, program, treatment...is the best!  A "can't do-without-solution!"  I understand that there is no cure for autism.  I know that my son will always have his quirks and possibly have very little verbal skills throughout his life.  But I want to give him every chance that I can to lead a wonderful life, no matter what that will mean in his world.  I never want to tell him at age 18 that I gave up on him at age 3.  I will continue to fight.  

It's the Little Things...

A couple of nights ago, my son was so happy because he got to eat oatmeal for dinner and then had new pajamas to wear to bed!  The simple things.  He actually took his pajamas and rubbed them on his cheek while laughing.  Adorable!  It warms my heart as his mommy.  I saw a teenager in Costco recently with his mom.  Now, I'm not sure that this boy was autistic, but it was just an educated guess.  He asked his mom what they were having for dinner that night.  When she replied, "Chicken," he got so excited, telling her that it was his favorite!  It made me smile.  Hopefully my son will always find joy in the little things.

Never Take It For Granted

Things that my son is doing that might be easy to take for granted, but I never want to:

1.  Using his language more, even if we still can't understand him!

2.  Using his sign language when we can't understand his "words."

3.  Remembering sequence of events.
     -eat dinner
     -brush teeth
     -pajamas
     -go to bed (he usually asks for his big brother to put him to bed)

4.  Following multi-step directions in order.
     -go to the kitchen
     -get daddy's water bottle
     -bring it to daddy

5.  Playing with and "taking care of" his little brother.  This is huge for us, especially since he would have never initiated these things just a few months, or even weeks, ago.


Okay, so maybe he's not perfect with these things all of the time, but he is trying.  He still struggles with his reasoning skills, but we are hopeful after watching the other things that he has shown us that he can learn to be safe, even though he doesn't have this natural instinct.



    

If You're Happy and You Know It...

I was hesitant to write this post too early in case it was a fluke, but I think we are seeing some improvement!  I had a phone consultation with the doctor a couple of weeks ago and she suggested that we take our son off of EVERYTHING, do some more testing, and start from square one.  I was, to say the least, scared to death to try this.  At first, I took him off of all except for his multi-vitamin and digestive enzyme.  Boy, did he have a tough few days!  But then one day we noticed a difference.  He was smiling and laughing again!  I eventually stopped the enzyme too (and ironically, trying not to be too graphic, his diapers have been nicer to change.)  His mood has leveled off too, even though he does have the occasional short tantrum still.  Mommy and daddy are smiling more; it had gotten to the point where we were very exhausted by the time our son would go to bed at night.  Now we are all having fun again.  My son will always have his quirks.  It's part of him, and most times those things are very cute.  But if he can be happy, we are all happy.  :)  Oh, about the testing and starting over.  For right now, we are going to hold off and give this a couple of more weeks to see what happens.  It makes us wonder if his body was just overwhelmed with the amount of supplements that it was being supplied.  Or perhaps it was just one single thing that was sending him over the edge.  We love our doctor, and she is doing her best to figure out this puzzle with us.  For now, we will stick with the smiles.