Journal Entry from April 2, 2008

April is Autism Awareness Month. Even being aware of it, I think I was in denial for a long time. My son is such a wonderful kid. He’s very smart, he’s funny, he loves to snuggle and he doesn’t have all the sensory issues that so many autistic children have. He’s getting farther behind socially. The social hasn’t been much of an issue, because 18-24 month olds aren’t very social. But as other kids are developing socially, he is not. But we’re getting therapy and he’s making progress. And they keep telling me at preschool that he is probably the happiest kid there. I just love his smile.

Thomas has had a couple really good weeks. He’s been doing great in therapy and there have been a couple random positives. We’ve started the GFCF diet (about 4-5 weeks ago now), the Omega-3 CLO (about 3 weeks ago) and the SupraNu Thera (last Thursday). I think it is making a big difference. I’m not completely sure of what is making the biggest difference to him, but I think he’s doing really well right now.

About two weeks ago, he woke up in the middle of the night, which is rather unusual for him. I was singing to him trying to get him to go back to sleep.

Me: “Twinkle, twinkle little star” (Big yawn…)
Thomas: “How I…”

And then he looked at me, like he was wondering why I didn’t finish. I’ve tried to get him to do it again, but he won’t do it. At least I know he can. Then a couple days later, when M from the PLAY Project was at our house, he was sharing a cookie with me and usually I say and sign “thank you” when he does that. Well, I was talking to M and didn’t say thank you that time. Thomas twice said “thank you” and then made me sign thank you and then he signed it himself. It was awesome. I thought it might have been my imagination, but I looked over at M and she looked shocked too and said it sounded like “thank you” to her too.

Last night we were having trouble getting Thomas to sleep. (We don’t have these problems often.) He said something like “pee, pst, pst” and then he went and sat down on Sam’s lap and started grabbing at his diaper. Maybe he is getting ready for the whole potty training thing. At daycare he sees all the other kids going potty, so maybe that is a motivation. We’re going to keep working on the sounds and words associated with diapering and potty-ing.

Over the last 3-4 days he has started also putting his arms up and saying “up”. He isn’t completely consistent with it, but he’s doing really well. When he doesn’t actually say “up” I generally wait for a couple seconds to give him more time. Then I say “up” really animatedly and then I pick him up. I try to remember to always say “down” when I put him down so he gets that part of it too. Sometimes it is hard to remember all this stuff. It doesn’t seem like much, but it really is a big step for him. And something that most parents don’t have to think about.

He doesn’t have any therapy this week because they are all on spring break. That kind of sucks although they probably wouldn’t have made it to playgroup anyways since Sam has this horrible cold that I’m finally getting over. I’ve talked to KidSpeak about getting more Speech therapy going. They’ll do 1 session a week at the daycare. It’s covered by insurance other than a $20 co-pay each week. They may not be able to start until June, but I’m hoping that it won’t be that long.

I’ve gotten so bad with housework. Both Sam and I have been sick so much lately and so busy lately that the housework just keeps piling up. I wish I could just get it nice and clean. I think I’d be better about doing therapy at home if it wasn’t such chaos around us all the time. We tried having Sam’s sister, Dawn, come over to clean. She did OK. She was only there for about an hour. But she got all the dishes done. Dawn is schizophrenic and she’s been feeling dizzy so she’s now walking with a walker. It’s just sad because she is only 37. She keeps saying that she want to move back into the nursing home. It’s just sad. If she didn’t go out and spend the night at flea bag motels for $60/night, or buy $50 of underwear that doesn’t fit, she would probably have money for food. Hopefully giving her something to do, and giving her a purpose will help some of the other issues. We’re pretty sure that the dizziness is just an act or at least very exaggerated. We’re going to pay her in food. I’m going to freeze hamburger patties and lasagna and things like that so she has food in the freezer. And it’s stuff that she won’t give away, and people won’t take from her. And healthy. That was the other thing that shocked me. I hadn’t seen her in about a month, maybe two. She looked like she had put on 50 pounds or more. She needs to get active. I think everyone needs a purpose. And that reminds me, I have some old jewelry making supplies from years ago that have just been sitting there. I was thinking about trying to get her to make some things and then setting up an Etsy or Hyenacart site. She could make a little money on the side and actually make things. No more sending in her last $20 that should be spent on food to scum that advertise work from home. The last one sent her a one page list of other places to send $20-30 for work from home kits. We keep trying to explain to her that they are all scams, but she just doesn’t believe us. “But I can make $500 per week”. Drives me crazy and makes me very thankful for the common sense I have been blessed with. I think I will try again to contact people about getting her into a group home. I have enough going on with my own family without taking care of her too. I figure I will talk to our social worker (signed us up for waiting lists for different funding grants) and see if she can get the ball rolling. There should be something for her out there. With a little help and guidance, she could be a contributing member of society, and a happier, healthier person.

Anyway…we joined a community center last week. It was only $60 per month for the family membership and we’ll take Thomas swimming 1-2 times a week. That will help his low muscle tone and balance. And it’s supposed to be good therapy in general. And he has a blast. He even climbed the steps to the small slide all by himself. He sits down and goes down the slide just like a big boy. He was so proud of himself…and I was proud of him too. I’d like him to become a bit more aware of the depth. The toddler area goes just above his head, but he just keeps going. He has gotten better getting himself back up if he falls as long as it’s not over his head. We’ll keep working on it. I’m not going to do official swim lessons, but I was thinking that I might try to spy on one of their toddler classes to pick up tips.